A Poisonous Plot (Lily Larkin Mysteries #3)

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Usually, Lily employed a covert approach to her investigations, but sometimes directness was needed. Given that Arthur Penrose didn’t seem to be making any attempts to hide anything, it made sense to be upfront with him.

When she arrived at the garden centre the following morning, she found him wiping down the counter in the cafe.

“Hello!” he said cheerfully. “Sally said you might be here today. Would you like me to give you a tour and tell you about the plants?”

“I would like to talk to you about plants, but I don’t need a tour. Do you have time to chat?”

He nodded eagerly. “Would you like a drink?”

She opened her mouth to ask for a coffee but clamped her jaw shut again quick as her stomach protested to consuming anything from the garden centre cafe.

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said and moved to the nearest table.

“What can I help you with?” Arthur asked, his body altogether too large for the chair he lowered himself onto. “Is it houseplants that you’re after?”

“I actually just wanted to ask you some general questions about plants.” She smiled sweetly. “I saw you have a blog.”

He tilted his head and looked faintly amused. “Who told you that? It’s supposed to be a secret.”

“I found it fascinating,” Lily said, hoping a bit of flattery would put him at ease.

“Thank you. I enjoy working on it, and people tell me they enjoy reading the posts.”

“I’m sure they do. The thing is, I saw you’d written quite a lot about poisonous plants…”

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” He jutted his chin out. “Do you know what amazes me? So many plants have both medicinal and harmful properties. The same plant that could save a life could also kill someone. Isn’t nature incredible?”

“It is,” Lily agreed quietly. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there have been some cases of poisoning on the island?”

“Something in those welcome baskets?” He nodded sagely. “Everyone has been talking about it. I’m sure whoever gave out the gifts must feel awful. They tried to do a good deed and accidentally made people ill.”

“I’m not sure it was an accident,” Lily said.

Arthur frowned. “I heard that some of the food in the baskets was out of date, or had gone bad or something?”

“No one knows for sure what happened. But it’s a possibility that someone intentionally poisoned people.” She waited for him to figure out that she suspected him, but he just stared blankly at the tabletop.

“Who would do something like that?” he asked.

“That’s what I’d like to find out. I noticed in your blog posts that you listed a lot of the plants which could bring on the sort of symptoms the recipients of the baskets had.”

“What kinds of symptoms?” Arthur asked.

“Stomach issues, headaches, dizziness…”

“I just assumed the food in the basket had gone bad,” Arthur mused. “But if someone wanted to poison people, it can easily be done using plants.”

“How would someone go about it?” Lily probed.

“Chop the plant up and add it to the food,” he said with a shrug. “Or add some poisonous berries to the food… it really wouldn’t be difficult.”

“What about tea?” Lily asked. “Could you make a tea which makes people ill?”

“Of course. Dry out the plant and grind it up. Add it to some herbs to cover the flavour, and bob’s your uncle, as they say.” His brow furrowed as he looked at Lily.

“The same could be done with seasoning,” Lily mused. “Like a bag of mixed herbs…” Just like in the welcome baskets.

Arthur nodded. “I don’t know why anyone would do that, though.”

“The recipients of the baskets were all newcomers to the island. The theory is that someone has an issue with people moving to the islands and taking job opportunities away from people who’ve been here for longer.”

“Oh, yes.” Arthur did his slow nodding again. “I’ve heard people talking about that.”

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That you don’t like newcomers taking the jobs?”

“No.” His lips pulled downwards. “I like it when new people come to the islands.”

“What about this review…” Lily unlocked her phone and brought up the review for the restaurant. “I believe you wrote this?”

His eyes brightened. “Yes. I wrote that review. We had a lovely meal. Dante’s a very nice man.”

“Then why did you write a review stating that you don’t like newcomers taking jobs on the islands?”

“I didn’t.” Arthur pointed at the screen. “I just wrote that it happens, not that I don’t like it.”

Lily stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was genuine or if he was playing games. His features were entirely earnest. Lily read the review again. He was right – he hadn’t stated an opinion. It was implied that newcomers taking jobs was a negative, but it wasn’t explicit.

It took Lily a moment to collect her thoughts. “Could I ask where you were on Friday evening?”

“Don’t answer that, Arthur.” The low voice rumbled directly behind Lily and she whipped around, startled.

“Hello, Denzel,” Arthur said cheerfully. “I didn’t know you were coming in today.”

“Just need to pick something up for a client,” he said, his gaze fixed on Lily.

If Arthur registered the icy atmosphere, he didn’t react to it.

“Lily’s been asking me about my blog.”

“So I heard.” Denzel’s gaze softened as his attention shifted to Arthur. “You know you don’t have to answer her questions. She’s not the police. She can’t come in here and start throwing baseless accusations around.”

“She wasn’t,” Arthur said, a bemused smile stretching his lips into a thin line. “She was just asking how plants could poison people.”

“She’s asking because she’s trying to figure out who did it. Even though it was probably an accident. Some people just enjoy stirring up trouble for their own entertainment.”

Lily opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Sally crossing the room.

“What’s going on?” she asked, glaring at Denzel. “Why the raised voice?”

“Because Little Miss Marple here has put two and two together and decided Arthur is poisoning people.”

“What?” Sally asked, features scrunching up.

“You’ve no right to come in here harassing Arthur,” Denzel growled at Lily.

“I wasn’t harassing him,” she snapped, finally able to get a word in. “I’m concerned that something sinister is going on, and I’m making enquiries to try to get to the bottom of it.”

Sally’s eyebrows rose dramatically. “You think whoever sent the baskets was intending to make people ill? I thought it was just an honest mistake.”

“I suspect it was intentional.” Lily looked from Sally to Denzel, deciding not to divulge her reasons yet. “But I’m not accusing anyone. I’m only asking a few questions and trying to figure out what happened.”

“You’re not the police,” Denzel said harshly. “You’re just some jumped up busybody who has no right to ask these kinds of questions.”

“What questions?” Sally demanded.

Arthur cleared his throat. “Lily was asking where I was on Friday evening.”

“When the baskets were delivered,” Denzel said to Sally. “It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“Not really.” Sally pursed her lips. “It is odd that they were delivered anonymously.” She shrugged and lowered her gaze to Lily. “I don’t mind saying where I was. I had dinner at home with my dad, then we watched a bit of TV and I went up to bed about ten.”

“I was at home all evening,” Arthur said. “Doing research for my blog. And I watched a documentary about seals. Which was fascinating, actually.”

“Do you live alone?” Lily asked him.

“Yes. My mum died four years ago. I’ve been on my own since then.”

“Sorry,” Lily muttered, feeling a pang of sadness for him.

“Leave him alone,” Denzel said. “Arthur didn’t do anything.”

“I haven’t said that he did.” Anger coursed through Lily as she met Denzel’s steely gaze. “Would you like to share where you were on Friday evening?”

“Not really, no.” Denzel shook his head. “I don’t have to answer to you.”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Sally said, her tone stern but affectionate. “None of us has anything to hide. Just tell her where you were.”

His cheek twitched as though he might argue further before thinking better of it. “Fine,” he said and shifted his weight. “I was in the pub.”

“All evening?” Lily asked, more to annoy him than anything.

“All evening,” he said through gritted teeth.

Lily forced a smile. “Thank you for your cooperation.”