Page 178 of Triggered By Love
“Handmade with all the most expensive ingredients,” Jason said, reading the pamphlet. “There’s a piece with caviar inside.”
“Ugh, can’t imagine how that would taste. Which pieces are missing?” Avery put the pamphlet down and matched the remaining pieces. “The minty pistachio one, the one with the ring, and the one Joan ate.”
“Time to take them apart,” Jason said. “The ring was inside the cherry and liquor filled one that made Joan sick.”
“Must have been she got lucky.” Avery picked up a pair of kitchen scissors and cut away the remaining pieces of chocolate. “What if Tatiana stuck a bug in here?”
“You mean to spy on us?”
The pieces revealed nuts, a pill, a plastic case with a rolled-up slip of paper, a piece of a porcupine quill that would have hurt if someone had bit into it, and another one that smelled like sweet almonds, or cyanide.
“No bug as far as I can tell,” Jason said. “They’d need a power source for the mic.”
“That’s good, but look at that piece of porcupine quill. Think it’s dipped in pufferfish liver?”
“We should wear gloves,” Jason said. He took pictures of the objects. “Maybe I should have brought Riley in, because we just ruined the evidence and we can’t use this in court.”
“Joan already bit into one of the pieces, and another one is missing.”
“That worries me. What if the missing one is poisonous? That one that smells like almonds could be cyanide.” Jason’s pulse ratcheted up. “Remember Joan said she brought pieces to the show to share with you? That means at least two pieces. She ate one and got sick. Where is the other?”
“I’d better call her,” Avery said. “Ask her what happened to the missing piece.”
When she hung up, her expression was stark. “Joan says she bit in and there was a tiny chip inside, like something that goes in a computer. She thought it was important, so she saved it.”
“Ask her to text a picture to us,” Jason said.
“I don’t know if she knows how to text them. I should go over and pick it up. It might be a microSD card.”
Jason’s heart stopped. “Call her and tell her we’re on our way.”
“What do we do with these?” Avery asked, pointing at the box of chocolate pieces and suspicious items.
“Let’s read the message.” Jason cut open the plastic case, and the blood drained from his body.
“What is it?” Avery peered over his shoulder. “Oh, it can’t be.”
The message read:
Eenie,meenie, miney, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go.
My mother said to pick
The very best one.
If you’re reading this,
you are not it.
Let me explain.You can choose to marry me, or you can choose to die. What you cannot do is go around telling everyone our dirty little secret.
Loose lips sink ships.Everyone you tell will die.
Choose wisely.
