Page 8 of Fatal Conspiracy

“I don’t think his high cholesterol had anything to do with being poisoned.”

There was silence from the back seat. “Did you say poisoned?”

“I did,” she answered. “With antifreeze.”

“Alayah, my boss, who was also my friend, just died. It’s cruel to be sarcastic at a time like this.”

She shook her head as she peered through the murkydarkness. “Trust me when I say there’s no sarcasm detected in that statement. I was there and watched it happen.”

“You watched it happen?”

“Yep,” she said, swallowing down the bile. “He took a drink from his bottle and said a few more words before he collapsed.”

The silence from the back seat was deafening.

“Derek?”

He leaned over the seat, making her jump, but she bit back the shriek that had tried to escape. “You’re saying the antifreeze was in the water bottle?”

“That’s the assumption,” she said. “That’s need-to-know information, by the way. I only know because the water bottle was in our care for a period of time.”

Alayah knew the moment the realization hit him. He threw himself backward in the seat as though he’d been punched. “They think I did it!”

“They certainly want to talk to you,” she agreed. “The cops are looking for you as we speak. I’m surprised law enforcement didn’t show up at your cabin already.”

“No one knows where it is,” he answered, his hand on his forehead. When she didn’t say anything, he sighed. “That was on purpose. If Hugo knew where to find me on the rare occasion I left the city, he wouldn’t hesitate to bombard me with never-ending tasks. The cops will eventually find the location, but the deed is in my mom’s name, so it will probably take them some time. Doesn’t matter. Once we stop at the cabin and pick up my things, you can drop me off at the station. I have nothing to hide.”

Alayah was silent as they drove, allowing him a few moments to think about what she’d told him. She didn’t know him well, but she was sure that he hadn’t faked surprise at the news that his boss was poisoned. He didn’tknow what was going on, and the wild look in his eye told her he was either scared or concussed. Then again, it was probably both.

“How did the antifreeze get in the water bottle?” he asked, as though the thought just struck him. “I poured his special vitamin water out of the original bottle and into his and then handed it to Cal.”

“You dumped already bottled water into another bottle?”

He nodded with exaggeration. “Ridiculous, I know. Hugo was superstitious. He always insisted that the water bottle had to be with him at every event for it to be successful.”

“Man,” she muttered. “That would be a serious problem if you ever lost it.”

His laughter was surprising in the face of the conversation, but even she could admit that he was probably still in shock. “We had four of those same bottles, Alayah. He never knew that, but there was no way I was getting caught unable to find one.”

“Wait, so there are other bottles?”

“Yes, but I left the extras at home since I wouldn’t be with Hugo. I cautioned him that he had to keep an eye on it because if he lost it, I couldn’t help him.”

“Sounds like you treated him like a child,” she observed, glancing in the rearview mirror. He was incredibly handsome, even with a bruised eye, nose and lip. She was glad to see that the swelling had subsided, now allowing him to open it fully.

“Everyone knew who Hugo Victor was,” he said with a shrug. “He liked being catered to, and despite owning and running a multibillion-dollar company, he also wanted people to hold his hand when it came to just about everything else.”

“Some people would call that eccentric,” she said, to which he shrugged.

“Others call it self-indulgent and lazy. I call it exhausting. You need to turn soon to get to my cabin. It’s just on the other side of Knife River.”

She was silent for a moment, wondering why on earth he thought it was smart to go back to his cabin when he’d been attacked there just hours before. “Maybe it’s a better idea to just go to Duluth. What if those guys are waiting?”

“It’s a chance I have to take,” he said, and then let silence prevail.

* * *

HUGO HAD BEENpoisoned with antifreeze via his water bottle. Derek still couldn’t wrap his mind around that. What was worse was that they thought he had something to do with it. He had literally no idea it was ever used that way other than on television or in detective novels.