His Love Was My Poison novel · Chapter 13 of 48

Chapter 13: Kit

Nobody in the room moved.

Royce pushed himself up on one elbow, and the IV line pulled tight.

"Kit," he said. "Come here, buddy."

Kit didn't come.

He stayed in the doorway with his fists balled at his sides, looking at me.

He was waiting for me to say it wasn't true.

Or that it was.

I got up out of the chair and crouched down so we were the same height, the way I did with Posy.

"Your dad isn't going to die," I said. "I'm going to tell you why, and it's going to sound scary. Can you handle scary?"

He thought about it seriously.

"I think so."

"Remember the kit? The light that turns red?"

He nodded.

"Your dad's light turned red. There's arsenic in his body. That's why his hands go numb and why he fell down."

"Arsenic is a poison."

"Yes. It got in through the air, a tiny bit every night, for a long time."

His eyes went to his father.

"Did you poison him?" he asked me.

He didn't say it like an accusation.

He said it like a scientist checking the data.

"No," I said. "I found it. That's my job. I find poison so people can stop breathing it."

"Mom says you came in the night with chemicals."

"I came in the night to blow out a candle."

He was quiet for a long moment.

Then he said, very carefully, "Dad's candles?"

Behind me, Royce made a sound.

"Yes," I said. "Dad's candles."

Kit looked down at his shoes.

"Mom keeps them in the garage," he said. "In the big box. I'm not allowed in the garage. Not ever. She locks it."

"Did you ever touch one?"

"No. Those are Dad's." He said it like a rule he'd learned before he could read. "Mom says if I touch them I'll ruin them."

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