Page 31 of A Poisonous Plot

“You said you didn’t eat anything in the basket.”

“It was from a smoothie at the garden centre.”

Seren pursed her lips. “How could you possibly know it was the smoothie that made you ill?”

“Because I shared it with Glynis. I think that’s what made her ill.”

“That’s weird.”

“Isn’t it? I thought we just had a stomach bug until all these other people started getting ill.”

Seren’s eyes sparkled. “Actually, I meant it’s weird that you share drinks with a little old lady. Couldn’t you afford one each?”

“I had two sips and hated it,” Lily explained with a smile. “So I gave it to Glynis to finish.”

“Okay, that makes it less weird, but I still can’t believe someone would intentionally make people ill.”

“What do you know about Arthur Penrose?” Lily asked quietly.

Seren set her hands on her hips. “I know he’s a sweet man who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“But all the information is here in his blog. Plus, he wrote a review for the restaurant saying he doesn’t like people coming to the island and taking jobs. I think he’s trying to scare off newcomers. Or sabotage their business in Dante’s case.”

“Not Arthur,” Seren said. “There’s no way in the world.”

“You have to admit this is very suspicious,” Lily said, holding the phone out again.

“Even if someone is intentionally poisoning people, everyone has access to the blog. And Arthur talks about it to anyone who’ll listen. Someone could easily have got the information from him.”

“That’s true.” Lily put the phone aside and inhaled deeply.

If it was Arthur who’d been sabotaging the food, he wasn’t covering his tracks well.

But apparently he was someone who liked to talk, so hopefully he wouldn’t be shy about answering a few questions.

Chapter Fourteen

As she left the pub,Lily called the garden centre to check when Arthur would be at work next. Sally didn’t seem at all surprised by the question – not after Lily explained she wanted to take him up on his offer of advice about plants. She agreed he was the perfect person to talk to and told Lily he’d be working the following morning.

Once she got off the phone, Lily contemplated tracking Arthur down at home. She could usually find out where most people lived from Seren. But she wasn’t sure going to his house was really warranted.

Unsure of the best course of action, she scrolled on her phone and hit dial on Flynn’s number.

“I’m still at work,” he told her. “We’re sending samples from the baskets to the lab for testing, but it’ll probably take a few days before we hear anything.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not much point bothering then,” she said, “I’ll have figured it all out by then.”

A gentle chuckle came down the phone.

“Is there anything new with Glynis?” she asked. “Did the hospital find out what’s wrong with her?”

“I haven’t heard anything.”

“Did you find out much from the people who’d received baskets?”

“It looks like someone delivered them late on Friday night, but no one saw them being delivered.”

The timing was useful at least, and she made a mental note to find out where Arthur Penrose had been on Friday evening.

---