“I called the paper looking for you, and your editor said you were here, interviewing Congressman Winchester, so I went looking for you.”

  “Yes, Darren was heading for Winchester’s room right after I left. Why don’t you give me the short version right now,” Katrina said, pulling her notebook from her purse. “I saw you on the security video going into the house on Halloween morning right before a police officer came inside.”

  “Not here, it’s not safe,” Esperanza said. “Someone could be listening. Let’s go up to my room. We can lock the door until we’re done and then you can leave.”

  That sounds risky, but Goode didn’t specifically warn me about Esperanza. She sounds sincere, but how do I know this isn’t a trap?

  “Let me tell my editor where I’m going first, okay?” she said, though she was really planning to call Goode. Joanne couldn’t do anything but worry anyway.

  But Esperanza shook her head vigorously. “No, we need to go before someone sees us together.”

  “I’m sorry, I need to do this. What’s your room number?”

  “Okay, but hurry. We don’t have much time. I’m in room 324. I’ll wait in here until you’re done,” Esperanza said, closing herself inside a locked stall.

  As Katrina stepped into the crowded hallway, she scanned the bar to the left and peered through the glass doors at the outdoor pool area. Goode was nowhere in sight. Neither was Stone.

  He’ll understand. He’s got to know that I didn’t get this far by running from a good story, and I’m about to break this one wide open.

  But she knew well enough to call and leave him a message: “I was about to call my editor when Esperanza Cepeda grabbed my arm and dragged me into the bathroom near the Viennese. She says Darren McMurphy is responsible for the Fontaines’ deaths, and she thinks he’s going to kill her too. She wants to tell me the whole story, but she won’t come to the newsroom. She’s insisting that we go to her room, number 324, and lock the door. It’s six thirty-five, and we’re going there now. I know you were looking to question her, too, so can you come as soon you get this? I’m hoping that you already have McMurphy and Winchester in custody, and we’ll be safe in her room until you meet us there.”

  Hanging up, Katrina headed back into the bathroom and knocked on Esperanza’s stall. They walked to the elevator in the lobby, where Esperanza tapped her foot and stared at Katrina impatiently as the operator held the grating open while she looked around one last time for Goode.

  “C’mon,” Esperanza said insistently. “Let’s go!” Once Katrina was inside and the operator closed the grating, Esperanza said, “Third floor, please.”

  Katrina sighed with relief that they were going to a different floor than Winchester’s.

  I’ll call Joanne as soon as I’m done with this interview. We’ll have to swap this out for the campaign donation story, which I can write up as part of the weekender, which is going to be a whopper.

  Outside her room, Esperanza stuck her key card into the door and waited for the green light. Still feeling skittish, Katrina was happy to see that no one else was in the room as the door swung closed behind them.

  Esperanza selected a few bottles of vodka and a can of tonic water from the minibar. “Want me to make you one too?” she asked.

  “No vodka, thanks,” Katrina said, reminded that she had refused three drinks so far that night. “But I’ll take a tonic.”

  “I’ll go to get some ice,” Esperanza said.

  Before Katrina could object, her interviewee had left the room with the ice bucket. Katrina was about to call Joanne to leave a heads-up message about where she was when someone knocked on the door. Katrina’s heart started thumping.

  Esperanza wouldn’t knock. She’s got a key.

  “Who is it?” she asked through the door. Peering out the peephole, she saw Esperanza’s face.

  “It’s Espee, Esperanza,” the nurse said in a somewhat muffled voice. “I left my key on the bed.”

  What if she’s got company? I can only see her head.

  Whirling around, she confirmed the key was indeed on the bed and opened the door to find Esperanza alone, holding a bucket of ice. She peeked around and didn’t see anyone in the hallway.

  While Esperanza carried the ice to the table near the minibar, Katrina closed the door, pulling the U-shaped lock across. Esperanza took two glass tumblers off the counter and poured them both drinks.

