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honey, she told the younger woman.  It will pass soon. Can I get you anything?
 No, I ll...be fine. I just took one capsule. Maybe it will be enough. Turn off the light and close the
curtains, will you? she whispered.
 At once.
She did, and tiptoed out, closing the door behind her.
* * *
THE PHONE RANG at the Kirk ranch. Mallory picked it up.  Hello?
There was a hysterical barrage of words from Clara. As he listened, Mallory s face grew quickly
somber.
 Yes, I ll tell him. Is Carson with you?
He listened and nodded.  Did you call the EMTs? Okay. Fine. Yes, we ll be right there. Try not to
worry.
 What s up? the others asked, almost in unison.
 Merissa s in the hospital. Apparently she took a capsule for a migraine headache and had a violent
reaction to it. We re going to pick Clara up on the way to the hospital.
Before he could even get the words out, Tank was headed out the back door.
Mallory called Darby on his cell phone.  You drive him, I don t care what he says, he told the
foreman after he d given him the bare bones of the conversation.  He ll kill himself trying to get
there alone. Don t worry about Clara, we ll pick her up and take her to the hospital with us. There
was a pause.  She said Carson was setting up some sort of devices out on the property. She hasn t seen
him in a while. We ll worry about that later. Drive Tank to the hospital. Hurry!
He hung up and looked at his family.  He ll head him off and drive him to town, he assured them.
 We should go, too, Cane replied.
 Yes. You stay here with the baby, Mallory told Morie,  and you should stay, too, he added,
smiling at Bolinda.  I know, but it s really bad outside and you re delicate. Morie can t leave the baby
and she needs someone with her, he lied.
Morie grinned.  Yes, she does.
 Okay, then, but give Merissa my love, Bodie agreed finally.
Cane gave Mallory a grateful look.
 Mine, too, Morie told her husband.
He nodded, kissed her gently and left Cane to say a brief, affectionate goodbye to his own wife.
Then they drove over to pick up Clara and rushed to the hospital.
* * *
TANK WAS PACING the waiting room.
 How is she? Mallory asked as he and Clara and Cane moved to Tank s side.
 Bad, Tank said unsteadily.  They won t tell me anything because I m not a relative, he added
angrily.
 It s all right, Clara said. She d been crying, but suddenly she was more positive.  I ll find out
what s going on.
 You sent those capsules she was taking with the EMTs, didn t you? Mallory asked.
She nodded.  Yes, I did. The first thing I thought was that it was an allergic reaction. She only took
one, so maybe it isn t too bad. I made sure they took the bottle along with her. I ll see if I can find out
anything. She went to the emergency room desk.
 They were doing tests, they told me, Tank said to his brothers.  Tests! They won t let me see
her, he groaned.
 Take it easy, Cane said gently.  Just breathe. We ll know something soon. Okay?
Tank calmed down. He nodded.
Mallory put his hand on his brother s shoulder.  First rule of medicine is  do no harm,  he
reminded him.  If they treat her in the dark they could kill her. If you weren t so upset, you d know
that.
Tank looked up at him with the fear in his eyes that she wouldn t recover, that they wouldn t be in
time...
The doctor, a small, dark-haired woman in a lab coat with a musical accent came to where they
were standing in the waiting room, with a relieved Clara at her side.  It s all right. We know how to
treat her now, she said, smiling.  The interesting thing is that, after we ran the toxicology screen on
the capsules and a blood sample, we couldn t understand how she would ingest such a substance in a
headache remedy. There was no trace of it on her mouth, her clothing...
 What was it? Tank asked.
 I could give you the technical name, but you probably know it as Malathion. It s used...
 As a pesticide, Tank said for her.  Yes, we use it on the ranch. It s considered one of the safer
methods...
 The capsules were tampered with, she interrupted gently.  Someone substituted the Malathion for [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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