Poisoned Primrose

by Dahlia Donovan

  Motts leaned forward to try to hear what the couple were shouting. “Would it be too obvious if we went outside and checked on my bike?”

  “Definitely.” Vina nodded.

  The three exchanged glances before rushing out of the office. They dashed through the kitchen, ignoring Caden’s complaints. The trio slowed down to a walk when they made it to the front of the café.

  Motts made a show of checking her tyres while Vina and Nish placed Cactus in his basket. “Bugger. They’ve noticed us.”

  And they had. The sound of footsteps made Motts stand up straight. She shook her head when the twins moved to block her from view.

  “She’s not going to stone me in the middle of Polperro,” Motts muttered. “I hope. I’m certain the police would frown on it. Isn’t stoning against the law?”

  “That’s what you’re worried about?” Nish twisted around to whisper at her.

  “What? I’m curious.”

  “Your mind is such an interesting place.” Nish shook his head. Motts moved up beside him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They made a combined front when Rose finally reached them. “Rose.”

  “I’m sorry for breaking your window.” Rose didn’t seem especially sorry. She appeared quite angry to Motts. “We’ll pay for the damage.”

  “Why’d you do it?” Vina asked the question Motts had been attempting to form.

  “I’ve apologised. I’m paying to fix the window.” Rose drew herself up, shoving her hands into the pockets of her cardigan. “Why is irrelevant.”

  “It’s not, actually,” Vina disagreed.

  Motts placed a hand on Vina’s arm. She could tell her ex-girlfriend was starting to get a little heated over the obviously unapologetic apology. “I’d like to understand what drove you to vandalise my home.”

  “Maybe if you’d learn to mind your own business, things like that wouldn’t happen.” Rose stormed away from them, returning to bang on the door until Innis let her inside.

  Motts glanced between her two friends and back over to the Salty Seaman. She could see Innis and Rose were still arguing through the window. “I don’t think Innis knew about her throwing stones.”

  “Why do I get the feeling their day is about to get worse?” Nish drew their attention to the police vehicle pulling up to the fish and chip shop. Constable Stone and Inspector Ash climbed out, heading over to the door. “Wait. Why are they grabbing Innis?”

  “The plot has thickened.” Vina spoke the words Motts had been thinking. “Maybe you were right about Rose trying to draw attention away from her husband?”

  “Maybe.”

  Gossip in a small village worked faster than bees pollinating a garden. Nish popped by later in the evening with leftover stew from his mum. He also came bearing news about Innis.

  The fish and chip shop owner had been taken in for questioning in regards to the disappearance of his sister. One of their guesses about Rose’s motivation had been correct. She’d wanted to draw attention away from her husband.

  She obviously believed he’d been involved in Rhona’s death. It didn’t surprise her that the police had wanted to ask Innis a few questions. Nish didn’t know if they’d be able to hold him beyond twenty-four hours.

  “They won’t.” Motts put half of the stew into a bowl and set the rest aside. She’d save it for leftovers. “Want some?”

  “Think positively, Motts. Innis might confess. Or take a swing at Perry and get himself locked up for a little longer.” Nish waved off her offer of food. “Want me to make tea?”

  “Sure.” She stirred her food around absently, trying to draw courage to tell him a secret. “I have a date.”

  “An actual date?”

  “Yes.” Motts stared down at her stew. “Maybe? I was invited to go to the Kernow chocolate factory.”

  “By a man? Woman? Easter bunny?”

  “Easter bunny?” She carried her bowl into the living room to sit on the couch. Nish followed, flopping down beside her. “A man.”

  “A man I know?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do we have to play twenty questions?” Nish stole a chunk of meat from her bowl. “Wait. Is it the detective from Plymouth? Please say it’s him. He’s a dish and a half. River told me about his coming to the rescue after the disaster of a blind date.”

  Motts nodded. “He sent me an email inviting me to the factory.”

  “An email?”

  “An email.” Motts didn’t know if email invitations counted as dates. They didn’t know each other incredibly well yet. “Maybe it’s a platonic sort of thing?”

