Once Pined Read online

  Finally the figure on the other side of the curtain said, “That’s enough. Come on out.”

  Riley turned off the shower and stepped naked out of the stall. Bill was still there, turned away from her. Another worker was standing beside him.

  The worker who had been just outside the curtain was holding gray pajamas and a pair of slippers.

  “Get into these,” the worker told Riley.

  The voice sounded like a woman.

  Riley dried herself and put on the pajamas and slippers.

  “Your turn,” the other worker said to Bill, holding out another set of pajamas.

  Bill began to disrobe as the worker led Riley out of the bathroom.

  The poisoner was still sitting there, completely unresponsive. The elderly man was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking almost equally stunned.

  “What about them?” Riley asked the worker.

  “They’ll get showers too,” the worker said. “Come with me.”

  The figure led Riley outside toward a waiting emergency vehicle.

  “But what about my partner?” Riley asked. “Is he going to be all right?”

  The woman didn’t reply as Riley climbed into the back of the vehicle.

  “What about my partner?” Riley asked again.

  “I don’t know,” the woman said.

  She climbed in beside Riley and closed the door.

  CHAPTER FORTY ONE

  Later that night, Riley sat in her hospital bed for what seemed like forever. A nurse had drawn blood quite some time ago, and Riley was waiting for lab results.

  She had frantically asked about Bill over and over again, but no one would tell her anything. The only thing she knew for certain was that Dr. Prisha Shankar had taken charge of both her and Bill. At least that offered Riley some comfort. She felt sure that both of them were in good hands.

  At last, a hand pushed aside the curtain beside Riley’s. Dr. Shankar was holding a clipboard.

  “I’ve got good news,” she said. “We just did a complete heavy metals panel, and you don’t have any dimethylmercury in your system. You can go home now.”

  “But what about my partner?” Riley asked.

  Shankar smiled.

  “You can ask him.”

  Bill stepped through the curtain, smiling rather weakly.

  Riley gasped from sheer relief.

  “Bill! Are you all right?”

  Bill shrugged.

  “It looks like I’m going to be,” he said.

  Dr. Shankar explained.

  “He was contaminated, and he does have dimethylmercury in his system. Like I told you, symptoms don’t appear for months. That was probably one of the reasons the poisoner finally decided to use dimethylmercury. The time gap would have made it almost impossible to trace the poisonings back to her.”

  Shankar patted Bill on the back.

  “He’ll need regular chelation therapy until we’re sure that his system is clear. We caught it in plenty of time, don’t worry.”

  “Chelation therapy?” Riley asked.

  “It’s a way of clearing heavy metals out of the body,” Shankar said.

  Bill pointed to a bandage in the crook of his arm.

  “I’ll get it intravenously on an outpatient basis. I can get it done back at home, too.”

  He rubbed the bandage.

  “I’ve got to say, it burns quite a bit,” he said.

  “With some luck, that will be the only side effect,” Shankar said.

  Then she laughed.

  “Now I suggest that the two of you get out of here,” she said.

  “Good idea,” Riley said, getting out of bed.

  “And Agent Paige?” she added.

  Riley turned.

  “Damn good work.”

  EPILOGUE

  The following night, Riley was back in Fredericksburg sitting in the living room, telling Ryan all that had happened. She had arrived very late, after all the flight delays, and Gabriella, April, and Jilly were all fast asleep. She didn’t want to wake them.

  Besides, she enjoyed having this quiet time alone, just with Ryan.

  The house was still, and they sat beside each other on the couch, each enjoying their second glass of wine.

  Riley took a deep breath as she finished her story.

  In the silence that followed, Riley closed her eyes and remembered her day in flashes: the long flight home with Bill; his gratitude at her help and her relief that he would be OK; Meredith’s call, his reluctant congratulations and reinstating her, with a warning that they’d need to meet when she got back; even Rigby called and congratulated her in his own awkward way. None would come and admit she had cracked it, yet she could hear it all in their voices, the awkward silence that signaled respect—and that meant more to her than she could say.

  “Thank God you’re safe,” Ryan finally said, breaking the silence, hugging her.

  Ryan was now speechless.

  While they sat there in silence, Riley kept remembering what Shane Hatcher had said to her …

  “Everything happens for no reason.”

  Today for some reason, Riley felt almost as if she were starting to understand what that meant.

  Finally Ryan said, “But what about that crazy woman killer? She was contaminated too, wasn’t she?”

  “That’s right,” Riley said. “She’ll get the same chelation treatment as Bill.”

  “But how many people did she kill?”

  Riley sighed tiredly.

  “We’re still trying to find out. A half dozen at least, over a period of years.”

  Ryan scratched his chin.

  “And yet she’s going to get full medical treatment. That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “You’re a lawyer, you should understand,” Riley said. “The law doesn’t deal in poetic justice—just plain old ordinary legal justice. And it remains to be seen whether she’ll be competent to stand trial. The last I heard, she’s still slipping in and out of lucidity. I’m sure her lawyer will put up an insanity defense.”

  Ryan shook his head.

  “Don’t you just hate that?”

  Riley didn’t reply. Until now, she’d always loathed insanity defenses. But Alicia Carswell was one of the strangest criminals she’d ever apprehended.

  What was the diagnosis the psychiatrist had given early this morning?

  Oh, yes, Riley remembered. “Organic delusional disorder.”

  Alicia Carswell suffered from a grandiose belief that she was some kind of angel.

  Riley was struck by something especially strange. She had tracked a good many insane killers over the years. But in the past, all that insanity had always had a cause, some roots in childhood or heredity.

  But Amanda Carswell’s madness seemed to have no cause whatsoever.

  So far, the authorities had found no sign that Carswell had lived anything other than a perfectly happy childhood, nor was there any history of insanity in her family. Prisha Shankar had explained to Riley and Bill that this was typical of organic delusional disorder. Its cause was often impossible to determine. It seemed to arise out of nowhere.

  Again Hatcher’s words rang in Riley’s head.

  “Everything happens for no reason.”

  It was all very unsettling. Somehow, blind chance had turned this woman into an insane murderer.

  The thought made her shiver.

  The world seemed to make a little less sense today than it had before.

  Riley stood then and walked over to her windows. The blackness of the night, seeping into her living room, had never bothered her before.

  But tonight, it did.

  She reached up and pulled the string, closing the blinds right.

  The world was darker, indeed.

  Filled, she knew, with an endless sea of serial killers.

  And as much as she tried to run from them, tomorrow, she knew, or perhaps the day after, she’d get another call.

  And another.

  And another.
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  One day, she knew, she’d reach a tipping point and stop taking that call.

  But for now?

  She had no idea.

  Coming Soon!

  Book #7 in the Riley Paige mystery series

  Did you know that I've written multiple novels in the mystery genre? If you haven't read all my series, click the image below to download a series starter!

  Blake Pierce

  Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes six books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.

  An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

  BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

  RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

  ONCE GONE (Book #1)

  ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

  ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

  ONCE LURED (Book #4)

  ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

  ONCE PINED (Book #6)

  MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

  BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

  BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

  BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

  AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

  CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

  CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

  CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

  KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

  A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)