Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Puzzled was an understatement. Standing in the kitchen of the quaint, homely cottage, Lily was completely flummoxed. Maria’s ramblings hadn’t made an ounce of sense. She probably had a fever. It was the only way Lily could explain the paranoid mutterings which had been cut short by Maria dashing to the bathroom.
The sound of her retching drifted to the kitchen and Lily distracted herself by messaging Flynn to give him an update on Glynis.
Her phone rang almost as soon as she’d hit send.
“There’s something really weird going on,” Flynn said, an air of confusion to his words.
“How do you mean?” Lily asked, standing beside the kitchen table and gazing at a decorative bowl which held a few bananas and apples. Papers and envelopes lay scattered haphazardly beside the bowl.
“Have you seen the food baskets people have been posting about on social media? Wait, did you get one?”
Idly, Lily pushed her hip against the edge of the table. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“A bunch of residents received baskets of food on their doorsteps.”
“Oh.” Her spine straightened. “Yeah, I got one. I thought it was from the owner of the shop since it didn’t say who it was from.”
“You didn’t eat anything from it, did you?”
“No. I barely even looked at it. Why?”
“Because it seems as though anyone who’s eaten anything from it has got ill.”
Lily sucked in a quick breath and swung around until her gaze landed on the wicker basket on the sideboard. Drifting over to it, she turned over the tag attached to the handle. “Welcome to the island,” she muttered, reading the printed text aloud. The exact same message as her basket.
“Sorry?”
“Maria got one,” she said. “Glynis’s friend… carer… whatever she is. I’m at their place now and there’s a basket. By the way, Glynis is stable. I saw her earlier.”
“Good. But the basket… make sure you tell Maria not to eat anything from it.”
Lily lifted the bag of pasta, which was half empty, and then eyed the open pouch of mixed herbs.
“I think it’s too late for that,” she said. “She’s currently vomiting, and she looks deathly pale. What’s going on?”
“As far as we know, they were delivered to about a dozen people across the island. They all have a welcome message, but don’t indicate who they’re from.”
“So if they all have welcome messages, that means…”
“They were only delivered to newcomers to the island.”
“All delivered anonymously?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s weird.” She squinted at the message on the tag. “At least that explains why Maria thinks someone is out to get us.”
“What?”
“She was ranting, and I thought she meant that someone was out to get me and her specifically, but I guess she meant newcomers in general. She must have read about it on social media.”
“What’s in the basket Maria received?”
Her eyes roamed over the contents. “Fresh pasta, a bag of Italian herbs, loose leaf tea… a bar of chocolate…” Glancing around the room, she spotted a glass jar by the sink. “Possibly a jar of pasta sauce. I guess that’s what she ate – the pasta and sauce.”
“Sounds the same as all the others. Can you tell her not to touch it? I’ll be over to collect it later. I’ll need to call over and collect yours as well.”
“Okay.” Her mind whirred, trying to make sense of everything. “Do you think someone did this on purpose?”
“We don’t know. The sergeant is assuming it’s accidental poisoning, but it’s weird that the baskets were delivered anonymously.”
“And just to newcomers,” Lily mused, a niggling feeling at the back of her mind. “Did you get one?”
“No. I don’t know whether to be affronted at being left out, or happy that I wasn’t subject to food poisoning.”
“I’d choose the latter,” she said, frowning at the basket on the counter. “Do you think maybe Dante was right?”
Flynn gave a quizzical grunt.
“The owner of the Italian restaurant.” She paced the kitchen. “He thought someone wanted to sabotage him because he’s not from the island.”
“It’s possible,” Flynn said, but didn’t sound convinced.
“I need to speak to him again.”
“I’m working,” Flynn said. “I’ve got to collect these baskets and question the recipients. I’m fairly sure the sergeant won’t agree to me questioning Dante, at least not until I’ve finished with all of this.”
“I wasn’t inviting you,” she teased. “But I will let you know what I find out.”
“I’ll talk to you later.”
She’d just slipped her phone back into her pocket when Maria shuffled into the kitchen. “Sorry about that,” she murmured, moving past Lily to get a glass of water.
“Do you need anything?”
She shook her head.
“I only just heard about the baskets,” Lily told her. “I got one too, but I didn’t eat anything from it, thank goodness.”
“The smoothie was meant for you, wasn’t it?”
Lily gave her a puzzled smile.
“I’m not blaming you,” she whispered. “Of course it’s not your fault, but Glynis got sick after she drank it. I thought about it when the doctor suggested Glynis might have food poisoning rather than a virus. That’s the only thing she consumed that I didn’t. We eat all our meals together. You gave the smoothie to her, didn’t you? It was meant for you, not Glynis.”
“Yes, but…” Lily stared at her, confused. “I don’t understand. You think the person who delivered the welcome baskets also tried to poison me with the smoothie?”
She nodded meekly. “Maybe.”
“You really think someone is out to get newcomers to the island?” Her mind went to the review Dante had shown her, commenting on foreigners taking jobs.
Maria only gazed at Lily, saying nothing.
“By the way, PC Grainger said he’ll collect the basket later. It sounds as though he has a few to collect, so it might take a while.”
She tilted her head and creases marked her forehead. “How many people received them?”
“I’m not sure. I think he said a dozen.” She retrieved her phone again. “He said it’s all over social media. It’s the sort of thing people like to post about on the community groups.”
It didn’t take Lily long to find people posting pictures of the welcome baskets. The posts from the previous evening were filled with gratitude and excitement, then turned ominous that morning, as people reported getting ill.
With her focus on her phone, Lily only noticed that Maria had moved across the room when she glanced up to find her shuffling the papers on the kitchen table with trembling hands.
“You should go and lie down,” Lily said.
Frantically, she continued collecting up the papers. “It’s such a mess. With Glynis being ill, and now me, I haven’t had much time for cleaning.”
“Leave it for now,” Lily said, watching her shove the papers into a drawer in the mahogany dresser. “You can worry about that when you’re better.”
Finally, Maria looked up at Lily. “Lots of people got ill?” she asked.
“Yes. Quite a few. Anyone who ate anything from the baskets.”
Maria pressed her fingers to her forehead. “I don’t know what I was thinking, eating something without knowing where it had come from. But I’d been at the hospital with Glynis and it was late when I got home. I hadn’t eaten…”
“I’d have done the same,” Lily said, aiming for a reassuring tone.
“Why would someone target newcomers to the island?” Maria asked, slumping into a chair.
“I don’t know. I think I’ll dig around, see what I can find out…”
“Yes. Good idea.” Again, she reached into the neckline of her pyjamas and squeezed on her crucifix.
“Are you religious?”
She looked at Lily with complete bewilderment. “No. Why?”
“Never mind,” Lily said, shaking her head. “Do you think you’ll be okay alone?”
“I’ll be fine.” She looked distracted. “You should go.”
“I’ll call you later and see how you’re doing.”
“Yes,” she said vaguely. “Okay.”