by Carol Cox
Paul’s face grew slack as she ran down her list. By the time she finished, he gulped. “Good grief. It sounds like there’s enough in that bunch to do away with ten people.”
“That may be a slight exaggeration, but you could certainly do some damage with these, if you were so inclined.”
Paul tilted his head and goggled at the innocent-looking flowers. “Well, what do you know?” He stared at the blooms in Kate’s hands. “So do you want me to go put them in water or throw them away?”
Kate shook her head and handed the bouquet to him. “They’re too lovely to get rid of. By all means, put them in a vase. I’ve enjoyed flowers all my life, and I’m not going to stop now.”
She looked down at her notes. “But I’ll have to admit, I’m learning to treat them with a degree of respect.”
Paul headed for the kitchen. Kate picked up her notebook and trailed along behind him. She watched as he filled a vase with water and arranged the bouquet, then set it in the center of the table.
“Did you have anything for lunch?” he asked.
Kate started. “I got so involved in what I was doing, I didn’t even think about it. What about you?”
Paul stared at a point above Kate’s head. “I ate with the guy I bought lunch for.”
Kate didn’t need a book on body language to recognize the signs of evasion. “Let me guess. Ribs at the Smokeshack, right?”
Paul shrugged and grinned. “I knew he’d been having a hard time. I wanted to make sure he was fortified for the rest of the trip.”
“Mm-hmm. A case of generosity being its own reward?”
“Let me get you something to eat.” Paul seemed eager to change the subject. “What sounds good to you? More toast?”
Kate made a face. “I’m feeling a little more adventurous than that. How about if I try something exotic...like soup?”
“I think we have some minestrone. How does that sound?”
Kate thought a moment, then smiled. “It sounds really good.”
“Have you made any progress on narrowing down what kind of plant might have caused your symptoms?” Paul asked while the soup heated.
“I’ve been able to eliminate certain things—castor beans and oleander, thankfully. Those are fatal.”
Paul’s face paled slightly.
“It’s fascinating in a way,” Kate went on. “Not all parts of some poisonous plants are dangerous. For instance, there’s rhubarb. The stalks are fine to eat, but the leaves are lethal.”
Paul got a bowl down from the cupboard and pulled a spoon from the silverware drawer. “I remember that one. My grandma used to warn me about the leaves when she picked it to make rhubarb pie.”
“But did you know that potatoes and tomatoes are members of the deadly nightshade family?”
Paul frowned. “Now that’s a new one. So how have we managed to eat them all our lives without getting sick?” He glanced at the pan on the stove. “Come to think of it, there’s tomato in that minestrone.”
“Yes, but it’s only the leaves and stems that are poisonous. The fruit of the tomato and the potatoes themselves are fine.”
Paul paused in the act of ladling minestrone into a bowl. “What if some of those stems and leaves got into your food by mistake? In that case, you wouldn’t have been an intentional target at all.”
Kate considered the notion briefly. Then she shook her head, hating to dash the expression of hope from his face. “If we were talking about food that came straight from someone’s garden, that might be a possibility. But tomatoes and potatoes purchased commercially generally have the stems and leaves removed.”
Paul sighed and carried her soup bowl to the table. “Do you feel like sitting here, or shall I set up a tray?”
“Sitting at the table sounds good.” Kate took her usual chair, setting the notebook at the corner of the table.
Paul grinned as he studied the arrangement in the vase. “No wonder those flowers made you flinch. This is starting to get a little unnerving.”
Kate laughed and took a spoonful of the hearty soup. She slid the notes closer to her. “Another thing I learned is that there’s a window of time between ingesting the plants and the onset of symptoms.”
Paul sat at the end of the table and looked at her, puzzled. “So what kind of time frame are we looking at?”
Kate drew a deep sigh. “Most of what I’m coming up with falls within a range of fifteen minutes to four hours.”
Paul held her gaze. “Which means?”
Kate took another spoonful of her soup. “I worked backward from the time I started feeling ill. That was around four thirty, as I recall.”
Paul nodded in agreement.
“So let’s subtract four hours, which brings us back to twelve thirty that afternoon. That would mean we can pretty much eliminate anything that happened before then.”
“Like church,” Paul said.
Kate gave a little start. “I hadn’t even considered the possibility of getting poisoned at Faith Briar.” Who would have imagined the prospect of a disgruntled church member poisoning the minister’s wife? Thank goodness she didn’t have to pursue that line of thought!
She drew a deep breath, then leaned her arms on the table and looked at Paul. “Think about it. We were here at home from about two thirty on. We’ve already agreed that all I did was work on a stained-glass design in my studio. No opportunities for coming in contact with some toxic plant there. The only other place that leaves is...”
“The diner,” they said in unison.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Paul let out a low whistle. “So we’re back to the food at the diner. Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, I’m sure the food was fine. After all the furor over the actual food poisoning, we couldn’t have missed hearing about it if other customers had fallen ill around the time I did.”
Paul stroked his chin. “But you only ate what was on your plate. I can’t see any way you could have ingested something accidentally.”
