Page 46 of Trust No One

“I have an appointment with Dr. Webber.”

“Why?”

“When I can tell you, I will.”

Raine’s gaze drifted to her cousin’s pale face. Though Maria was unconscious, Raine seemed to be mindful that she might still hear what was said.

“Maria was poisoned, wasn’t she?”

“I’ll leave you with Maria,” I said.

Distance helped. Or so I told myself. I thought I’d left Raine in the past, but ever since she’d come back, the old mistakes, joys, kept replaying. Back when I was obsessed with football, I’d been unprepared for anything resembling an adult relationship. I was now older, supposedly wiser, but I wasn’t feeling more prepared.

“I don’t like this,” she said.

“No one does.” I left the room.

Dr. Webber strode toward me. Dark-rimmed glasses magnified steady blue eyes, nonplussed by my arrival. “Agent Blackwood. What can I do for you?”

I lowered my voice. “I just spoke to the state lab. Maria Durant was poisoned. There were high levels of cyanide in her blood.”

Her breath caught. “That would cause dizziness, headache, and in extreme cases heart attack.”

“I’m telling you because it may influence Maria’s treatment.”

“I’ll run more blood work and check the levels. Cyanide can linger in the system.” She sighed. “There’s another complication. She has a faulty heart valve. The issue wasn’t in her medical records.”

“Undiagnosed?”

“Exactly. If this hadn’t happened, she might have lived for years without symptoms.”

“What’s that mean for her recovery?”

“A healthy, functioning heart could have withstood this. With her situation, I don’t know.”

“Options?”

“The damage is done. However, her vitals are stronger this morning. She’s not awake, but her body is trying to recover.”

“She could still die?”

“Plenty can still go wrong. I’ll know more after the next round of scans.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

When I turned, Raine stood outside Maria’s room—arms folded, that polite, brittle smile she wore when she was stressed. Back then, it had made me feel helpless. Still did.

Raine walked toward me. Her face was scrubbed clean, her hair pulled back in a thick ponytail just as it was when we dated.

“You get it all squared away?” she asked.

“I did.”

“I spoke to Dr. Webber an hour ago. Maria is stable, but it’s anyone’s guess if she fully recovers.”

“Okay.”

“You aren’t going to tell me what’s going on?”