Saturday morning Emory awoke yawning, but when he tried to cover his mouth, he found he couldn’t move his hands. He looked above his head to see why. “What?” He refocused his eyes to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was. Sure enough, his hands were tied to the iron headboard with neckties. He tried to jerk himself free without success. “What the hell is going on here?”
“You’re awake.” Jeff stirred from a chair in the corner of the room, a quilt draped over him like he had slept there through the night.
“Jeff.” Pieces of the night before started dropping into Emory’s head. “Untie me!”
Jeff threw the quilt aside and walked over to the bedside. “How are you feeling?”
“Vengeful,” Emory snarled. “Untie me now!”
“All right. Keep your shirt on.” Jeff smiled at his bare-chested captive as he freed one of his hands. “I figured you’d be in a crappy mood this morning.”
Emory shot his free hand to the bound one and tried untying it while Jeff made his way to the other side of the bed.
“How many of those pills did you take last night?”
Emory stopped what he was doing to face Jeff. “My pills? You’re blaming me?”
Jeff finished untying the second knot for him. As soon as he did, Emory leapt from the bed and rammed Jeff back into the wall. He grabbed his collar with both hands. “You drugged me, you son of a bitch!”
Jeff drove his forearms between Emory’s, forcing him to release his grip. “Don’t blame me for your drug use.”
Emory shot a right hook to Jeff’s chin, knocking him on his ass into a corner. “I’ve never done drugs in my life!” With a blood-red face, Emory glared at the fallen man.
Jeff wiped blood from his mouth and let out a little laugh. “Well, that’s not exactly true, now is it, Mr. Anxiety?”
“Those are prescription, asshole!”
“They alter your mood, just like any street drug. Look, I’m going to stand up now, and I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from any more sucker punches.” Jeff steadied himself with a hand on the nightstand and rose to his feet, while Emory remained in a boxing stance. “I knew you were on something last night, and I just figured you took too many of your pills. You did say you were stressed.”
“You’re just trying to absolve yourself.” Emory’s anger was not the least bit abated. “I swear, I’ve never seen anyone who could charm people so effectively to get what he wants, and I encounter sociopaths on a regular basis.”
Jeff’s lips stretched into a blood-laced smile. “You think I’m charming?”
“It’s not going to work on me now. I don’t remember a lot about last night, but I remember that you admitted drugging me.”
Expecting another strike, Jeff put his hands up to block Emory. “You asked me if I drugged you, and I said, ‘Yes.’ Sarcastically. It was a ridiculous question, and I gave an equally ridiculous answer. I swear to you on my honor.”
The special agent huffed at the thought of Jeff having any honor.
“Okay, on Virginia’s honor.”
“I don’t know her well enough.”
Jeff dropped his smile. “The point is, I didn’t do it. I’ll take a lie-detector test or whatever you want me to do to prove it.”
Emory lowered his fists. “I just don’t know if I can really trust you.”
“That’s okay. Most times, I don’t trust myself.”
Emory thought about it for a few seconds. “So you didn’t roofie me?”
“I assure you, Hester Prynne, your honor is intact. No, I didn’t roofie you.”
“Well, I was drugged. My pills don’t do that to me. And how was I supposed to detect sarcasm in the state I was in?” Emory started walking away, but he shifted back to Jeff. “Wait a second. Why’d you tie me up?”
“You kept wanting to leave, and I couldn’t let you drive the way you were.” Jeff put an arm around Emory’s shoulders and led him to the living room. “I wanted to take you to the hospital, but I was afraid you would get into trouble with your job. I thought the best course of action would be to put you in bed and watch over you.”
Emory sat on the couch. “A bit extreme, tying me up, don’t you think?”
Jeff grinned at him. “I’m an extreme guy. Hey, do you want some coffee?”
“Sure.” Emory smelled under his arm. “Ooh, I stink.”
Jeff nodded toward the bathroom. “You shower. I’ll get you some fresh clothes.”
Seeing his old clothes on the couch, Emory remembered his gun. He searched through them and found the empty holster. “Jeff, where’s my gun?”
On his way to the kitchen, Jeff took a detour to the old-fashioned radiator against the wall. He turned a knob on it and pulled one side away from the wall, revealing that the radiator was hinged like a cabinet door. Behind the radiator, a safe was embedded in the wall. “When you went to the bathroom, before we left last night, I started wondering where you left your gun. I found it under your clothes and put it in here for safekeeping.” Jeff opened the safe and handed the gun to Emory.
“Thanks. What do you do when it gets cold?”
Jeff pointed to a vent in the ceiling. “I had central air put it when I bought the place.” He continued to the kitchen to make coffee. “I’ve been thinking. Most drugs administered orally, assuming it was orally, take about half an hour to start kicking in. When did you notice that you were feeling different?”
Emory paused for a moment. “I think on the way to the club.”
“So you would’ve taken it here at my place or just before you came. Did you eat or drink anything around that time?”
Emory tried to retrace his steps. “The last thing I ate was at the bus station in Barter Ridge about three hours before we left for the club. After that I went to the office and didn’t have anything there. I came here, and had the drink you made me.”
Jeff found the bottle of gin and bottle of tonic, and placed them onto the counter. “We should get these tested.”
“What about the ice?”
Jeff shook his head. “I had the same ice. Anything else?”
Thinking further, Emory remembered one more item. “I took one of my pills before we left.”
“Could someone have switched your pills?”
“I don’t see how. I took one at the factory yesterday, and I was fine. If someone did, it had to be between then and when I came here last night, but I know I had the bottle with me the whole time.”
Jeff put out his hand. “Give them to me. We should have them tested to be sure. Maybe they weren’t all switched.” Hesitating, Emory handed him the bottle from his pocket. “Will you be okay until you get more?”
“Sure,” Emory responded, although he was anything but.
“Did you take it with your gin and tonic?”
“No, I had one of your bottled waters.”
“Where’s the bottle?”
“In your recycle bin.”
Jeff looked in the bin and saw four bottles of water. “Do you happen to remember which one it was?”
“It was grape-flavored.”
Jeff found one bottle of grape-flavored, empty but for a little backwash. He put it on the counter with the other items. “I hope that’s a big enough sample. I should get a full one, just in case.” He looked in his refrigerator for more flavored waters. “All I have left is plain.”
Emory pointed to a bottle on his desk. “You have a grape one over there.”
“I do?” Jeff’s mouth opened as he realized where that particular bottle had come from.
“What is it?”
“At the factory yesterday, I took a couple of bottles from Scot’s office.”
“Why would they have drugged water on their sample table?”
“I didn’t get it from that table. I got it from Scot’s desk.” Jeff snapped his finger. “Britt. Oh my god.”
“What about her?”
“Rick told me someone spiked her drink at her last competition.”
“Is that what happened to her? I saw the video.”
Jeff pointed at Emory, and his eyes brightened. “What if it wasn’t spiked? What if it came that way?”