Kate waited for him to reach his own conclusion.
Paul stared at her, his face grim. “Then that means something had to have been put into your food.”
Kate swallowed and nodded. “And by someone who was there.”
Paul fell silent, as if trying to come to terms with this new line of thinking. Finally he let out a long sigh. “Okay, what’s next?”
“I think the best plan is to make a list of everyone we saw there. I’ll write down all the names we mentioned earlier and see if there’s anyone else I can remember, whether I know their names or not.”
Paul shook his head. “It makes me sick to think that anyone we know might have done this.”
“There were several out-of-towners there that day too,” Kate reminded him.
“But why would any of them have a reason to do this?” Paul asked.
Kate lowered her head and stared at her soup bowl. Paul had asked the very question she wished she could avoid but couldn’t. They both had to face it. Someone had intended to sicken her, if not worse. And that someone was almost certainly a person they knew.
A quick rat-a-tat sounded at the front door, followed by Renee’s signature call.
Paul grinned as he pushed himself to his feet. “Maybe I should just go ahead and leave the door unlocked. It would give Renee the freedom to come and go without us having to answer it all the time.”
“Don’t you dare.” Kate laughed and shook her finger at him. “I can’t remember when I’ve had so many visitors. There would be a steady stream of people walking in and out of here if you did that.”
“Kisses insisted on coming over to visit his Grandma Kate,” Renee announced when she breezed past Paul and joined Kate at the table. Bending over, she set the little Chihuahua on Kate’s lap. He looked up at her with adoring brown eyes, and the tip of his tiny tail wagged frantically.
Kate cupped her hand to stroke his head. “I appreciate his concern.” She tried to hold back a giggle.
/> “Kate’s just finishing lunch,” Paul said. “We have some minestrone left. Can I offer you some?”
Renee waved away his suggestion and sat in the chair nearest Kate. “I’ve already eaten. I just came from the diner, in fact.”
Paul looked surprised. “You’re still eating there? Has the food gotten better?”
Renee shook her head mournfully. “It’s atrocious. Even worse since LuAnne took over the cooking. Everything seems to be either overcooked or underdone.”
“Then why—” Kate began.
“It’s the diner!” Renee flung her arms in the air as if those three words explained everything. “No matter how awful the food may be, I just can’t stay away.”
Paul stood behind Kate’s chair and rested his hand on her shoulder. “I ought to be heading back to the church now. Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?”
“No, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” she added when she saw his brow furrow. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Paul hesitated slightly, then nodded. “Just take care of yourself.” He bent and kissed her cheek, then waved at their guest. “I’ll see you later, Renee.”
When the door closed behind him, Renee leaned forward, her arms on the table. “Have you told him about our deductions?”
“You mean about the poison? Yes, he knows. We were just talking about it when you arrived.”
“That’s a relief. It wouldn’t be good to keep information like that to yourself. Have the two of you come up with any ideas?”
Kate shook her head. “Nothing conclusive. I’m still pursuing some leads. How about you?” She transferred Kisses to Renee’s arms, then got up to set her soup bowl on the counter. “Anything more from your DVDs?” Kate walked to the couch with Renee trailing behind her.
“No. I’m sorry to say the episodes I watched yesterday were all related to crimes of violence. And poison, while potentially deadly, is not generally thought of as a violent weapon like a gun or a bomb would be.” Renee settled herself onto a chair and handed Kisses to Kate.
“That’s true,” Kate said. “I hadn’t looked at it quite that way before.”
“It’s a sneaky weapon as well,” Renee went on. “Most mysteries I’ve read where poison is used describe it as a woman’s weapon, although I strenuously object to women being classified as a sneaky sex.”
Kate muffled a chuckle. “I’d have to agree with you on that.”
“What’s this?” Renee pointed to the stack of books on the floor next to the sofa. “More research?”
Without waiting for Kate to respond, she picked up the book on top and turned it over in her hands. “Body language? What does that have to do with our current investigation?”
“Maybe nothing,” Kate hedged. “But I’m fascinated by the idea that sometimes our actions truly do speak louder than our words.”
“How interesting! Do you mind if I take a look at it?”
“Be my guest.” Kate watched while Renee scanned the table of contents, then flipped to the first chapter.
Before long Renee settled back in her chair, apparently engrossed in her reading. Kisses crawled off of Kate’s lap and curled up on the cushion next to her. He settled his head on his front paws, and a moment later she heard him snoring.
Feeling a little at loose ends, Kate pulled her notebook over to her and opened it to a fresh page. She picked up her pen and wrote “People at the Diner” at the top, then began writing down all the names she and Paul had mentioned earlier.
The task took concentration. Silence stretched out, punctuated by an occasional snore from Kisses.
Kate scribbled one last name on the page, then tapped her pen against the paper. She had listed every name she could remember and then had gone back through the diner in her memory, trying to recall who sat at each table.
