Dosed to Death

by P. D. Workman

  As if proving her point, Samantha appeared in the doorway. “Natives are getting restless. Can I give you a hand with anything else?”

  “No, we’re done. Just the serving now.”

  “What about guests?” Kenzie asked.

  “What about guests?”

  “Do they ever stop in? Or are they banned from the kitchen?”

  “Oh, nobody is ever banned,” Mrs. Hubbard shook her head. She and Samantha started to get out serving bowls and to transfer the contents from the pots on the stove and some plastic storage bowls in the fridge. “Guests don’t have the run of the place, but they’re welcome to stop in and say hello, see what’s going on. People are often very interested in all of the work that goes into running this place.” She smiled. “Some of the women are so used to doing all of the cooking at home that they don’t know what to do with themselves after a day of vacationing. They’re in here, looking for some way to help out.”

  “And everyone who is here now? Have any of them been into the kitchen?”

  Mrs. Hubbard shrugged. “Yes. Of course. I can’t think of who has been in and out, but some of them have been around to talk or see how the sausage is made, so to speak.”

  “You must have a lot of patience, to put up with all of that coming and going. I thought you would be lonely, but maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe you wouldn’t mind having some time to yourself for a while.”

  She smiled pleasantly. “It’s been a good job. I don’t know what I’m going to do if they decide to shut the Lodge down. I don’t know where I’ll go.”

  Kenzie nodded and excused herself, returning to the others before they could start to wonder what was taking her so long. Mrs. Hubbard certainly wouldn’t have any motive to want Mr. Dewey out of the way, seeing how it had put her job at risk. It wouldn’t be easy for her to find something else if she found herself out of a job now.

  She returned to the dining room to find everyone assembling around the table. She found that she and Zachary didn’t need to part with their last few glow sticks, as the table was lit by an LED lantern. Mr. Burknall seemed satisfied with the arrangements and left via the kitchen, presumably getting his own dinner on the way out.

  Kenzie and Zachary followed the plan they had worked out that afternoon in their cabin, dishing up the meal as if they were going to eat with the other guests, so that they would fit in and not make anyone feel uncomfortable. But then they would broach the rather uncomfortable topic of searching everyone’s cabins.

  35

  Jack was eyeing Kenzie as she dished up her food and passed the serving bowls around the table. She tried to ignore his looks, but she could feel him watching her even when she turned away from him.

  “I assume everyone has heard the latest news about our lady accountant,” Jack said, looking around the table to make his announcement.

  Well, that was one way to break the ice.

  “What about her?” Raven asked.

  “That she’s not an accountant at all. She’s been pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. Pretending to be one thing when she is actually another.”

  Raven raised her brows, looking bored with his dramatics. She clearly recognized his need for attention and would not play into his hands. She continued to dish up the meal.

  “She is a doctor,” Jack announced. Trying to get her attention back. He looked around the table self-importantly. “Not just a doctor, but a medical examiner.”

  There was a crash as Samantha put a bowl down too hard, rattling all of the silverware and china on the table. Kenzie laid her palms on the table, trying to stop the vibrations.

  “Sorry,” Samantha apologized. “It’s the lighting. I missed the edge of the table.”

  Or had it been something else? Kenzie watched her, interested in her reaction. She, at least, had not heard the gossip about Kenzie’s real profession. After everyone stopped reacting to Jack’s announcement, Kenzie corrected him.

  “I am not a medical examiner. Not yet. I assist in the medical examiner’s office.”

  Jack sat back in his seat, smirking. “You’re certainly no accountant.”

  “No, I think anyone who looked at my check book would agree about that,” Kenzie said. Though she was really no slouch in the financial department. “As I said to Mr. Burknall... I was just hoping to avoid having to look at everyone’s weird moles or to discuss other medical issues and diagnoses.” She shrugged. “I’m sure that anyone who has a doctor in the family has heard it all before. A doctor is never off duty. Everyone is always looking for special advice.”

  The guests looked at one another, sorting out who had known this fact before Jack’s announcement and who had not. Looking around the table, Kenzie was glad that both Andy Collins and Redd Flagg had made it to the dinner. Even Vance Stiller, who had sounded as if he would be in bed the rest of the day, had managed to make it to the farmhouse for the dinner. Probably because he didn’t want to have to scrounge his own. She doubted he had brought a bunch of snacks or ready-to-eat meals for himself.

  “So you can tell how Mr. Dewey died. And... you know... Mrs. Collins,” Raven said, with a sympathetic nod to Andy Collins, acknowledging his loss and apologizing for bringing her death up.

  “I only know a limited amount,” Kenzie said. “I obviously can’t do a full autopsy here at the Lodge, and it wouldn’t be my place to do so. All I’ve done is make observations and to preserve the bodies the best I can for the authorities when they are able to make it here. Just like we told everyone already.”

  “But you didn’t say that you knew all that stuff before. That you are trained.”

