“Yes, morning.”
She breathes again. “What day?”
There is a short silence. “It’s Sunday morning, sweetheart. March 5.”
“Is Stacey O’Grady in this room?”
“No, baby. She’s down the hall.”
“Is the door closed?”
“Yes.”
Janie doesn’t understand, but her brain is still fuzzy, like her eyes. And then slowly, bits of things return.
And she knows there are two very important things she told herself to remember, even when everything was out of control. She speaks slowly.
“Cabel?”
“Yes?”
“GHB. Mr. Durbin cooked it up himself out of paint stripper and lye.
That’s my guess. I looked it up before. I didn’t see him do it. But he has the stuff. And, obviously, the ability.”
She breathes, exhausted. “Only twelve hours before it’s out of the body. Urine tests. Everyone. Every fucking one.”
She doesn’t see him blink.
“Good job,” he murmurs, and he’s on the cell phone. Talking gibberish.
She’s trying hard to focus. There’s something else. What is it? She can’t remember.
He stops talking on the phone, and he’s rubbing her arm.
And then she remembers. “Meatballs,” she says. “The drug was in the punch, but I swear to god I didn’t drink the punch. Not that I can remember. I tested it. The tests are in my jeans pocket. Right side.” She pauses. Sobs a little. “He must have put the GHB in the meatball sauce, when I was in the bathroom, testing the punch. God, I’m so stupid.”
She drifts off, still blind, and sleeps fitfully for a few hours.
9:01 a.m.
Janie blinks awake. The light above her on the ceiling is blinding.
“Where the hell am I?” she asks.
“Fieldridge General,” Cabe says.
She sits up slowly. Her head aches. She holds her hands to her face.
“What the fuck,” she says.
“Janie, can you see?”
“Of course I can see, you asshole.”
He does a double take, looks at the woman next to him, who chuckles, and he closes his eyes briefly. “You feel like talking?” he asks carefully.
She blinks a few more times. Sits up. “Where the fuck am I?” she asks again.
Cabel plants his forehead in his hands. Captain steps to the plate.
“Janie, do you know who I am?”
Janie peers at her. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. And who is this?”
“Cabel Strumheller, sir. You remember him, don’t you?”
Captain buries a grin. “I do, now that you mention it.” She pauses.
“What do you remember?”
Janie closes her eyes. Her head aches. She thinks for a long time.
They wait.
She finally speaks. “I went to the party at Durbin’s house.”
“Yes,” Captain says.
Cabel slips out of his chair and begins to pace the floor.
“I remember setting up the food.” She strains against the fuzziness.
“That’s good, Janie. Take your time. We’ve got all day.”
Janie pauses again. “Oh god,” she says. Her voice shivers and falls.
“It’s okay, Janie. You were drugged.”
A tear slips down Janie’s cheek. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” she whispers.
Captain takes her hand. “You did everything right. No worries. Just take your time.”
Janie sobs quietly for a moment. “Cabe’s gonna be mad,” she whispers to Captain.