Free A Dangerous Widow (A Dangerous Series) by Christina Ross

saying that it could have
happened.   There’s a difference.”
    I closed my eyes at the thought that Lydia
might have died because of her association with Michael and me, and then I just
shook my head in resignation.   “What
else could have happened to her?”
    “That’s subjective.”
    “When it comes to her heart, I want to know
what could have happened.”
    “All right.   When it comes to inducing heart failure,
one of the more popular options is succinylcholine, which is a strong muscle
relaxant that paralyzes the respiratory muscles.   It’s normally used in hospitals to allow
for the insertion of a breathing tube into the throat of a still-conscious
patient.   In higher doses, it can
paralyze the entire breathing apparatus, and the victim suffocates to death,
which leads to heart failure.   The
win for the murderer is that it’s not normally tested for in toxicology
screens.”
    He took a sip of his water and said, “And
then there’s aconite, a plant indigenous to many parts of the world.   All parts of that plant are poisonous,
but the root is highly toxic.   Aconite has been called ‘the perfect poison to mask a murder.’   It can be detected only by sophisticated
toxicology analysis using equipment not always available to local forensic
labs.   If someone slipped it into,
say, a cup of tea, her heart would have seized up and she would have died from
it.   Again— this is pure
supposition. The point here is that there are many ways to bring on a heart
attack that a medical examiner could easily overlook.”
    Overwhelmed, I closed my eyes.   How was I even having this conversation
now?   Had my friend been murdered?   She couldn’t have been.
    But what if she had…?
    “So, you’ll seek out where she was when she
died?” I asked him.
    “I will.”
    “As I said before, Lydia had a high-end
clientele.   When you find out who
employed her, let me know.   Because
I’ll probably know them on some level.   If they’re resistant to working with you for whatever reason, I can
probably change that.   We’re a team
when it comes to this.”
    “To a point, we are.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means that I’ll let you help me out on
the sidelines, and by that, I mean that if I need information about certain
people and you have it, then you can share it with me in private.   But that’s where it ends.   I need to keep your name out of this
investigation as much as possible so that I can protect you.   If, for some unknown reason, that
psychic was right and Michael was murdered and the murderer finds out that
someone like me is asking questions about his death, things could escalate
quickly in a very bad way.   When you
murder someone, Kate, you never once stop looking over your shoulder.   That stain is on you for the rest of
your life.   Unless you’re dealing
with a sociopath or a psychopath, murderers always are hyperaware of their
surroundings because they’re paranoid about being found out.   That kind of paranoia can last for
life.   That’s what we’re going into
here.   So, I need you to listen to
me and do as I say for your own sake.   Or I won’t take this job.”
    “I need you to take it.   I trust you—you know that.   Because of our past, I trust you more
than anyone.”
    “Then I need for you to promise me that
you’ll do as I say.”
    When it comes to my husband, I can’t promise
you any of that, Ben.   If I find out
that Michael was murdered, I will
be the one who slices his murderer’s throat.   Not you.   Not the police.   It will be me.   If my husband was murdered, Michael will
have his vengeance through me.
    I hated to lie to him, but what choice did I
have?   So I said, “I will.   I get it.   I concede.   So, we go forward?”
    “We go forward,” he said.
      When he stood to leave, he said that he’d
be in touch with me in the morning.

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
    CHAPTER EIGHT

 
    And he was.
    At seven sharp, while