Chapter 6: Not Allergic to Anything

The man who stopped the handcuffs was holding a single sheet of paper, and his hand was shaking so badly that it rattled.

He stood in the middle of the lobby, out of breath, a white coat flapping open over green scrubs. He looked about forty, with tired eyes and a stethoscope hanging crooked around his neck, and he stared at the officers as though he couldn't believe they had actually put cuffs on a girl in an evening gown.

"Who are you?" the stern officer asked.

"Dr. Julian Okoro. I'm the emergency physician who admitted Miss Lydia Halvorsen." He drew in a breath and held up the paper. "You can't arrest this young woman. Not for this."

"Doctor," my father said, taking a step forward, "this is a police matter. My daughter was poisoned by shellfish at her own family's party."

"No, Mr. Halvorsen, she wasn't." The doctor's voice was quiet but steady. "I've been treating allergic reactions for fifteen years, and when your daughter was brought in, something was wrong. She was breathing normally. Her blood pressure was normal. There was no swelling, no hives, nothing at all. A person in anaphylactic shock doesn't look like that, so I ordered a full allergy panel from the blood we drew at admission. The results came back ten minutes ago."

My mother's fingers tightened around her tissue. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying Lydia has no shellfish allergy." He turned the paper toward her. "She has no food allergies of any kind. Her levels are completely normal. She could eat a plate of shrimp tonight and nothing would happen to her."

For a moment, nobody breathed.

"That's impossible," my father said hoarsely. "She has been allergic since she was six years old. We carry an injector everywhere we go."

"Then someone gave you wrong information," the doctor said. "I would be happy to repeat the test in front of you, with an independent lab, if you want a second opinion."

I stood very still between the two officers, the metal still cold around my wrists. I had expected relief to feel like a flood, but it came slowly, almost painfully, like blood returning to a numb hand.

"Officer," Elias said, in the calm tone of a man laying a trap that had already closed, "an attempted murder charge requires that the victim could have been harmed. If Miss Lydia cannot be harmed by shellfish, then there was no attempt. Only a bottle."

The stern officer looked at the doctor's paper for a long moment, then at my father, and something in her expression shifted. She nodded to her partner, who unlocked the cuffs, and I rubbed my wrists as the pressure eased.

"We'll still need to look into how that bottle ended up in her room," she said stiffly.

"I would like it checked for fingerprints," Hollis said at once, stepping forward. "And I would like the brake line on the family car examined as well. Both matters should be investigated, officer, and thoroughly."

"Of course, sir."

My mother turned to me, and I saw tears running down her face. She opened her mouth, closed it, and tried again. "Tessa, I..."

"Mother," I said quietly. "You were ready to let them take me away."

"I didn't know. Lydia told us..."

"I know what she told you." I didn't raise my voice. There was nothing left to shout. "She always tells you something, and you always believe her. Tonight you didn't even ask me what happened."

She flinched as though I had slapped her. My father stood beside her with his jaw clenched, staring at the doctor's paper as if willing the words to change. Behind them, Callum was watching me with an expression I couldn't read, something between shame and a question he didn't know how to ask.

"There must be some mistake," my father said again, but this time even he didn't sound convinced.

I heard it then, faint and sharp, from somewhere beyond the lobby doors. Lydia's thoughts, tangled and frantic. They ran the test without asking me. They ran the test. How long have they known? What do I do, what do I do...

Her panic gave me a strange, cold satisfaction. Then the thoughts shifted, slowing and sharpening, as if she had grabbed hold of a rope in the dark. If they won't believe the lie, then I'll give them something they can't ignore.

A chill ran down my spine. I knew that tone. I had heard it just before the cliff.

"Doctor," I said quickly, "where is my sister right now?"

"Room four, on the second floor. She woke up a little while ago, and a nurse is with her."

"Please go and check on her. Now."

He frowned. "I was about to..."

The lobby doors banged open before he could finish. A young nurse in blue scrubs ran in, her cap crooked, her face white with terror.

"Dr. Okoro! Miss Halvorsen's gone up to the roof!" she gasped. "She's standing on the edge, and she says she's going to jump!"

My mother screamed. My father's face went gray. And in the silence that followed, while the whole lobby turned toward the stairs, I heard my sister's thoughts again, sweet and calm and utterly sure of herself.

Now we'll see who they choose, Tessa!!