As she wrote, her irritation grew. After her conversation with Paul, the details of what they had done that Sunday afternoon were clear in her mind. So why couldn’t she recall what had gone on with her investigation prior to that time? Kate pressed her lips together and blinked back tears of frustration. Lord, it seems like my memory of that time is coming back in bits and pieces, and I’m grateful for that. But if it’s all right with you, couldn’t it all come back at once?
No audible answer came, but a verse from the Psalms popped into her mind: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Not a beacon that would illuminate a large area, but a lamp that would let its bearer see a short distance ahead.
All right, Lord. I’ll be content with that. One step at a time, with you leading the way.
She reviewed her list again, confident that she had written down nearly everyone who was there, by description if not by name. She would get Paul to check the list later and see if he could add any more. And now...
Kate stared at the list and frowned. Having the names didn’t seem to spark any further ideas. Looking at the people involved, she still couldn’t see that any of them had a motive for making her ill.
Her pulse quickened. If her earlier assumption was correct, and the poisoning had been carried out by the same person behind the fraudulent fund-raiser, then the name of that person should be on this list.
Chapter Twenty-Four
With her heart beating rapidly, Kate turned the page and created a new list: “People Connected to the Chamber of Commerce.”
Using the list she had earlier on her laptop as a guide, she put Lawton’s name at the top, followed by Fred Cowan, John Sharpe, and the others Paul had mentioned. She slipped that sheet of paper loose from the rings in the binder and held it beside the first list so she could compare the names on the two.
A feeling of foreboding chilled her. The first name she spied on both lists was Lawton’s. But he knew she was working to clear him. He had no reason to poison her. Unless he really was guilty and feared that her investigation might turn up something to implicate him.
Much as she hated the thought, she couldn’t remove Lawton’s name from the list of suspects. As Paul had said, his innocent posture in those photos had created a strong impression within Kate, but it didn’t constitute concrete proof that he was innocent.
What about the others? Fred Cowan, John Sharpe, or Clifton Beasley? If one of them had set up the scam, he’d have to have a powerful grudge against Lawton. Livvy didn’t know of anyone who harbored that type of animosity toward the mayor. So it wasn’t a widely known matter. A personal vendetta, perhaps? She would have to dig deeper and try to uncover some more obscure reason for singling out the mayor.
Or it could be that Lawton, with his narrow-minded way of looking at things, simply made an obvious target. She’d also need to consider whether the other members had a tendency toward greed. That might lead her to the identity of someone who saw this as an easy way to gain wealth and would be willing to go to such lengths to divert the blame from themselves. Maybe Lawton hadn’t been the focus of the scam after all, but merely an easy mark.
Kate shook her head. Greed, like any sin, could spread a terrible poison of its own in a person’s life and often had long-lasting effects. She knew all too well how difficult it was to battle a physical poison. How much longer would it take to recover from a poisoning of the soul?
The thought brought Kate up short. She had looked into the duration of stomach viruses back when she first thought of that as the cause of her illness. Why hadn’t she thought to research the time needed to recuperate from a dose of poison?
“Fascinating!”
Kate jerked her head up to find Renee studying her with a thoughtful smile.
Renee looked positively smug. “According to your facial expressions, you’ve just had a revelation.”
“What?”
“It’s all right here.” Renee tapped the book. “I’m amazed that I haven’t paid more attention to this before.” Thumbing through several chapters, she came to rest on a page of drawings. “Did you know that the common gesture of folding one’s arms across one’s chest indi
cates a defensive stance, intended to keep others at a distance.”
“Or it could just mean the person is cold,” Kate said. “The book does caution against reading too much into every nuance of movement.”
Renee sniffed. “That may be, but I still think there is valuable information here.” She tilted her head. “You seemed very intent on something in that notebook. What have you been working on all this time?”
Kate paused before answering, wondering how much information she ought to share. But she and Renee had already broached the subject of someone wanting to harm her. With a slight shrug, she said, “If somebody intentionally poisoned me, it had to be done within a fairly narrow window of time.”
Renee snapped the book shut and sat erect. “Aha! The plot thickens.”
“I’ve been making a list of people I was around during that time period.”
“Let me see.” Renee scooted over to the couch, scooped up Kisses, and took his place next to Kate. Kisses lifted his head long enough to grumble at being disturbed, then laid it down again and went back to his nap.
Reluctantly, Kate turned the notebook so Renee could view it.
“People at the diner?” Renee fixed Kate with a piercing gaze. “So this is where you think the perp struck? In a public place?”
She pressed her hand against her heart. “Are you certain you were the intended victim, or was this a random act that might have affected any of us?”
Kate fought the urge to roll her eyes at Renee’s grandstanding. “I’m pretty sure it was meant for me. But I’m not sure how to figure out who did it.”
“What’s the other list?” Renee reached over and tugged it from Kate’s grasp. “Connected with the Chamber of Commerce,” she read. “Oh, I see. Comparing the two to narrow the list of suspects?”
Kate gave a noncommittal murmur. “It’s just in the thinking stage. I haven’t reached any conclusions yet.”
“But there are some interesting possibilities here.”