Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
“Harlow, before we got distracted worrying about Raine,” Zahra said as she broke off a small piece of an orange-cranberry scone, “you were about to tell us what you thought may have killed Helen.”
Harlow let her breath out, relieved. That was so Zahra, making certain everyone else was sidetracked so they wouldn’t put two and two together as she had.
“You have a theory?” Stella prompted.
“It isn’t really a theory,” Harlow denied. “It’s just that Helen isn’t the first person in Knightly to die under some mysterious circumstance. I know infectious disease is looking hard at the victims. After Raine was bitten by a rattlesnake, I saw evidence of an unusual number of snakes on the property where we were climbing.”
She rubbed at an invisible speck on the table. “I think the deaths are connected. Meaning, whatever killed Helen killed Lawyer. Giselle Gentry died a couple of months before Lawyer.”
“But Giselle hit her head,” Zahra said, distress in her voice. “I read the report and that was what officially killed her.”
“Martha, the ME, questioned what caused her fall,” Harlow said. “In the report it stated she’d gone into anaphylactic shock, which is what caused her to fall and hit her head. Something bit her. Just like something bit Lawyer and now Helen.”
“If it was a rattlesnake, wouldn’t Martha know?” Vienna asked. “That’s very specific. All of us have seen a rattlesnake bite, and very few people actually die from it. We have antivenom, but even without it, most people survive.”
“Suppose it’s a hybrid? I know rattlesnakes don’t breed with other nonvenomous snakes. That’s a myth,” Harlow ventured. “But they can breed with other species of rattlesnake. What if that has somehow changed? Or if they have developed with another rattlesnake into an aggressive new breed, which isn’t probable, but who knows? I don’t think it’s a new infectious disease. I think all three of them were bitten by something.”
“You do read about that kind of evolution every now and then,” Stella said. “Or that some asinine idiot playing God decided he wanted to create the ultimate weapon. It could be something like that.”
“We need Raine to do in-depth research,” Vienna said. “She can find the most obscure data. If experiments were going on with rattlesnakes, she’d find them. If anyone, anywhere, reported a hybrid snake and it checked out, she would know.”
“Raine is magic on a computer,” Shabina declared.
The others nodded in agreement.
“I want to go back to Helen’s place and look around,” Harlow said.
Zahra shook her head. “That place is guarded better than Fort Knox. People are still collecting evidence.”
“What happened to all of her animals?” Shabina asked, a note of worry in her voice.
Harlow knew Shabina had such a kind, compassionate heart with both people and animals that Rainier—and all of her friends—did their best to shield her.
“They were rounded up, and one of the farms close to Helen’s will take them. At the moment, the dogs are with the vet,” Harlow said. “Gwen is slowly improving. Whatever bit Helen, bit her.”
“Why is Gwen still alive, when Helen died?” Vienna asked. “That makes no sense. The dog was big, but I think Helen weighed more.”
“No, Gwen is a very large dog. Maybe one hundred forty or fifty pounds. Helen was tall, but she was very thin,” Zahra corrected. “All that running up mountains. She had a runner’s body.”
“That’s true,” Vienna agreed. “She was very thin, but had lots of muscle. I always thought of her as being super healthy.”
“Sometimes it depends on where someone is bitten,” Harlow reminded. “How close to the heart and how much venom was actually injected.”
Shabina nodded. “I’ve done a lot of research on venom and animals, particularly dogs, because my three are often running with me by the canal. I take them with me nearly everywhere I go. I’ve had them in the rattlesnake classes several times just to remind them that they can’t go near that snake. Some breeds can handle venom a little better than others. It really does depend on where they are bitten and if you can keep them quiet.”
“Gwen was curled up close to Helen,” Harlow said. “It’s possible Helen was bitten first and went down. Gwen would move to protect her and that’s when she most likely was bitten.” She was just speculating, trying to picture what happened. “In my opinion, if it is a newer infectious disease, more people would be sick or dying. There isn’t a common place where Lawyer, Helen and Ms. Gentry all frequented. Ms. Gentry may have been in her seventies, but she was a firecracker. She did have a companion.”
Vienna nodded. “Lenore Anderson stayed with her nearly full-time. Ms. Gentry was super wealthy. She didn’t live like it, but she owned a lot of properties in prime locations. She actually owned the property next to Bale Landry’s home.”