Lou sensed that he had now lost the older Chester completely, and knew that he had never made a dent in Gilbert Stone. But there seemed to be at least a glimmer of interest from Edwin. Lou decided it was worth pushing his theories.

“And there’s more,” he said.

He recounted the baffling and at times risky medicine being practiced by several of the staff at DeLand Regional, Carolyn Meacham’s dangerous car chase, and finally, his observations surrounding Joey Alderson’s near amputation, and the young chef’s admission that he had no idea why he chose to reach beneath the deadly blade when he did.

“In each instance,” he concluded, “it appeared that there was a temporary loss of judgment—a gap in thinking or, if you will, a lapse of reason.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Edwin muttered when Lou had finished. “This is absolute rubbish. It is preposterous to think that you’d be the target of a deadly ambush, like you claim happened, just because of your theories, which are utterly baseless.”

Lou’s patience with the man was wearing thin. “Baseless? Chief Stone, how many residents are there in Kings Ridge? Seven thousand?

“Ten,” Stone grumbled, clearly wishing they could all call it quits.

“Ten,” Lou echoed. “Even allowing for the fact that not everyone working at the hospital is from Kings Ridge, I’ve just identified roughly ten people who have exhibited these symptoms, and that was without even searching for them. Now, I was never a biostatistics whiz in med school, but I did pass. I imagine that someone who knew what they were doing and crunched the numbers would tell us there is no coincidence at work here.”

“Ridiculous,” Edwin said. “Please, Gilbert, tell me you’re not buying in to this nonsense?”

“We’re investigating all possibilities, Edwin,” Stone said.

“We’ll cooperate in the morning when our attorneys are present. But for now, I ask that you all leave these premises immediately so that my father and I might attempt to get some sleep.”

“Of course,” Stone said.

Without reaction, William stalked from the greenhouse, and Gilbert Stone led the others through a door leading to the front lawn.

Lou was the last of the group to leave.

Edwin was standing by the door, and as Lou passed, Edwin seized him tightly by the arm. “What in the hell is really going on, Welcome?” the man whispered harshly. Despite the difference in their height, he fixed Lou with an icy glare.

“I thought I just told you,” Lou said, pulling his arm free and not backing off a step. “There is something deadly wrong going on in Kings Ridge.”

Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33