Page 52 of Now Until Forever
Zimmerman shook his head. “Who are you?”
She indicated her uniform. “I work security at the Shrine and I live in the building.”
Carlos winced. “She’s with me.” He decided to give standing up a try and braced his hand on the wall. “The app did a number on me, is my guess.”
“But you don’t take Elysium. Which is the only way that would’ve happened.” Zimmerman shrugged. “I looked at it, and nothing happened.”
Carlos wanted to shake his head to agree with the guy, but was pretty sure he would either throw up or fall over if he messed with his equilibrium like that. “I have never in my life taken Elysium.”
“I can vouch for that,” Eliana said.
“You’ve been with him his whole life?” Zimmerman said. “Every moment?”
She lifted her chin. “Most of it, yeah.”
Zimmerman pressed his lips together and looked at Carlos. “A doctor can check you out. You need to make a statement to the detective when he gets here, and I’ll be filing a report with your sergeant.”
Carlos didn’t want to go back to the hospital, but he also didn’t have the energy to argue. “You should do that.” He nodded. “I’m guessing the compound from earlier might’ve had Elysium in it. Or itwasElysium.” He pushed out a breath, trying to tamp down the rising nausea. “The app wanted me to kill you.”
“Yeah,” Zimmerman said. “I noticed.”
And just like the Dreamer, the murder would have resembled the doctor’s death at the Shrine.
Chapter Eighteen
What seemed like an hour later, Eliana walked Carlos back to her apartment. “We should grab your duffel so you can stay the night on my couch.”
He stood on the doorstep, silent.
“Or we should pack some of my stuff, and I’ll sleep at your place.” But she didn’t want to leave Patience.
She opened her front door and locked it behind them. The Dreamer woman had been taken to the hospital under arrest. The paramedic on the medic team who’d shown up declared there to be nothing wrong with Carlos, and the Elysium test was at such a low level it indicated the drug was almost out of his system.
Which might be the problem.
“We were gonna order a pizza, but I have some chicken in the fridge. Want me to cook?”
He gave a half shrug. “Thanks.”
Eliana retrieved two glasses from the cupboard as Carlos slid onto one of her barstools. “I get that you cooperated because you were supposed to, right? But will you get in trouble for supposedly being on Elysium?” She filled both glasses with water and handed him one.
“Thanks.” He drained the glass in a few gulps. “Someone will be looking into it, no doubt. But if the compound from this morning is confirmed to be Elysium or a derivative, I should be cleared. I have no idea when that will happen, or what hurdles I’ll face before I can go back to work without this cloud.”
She refilled his glass and set it in front of him. “Plenty of cops were hit with it today.” She stood across from him, her hands braced on the counter. “You’ll all be in the same boat.”
“That’s why I’m not as worried as I could be. But it’s still bad.” He took a sip of water. “You okay?”
“I’m okay.” She sipped from her glass. “For the record, Patience didn’t reply right away, which worried me. I half wondered if I was going to find her murdered.” She needed a second with that one. “Patience was tidying in her bathroom, so I helped her with that and got her situated back in her chair. She turned on the news.”
Eliana grabbed the chicken and a container of potatoes she’d made a few days ago and needed to use up. Veggies from the assortment she had, though she was running low. After placing a cutting board and knife on the counter, she got to work putting something together.
She wasn’t even sure she wanted to talk about what had been on the TV. But who else was she going to share with that would actually understand what she faced? Because she’d been right when she told that officer she had been there for Carlos’s whole life. Okay, not literally. But it felt that way to her.
Who else would get it?
She looked at Carlos. “Can I tell you something that has nothing to do with murder or Elysium?”
“Yes, please.” He sounded relieved.