  “Show me the message.” Nish took her phone when she handed it over to read the email. “We’re going to need reinforcements. I have no idea.”

  Reinforcements meant talking River and Vina into coming over. Motts sat on the couch, eating stew and observing the trio. They read the email from Teo over and over to debate the nuances of his wording.

  When their debate got a little too excited, Motts decided it was time to have her cottage to herself. Nish corralled the other two out the door with him. He waved at her before closing the door behind them.

  Right.

  I have the entire night to stress about whether or not Teo meant it.

  Motts took consolation from the fact her non-autistic friends were just as confused. “What do you think, Cactus?”

  Meow.

  “You’re right. I might as well ask him.” Motts didn’t see much point in dancing around issues. She wanted to understand, and no one else seemed to have answers. “Straight from the horse’s mouth. What does it even mean? Straight from the horse’s mouth. Horses can’t talk.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I feel like I’m sitting outside of the headmistress’s office, waiting to be told off for something I didn’t do.” Motts had eaten toast, drunk far too much coffee, fed her animals, and now waited on the sofa for Teo to arrive. “What do I do, Cactus? I can’t practice every possible conversation we might have.”

  He ignored her. Vina had brought a catnip-filled toy for him earlier when she’d come to give Motts a pep talk. He’d been playing with it ever since.

  Despite having spent three hours stressing over being ready on time, Teo arrived, and Motts immediately spilt tea all over her jumper. She let him inside, then ran down the hall into her bedroom to change. Cactus could entertain the detective.

  “Are you communing with my cat?” Motts stared at Teo, who had Cactus gently held in both hands. The two were staring each other down face-to-face. “I’m ready to go. Or do you need to play ‘don’t blink’ with my cat for a little longer?”

  “He started it.” Teo continued to hold Cactus up so their noses were almost touching. “He was sitting next to your turtle’s home, meowing.”

  “They’re friends. They gossip.”

  Teo tilted his head, and his gaze shifted from Cactus to her. “They gossip?”

  “Yes.” Motts nodded. She tugged at her jumper slightly; making sure it covered her T-shirt underneath. “Are we going?”

  Teo set Cactus down on the cushion next to Moss’s terrarium. “Do they gossip often?”

  “Define often.”

  Teo’s lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. “Let’s get going. I spoke to the tour coordinator at Kernow. They don’t have anyone scheduled for an early morning tour. I figured you’d rather not be shoved into a massive group of strangers.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Motts appreciated his kind gesture. She double-checked the locks, security system, and her pets before following him out of the cottage.

  “They’ll be fine,” Teo promised when Motts locked her front door for the fourth time. “You’ve got the app on your phone. You can check on the cottage anytime you like.”

  “I’m being silly.” She shoved her keys into her pocket, wincing when one of them dug into her side. “Silly sad salty sandwich.”

  “You’re not being silly.” Teo opened the passenger door for her. He winked when she frowned
at him. “You have every reason to be concerned, given how your first weeks in Cornwall went.”

  The tour of the chocolate factory went by quickly. Teo seemed bemused by how fast Motts observed and moved forward. She didn’t see a point in taking forever.

  Her mum had stopped going to museums with her because of how swiftly Motts moved through the exhibits. Once she’d seen something, she didn’t get any further enjoyment by standing and staring for minutes on end. What did it matter, as long as she had fun?

  Fun wasn’t measured with a specific timeframe, was it?

  They spent most of their time by the taste-test table. Motts had a feeling their tour guide hadn’t expected them to eat their way through everything offered. They didn’t want the chocolate to go to waste.

  By the time they left, Motts had bought more chocolate than was probably wise. Teo couldn’t comment. He’d gotten more than she had.

  “Is there a chocolates anonymous? I’m thinking we might be addicts.” Motts held up her bag. “I could concuss someone with this.”

  “We’ve got an hour before lunch. Why don’t we check out the bookshop?” Teo stored their bags in the boot of his vehicle. “It’s not too far.”