  “No. I didn’t. But we decided to share it now, because I think it is important for everyone to know.” Kenzie smiled at Jack to show that she had been planning on sharing that news at dinner anyway. Stealing his thunder. He didn’t smile back.

  “Why does it make any difference now?” Stiller demanded. “Like you say, you’re not doing an autopsy. You’re not here as a medical examiner.” He made a face when he looked at her, maybe remembering how she had told him she was a doctor earlier in the day, offering to examine him and suggesting that he preserve a sample of his urine for testing. The fact that she was the kind of doctor who worked on dead people did not make him well-disposed toward her. Kenzie had encountered that reaction before. As if she were some kind of vampire or zombie and her touch was unclean. Despite the fact that she nearly scrubbed her skin off every time she had been assisting in autopsy.

  “Well... I have been thinking about... what happened here last night. And I have some concerns.”

  They just looked at her blankly.

  “Several of you have talked about hallucinating or not being able to remember what happened last night. Or about others being aggressive.”

  Looks were exchanged, but no one jumped in to either confirm this observation or to deny it.

  “And I wonder whether there was something in the food or drinks last night. Something that caused those symptoms.”

  Raven stopped with her fork raised, ready to take a bite. The others reacted in various ways, some of them stopping and putting down their cutlery, and others continuing to eat as if they didn’t have any concerns about the food.

  “What do you mean? Who would put something in the food?” Jack asked. He smirked. He gave a bit of a muffled chuckle before stifling it. Kenzie wondered whether he was intentionally giving off signals to make her think him more suspicious, or if he could possibly be stupid enough to gloat over the thought of what he or someone else had done. She decided to assume that he was not stupid at all, but just trying to get her riled up. That made it easier to stay calm and collected.

  The others at the table were thinking about the question. Who would have put something in the food? And why? Had their symptoms been caused by a foreign substance, or was Kenzie just being paranoid? She was a medical doctor, or so she now claimed.

  “What makes you think that someone put something in the food?” Redd asked.<
br />
  “Because you all had symptoms, one way or the other. Hallucinating. Seeing monsters or thinking you could see or hear something weird and out of place. Noises in the night. People fighting who wouldn’t normally fight with each other.” Kenzie didn’t look at Andy Collins, but let everyone draw their own conclusions. “And those of you who can’t remember what happened since dinner last night. Or even for all day yesterday. You all agree that weird things were going on last night, and that you didn’t feel well or feel like yourself this morning.”

  There was silence around the table. No one was eating any longer. Kenzie saw that Mrs. Hubbard and Samantha were hovering in the doorway, listening and not serving or preparing anything else.

  “And then there was what happened to Mrs. Collins,” Kenzie said gently. “You have to admit that her death was not something that could have been expected or predicted. A healthy young woman. No one expected her to die. No one would have expected her to run out into the snow in the middle of the night. And no one would have expected her to be attacked and killed in the woods. None of that is normal. And if you have been paying any attention to the media, you know that certain drugs can cause hallucinations and violent behavior. They can make people do things that they would normally not have done.”

  “We aren’t exactly in New York,” Jack Fowler sneered. “Exactly where do you think someone got these drugs? There isn’t a drug dealer on the corner as you drive in. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “People may have brought medications or recreational drugs with them. Maybe never planning for them to end up in the meal, but... it is a possibility.”

  “No one accidentally put drugs into the food,” Jack pointed out. “If this really happened, then it was intentional. You’re telling us that someone intentionally put drugs in our food that could have killed someone. That maybe did result in someone getting killed.”

  Kenzie nodded. She had hoped to gloss over that point. To say that the food had been tainted without dwelling on the fact that someone had intentionally poisoned it. Because then the guests would be looking at each other exactly the way that they were now, with suspicion and disbelief. It was almost too bizarre for anyone to believe. They would rather categorize it as something that was too bizarre to have happened than to protect themselves further.

  “What I would like to do,” she said slowly, “is to check each of the cabins, and of course the house and the outbuildings, and to gather up any medications or other substances that could be used that way. And by doing that... prevent it from happening again.”

  “You’re saying that one of us is a killer,” Brittany said baldly. “You think that someone killed Mrs. Collins, and that whoever did that might do it again.”

  “Someone did kill Mrs. Collins,” Kenzie said. “I don’t know whether it was premeditated or if it was just the result of someone being high on whatever substance might have been administered to the food. But whether it was intentional or not, I don’t want it to happen again.” Kenzie looked around the table at the food still on everybody’s plates. No one was eating any longer.

  “Why should you be the one to do this search?” Redd asked. “What makes you more qualified to do it than, say, me?”

  “The fact that I am a doctor means that I’ll have a better idea whether any particular medication could lead to hallucinations and some of the rest of the stuff that went on last night.”

  “And you’re going to do this by yourself? You could frame anyone you wanted to. You could be the one who poisoned everyone, and you just want to shift the blame to someone else.”

