Page 26 of A Poisonous Plot

“Yes. Denzel! And a tall man who smiles a lot. Very jolly. Like an overgrown little boy.”

“Arthur,” Lily surmised.

“Yes. He’s a funny guy.” Dante scratched his head. “Now don’t tell me you think one of them poisoned my customers.”

She inhaled through her nose, trying not to lose her patience. “Could any of them have come into the kitchen at all?”

“I gave them a tour,” Dante said with a nod. “Not that they’d need to sneak into the kitchen if they want to sabotage me.”

“How do you mean?”

“Gordon supplies me with a lot of fresh food. Vegetables and fruits and some herbs.”

Lily huffed out a humourless laugh. “That’s definitely dodgy. Glynis and I got ill from the smoothie at the garden centre and your customers are ill after eating food supplied by them. Either someone there is up to something, or someone is tampering with their goods.”

“No one there would do such a thing,” Dante insisted.

Lily patted his arm. “Not all villains look like villains.”

“I just don’t believe you,” he said.

“Let me look into it further,” she said. “There’s definitely something fishy going on.”

Dante threw his hands up. “Now you want to blame the fisherman?”

“No.” Lily smothered a smile. “It’s just a saying. I’ll get back to you, okay?”

“Yes. I rely on you, Lily.”

She drew in a deep breath as she strode out of the restaurant. Ambling along Church Street, she mulled everything over.

She tended not to believe in coincidences. Which meant she was keen to do a bit of sniffing around. If she could find a connection to the welcome baskets, she could pin all these incidents of poisoning on the garden centre.

With her investigative juices flowing, she told herself not to be so suspicious. Even if everything was linked, it didn’t mean there was anything sinister at play. Most likely, it was an honest mistake.

The fact that the baskets had been delivered anonymously didn’t necessarily mean anything. Maybe the benefactor merely wanted to do a good deed without any attention.

But there was also the restaurant review complaining about newcomers…

She wondered if she was right to be suspicious or if her recent investigations had left her with a tendency to assume the worst.

With a desire to pay another visit to the garden centre, she checked the opening times on her phone, then frowned when she calculated that she wouldn’t make it across the island in time.

Flynn added a fifth basket to the back of the Land Rover. He’d just closed the door when he caught sight of Lily across theroad. He almost called out to her, but stopped himself at the last second.

She’d been walking slowly, but came to a sudden stop as though her batteries had worn out. After a quick shake of her head, she started up again, but only made it a few steps before standing still again. The shifts in her facial expressions gave the impression she was engaged in some deep mental conversation.

In the bright sunshine her chestnut hair looked lighter than usual, and when she hooked it behind her ear, the tightness of her jaw was visible even from the other side of the road. The tension in her features contrasted with her casual attire of low hung jeans and tight T-shirt with a logo so faded it was no longer recognisable.

He should really call out and make his presence known, but her lack of awareness was strangely captivating.

She set off again, then paused and pulled her phone from her pocket. Her eyebrows pulled together as she glared at whatever had offended her on the screen.

Finally, Flynn forced himself into action and jogged across the narrow street, pressing the fob to lock the Land Rover as he went.

Even when he sidled up beside her, she didn’t register him.

“Do you ever think about looking where you’re going?”

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