  They drove further into Wadebridge, parked, and walked the rest of the way. Motts wasn’t wound up in book shops unless they had a decent graphic novel section. She didn’t mind checking out a new one, though.

  To her surprise, Motts managed to find a handful of graphic novels she didn’t have. The Inflatable Woman by Rachel Ball had been on her to-be-read list for a while. She left the shop with more books than Teo, much to his amusement.

  Grabbing a coffee on the way, they walked through the village to Le Snack, a takeaway sandwich place. Teo had apparently determined it would be a safe choice for lunch. She got chicken breast with pesto on a baguette along with chips.

  There were more people out and about. Motts’s nerves were starting to feel a little frayed around the edges. Teo suggested they make the walk back to his vehicle.

  Once there, Teo drove outside of the city to a parking area along the River Camel. They had a brilliant view while chowing down on their lunch. Motts appreciated the quiet, confined space without being inundated by the constant noise of other people.

  “Do you think Innis killed his sister?” Motts picked a slice of tomato from her sandwich. She munched on it, watching Teo out of the corner of her eye. “People will do strange things when money is involved. They tend to lose all sense of reality.”

  Teo finished chewing his bite of jacket potato. He sipped some of his water. “I can’t answer.”

  “I don’t want a copy of your case file or a debrief on the interrogation.” She went for a slice of cucumber next, crunching her way through it. “What do your trained instincts say?”

  “Aside from needing you to stop watching crime shows on the telly?” He frowned at her thoughtfully. “I’m waiting to see if the evidence convinces me.”

  “I don’t watch the telly,” Motts insisted. She went back to eating her sandwich in separate pieces. “I like true crime podcasts.”

  “Podcasts?”

  “I can listen to them while I’m working. And I can rewind them when I don’t hear things right.” Motts hated her occasional inability to process sound. She often had to restart her podcasts several times or pause them until her brain had caught up. “If you’re waiting to be convinced by the evidence, his interrogation either didn’t go well or made you think he might be innocent.”

  Teo tossed a handful of chips into his mouth. He chewed slowly, probably to give himself time to think of an answer. “You don’t have much of a poker face, but you’re damned perceptive. Ask me in a few days, and I’ll be able to give you an answer.”

  “Alright.” Motts shrugged. She didn’t see a reason to push the detective inspector for an answer. It would only ruin what had been a lovely day. “I enjoyed our friendly outing.”

  “But you’ve run out of energy for outside stimulation?”

  “What?”

  “Something that my cousin says when she’s reached her limit of being around people.” Teo took the last bite of his sandwich. He wiped his hands clean and gathered all the trash into the paper packet the food had come in. “We can head back now if you like.”

  Reaching over to turn on the radio, Teo found a classical music station. They drove the fifty minutes to her cottage mostly in pleasant silence. She wanted to thank him for a brilliant day, but her nerves had picked up again the closer to home they got.

  “Was this a date or a friend thing?” Motts asked the question she’d been practising in her head since yesterday.

  “It’s whatever you feel comfortable with it being.” Teo pulled up in front of her cottage. He shut the engine off, then twisted slightly towards her. “I’ll leave the decision up to you. I should tell you something first, though.”

  “You’re a vampire?”

  “What?” he asked, sounding wholly bewildered.

  “Just wondering.” She grinned.

  “No, I find having this conversation to be uncomfortable but necessary before entering even a casual relationship.” He tapped his finger against the steering wheel with an uncharacteristic show of nervousness. “I’m not trying to make you uneasy.”

  She simply nodded in response.

  “I’m asexual.”

  Motts stared. And stared. She snorted, then giggled, much to her embarrassment. “Is that all?”

  “Tends to be a deal breaker.” He sounded as though he spoke from a lot of painful experience.

  “I suppose now is the time I play my own ace card.”

  “What?”

  Motts stretched the sleeves of her jumper, covering her hands. “We have something in common beyond our love of chocolate.”

