Piper cradled her mug, hoping that whoever had arrived didn’t want anything from her. She had no energy to go rescue a tramper or tourist lost on the mountains today.

“That’s bullshit, Chief Blake!”

Jack stormed back into the room with the local police chief minutes later. Both men’s faces were grim.

“I have to do this, Jack. Mary Howard was seriously ill.”

“What’s going on?” Piper got out of her chair because she had a feeling something very bad was about to go down.

“Mary Howard was poisoned, Piper. Rat poison, to be precise.”

“And why does this concern us, Chief Blake?”

Jack shook his head slightly, as if to tell her to be quiet, and Piper’s unease climbed. Whoever was going after Dylan could have tried to kill his mother. Rat poison did terrible things to people, and the right dose could cause a heart to stop beating.

“I don’t feel good about this, but the tests have come back implicating Phil’s Place as somewhere that could have poisoned her,” Chief Blake said. “They found rat poison in her blood.”

“What?”

Jack winced at her shriek.

“Mary Howard told me she ate two donuts and they were purchased from Phil’s Place. After that she started to get sick. The poison in each was not enough to kill her, but it made her extremely unwell. Had she eaten the entire dozen maybe we’d have buried her by now. The remainder were still in the cupboard where she hides her treats. Those were the ones tested. Each had a small dose of poison.

“I just came from questioning Rona, who was working with you that day. She said you made those donuts.”

“Now you wait one damn minute there, Chief Blake. There is no way that woman would ever have an invite to sit at our table, but no one in this family, Pip included, would poison her, and I sure as hell hope you know that.” Piper’s mom came to her side, hands braced on her hips.

The chief looked grim

“Hell, Jess, I thought I knew that, but the evidence is there. And Piper has made no secret of the fact she’s not taken with Mary Howard, what with all this bad blood between you all and her. Maybe she just wanted to pay her back a little? Plus, there’s that thing she’s got with Dylan, and there’s no doubting his mother is not happy about it.”

Piper’s stomach rolled, knowing that if Mary Howard had proof it was Piper who poisoned her, she’d go after her with everything she had.

“I didn’t do it, Chief Blake. How could I? Surely if I put it in the batch I was making, there would be more sick people.”

“You made a special batch for her with the poison in it, and Ava took it home with her that day after her shift.”