Punch, Pastries, and Poison by Harper Lin (ebook reader for pc and android .txt) 📕

if that wasn’t enough, I would be happy to apologize again.

I stared at the phone’s screen until it went black and then put my head down on the table. I had spent the whole afternoon questioning people, and I had nothing to show for it. Well, nothing except a list of names that the police probably already had. I closed my eyes to rest, just for a minute. Matt would be home soon with dinner.

Chapter 22

I heard footsteps and screamed. I grabbed hold of the first thing my hand landed on and jumped up, wielding it at the intruder. “Get out!” I screamed.

“Whoa, Franny!” Matt jumped back with his hands raised in the air, a white plastic bag dangling from one. “It’s just me! With dinner! Put down the—phone? Why are you threatening me with a phone?”

I looked down at my hand and realized that the threatening object I’d grabbed from the table was a cell phone. Not the best weapon to use to fend off an intruder.

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly.

His lips curled up in a smile that turned my insides to goo and walked towards me. “No problem, gorgeous.” He pulled me close and kissed me on the forehead. “I brought burgers.”

I had to get myself together before Matt killed us with an endless stream of greasy takeout. Even so, I was happy to tuck into the burgers sitting beside him at the kitchen table.

I was popping the last bite into my mouth when I noticed Matt looking down at the table with a curious expression. I followed his eyes and realized that I’d left my notepad out.

“What’s this?” he asked, turning it so he could see it better.

“Just a list I made of people who were at our birthday party and at the café yesterday.”

He looked at me.

I busied myself scraping the melted cheese off the burger’s wrapper with my fingernail.

“Why were you making a list of those people? Did Mike ask you to?”

“Noooo,” I said, drawing the word out. I scraped up some more of the cheese and sucked it off my finger.

“Franny.”

I looked up and smiled hopefully. Maybe Matt would think the list was a good idea. Maybe he would be proud of me for showing initiative and being resourceful.

His frown said otherwise. “Franny, you know the police are working this case. You don’t have to do it for them.”

“I know. I just needed something to do. You told me not to just sit around!”

“I didn’t mean to start investigating the case yourself.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I’m sorry. That probably sounded harsh. I think when I said to find something to do, I just pictured you baking or knitting or something.”

“Knitting?” I’d never picked up a knitting needle in my life. I wasn’t even sure if I’d know what one looked like if it was in front of me.

“I don’t know. Something that normal people do. Something that’s not murder-related.” He reached out for the hand that hadn’t been scraping cheese. “I just worry about you. You know that.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my fingertips. “I like you safe.” A crooked smile crept across his face. “I guess that’s one good thing about Mike putting you on lockdown. You can’t go running around investigating clues and interviewing suspects.” He chuckled.

I laughed, too, but it came out sounding a little awkward and strangled. I hoped that he didn’t notice.

“I guess making a list isn’t too bad, after all. As long as you share the information with him. You are going to share the information with him, right?”

I nodded.

The pleasant, relaxed look on Matt’s face slowly faded. “You were at home all day today, weren’t you?”

I nodded again.

“And all you did was make this list?”

I looked down at the cheeseburger wrapper and studied it for any cheese I’d missed. “I called them,” I muttered.

“I’m sorry? You called them?” I couldn’t tell whether Matt’s tone was one of disbelief or disapproval, but either way, it wasn’t good. He rubbed his forehead with both hands.

“I wasn’t weird about it,” I said defensively. “I was just friendly! Asked how they were doing, apologized that people got sick, thanked them for coming. You know, nice, pleasant, neighborly stuff.”

Matt looked doubtful.

“Really, it would have been rude not to call them. They came to our birthday party, and neither of us even got to speak to most of them. And then they got sick! I know if that happened to me, I’d appreciate it if my friend called to check on me.”

“You can justify anything, can’t you?” He undoubtedly had affection in his voice.

I shrugged. “I do a good job of it, don’t I?”

He laughed and leaned across the table to kiss me. “Yeah, you do.”

We cleaned up the trash from dinner and then retired to the living room to watch a couple of episodes of the latest show we’d been bingeing. Before long, we headed upstairs to bed. I’d say it was because we were both exhausted from a busy, overwhelming week, but that wouldn’t be strictly accurate given how long it took for us to settle down to go to sleep.

Matt, of course, dropped off immediately, while I lay awake with my mind racing. Latte was lying between us, and I absently petted him while I thought about the conversations I’d had that day. Had anyone seemed suspect? Dean had been irrationally angry. Well, was it irrational? Maybe it was fair for him to be upset that he’d gotten so sick after coming to our party. It wasn’t the way I would have reacted, but maybe it wasn’t so off-the-wall.

Almost everyone had been pleasant and friendly. Karli had been a little snippy, but she seemed to think I was after Todd, although I couldn’t think of why. I spoke to him when I saw him. That wasn’t unusual. I spoke to most of the people I knew when I saw them. And I’d known Todd for longer than Karli had been