Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
As she left the pub, Lily called the garden centre to check when Arthur would be at work next. Sally didn’t seem at all surprised by the question – not after Lily explained she wanted to take him up on his offer of advice about plants. She agreed he was the perfect person to talk to and told Lily he’d be working the following morning.
Once she got off the phone, Lily contemplated tracking Arthur down at home. She could usually find out where most people lived from Seren. But she wasn’t sure going to his house was really warranted.
Unsure of the best course of action, she scrolled on her phone and hit dial on Flynn’s number.
“I’m still at work,” he told her. “We’re sending samples from the baskets to the lab for testing, but it’ll probably take a few days before we hear anything.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not much point bothering then,” she said, “I’ll have figured it all out by then.”
A gentle chuckle came down the phone.
“Is there anything new with Glynis?” she asked. “Did the hospital find out what’s wrong with her?”
“I haven’t heard anything.”
“Did you find out much from the people who’d received baskets?”
“It looks like someone delivered them late on Friday night, but no one saw them being delivered.”
The timing was useful at least, and she made a mental note to find out where Arthur Penrose had been on Friday evening.
“Have you found anything else?” he asked.
“Yes. The person who left the review for the restaurant is Arthur Penrose.”
Flynn groaned. “Should I know who that is?”
“He works at the garden centre.”
“Of course he does. You think he’s poisoning people?”
Lily cut down a side street to the promenade. “I don’t know but it seems suspicious.”
“What do you know about him?”
“He’s some sort of botany expert,” Lily said as she arrived outside the ice cream shop. Impulsively, she crossed the promenade and wandered onto Porthcressa Beach. The wind caught her hair and pulled it behind her while her cheeks tingled with the warmth of the sun.
“He has a blog about plants,” she went on. “One of his recent posts was about poisonous garden plants.”
“That’s a little disturbing,” Flynn said. “Also a little stupid of him to publish a blog about poisonous plants if he was planning on poisoning people the same way.”
“Yes.” A smile pulled at Lily’s lips. “But someone once told me that criminals often are stupid.”
“Someone wise, no doubt.” Flynn was smiling too – she could hear it in his voice.
“I don’t know about that.” She pulled a strand of hair from the corner of her mouth. “Anyway, Arthur’s review of Dante’s restaurant took issue with non-islanders moving here and taking jobs from locals. And then a bunch of newcomers were poisoned. That’s probably not a coincidence, is it?”
“No, but again, I’d question why he’s making no effort to cover his tracks.”
“Maybe he doesn’t even care about getting caught. Or thinks he’s invincible or something.” She turned into the wind and grinned widely. “Or maybe he doesn’t think highly of the local police force and is confident they can’t solve crimes, even if he leaves a bunch of clues.”
“You’re hilarious,” he said flatly, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice.
“It does seem to be me who does all the investigative work around here.”
“Because you’re a private detective. I’m just a lowly police constable.”
“Is Sergeant Proctor taking the poisonings seriously?”
“I imagine he will once I tell him what you’ve just told me.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t mention me by name. It might be better if you call me an anonymous source.”
Flynn chuckled. “The sergeant’s all right, really. I’ll report back to him and see if he’ll let me follow up.”
“It seems a little unfair that I do all the work and you swoop in and take the credit.”
“I wasn’t planning on taking the credit.” He went silent for a moment. “I have to get back to work.”
“Do you think I should track Arthur Penrose down at home?” Lily asked quickly. “Or wait until he’s at work tomorrow and question him there?”
“Definitely don’t approach him in private.”
“I was leaning that way too. But if he poisons anyone else in the meantime, you know I’ll feel responsible.”
“I mean it,” he said sternly. “If you talk to him, you do it with other people around.”
“Okay,” she said, a hint of a whine in her voice. “Are you doing anything tonight?”
“No exciting plans,” he said. “I thought I might come to your place and watch a film or something.”
She grinned. “That sounds very exciting to me!”
“Do you feel like cooking, or shall I bring something?”
“I’ll rustle something up,” she told him and ended the call feeling energised.
Hurrying off the beach, she strode purposefully back to the shop. She’d make a couple of new batches of ice cream, then she’d figure out what to make for dinner. She also wanted to delve more deeply into Arthur’s blog.
The afternoon went by in a blink and she felt a little flustered when Flynn arrived.
“I’ve only just started on dinner,” she said as he followed her into the steam-filled kitchen.
“It smells great.” He inhaled deeply. “What are we having?”
“Sweet and sour chicken with rice. The kind where the sauce comes from a jar, because I lost track of time and needed something quick.”
“Sounds good to me. What have you been doing all afternoon?”
“I made a few batches of ice cream. Then I got caught up in Arthur’s blog. It’s kind of fascinating. He certainly does his research.” She nodded to the table where her notes were laid out beside her laptop. “As far as I can tell, all the symptoms of the people who got ill could be attributed to some common garden plants.”
“How do you know everyone’s symptoms?”
“I don’t, but there’s a lot of chatter about it on social media. I took as much info as I could from there.” She jabbed at the open notebook. “My symptoms would fit with daffodils, but that just sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?”
Smiling, Flynn flicked through her notes. “I asked the sergeant about Arthur Penrose.”
“And?” Lily moved to the stove and pushed the chicken around the pan with a spatula.
“He wouldn’t even entertain the idea that Arthur would poison people. Apparently, he knows him well and has a very high opinion of him. He seemed quite put out by the suggestion that he had anything to do with it.”
“Even after you told him about the blog and the review?”
“Yeah. He says Arthur is harmless, and he sounded quite protective of him.”
Lily wiped her hair from her forehead. “Seren was the same when I spoke to her about him.”
“How old is he, by the way? Because the sergeant talked about him almost as though he was a child.”
“I guess he’s around thirty,” Lily said. “But he comes across as quite childlike.” Her mind drifted, thinking of the way Sally had also talked to him in a somewhat condescending way.
“I’m under strict instructions not to question him,” Flynn said.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Thankfully, I have no one telling me who I can and can’t talk to.”
“Are you going to the garden centre tomorrow, by any chance?”
“I need plants,” she said innocently.