Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Everleigh's feet had just hit the bottom step when the doorbell rang. She started to move across the foyer when a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. She glanced up at Knox, whose eyes were dark and serious. “Let me.”
With a little nod, she stepped aside and let him take the lead. After checking through the sidelights, he opened the door. “Sullivan. What brings you here?”
Everleigh slipped up next to Knox in time to see a grimace flicker over Cade Sullivan’s handsome features. He nodded when he saw her. “Ma'am.”
His presence was unsettling, but she forced a polite smile to her lips. “Chief. What can we do for you?”
“I'd like to speak with you if you have a few moments. Is Mrs. Beaumont around?”
“I'll go get her.” She tipped her face up to Knox. “Could you please show him to the sitting room?”
“Of course.”
Knox brushed one hand down her spine in a soothing gesture as she stepped away. Her heart beat erratically as she headed deeper into the house to find her mother. Whatever the chief of police was doing there, she doubted he brought good news.
She found her mother sitting in the sunroom, staring out over the back yard, looking small and lost. “Mama?”
Her mother turned to her, her eyes devoid of emotion. “Is it time to go to the hospital already?”
Because of her father’s condition, he was still heavily sedated and intubated to help with his breathing. The doctor had told them they would all be able to come back and visit him later that afternoon. Everleigh shook her head. “Not yet. Chief Sullivan is here to speak with us.”
A tiny line appeared in the space between her mother’s brows. “Whatever for?”
“I'm not sure.” Everleigh twisted her hands. “I had Knox show him to the sitting room.”
“Oh.” One hand fluttered to her throat as she set her tea cup on the side table and rose gracefully to her feet. “I need to get ready.”
Everleigh barely managed to bite back a sigh of annoyance. Her mother’s perfectly put-together facade was like armor she donned to keep people from seeing the person beneath. “I'll make coffee and tell him you'll be down in ten minutes.”
Hopefully, her mother wouldn't keep them waiting long. She hurried to the kitchen where she found Lettie. Lettie must have read the expression of discomfort on Everleigh's face, because her head tipped slightly to one side. “Is everything okay, miss?”
“Fine.” Everleigh hoped. “We have guests in the sitting room. I'm going to make some coffee.”
“Oh, I'll take care of it.”
“No, really.” Everleigh shook her head. “I need something to do with my hands anyway. Could you please bring me a tray?”
“Absolutely.” Lettie moved efficiently, gathering cups and the necessary accoutrements as Everleigh started the coffee maker.
The few minutes it took the coffee to brew felt like hours.
What was Chief Sullivan doing there? Everleigh mentally flipped through all the possibilities, but none of them seemed to fit.
Had something else happened? Her heart slammed against her ribcage, her pulse accelerating with each passing second until she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
She forced herself to draw in deep, steady breaths as she headed back to the sitting room. Knox and Cade sat in chairs adjacent to one another, both men speaking in hushed tones. Their heads snapped up when she entered the room, and she knew immediately that something was wrong.
Everleigh stumbled to a halt, and coffee sloshed precariously as the tray wobbled in her shaky hands. Knox immediately rose and took the tray, then placed it on the coffee table before extending one hand her way. “Come here, sweetheart.”
As much as she wanted to resist, her body reacted automatically. As soon as her fingers were enfolded in his, he tugged her into a hug. “Everything's going to be fine,” he whispered next to her ear.
But the tone of his voice wasn't reassuring. He led them to the couch and tucked her in close to him, her hip touching his. The house seemed like a mausoleum without her father’s larger-than-life presence, and she shifted uncomfortably as a tense silence descended over the room.
Knox stroked her upper arm with a light touch, and her mother finally strode into the room nearly twenty minutes later. Dark circles ringed her eyes despite the makeup she'd expertly applied, and she nodded to the men who stood when she entered.
Cade held out a hand in greeting, which her mother accepted. “Mrs. Beaumont. Thank you for seeing me.”
Once she took a seat, the men resettled themselves, and her mother cocked her head in question. Everleigh was dying to know why he was there, and she fixed her gaze on Chief Sullivan as he began to speak.
“I've come to let you know that I’ve spoken with the hospital staff.”
Her mother’s brows drew slightly together in confusion. “I don’t understand. Why are the police involved?”
“Unfortunately, I have some bad news.”
Everleigh tensed at Cade’s serious tone, her heart battering her ribcage, her breaths coming fast and shallow. Knox leaned in and pulled her closer to him. “Slow, deep breath,” he murmured. “Nice and easy, sweetheart. I've got you.”
“Dr. Branson discussed the possibility of an allergic reaction, correct?” He continued at her mother’s silent nod. “Mr. Beaumont wasn’t responding to treatment, so they’ve begun to look outside the box and examined the burn closer. It’s possible he ingested some kind of toxin.”
It took a moment for Everleigh to understand what he was saying. “Where would he have come into contact with something like that?”
“At the country club,” Knox cut in gently. “There were traces of the substance on his fingers, so it was potentially in something he ate or drank.”
“Something he ate or drank.” Everleigh parroted the words, but even hearing them out loud, they didn’t make sense. They’d all been there last night, and none of them had gotten sick. Why would there be toxins in his food, unless…?
A heavy silence fell over the room as realization dawned, cold and hard. It had been intentional. Her father hadn't experienced an allergic reaction as they had guessed; he had been poisoned. Someone had tried to murder him.
Her mother had paled drastically at the news, and her fingers twisted in the pearls at the base of her neck. “I... I'm sorry. Excuse me for a moment.” A vacant expression had taken up residence on her face, and she escaped from the room.
Everleigh's body vibrated with a combination of shock and fear as she regarded Cade. “What... what does this mean?”
He eyed her shrewdly. “The investigation is ongoing. We're currently interviewing employees at the country club to see if they noticed anything out of the ordinary.”
Everleigh felt cold all over, numb inside. She didn't know what to think. Someone had tried to kill her father. But who? The same man who'd sent her photos? A shiver rippled through her, and Knox pulled her to him, seeming to read her mind.
“We'll figure out what's going on, sweetheart. Don't worry, Cade is as good as they come. He'll find the person who did this.”
“How…?” She struggled to order her thoughts. She couldn’t believe they were having this discussion.
“We don’t know exactly what happened,” Cade replied, “but we’re doing our best to reconstruct the timeline from yesterday evening and determine where he may have come into contact with the toxin.”
Everleigh's head seemed to shake of its own volition. “But… no one else got sick. Isn’t that a pretty big risk, poisoning someone in a public place like that?”
“It is,” Cade agreed, his eyes flicking toward Knox. “But I imagine whoever was responsible made sure it was something only your father would ingest. For example, as Knox suggested, his preferred whiskey.”
Everleigh blinked several times. Her brain still felt a little fuzzy, like all the details were right there but refused to fall into place. “What now?”
“We’re still waiting on the toxicology report the hospital ordered,” Cade replied, “but that could take several days. When the hospital staff contacted us with their suspicions, we reached out to the country club to have them pull the glassware.
“Luckily, it hadn’t been washed yet and one of my men was able to take it to be tested. We’ll be able to verify the substance used and how it was transferred. Once we determine that, they’ll be able to better treat your father.”
Knox rubbed Everleigh's arm. “I know this is hard, sweetheart, but I promise everything will be all right.”
Somehow, Everleigh doubted that very much.