Page 44 of Last Date

“Then what?” Detective Bergen urged.

“The paramedics arrived at the same time as Selena and Captain Roscoe. Then the police showed up and asked us to wait in the saloon.” I glanced up and met Detective Bergen’s gaze. “Then you arrived on the scene.”

Nodding, Detective Bergen said, “Okay.” He turned to Merrick. “His story is pretty much the same as the first night. Not counting the forgetting to mention Bob Tiegerman part.”

Gathering my courage, I asked, “Am I still a suspect?”

Merrick didn’t respond; he just studied me with his sea-green eyes.

“You’re on the back burner, for now,” Detective Bergen said. “Our investigation is going in another direction at the moment. Mind you, that could change any minute.”

“Right.” Relief flooded through me, but I tried to hide it.

There was a knock on the door, and an officer poked his head in. “Your next victim has shown up, Bergen. He’s in room two.”

“Thanks.” Bergen stood and headed to the door. “We might need to talk to you some more, Mr. O’Connor.”

“I understand.”

Detective Bergen shifted his gaze to Merrick. “Did you want to sit in on this next interview, sir?”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

Detective Bergen gave a crooked smile. “I’ll let you know if I find out anything interesting.” He left the room.

An awkward silence fell once he was gone. I expected Merrick to leave when Bergen did, but he stayed seated.

After a few moments, I scraped back my chair. “Well, I should get back to work—”

“You were very lucky, Kip.” Merrick’s gravelly voice interrupted me.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “In what way?”

He stood too and moved to the door. “Let’s just say it’s fortunate your mom taught you good manners.”

Frowning, I joined him. “I don’t understand.”

“If you hadn’t waited for Allister, if you’d helped yourself to more champagne from the bottle that was in the saloon, you’d be dead too.”

A chill ran through me as I held his gaze. “What?” I whispered.

“That bottle was poisoned with morphine. That’s the champagne Allister drank, and it killed him. If you’d had some of that bottle…” A muscle worked in his cheek.

“Jesus.”

“Yeah,” he said softly.

“That’s how the ME knows it was homicide.”

He nodded. “He did hit his head pretty hard, however, the ME feels confident he’d have made a full recovery. It’s the poison that killed him.”

“Who would have access to morphine?”

Merrick shrugged. “Medical professionals. People steal them from patients who have legitimate prescriptions. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

I shivered. “God, that’s terrifying.”

“Yeah. You had a close call, kid.” He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. “Of course, I’m only telling you this because I have a press briefing in an hour. I’ll be sharing this info with everyone in Pearl Cove.”