He had some answering to do!
THERE WAS ONE chance with the kind of overdose Bobby Sacks seemed to have suffered; luckily, it was something Chase had been trained to deal with and was prepared to administer: naloxone. He shot the dose into Bobby and began CPR.
He waited anxiously as Bobby’s wife, tears in her eyes, looked on.
Then...
A gasp. Bobby inhaled. And by then the paramedics had arrived, and Chase could tell them what had happened and what he had done.
“That is one lucky man! I don’t know if we’d have made it in time,” one of the medics told him as Bobby was lifted onto a gurney and rolled out to the ambulance.
Chase shrugged. “I had a great mentor,” he said. “Have you been called out on more of these?”
“So far, from what I’ve heard, anyone else afflicted has made it into the hospital,” the medic told him. “Thankfully, people saw the news, and they’re smart enough to get in—or throw away whatever the hell they bought. Carefully, I hope.”
“Me, too,” Chase murmured. “You’ll be met at the hospital. When I called in, I was assured that this was something the FBI was on, so...”
“Got it. They’ll be waiting until he can talk.”
“I’ll check on him later,” Chase said.
The medic nodded; there would be police officers at the house, too, but he was grateful that Nancy Sacks, Bobby’s wife, had called him. Apparently, she hadn’t wanted Bobby arrested, but she’d been afraid of his behavior.
“Cops are coming?” she asked Chase when the paramedics were gone. “Bobby is going to live, right?”
“I believe so—we got him past the first hurdle in time. But I’m not a doctor—”
“But you did know what to do.”
Nancy Sacks was an attractive woman with long brown hair and enormous hazel eyes. Chase had planned on paying Bobby Sacks a visit; he just hadn’t expected to find him as he had.
Bobby had given the stuff to Brandon. But if he had been the one dealing it, he’d have known better than to indulge in his own product.
“All right, Nancy, from what I’ve heard, this has happened before—and it’s the federal government that’s following the trail. Someone will be here, yes. I take it you didn’t join him for his little bit of recreation?”
“I hate pot—just makes me fall asleep,” Nancy said. “But I never cared if Bobby had a puff here and there. I’ve known some drunks, and they’re feisty and get into fist brawls. I’ve never seen a few puffers get dangerous toward anything other than a pile of food.”
“Nancy, this is so important. Where did he get the stuff?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. From someone last night, I imagine, but I have no idea who. I mean, you know, he works those lights all the time for whatever is going on, and yeah, most of the time, things are available from someone. They kind of work on a trust arrangement, I guess. I don’t know! Oh, Chase, I wish I knew. I mean... I knew how close you were to Jake Ferguson and I figured you learned a lot from him, but... Yeah, I guess we’ve all heard you’re in some kind of a forensic school, so... I didn’t know how bad it was going to get, I just called you—forgive me—because I didn’t know I was going to need an ambulance... But, oh, my God, thank you! Bobby isn’t a bad guy, he’s good, he just...”
“Nancy, it’s okay. But someone will be here and they’ll want a statement. Or if you like, I can bring you to the hospital, and you can be there with Bobby and people will talk to you both while you’re there.”
“Please,” she said.
He nodded and put a call through to Andy Wellington, telling him that he’d be back as soon as he’d dropped Nancy off.
“Well, that will be good,” Wellington murmured.
Chase winced inwardly. He hadn’t been sure how he was going to explain this one. And he didn’t know why.
Gut fear, maybe because of everything going on.
But even with Larry in the house, he hadn’t wanted Sky to be alone.
A dog could be shot. Then again, so could a man. But it was unlikely that a man like Wellington, who had spent his life in the service of the government after a stint in the military, was going to be taken by surprise.
Unlike Larry, he could shoot back.
“Let’s get to the hospital,” he told Nancy.
He hoped that Bobby might be conscious, but he doubted it. He believed that the man might make it.
But it would be a while before he could talk.
Chase just hoped it would be before the show that night.
SKY LIKED ANDY WELLINGTON well enough. There seemed to be little to dislike about him. He was polite and courteous, pleasant in every way.
She just didn’t know what he was doing in her house. So, Chase had taken all kinds of classes. He knew all about so many things.
And they were both convinced her father had been murdered.
But what was he really doing?
She had left her office to make sure that Wellington was doing all right, still just seated on her sofa, when she heard the buzz that warned her someone was at the gate.
Larry woofed excitedly, wagging his tail.
