Dusk (Dangerous Web #1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,22

“Yeah.” He went toward the glasses. “Fuck.”

“Stop. I can dust the glass. It won’t be as good as what I have back in Chicago, but I can run some tests on the contents. Laurel can help.”

“We need to be sure there isn’t any—”

Mason didn’t complete his sentence as he pushed past me and hurried toward the kitchen.

I took a deep breath and looked past the mess on the long table. Beyond was a smaller replication of our Chicago lair. There were even screens mounted high above. Instead of four seats with keyboards, there were only two. I settled at the one that appeared less occupied. Stretching my fingers over the keyboard, I hesitated.

Was there a password?

Surely, it wasn’t this easy to access Mason’s technology.

I hit one key. The closest screen came to life with a photograph similar to one of the ones in the hallway. In the middle was the place to enter the password. I tried to recall, and then I did. I remembered helping Mason set this up after the explosion that leveled most of his first home.

I gave the password I’d used back then a try.

The screen changed.

I was in.

My fingers began moving. This was what I did, how I computed information. This was my contribution to the Sparrow outfit, maneuvering technology. Time didn’t register as I found myself looping through the different programs. I still had the black hole of thirty minutes.

“We have this,” Mason said as he re-entered the room, carrying a half-filled jug of lemonade. “Laurel confirmed what Garrett told Patrick: everyone ate something different for lunch. They all made their own. Sandwiches, salads, fruit, cottage cheese. The only thing that all four of them had was this.” He lifted the jug higher.

“And besides you, they all touched the jug?”

“Yes, and Garrett. He brought the groceries into the house a few days ago and put them away.”

“Where did he—”

“Lindsey Dorgan,” Mason interrupted. “She went to Bozeman to buy a list of groceries Laurel requested.”

“She’s Seth’s wife,” I said for confirmation.

“Laurel is confident the jug hadn’t been opened before she opened it. There’s a seal under the cap, or there was.”

I leaned back in the leather chair. “The groceries were bought a few days ago?”

Mason set the jug down on the long table. “Yes.” His green gaze narrowed as he stared down at the partially filled jug. “It wasn’t this, was it?”

“I’d say no.” I stood and walked to the table. “I mean, I could run a pH test on the drink in the jug and this one, but” —I picked up the glass and held it to the light— “this one appears to have melted ice. The jug will have a lower pH.” I looked up to Mason. “GHB and similar drugs decrease the pH of the solution once it’s added. The problem with lemonade is that the pH is already low.”

Mason came closer and took the glass. “I could take a drink to find out.”

“You could and if I’m wrong, you’ll be sleeping for the next two to three hours or if you don’t fall asleep, you’ll not remember anything. I think we have too much shit going on for that kind of an experiment.”

He lifted the glass to his mouth, tipped it, and brought a small amount of the liquid to his lips. Once he tipped the glass back, he said, “GHB has a salty taste.”

“That’s obviously diluted.”

He set the glass back on the table. “It doesn’t make sense. Whoever took Lorna and Araneae knew the ladies would be unconscious or at least unlikely to remember. How would they know that they drank the lemonade days after it was brought to the house?”

“Unless the drug was just added.”

“We need to see who has been in this house.”

I sat back down at the keyboard, accessing the security program. There were sensors on each entrance that automatically recorded with movement. A quick scroll and I could see every door that opened or closed and the person there.

“Minus the time still missing, no one other than the ladies or Garrett entered this house today,” I said. “Not until us.”

“Mason.”

We both turned to the doorway to see Sparrow standing there. “Did you get ahold of Seth?”

“Yes.” Mason looked at his watch. “He’ll have all the field hands in the bunkhouse in another thirty minutes.”

“I’m going down there with you. We can get through them faster if we both ask questions. And this is your property.”

Mason nodded. “What about Patrick?”

“He’s in your study contacting other outfits around