Page 4 of A Poisonous Plot

“If there’s been a crime––” Flynn was cut off by Dante raising his hand and speaking over him.

“It’s not police matter. I need investigator. You’re new on this island, yes?”

“Yeah,” Lily confirmed.

Dante’s gaze roamed the room. “You help me and in return I’ll tell you how to make gelato like we make in Italy. We have a deal?”

Lily’s laughter came quickly, but stopped abruptly when Dante’s sombre gaze bored into her.

“You’re serious,” she whispered.

“I’m serious. It’s a good deal for you. Trust me.”

“Why don’t you tell me what the problem is and I’ll see if I can help.”

“Here’s the thing,” he said while drawing his phone out of his pocket. “I have a restaurant here. I moved here with my wife and daughter six months ago. We got settled in and I opened my restaurant one month ago. The first two weeks, everything is good. People love my food. My food is fantastic. I not lie.” He gesticulated wildly and Lily made sure not to catch Flynn’s eye for fear that she might get the giggles.

“Before I live here,” he went on. “I lived for fifteen years in London. I had my own restaurant, everything was great. But London is too busy for me. I wanted to go back to Italy and find a quiet village where life is not all rushing and busy. You know?”

Lily nodded her acknowledgement.

“My wife is British. Not speak good Italian. She won’t move to Italy. So we do the… what’s the word … compromise. We compromise! We move here. This is the place where my wife came for childhood holidays. So we came here. Nice people, not so busy. Happy Dante!” He patted his chest as he paused. “Then terrible thing happen,” he said, lowering his voice and shaking his head. “This is not nice to see, Lily, but I must show you…” As he tapped on his phone, Lily braved a glance at Flynn, whose eyebrows had drawn close together.

“If it’s disturbing images…” Flynn said.

“It is disturbing all right,” Dante said, thrusting the phone at Lily. “But not images, words. Disturbing words. Read this. I can’t look.”

Lily took the phone from him. “It’s reviews,” she said as she scanned the screen. “Reviews for your restaurant?” She shifted slightly so Flynn could see the screen.

“Yes. These reviews say my food is bad, that it makes people sick.” Dante shook his head furiously. “This is crazy. I am a top chef. I make wonderful food. No one gets sick. Then I come here to these Scilly Islands. Open my restaurant. Two weeks everything is good and then this…” He jabbed a finger towards the phone.

Lily winced as she read through the dozen or so reviews where people complained of varying degrees of upset stomachs after eating in his restaurant.

“I’m not sure how I can help,” Lily said when Dante stared at her. “What makes you think a crime has been committed? There’s nothing illegal about the reviews. They look as though they’re from legitimate accounts.”

“I’ll show you the problem.” Dante took the phone back and scrolled for a moment. “This review,” he announced after a moment. “This one is where problem starts…”

Lily read the five-star review aloud. “Great food and atmosphere and the owner is a lovely, friendly man. A lot of foreigners keep arriving to take island jobs though.” She glanced at Flynn. “That’s weird.”

“That’s when the problem started,” Dante said.

“But his review of the restaurant is really good,” Lily pointed out. “It’s confusing. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense since you haven’t taken a job from anyone. Aren’t you providing employment by opening a restaurant?”

“My wife and daughter work for me.” He shook his head. “But I might employ more people if I had more customers.”

“It’s a weird review anyway,” Lily said.

“Some weird people. Many, many weird people. But I tell you this is when the problems started. You need to find this person.”

Lily read the name of the reviewer. “The Secret B.”

“This is the big problem with the internet,” Dante said loudly. “People hide behind false names. But you are an investigator. You can find him. Bring him to me and I will take care of things from there. In return, I teach you about gelato.”

Lily’s brain struggled to keep up with the conversation. “You really think this person has set up some kind of hate campaign against you? He’s writing fake reviews to run you out of business?”

Dante shook his head and stared at her as though she’d missed the point entirely.

“These are real reviews,” he said as a deep frown furrowed his brow. “People really got ill. I know because I got ill too.”

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