  “Oh. Oh.” His lips quirked up into a smile. “That makes this is far less awkward than usual.”

  Neither of them seemed to know where to go with the conversation. Motts hopped out, grabbed her items from the boot, muttered a thanks, and raced into her cottage. She sank down to the floor by the front door after closing it.

  “Oh, boy,” she groaned. Cactus made his way over to her, butting his head against her leg. “Hello, sweetheart, did you have a good day? I brought you some of my chicken sandwich.”

  Meow.

  “I did have a good day.”

  * * *

  After spending an evening recovering from her date, Motts woke the next morning to insistent knocking on her door. She grabbed her phone and found several missed calls. Cactus followed her through the cottage to the front door, where she found Nish, River, and Vina waiting impatiently.

  “We brought coffee. The good kind. And we’ve got full English breakfast pasties.” River pushed into the cottage past her. Vina and Nish wrapped their arms around Motts to guide her after him. “Now, sing for your supper.”

  “He’s had a few coffees already,” Nish whispered.

  They gathered around her kitchen table. Motts picked apart her pasty. Cactus ran off with a large chunk of bacon from the filling.

  “Cheeky bugger.”

  “Is he cheeky when you literally handed the bacon to him?” Vina asked around a mouthful of pasty. She grabbed one of the coffees in the centre of the table. “Cactus is not the bloke we want to talk about.”

  Meow.

  “You’ve offended him.” Motts watched Cactus leap up onto the windowsill to stare out into the garden. “He’ll be insufferable later.”

  “Mottsy.” Vina had never been a patient person. “Tell us about your date.”

  “Pravina.” Nish kicked his sister’s chair. “We have talked about demanding things from people.”

  “Spoilsport,” Vina muttered. “Sorry, Mottsy.”

  She chuckled at the siblings, exchanging a grin with her cousin. “I brought you all chocolate from Kernow.”

  “Sod the chocolate. What about the man?” Vina leaned forward with her elbows on the table. “Do we need to hunt him down
and dump him in a river?”

  “He was brilliant.” Motts hid her smile behind her cup of coffee. She held it tightly, enjoying the warmth. “We got chocolate, went to a bookshop, and had sandwiches.”

  “And?” River prompted.

  And?

  She didn’t really know what they wanted to hear. They’d gotten a play-by-play of her day out with the detective inspector. At most, it had been a friendly sort of first date; they’d agreed not to put any pressure on themselves.

  “Motts?”

  She gave a confused shrugged. “I had a nice time.”

  “We’re glad.” Nish interrupted both Vina and River, who’d started to ask questions. “Aren’t we?”

  “He’s like me.” Motts finally offered a little more information for the infuriatingly curious trio.

  “Like….” Vina’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Is he now? Well, how nice.”

  Motts turned towards her ex-girlfriend in surprise. “You sound strange.”

  “She’s fine.” Nish once again nudged his sister, who nodded rapidly. “See?”

  “Not really.” Motts felt increasingly uneasy. She pushed her plate away and clung to her cup of coffee. “Do you not like him?”

  “She—”

  “Nish,” Vina snapped at her brother. She reached out to take Motts’s hand and hold it gently. “I think Detective Inspector Broody will be perfect for you. I’m jealous he’s better for you than I was.”

  “You’ve got a girlfriend. And we haven’t been together for ages.” Motts didn’t understand jealousy in general, but this definitely confused her. “I don’t get why you’d be upset.”

  “I’m not. I am genuinely happy for you, even if he turns out to be just a friend. Whatever happens.” Vina squeezed her hand, then leaned back into her chair. “Ignore my momentary blip.”

  “Okay,” Motts said uncertainly.

  After breakfast, her friends headed off to work, leaving her alone in the cottage. Vina had hung back to ensure Motts knew she was genuinely delighted. The weird little blip of conversation still confused Motts, but she decided not to stress over it.

  Setting a timer for herself, Motts rushed around the cottage cleaning up. She often struggled to force herself to keep up with housework. Twenty-minute increments helped to keep her on task.