  “Too bad we don’t have any lime. Here’s yours,” she said, handing one to Katrina.

  Settled into a chair with her notebook in her lap, Katrina was eager to hear the story.

  “Start from the beginning,” she told Esperanza, who sat on the couch facing her.

  Esperanza took a couple of sips as she cradled the tumbler in both hands and started to tear up.

  “This is hard,” she said, before the words and the tears came tumbling out.

  Chapter 55

  Esperanza

  Halloween Friday

  When Victoria Fontaine called her father’s surgery office that Friday morning, Regina had the day off as usual, so Esperanza was handling the phones. Dr. F, as she called him, was busy and couldn’t take the call, so she chatted with his daughter for a few minutes.

  “I’m not feeling well,” Victoria said. “I’ve been throwing up.”

  “Do you want me to come by and bring you some chicken soup from the deli?” Esperanza offered, assuming that Victoria had a stomach bug. “We don’t have surgery until one o’clock.”

  “That would be great, thanks, but I’m not that hungry. Just a cup, okay? And can you also bring me a roll with a bunch of saltine crackers?”

  “Sure,” Esperanza said, “let me check with your dad and make sure it’s okay.”

  “It’s fine, but don’t get too close in case she’s sick,” Simon said. “Be back and ready to prep for Mrs. Stevenson by twelve fifteen.”

  Then Darren called. When she mentioned where she was going, she was surprised by his response: “I need to go over there, too, as a matter of fact, so can you do me a favor? It will make life easier for me.”

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “I need some paperwork. Simon said he has it at his home office, but I don’t want them to know I’m looking for it. It would be great if you could give her something to sleep, so I can run in and grab it.”

  “Why can’t you ask him for it?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

  “I have, and he’s been dragging his feet. It’s complicated. It’s something the board has been arguing about,” he said. “I think the two of them are hiding a problem that could cause a huge blowback down the road.’”

  She loved Darren, and she was thrilled that he’d asked her to marry him, but she didn’t feel comfortable doing this.

  “I don’t like the idea of sedating Victoria,” she said.

  “Why are you questioning my judgment on this?” he said in the same scolding tone he’d been taking lately. “If this is how you’re going to be, then we can call off the engagement right now.”

  Not one to make waves, Esperanza backed off. “How am I supposed to sedate her?”

  “She probably has drugs in the house, because that’s part of what’s going on. She’s been acting really paranoid and accusatory toward me lately and I think she’s using again, but I need to prove it to the board so I can get them to send her to rehab while I clear up her mess.”

  “I haven’t noticed anything. Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I am. I’ve seen this before. But obviously I don’t know where she keeps her stash, so here’s what I want you to do: Call in a prescription for her from Dr. Fontaine—a month’s supply of Xanax and oxycodone—then go pick it up with her soup. Call me when you get to the house, and I’ll be there in twenty minutes. That’ll give you enough time to grind up a couple of Xanax and dissolve them in her soup. After she’s asleep, open the vials, put them on her bedside table, and take a photo with your phone. This is for our future, baby, I promise.”

  Esperanza had no reason to disbelieve Darren; he’d known Victoria a lot longer than she had. Darren had told her stories about his family socializing with the Fontaines even before he was born, because their moms had known each other since high school.

  It’s only a couple of pills, and she isn’t feeling well anyway, so she’ll just sleep it off. Hopefully she won’t even know. But Darren can take whatever photo he wants. I’m not doing that.

  She picked up the prescriptions from the pharmacy and soup from the deli nearby, then headed over to the Fontaines’, where Victoria buzzed her in at the gate.

  “The front door is open,” she said.

  Inside, Esperanza stood at the foot of the stairs and called up to Victoria in her bedroom. “I’m going to put your soup in a bowl and bring it up on a tray.”

  Heading into the kitchen, she did as Darren asked, sprinkling some salt and pepper to mask any bitter taste. After calling him as they’d agreed, she carried the soup, roll, and crackers upstairs.

