Page 57 of A Poisonous Plot

Her phone buzzed on the table and she lifted it to read the message. “That seems like my cue to go and question Gordon.”

“Who’s the message from?”

“Dante. Wanting a progress report.” She stood abruptly. “I’ll go and question Gordon before I start vomiting from this ice cream.”

“Shall I come?” he asked.

“No. Your uniform tends to scare people into silence.”

That was fair enough. Also, Sergeant Proctor had already been to question Gordon and he didn’t want to get into trouble for harassing him.

“Keep me updated,” he told Lily.

“Will do.”

“On your health as well as anything you find out from Gordon Pengelly!”

She grimaced and headed for the door.

Chapter Twenty-Six

A few customerswere strolling between the rows of plants when Lily arrived at the garden centre.

“Hello!” Arthur said, pausing his conversation with an older couple and raising a hand to wave at Lily. If he felt any animosity towards Lily after her questioning him, he was keeping it well hidden.

“Is Gordon around?” she called.

“He’s not here,” Arthur replied. “Sally’s in the cafe, though.”

“I’ll say a quick hello to her.” Hopefully, Gordon would be back soon.

Sally’s face lit up when Lily walked into the cafe area. “I was just thinking about you,” she said, with a sympathetic tilt of the head. “How are you?”

“Good, thanks.”

So far, anyway. With any luck, the slight discomfort in her stomach was merely unease at the thought that she might just have eaten poisoned ice cream and not actually the first twinge of food poisoning.

Sally scurried out from behind the counter to place a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “How are you feeling about the opening of the ice cream shop?”

“A bit nervous,” Lily confessed while her hand automatically went to her stomach.

Sally’s smile was all sympathy. “Dad and I were talking about you last night. Saying how nerve-wracking it must be for you. Especially with all this talk about these poisonings.” She shook her head. “Although, I have to say, I’m inclined to think it’s all been blown out of proportion. It probably was just someone trying to do something kind and making an honest mistake.”

“I’m afraid not,” Lily said automatically. “The lab results show that there were compounds from garden plants in the products in the welcome baskets. The kind of plants which shouldn’t be ingested.”

Sally’s eyebrows twitched. “It still could have been an honest mistake.”

“I suppose if it was only the welcome baskets, that could be the case.”

Sally frowned, then looked across the room as the only customers in the cafe got up to leave. She thanked them for coming and called out a cheerful goodbye.

“What do you mean?” she asked Lily, moving away from her and plucking a tray from behind the counter.

“Someone is trying to run Dante Accardi out of town.” She caught the air of puzzlement in Sally’s features as she went to the vacated table. “The Italian restaurant,” Lily explained. “Dante believes someone has been sabotaging his food.”

“Oh, that.” Sally busied herself with loading mugs and plates onto the tray. “I’m sorry but I find it hard to believe someone has such a grudge against newcomers to the islands. How would someone even go about sabotaging his restaurant?”

“He doesn’t know,” Lily said. “He asked me to look into it.”

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