Page 124 of This is Why We Lied

Faith asked, “Is all that stuff normal for fishing?”

“Most of it.” Sara had spent a lot of time with her father on the lake. He wore the equipment on his belt, but everyone was different. “Are you ready for me to turn him?”

Will moved back a few feet, then nodded.

Sara stabilized her hands on Chuck’s shoulder and hip, then turned him onto his side.

Will made a noise. The back of his injured hand went to his nose. Sara took that as a confirmation on the state of Chuck’s bowels. She was glad Faith was upwind.

Sara could only breathe through her mouth as she removed Chuck’s wallet from his right back pocket and opened it flat on the ground. The black leather was polished. She laid out a Visa card, an American Express, a driver’s license and an insurance card, all in the name of Bryce Bradley Weller. There was no cash in the inner compartment, just a single condom in a faded gold packet. Magnum XL lubricated and ribbed. Sara turned over the wallet. By the circular wear mark, she guessed that the condom had been there for quite a while. Something told her Chuck wasn’t using one every night and replacing it.

Will said, “The seminal fluid you found in Mercy, could that have been lube?”

“No. The slide showed traces of spermatozoa under the microscope. And keep in mind that’s not evidence of assault, just proof of intercourse.” She lifted the back of Chuck’s shirt. There were no scratch marks or signs of recent trauma. The only surprising discovery was a tattoo. “There’s a large tattoo on the left shoulder blade, approximately four inches by three, of what appears to be a square whiskey glass with amber-colored liquid sloshing over the rim. Instead of ice, there’s a human skull.”

“Wow,” Faith said. “Was he big into scotch?”

“I have no idea.” Sara had deliberately avoided any small talk. “Will?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t see him drinking anything but water all night.”

“If I was going to poison him,” Faith said, “I’d definitely spike the jug.”

Sara gently rolled Chuck onto his back. “That’s all the preliminary findings. We’ll have to wait for the autopsy and tox screens to give us the full picture.”

Will stopped the recording. He asked Sara, “What’s your theory?”

Sara nodded for him to follow her away from the body. She didn’t like talking over victims as if they were problems to solve rather than human beings.

She waited for Faith to join them, then said, “Given our surroundings, my first thought was something natural, like atropine or solanine, which are found in nightshade. I’ve seen it before. The solanine is incredibly poisonous, even in small amounts. There’s also horse nettle, pokeweed, black cherry and cherry laurel.”

“Jesus, nature is so bad for you,” Faith chimed in. “What was your second thought?”

“I’m wondering about the eye drops. There’s an ingredient called tetrahydrozoline, or THZ, that’s an alpha-1 receptor used to decrease redness by constricting blood vessels. By oral ingestion, it rapidly passes through the intestinal tract and absorbs into the bloodstream and central nervous systems. In higher concentrations, it can cause nausea, diarrhea, low blood pressure, decreased heart rate, and loss of consciousness.”

Faith asked, “You’re talking about the stuff you can buy over the counter?”

“The dose makes the poison,” Sara said. “If THZ is the culprit, then you’re looking for a few bottles.”

Will said, “All of the garbage gets taken up the hill. We can search the bags for empty bottles, but we’ll have to send anything we find to the lab to process for fingerprinting.”

“Wait,” Faith said. “There was a case in Carolina with this, right? The wife slipped the husband eye drops in his water? But it took some time for him to die.”

Sara had read about the case, too. “The THZ could be a contributing factor in Chuck’s death. The actual cause could be drowning.”

“Suicide is probably out,” Will said. “That doesn’t sound like something you’d use to kill yourself.”

“Unless you wanted to shit yourself to death,” Faith added. “Wasn’t there a movie where the guy gave it to the other guy so he could get the girl?”

“Wedding Crashers,” Will said. “Are we looking for one person or two? Who would have a motive to kill both Mercy and Chuck?”

“What do we know about Chuck?” Faith asked. “He was weird. He liked scotch enough to get a tattoo. He fished. He carried around a jug of water.”

Will said, “He was Christopher’s best friend. He had an unrequited obsession with Mercy. He was an incel or incel-adjacent.”

“He had a condom in his wallet, so he hadn’t completely given up all hope.” Faith let out a heavy sigh. “Who had access to the jug?”

Sara looked at Will. “Everybody?”