Page 64 of The Chain
Rachel backs away as Pete injects Amelia in the leg. It works almost immediately. Like a goddamn miracle. Amelia gasps and begins to cough.
She coughs and sucks air and coughs again.
Pete gives her water and she drinks it and wheezes.
He takes her wrist. “Pulse coming down to normal. And she’s breathing better.”
Rachel nods, walks upstairs, finds the Appenzellers’ liquor cabinet, and pours herself a large tumbler of Scotch.
She drinks it and refills the glass.
Forty-fiveminutes later, Pete comes up to join her. “How is she?” Rachel asks.
“Doing much better,” Pete says. “Fever’s way down.”
“She was in a very bad way. I think her breathing stopped.”
“It was my fault. I didn’t check the cereal.”
“I would have let her die, Pete.”
Pete shakes his head but he knows she would have and that he probably would have too.
“I’ve become them,” Rachel whispers.
They stare at each other for a beat or two. Their eyes tell the same story: shame, exhaustion, fear.
“When you were out, some woman came to the door looking for Elaine Appenzeller. She went away but she called the cops,” Rachel says.
“Did the cops come here?”
“Yeah.”
“Are we compromised?”
“I don’t think so. I flirted with the cop and I think he thinks I’m some horny old lady who nuisance-calls the police just to get dates with them.”
“You’re not old,” Pete says with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
I’m probably dying, Pete,Rachel thinks,how much older can you get?“So Amelia’s OK?”
“She’s on the mend, yeah.”
“I’ll go down and see her.”
Amelia’s breathing and complexion don’t fully return to normal for another half an hour. If only a trace amount of nuts has done this to her, then a full-blown exposure would certainly have killed her.
“Why do you always wear those masks on your face?” Amelia asks her.
“It’s because when we give you back to your mommy, we don’t want you to be able to tell her what we look like,” Rachel says.
“Doesn’t Mommy know what you look like?”
“No.”
“You should Friend her on Facebook and then she’ll know,” Amelia says definitively.
“Maybe I’ll do that. Do you want a juice box?”
