Karin Slaughter - Blindsighted

"Both them girls," Marty said. "You think there's some kind of connection?"

Sara cut the conversation short. "I really need to talk to Jeb."

"He's out back." Marty pointed toward the pharmacy, a hurt expression on her face.

Sara thanked Marty with a forced smile as she made her way toward the back of the store. Sara had always liked being in the pharmacy. She had bought her first tube of mascara here. On weekends, her father used to drive them to the store for candy. Not much had changed since Jeb bought the place. The soda counter, which was more for show than for serving drinks, still shone from polish. Contraceptives were still kept behind the counter. The narrow aisles up and down the length of the store were still labeled with signs made from marker and poster board.

Sara peered over the pharmacy counter but didn't see Jeb. She noticed the back door was open, and with a look over her shoulder, she walked behind the counter.

"Jeb?" she called. There was no response, and Sara walked to the open door. Jeb was standing to the side, his back to Sara. She tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.

"God," he yelled, turning around quickly. The fear on his face was replaced by pleasure when he saw Sara.

He laughed. "You scared the crap out of me."

"I'm sorry," Sara apologized, but the truth was she was glad he could get worked up over something. "What were you doing?"

He pointed to a row of bushes lining the long parking lot behind the buildings. "See in that bush?"

Sara shook her head, not seeing anything but bushes. Then, "Oh," as she saw a small bird nest.

"Finches," Jeb said. "I put a feeder out there last year, but some kids from the school took it away."

Sara turned toward him. "About last night," she began.

He waved her off. "Please, Sara, believe me, I understand. You were with Jeffrey a long time."

"Thank you," she said, meaning it.

Jeb looked back into the pharmacy, lowering his voice. "I'm sorry about what happened, too. You know, with the girl." He shook his head slowly side to side. "It's just hard to think about things like that happening in your own town."

"I know," Sara answered, not really wanting to get into it.

"I guess I can forgive you, skipping out on our date to save somebody's life." He put his hand over the right side of his chest. "Did you really put your hand on her heart?"

Sara moved his hand to the left side. "Yes."

"Good Lord," Jeb breathed. "How did it feel?"

Sara gave him the truth. "Scary," she said. "Very scary."

His voice was filled with admiration when he said, "You are a remarkable woman, Sara. Do you know that?"

She felt silly being praised. "I'll give you a rain check if you want," she offered, trying to move him off the topic of Julia Matthews. "For our date, I mean."

He smiled, genuinely pleased. "That'd be great."

A breeze came and Sara rubbed her arms. "It's getting cold again."

"Here." He led her back inside, shutting the door behind them. "You doing anything this weekend?"

"I don't know," Sara said. Then, "Listen, I came to see if Jeffrey picked up his medication."

"Well." Jeb clasped his hands together. "I guess that means you're busy this weekend."

"No, it doesn't." Sara paused, then said, "It's just complicated."

"Yeah." He forced a smile. "No problem. I'll check his script."

She couldn't stand to see the disappointment on his face. She turned the Medic Alert display to give herself something to do. Bookmarks with religious sayings were alongside diabetes bracelets.

Jeb opened a large drawer under the counter and pulled out an orange pill bottle. He double-checked the label, then said, "He called it in but didn't pick it up yet."

"Thanks," Sara managed, taking the bottle. She held it in her hand, staring at Jeb. She spoke before she could back out of it. "Why don't you call me?" she asked. "About this weekend."

"Yeah, I will."

She reached out with her free hand, smoothing the lapel of his lab coat. "I mean it, Jeb. Call me."

He was quiet for a few seconds, then suddenly he leaned down, kissing her lightly on the lips. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Great," Sara said. She realized she was gripping the pill bottle so tightly that the top was about to pop off. She had kissed Jeb before. It was really no big deal. Something in the back of her mind was scared that Marty would see, though. Something in her mind was scared that news of the kiss would get back to Jeffrey.

"I can give you a bag for that," Jeb offered, pointing to the bottle.

"No," Sara mumbled, tucking the bottle into her jacket pocket.

She murmured a thanks and was out the door before Marty could look up from her magazine.

Jeffrey and Nick Shelton were out in the hall when Sara got to the station. Nick stood with his hands tucked into the back pockets of his jeans, his regulation GBI dark blue dress shirt tight across his chest. His non-regulation beard and mustache were trimmed neatly to his face, and his equally forbidden gold rope chain was hanging from his neck. At just under five feet six inches, he was short enough for Sara to rest her chin on the top of his head. This had not prevented him from asking her out a number of times.

"Hey, girl," Nick said, putting his arm around her waist.

Jeffrey had about as much to worry about competition-wise from Nick Shelton as he did from a reindeer, but he still seemed to bristle at the familiar way Nick held her. Sara thought Nick was overly solicitous for this very reason.

"Why don't we start the meeting?" Jeffrey grumbled. "Sara has to get back to work."

Sara caught up with Jeffrey as they walked down the hallway toward the back. She tucked the pill bottle into his coat pocket.

"What's this?" he asked, taking it out. Then, "Oh."

"Oh," Sara repeated, opening the door.

Frank Wallace and a reedy-looking young man in khakis and a shirt like Nick's were sitting in the briefing room when they entered. Frank stood, shaking Nick's hand. He gave Sara a firm nod, which she did not return. Something told Sara that Frank had a hand in what happened last night, and she did not like it.

"This is Mark Webster," Nick said, indicating the other man. He was a boy, really, hardly older than twenty-one. He had that still-wet-behind-the-ears look about him, and a piece of his hair stuck out in the back in a classic cowlick.

"Nice to meet you," Sara said, shaking his hand. It was like squeezing a fish, but if Nick had brought Mark Webster all the way down here from Macon, he couldn't be as goofy as he looked.

Frank said, "Why don't you tell them what you were telling me?"

The boy cleared his throat and actually tugged at his collar. He addressed his words toward Sara. "I was saying it's interesting your twist picked belladonna for his drug of choice. It's very unusual. I've only seen three cases in my work, and most of those were rule-outs, stupid kids who thought they'd have some fun."

Sara nodded her head, knowing that "rule-outs" meant ruling out foul play in a death. As a coroner as well as a pediatrician, she was especially careful when young children came into the morgue with cause of death unknown.

Mark leaned against the table, addressing his remarks to the rest of the group. "Belladonna is in the deadly nightshade family. During the Middle Ages, women chewed small quantities of the seeds in order to dilate their pupils. A woman with dilated eyes was considered more attractive, and that's where they got the name 'belladonna.' It means 'beautiful woman.' "

Sara supplied, "Both victims had extremely dilated pupils."

"Even a slight dose would cause this," Mark answered. He picked up a white Tyvek envelope and pulled out some photographs, which he handed to Jeffrey to circulate.

Mark said, "Belladonna is bell shaped, usually purple, and smells kind of funny. It's not something you'd keep around in your yard if you had kids or small animals. Whoever is growing it probably has a fence around it, maybe three feet tall at the least, in order to keep from poisoning everybody around."