  Victoria was propped up on some pillows in bed. She looked pale and tired, but she was beaming.

  “Alex and I are going to get married,” she gushed.

  “Really? So are Darren and I,” Esperanza gushed back. “Maybe we should have a double wedding!”

  After hugging and congratulating each other, Esperanza sat beside Victoria as she ate the soup, along with half the roll and six packages of saltines.

  “What’s up with the crackers?” Esperanza asked. “I’ve never seen you eat so many carbs.”

  “I’m pregnant,” Victoria said. “It’s all I can keep down.”

  Oh, no, she’s not sick, and she’s probably not using either. She’s got morning sickness. I just gave a pregnant woman a double dose of Xanax.

  “Oh, my God, congratulations, that’s so exciting!” Esperanza said nervously as the guilt sunk in.

  They mutually agreed to watch one of the “housewife” reality shows while they chatted, but Victoria was asleep by the second commercial.

  A few minutes later, Darren called Esperanza’s cell to buzz him through the front gate. When he walked in, he surprised her for the second time that morning.

  “Why are you wearing a costume?” she asked, confused. “You never do that. And is that lipstick?”

  “I’m going to my son’s school for a Halloween party after this,” he said. “Where’s your sense of humor?”

  She’d been making a lot of excuses for his behavior lately—he was stressed at work and not sleeping well—because she didn’t like conflict or confrontation. But he stepped over the line with his next statement, which was more of a demand, really.

  Pulling a vial of clear liquid out of his pocket, he said, “I want you to give Victoria a shot of this in case she wakes up before I’m done.”

  “What is it?” she asked, seeing that he’d pulled the label off.

  “It’s better you don’t know.”

  “No, tell me.”

  Knowing now that she’d already unwittingly dosed a pregnant woman with Xanax, Esperanza didn’t want to make the situation any worse.

  “Let’s just say it’ll keep her knocked out until we’re through here,” he said.

  “I’m not going to do that. She just told me she’s pregnant. I wouldn’t have given her the Xanax if I’d known.”

  “Don’t you trust me?”

  “Yes, but this is not right.”

  “I’m doing this for us,” he said. Then his tone turned dark. “Anyway, look, you’re involved in this now. You want me to shoot you up with it too?”

  Darren’s eyes looked threatening, yet he was smirking with amusement. Esperanza was confused and scared, because she couldn’t read his expression.

  Is he serious?

  “You wouldn’t really do that, would you?” Esperanza asked hesitantly, unsure of how he might respond.

  “Baby, I don’t want to hurt you, but you’re not listening to what I’m telling you. Victoria is obstructing what we’re trying to do at Vitaleron. This has to be done.”

  Chapter 56

  Katrina

  Friday

  Katrina’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  Esperanza paused, rose from the couch, and headed to the bar to refill her glass.

  Katrina was almost scared to ask: “So, what did you do?”

  “Well,” Esperanza said, her back to Katrina now, “I finally realized that he wasn’t bluffing, but I refused to inject her. So, he did it himself. I had no idea what he was giving her.”

  With her glass full again, Esperanza started pacing. “He made a mess of it too. He jabbed her, three or four times. I’m not sure, but I think he was trying to make it look like she’d shot herself up multiple times. Anyway, I started crying and asked him what was really going on.”

  “Okay, I might as well tell you,” he said. “My dad heads up this secret circle of wealthy men who run this town. They’ve all invested in Vitaleron, and my father put most of our family’s money into it, including my inheritance. He basically ordered me to take care of this for him. For our family. Or we, and a lot of other important people, will be out a lot of cash. I couldn’t trust anyone else to do this, so I had to do it myself.”

  “But why Victoria? What does she have to do with any of this?”

  “Because she found out that I’ve been boosting the results of the drug trials. She also demanded that I force the other board members who are invested with Alex in the Caymans to divest.”

  “In the Caymans?” Katrina interrupted. “Is that why Alex went down there? To invest or to divest?”

