The heart monitor and the background noise of the other machines in the room filled the silence. Twenty minutes passed before her eyes fluttered open.
They all stood. The motion must have startled her, and she drew in a sharp inhale as her alert, though sleepy, eyes tried focusing.
“Honey,” Vanessa said, brushing a hand over her daughter’s head. Helia’s dazed gaze lingered on her parents, then flickered to him.
“What’s going on?” she asked, then licked her lips. “Is there any water?”
He let go of her hand and poured a small glass, setting the straw in it before holding it to her lips. She took a few long sips, then rested her head back against the pillow.
“Why am I so tired?” she slurred, as if moving her lips required more energy than she had.
Uncertainty shadowed Vanessa and Harry’s expressions. “There was an incident,” Monk said, taking the task of explaining from them. Her hazy eyes tried focusing on him. “You were drugged, but we got you to the hospital and they’ve done their best to flush it out of your system. The doctor told us you’ll be tired for the next day or so.”
Struggling to comprehend what he’d told her, her gaze held his. “Drugged? How? What?”
“As to what, we don’t know the details, but the police are taking over and will do the analysis,” he answered.
“How?” she asked again.
He hesitated. “A dart gun.”
Two lines formed between her brows. “Like a tranquilizer gun vets use on animals?”
“I’m not an expert on that weapon, but yeah, I imagine it was like that,” he said. Her gaze drifted to her parents, then back to him.
“Why?”
The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. “We don’t know.”
“But Carter and Jess will find out,” Harry said with more certainty than Monk felt. He wasn’tunimpressedby them, but they hadn’t exactly wowed him with their skill.
She fell silent, and the second hand on the wall clock clicked down, seeming much louder than before. “It’s tied together, isn’t it?” she said. “The murders, the break-in at my house…”
He cast a probing look at her parents. Harry and Vanessa weren’t the sort to gloss over the truth or sugarcoat things, but this was their daughter’s life. By the expression on their faces, though, they wanted answers, too. It was a little intimidating that they were looking to him, these two people who had taken him in, protected him as a child. On the other hand, it meantthey saw him as an adult now. And a capable one at that. A heady feeling took root in his body.
He nodded. “Yes,” he said, his tone grim. “I think they are all connected.”
Her eyes slid to her mom, and a look crossed her face, as if trying to pull up a buried memory. She blinked and turned back to him. “Connected to me or connected to something I’m involved with?” she asked. Before she could tire herself out more, Vanessa jumped in, telling him a theory she’d proposed to Helia earlier.
“Not a bad idea,” he said when Vanessa finished. “We can look into it.” The possibility of Justin and Kurt being connected through an organization Helia also worked with didn’t account for Roger, who donated money, not time, but it was worth exploring.
Satisfied, she nodded, then sat back. “What are we going to do with Helia now? If they are after her…” Sundaram had two events the next day before they could lock down. Lots of people on the grounds. Lots of opportunity to get to Helia.
“My brothers are coming today,” he said. “Well, most of them. They were supposed to be here already but got held up dealing with a work thing, then hit traffic with an accident on the interstate. The delay gave me time to head to the grocery store and meet Helia before they get here.” His stomach once again revolted at how close he’d come to losing her. If that series of events—the work delay, then traffic—hadn’t happened, he would’ve been home greeting his family, and she would have been on that street by herself. Someone would have noticed her fall, but he doubted anyone would have called 911 as quickly as she’d needed. Or seen the dart.
Pulling him from that dark path, Helia’s hand squeezed his. “I’m looking forward to meeting them, but why are they coming now?”
Sorrow weighed heavy on his chest. The reason he’d wanted to see Helia in person was to tell her about Kendall’s mom. It wasn’t a message that should be sent over text or given by phone.
“A few reasons, but the main one being because I need help. I need help searching the castle for more of Roger’s drugs.” He paused. “And I need help with Kendall. We found out this morning that her mom died in a car accident. Probably on her way back to get her. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
Her eyes teared. “No.” He gave a tiny nod. “That poor girl.”
“Who’s Kendall?” Harry asked.
A complicated question, but Monk boiled it down, telling them how she’d been left at the castle by her mom and how he’d found her. He couldn’t help mentioning how sharp she was and how she’d contributed more than her fair share of ideas to the Kurt/Justin situation.
Harry rubbed a hand over his face, and Vanessa dabbed her eyes when he finished. “That poor child,” Harry said. “What will happen to her now?”
