“You said you would kill him. Madaster.”
Evan blanched. “That, you remember. I thought you were unconscious when I ran into that room.”
“Evan?” I prodded anxiously.
“Of course I didn’t kill him. I might have, to be honest,” he said after a pause, grimacing. “But I was too preoccupied once I saw you, lying on that floor. I thought he’d murdered you, at first.” That haunted look had returned to his eyes in full force.
“What did you do?”
“I checked to make sure you were breathing, of course. Found a pulse. Noah was ranting. I called an ambulance, and then Wes. He was still over at the North Twin, and I thought he might be able to help you. Then the ambulance came and they brought you here.”
“But Madaster—”
“I contacted the police. A cop came here to the ER, and I filed a report against Noah for drugging you. I’m assuming the police have gone to the South Twin to question him, by now. I hope he’s been arrested for what he did.”
“Why did Madaster do it, though? Why did he drug me?” I whispered, rubbing my eyelids. “Evan?” I asked, opening my eyes when he didn’t immediately reply. That wariness I’d seen before was back full-fledged on his face.
“You don’t remember anything that he did when you started to lose consciousness?”
I realized that while I was searching his face, looking for answers, he was doing the same thing to me.
I don’t have any answers, Evan. I’m most worried about what you know… about what Madaster revealed to you while I was unconscious.
The curtain twitched behind him, and the nurse reentered the cubicle, carrying some first aid supplies.
“Excuse me, please,” she told Evan briskly.
“I don’t know why Noah did it,” Evan said, before he stepped away from me to make room for the nurse.
But by that time in our relationship, I had experience with Evan’s sidestepping of the truth. With a sick, sinking feeling, I realized he was lying to me now.
Evan stood aside to let the two police officers pass him. He closed the door with a muted click behind them. He turned to face me across the luxurious hotel suite. We’d checked into it yesterday, after I’d been discharged from the hospital.
At that moment, I sensed all of my own frustrated helplessness mirrored on Evan’s face.
“Madaster said that his nurse was the one solely responsible for drugging me. And that crazy bitch said it was true.” I paraphrased part of what the police had just told us. My voice rang hollow with disbelief and outrage. Ima Butler, the nurse, had confessed to putting the ketamine into my iced tea. She’d claimed she’d done it out of anger at the fact that Evan and I had been purposefully upsetting and agitating Madaster ever since we’d arrived at Les Jumeaux. Madaster himself had posted bail for Ima, and she was currently free on bond. I was still stunned by the turn of events.
“Why would she do that? Why would she take the blame?”
Evan shut his eyes briefly and
stepped further into the room. The suite we were in wasn’t huge, although it was at a luxury hotel on the waterfront with a balcony. A big electronics convention was taking place in town. Evan had had to do some finagling to get us a room in South Lake on short notice. He’d made it clear upon leaving the hospital that we would not be returning to Les Jumeaux, under any circumstance.
“She’s become one of his creatures,” Evan said, raking his fingers through his thick hair. “I can’t say I’m surprised she did it. I told you. It’s how Noah operates. He makes slaves, or the equivalent of them. It’s the type of person he wants around him: subservient. Eager to please. I’m pissed as hell that she took the fall for him. But I’m not surprised.”
Feeling deflated, I sat down at the corner of one of the queen beds in the room.
Two beds.
I’d slept in one last night, Evan the other. I’d been exhausted upon being discharged, wrung out and numb with everything that had happened in the past few days. I’d slept with Evan’s arms around me on the previous night, even when I’d discovered his betrayal.
But last night, I’d insisted we sleep separately in the hotel room. I didn’t understand why I did it, and that frightened me even more. And despite my exhaustion, I’d been restless in that bed; unmoored and drifting away from everything that had once counted to me.
“Anna, are you all right?”
The fierce concern on his face made my throat swell uncomfortably. I placed my hand on my throat and lightly rubbed the straining muscles. I’d been the witness of his raw, wild worry dozens of times since yesterday. It was unbearable, because I knew I couldn’t comfort him. I certainly couldn’t take solace from him anymore.
“Anna?”