Chapter 4 - The Poison in the Cereal
"Hold on, Ethan! Look at me!" I shouted, shaking his shoulders gently while pulling my phone from my pocket with my free hand.
My fingers were shaking so badly I dropped the phone twice against the hardwood floor before managing to hit emergency speed dial.
"911, what is your emergency?" a dispatcher's calm voice cut through the terror in the room.
"We have a case of acute organophosphate or neuromuscular blocker poisoning at 4402 Lakeside Drive, North Shore," I rattled off, reading the estate's plaque from memory. "Patient is a seventeen-year-old male, approximately one hundred and thirty pounds, exhibiting respiratory depression and tachycardia following ingestion of an unknown pharmaceutical agent. Send advanced life support immediately!"
"Ma'am, what is your name—"
"Just get the ambulance here!" I screamed, disconnecting the call and ripping off my apron to use as a makeshift compress against his chest to help regulate his breathing.
Footsteps thundered down the east wing hallway.
Nathan burst through the door, his suit jacket gone, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Behind him trailed Robert, looking pale and sweating profusely, followed by Serena, who was panting and clutching her foot.
Nathan took one look at Ethan on the floor, and the color drained completely from his face. The ruthless mafia don—the man who controlled the docks and made mayors bow—looked like he had just been shot through the heart.
"What did you do?" Nathan roared, dropping to his knees on the other side of Ethan and grabbing his son’s cold hand. "Ethan! Ethan, look at me!"
"It wasn't me!" I yelled back over Ethan's shallow gasps. "Look at the vial on the floor! That’s not physical therapy medicine, Mr. Blackwell! That’s a concentrated neuro-blocker! Someone has been spiking his evening supplements to keep his muscles from firing!"
Nathan’s head snapped toward the glass vial rolling near the dresser. He picked it up, sniffed the residue, and his eyes turned into chips of black ice.
"Serena," Nathan’s voice was barely a whisper, but it carried the weight of an executioner's axe. "Who administers his evening drops?"
Serena shrank back against the doorframe, her face turning the color of ash. "I... I only follow Dr. Harrison’s instructions! The doctor said—"
"Who administers it?" Nathan repeated, standing up slowly.
Before Serena could speak, Robert took a sudden step toward the open window overlooking the back gardens. "Nathan, this girl is insane! She probably poisoned him herself to frame the staff—we need to call the police and—"
"Shut up, Robert," Nathan said, not looking at his cousin. He walked slowly toward the door, blocking Robert's only exit. "How did you know it was poison, Robert? I haven't told anyone what was in the vial yet."
Robert swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing violently. "I... it was obvious! The girl was screaming about neuro-blockers—"
"She said pharmaceutical agent on the phone," Nathan corrected, his voice dead flat. "She didn't mention neuro-blockers until just now."
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The silence in the room was absolute, broken only by the ragged, whistling sound of Ethan fighting for every breath on the floor.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second as they tore down Lakeside Drive, their red and blue lights flashing against the high Gothic windows of the east wing.
