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“Would you like to join us at the country club?” Martine offered, his eyes moving between my mom and me.
“Oh, thank you. But my mom already has reservations for us,” I said, saving us all the awkwardness of sharing a meal.
“Too bad,” Maureen said, though I couldn’t tell if she was being sincere or not.
Sawyer gave me a quick hug while Saint gave a vague nod.
“I’ll see you later,” Seren said to me before moving his family away from us.
I breathed a sigh of relief once they were gone. All of us sharing a meal would have been way too weird.
* * *
My mom and I returned from lunch, parking beside the manor’s garage as usual. No one was around. Seren must’ve still been out celebrating with his family. Maureen had wanted to throw an elaborate party for him, but he nixed that idea opting for a luncheon, which I knew still killed him to accept.
I changed and slipped on some cutoffs, a black Savage Beasts T-shirt, and black Chucks. I’d gotten Seren a graduation gift, knowing he’d been so thoughtful when it came to gifts for me. Since the Graysons weren’t home yet, I’d dash up to his room, leave it there, and sneak out without anyone knowing I’d been there.
I grabbed the small box wrapped in graduation caps wrapping paper and called to my mom. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“Okay,” she called from her room.
I climbed the stairs to the main floor and hurried toward the kitchen entrance. I stopped short when I found Martine standing at the center island pouring a small tube of something into a teacup. He must’ve heard my sneakers squeak to a stop because his eyes cut to me, and he quickly tucked the tube into his pocket. “Oh, hi, Grace.”
“Hi.”
“Did you have fun today?” he asked, his voice nervous and his hand shaky.
I nodded, my eyes focused on his pocket and my mind whirling back to chemistry class.
“Thallium in this form is dangerous, but what if ingested? In its powder form, it used to be used in rat poison until it was outlawed…”
“Can you be arrested for having it?” a girl in the front asked.
He laughed. “Only if I try to poison someone with it.”
“Did you bring your own sweetener?” I asked Martine, my heart suddenly beating out of my chest.
“Oh, yes,” Martine said. “I have it imported from Italy formi amore.”
I nodded, but every fiber of my being told me that I already knew the truth. Seren had been wrong about his mom. “That’s very nice of you,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Happy wife,” he grinned, referencing the earlier conversation we’d had.
“Is Seren in his room?” I asked, needing to get away from him as quickly as possible.
“Oh, probably. Why don’t you run up and check?”
“I will. See you later.” I hurried out of the kitchen and toward the staircase, taking two steps at a time. I needed to tell Seren what I saw. If anyone was going to believe me, it was him. I reached his room and tapped on his door. When he didn’t respond, I opened it. He wasn’t there. I hurried to his bathroom, but he wasn’t in there either. I pulled out my phone and texted him.Where r u? Need to talk.
I sat on the edge of his bed and stared at my phone, desperate for him to respond. My legs bounced beneath me; I’d stumbled upon something big. I knew I hadn’t imagined it. Martine was putting something in Maureen’s tea. Something that shouldn’t have been there. Sweetener my ass.
I typed Thallium poisoning in my search bar. I knew there were other ways to poison someone, but since my teacher mentioned it, I started there. According to one article, people who ingested it over a short time reported issues with their lungs, heart, liver, or kidneys. It also contributed to hair loss and vomiting. It could cause death, but the effects of long-term ingestion were inconclusive.
Could that be the cause of Maureen’s withering appearance?AndSeren’s father’s “heart attack?”
There were tests for Thallium levels in urine or blood, but it was difficult to detect if not tested right after ingestion. This would explain why an autopsy wasn’t done on Seren’s dad. Martine would have been discovered. But why get rid of him? If it was for Maureen, why was he slipping something inherdrink?
I thought back to the day I’d heard him yelling in his office. He’d said he needed more time. More time to murder Maureen? This was all so insane. But what if it wasn’t?
