Piper hated that her conversation with Jack had ended so poorly. She knew in her heart that he reacted so strongly just because he cared about her and was concerned about her safety. She wished she hadn’t gotten angry with him.
But it bothered her that Jack didn’t trust her to be able to handle the situation she was in. She was a grown woman and could take care of herself. While she appreciated Jack’s concern, he had to respect that she was going to do what she thought was right.
He had made one salient point, though. She was definitely going to make a doctor’s appointment when she got home. Deep down Piper knew that she probably hadn’t fainted from the heat in the cemetery. It had been warm there, and the sun had been beating down strongly, but she’d been in much hotter weather than that many times before. Rather it had been thinking about Muffuletta Mike being shoved into the darkness of his crypt and then remembering the panicked, claustrophobic feeling in the fake tomb for the movie, which harked back to the paralysis in the hotel room in Florida, that had sent her mind reeling. It was as though her system couldn’t take the overload of fear that coursed through it at the memories.
She still recollected it so clearly. The day for her cousin’s wedding had been glorious. Piper had been so happy. At least her cousin’s wedding day was perfect. The days leading up to it had been marred by tragedy—and the murder of a bridesmaid.
The bride and groom had spoken their vows beneath the shining sun on a soft white beach. The ceremony was followed by a wedding brunch.
Piper had been famished and quickly ate the bowl of gazpacho that had been set out as a first course. She’d thought the cold soup tasted odd. She’d never had gazpacho with fish in it before.
Soon after, her head started to ache, but she thought the sun’s blinding glare was to blame. When she went to her hotel room to get sunglasses, she’d lain down to rest. She’d used the time to post a picture of the newlyweds on Facebook and then scrolled through her page. A response to a picture she’d posted a few days earlier had helped her put the pieces together. She knew who the killer was.
But as she’d tried to rise from the bed and go for help, Piper felt the room spin around her and she crumpled to the floor. Her body was paralyzed!
Even more terrifying, she couldn’t catch her breath. She managed only short, shallow gulps, never feeling that the oxygen was actually getting to her lungs. She was suffocating! Piper had been sure she was going to die.
She hadn’t died, though. Jack had saved her, giving her mouth-to-mouth and confirming for doctors that she’d remarked that the gazpacho had tasted fishy. It turned out that the killer had laced her soup with toxic puffer fish.
The life-support measures that kept her alive in the hospital had been followed by days of recuperation. She still wasn’t quite a hundred percent physically.
But her body wasn’t the problem now. Piper realized that her mental and emotional well-being was far more battered.
When she returned north, she would find someone to talk to about all of it. But first she had to get through the next few days. Tomorrow she had to bake the layers for the wedding cake for Sabrina and Leo’s Natchez wedding cruise. Thursday she would decorate it and make the smaller cake for Friday’s nuptial dinner. Friday morning she would decorate that smaller cake, and then she could fly home.
It was important that she rest and get a good night’s sleep so she could hit the ground running in the morning. Piper decided to order in some dinner, watch television, and then turn in.