Shamrock Shenanigans (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 19)

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Authors: Kathi Daley
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to the kitchen for soda crackers and tea, just as Susan ran for the bathroom once again.
    Susan had seemed fine during the card game. Not flulike at all. Could she have been given something to make her sick both the previous evening and then again tonight? It seemed likely, but I had no idea why. And because she was the only one to get sick either the cook or the server had to be in on it. Once I delivered the crackers and tea, I intended to find out who it was.
    After I delivered the tea and crackers to Susan I returned to the kitchen. The main course had been served while I was away and the cook was putting the finishing touches on the dessert. Byron, the server, was nowhere in sight.
    “I’m afraid you missed your meal while you were tending to Ms. Langtree,” the cook observed. “Would you like me to make you a plate?”
    I couldn’t help but remember Susan’s pale face and sunken eyes. “Maybe I’ll just have a piece of fruit,” I said as I took an apple from the bowl that was sitting on the counter.
    “The poor dear. She must have a nasty flu to make her so ill.”
    I hadn’t actually mentioned how ill Susan was when I’d come down for the tea and crackers, only that Susan was feeling under the weather and needed something to sooth her stomach. This of course made me suspicious of the cook right off the bat.
    “I’m pretty sure, based on her symptoms, that Ms. Langtree has food poisoning.”
    I watched a look of shock and denial cross the cook’s face. “Impossible. I use only the freshest ingredients.”
    “Is it possible someone could have slipped something into her food after it was prepared?” I asked.
    The cook frowned.
    “Specifically her soup?” I added.
    “I don’t see how. The only people with access to the food prior to serving it was myself and Byron, and I’ve known Byron a long time. He would never intentionally make someone sick.”
    “Where is Byron now?” I asked.
    “Liam came to fetch him. Lord Dunphy needed help in the workroom.”
    “Has Liam been in the kitchen at other times this evening?” I asked.
    “He’s been in and out a time or two,” the cook admitted.
    “And how long have you known Liam?”
    “Only a week. He’s new to the castle.”
    I looked around the room. I didn’t see a back door, but I hadn’t seen Liam come in to fetch Byron, although I had been upstairs with Susan. I asked the cook about another entrance and she said there was a back hallway that led from the kitchen to the workroom stairs, which didn’t pass through the dining room. I grabbed a dinner roll and headed toward the workroom. I was more convinced than ever that Liam was the killer; now I just needed to prove it.
    When I arrived at the workroom it was completely empty. And it wasn’t just empty; it was dry. There was no way it had been flooded recently. Someone, or maybe everyone, was lying. I just didn’t understand why.

Chapter 5
Saturday, February 13
     
     
    I leaned up onto my elbow and looked at the clock on the table next to the bed. It said it was 2:10 a.m., much too late for anyone to be up and about, but I was certain I’d heard footsteps in the hallway. Zak was sleeping next to me and Charlie was snoring at the foot of the bed as I grabbed my robe and slipped into the narrow corridor. It was dark, but I could just make out a form ahead of me. I wasn’t sure who—or what—I was following, but my instincts told me to remain quiet and hang back as I slipped past the closed doors on both sides of the passage.
    When the faint figure got to the end of the hallway, it moved down the stairs, across the main entry, through the dining room, and toward the kitchen. At some point I lost sight of the figure I was following, but when I arrived at the kitchen door, I noticed a sliver of light at the bottom of the door, indicating that a light was on inside.
    I slowly opened the door to see Lord Dunphy sitting at the counter eating a sandwich.
    “Ms. Zimmerman,” his lordship

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