“What?”
“Giving it away,” he said with a smile and a wink. “Honestly, that brings me almost as much joy as showing my dogs.”
“And you really can’t think of anyone who might be carrying a grudge? An ex-girlfriend, a distant relative, a former employee?”
Joseph shook his head. “The only girls I dated before Geanie are happily married. And I’ve never heard anything negative from any relative or employee. Certainly nothing in the last few years that even sticks out.”
“You’re a lucky man in that regard. It’s not easy to go through life without making enemies, especially when you have the kind of position that you do.”
Joseph shrugged. “I’ve always lived by the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you’d have done unto you. It’s served me well.”
“Any women who have pursued you that you’ve turned down?” Jeremiah asked.
“You think some sort of crazed stalker is doing this?” Joseph asked, looking if anything more bewildered than before.
“It’s a theory. After all, whoever’s doing this is going after Geanie, not you.”
“Well, there was one woman who worked at one of the charities who seemed interested a couple of years ago. I let her down as gently as possible and she ultimately quit. I never heard anything from her since, though. I figured she’d moved on.”
“Maybe, maybe not. At least that’s someplace to start. You’ll have to give Mark her name and what information you can about her so he can have her checked out.”
“It’s hard to believe that all of this can have something to do with a two-year-old crush.”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“Ouch!” Joseph exclaimed as he got stuck with a pin again.
“Stop!” Jeremiah commanded, loud enough to make everyone in the room jump.
Between the two of them they’d now been pricked by pins three times. Something about that seemed off to him. Good tailors wouldn’t prick someone unless they were really rushing, incredibly nervous, or doing it on purpose.
“Back away,” he growled at the man kneeling at his feet.
The man stood up, his face flushing and scurried back a couple of steps.
“You, too,” Jeremiah ordered the man who was pinning Joseph’s pants.
The man hesitated, eyes flicking to his comrade then back to Jeremiah.
“What’s going on here?” the owner of the store hurried over, clearly concerned about the commotion.
“How long have these two worked for you?” Jeremiah demanded.
“About a week. They came highly recommended. Why? Is there anything wrong?”
Jeremiah glanced over at Joseph who had grown very pale. Sweat was beading on his forehead. Jeremiah himself was starting to feel a bit lightheaded.
“Very wrong,” Jeremiah rasped as Joseph suddenly fell to his knees beside him. “Call 911 now! And tell them we’ve been poisoned.”
8
The owner stared at Jeremiah, his mouth hanging open in shock. The tailor who was farthest away turned, knocked the man over, and headed for the front of the store. Jeremiah could feel himself weakening and knew there was no way he could catch him. The man who had been working on Joseph’s pants was another story, though. He was only two feet away and there was terror written all over his face.
Jeremiah lunged forward, feeling his knees beginning to give way beneath him. The guy jumped back as Jeremiah began to fall, but he reached out, caught him around the knees, and took him down with him.
The man kicked out, one shoe grazing Jeremiah’s shoulder. He ignored it and dragged himself up toward the man’s head. The man was flailing wildly now, screaming. He should have had the brains to run when his friend did.
Jeremiah’s vision was fading. He was moments from losing consciousness even as he heard Joseph hit the ground behind him.
He couldn’t risk this man escaping while the owner pulled himself together and got the police on scene. Jeremiah grabbed the man’s head, lifted it and then slammed it down into the ground with all the strength he had left.
The man stopped struggling instantly and Jeremiah fell on top of him. He should check on the pins, see if he could figure out what they were coated in, but he knew he couldn’t move that far.
The owner of the shop was scrambling to his feet. “Poison?” the man asked, voice shaking.
“Yes, hurry,” Jeremiah managed to whisper before darkness claimed him.
Mark had just walked in the front door of Joseph’s house when his phone rang. “Excuse me,” he told Cindy and Geanie as he answered it. It was Liam.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“Joseph and Jeremiah are being transported to the hospital. They were poisoned by two men at the tuxedo shop where they were being fitted.”
“Poisoned?” Mark asked sharply. “Are you sure?”
“Paramedics confirmed it.”
“Are they going to be okay?” Mark asked, turning away from Geanie and Cindy who had both gone pale.
“Too soon to tell. You’d better get down here. Jeremiah managed to knock out one of the men who did it and he’s being hauled into the station now for interrogation.”
“Should I go there or the hospital?” Mark asked, suddenly feeling quite helpless.
There was a lengthy pause before Liam said, “I’ll oversee the interrogation. You go to the hospital.”
“Good idea,” Mark muttered. Liam was a smart guy. “I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
He hung up and turned to the women who were staring at him in anguish. “There’s been another attack, this time on the guys,” he said. “They’re heading to the hospital.”
“Then so are we,” Cindy said.
“They’re not going to let you in to see them, not for a while.”
“We can’t sit here and wait,” Geanie protested.
“Okay, let’s go,” Mark said.
Cindy had been waiting for what seemed like endless hours for Jeremiah to wake up. The doctors had assured her that he would, but that it was going to take a while given what had been put into his system.
