I only meant to stay for a little while until I could get my own place, but Doris is still pretty chaotic and eccentric and can’t really run the place on her own, even though we don’t ever get any guests. I ended up staying permanently, helping around the place.”
“Oh poor Doris,” Olga said with a chuckle. “Even when Genevieve and I were girls she was a dotty old thing. I must go and say hello.”
“You’ll have to wait until she’s finished busting a move on the dance floor,” Lottie laughed.
Olga was about to say something else, when Mercedes and her two friends staggered towards them. Focused on the buffet table, Mercedes barged past Lottie, almost knocking her off her feet.
“Get out of the way,” Mercedes snarled. She snatched up the platter containing what was left of Lottie’s snowball donuts and bit into one ravenously, while her two friends stuffed themselves with the rest of the treats as well. Lottie and Olga exchanged glances and Lottie shook her head.
Terri saw the motion and rammed the rest of her donut into her mouth before sizing up to Lottie. “You got a problem?” she snapped.
The smell of liquor from Terri’s breath was overpowering. Not only had she been quaffing champagne, but Lottie was hit with both barrels by the overwhelming aroma of whiskey.
“I don’t have a problem,” Lottie said coolly. “I’m just pleased you like my donuts so much. I made them with my own fair hands.”
Terri scrunched up her face in drunken confusion. “You what?”
“That’s the baking woman who had the hots for Orlando when he was younger,” Mercedes said with an evil grin. “Orlando told me how she used to moon over him. She was spotty and weird when they were kids and now she’s grown up into a frumpy old cow.”
Terri and Sonia cackled and Lottie forced herself to remain impassive. “I wouldn’t say I was frumpy,” she drawled.
“You still love him, don’t you?” Mercedes said, a cruel smile spreading across her perfect face. “I can see the pain in your eyes, you pathetic little drudge. Orlando laughed at how much you wanted him, well you’re never gonna get your chance with me around. I’m younger, thinner and better than you could ever be. Why would he look anywhere else when he’s got this?” She stretched out her arms and wiggled her sleek, sexy body.
Terri and Sonia howled with glee and joined in, dancing suggestively and shaking their cleavage in Lottie’s face.
Lottie lowered her eyes, keenly aware that the display was attracting a lot of stares. Suddenly, she was back in high school having to endure the taunts of the popular girls.
Mercedes and her two cohorts were making her feel like they did all those years ago. It looked like Lincolne Bay wasn’t the only thing that hadn’t changed.
She felt Olga’s hand on her shoulder. “Come along Lottie. Let’s leave these ladies to enjoy their day.”
“Yeah Lottie, run along with your grandma,” Mercedes sneered. “You’re not going to score tonight anyway. Go make some more donuts or something, you got nothing better to do with your life, after all.”
The three women burst out laughing as Lottie turned her back on them. She felt the heat rising in her face and her legs trembled. As if sensing her distress, Olga slipped her arm in hers and Lottie took comfort in her strength.
“Just ignore them,” Olga said in her ear. “They’re not worth bothering about.”
“You’re right,” replied Lottie. “I’m not going to let it worry me.”
“Good girl,” Olga said giving her arm a squeeze. “Come on, let’s go find Doris, I’d like to see her again.”
Lottie nodded and smiled, but inside her guts churned. She had always known Orlando had never been interested in her as a woman, and she’d made peace with that, but the thought of him laughing at her with the beautiful and perfect Mercedes made her seethe with anger.
She was glad though that she and Orlando hadn’t got together after all. He and Mercedes deserved each other.
* * *
The pain in his stomach was excruciating. Lurching out of bed, Orlando rushed to the en-suite bathroom and shoved his head into the toilet bowl.
After several minutes of hacking up his guts, he felt slightly better, but a cold sweat drenched his body and he lay on the marble floor of the bathroom for several minutes, helpless as a kitten.
Eventually though, he managed to get shakily to his feet. It was then that he realised Mercedes hadn’t been in bed when he got up.
“Mercedes?” he called out raggedly. “Are you there?”
