Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
“Oh no. If you’re right, we put Guadalupe directly in his sights when we asked her to look into the property to see if we could buy it,” Stella said.
“Exactly,” Harlow agreed. “Unfortunately, I think the spiders are Sydney funnel-web spiders. The males, when looking for mates, which they would be this time of year, are at peak venom and extremely aggressive. Their bite is powerful and can even penetrate shoe leather. They have distinctive bites. Dogs get very sick but don’t die from the bites.”
Every head was shaking, even Raine’s, although she didn’t look convinced that Harlow was wrong.
Harlow took a sip of water and forced herself to continue. She had known her theory wasn’t going to be well received. She didn’t blame anyone. The Sydney funnel-web spider was one of the deadliest spiders in the world and supposedly only found in Australia.
“There are actually three different species of the Sydney funnel-web spider,” she went on. She figured she might as well just tell them what she was thinking and why. “Bale spent a great deal of time in Australia. He lived there for an entire summer. There’s a program where volunteers help milk the spiders. They produce lifesaving antivenom. Bale very well could have helped with that program.”
“That’s true, that he did spend time in Australia,” Raine agreed. “He actually spent a great deal of time in Australia with his mother. It shocked me that she had been born in Chile. Bale and his father despised foreigners, especially women, so much that it didn’t occur to me that all of this hatred was about his mother.”
“I thought he loved her,” Stella admitted. “But now that I think about it, neither Bale nor his father spoke about her.”
“I only heard he would go to Australia to meet her, so I just assumed they had a good relationship,” Raine said. “That’s what I get for making assumptions instead of looking for facts.”
“The truth is, no one here would think to test for the particular toxin associated with a Sydney funnel-web spider,” Harlow said. “Why would they?”
Vienna shook her head again. “How would he smuggle them into the United States? Seriously, this is crazy. It’s even crazier that I’m considering it could be true.”
It was Raine who answered. “There is an entire black market dedicated to acquiring any animal, reptile or even arachnid someone is willing to pay money for. Most of the time they are in shipping containers coming in. It would be impossible to open every single container and inspect it. There’s no doubt that Bale, having been to Australia, could have made those contacts. I can try looking up shipping labels, but he would never have had them sent directly to him. Bale might be a very vicious man, but he’s cunning.”
“People pay for spiders?” Shabina asked.
“They pay for all sorts of things, from tigers to crocodiles and deadly snakes,” Raine said. “It’s a thriving business.”
Zahra gave a delicate little shudder. “Great, now we all have to worry about these creepy spiders crawling out of our showerheads. I saw Arachnophobia. That movie was terrifying.”
“It was hilarious,” Stella countered.
Zahra shook her head. “I had nightmares for months. I couldn’t even go into a barn or look at a spider without freaking out. I’m just getting over it, and now you’re telling me killer spiders are real and they’re right here in Knightly, thanks to a psycho killer who hates me.” She cuddled Misty close to her. “At least my baby is safe.”
“Bale has been increasingly erratic in his behavior,” Harlow continued, ticking off her reasons for believing she was on the right track. “He’s afraid of Rainier and Sam and Zale. You know he is. He isn’t going to openly come after any of us. So he crawls into his house and thinks up a revenge no one will ever tie to him.”
“You think he owns the property we were looking to purchase,” Stella guessed.
“Yes, it fits,” Raine answered for her. “His family is one of the oldest that settled here a hundred years or more ago.”
“Would someone really think to bring spiders that are lethal into another country when we have no antidote?” Vienna asked. “When we wouldn’t even think to test for that particular toxin?”
Like Harlow, Vienna was a nurse. She’d witnessed firsthand the terrible suffering and eventual deaths they hadn’t been able to prevent. The idea that someone had deliberately caused that kind of agony was so wrong, it was almost inconceivable to either of them.
Raine took a sip of her water and then carefully closed her laptop. “In my opinion, yes, Bale is capable of such a despicable act. He’s been deteriorating for some time now. He’s afraid of Rainier, and with good reason. He can’t openly threaten any of us, and he knows that. He believes his friends have all turned their backs on him. He believed his uncle did as well. Clearly, he has mental health issues, and no one had ever checked his behavior until Rainier stepped in. Until Shabina got an order of protection against him. That humiliated him. He believed he owned Knightly and could do whatever he wanted. To have a woman, or group of women, dethrone him and take away the men who always did everything he ordered was too much for him. That’s my opinion. I think he unraveled.”