In the room next door she knew Geanie was sitting with Joseph. She was guessing the other woman had had just as little sleep as she had. She stretched her neck and yawned, glancing at the doorway and thinking of going to check on Geanie.
She looked back just as Jeremiah’s eyes fluttered open. He stared up at her for a moment. “Yapheh,” he muttered.
Cindy didn’t know what he said, but she was pretty sure it was in Hebrew. A surge of relief went through her. She knew what the doctors had said but seeing Jeremiah actually awake and talking meant she could finally breathe again. She put on a brave smile, hoping it looked calm and confident.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” Cindy answered.
“You mean the hospital isn’t your favorite date spot?” he slurred.
Her heart skipped a beat and she forced herself to take a deep breath. He was clearly still out of it.
“No, I generally prefer dinner, a movie, something like that,” she said, forcing herself to keep her tone light.
“Sounds nice. We’ll have to do that when this is all over.”
Again she struggled to remain calm, but before she knew what she was doing she said, “Promises, promises.”
“I’m not made of stone,” he said.
Before she could ask him what that meant Mark came into the room. “You’re awake,” he said, sounding relieved.
Jeremiah nodded slowly. “Apparently.” He swallowed hard and turned his head slightly to the side. “Where’s Joseph?”
“He’s okay. Still unconscious, but the doctors say he’s going to be just fine.”
“He got a bigger dose than me.”
“Yes, well, neither of you received enough poison to kill you, just mess you up, knock you out.”
“Why?” Cindy asked. “If the point wasn’t to kill, why go through all that trouble?”
“That’s what I’
m trying to figure out,” Mark admitted. “I’ve been wondering if sickness was the endgame or if someone was planning on kidnapping you guys once you were out cold. I’m just impressed you figured out what was happening in time to thwart the plan,” Mark said, addressing the last to Jeremiah.
“I’m grateful, too,” Jeremiah said.
“Well, we can talk about it later when you’re a little bit more coherent,” Mark said.
“Did you catch the guys?” Jeremiah asked.
“One of them. We’re trying to get him to talk. Like I said, we’ll know more a little later.”
Cindy followed Mark out into the hall.
“Any luck with that guy?” she asked.
“All we know is that someone paid him and his friend to use these special pins to stick Joseph and Jeremiah with. The money was good enough that they didn’t ask questions. His friend made the contact. He told us his name and we’re trying to find him. Hopefully when we do he can shed some light on who is behind all of this.”
Cindy nodded.
“Cheer up, at least this is the first real break we’ve had,” Mark said. “We might just wrap this thing up before the wedding after all.”
“The wedding,” something went off in the back of Cindy’s mind, something she was forgetting. “Oh gosh,” she said, pulling out her phone to check the time.
“What is it?” Mark asked.
“We’re supposed to pick up Geanie’s parents and cousin at the airport in an hour,” Cindy said.
Mark held up a hand. “I’ll send someone for them. For now I don’t want Geanie anywhere that isn’t this hospital or Joseph’s house. I want to know where she is at all times, and you, too, for that matter.”
“Why me?” Cindy asked, startled.
“They didn’t just poison Joseph. They poisoned Jeremiah, too.”
“Yes, but that’s because they had to knock out both of them if they wanted to snatch Joseph, otherwise Jeremiah would have stopped them.”
“I know that, but I don’t want to take any chances. After all, someone might get frustrated and decide to hurt you to get at them.”
Cindy took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“When you and Geanie are ready to go back to the house have one of the officers take you. I don’t want to take chances. For all we know someone could or even already has sabotaged your car.”
Cindy hunched her shoulders. Mark sounded paranoid, but she knew he was right. That’s what scared her. She gave him the information for Geanie’s arriving family and he left a minute later.
Cindy walked over to Joseph’s room. There was a police officer stationed outside his room as well. He nodded at her as she walked inside. Geanie was sitting, holding Joseph’s hand, and staring at him anxiously.
“He’s going to be okay,” Cindy reassured her.
“I know, I just want him to wake up.”
“Well, hopefully it won’t be long now. Jeremiah just woke up a couple of minutes ago.”
Geanie’s face scrunched up in anxiety. “I know Joseph had a higher dose than Jeremiah did. Who knows how much longer before he comes to.”
Cindy couldn’t stand to see her friend in such distress. She sat down next to her and rubbed her back gently. “You’ll never believe the crazy thing Jeremiah said when he woke up.” She was hoping to distract Geanie from her own fear.
“What?” Geanie asked, not taking her eyes off Joseph’s face.
“I told him we needed to stop meeting like this and he asked me if the hospital wasn’t my favorite place for a date.”
“What?” Geanie asked, her eyes swiveling toward Cindy and opening wide.
Cindy smirked. Geanie was always pushing Cindy to get a love life, at least, since she’d gotten one. “I told him dinner and a movie was more my style.”
“And what did he say?” Geanie asked, excitement creeping into her voice.
“That it sounded nice and we’d have to do that when this was all over.”
Geanie dropped Joseph’s hand and seized Cindy’s shoulders, shaking her lightly. “I think he just asked you out!” she practically shouted.