Silence greeted him and he stumbled back into the bedroom and flicked on the light switch. Mercedes was nowhere to be seen.
Orlando scowled. Where the hell was she? She had been so drunk she had passed out and he had to carry up to his room. Instead of going on honeymoon, Orlando had opted for them to stay at Mayleaf.
She’d whined that she wanted to go partying in Monaco. She hadn’t even wanted to come to Lincolne Bay for the wedding, not that he blamed her for that.
The place was still the dump he remembered, but he had his meeting tomorrow in Scottfield, and there was no way he was going to miss that, not if he wanted to keep his kneecaps that is.
His stomach clenched again and he leant against the wall as a dizzy spell hit him. At this rate he’d be too incapacitated to even get to Scottfield. He took a deep breath and opened the bedroom door.
“Mercedes!” he called. “Where are you?”
Nothing stirred in the hallway and he swore under his breath. Knowing Mercedes, she was probably off having fun somewhere. She had been all over that waiter with the dyed hair and stupid little beard. The dumb jerk probably thought his meal ticket had arrived when she had dragged him off to bed, or more likely into the nearest storage cupboard. That was usually Mercedes’s style.
Not that it really mattered. Now he’d sorted grandmother out, he wouldn’t need to put up with Mercedes’s outrageous behaviour must longer. He’d have enough money of his own to give the little tramp her marching orders and then he would really begin to live.
“Mercedes! Yelma! I’m sick!” he called out. “Somebody help me!”
The house was eerily still now the wedding was over. Left-over food and empty glasses littered the hallway as he walked downstairs, and the grey light of dawn was coming in through the windows. He spotted that the door to grandmother’s study was open and electric light was spilling out of it.
“Hello! Is someone there?” he called out and then slumped forward as his stomach lurched again. “Hello,” he repeated in a more subdued voice. “Call the doctor! I’m ill!”
When no answer came, he mustered enough strength to head over to the door. “Will someone help me dammit!” he snarled as he barged into the room. “I am in agony here! I think I’ve been poisoned!”
He stopped talking when he took a proper look round in the study. His legs turned to water and he started screaming.
Chapter 4: Accusations
“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” Lottie called out irritably as she trudged down the staircase. “Where’s the fire?”
The banging on the front door of the Joseph Bonaparte Hotel grew more aggressive. Tightening her dressing gown around her, Lottie headed over to unlock it. She found Jayne Merriot simmering with rage on the other side.
Lottie stared at her in surprise. “Jayne? What are you doing here? It’s seven thirty in the morning!”
“What the hell have you done?” Jayne rasped her pallid face dark with fury.
Lottie blinked at her. “Done? Nothing. What’s happened?”
“You know exactly what has happened!” Jayne snapped. “I’ve been getting calls and texts since half five this morning! The wedding guests have been getting sick!”
A stab of fear went through Lottie. “Sick? What do you mean?”
“They’ve come down with food poisoning!” Jayne said in exasperation. “What else do you think I meant? Idiot! Your food is to blame!”
“Now hang on a minute, how do you know
it wasn’t your cooking? I only provided baked stuff.”
“You must have used sour cream and out of date ingredients!” Jayne fumed. “People are saying they’ve had stomach problems and been sick, not to mention all kinds of over nasty stuff!”
“Why does it have to be my food?” argued Lottie.
“It’s not mine,” Jayne snapped. “I would never have made such a rookie mistake!”
“I’m not a rookie!” Lottie yelled. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. “This is getting us nowhere. I need to find out if my friends are okay and Doris too. I better find out if Genevieve’s been taken ill as well.”
“This is all your fault,” growled Jayne. “I’m going to make sure you get closed down for good. You have no right being in the business!”
“Oh go away!” shouted Lottie, slamming the door in the other woman’s face.
Heart racing, she ran upstairs and went to Doris’s room. “Doris? Are you okay?” she said through the door. When no answer came, she knocked on it urgently. “Doris? Can you get up please? I need to know if you’re okay. Some of the food from the wedding reception was bad. Did you eat any of it?”
