Page 118 of Angels & Whiskey

Almost three weeksafter Rich died, Detective Evans and Detective King knocked on our front door.

“Is Mrs. Jones here?”

“Yes,” I heard Gabe respond.

I didn’t know how they knew that I’d be at Gabe and Paul’s house. Maybe they stopped by the house I shared with Rich—I no longer called that house my home. Or maybe they took a chance and drove by Gabe’s and saw my car. Whatever the reason, I was still nervous when I heard Detective Evans ask if I were available.

“Mrs. Jones.” Detective Evans nodded in greeting as I sat on the couch in the living room.

I stood and shook their hands. “What can I do for you detectives?”

“We have news regarding your husband,” Detective King said. They sat opposite me as Gabe leaned against the wall near me. “The tox screen came back. Mr. Jones and Mr. Romero were poisoned.”

“Poisoned?” I asked, looking briefly at Gabe.

“With what? Do you know by who?” Gabe asked before I could.

“We were lucky enough to find the footage from the video cameras in the house,” Detective Evans replied. “Do you know the guy who Mr. Jones got into an altercation with at the party a few weeks ago?”

“No, I don’t. That was the first time I’d seen him and I didn’t get a good look.”

“You’re husband had loaned him money, and we think Mr. White didn’t want to pay it back.”

“Think?” Gabe asked.

“Mr. White isn’t exactly cooperating,” Detective King replied.

“But you know he poisoned them?” I asked.

“The footage we recovered showed Mr. White going to the bar area and using a syringe to inject a liquid into several bottles. We tested those bottles and found Rohypnol.”

“Wait,” Gabe interjected. “Like the date rape drug?”

“Exactly,” Detective Evans stated. “The medical examiner determined that both Mr. Jones and Mr. Romero consumed approximately eight to ten milligrams of the Rohypnol from the Grey Goose bottle. The other bottles we tested had anywhere from twenty to thirty milligrams of the drug in them.”

“Wouldn’t that just make them pass out?” I asked.

“In rape cases, the tox screen only shows one to one and a half milligrams of the drug in their system. Mr. Jones and Mr. Romero consumed almost ten times that amount. With that amount of Rohypnol, the medical examiner determined that their blood pressure dropped and then their respiratory system started to shut down until they could no longer breathe,” Detective King stated.

Gabe sat down on the couch next to me and grabbed my hands. I needed the contact. I needed to feel that I wasn’t alone in this, and having the comfort he provided was all I needed. If I hadn’t left Rich that night, there was a chance I could have been killed. I took a few seconds to process everything while the room was silent.

“Now what?” I finally asked.

“Mr. White is being held in custody until his trial. He’s pleaded not guilty in the bail hearing, but like I said, we have him on camera.” Detective Evans answered.

I chuckled sarcastically under my breath; if he only knew why Rich had those cameras.

“Is Autumn in danger?” Gabe asked.

“We don’t think so,” Detective King answered.

“When is his trial?” I asked.

“In about seven months.”

“Seven months? Will I have to go to the trial?” I asked.

The detectives looked at each other and then back to me. “We know you were leaving Mr. Jones, but the public doesn’t. It would probably be in your best interest to play the grieving widow. From what we’ve learned and heard, Mr. Jones has a lot of enemies,” Detective Evans confirmed.