A Death at Dinner: An amateur sleuth murder mystery (A Mary Blake Mystery Book 2)
Page 14
Anna Crosby’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh! Only Thomas!”
“Exactly,” Mary said, “and she made sure the staff sat at that end because she showed us to our seats first.”
“So she put the poison in the sugar cubes?” Pea asked.
“The police have taken them away for testing, but I’m pretty sure, yes.”
“And what about Spencer?” Roderick asked.
“Daisy had been sending him the blackmail letters for weeks—she was hoping to scare him enough to sell the place.”
“What I don’t understand is what on earth anyone would blackmail him about?!” Roderick interrupted. “I told the police as much when they tried to pin it on me.”
“It was Daisy who tried to pin it on you,” Mary corrected. “She told us she’d found the note in your room, but really she’d just gone to fetch one she hadn’t sent yet from the supply cupboard where she’d put it ready to go. As for what she was blackmailing him about.” Mary smiled slightly. She had initially decided not to say anything about the blackmailing, but after a while, she had come to the conclusion that sometimes love needs a push. “She knew that Spencer was in love with you, Anna,” she said, turning towards her. Anna’s normally pale face flushed a deep scarlet. “Daisy was threatening to expose your lack of experience in the kitchen and tell the local newspaper that you were only hired because of Spencer’s feelings for you.”
Anna shook her head and looked down at her hands, which she was wringing in front of her. “I can’t believe Daisy would do that.”
“I think she thought Spencer would take the offer on the hotel and that would be it. When he didn’t she started to spiral, becoming obsessed. That’s when she decided to get Thomas out of the way.”
“But she didn’t even need to!” Ruth said angrily. “Thomas was leaving!”
“Yes, but Daisy didn’t know that until afterwards. James told her and she was pretty upset and angry according to him. I’m guessing it was because she’d realised she might have got what she wanted anyway, without killing him. Spencer’s been able to talk a bit since he came around, he’s refusing to say what happened to him.”
“What?!” Pea said, incredulous. “Why on earth would he do that?”
“I think he’s still trying to protect Daisy.” Mary shrugged.
“After she tried to kill him?!”
“Yes, Pea,” Mary sighed, giving him a withering look, “he thinks of her as a daughter—he’s not about to make things worse for her. Anyway, she pretty much told me what happened in any case. He came in and saw her trying to get rid of the poisonous flowers from the kitchen. She was wearing gloves and I think he realised what she’d done. She panicked and shoved the flowers into his mouth. He was lucky to survive.” Mary lifted her glass and drained the last of the cool liquid before looking at Roderick. “I take it this is a free bar?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“You seem to be developing a habit of solving my murder cases,” Corrigan said, his deep brown eyes glinting with humour. Mary opened the boot of her car before turning to him.
“Well, someone has to,” Mary replied, “and you don’t seem to always be up to the task.”
He raised an eyebrow at her, but she could see he was amused rather than annoyed. She threw her case into the back of the car and closed the boot. “In fact,” she continued, turning to him with folded arms, “you might well see more of me from now on.”
“Oh?”
“We’ve decided we’re going to start our own private detective agency. We’ll probably just take on small cases at first, but I think we could be good at it.” She stared at him, daring him to laugh. There was no humour in his expression now, though. He looked thoughtful, serious.
“I think you’re right. You’ll be very good at it,” he said slowly. “And I have to admit, I do like the part about seeing more of you.”
Mary felt her face flush and cursed in her head.
“Well, I’m sure there’ll be some favours I’ll need from time to time. Looking up license plate numbers and that kind of thing.”
“That’s not exactly a service the police provides.”
“Neither is solving murders apparently, and as I’ve been helping you with that, I think it’s the least you can do. And anyway, as you said, it gives you a good excuse to see me again.”
Corrigan stepped towards her, his right hand reaching up and pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Then I guess it’s just something I’ll have to get used to,” he said, before leaning forward and kissing her.
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