“That’s right,” he said. “That’s the way he wanted it.”
“Any way the vials could have been tampered with?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “I thought he died from an overdose.”
“Someone laced Johnny’s GHB with a very potent venom,” she said. “Which caused his heart to fail. Any idea what venom was used?” she asked Chase.
He stared at her, then rolled his eyes. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but since you’re going to simply turn around and ask your uncle I might as well. The venom found belongs to the Australian funnel-web spider.”
She stared at him. “Spider venom?”
“Not just any spider. Apparently it’s the most lethal spider in the world. The weird thing? The venom is deadly only if injected directly into the bloodstream. When imbibed, its proteins are broken down by stomach acid, and the effect is greatly diminished. The only reason the venom was toxic in this case, is because Johnny was suffering from an enlarged heart, possibly caused by years of drug abuse.”
“So whoever administered the venom…”
“Was a rank amateur,” said Chase.
They both turned to Orville. “So it looks like you decided to off your best customer, Orville,” Chase said. “Now all I want to know is where you got the venom.”
“Spider venom? Are you crazy? I don’t even—why would I kill my best customer?”
“If you didn’t put that venom in that vial, who did?” asked Odelia.
“How should I know? I delivered the stuff to Johnny once a week. Enough vials for his guests, and the special batch I mixed up for him distinguished by the pink seal so nobody could tamper with it.”
“And you’re sure nobody could have had access to the vials? Someone who knew about this arrangement between you and Johnny?” she asked.
“Positive. I’m a one man operation and I personally prepared Johnny’s happy juice, as he liked to call it. Between this place and Johnny’s house, nobody messed with those vials. If they were tampered with, it must have been by someone at Johnny’s end. Someone who knew about the pink seal.”
“How easy is it to reseal those vials?” asked Odelia.
“Very easy. It’s basically just a small sticker I put on top. Anybody could have peeled it off, dumped in that spider venom, and resealed it. Didn’t you find any fingerprints on the vial?”
“We did,” said Chase, darting a knowing look at Odelia. “Looks like we got the right man in jail after all.” Then he turned back to the health food guy, plucking a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “Orville Haggis, you’re under arrest for the illegal distribution—”
But before he could finish his sentence, Orville decided to skedaddle.
“Hey!” Chase yelled as the guy swung around and disappeared through a door behind him. “Hell,” the cop grunted, and vaulted the counter. “You wait here, Poole.”
But Odelia had a better idea. She quickly raced through the store and slammed through the front door. As she did, she saw Orville straddling a red Ducati and, as she watched, kicked it to life and raced off. She ran to her pickup and hopped in. After a few coughs, the engine roared to life, and she backed the car up on screeching tires. Just then, Chase came bolting full-speed through the small alley dividing The Vitamin King from the Chinese restaurant next door. She pushed open the passenger door. “Hop in!”
And then she was stomping down on the accelerator, tires squealing and spraying the front of The Vitamin King with gravel. Finally finding purchase, the truck lurched forward and they were off at a healthy clip in pursuit of the hipster drug dealer. The pickup bumped into a depression in the asphalt at the edge of the parking lot and then swung onto the main road, merging into traffic with smoking tires.
“Please tell me you learned how to drive since the last time I rode with you,” Chase said, sounding a little winded.
“Please tell me that that short chase didn’t knock the wind out of you.”
“I haven’t found a decent fitness club in town yet,” he grumbled. “It’s been weeks since my last training session and I’m starting to feel the strain.”
“There’s a great club at that strip mall we just left,” she said. “I used to go there all the time.”
“So what made you stop?”
“Between work at the Gazette and the club suddenly jacking up its prices I decided I needed to buy myself an elliptical trainer and work out at home.”
“And how do you like the machine? I might get one myself.”
She gave him a rueful look. “Actually I haven’t gotten round to buying one yet. But I will!” she quickly added when he laughed and shook his head.
Orville was setting a nice pace, and she had to focus when they reached the heart of town. Between pedestrians and traffic she had to be careful not to hit anyone, while Orville didn’t have a large pickup to navigate and could easily slip through on his more flexible two-wheeler.
“Maybe I should buy a bike instead of a home trainer,” she said, cursing under her breath when she had to stop for two women crossing with strollers.
“So why don’t you?”
“Three cats,” she said. “They wouldn’t like it if I traded in my old Ford.”
“You take those cats everywhere?”
“Hey, I’m the cat lady, remember?”
“I said that one time,” he grumbled.
She smiled. “I’m like an elephant. I never forget a thing.”
“You don’t look like an elephant.” She blushed, and immediately he held up his hands. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”
“No, I take it you meant that as a compliment?”
“Yes, I did mean it as a compliment.”
She gave him a quick sideways glance. The way he was sitting there, with his muscular frame stretching his shirt, his long legs clad in jeans, he looked more than fine. In fact he looked downright sexy. A hottie, Gran would say. But what was up with the compliments? That was definitely a first. Then she decided to focus on the mission at hand: capturing a known drug dealer. She could think about Chase Kingsley all she wanted when this was over.
Finally, they’d reached the road leading out of town, and she slammed down the accelerator, causing Chase to be knocked back against his seat.
“Christ, be careful, will you? I don’t want to die in the line of duty yet.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, gritting her teeth as she kept her eyes focused on the small dot in the distance that was Orville Haggis. “I’m a great driver.”
“If you manage to keep us alive and catch the bad guy, I’ll believe you.”
They were on a straight strip of road now, and she ratcheted up the engine to the sticking point, going as fast as she dared to take it, and still they weren’t gaining on the Ducati. But at least they weren’t falling behind either.
“I better call the Chief,” said Chase. “Maybe he can set up a roadblock.”
“Don’t call him yet,” she said. “I’m going to catch Mr. Ginseng.”
“Are you always so eager to catch your guy?”
“Sure. If you come into my town dealing drugs, I’m going to hunt you down.” She glanced over. “We’re big on civic duty in Hampton Cove.”
“So I’ve noticed,” he said. “And while I think that’s admirable, you might want to leave the heroics to the trained professionals.”
She smiled. “Like the trained professional who couldn’t catch a hipster drug dealer?” To add emphasis to her words, she punched her foot down all the way to the floor of the car. The engine responded with a roaring whine, as if asking her to cut it out already.
“Uh-oh,” said Chase. “This old thing is gonna blow.”
They were finally gaining on the bearded ginseng huckster, and she now overtook him. Chase stared at Orville and Orville stared back, seemingly surprised that his great escape had been thwarted by this duo in a beat-up old Ford pickup.
Chase rolled down the window and shouted, “Pull over!”
“No way, cop!” yelled Orville.