Three days later, Allison sat in the semidarkness of Papa Haydn, listening to the clink of silverware on china. The menu featured halibut cheeks, bison au jus, and pasta with wild boar, but the restaurant's real draw was the huge dessert case.
"Here you go," the waitress said, setting down a plate. "One serving of our chocolate torte, and forks for everyone." Four glorious layers of chocolate buttermilk cake separated by espresso ganache and glazed with milk chocolate ganache lay in front of them.
"I shouldn't," Nicole said, picking up her fork.
"Maybe just a couple of bites," Allison said, cutting off a sliver.
"Delicious," Cassidy mumbled through an already full mouth.
As she looked at her two friends, Allison could feel her heart expand in her chest. They had come so close to losing Cassidy. "I still don't understand, Nicole, why you didn't tell me you were going to use that, that ..."
"Stun grenade," Nicole said. "Otherwise known as a flashbang, for obvious reasons. The flash blinds you. The bang and the percussive wave mess with your ears and your balance. It buys you a little bit of time. In this case, just enough to disarm Willow and grab Cassidy."
"And I thank you for that." Cassidy lifted her glass of wine. "Although when Willow's gun went off, I was sure I was dead. Thank God she didn't hit anyone. But if you had let her drive me away, I would have been dead for sure."
Nicole said, "And the reason we didn't tell you, Allison, is that it's standard operating procedure not to tell the negotiator if a rescue attempt is being planned. Willow was listening to you, watching you get out of your car. We couldn't risk you giving things away through your words, your tone of voice, or even your body language."
"But where did Willow get the fentanyl to kill Jim?" Cassidy asked.
"It wasn't fentanyl," Allison explained. "She had a friend who worked for a large animal vet, and he stole this drug called Carfentanil for her."
Nicole said, "Carfentanil is an analog of fentanyl, which is why the lab thought it had turned up in Jim Fate's blood, only somehow concentrated. It's an animal tranquilizer that's a hundred times stronger than fentanyl. It was used in the Moscow theater hostage crisis, the one where hundreds of people died when the Russian military pumped in gas."
"Maybe it was really fast then," Cassidy said. "I sure hope so." She looked at each of them. "There's something else I have to tell you guys. One of the last things Jim ever told me was that when you're on the radio, you should pretend you're talking to your best friend. He said you should imagine that they are right there in the studio with you. Well, when Willow forced me to help with her so-called manifesto, all I could think of was you two. All the time I was talking, I was thinking of you."
A rare smile pulled at the corners of Nicole's lips. "How are you doing, anyway? Are you sleeping worse now because of this? Are you keeping away from the Somulex?"
"Last night I slept for over six hours. Without drugs. It sounds crazy after everything that's happened, but it's true."
"I'm so glad." Allison leaned forward and patted Cassidy's shoulder. "Good for you. How are you doing it?"
"It's like they say in NA: one day at a time. It's totally boring, but I've been going to bed at the same time every night. Even on the weekend. I'm committed to going to yoga three times a week and NA meetings five times a week."
Nicole took a deep breath. "Since it's true confession time, I have one for you guys. That man who broke into my house didn't just pick us out randomly. About ten years ago, someone slipped something into my drink .. ." Her words came slower and slower. "And I was ... was raped."
Cassidy and Allison froze.
Allison did the math. "So Makayla?" she said after a long moment. Nicole nodded.
Cassidy put down her fork. "Does she know?"
"She didn't. Now she knows a little. But she knows the important thing. That I'm her mother and that I love her."
"What happened to the guy?" Cassidy asked.
"He was on parole, but now he's back in jail. He was supposed to be on electronic monitoring, but you can just cut those bracelets off with scissors. I guess it makes sense--you wouldn't want someone to get caught on a piece of machinery or something. It does send an automatic alarm when it's cut, so they knew he was loose. They notified the victims--but they didn't think to notify me, since I wasn't one of the people who had testified against him. Not very many people knew that I was carrying his baby, but he did."
Allison shivered. "How did he find you?"
"He was slick. He called my little brother and pretended to be from a delivery service with a package for me. He said someone had spilled coffee on it and smeared the address. My brother thought he was doing me a favor by helping this guy. One good thing is that Miller's willing to plead guilty. I don't want Makayla to go through a trial. At least she didn't really shoot him." Nicole pressed her lips together, and her eyes got wide.