Eastern shifted his attention to the hall, then back to them. “There’s a possibility this is connected to what happened to Lucian and Oscar.”
Callie tried to calm her fear. “What do you mean, ‘a possibility?’”
Eastern met her gaze. “They found GHB in his system.”
“What’s that?” Aspen asked.
“It’s a drug commonly linked to date rape. But when it’s used in a high dosage—”
“It’s lethal,” Lock finished.
“Yes.” Eastern ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s a flavorless liquid, so easy to slip into someone’s drink.”
The fine hairs on Callie’s arms stood on end. “So, whoever drugged him got close to him just before class.”
Eastern frowned. “Maybe. There’s also the possibility he takes it himself. In small doses, it induces euphoria and relaxation. Maybe the stress of being questioned caused him to overdose. His mother insisted he doesn’t take drugs, though.”
Callie’s finger dug into her palm. “How much did he consume?”
“Enough to put him in a coma.”
Her jaw dropped.Oh God.
“We need to find out where he was before the class,” Lock said.
Eastern turned to his brother. “We know where he was. He was getting a drink with his mother at Sugar and Spice, but she said they didn’t talk to anyone else. I need to talk to Sadie and her grandmother and see if they remember who else was in the café.” His gaze shifted to Callie before returning to Lock. “There’s something else.”
“What?” Lock asked, voice low and dangerous.
“We found Oscar’s body.”
Callie’s heart thumped. “His body?”
Eastern’s gaze returned to her, voice somber. “He was beaten to death in the woods behind his house.”
Lock’sfingers tightened around the wheel as they drove away from the hospital.
Drugged. In a coma. And Oscar was dead.
Jesus, things were going from bad to worse.
Eastern believed that Oscar being beaten to death made it less likely Hamish was the culprit and more likely a victim. Lock wasn’t convinced. Not enough to write him off anyway. Hamish could still be involved. Just because someone didn’t appear capable of something didn’t mean they weren’t. Lock had run into plenty of dangerous people during his time in the military who’d played the part of an innocent but really knew a hundred ways to kill someone.
And overdosing on a drug was something a guilty person might do.
They’d have to wait until Hamish woke up and Eastern could question him to know for certain. His brother was good at what he did, so if anyone could get to the bottom of this, it was him.
He shot a glance over at Callie. She was blaming herself for everything, and he fucking hated it.
He took a left, then a right turn.
Callie frowned. “This isn’t the way home.”
He’d been wondering when she’d realize. “We’re not going home.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
