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Before Grim can respond, the door slides open, and my attention shifts to see Abyss returning.
“I take it the tablet is necessary,” Soul says dryly, nodding to the device in Abyss’s hand.
“I’m waiting on test results,” Abyss explains as he takes his seat. He sets it down on the table and looks around the room. “So, what’d I miss?”
Grim glances at me as if gauging my mental state and then gives a perfunctory nod before answering Abyss.
“VP needs his hands checked out.” He shrugs. “The wall got mouthy.”
Abyss drops his gaze to my hands and smirks. “Damn, bro.”
“I’m fine,” I mutter. “How long until we know something?”
“The machine’s ha—”
His tablet pings with a notification, and he lifts it to read the results. “Dammit,” Abyss mutters. “Negative for ethylene glycol.”
“Maybe try not to sound so upset that my old ladywasn’tpoisoned with fucking antifreeze,” I growl.
“The more we eliminate, the closer we are to the culprit,” he snaps.
“Old lady?” Fort asks from the other side of the table. “That’s where you’re at now?”
I glare at him. “Got a problem with it?”
Fort lifts his hands in mock surrender. “Nope. Just double-checking.”
Flipping two middle fingers at him, I snap, “Double-check this.”
The tablet pings again, several times in quick succession, and we all whip our heads in Abyss’s direction.
“Negative for arsenic, ketamine, and fentanyl,” he says as he continues to scan the screen. “Wait a…” He squints as if he can’t believe what he’s reading. “What the…”
“What?” I demand.
“One of the tests I ran came back positive for Xylazine.”
“What the fuck is Xylazine?” Soul demands.
“It’s, uh…” Abyss taps on his screen for a moment before what he’s seeing is reflected on the giant screen behind Soul. We all turn so we can see what he’s looking at. “Xylazine is a horse tranquilizer. I never dreamed someone actually tried to kill her by poisoning her, but figured we had nothing to lose by testing for everything under the sun that isn’t normal.” Abyss shifts his gaze to Soul. “Prez, you might wanna have Jez work her magic. I’m not sure where one even gets this shit if they’re not a vet.”
Grim smacks the table, and Abyss twists to look at him.
“Could you get it?” he asks.
Abyss shrugs. “Of course. I can get anything.”
“If you can get it, so can someone else.” Grim’s eyes are dark, imposing, explosive.
Soul pulls out his cell and calls his sister on speakerphone.
“I just pulled into the garage,” Jez says when she answers. “I’ll be down in a—”
“Come straight to church,” Soul orders. “We need your expertise.”
“Is it… How’s…” Jez sucks in a breath. “I got here as soon as I… Fuck, please tell me she didn’t—”
“Apple didn’t die,” Prez says, his tone softening. “But we just got back some blood work confirming she was poisoned.”
