Page 38 of A Poisonous Plot

Lily grinned. “Can I also check to see if he’s in his greenhouse?” She pointed at the glass structure to the left of the house.

“I think that would be fine.” He lifted the brass knocker and banged it three times against the door. “I guess he’s not home,” he said after a moment of silence.

“Funny that.” Lily set off to the left. “Maybe he’s in the greenhouse!” she said mockingly.

The gravel path crunched underfoot, breaking the silence. Lily’s gaze swept over the plants in the beds along the dry stone wall which marked the edge of the property, but she couldn’t pick out any she recognised from the blog.

Stepping beside her, Flynn peered through the glass panels of the greenhouse, then gave a small shake of his head and gestured to the door.

It screeched in complaint when Lily pulled the sliding door along its tracks.

“What are we looking for?” Flynn asked, stepping into the warm, humid air after her.

“I’m not sure.” She walked along the centre aisle, between the potted plants at either side of her. “Something out of place, or maybe some of the plants listed on his blog. The poisonous ones.”

“I’m no gardening expert but these look like baby tomatoes to me,” Flynn said, pointing at the seedlings. “These are probably peppers, and I’d say these are sweet peas.”

“You seem fairly knowledgeable,” she said, a note of mocking to her tone since they were all clearly labelled.

A couple of orchids stood regally at the end of the greenhouse, along with a planter of leafy vegetables. Overhead, grapevines twisted. Nothing jumped out at Lily as sinister.

“I don’t see anything interesting,” she said, unable to keep the disappointment from her voice.

“Were you expecting him to have a selection of poisonous plants all neatly labelled?”

“No, but he also doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would be too concerned with covering his tracks. I thought there might be some clues around here.” She followed Flynn back outside and took a lungful of the crisp, fresh air.

Flynn looked back towards the lane. “We shouldn’t hang around long.”

“He won’t be back for ages,” Lily said, walking further around the side of the house. Her eyes lit up at the big, waxy green leaves around the back of the greenhouse. “That’s rhubarb,” she said, casting her eyes back to Flynn.

“And?”

“The leaves are poisonous if ingested. You’d need to eat a lot, but if you dried them and ground them up, you could add them to food and give someone nasty stomach problems.”

Flynn stood beside her, staring down at the leafy plant. “Lots of people grow rhubarb.”

“It’s something.” She turned on her heel and scanned the garden at the back of the house. “There are daffodils under that tree. They’re toxic when ingested too.”

“It’s hardly damning evidence.”

“I suppose he’d keep any proper evidence hidden.” She approached the window at the back of the house and cupped her hands against the pane to peer inside. Nothing shocking there, just a small living room with dated furniture and chintzy wallpaper.

“Let’s go,” Flynn said, tugging on her elbow.

“You didn’t have to come,” she said, clocking his serious expression.

“I probably shouldn’t have. This feels dodgy now.”

“Okay. We can go.” As her gaze swept over the garden, she paused and lingered on the view beyond the border wall. The landscape shifted downwards on a gentle incline, and a narrowpath led through grass and heather to a sweeping stretch of beach.

“Feel like taking the coastal route back?” she asked Flynn. “We could walk along the beach and find a path at the far end of it. Unless you’re in a rush? The road will be quicker.”

“I’m not in a rush,” he said and changed course, heading for the wall at the end of the garden. With his long legs, he vaulted it effortlessly, while Lily took a little more effort to get over it.

They walked single file along the narrow path through gorse bursting with yellow flowers. Staying directly behind Flynn protected Lily from the wind until they were closer to the beach. Then the gusts grew stronger and seemed to come from all directions.

“Did you bring a raincoat?” Flynn asked, turning back to her.

---