“I mean, I’d love that.” My cheeks burned. I’d expected some snickers, but the tent had fallen eerily quiet. The only proof of my faux pas was the full-on wince on Kenzie’s face.
“Great. Kenzie, please schedule a time that works for both Addie and me.”
I didn’t think Kenzie worked for Maxim, too, but Lindsay had said her bestie had a tendency to take on too much. Kenzie nodded.
“My schedule is wide open.” I motioned to the monitor. “Will Diana be joining us today?”
“We extend the invite every meeting. We want her here in spirit. Unfortunately, she hasn’t joined us yet,” Val said with genuine sadness.
I seconded that emotion.
“Can we meet Persephone?” Maxim asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Is that safe? With Chloe in the room?” Kenzie asked.
George frowned, but then he laughed. “Do you still have an issue with cats, girl?”
“What happened between her and cats?” I asked.
“Chloe tried to get friendly with a cat who wasn’t having it. He made a swipe at her nose, and she’s never let any cat live it down.”
“That would’ve been helpful information to have before the network asked us to invite Spy Kitty in the City here,” Val said. “I wouldn’t have put Chloe or Persephone in an awkward position.”
Oh no. The timer had just started ticking for me to repair Chloe’s relationship with the entire feline race.
“You didn’t say that your strategy to save the show hinged on how well a cat would work with my Great Dane.” George laughed again.
“Persephone’s worked with a variety of animals,” I said. “Not only on our cases, but at the shelter. Not all the relationships start smoothly. It’s amazing to be able to know what’s going on between them and help them feel more comfortable with each other.”
“That’s so cool,” Lindsay said.
“Let’s assume that Persephone and Chloe can get past their differences, because I don’t know about you, but I’m anxious to talk about the new season,” Maxim said.
“If we have another season.” Val groaned. “The network is reluctant to schedule us for additional episode locations. They say it’s too much of a liability to invite contestants to compete when the perpetrator is still at large and most likely on set.”
“We’ll have another season,” George said so emphatically Chloe punctuated it with a woof. “It might not look the same as it does now. Viewers are interested in us. The show wasn’t only about Sig and Diana. We have pull too.”
Maxim eyed him. “Before the incident, you were trying to get out of your contract.”
“I was looking to lessen some of my responsibilities so I could concentrate on my businesses. And this girl.” Chloe’s jowls overflowed from George’s grip. Her eyes were full of pure joy.
Maxim snickered. “Right, your food truck empire.”
“Food trucks are hot right now,” George said. “Low overhead, more freedom with the menus, and the customers are definitely more loyal.”
“My customers are loyal. They wait months for a reservation to eat my food,” Maxim countered.
“Boys, we have company.” Val grimaced. “No need to air all our dirty laundry right out of the gate.”
“Would anyone like to meet Persephone?” I asked.
“I’d love to,” George said.
Persephone’s eyes widened when I hooked the leash onto her harness. “Hey! Why do we need that?”
“Because you and Chloe are still getting to know each other,” I said only loud enough for her to hear. “I don’t want any accidents.”
“Is she talking to you?” George asked. Chloe rumbled in response to Persephone’s appearance, and he tightened his grip on her leash.
Okay, that made me feel a little better.
“She hates the leash.”
“How did you find out she could talk to you?”
“She showed up in a cardboard box at my shelter’s doorstep, and she’s been talking to me ever since.” I grinned. I set Persephone on the table, and she wasn’t sure what to do. We’d have to do some exploring without Chloe around until we could change the Dane’s mind about cats in general.
Persephone took a couple of steps forward, sniffing Maxim’s laptop.
Chloe watched her every move. A little woof! slipped out.
“I won’t come too close,” Persephone said.
People moved their coffee cups and let Spy Kitty take a preliminary sniff around the table. She didn’t even look at Val as she passed, stopping in front of Lindsay.
“Can I pet her?” Lindsay asked.
Persephone lay down in front of her, spread out so her white back legs were exposed. “She seems like she’d be into it.”
Either she really liked Lindsay, or she smelled something she wanted more information on. Either way, I was cool with this.
Lindsay managed to find the spot right away, and Persephone rolled onto her side, engulfed in a massive bout of purrs.
Woof!
“Easy. Are you jealous you’re not getting that kind of attention?” George gave Chloe a good scritch right in the middle of her forehead.
“Is this what we can expect from your cat’s services, Addie?” Val asked.
I convinced myself the question wasn’t laced with underwhelm.
“Some of it.” I had to make my request clear now, or I might not get another chance. “I’d love to talk to everyone who took part in the episode that day. Crew, contestants, and judges. That way, Persephone will get a chance to spend time with them, and once we make Chloe more comfortable with her, we’ll be able to put it all together.”
“We’ve already talked to the police, Addie. I’m not sure you’ll be able to find anything they missed.” Val crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Do you know what dish poisoned Sig and Diana?”
Everyone looked around the table, silently daring someone to speak.
“We have an idea, but none of the leftovers tested positive for poison,” Val finally said.
“I thought it was the chow—”
“The police didn’t find anything.” Val cut Lindsay off.
Interesting. “Do you know what poison was used?”
“The police asked us not to discuss—”
“Oleander.” Now it was Maxim’s turn to cut Val off. “Whoever did this poisoned my colleagues with some old-time flower poison and managed a way to have it undetected in the remaining food. Doesn’t seem like something a novice could pull off.”
“We don’t know that.” Val glared at Maxim. She’d lost control of the meeting. She sighed and turned to me. “The police have reached a dead end. Both Sig and Diana tested positive for having traces of oleander in their systems. We also had George and Maxim tested, as a precaution, and their specimens came back negative.”
“What about fingerprints? Any other evidence?”
“We always wipe the dishes with a towel for presentation purposes,” Lindsay said. “They do it in restaurants to make sure you get an appetizing-looking plate. We do it for camera, to make sure there are no fingerprints visible to the viewers.”
Silence fell over the room as a chill went down my spine. Whoever poisoned Sig and Diana probably knew that any evidence of their crime would get wiped away before the first symptom hit.
The culprit had restaurant experience.
“Thanks to all of you for sharing so much information with me. Before this morning, I’ve had a chance to talk to Val, Kenzie, and Lindsay. One thing they all stressed was how Parking Lot Potluck is like a family. But I knew that—it’s why I like watching the show so much. So I know how hard it is to think someone would hurt one of you intentionally. Was anything else out of the ordinary on this episode?”
Val and one of the crew guys looked at each other.
“We have to work with Addie. She wants to help us,” Lindsay added.
“We had a bunch of unfamiliar crew,” the man said. “We never had a problem when our regular guys were here.”
“We can’t bring the entire crew to major cities. The network knows there are talented people who can work locally here. Of course, now they’re all staying in a hotel indefinitely.”
My mind immediately went to Nick and his wife Marci. “Are they being paid to stay there?”
“They are, but not full rate,” Val said. “But every day this investigation drags on is less money we have to continue Parking Lot Potluck.”