“Like what?” Lucy asked.
“Like you’re wondering if I’m going to keel over at any minute.” Mason drank some of the lemonade in his glass. “I feel fine. The overnight in the hospital was the worst part.”
They were on the front porch of Deke’s cabin. Lucy and Mason were on the swing. She had one leg tucked under her thigh and one foot on the wooden floor. Mason lounged next to her. Deke was braced against the porch railing. Joe was sprawled at the top of the steps, dozing.
It had been a very long night for Deke and herself, Lucy thought. They had spent it at Mason’s bedside, watching closely as he slipped in and out of a restless sleep. But by morning, the effects of the hallucinogen had fully dissipated. A social worker had stopped in long enough to suggest counseling for any self-medication problems he might be having. Mason, Lucy and Deke had glared at her. The social worker had gotten an odd look on her face and had hurried out of the room. The ER doctor, no longer worrying about being sued for malpractice due to having discharged a patient too soon, cleared Mason to go home. He had been released with two pages of instructions that he had wadded up and tossed into a trash can on the way out the door.
“Last night was bad,” Lucy said. “But the worst part was not the hospital. The worst part is that Quinn Colfax tried to kill you.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t so good,” Mason admitted. He swirled the lemonade in his glass and looked thoughtful. “Assuming it was Quinn.”
“He drugged the coffee,” Deke said. “That’s the only reasonable explanation. Good thing you didn’t finish it.”
Lucy shuddered. “I find it hard to believe that Quinn Colfax cold-bloodedly tried to poison you right there in his own office.”
“Well, it wasn’t like there was a more convenient place,” Mason said. “Got to hand it to him. He worked it like a pro. I never saw it coming. Hell, we almost bonded over our mutual gratitude to Sara.”
Deke snorted. “Well, one thing for sure, the poisoning wasn’t premeditated. It had to be a spur-of-the-moment action. Quinn didn’t know you were going to confront him at the winery. That means he had to have the drug somewhere real handy.”
“What a horrible thought,” Lucy said. “I’ll never drink any more wine from the Colfax Vineyards.”
“You might want to skip the coffee they pour there, too,” Mason said.
“Probably organic,” Deke said. “Got to watch that stuff.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Mason said.
“Quinn Colfax tried to kill you, damn it.” Deke gripped the porch railing, his eyes going very dark and cold. “He drugged you and then tried to force you into the river at the most dangerous place on River Road. You might have survived the crash, but you would have been sliding into unconsciousness because of the drug, so you would have drowned. That’s cold-blooded attempted murder. The only reason I didn’t call the police was that we don’t have a shred of proof. So what are we going to do about this situation?”
Mason took another swig of lemonade and set the glass aside. “We are going to figure out what the hell is going on and then find some proof.”
He got up from the swing. Lucy watched uneasily, but Mason was steady on his feet as he went down the steps and examined the front fender of his car. She rose and followed him. Deke pushed himself away from the railing and joined them. Joe padded after them.
They all contemplated the damage to the front fender.
Lucy folded her arms. “All I can tell you is that I didn’t do it when I drove the car back here.”
“I have some memory of the impact,” Mason said. “I braked hard to let the driver of the SUV get past me.”
“That’s probably what saved you,” Deke said. He took a closer look at the deep scratches in the fender. “Black paint. Remember anything about the vehicle that sideswiped you?”
“Not much,” Mason said. “I was hallucinating wildly at the time—the movie thing. I remember wondering if I was in the middle of a car-chase scene. A big vehicle was coming up fast behind me, an SUV, I think. Black. Tinted windows. There was a lot of glare off the windshield. Couldn’t see the driver.”
“Big black SUV with tinted windows describes about half the vehicles on the road in this part of the state,” Deke said. “One of them just happens to belong to Quinn Colfax. Be interesting to find out if there’s any damage to his fender. I could drive up to the winery and see if I can spot his car.”
Mason considered that briefly and then nodded once. “If it was his vehicle in that car-chase scene, I doubt he’ll leave it parked out in the open, not if it was damaged. But you never know.”
“I’ll take a look,” Deke said.
“Use Lucy’s compact,” Mason said. “Everyone in town knows your truck and my car.”
“Good plan.” Deke glanced at Lucy. “Is that all right with you?”
“Sure,” Lucy said.
She walked across the graveled drive to the compact and retrieved her tote from the front seat. She tossed the keys to Deke, who snagged them neatly out of midair with the same effortless coordination that characterized Mason’s catches.
Deke started to get behind the wheel. Joe leaped to his feet and looked hopeful.
“Okay if I take Joe with me?” Deke said.
“No problem,” Lucy said.
Deke opened the rear door of the car. “Joe. Car.”
Joe raced down the steps and vaulted into the compact.
Lucy and Mason watched the car pull out of the driveway.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say your uncle was enjoying himself,” Lucy said.
“Yeah, I got the same impression.”
“What if he gets caught checking out the winery vehicles?”
“He won’t get caught. Uncle Deke knows what he’s doing. What do you say we take a walk along the river? I need to clear my head and think.”
Alarmed, she peered at his eyes. “What do you mean? Are you feeling woozy again? Are you seeing things?”
“No, I’m fine. Stop checking out my pupil size. I just want to walk and think for a while.”
He caught her hand, threaded her fingers through his, and started down the sloping hillside into the trees that bordered the river.
Lucy felt the strength in his hand and told herself to relax. Mason was back to normal.
“What almost happened to you today is probably what happened to Aunt Sara and Mary, isn’t it?” she said after a while.