Prelude to Poison

by Morgan W. Silver

  “Of course not. That would be completely irresponsible. He had to go.” I was beginning to feel nauseous.

  “And I needed someone to blame. I was planning on blaming the curse first, but you started snooping around, so I decided to focus on Patricia. That’s why I went back and put that DVD there and put myself in that shed. It was all a gamble, but it paid off. You thought she was the killer. But then you asked questions about Victor today, and I realised you had your suspicions. Why was that?”

  “The way you got so upset when Patricia implied Victor wasn’t interested in you and when you attacked me after you thought I was having an affair with him. You weren’t sad or hurt, you were very angry. I also thought it was odd that you wanted to untie your own hands. I was aware that you knew I suspected Patricia, so it was possible that you pretended to be attacked and put in her shed. In addition to that, you also mentioned that Patricia made a joke about killing Victor. Technically you could have heard that as a rumour, but all these things combined I just had a feeling.”

  “And now you’re here.”

  “Now I’m here.”

  We stared at each other.

  “You don’t think Victor deserved it, do you? You just want me to confess?”

  “You just did, so I guess it worked,” I said, ready to bolt.

  “I had a good run,” she said. “I’m going back inside. Tell Alistair he can come arrest me.” She moved back and shut the door.

  I exhaled as I’d been holding my breath. There was a fluttering of wings behind me, and I jumped up. Pandora stared at me. From across the street, Daniels headed my way.

  “If you were Susan, what would you do?” Detective Black said.

  At that moment Daniels approached. “What happened?”

  “She confesssed. She said she was going to wait inside for you to arrest her. Where’s Alistair?”

  “I just saw him move around the back,” he said.

  “I think we should go in. She might try something stupid.”

  Pandora shrieked as if to agree.

  Just then the front door opened again, and Susan lunged forward with a wooden cricket bat. She hit Daniels in the head since he was closer to the door, and he fell to the ground. He groaned, so he was still alive. She swung at me, and I ducked. She missed me by a hair’s breadth.

  I punched her in the stomach, but I didn’t hit her hard since she moved back. This time she swung lower and forced me to move out of the way. She ran past me, but Pandora started her pursuit and pecked her in the heels.

  Susan yelled and fell over. She had changed out of her pyjamas, but still wore her slippers. Her eyes were bulging, and she reached for her wounded heel.

  I seized the opportunity and jumped on Susan. We fought for the bat, which she finally relinquished, after I bit her wrist. We struggled and she pushed me over, but just as she wanted to get on top of me, Pandora attacked her face.

  Susan screamed again, and she flailed on the ground.

  “Maggie,” Alistair yelled as he came running. Within a few seconds he had his handcuffs around Susan, and Pandora calmly pecked at the ground, as if she wasn’t the devil’s spawn.

  Although in this case she had saved me, so maybe she wasn’t that bad.

  Pandora shrieked.

  THE SUN WAS SHINING and the temperature was nice enough that I didn’t need a cardigan for my picnic the next day. After Susan’s arrest, Nick had stayed the night and we slept until noon, but we set the alarm regularly in order to wake me. The doctor had confirmed that I had a mild concussion.

  The weather was too nice not to go outside, and so we sat in a park near the vicarage with the woods in the short distance. The picnic basket was filled with fruits, sandwiches and nuts. His backpack was next to the picnic blanket; after this he would leave. Since this was the last thing Nick and I would do, he did his best to make me laugh, and I did my best to forget that I’d probably never see him again after this.

  “How do you feel about having solved the murders?” Nick asked after we finished eating and lied down on the blanket, staring at the clear blue sky. There wasn’t a puff of cloud in sight.

  I hesitated. Several people had stopped us on the way to the park to check if the story was true and then congratulated me, but I didn’t think I deserved their praise. After all, I had been wrong. Part of me wondered if I just didn’t want it to be Susan, because I had hired her, and I felt responsible. I should have seen what she was. But then again, how could I? “It took me too long,” I said. “Because I made a mistake.”

  Nick turned on his side. “So what? You did better than the police. Without you they wouldn’t have figured out it was Susan, and who knows who she would have become obsessed with afterwards? That shrine was creepy.”

  After Alistair had arrested her, we checked out her house and found what could only be described as a shrine to Victor. She had been following him for a while, probably ever since he’d stopped by at the bookshop a few months ago. They must have struck up a conversation. Maybe he put the moves on her, but changed his mind when she was a bit too eager. That had to be what he wanted to talk about. Perhaps he suspected the blackmailer was Susan, not knowing it was Mr Field. Or he suspected he was followed by two different people; that could explain why he was so scared when he spoke to me.

  “Very creepy. I’m just glad Patricia hadn’t drunk that tea. She could have been on her way to the grave as well.”

  “What will happen to Susan?”

  “I don’t know. Prison, most likely. She knew what she was doing,” I said. “Anyway, it was pretty cool that you saved us. Without you we couldn’t have apprehended her.”

  “What kind of knight in shining armour would I be if I didn’t save my lady?” Nick said.

  I laughed. “Well, I’m grateful.”

