Page 85 of Compulsion
“Sometimes, it is a case of like to like.Deviance to deviance.”
“Is it?”
“When he understood that he was going to be her next target, I suspect he thought he’d outsmart her.”
“And he poisoned you to frame her.”
“Yes.She got locked away.He got a book deal.”A shrug of one shoulder.“But I didn’t get locked away.I was the poor, innocent victim after all.That is what everyone saw when they looked at me.How tragic, to nearly be killed by your murderous mother.”
“Youwerea victim.His victim.”
She had been a victim.She hadn’t liked being one.“I was a victim until the night I slipped into his house.My other breaking and entering experience, by the way.I was a victim until I broke in, and I poured poison into his favorite bottle of whiskey.A very expensive bottle, by the way.There was only a little whiskey left at the bottom of the bottle because he’d been slowly sipping on it.Savoring it before bedtime each night.I knew his routine.I’d made it a point to know.I knew that he’d come in, he’d get the last of that whiskey, he’d drink it in his big chair…and he’d think he was the king of the world.”He’d infuriated her.A man pretending to be a victim while he was as evil as they came.“I found other girls,” Lily blurted that out.“Girls like me…girls he’d…hurtbut they had been too afraid to come forward.”
She’d gathered her intel.She’d learned every detail that she could about David Warren.Because there were some things you did that could never be taken back.Or never forgiven.“One of those girls was his own daughter.She lived in another state with her mother, and it took some convincing to get her to talk to me.But in the end, she did.She told me how much she wished he was dead.”
Wish granted.
Lily was very conscious of each beat of her heart.“He was about to get married again.Did I mention that to you?No?”
Altas shook his head.“No.”
“I’m jumping around.I apologize for that.”
“Don’t apologize for a single fucking thing to me.”
That was…
“Be as you are, Lily.That’s exactly how I want you.Apologize for nothing.”
Her shoulders were tense.Her spine too straight.She just wanted to finish this story.Have it done.“So much time had passed.I’d gone to college.Met Sloane.”Finally had a friend.“He was engaged.The wife-to-be had a daughter.Thirteen-year-old Taneisha.She had a great smile.Braces.Such a cute, happy kid.Kids should get to stay kids, don’t you think?”
He swore.“Yeah, they fucking should.”
“My middle name is Oleander.”
“I know.”Softer.Gentle.
“Oleander poisoning is usually diagnosed partially based on cardiovascular symptoms.The plant has cardiac glycosides.”Did that sound too clinical?It felt too clinical.
He raised his brows.“Am I meeting Dr.Lily Gallo?Do tell me more about these cardiac glycosides.I’m fascinated.”A beat.“By you.”
“They, um, they can cause heart paralysis.I took that idea, heart paralysis, and I found something that woulddefinitelyget the job done.Not like I wanted to take chances, but I did want his heart to stop.”The confession was scary to make.Chilling.And…freeing.“When he was on the floor, grabbing his chest, I walked out of the shadows.My mother had been in prison for over two years by this point.Two years for the circus of her trial to finally conclude.Then two years in prison.I was in my first year of med school.Being in med school allowed me access to all sorts of interesting drugs.”
“Lily…”
“I waited.I found my moment.I found my method.And I killed the man who poisoned me.”
Done.Confession made.
“His ex-wife and his daughter decided they wanted him cremated.Right away.They took care of the details.The ME ruled it a heart attack without even doing any blood work.No drug scans.Heart attacks happen, you know.There was no investigation.Why would there be?Who would want to kill him?Poison him?Who would even know how?Other than the Poison Princess, of course, and she was locked away.How could she hurt anyone when she was behind bars?”
I learned from my mother.No, I learned so much more than she understood.
Their gazes held.She’d told him everything, and her shoulders sagged as the weight drifted away.“You can walk out,” she told him.“You know that I am as twisted as?—”
“Me?”Atlas finished.
That hadn’t been what she meant.“I don’t need protecting.”
