“Interesting,” Mark said, stroking his chin and electing to stay seated for a few more minutes. The muscles in his thighs were twitching painfully.
“I talked to both Zack and Curly. They seemed like nice guys and neither of them had ever worked with Kyle or anyone from the Escape! Channel for that matter. Curly had never even heard of it. I never had a chance to talk with Tex, though,” Jeremiah said. “Hank was singularly unforthcoming,” he added.
“You mean more than you?” Mark quipped.
He got a glare for his troubles.
“Apparently this show was all Norman’s idea,” Cindy said.
“The new cinematographer?” Mark asked. “How does that work?”
“I guess he pitched the show, the network loved it, but they wanted Martin because he was the better cinematographer.”
Mark whistled. “That’s cause for some resentment right there.”
“Apparently he was filming one of Brent’s shows the day they broke the news to him and he took it hard.”
“Who wouldn’t?” Mark asked, noticing that a muscle in Jeremiah’s jaw was beginning to twitch. “I mean, you have this thing, you think it’s yours, and then someone else takes it away from you.”
The muscle in Jeremiah’s jaw twitched more.
Don’t push him, Mark lectured himself. He shouldn’t have made that last dig. He wasn’t even sure why he had except maybe to get the rabbi’s goat.
Traci glanced sideways at him then changed the subject. “I did get one other thing out of Kyle. Apparently he and Liz went on like one date which was fairly disastrous. She ended up telling him he just wasn’t her type, but that was like two years ago and they’ve still been working together without any problems.”
“Interesting, Liz didn’t mention anything about that to me,” Cindy said.
“Maybe it wasn’t a big deal to her,” Mark suggested.
“Or she was embarrassed to admit she dated your brother and dumped him,” Traci said.
Mark sighed. “So, do you think of our ten suspects there’s anyone we can safely rule out yet?”
There was a moment of silence. Finally Jeremiah spoke up. “My gut tells me we can rule out Zack and Curly. I don’t think either of them had anything to do with it.”
“Okay, let’s move them onto the Probably Not But Don’t Turn Your Back On Them Anyway list,” Mark said. “That leaves us with eight people, seven of whom work for the network. We have to find a way to chop that list down further.”
They heard the ringing of the triangle that signified that dinner was ready. They all stood up just as Kyle jogged over.
“Cind, got a sec?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Go ahead,” she told the others.
In a moment she was alone with her brother. His eye had really turned black from where she had hit him and inwardly she winced.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said. “I shouldn’t have hit you.”
Kyle grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been hit by way angrier, way stronger people than you.”
She smiled back, surprised that he could have such a sense of humor about it. “I didn’t think anyone could get angrier than that.”
“Trust me they can, and with far less provocation. I try to live life every moment to the fullest and sometimes my way of doing things rubs people the wrong way. I don’t know how to be any different, though.”
“So, you’re girlfriend.”
“Lisa,” he said cautiously.
“Lisa. Do you have a picture of her?”
His eyes lit up at that. “I do.” He dug out his phone. “I don’t know why I haven’t just stowed this in my gear. We’re not going to get any reception until we make town,” he said.
“Habit?” she suggested.
“Probably. Battery’s about gone anyway. Here you go,” he said, handing it to her at last.
Cindy stared at the girl with long, dark brown hair and large grey eyes. She was smiling at the camera and she was strikingly beautiful.
“She’s gorgeous,” Cindy said, handing the phone back.
“I think so,” Kyle said, turning the phone off and returning it to his pocket. “I’m still not sure how I got so lucky.”
He sounded completely sincere and it surprised Cindy. She always thought of her brother as the one with the super ego.
“Hopefully I can meet her sometime soon.”
“We’ll be at Mom and Dad’s for Thanksgiving again this year.”
“Not that soon,” Cindy said, forcing a smile.
“Can’t blame a guy for trying. They miss you, you know.”
“Who?”
“Mom and Dad, that’s who.”
Cindy dropped her eyes. “I’m sure as long as you’re there they’re just fine.”
“Look, I know Mom can be a bit...obsessive over my career.”
“Obsessive?” Cindy asked with a bitter laugh. “That’s a bit of an understatement.”
“I just think she’s living vicariously through me or something. I think she wishes she was out there having more adventures.”
Cindy wondered briefly if that could be true.
Kyle sighed. “Look, I don’t want to get all family psycho-analyzy here.”
“Good word.”
“Thanks, made it up just now. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure we were okay.”
She nodded. “We’re good.”
“That’s a relief. Because I heard a rumor you were auctioning off the opportunity to blacken my other eye.”
She laughed, startled. “How did you hear that?”
“I have my sources. Now, let’s go get some food.”
They walked over together. Everyone else was busy eating. Jeremiah looked at her and raised a questioning eyebrow. She flashed him a nod and a smile to let him know that everything was okay, at least for the moment.
There was a big pot of stew on the rough table set up behind the chuck wagon and one remaining bowl for Cindy.
“Hey, Cookie, where’s my food?” Kyle called jovially.
Brent stepped down from the back of the wagon, a bowl in his hand. Cindy took one look at him and stepped forward. He was pasty white and he was sweating profusely.