  He leaned forward and kissed me. “This has been fun, but I’m glad there are no more murders to solve.”

  “Only in my books.”

  “Which I am going to buy as soon as I get home,” he said.

  My smile disappeared. “I’ll miss you.”

  “Come on, now. We won’t say goodbye, okay? We have the internet and phones, we’ll be fine.”

  But I knew that as soon as we both got into our routines, we would lose touch. That always happened, didn’t it? Especially since we knew that neither of us wanted to move. My ex hadn’t moved for me because he didn’t love me enough, according to Alistair. Did this mean we didn’t love each other enough? That wasn’t odd; we had only known each other for a few days and most of that time we’d been running around trying to figure out a real-life mystery.

  “Right,” I said and snuggled closer to him.

  When it was time to go, I walked him to the train station with my picnic basket in one hand and his hand in the other one. I held on tight until the train appeared. It felt like my stomach was being squeezed.

  Nick leaned forward and kissed me. “I’m glad I met you.”

  “Same. I’ll see you around.” I tried to sound breezy.

  “See you around.”

  He kissed me again, this time long and hard. This was more difficult than I would have thought, and I was tempted to follow him onto the train. Instead, I waved until the train started moving and I couldn’t see him anymore.

  Tears stung my eyes, and I tried not to cry, but when I turned around and saw the Castlefield Book Club standing there with sympathy in their eyes, I started sobbing. The women rallied around me and gave me a group hug.

  “We figured you could use some support,” Eleanor said into my ear.

  “Thanks,” I cried. How could I be lonely when I had these women in my life?

  Chapter 24

  A few days had passed and all had returned to normal in Castlefield, as well as my bookshop. Well, normal enough. Christina was now my new employee, and she was a welcome addition to our small club. She was cheerful and worked hard. We were starting to become good friends, and the sting I felt with each mention of Alistair had started to
disappear.

  My novel was coming along, and I was taking a well-earned break by taking down a display in the window. It was late in the afternoon, but not yet closing time, which was why it was odd that Christina ushered out the few customers that were in the shop. Eddie closed the door behind them.

  “What are you doing?” I asked her. “What’s going on? Why are you both grinning like that?”

  “We’re kidnapping you,” Eddie said excitedly.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Not really,” Christina said with a warning look to Eddie. “We’re taking you to the pub, come on.” She stepped out from behind the counter and ushered me out of the front door. Eddie followed and locked the door behind us.

  “We still need to balanc—oh, sod it. I’ll just go with the flow. It’s been a long week.” Whatever the reason for this sudden outing, I was certain I would like it. Especially since the pub contained alcohol.

  After a few minutes we reached the double doors. Both Christina and Eddie practically pushed me through the doors. As soon as I entered the pub, a loud applause ruptured the air. I jumped and then looked at all the familiar faces of the people I cared about so much. Nancy was clapping loudly, as well as the Castlefield Book Club. Eleanor even whistled with her fingers, earning some surprised looks, including from her husband. Alistair and DC Daniels were also there.

  I took a demure bow and then went up to Nancy to hug her, mainly because the whole thing was embarrassing me. I buried my face in her shoulder and held her tight. “Thanks,” I said. The applause died down.

  “You did so well,” Poppy said. “We’re so proud of you.” She rubbed my shoulder, and I gave her a kiss on the cheek. The other women murmured in agreement.

  Eleanor showed up next to me and put her arm around me. “We never doubted our local sleuth for a second, did we?” she said loudly and the others erupted in a few more claps and whistles.

  “Okay, okay. Thank you. But I don’t see any cake. If you’re going to throw me a party, where’s the cake?” I said and threw Olivia a look.

  She grinned at me. “What kind of bakery would I run if I didn’t provide cake at every opportunity?” A path was made as the others backed up. It led to one of the tables in the back. There was indeed a white cake on the right side of the table. On the left was a large rectangle covered in a sheet.

  “What the heck is that?” I asked.

  Nancy followed me closely. The others gathered around the table, some took out their phones to take pictures.

  “If it’s a collection of spiders, I’m out of here,” I said.

  Eleanor chuckled. “What kind of parties do you think we throw?” She was also filming.

  Damn. I felt like a kid performing in a school play. I moved to the sheet and grabbed it tentatively. Then I glanced around at the expectant faces—even Alistair was smiling—and yanked off the sheet.

  “A cage?” I tilted my head, and then I spotted it. A baby bunny. “Oh my goodness, a tiny bunny!”

  People around me laughed and then started clapping again. I didn’t even notice. With a swiftness that my PE teacher would be proud of, I opened the cage and got out the bunny. She was white with grey ears. Was it a she? I didn’t even care. I planted little kisses on her head and kept stroking her. She was incredibly soft and didn’t move. “Do you like it?” Nancy asked expectantly.

  I turned to her. “It’s—it’s the best gift.” My voice caught.

  “Love, are you crying?”

  “No, I’m not, and nobody better be filming my tears,” I said defiantly.

  There were some chuckles from the small crowd.

  Nancy came over to hug me gently, since I was still holding the bunny. The women’s club followed suit, and I heard Eddie shout: “Hey, I want to join too.” They gossiped a lot, but they were good women, and even Eddie knew that.