  “Actually. If you think about you, you’ll remember that we were not at the house yesterday. Not at any time. We had no opportunity to poison the food. We were never in the house, let alone the kitchen.”

  “Could have snuck in,” Redd said petulantly.

  “I think if we had been here, someone would have seen us.”

  No one jumped in to say that they had seen either Kenzie or Zachary at the house the day before. Everyone was quiet.

  “You can talk to Mrs. Hubbard. She can confirm that we were never in the kitchen or anywhere near it.”

  Heads turned toward the kitchen, where Mrs. Hubbard and Samantha were listening. Mrs. Hubbard shook her head. “No, they were never around.” Her eyes went around the table to the rest of them. Mentally checking off who she had seen at the house the day before and who had stopped into her kitchen for a chat or to smell or taste the dishes on the stove? Thinking about just who’d had the opportunity to tamper with the food?

  “Well, if anyone might have poisoned us all at dinner last night, you know who the most likely suspect is,” Vance Stiller announced, fixing his gaze on Mrs. Hubbard. “There’s only one person who has unlimited access to the food.”

  “I did no such thing,” Mrs. Hubbard snapped. “After all these years, why would I decide to poison my guests now? You think I’m crazy? What happens to my job if I do that?”

  “The same thing that happens to you if Mr. Dewey dies,” Jack said. “You lose your job. Is it any coincidence that right after he dies, this happens? Maybe he knew she was a poisoner and he’s the only thing that kept her from murdering everyone before.”

  It was a ridiculous accusation. Jack looked away, as if it had sounded false even to his own ears.

  But of course Mrs. Hubbard had to be a suspect. Anyone who had access to the food had to be a suspect and she was the one with the most access. Anyone else would have had to get past her.

  36

  I don’t think that any of us have all the information that we need to make any accusations,” Kenzie pointed out. “The fact is, practically anyone here could have tampered with the food at some time yesterday. But what’s done is done, and the police will have to do what they can to sort it out. My concern is to prevent anything from happening again. We don’t want anything to happen to anyone else here.”

  Raven reached for her drink, then pulled back her hand and just stared at her glass. If the alcohol had been poisoned, they had already had their cocktails. Was it possible that every bottle had been tainted? Or every glass, as Zachary had suggested to Kenzie earlier? Kenzie thought it more likely that the toxin had been put in the food.

  “So you want to conduct this search on all the cabins,” Jack said. He spread his hands wide. “Well then, have at it. Why not?” He looked challengingly around the table, daring anyone to argue with him.

  “I don’t want anyone going through my things,” Redd objected.

  Stiller nodded. “Absolutely not. I’m not having anyone pawing through my possessions either. I have some very... high-end articles. I don’t want anyone near my things.”

  There were murmurs of agreement around the table.

  “So,” Zachary spoke up, “you’re good with either being poisoned again or not eating here for the duration. Until the plows get through and the police can begin an investigation.” He shrugged. “Okay.”

  “Why not let people bring their own medications here?” Redd suggested. “Anyone who has anything can declare it, and Kenzie can say whether it could have caused these hallucinations, and if it could, we flush them.”

  “What an idiot,” Andy Collins said flatly, voicing what pretty much everyone around the table was already thinking. “You think that whoever intentionally poisoned everyone else is just going to bring forward the poison because we ask him to? Or her? And flushing everything to get rid of the evidence? Just what do you have in your cabin that you’re so worried about them finding?”

  Redd’s eyes darted around the room, landed on Kenzie briefly, and flitted away again. “Look...”

  “Of course you have to search the cabins,” Collins said. “Start with mine. Whenever you want. Go ahead and look through all of my stuff and all of my wife’s things. Because I want to know who did this. I want to prove to everyone here that I did not kill my wife. I know that’s what you’re all thinking, so there’s no point in looking so shocked. Go ahead. Sea
rch my cabin.”

  Kenzie nodded. That was two down. She looked around the table, waiting for other volunteers.

  “You can search mine,” Brittany agreed. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  Kenzie looked at Jack Fowler, waiting for his offer. When he didn’t say anything, she moved on to Raven. Raven rolled her eyes and laughed. “Well, you’re going to find a whole pharmacy of pills in my cabin. I’ll admit that straight out. I’ve got pills to put me to sleep and pills to wake me up. And for just about anything else you can think of. Could any of them cause hallucinations?” She shrugged. “I have no doubt. So go ahead and look, and confiscate whatever you think is dangerous. As long as you’ll dispense them to me whenever I need them.” She laughed, bringing out several smiles around the table.

  Eventually, everyone agreed. The naysayers were outweighed by those who had already agreed, and peer pressure did its thing. Eventually, they got everyone’s consent.

  The prevailing opinion was that Kenzie and Zachary would need to be accompanied by someone else to ensure that they were not planting evidence, and that their cabin would need to be searched as well. After some discussion, Raven was nominated to accompany them.