“Brent, are you okay?” Cindy asked.
“Something’s not right,” the chef gasped. The bowl slipped from his fingers, spilling its contents all over the ground. Then he made a horrific groaning sound, clutched his stomach, and collapsed forward, slamming into her.
9
Cindy’s injured ankle gave way beneath her and she and Brent both tumbled to the ground. She landed hard on her hip and shoulder and the weight of Brent on top of her pushed her onto her back. She writhed in pain as she felt like her ribcage was being crushed and she tried to push him off.
A moment later strong hands were rolling him off her and she scrambled away, hands and feet digging into the earth as she tried to put some distance between herself and the body, because she was almost certain Brent was dead.
“What happened?” she managed to gasp even though she was still in agonizing pain.
No one answered her. No one even looked at her. Everyone was instead crowded around Brent. More people rushed over, blocking her view of Brent and what was going on.
“Brent! Brent! What’s wrong?” she heard Kyle shouting.
“He’s not moving!” she heard Liz exclaim.
“He’s not breathing either,” Mark said, his voice much calmer than the others.
“Where’s the doctor? Somebody get the doctor,” Kyle said. “Roddy, go find Zack!”
A moment later Roddy rushed by her, tripping over her in his haste. He landed sprawled on the ground as Cindy gasped and grabbed at her bad ankle hoping he hadn’t just broken it.
“Roddy, hurry!” Kyle shouted.
Roddy picked himself up with a curse and raced on.
“Everyone move back, give me some room,” Jeremiah said.
Nobody moved.
&nbs
p; “Okay, people, you heard him. Everyone back away!” Mark said, voice raised, authority dripping from every syllable.
Everyone shuffled backward a few steps and through a gap she could now see Brent laying on his back, unmoving. Jeremiah was leaning over him and he was doing continuous chest compressions.
She put a shaking hand over her mouth. Just a few minutes before Brent had been so animated, laughing, smiling at her. Now he was just a body on the ground growing cold, an empty shell.
She heard running footsteps behind her and turned to see Zack racing up to her. He took one look at her and hesitated.
“Are you-”
“Not me, Brent,” she interrupted pointing at the body.
He nodded and pushed his way through the people crowding around. “What happened?”
“He collapsed,” Mark said.
“He has no pulse,” Jeremiah added as he continued with the chest compressions.
“Heart attack?” Zack asked.
“Didn’t look like it to me,” Jeremiah said.
“I thought at first that he had food poisoning. He was sweating heavily, pale, and looked like he was having stomach cramps right before he collapsed,” Mark added.
“What do you think happened?” Kyle asked as Zack began checking Brent over while Jeremiah continued to administer chest compressions.
“Isn’t is obvious?” Cindy burst out before she could stop herself.
All eyes swiveled to her.
“He was poisoned,” she added. “And not just something accidental like food poisoning. He was murdered.”
Cindy’s voice sounded off, that was the first thing that Jeremiah noticed. The second was that she was broadcasting her theory to everyone. Usually she was a lot more circumspect. He’d be willing to bet she was in shock. It was possible that she was also injured from the fall. He’d have to check on her and have the doctor look her over, too, as soon as possible.
He glanced up at Mark who was grimacing, clearly also not happy that she was letting everyone know what she suspected. Traci quickly turned and hurried over to Cindy, clearly making a show of fussing over her.
“Are you okay, Cindy? That was a really bad fall. Did you reinjure your ankle?”
“Yes.”
“That must hurt an awful lot. Did you hit your head? I’ll see if I can find a blanket. I think you’re going into shock.”
“I am not going into shock!” Cindy said, even though it was clear to Jeremiah that she was.
Even Kyle was starting to look more than a little concerned. He took a couple of halting steps toward her. When he spoke his voice was very patronizing, as though he was talking to a child. “Cind, look, I know that this is a terrible, terrible tragedy-”
“Don’t talk to me like that!” she snapped. “You of all people have no right to talk to me like that. You are such an idiot, a blind, stupid idiot. Don’t you know what’s going on here?”
Jeremiah winced as he realized what was coming next. It was like watching a train wreck, complete with that terrible sinking sensation in your stomach and the knowledge that there was nothing you could do to stop it.
“I know that you’re upset. I know that you liked Brent and now...something has happened to him.”
“That’s not it at all,” Cindy ground out.
She struggled to her feet and it was painful to watch. She was nearly up when she almost collapsed and Jeremiah flinched then relaxed as she managed to keep her footing. She stood at last, the toes of her bad ankle barely scraping the ground. She was dirty, disheveled, and weaving back and forth. Her lips were quivering and her eyes were blazing. Yet somehow she had never looked more beautiful to him as she stood there, righteous anger clothing her.
“What’s going on here Kyle is that Martin, Brent, the snake, the breaking saddle strap, none of these things were accidents.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, his face growing pale.
“What I mean is, someone is trying to kill you and you’re too stupid to realize it.”
There was a moment of absolute shocked silence and then pandemonium erupted as everyone started talking at once.
“What are you talking about?” Kyle demanded.