There was still no answer and Lottie began to worry. She hurried downstairs and grabbed the master key that unlocked all the doors of the hotel and went back to Doris’s room. “I’m coming in, Doris,” she called as she slipped the key in the lock.
When she entered the well-appointed room, she found it was empty. The bed was neatly folded and didn’t look slept in. Perplexed, she went over to the en-suite bathroom, but she wasn’t in there either.
“That’s strange,” she muttered to herself and left the room. She headed downstairs to the kitchen, thinking that Doris had risen early to make breakfast again, but she wasn’t there either. Lottie searched through the ramshackle clapboard mansion but there was no sign of the old woman anywhere.
Worry began to set in. It wasn’t like Doris to go out so early without telling anyone, but maybe she had gone for a walk or something? She could have been ill and gone to get some fresh air.
Still puzzled, Lottie switched back to focus on her first problem, namely the source of the food poisoning. She grabbed her cell and phoned Betsy Cromer. It took several attempts before she finally answered.
“Hello?” Betsy said in a weak voice that Lottie barely recognised.
“Betsy? You sound terrible! Are you okay?”
“Oh, Lottie I’ve had a terrible night,” Betsy said miserably. “I’ve had awful stomach pains and sickness. It must have been something I ate.”
“You’re not the only one,” Lottie said grimly. “I’ve had Jayne Merriot on the doorstep screaming and shouting. Most of the guests have been sick with food poisoning too, and she reckons it was my stuff that caused it.”
“What nonsense!” Betsy retorted. “There was nothing wrong with our food.”
“That’s what I said, but I ate the wedding menu she prepared but I didn’t touch any of my cakes or treats and I don’t feel ill,” Lottie said, and doubt started to creep in. Maybe Jayne was right after all? But surely that couldn’t be. “Betsy did you eat anything I made?”
Betsy went silent for a moment. “Well, I had a slice of cake and a couple of shortbread biscuits, and I think I had a few of those snowball donuts, but that doesn’t mean anything.
Jayne made a whole load of canapés and nibbles and there were those fish goujons and quails eggs tartlets, I ate some of those too. Did you?”
Lottie thought about it for a moment. “No, I just stuck to the main meal. I had none of the extra stuff she made.”
“There you go then, it could have been something Jayne prepared. Don’t you be worrying about it. Oh dear, I’m going to have to go I’m feeling queasy again.”
“Of course, I’m so sorry Betsy. I hope you feel better soon.”
“Thanks, we’ll talk later,” Betsy said and abruptly rang off.
Anxiety gripped her as she called Abner. He answered a lot quicker and to Lottie’s relief he hadn’t been sick, though he did confess that he’d had a bit of an upset tummy later that night but it soon passed. Lottie remembered that he’d had half of one of her snowball donuts and said they tasted odd.
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet,” Abner said. “Chances are Jayne’s to blame and is trying to cover herself.”
“Maybe, but both you and Betsy had the donuts. I’ll have to go see Genevieve. I hope she’s okay.”
“Why go see her? Just call,” replied Abner.
“No, I want to see her personally,” Lottie said. “I want to take a look at the leftover food as well and see what Orlando and the other guests staying at the house ate too. If it is Jayne’s fault, I’m not having her putting it around that I’m to blame. She’ll drive me clean out of business.”
“Okay, don’t get all worked up. Come and pick me up and we’ll go over together.”
“Thanks, oh do you know if Doris was feeling ill too yesterday?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” said Abner. “Haven’t you checked on her?”
“I went to check on her but she’s not in her room, and she’s not there.”
“Is she having breakfast with the ambassador?” Abner drawled.
“She’s not in the hotel at all, I’ve looked. I’m getting worried.”
“Doris might not have a full drinks cabinet upstairs but she’s not completely gaga,” Abner said with confidence. “Don’t worry, she’ll be back. We’ll look for her after we’ve been to see Genevieve. Chances are she’ll be home shampooing the doilies when we’re done.”