Cindy winced, wishing Geanie weren’t so loud.
“I don’t think I’d go that far,” she said.
“Oh no you don’t, you’re not getting out of this that easily,” Geanie said. “You’re going to tell me everything.”
“There’s not much more to tell. I teased him and he said he wasn’t made out of stone, whatever that means.”
“That means the man’s annoying self-control is eroding!” Geanie said, jumping to her feet. “You have to take advantage of this. You have to make him take you out right away. Go back in there and get a commitment for a date.” She grabbed Cindy’s arm and tried to drag her to the door.
Cindy firmly planted herself in the chair, though, as panic raced through her. “No! I can’t.”
“Why not? This is the perfect opportunity! I’m telling you he asked you out.”
“He was half-unconscious, out of his mind,” Cindy protested.
“That’s why you’ve got to follow up quickly before he can claim forgetfulness.”
“But, I don’t want to go out on a date with him.”
“Liar!” Geanie hissed, her face contorting in sudden, unexpected fury.
“What?” Cindy gasped, taken aback.
“You heard me. You totally want to go out with him. It’s the reason you won’t even look seriously at another guy. You’ve been pining after Jeremiah for nearly two years now and it’s time to put an end to it.”
“We’re just friends.”
“Don’t give me that crap. I know you too well. You and Joseph are friends. You and Mark are friends. You and Jeremiah are two people too afraid to admit that you’re in love with each other because then you’d have to do something about it, and you’re both terrified of what that would mean.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Not about this. Your face lights up every time he enters the room. You can’t even say his name without smiling, even when the topic is serious. To be honest all of us are getting sick of waiting for the two of you to wise up and do something about it.”
“Who is ‘all of us’?” Cindy asked.
“Everyone. Joseph, Mark, Traci, everyone on staff at the church. Dave even started a betting pool about how long it would take the two of you to kiss. Winner gets taken out to lunch by the losers.”
“That’s terrible!” Cindy said, horrified that her coworkers were betting on her love life.
“No, what’s terrible is that I’m the only person who can possibly win at this point. Everyone else’s dates have come and gone. I knew how stupidly stubborn you are, though, and how afraid of change. Ironically I never thought I’d win the bet because I didn’t count on him being just as stupid.”
“I don’t have to sit here and listen to this,” Cindy said, realizing she was shaking and that she was getting really angry.
“No, you don’t. You can march next door and tell that man how you feel about him. That’s what you would do if you weren’t such a coward.”
“It’s complicated!” Cindy screamed, leaping to her feet.
“Can you guys stop shouting?” Joseph slurred.
They both turned and stared at him. His eyes were open and he was staring at them groggily.
“Oh, honey!” Geanie sobbed and threw herself half on top of him, hugging him fiercely.
“Careful,” he whispered, but she didn’t seem to hear or care.
Cindy just stared at the two of them as they were hugging. Her anger started to fade and in its place she felt a stab of jealousy. She could have hugged Jeremiah when he woke up, but she hadn’t. It wasn’t her place. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling suddenly very cold.
All the excuses for why she and Jeremiah could never be together flashed through her mind. Some of them were valid, but the majority of them were just roadblocks she herself had put up, probably because she was afraid as Geanie had pointed out. br />
She should give the couple their privacy, but she wasn’t ready to go back in the other room and face Jeremiah just yet, not with all the emotions that were cascading through her. Heaven only knew what she would say to him.
At last Genie sat back down in her chair, wiping her eyes.
“I’m glad to see you awake,” Cindy said to Joseph.
“Glad to be awake. Alive. What happened?”
They filled him in to the best of their knowledge.
“So, how long have I been here?” Joseph asked at last.
“Almost twenty-four hours,” Cindy said. “It’s Saturday, almost noon.”
Geanie started. “Oh my gosh! I haven’t looked at the clock in hours. We have to pick up my parents. They’ll be landing in like half an hour.”
“Relax, Mark is handling that for us,” Cindy said. “And he wants us to have a police officer drop us back at Joseph’s when we’re ready to go.”
“You both have been here all night?” Joseph asked gently.
Cindy and Geanie nodded in unison.
“Then I think the best plan is for you to both get back to the house, shower, and be there to greet the family when they arrive. Heaven only knows they’ll have a lot of questions, and it would be better if you were there to answer them.”
“But, I don’t want to leave you,” Geanie protested.
“It’s just for a few hours. I’m sure they’ll let us out of here soon,” he reassured her. “You can always come back later tonight to visit if we’re still stuck here.”
“It is a good idea,” Cindy said gently. “There’s a lot to do and we should be there to get your parents settled in. Mark wouldn’t even know what rooms to put them in.”
Geanie nodded reluctantly. “Okay, but we’ll be back for dinner.”
“Great, then you can smuggle me in some real food. Just, do me a favor?”
“Anything,” Geanie said.
“Please don’t bring your family. I don’t want the first time we meet for me to be stuck in a hospital bed. Not exactly the first impression I was hoping for.”
“You’ve got it,” Geanie promised.
“I’ll hold her to it,” Cindy said with a smile.