Cindy could barely hear him above all the others who were suddenly shouting and demanding answers.
“These things weren’t accidents. Someone killed Martin, mistaking him for you in the dark. Then they tried to sabotage your saddle, but we had switched horses so I was hurt instead. Now whoever it is has killed Brent.”
“You’re crazy!” Kyle said, coming to stand right next to her and waving his hand to try to get everyone else to be quiet. It did no good, if anything the din just got louder.
“Am I? Which one of us has the experience solving murders? Huh? You? No, that’s right. I think it’s me. Listen to me. I know what I’m talking about. And I’m not the only one that thinks that’s what’s going on. Mark, Traci, and Jeremiah think so, too.”
“I don’t care what they think.”
“You should care. Mark is a homicide detective. You should listen to him if you won’t listen to me.”
“These are accidents, terrible, unfortunate accidents, but that’s it.”
“Why won’t you see the truth?” she demanded, frustration and fear welling inside her.
“You really think someone would go to all these lengths to hurt the show?” he asked.
“No, not the show, you!”
“But, how does Brent getting food poisoning factor into that?”
“Don’t you see? Almost everyone else got a chance to eat dinner while you and I were talking. They’re fine. It can’t be food poisoning or they’d be dropping, too. And, last I checked, even extreme food poisoning bad enough to be fatal would take a lot longer to kill you. This was actual poisoning.”
“But, why would someone want to poison Brent?” he asked, bewilderment on his face.
“They wouldn’t. That’s what I’ve been saying. They weren’t trying to kill him, they were trying to kill you.”
“I don’t see how.”
“Kyle, you were having a different dinner than everyone else. Someone poisoned your dinner. What they didn’t count on was the fact that Brent probably tasted your food before serving it. Isn’t that what chefs do?”
“But how could they poison my food? That would have meant someone had to be there while he was preparing it. Wouldn’t he have seen them?”
“Not if they did it ahead of time,” Mark chimed in.
“But, how?”
That’s when it struck Cindy. “The salt.”
“What?” Kyle asked.
“Your special truffle salt. He refused to use it on anyone’s food but yours. How many other people knew that you ate that salt, that you had to have it?”
Kyle blinked at her. “I-I don’t know,” he said finally. “No one. Everyone. I don’t know.”
“Think, Kyle,” Mark said.
“Everyone knows he eats that bloody salt,” Wayne growled suddenly.
Cindy glanced briefly at him. She’d been working hard to tune the others out, but that came through loud and clear.
“So, anyone could have poisoned the salt and inadvertently killed Brent,” she said.
Zack put his hand on Jeremiah’s shoulder and he turned and looked at the doctor. Zack’s eyes were clouded and he shook his head grimly. “It’s okay. You can stop now. He’s gone.”
Jeremiah looked down at Brent’s body. The entire time he had been continuing to do chest compressions though he had ceased being aware of it. He stopped and then a moment later lifted his hands off the dead man’s chest.
“You did all you could, no one could have done more,” Zack said.
Jeremiah nodded.
The drama was continuing to play out a few feet away, but for the moment he had no wish to wade into the fray. His arm muscles were throbbing from the speed and number of compressions he had done.
He looked down at Brent. The man had been poisoned. He had n
o doubts about that. He just wished Cindy had waited to share her theories until someone other than him said so.
He looked up and met Zack’s eyes.
“He was poisoned,” Zack said, the words half statement, half question as though he already knew the answer but he needed someone else to confirm it for him.
“Yes, I think so,” Jeremiah said quietly.
“I’ve only seen half a dozen real poisoning cases, all but one of them self-inflicted,” Zack said.
“I don’t think he did this to himself,” Jeremiah said.
Zack shook his head. “He was the cook, he was the one with the best access to the food. We should warn the others,” he said, alarm beginning to register on his face.
Jeremiah shook his head. “It can’t be in the stew. Most of us have already eaten that and there have been no ill effects yet.”
“Then what?”
“Something he ate that the rest of us didn’t. It has to be.”
“So, we need to figure out what that is and isolate it fast.”
“He was just carrying Kyle’s meal out from the wagon when he collapsed. It went all over the ground. Kyle wasn’t eating out of the same pot as everyone else. Maybe there was something in that food that was different.”
“So, Cindy’s right, someone is trying to kill her brother?” Zack asked.
Jeremiah nodded. “I’m fairly certain.”
“That’s good enough for me. Let’s go see if we can figure out what poisoned the chef.”
They both stood up. Traci was just returning from the camp area with a blanket. Jeremiah waved at her and she diverted course from Cindy to him.
“Sorry,” he said with a grimace as he took it from her.
She nodded, averting her eyes from the body on the ground.
Jeremiah laid the blanket over Brent. They’d have to deal with him more properly later, after they’d had a chance to sort a few things out.
The remains of Kyle’s stew were on the ground just a couple of feet away. Jeremiah pointed to it and Zack squatted down beside it.
“To tell you the truth, I can’t even begin to figure out what I should be looking for,” the doctor said after a moment.
“It’s something we should collect and quarantine so that it can be analyzed later,” Jeremiah said.