  The rest of the evening was perfect. The cake was delicious, and my friends and neighbours showered me with compliments. The bunny turned out to be a girl. I didn’t have a name yet, but that would come.

  Christina was cracking jokes with Eddie. She got our humour, she was smart and friendly, and I totally got what Alistair saw in her. It was time to move on. Instead of pining over someone I couldn’t have, I would celebrate that I’d made two new friends. Alistair didn’t make it easy, though, with his charming smiles or his long stares at me when nobody else was looking.

  But for now, I was incredibly happy with the home I had, not just in this village, but with these people.

  BAILEY TUGGED ON THE leash, ready to follow his nose again and enjoy the freedom that came with peeing on trees. I remained where I was, though, distracted by the moving van in front of the Pembroke hotel. It was a small van, and I imagined that not much would change about the hotel, except Mr Field’s office, which was still damaged by the fire.

  The thing I was most curious about was who would be brave enough to move in. After all that had happened, I had serious doubts that anyone would purchase the hotel, but it had been bought so quickly that nobody had had time to blink. In the past week there had been plenty of speculations, but the simple truth was that nobody knew. Patty the real estate agent was tight-lipped about the whole affair, despite several pub patrons buying her loads of drinks. I wondered what the secrecy was about. It had to be someone with a flair for the dramatic.

  Someone cast a shadow over Bailey, and I looked up. I squinted at the familiar man. “Miles Fancypants, right?” I asked.

  Miles smiled with his blindingly white teeth that even aliens across the universe could see. “That’s right. I knew you wouldn’t forget me.”

  “How could I forget? You made sure I wasn’t arrested.”

  “And here I thought it was my dazzling good looks that you would have remembered me for. What are you looking at?”

  “Some macabre idiot bought the Pembroke hotel,” I said. “I didn’t believe in curses at first, but now I’m not so sure. It’s a gorgeous estate, but so much has happened there.” I shivered.

  “Ah, yes. Alistair told me about that. You were locked in a death room or something,” he said.

  “That’s right. It was not pretty. I almost started eating Alistair’s tie.”

  He laughed. It sounded melodious. “I’ll be sure to keep my ties away from you.”

  “Does that mean you’ve decided to move here?” I gasped as it hit me, and he smiled.

  “That’s right. I’m the macabre idiot.” He grabbed my hand and kissed it like he had the first time we met. “I look forward to seeing you around the village.”

  He was about to walk away when I pulled him closer. “Oh, I like where this is going,” he said.

  “Shut up, you fool. There’s a monster behind you.”

  “A monster?” he turned around and looked back at me. He laughed.

  “Don’t laugh.” I was experiencing a déjà vu.

  “How can I not, dear? That’s a chicken.”

  “It’s an evil specimen sent from hell. Though she did save me, so maybe she’s mellowed.”

  Pandora stared at us, but didn’t show any signs of attacking.

  “Alright, I’ll see you. Good luck with your chicken,” Miles said.

  It wasn’t until Miles had passed her that she made that loud screeching sound and started charging. Except that she didn’t attack me, she went for Miles.

  “Ouch,” he said as she pecked his leg. He started running. “Get away from me, you winged beast!”

  “Told you so,” I shouted as he ran up the hill.

  I FINISHED WALKING Bailey. It was Sunday and Nancy was having brunch with an old friend in a neighbouring village. Just as I opened the door so I could go up to my flat, someone called my name.

  Christina gave me a deflated wave, and her mascara had run. She was carrying two suitcases and two handbags. She started crying when she reached me and dropped everything to give me a hug.

  “Alistair broke up with me,” she said after she had caught her breath.

 
I froze. What?

  “Not this again,” Detective Black said from behind me.

  Bailey barked.

  “I don’t know where to go, I feel so—” she started crying again.

  “I have an extra room, don’t worry. You can stay with me.”

  Detective Black grunted.

  What was I supposed to do? She needed my help and she was my friend.

  “Come on,” I said. “I’ll make your bed and get you settled in. It will be fun, okay? You can play with Snowball. Bailey is afraid of her.”

  Christina managed a small smile. “Thanks. You’re a good friend.”

  I wasn’t sure if I had been, but I was going to be one from now on. Good friends were rare in this world, and you could never have too many.

  DETECTIVE BLACK STARED into the killer’s deflated eyes that were drowning in salty tears. As his partner cuffed him, he glanced at the smiling picture of Marlene Green. Somewhere in his heart he hoped that her smile was directed at him, that she was finally able to find the peace that she deserved.

  He stepped out into the crisp autumn air and lit his pipe. He sauntered in the direction of the pub where he’d have a pint in honour of Ms Green and contemplate the beauty of life, as he did every Friday night. Luckily he got tipsy by the time he got to any answers. After all, what is life without a little mystery?

  I LOOKED UP AT DETECTIVE Black, his dark eyes settled on mine. “Are you happy with that?” he asked.

  “Of course. I’m the writer, and I know you.” I leaned back in my chair and typed the final two words.

  The end.

  Excerpt The Chrono Unit

  Chapter 1