  Esperanza stopped pacing and took a sip of her drink. “I have no idea. All I know is that Darren, Congressman Winchester, and several board members are going through ugly divorces. They’ve been hiding money in the Caymans and then reinvesting it in Vitaleron. Darren told me that Victoria found out, said it would adversely affect the company, and gave him two weeks to clean it up. The deadline was supposed to be today. Darren said he tried to work with Victoria, but she was being unreasonable.”

  “Does that mean Alex is involved in this whole thing too?”

  “Those guys are Alex’s clients, but they didn’t have anything to do with falsifying the drug-trial reports, funneling funny money to Vitaleron, or giving drugs to Victoria. Alex would never hurt the woman he loved, especially if she was carrying his baby. Victoria said they were going to get married.”

  “Sorry to interrupt, go back to your story,” Katrina said.

  By that point, Esperanza said, Darren was babbling. “It was like he was on something. Like speed. He was talking really fast and running his sentences together. After injecting Victoria with whatever it was, he shoved some oxy down her throat before I could stop him.”

  “Does he ever do coke or meth?”

  “He’s used coke before, but not with me. I’m not into that.”

  “Has he seemed hypersexual lately?”

  Esperanza frowned quizzically. “How did you know that? We both have, actually. I thought it was because we were excited about our engagement. After he gave Victoria the oxy, he said Winchester was demanding campaign donations, free golf trips to talk up the drug with his buddies at the FDA and some House committee, and that he wanted some of the drug too. Darren said he had Darla go into the lab and literally pour some out of the jugs.”

  “It’s only a hunch, but I think he was secretly taking it and dosing you as well,” Katrina said.

  “No wonder!” Esperanza exclaimed. “He’s always had a preoccupation with his penis size, but lately, he’s been so much bigger and harder that he wants to have sex all the time. Sorry if that’s TMI.”

  “No worries,” Katrina said. “What happened next?”

  “I remember I was shaking and my head was pounding. I knew there was nothing I could do, or he would inject me too. That’s when I heard Victoria gasping for breath. They call it a death rattle. But then she just . . . stopped. I went over and touched her neck, and she had no heartbeat. No breath sounds either. So, I turned to Darren and said, ‘She’s not breathing. What the hell did you give her?’ ‘Succinylcholine,’ he said.”

  “What is succinylcholine?” Katrina asked.

  Esperanza explained that it was supposed to be used in a surgical situation, and what could happen when it wasn’t. “I thought he’d only sedated her, or I would’ve tried harder to stop him.”

  “How did Darren know about that drug? I’ve never even heard of it.”

  “He went to med school for a couple of years before he switched to law. He told me he didn’t have the patience. Or the compassion. Plus, his father wanted him to be a lawyer.”

  “But how would he get his hands on it? Wouldn’t that be a controlled substance?”

  “It is. We keep it in the storage closet at work. He must have stolen some. He takes me out to lunch sometimes, and he also picks up Dr. Russell for golf. But wait, there’s more.”

  “Sorry. Go ahead.”

  Chapter 57

  Esperanza

  Halloween Friday

  Darren checked Victoria’s wrist for a pulse, then dropped it as if she were a mannequin.

  “She’s dead,” he said, matter-of-factly.

  “You’re a monster,” Esperanza whispered, shaking her head.

  “What did you say?” he asked in a low voice that scared her.

  “Nothing.”

  A few moments later, they heard the front door open and slam shut downstairs. Running to the window, Darren saw Dr. Fontaine’s Mercedes in the driveway.

  “It’s Simon,” he whispered. “What’s he doing here? You told me he had surgery at one o’clock.”

  Esperanza grabbed her phone, but Darren grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the bathroom, holding her tight against him, and slapped his hand over her mouth to prevent her from warning the doctor. Esperanza wriggled free enough to show him Simon’s text on her phone: ​​Surgery cancelled. No need to come back to the office.​​