Page 32 of A Poisonous Plot

“Have you found anything else?” he asked.

“Yes. The person who left the review for the restaurant is Arthur Penrose.”

Flynn groaned. “Should I know who that is?”

“He works at the garden centre.”

“Of course he does. You think he’s poisoning people?”

Lily cut down a side street to the promenade. “I don’t know but it seems suspicious.”

“What do you know about him?”

“He’s some sort of botany expert,” Lily said as she arrived outside the ice cream shop. Impulsively, she crossed the promenade and wandered onto Porthcressa Beach. The wind caught her hair and pulled it behind her while her cheeks tingled with the warmth of the sun.

“He has a blog about plants,” she went on. “One of his recent posts was about poisonous garden plants.”

“That’s a little disturbing,” Flynn said. “Also a little stupid of him to publish a blog about poisonous plants if he was planning on poisoning people the same way.”

“Yes.” A smile pulled at Lily’s lips. “But someone once told me that criminals often are stupid.”

“Someone wise, no doubt.” Flynn was smiling too – she could hear it in his voice.

“I don’t know about that.” She pulled a strand of hair from the corner of her mouth. “Anyway, Arthur’s review of Dante’s restaurant took issue with non-islanders moving here and takingjobs from locals. And then a bunch of newcomers were poisoned. That’s probably not a coincidence, is it?”

“No, but again, I’d question why he’s making no effort to cover his tracks.”

“Maybe he doesn’t even care about getting caught. Or thinks he’s invincible or something.” She turned into the wind and grinned widely. “Or maybe he doesn’t think highly of the local police force and is confident they can’t solve crimes, even if he leaves a bunch of clues.”

“You’re hilarious,” he said flatly, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

“It does seem to be me who does all the investigative work around here.”

“Because you’re a private detective. I’m just a lowly police constable.”

“Is Sergeant Proctor taking the poisonings seriously?”

“I imagine he will once I tell him what you’ve just told me.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t mention me by name. It might be better if you call me an anonymous source.”

Flynn chuckled. “The sergeant’s all right, really. I’ll report back to him and see if he’ll let me follow up.”

“It seems a little unfair that I do all the work and you swoop in and take the credit.”

“I wasn’t planning on taking the credit.” He went silent for a moment. “I have to get back to work.”

“Do you think I should track Arthur Penrose down at home?” Lily asked quickly. “Or wait until he’s at work tomorrow and question him there?”

“Definitely don’t approach him in private.”

“I was leaning that way too. But if he poisons anyone else in the meantime, you know I’ll feel responsible.”

“I mean it,” he said sternly. “If you talk to him, you do it with other people around.”

“Okay,” she said, a hint of a whine in her voice. “Are you doing anything tonight?”

“No exciting plans,” he said. “I thought I might come to your place and watch a film or something.”

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