Bound for Me (Be for Me #4)(22)

Savannah eyed the notebook the guy already had open and then turned to Connor. “What the hell is happening?”

“You’ve been unwell.” The doctor answered. “You lost consciousness last night and the Sheriff here is interested in finding out why.”

“Lost consciousness? At work?” Savannah’s mouth dried even more. “But…” Hell, did they think she’d gotten drunk and passed out or something? “I don’t understand, I don’t drink on the job. Only water.”

“No,” Austin smiled reassuringly. “It wasn’t anything you did. I’m afraid it seems you were given something. Some kind of drug.”

Savannah’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t help glancing at Connor. He was standing at the foot of the bed, glaring grimly at the edge of the blanket.

“You remember being at the bar?” The Sheriff asked.

Slowly she nodded. “Sure. I’d started the evening shift.”

“After working the lunch shift,” Connor interjected with an ominous note in his voice.

“Yes,” she lifted her chin and refused to look at him again. Some people had to work hard for a living. “It was busy. I remember there were a lot of people. A lot of the usual customers…” she trailed off.

“What else do you remember?” The sheriff prompted gently.

“Making cocktails. And feeling hot.”

“Did you have anything to drink?”

“Only from my water bottle. Only water.”

“Do you know where that bottle is now?”

She shook her head again. “It’s green. Neon. Hard to miss.”

“And you always drink from that bottle?”

She looked down at the needle in the back of her hand and nodded, feeling sick. Feeling scared. But damned if she was going to show it.

“I put the needle in, in case I needed to put you on a drip,” the doctor explained quietly. “But it wasn’t necessary. You were sick a couple times, but didn’t get too dehydrated. If you keep up your fluids today you’ll start to feel better.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve taken a blood sample already, but I’ll need you to sign a couple of forms.”

“Of course.” She’d been sick? So that’d be why there was a towel beside her pillow. Why there was a bowl. Why she’d been lying on her side.

The horror of it all made her want to be sick again now. She swallowed rapidly. Enough humiliation, right?

“I’ll take that out for you now, if you’d like?” Austin gestured towards her hand.

“Thanks.”

“I understand you’ve moved only recently to Summerhill, but is there anyone you can think of who might want to cause you harm Ms Nash?” The officer started the scary questions again.

Involuntarily her gaze flew to Connor’s. Jerk. Double Jerk. Ultimate Jerk-Off. She knew Connor remembered their harassing words. They’d been at the bar again last night. And they were total *s… but, surely not. They wouldn’t be that stupid, would they?

“I don’t know anyone who’d want to bother,” she said lamely.

Connor’s frown was instant.

“You’re sure?” The officer asked.

“I really don’t know anyone in this town other than my work colleagues.” She glanced down as Austin deftly removed the needle and quickly applied a Band-aid.

“No ex-boyfriend who’d come after you? You’ve had no issues with stalkers in the past?”

She almost laughed. She’d had three years worth of bullying to see out her school days, but then she’d buried herself at her father’s struggling hotel. She’d been out of her school acquaintances sight for so long, she knew she was out of their minds. And her one serious ex had hit the road as soon as he’d realized the extent of her father’s problems. He was never going to turn stalker.

“No,” she answered. “I can’t think of anyone.”

The officer nodded. “We’ve already reviewed the security footage from the cameras in the bar, but for a few moments both cameras that were focused on where your bottle was, were obscured.” He frowned at his notes. “And your water bottle is now nowhere to be found. Though we do,” he paused and glanced over at Connor. “Have a couple of leads.”

“You do?”

“We’ll be following them up.” He flipped his notebook shut and nodded at the doctor, then Connor.

“Savannah,” the doctor took his cue. “I’m on the premises, you feel at all bad, you come see me, okay? I’ll call you later as well.”

“Sure. Thanks.” She drew breath. “And if you hear anything Sheriff…” Like what those leads were? But the guy had clammed. “Or if you have any more questions…” Her voice wavered. “You know where my apartment unit is?”

“I do, Ma’am. And I’d like to say how sorry I am this has happened. There’s very little crime in Summerhill, this is unusual. But we’ll do everything we can to find whoever was responsible.”

“I’m sure it was just some… stupid prank or something,” she mumbled.

A hideous prank. And the more it was sinking in, the worse she was feeling. She cleared her throat and adjusted the cover, pulling it higher. She really needed some alone time. Glancing up, she caught both the doctor and Connor scrutinising her. The doc with clinical detachment—Connor, not so detached.