Chapter 372

“Daisy, no, don’t call for an ambulance,” Amy pleaded. “It will scare my dad. I’ll be fine. I just need some ginger ale and a couple of plain crackers out of my purse.”

“I’ll get some ginger ale from the bar,” I said and dashed out of the bathroom.

I went to Justin. “Amy’s a little sick in her stomach. She wants the crackers from her purse.”

“Yeah, that happens when she …um, eats too much.” He fished around under the table and handed me a small pack of soup crackers.

“Thanks,” I said and headed to the bar for the ginger ale. The bartender gave me a small bottle of the soda, and I hurried back to my friend.

Amy was washing her face at the sink. She took the ginger ale and eagerly took several small sips.

“Bless you,” she said and took the pack of crackers. She put one in her mouth and chewed slowly.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I asked. “I’ve never known you to get sick from overeating.”

I put a hand on her forehead to check for a fever. There was none, but I didn’t like how pale she looked.

“I still think you need a doctor,” I said. “I can drive you to the hospital.”

“No, Daisy, I saw a doctor the other day,” Amy insisted. “I’ll be fine.”

But a few seconds later, she was kneeling next to the toilet, vomiting again.

“You’re not fine,” I said. “I’m taking you to the hospital, or I’m telling your dad.”

“Daisy, no!” Amy shouted. “Please don’t say anything. I’m not sick. I’m pregnant.”

“What?” I leaned against the bathroom wall and digested the news. It was a shock. My best friend was having a baby!

“Is that why you got married quickly?” I asked.

Amy wiped her mouth with a paper towel. “Yes, and it’s why I couldn’t drink champagne at the bachelorette party.”

“Why don’t you want your dad to know?” I asked. “It’s terrific news.” I thought it was wonderful. I couldn’t wait to meet Amy’s baby.

“I’m going to tell him when we return from our honeymoon,” she replied. “I just feel weird telling him now. He’s kind of old-fashioned, and I’m not sure how he would take the news before I was married.”

“I think he’ll be happy to have a grandchild on the way,” I assured her. “But you know I’ll keep your secret.” I hugged her. “Congratulations, Amy. I’m thrilled for you and Justin.”

“You should be thrilled.” she grinned. “You’re going to be an aunt.”

“Aunt Daisy,” I mused. “I like it.”

“Let me drink some ginger ale, and I’ll go back out there,” Amy said.

“I’ll be right back,” I said and hurried out to the bar.

I returned a minute later with two ginger ales in crystal glasses. “Nobody will know what we’re drinking.” I handed her a glass.

“You are the best friend anybody ever had,” Amy said. “Let me fix my makeup, and we’ll get back to my reception.”

Amy and Justin left for their honeymoon the next day. Amy looked tired, but she was completely happy. She was married to the man she loved, and their first baby was on its way.

I didn’t want to take a break from classes. It was important to me to graduate as soon as possible. I couldn’t wait to marry Victor and start our life together. So, I arranged to do extra credit work during the two-week break.

One project was working on another murder case for Allen Cross.

A twenty-year-old student from the city college was found standing over his girlfriend’s dead body with a bloody knife in his hand.

He doesn’t remember killing her, and he admits he was high on a drug called Ice when it happened.

When I heard the name of the drug, I remembered Penny talking about it at the lake. I had to know more about it.

I started by going online and doing some research.

One article said the drug came out of nowhere six months ago and has been taking over the streets and schools. It gives users a feeling of euphoria and increased energy.

However, some users experience blackouts and episodes of rage. These are primarily non-Alphas.

“It sounds like a setup to make money and blame crimes on the Betas and Omegas,” I muttered to myself. “And more chaos makes Victor and Alex look bad.”

As much as I hated visiting the prison, I needed to talk to Allen’s client. He would know more about it, and I needed to hear his side of the story.

I rechecked the file before calling Allen to make arrangements to visit the murder suspect, Kyle Rinna.

Kyle seemed like a normal guy. He was shy and looked scared as he sat across the wooden table, shackled at his waist and wrists.

It was hard for me to believe he would kill anyone.

His thin frame trembled as I introduced myself. “I’m here to see if I can help you. I work for your lawyer, Allen Cross.”

“I’ve heard of you,” Kyle said. “And I need all the help I can get.”

“I want to help you, Kyle,” I assured him. “But to do that, I need you to be completely honest with me. Okay?”

He nodded and swallowed hard. “I’ll tell you anything you wanna know.” He looked at the door to see if anyone was listening. “This place is awful. I’m too afraid to eat or sleep.”

I began to record our conversation. “Then let’s get started. Tell me what happened.”

“That night, Sally, my girlfriend, and I went to a party,” Kyle began. “I didn’t want to go, but Sally wanted to hang out with these Alphas she met at a bar.”

“Who were they?” I asked. It was odd to have Alphas invite Betas to their parties, but not unheard of.

He shrugged. “A girl she knew from her chemistry class introduced them.”

“Do you remember her name?”

“Carla … Carla Cox, I think,” he replied.

“What happened at the party?” I asked.

“We were having a couple of beers, and Sally was talking to the Alphas,” Kyle said. “They were two guys, and I got a little jealous when Sally followed them into another room.”

“Did you follow them?”

He frowned and nodded. “They had lines of yellow powder on a mirror. Sally took a straw from the one Alpha and snorted it.”

“Was it Ice?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Kyle replied. “They told me it was Ice, and they said I’d like it.”

“Did you try it?”

“Uh-huh,” he admitted. “Sally looked really happy after she tried it, so I didn’t think it would hurt anything to do it once.”

I kept my expression neutral to keep Kyle from feeling like I was judging him.

“Then what happened?” I asked.

“I was having a good time,” he said. “We were dancing and drinking beer. Then I don’t remember anything else until I woke up in my apartment. My roommate was screaming, and Sally was dead.”

“And you were holding a knife?”

“Yeah, I was holding a bloody knife.” Tears rolled down his face. “I would never hurt Sally, Miss Wilson, never.”

“The drug may have made you do it,” I said.

“But it was making me feel good,” he argued. “I wanted to dance all night. And the last thing I remember was laughing with Sally about a silly dance move she was doing.”

“We were having fun!” Tears rolled down his face. “Now she’s gone, and I’m in this place. It can’t be real. None of it can be real.”

But it was. The blood in the knife and on Kyle was Sally’s. I didn’t know how to prove he didn’t do it.

Actually, I thought he killed her while he was out of his mind on Ice. And unfortunately, our laws don’t care why he murdered her. They only care that he took a life.

It was sad, but I didn’t think I could help him. The only thing I could do was try to keep it from happening to anybody else.

Kyle saw what I was thinking in my eyes.

“I wish that night never happened,” he groaned. “I wish I never tried that stuff. I’ll never smell lemons again and not remember seeing Sally dead and bloody on the floor.”

“Lemons,” I repeated. “What do lemons have to do with it?”

“That’s what the stuff smells like,” Kyle replied. “After I snorted Ice, all I could smell was lemons.”

“Oh my Goddess,” I mumbled as the sight of stacks of Lemon boxes from Virople flashed through my mind.

Was Ice what had been in the boxes the faction had kept beneath the Association Complex?