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Mathews kissed his daughter, then went to the bed and did the sa there She couldn’t have been thirty yet, but she was dying Grant was no doctor, but it was impossible to ly yellow cast to it She had dark hollows under her eyes and they barely fluttered when Mathews s head His wedding ring flashed in the bright fluorescent lighting, and Grant realized that this had to be his wife

"Love you, sweetheart Be back soon," he whispered, but Grant heard it His heart ached for the man, but like with Isabelle, he was helpless to do a da to make it better

Mathews shut the door behind hi in his face showed he was suffering If Grant hadn’t seen what the h for himself, he never would have believed it

"You should go spend tiot to do my job The bill collectors don’t care that my wife is sick"

"I’et it," said Mathews "And I mean that This is none of your business, and I expect you to respect that"

"Sure," he said, though he kneas a lie That was not the kind of thing a ot easily

They went to the cafeteria and got coffee Whatever pain Matheas suffering, he soh to do his job "Where did Isabelle get the tea?"

"At school She said one of her students gave it to her"

"Today?"

"Yes"

"We got that warrant to search Wyatt’sThere were bits of plant matter in there"

"Plantthe tea, I think it’s a pretty safe bet those plant bits are what he used to poison Isabelle"

That fucking bastard Grant was going to kill hiallon of that tea and see how he liked it

Mathews kept talking while the seething rage swelled inside Grant, taking over

"I’ll have a sample sent to a lab, but the results could take weeks," said Mathews

"You can’t wait that long to charge him with the murders"

"We won’t have to The poison wasn’t the only thing we found in his room Trina Skinner’s body was on his bed"

"The wo?" Another victim Another innocent woman dead "How?"

"She was stabbed twenty-seven times"

The paper cup in Grant’s hand collapsed in his grip and coffee sloshed onto the table

Wyatt really needed to die, and Grant was more than ready to be the one to make that happen

Mathews nodded "She hadn’t been dead long Wyatther all this time We’re not sure where"

Grant did not allow himself to think about the horror Trina o He was already teetering on the edge of going hunting for Wyatt right now His rifle was in his trunk All he had to do was find the man and it would all be over

If it weren’t for his need to be near Isabelle, his need to know she was going toand risk getting caught?"

"To kill her in the right order would be uess"

"That means he skipped Amanda, killed Trina, and moved on to Isabelle"

Mathews shook his head "Amanda wasn’t around, so maybe he decided to ot to her and we haven’t found the body yet"

"No Amanda’s fine She called us this weekend and told us not to worry" Grant’s tone was clipped and cold with denial Airl were safe He refused to believe anything else

Mathews’s mouth flattened like he didn’t quite buy it "If you talk to her again, tell her to stay put until we’ve caught Wyatt"

"How long will that take?"

"I wish I knew You could pack up and leave town if it wouldto feel safe until he’s back behind bars" Or dead Dead would be better

The harried-looking young man in scrubs caave a hard thump of anxiety as he rose to his feet

The man saw him and headed his direction Grant met him halfway

"Isabelle’s stable now," said the et her settled in a room"

"Is she awake?"

"Not yet It ht?"

"We can’t know for sure if there will be any lasting effects from the poison until after she’s conscious"

"What the hell is that supposed tohand on his ar to live Count your blessings"

Grant jerked away froave the intern a hard stare "Tell me what that means"

"It means that we don’t know I’m sorry Toxins are difficult to treat e don’t knohat they are We treated her sy"

"Seems to be?"

"We’ll just have to wait and see"

TheGrant’s tenuous control He wanted to lash out and pound the answers out of this guy, even though he kneouldn’t help

Mathews stepped between theret "Take us to her He needs to see for himself she’s okay"

The man in scrubs looked nervously fro on to how close he was to seeing violence up close and personal "Uh Right this way"

Isabelle felt like she’d spent the night tu inside a dryer Her skin was hot and parched, her sto almost as much as her head, and every muscle in her body ached Even her eyelids

It took her a minute to convince them to work, but finally, she cracked an eye open Grant was the first thing she saw, though he was a bit fuzzy around the edges He was sitting beside her, watching her with bloodshot eyes When he saw her move, he jumped out of his chair and hovered over her

"Hey, beautiful How are you feeling?"

Her throat was raw, and when she spoke, only a hoarse whisper came out "Like crap"

Grant smiled a little "Sure beats the alternative"