Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

Brissart. “I’d like you to make up a list of everyone who came to the house yesterday, if possible, together with telephone numbers and addresses if you have them.”
    June Doliveck stood up. “Whatever for? Surely you don’t think any one of us had something to do with Bradley’s untimely demise. Why, it must have been an accident, or something he ate,” she said, looking pointedly at Mrs. Platz who glared back through misty eyes so dark they could have been black.
    “Interesting of you to say,” John said pointedly.
    “Now wait a minute, Detec— Is that it? Detective? I just made a bad joke in reference to Mrs. Platz’s cooking. I certainly did not mean to imply I have any knowledge that Mrs. Platz killed Bradley.”
    June bored her cold eyes through John, daring him to say differently.
    “That remains to be seen. We’ll be talking with everyone. You, included, Mrs. Doliveck.”
    I wandered out onto the porch and rested along the railing feeling the warmth of the autumn sun on my back. The coroner’s car had long since gone, but plenty of police officers and technicians remained. My sympathies went out to Mrs. Platz. It was a horrific ordeal for someone to have to go through and the poor woman must be numb with shock. The sound of Chantal’s voice brought me back to the current murder.
    “Alex, Mrs. Brissart is going to need someone to help her. She needs to notify Bradley’s parents in London. Stuart’s trying now to reach them. Someone also needs to call Bradley’s girlfriend, Kendra, and arrangements need to be made. I can cancel my trip and stay.”
    “Don’t worry, Chantal, I freed my calendar for the rest of the week so you go help your mother-in-law. I’ll help Mrs. Brissart.”
    “Are you sure, Alex? Anthony could probably take some time off.”
    “Truly, it’s no bother. I heard Mrs. Brissart’s sister saying something about Bradley eating something bad. Do you have any idea exactly what happened?”
    “I guess I shouldn’t have pushed Detective Van der Burg about the specifics. I know he can’t tell me. But I heard some people talking this morning, and Mrs. Platz said a few things. It looks like he was poisoned. But I’m not sure.”
    “Jesus! Well, that explains how Bradley could have been killed by mistake,” I said.
    “They think the poison might have been in the cookies. I know the police took them away. Along with a bunch of other stuff. But Alex, we ate some as well and I’m okay.”
    “Me, too,” I said, hoping that the stuff, whatever it was, didn’t have a delayed reaction.
    “So it must be something else.”
    “Hmm.”
    John stepped out onto the porch and Chantal excused herself.
    “I’ll see you tonight,” I said as I prepared to make a quick getaway back into the house.
    John gently took hold of my arm. “Not so fast. Remember what I told you when we first met.”
    “That you liked my hair? How cute you thought I was?”
    “That I work alone.”
    I crossed my arms and leaned against the railing again. “Oh. That.”
    “Yes. That. It was nice of you to comfort Chantal, but leave it alone,” he warned.
    “Well, that’s not possible, John. Chantal has to take a few days off to help her mother-in-law in New York and I’ve already volunteered to take over. So,” I shrugged, “I guess it’s up to me.”
    “Have Millie find someone else.”
    “No. Mrs. Brissart is a valued client. And besides that, I wouldn’t dream of leaving her alone at a time like this. She needs someone, a familiar face, to be with her and keep the vultures at bay.”
    John sighed and put one hand on the railing and leaned close to me. “Stay out of it,” he said slowly, spreading the words out.
    I started to tell him that I was there for support only when the voice of one of Mrs. Brissart’s sisters refusing to be brutalized by the police thundered through the house.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    “I don’t believe it! How do you keep getting mixed up in this stuff?” Sam paced around her office. It was late afternoon and we were just now getting to the details of what had transpired at the Brissart house.
    “Samantha, careful, your insensitive side is showing. I didn’t plan this and I’m sure neither did Bradley.”
    Sam calmed down. “You’re right. Forgive me. I just hate seeing you go through all this again.”
    “Don’t remind me. I’ve already thought about it,” I said, around a mouthful of M&Ms.
    “What else is wrong? There’s something you’re not telling