Page 33 (2/2)

He closed his eyes for a minute, puzzled "Then I don’t know," he admitted

"What do you mean, you don’t know?" Frank repeated, clearly annoyed

"I was there, and then I was in the water," Aaron said

"Okay, think, Aaron Did you see anyone, hear anyone? Was there anything out of the ordinary?" Dustin asked, trying to encourage hihtful "No Must have hitI mean, the water isn’t even deep What, I was in about two feet of it?"

"So like that," Dustin confirmed

"Aaron, this just beats all," Frank said "There ular ," Aaron said "Got up, looked over at the horses, felt the chill of theI walked the fifty or so yards to the waterheard some birds chirpthe buzz of some insects and thenI woke up here In some kind of brain machine! I’m fine now, honest to God, I’m fine now If they’ll just let ht for observation," Frank told him

"Let’s back up," Dustin said "Frank--you heard insects? Like a buzzing in your ear?"

"Flies and mosquitos do see his head and s

"Which ear?" Dustin persisted

"What?"

"Which ear?" Dustin repeated "Never mind May I look at your neck, at the side of your head?"

"Okay" Aaron shrugged "They’ve pushed and prodded everything else"

Dustin walked over to Aaron andit with intensity He frowned suddenly, feeling so in his hair

"Smarts there a little," Aaron said

Dustin pulled out his penlight and inspected Aaron’s scalp He nodded at Frank, alked over

"Looks like an insect bite," Frank said

"Except it isn’t" Dustin stepped back "Aaron, I believe so cocktail on the arrow tip to knock you out It wouldn’t have killed you But since you were standing by the water, you fell in and nearly died"

"What?" Aaron demanded incredulously

"I believe Marcus Danby was murdered, struck with a like dart laced with a sis When he was unconscious, he was injected with the heroin and ‘helped’ to fall into the ravine"

"Uh--" Aaron said, staring from one to the other "Why?"

"I don’t know the answer to that yet," Dustin said

Aaron turned to Frank Vine "That’s crazy," he said "Why kill Marcus? Why kill me? All he had, really, was the Horse Farm and it’s tied up in trusts and it’s nonprofit, so"

He broke off His eyes fell on Olivia--not with accusation but with confusion "Why?" he asked again

"I don’t know," Dustin said "We were hoping you ht’ve seen someone, heard so on un! Come on! Who the hell runs around the hills of Tennessee with a dart gun?"

"That’s e have to find out," Dustin said

"And you’re sure?" Aaron asked in a trelanced at Dustin, then turned back to Aaron "I can’t believe Marcus suddenly wentup You knew him Did you believe that when you heard it?"

Aaron sed "No," he aduns?"

"Whatever the exact composition of the poison, it causes an instant knockout," Dustin said "But it doesn’t remain in the system Or it’s difficult to identify--and requires special tests at autopsy The kind that aren’t usually done unless poisoning is suspected I think that same person tried to attack Olivia in the woods, and then went after you at the stream"

Aaron looked at Frank Vine "This is crazy--crazy," he said

Frank shrugged "You wanna live, Aaron? Crazy or not, you ht want to listen to hiun?"

"You watch your step," Frank told him "Stay with people at all times It’s hard for soroup"

"How close are you to catching whoever is doing this?" Aaron asked