“I didn’t understand a word of that,” Francesca said impatiently. “My snake bit him while he was in the middle of
drawing blood. As the poison did not enter into the bloodstream right away, I assume that it wouldn’t show up in his
toxicology report.”
“That’s not important.” Zachary waved a hand impatiently. “Didn’t you say that the symptoms will appear tonight?
Will he die?”
“No, he wouldn’t. As members of the medical profession, we have a code of conduct to save lives, not end them.
Otherwise, I would have done away with him the day your house was set on fire. Eliminate loose ends, you know.”
“What will the symptoms be?” Zachary persisted.
“It’ll look like the flu at first, then as it gets worse, it’ll…” Francesca’s eyes narrowed with suspicion all of a sudden.
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“Why do you ask?”
“Help me dial a number, will you?”
“Pay me first!”
In Yaleview, Charlotte frowned as she pressed the phone to her ear. “What? Chris took a blood test, you say?”
“That’s right,” Raina replied. “I had him watched closely. The report came back clean.”
“Of course, it would.” Charlotte began to panic. “It was a ploy between me, Spencer, and Johann to falsify his report
to see how he would react if he thought he had been poisoned. It’s the only way that Spencer would be able to see
that he’s a fraud. I did that to drive a wedge between him and Jesse. Last night I had even left a smudge of green
dye on his brow and made him think it was a symptom of his poisoning. He was frightened enough to head straight
for the hospital in Fairlake to get tested, but Jesse stopped him. It didn’t take long for him to try again, only a day
after.”
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“So that’s what happened,” Raina said. “I had thought that Jesse really did poison him.”
“I’m sure that Jesse would have already found out by now that Chris went and got himself tested. He must have let
him go to let Chris see for himself. My instigation has failed, it seems.”
“Not necessarily,” Raina said mysteriously. “What if he really is poisoned?”
“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked dubiously.
“Somebody ran into him at the clinic,” Raina said carefully, “and had their snake give him a little nip, so…”
“Could that be Francesco?” Charlotte asked, shocked.
Raina merely coughed in response.
“Has Francesco contacted you?” Charlotte demanded.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lindberg. I’m not at liberty to say. All I can tell you is that things are looking better. Rest assured.”
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“Could it be Zac-”
“I have another incoming call, Ms. Lindberg. We’ll talk later.”
Before Charlotte could complete her question, Raina had already hung up on her.
Charlotte thought hard about the news she had just heard. Francesca is too proud to have contacted Raina to
inform her. It is more likely that Zachary was the one to have ordered the call to be made.
At that thought, her heart leaped with joy.
Zachary must be feeling a lot better to have been able to make that call. He’ll be home very soon.
Without delay, Charlotte began to analyze the next stage of the plan. Now that Chris has been poisoned by
Francesco, the poison would set in soon enough. I should poke at their already tense relationship.
Cheered up by that thought, Charlotte sent Chris a text: The toxins will start acting up tonight. Be warned.
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