Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(45)

The doctor shook his head. “I’m not mistaken. The symptoms are textbook and the tests showed peanut oil in your stomach.” He looked at Beau and Mildred, then back at Sabine, obviously nervous. “Ms. LeVeche, I don’t know how to say this any other way, but since you and your friend are certain of your dietary intake, I think you need to contact the police. They’re going to want to search your apartment and test that bottle of wine and the food.”

Sabine stared at the doctor in shock. “The police? Test my food?”

The doctor nodded. “There is a chance the wine was somehow tainted before the sale, but I honestly can’t imagine peanut oil being any part of the process for wine-making, so it’s a real long shot. And you need to start considering who might have the access and the desire to do something like this. Any new business associates, friends, a slighted customer…the police are going to want to know.”

Sabine tried to answer, but her voice caught in her throat. The only new things in her life were Beau and her family. Surely Beau had no reason at all to harm her; in fact, he’d been trying to tell her that digging up the past might not be a good idea. But her family? They barely knew her, so it was highly unlikely they knew about her allergies. Besides, she wasn’t asking them for anything and didn’t want anything, except to gain a better knowledge of her parents. Hell, Catherine had been the one suggesting the Fortescues fund a new business for Sabine that was apparently more “worthy” of the grand family name.

Sabine took a drink of water and tried to keep her hand from shaking. “I…I don’t really know what to say.”

“The doctor’s right,” Beau said. “If you ingested peanuts, it probably wasn’t an accident. I’ll call the police and get them over to your apartment and have them send someone here to get all the information from you. Tell them to talk to me afterward. I can provide all the details on the new people in your life.”

Sabine shook her head. “I’m not about to let the police tromp around my apartment, digging through my drawers, taking inventory of my stuff. And not for nothing, but the Mudbug police still haven’t come up with anything on the break-in or the lurker I kicked. I seriously doubt they’d have any idea what to do about a poisoning.” Especially since the small matter of Helena Henry’s poisoning had seemed to fly right past both the police and the doctors. Sabine’s odds did not look good with the “experts” of Mudbug on the case.

“Now, Sabine,” Mildred said, “I think you ought to listen to the doctor, and to Beau.”

“Fine,” Sabine said. “If the hospital will release me, I’ll take care of everything with the police.”

Dr. Mitchell shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ms. LeVeche, but I can’t do that. We really need to monitor you overnight to ensure nothing else is wrong. I’m not trying to scare you, but you had a major attack. Quite frankly, you’re lucky to be alive. If the paramedics had been just a couple of minutes later…”

“I’ll contact the police and meet them at your apartment,” Beau offered. “I’ll oversee everything. Make sure they do a thorough job. I have connections in New Orleans. I’ll make sure anything that needs to be tested is sent to a lab there.”

Sabine sighed, feeling her independence slipping away.

Beau held one hand up. “I promise I won’t go through your panty drawer.”

Mildred shook her head. “She doesn’t have a panty drawer. What her and Maryse have against covering their rear, I simply don’t know.”

Sabine groaned and pulled the sheet up over her head, but not before seeing the embarrassment on the doctor’s face and the grin on Beau’s. “Get out of here, all of you, before I just go ahead and die to escape it all.” It was bad enough that all the medical personnel of Mudbug General already had a good idea of her feelings about undergarments.

She heard Beau laugh and Mildred said, “I’ll go with Beau and let them into your apartment. I’ll be back as soon as we’re done with the police. Don’t worry about a thing. You just work on getting better.”

Sabine waited until she heard the door close, then pulled the sheet down and thought over everything that had happened that day. “What the hell is going on?” she asked out loud.

“I don’t know,” Helena answered, making her jump.

“Jesus,” Sabine said, sucking in a breath. “I didn’t know you were still here.”

“Can you still see me?”

Sabine nodded. “The John Lennon thing still isn’t working for me. Why did you come back?”

“I thought maybe someone ought to keep an eye on you and since the others all left…”

“What could possibly happen in the hospital?”

“Hmmmm, well, although I started to feel weird after I drank that brandy, technically, I was in the hospital when I died,” Helena said.

Sabine stared at the wall. “Shit.”

“But having an overnight stay here does give us all sorts of other possibilities.”

“Like what?” Sabine didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“Oh, I was thinking that taking a peek at the medical records of the Fortescues might be a good idea. Obviously someone’s out of their damned mind because I can’t think of anyone else who’d want to kill you. Maybe if we read their medical records, we can see if there’s any history of mental illness.”