“Huff, I’m telling the truth,” Keni pleads. “River is evil. She was the one who convinced Blake to stop taking that stuff even after I warned him what would happen. She pushed him to stop the injections. She told him she’d expose him if he didn’t get clean.”
I frown. I just can’t believe this. I really can’t. But until I get to the bottom of things, I can’t let Keni die. I’m not sure I could anyway.
“I’m letting you out, but I want to talk to your brother. And I want your word you’ll make sure no more people take that crap.”
“Fine. Whatever. Just get me out.”
“Stand back.” I hit the wall with my fist, busting through the sheetrock. I make a hole big enough for her to climb out. “Hurry. I don’t know how much longer we have.”
“Oh. So now you want to rush.”
She should be thanking me. “I can’t believe I thought you were my dream girl.” I take Keni’s hand and guide her through an obstacle course of rainwater, debris, and equipment that’s been knocked over. We’re almost to the opening when something pops into my head.
Keni said some of the side effects of this drug were insanity and aggression.
My mind spins on Keni acting one way with me and then another. Aggressive. Angry. Then sweet as pie.
I stop and turn. “You’re on that stuff, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“You’ve been taking it.”
“Me?” She points to herself.
“You’ve been acting strange since the day I met you.” In fact, if the chemist is her brother, then…maybe it’s a family business. “Are you helping him get people hooked on it? Did you give it to Blake? Did you put some in the mimosas to make new customers?”
“What? No! Move out of my way, Huff.” She tries to step around me, but I block her.
“I don’t believe you.” All the pieces start falling into place. She’s not some innocent bystander. I bet she’s the one pushing this shit on people. She probably gets them into it, and later they find out it’s a lifelong commitment.
“Why would Blake confess like that on the field?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says innocently.
“I think I do. He was trying to make amends because he knew he was going to die. He knew that shit was making him do bad things—like trying to kill us.” It never made sense why Blake made that confessional rant. Now it does. He was trying to go out with a clean conscience. “He didn’t want to be the monster that stuff turned him into. That’s why he begged for forgiveness.”
“Blake was an idiot,” Keni snarls. “He kept taking too much. The other guys—you don’t see them running around in a constant roid-rage. They take their injections. They’re fine.”
“Guys like Kyle?” I remember him saying something about jumping into that water to save me that night. It was probably a lie. He would know that pool was toxic. He would know it would kill him. They just never expected me to live, and the last thing they wanted was for me to have them arrested for their part, so they acted all cool and blamed it all on Blake. The dead guy. “Innocent us. We had no idea.”
“Honey, I’m not telling you who’s a subscriber.”
“You don’t have to. Because I know it was all you. River has no idea that stopping the injections will kill you. Otherwise, she wouldn’t go around pushing people like Blake to stop. She was only worried about the other side effects.” That’s why River never told me what might happen when this poison leaves my system. She doesn’t know. She probably doesn’t even know Keni is part of the whole thing.
I continue, “River was pushing Blake and his friends to stay off that stuff, and you didn’t like it. Can’t have all your best-paying customers dying on you. Isn’t that right? So you told Blake and his buddies if they wanted their next dose, they’d have to shut her up. I just happened to be there, but it was River you wanted dead. You didn’t like her messing with your business. And the guys, once they’re on it, they have to do what you say, because then you can withhold their ‘medicine.’ That’s why you’re really here, right? You’re making sure your poor sick friends know the score and get their next dose.”
She probably told them they have to bring her back in the house and kick River out or else. It’s what I’d do if I were evil and needed that sorority to be my hub to run my business. It puts her in contact with all sorts of people.
People like me who looked like lonely wimps. It finally makes sense why she singled me out at the party. I bet she saw me as a potential customer.