Irish Throwdown (What Happens In Vegas Book 4) by Matt Lincoln (short books for teens .TXT) 📕

“It’s hard for me to remember,” Simone croaked. “It’s all in bits and pieces, and a lot of it doesn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean by not making sense?” I asked.

“I remember things that are impossible,” she explained. “Like a horse standing in the living room, and these two little demons who were chasing me around and poking me with knives.”

“She was acting funny,” Mr. Montague interrupted. “Right before she got violent, she was stumbling around and talking about seeing things that weren’t there. Then suddenly, she started screaming and ran right for Caleb, our youngest. I managed to pull her away and told him and his sister to go hide in the bathroom. Then she turned on me, but it was like she couldn’t see me. She was screaming something about demons and devils, and she was so strong. I tried to restrain her, but she pushed me off like it was nothing. I didn’t want to hurt her, so I ran to the bathroom with the kids and locked the door. Then I called nine-one-one. It all just happened so fast.”

Mr. Montague’s shoulders slumped as he finished his diatribe as if he’d just gotten something big off his chest.

“That sounds like a drug-induced delusional episode,” Naomi stated firmly. “Mrs. Montague, had you taken any drugs before the incident?”

“No,” Simone rasped. “I’ve never even smoked a cigarette. I had just woken up from a nap. My head was swimming, but I thought it was just grogginess from waking up. Then everything began to change. It was like I was on a different planet. Everything was colored bright pink and green and orange. It was so pretty at first, but then these two horrifying little demons started chasing me around. I tried to call out to Jeffrey, but my voice wouldn’t work. I had this horrible feeling that if I didn’t destroy those awful little demons, they would go after my precious babies next.”

I frowned as I listened to Simone’s account of that day’s events. It was clear that she had been hallucinating and had mistaken her own children for demons, but we still didn’t know how she’d gotten to that state. She claimed she hadn’t taken any drugs, and she really didn’t seem like she was lying about that.

“Again,” Naomi continued, “that very much sounds like you were under the influence of something that warped your perception. We aren’t here to judge you, Ms. Montague, but we really need to know if you took anything that night.”

“There’s no way she did!” Mr. Montague snapped angrily. “She’s a homemaker! We have two kids under five years old. They aren’t even in school yet. When would she have found the time to do drugs? Someone must have dosed her or something!”

I frowned sympathetically at Mr. Montague’s outburst. The truth was that drug addicts were often very adept at hiding their addictions from their friends and family, and it wasn’t unheard of for mothers to purchase drugs while, say, out at a park with their kids. Somehow, though, I didn’t think that was the case here. It was nothing but my own intuition, but I didn’t believe that Simone had willingly put herself in that state.

“We heard about other cases,” Simone wheezed. “On the news, they were talking about the attacks. People like me suddenly going crazy and attacking others.”

“That’s right,” Mr. Montague chimed in. “Someone’s going around drugging people and making them go nuts, isn’t he? Why aren’t you out there trying to catch him instead of hassling my wife? She the victim here!”

“We’re trying, Mr. Montague,” Naomi replied calmly. “But to catch him, we need as much information as we can get. That’s why I really need Simone to try to remember how all those drugs got into her system. The toxicology report the police ran came back positive for a multitude of different drugs. I’m not looking to get her in trouble. I just want to stop this from happening to anyone else.”

“I really didn’t take anything, though,” Simone replied sadly. “Well, unless you count the cough syrup. But that was just over-the-counter medicine I got from the corner store.”

“When did you take it?” I asked warily.

“Right before it happened,” Simone replied. “That’s why I was napping. I had caught a little bug and was trying to sleep it off. I took some of the cough syrup right before I went to sleep. Then I woke up and, well, you know the rest.”

I glanced over at Naomi, who looked back at me with a grave expression.

“Do you still have that cough syrup?” Naomi asked.

“Yeah, I think we do,” Mr. Montague replied. “I think I put it back in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Why? Do you think that’s what caused it? Is someone spiking medicine?”

“We’re about to find out,” Naomi replied. “We’ll need that bottle, Mr. Montague.”

“Of course,” he answered shakily before standing up and turning to his wife. “I’ll be right back, honey.”

“Okay,” she replied weakly. Her voice was faint, but I could see fear in her wide eyes. “Just hurry and get that stuff out of my house.”

I crossed my arms over my chest to stop my hands from shaking as we made our way out of the hospital. I didn’t want to think about the possibility that someone was spiking medicine with dangerous drugs. How many innocent people would be affected if that was the case? I forced the thought out of my mind. We weren’t even sure yet if the cough syrup was laced. It could end up just being a coincidence. Until we had more solid proof, I needed to stay clear-headed and focused.

7

Charlie

I pulled off my jacket before falling heavily into my desk chair. Junior and I had ended up coming back to the office without anything new to report. After we’d subdued Mrs. Evans, Junior and I had combed through the entire house, but we hadn’t found any traces of any illicit substances found in Dominick