Lottie smiled, feeling a little better. “Okay, I guess you’re right. See in shortly.”
While her mind churned over at the thought that her baked goods had caused the poisoning and also fretful at the strange absence of Doris, Lottie went to get showered and dressed. Twenty minutes later she was out of the hotel and in her SUV and heading over to pick up Abner.
She called Genevieve’s mobile and house number several times on the way but there was no response, which only aggravated her concern. When she picked Abner up he said not to worry about things, but there was concern on his face.
“I’ve been getting reports of people being sick too,” he said as they headed toward Mayleaf Manor. “Jayne wasn’t exaggerating, it seems.”
“Oh no, Abner, what have I done?” Lottie exclaimed. “This is a nightmare!”
“You haven’t done anything, Lottie,” Abner said sternly. “Don’t panic until you know all the facts,” he added. He could be quite masterful in a crisis. “We don’t know whether it was anything you prepared that caused the food poisoning.”
“But I was in such a rush to get the order ready, maybe I did use ingredients that are out of date, or something?” Lottie pressed. “Jayne’s right. She’s the professional and I’m the amateur. It’s highly unlikely that she would have caused all this mess.”
“Unless she did it on purpose, to sabotage you,” Abner pointed out.
“What? You’re kidding right?” Lottie said in surprise. “Why on Earth would she do such a thing?”
“You said yourself she didn’t take kindly to having to share the catering duties,” Abner replied, “and she extremely competitive and ruthless when it comes to her business. You’re well regarded in town and this would be an effective way to discredit you. Hang on, what’s going on here?”
They had reached the gates of the big house and Lottie’s anxiety was increased tenfold when she saw the police cars parked in the drive. As they passed through the gates, they were flagged down by Deputy Kyle Parks.
“Kyle, what’s happened?” Lottie said as she pulled down the driver’s window.
“Lottie, Abner,” Kyle nodded grimly. “What brings you here?”
“We heard you were doing your naked aerobics,” Abner said grouchily. “We just had to shoot over.”
“This is no time for jokes, Abner,” Kyle replied. The young man had that earnest expression on h
is face that didn’t bode well, though he blushed a little at Abner’s remark. “Something really bad has happened.”
“We know,” said Lottie. “There’s been an outbreak of food poisoning, and we’ve come over to check on Genevieve and to see whether it came from what I provided for the wedding. I didn’t expect the police to get involved though?”
“It’s not just the food poisoning, Lottie,” Kyle replied, looking even more earnest. “It’s something worse.”
“What could be worse than naked aerobics?” asked Abner.
Kyle’s face became even more earnest and a feeling of dread welled up inside Lottie. “Kyle, what’s happened? Is someone really ill?” she asked.
“You’ll better go on up to the house,” the policeman replied, waving them along. “Detective Gable will want to speak to you.”
With no more information forthcoming, they did as they were told and Lottie pulled up near the fountain. Dozens of police officers were coming in and out of the house and a forensic team in protective clothing were coming out carrying the leftover food and empty drink glasses in clear plastic bags.
“I don’t like this,” Abner said. “This is far too much of a reaction for a simple case of food poisoning.”
“You’re telling me,” Lottie said. “I don’t recognise any of the cops as being local. I think they’re from Scottfield.”
One of the said police officers came up to them and brusquely demanded what they wanted. When Lottie told him her name and that she’d helped out with the catering, the officer immediately took them both into the house.
As they entered the main hall, Lottie looked over in the direction of Genevieve’s study and saw that it had been cordoned off by crime scene tape. Through the open door, she glimpsed forensic investigators in white coveralls busy about their work like ants.
“Detective Gable’s over there,” the policeman said, pointing to the thin, black haired man in the dark blue suit. “Wait here until he’s free.”
Gable was perched on the edge of a couch, notebook in hand, with Orlando Van Korbel sat in the cream coloured Chesterfield armchair opposite him. Orlando looked like a ghoul. His face was ashen and there were deep dark circles under his bloodshot eyes.
Donuts And Dead (Sleepy Fox Cafe Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 4