“A codeine overdose,” the doctor said, and I felt the world tilt under me. Tracy had been rushed to the hospital. Her boyfriend, Ross, was down there with her, and the news wasn’t good. She hadn’t just taken a couple of painkillers.
It was a massive dose, the kind that could have killed her. She swore she hadn’t touched anything herself. No codeine in the house, no reason to take it. The only thing she’d had differently yesterday was a smoothie.
A smoothie she’d made herself, from scratch, and drunk at home. Then the dread settled in. Cassie had been there that morning. Cassie had looked furtive.
Cassie, who’d been in and out of our lives for years, who’d caused trouble before, who had a history of poison that we’d all tried to forget. “I can’t believe she could do all that again,” I said. “Again being the word,” Tracy shot back from her hospital bed. “She hates my guts.
”
“Hate’s a strong word. ”
“Severely dislikes and resents me, then. If I’ve been spiked, I know who I’m pointing my finger at. I think we need to call the police.
”
“It’s all supposition,” Steve said, ever the voice of reason. “How else have I got this much codeine in my system? The local poisoner, who also happens to hate my guts, was the only other person in the flat that morning. ”
“Cassie had nothing to do with this.
I’d bet my life on it,” Steve insisted. Tracy’s eyes narrowed. “Why on earth would she want to do that? Because she’s jealous of me.
I’ve got Ross, and she’s stuck with a useless lump like you. ”
Insults flew, but nothing got us closer to the truth. I tried to put it aside for the afternoon. Sally had organized a garden party, a welcome-home gathering with margaritas and a brand-new pizza oven she was desperate to unveil.
The whole crew was there, laughing, splashing in the jacuzzi, behaving like the good old days. Christina belted out karaoke, the kids ran around, and for a few hours, it almost felt normal. Then Betsy mentioned the letter. Ryan had opened it by mistake, thinking it was from her fashion course.
It wasn’t. It was from the university. A conditional offer she’d been waiting on. “Did you call them?
”
“No. We waited till you got back. ”
“I’m not going,” Betsy said quietly. “Oh, come on, Bets.
We all know you’re going to be up and about in no time. ”
“Ryan said you’d been in the wars,” added Tracy, who’d just arrived home. She settled in with a bottle of cider, already fed up with our miserable faces. “Well, they’re not for Bets, they’re for me.
With the look on your faces, I’m going to need it, aren’t I? ”
She was joking, but the strain was there. She’d almost died, and the person she blamed was still free. That evening, the truth cracked open.
Amy came to see me. Her face was pale, her hands shaking. “You were in your cardigan,” I told her. “That smoothie.
You could have killed her. ”
“It wasn’t like that, love. ”
“Amy, you do realize that, don’t you? ”
She broke down.
“It wasn’t meant for Tracy. It was meant for Ross. And it was just a couple of tablets so he’d fail his pee test at his prison job. And he wouldn’t be hanging around here anymore.
Steve, please. ”
I stared at her. “I thought I should let him know, because I’m guessing it’s his tablets that he stole. ”
“Look, the pair of you.
Will you just listen to me, please? I did put a couple of tablets in Ross’s smoothie. I admit it. And it was just so he’d fail his drugs test at work.
That’s all. ”
“Every time you convince me you’ve changed, but –”
“That was nearly full. I swear. And I never put it in me cardi.
”
Ryan shook his head. “First of all Ken, now Tracy. I mean, are you not going to be happy till you’ve killed the lot of us? ”
Amy just sat there, crumbling.
She’d done it, alright. She’d spiked the smoothie with Ross’s stolen pills, hoping to get him fired from his prison job, hoping to push him out of our lives for good. But Tracy had drunk it instead. Tracy, with her low tolerance and her weakened body.
And she’d ended up in hospital. Amy swore it was only a couple of tablets. But the doctor said it was a huge dose. And Tracy could have had an allergic reaction.
She could have died. Ross. Amy. Any of us.
It didn’t matter how she spun it. “Ty, I know it was a stupid idea, but I was desperate. You’ve no idea what he’s like,” she pleaded. I couldn’t listen.
I sent her away, needing time to think. “He’s playing you, Ty. He’s playing all of you,” Amy warned as she left. “Yeah, well, at least he’s not poisoning my neighbors.
Just get out. ”
Steve came to find me later, trying to calm the storm. “Steve, I know how it looks, but –”
“Oh, so do I. Believe me.
If you only knew how much I wanted this to work after all the disappointment I’ve had over the last few years. ”
“If we can get through this – this was Ross’s dream, it wasn’t –”
“Oh, stop it, please. I need to protect my family. ”
I begged him.
I told him I loved him. I’d never meant for any of this. But he just shook his head. “I can’t deal with you anymore.
No, I really thought this was it for me. ”
“Me, too. And it still can be. ”
“Goodbye, Cassie.
”
And then he was gone.
