Free Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams Page B

hallucination she was having. Ben jogged over and scooped Babette up, crooning soothingly to her.
    Lulu studiously ignored the episode, which—if discussed at all—would end up with Ben saying that no one really understood Babette.
    Ben struggled to remember the lost thread of their conversation as he absently put Babette’s polka-dotted bow back on. “You said maybe Rebecca was poisoned after she left Aunt Pat’s?”
    “Why not? They have food and drinks at the Peabody, too. Somebody could have gone there and poisoned her food.”
    “Why would she be eating anything if she just polished off a huge plate of barbeque with all the fixings?”
    “I thought you might want to join me in grasping at straws, Ben.” Lulu looked crossly at her son. “Maybe someone spiked her drink there. We do use a lot of salt and paprika in the dry rub—she could have been thirsty and drank a bunch of Drano in her Coca-Cola or something. If you think about it, there are a ton of poisons within our easy reach every day. Cleaners, detergents, yard chemicals, insect killers . . .”
    Ben pushed his plate away. “Okay, I’m done here. Thanks for the hopefully poison-free gingerbread.”
    Lulu wrinkled her nose. “What is that smell?” She twisted in her chair to look behind her. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Ben!”
    Ben was already standing, hustling for the roll of paper towels and some cleaner. “Babette just gets a little excited sometimes, Mother. She can’t help it.”
    “Excited about what? We’re sitting here eating gingerbread!” Lulu watched as the offensive spot on the linoleum was efficiently cleared away. “You know, Ben, seeing that poop has given me an idea.”
    “I may kick myself for asking, but what kind of an idea?”
    “That poop was a sign from above. I’m meant to go clean up this poop we’re facing. I need to shovel right through it until I find out who has put us in this predicament. The sooner we find out, the better.”
    “Mother, I thought you didn’t put any stock in signs.”
    “That was before yesterday, Ben. Lord knows I should never have made it to the restaurant yesterday morning. I should have pulled those covers right back over my head, rolled over, and gone back to sleep.”
     
     
    After reviewing the possibilities, Lulu decided that the first order of business was to talk to Mildred. First of all, she wanted to make sure that she felt comfortable coming back to the restaurant. It was never good for business to lose one of your regulars, no matter the reason. Lulu also wanted to pick her brain a little about Rebecca’s murder.
    But first she had to get there. Ben had had her car towed to a garage yesterday morning, but the repair wasn’t done yet. Lulu winced at the thought, because the length of time a mechanic had her car usually corresponded to the size of the bill she was due to receive.
    Fortunately, Lulu caught a ride with Sara to Mildred’s house. “Want to come in and visit with me?” Lulu asked her.
    Sara made a face. “No thanks. It’ll be too much like a Rebecca Adrian rejection support group. When you’re finished visiting, call me on my cell phone, and I’ll swing back around and take you to Aunt Pat’s. I have a couple of errands to run anyway.”
    And so Lulu found herself alone on Mildred’s front porch. She rang the doorbell. “Ding dong! Ding dong! Hello! Hello!” sang an oddly high-pitched voice from inside the house. It was kind of early, but Mildred’s paperback exchange bookstore opened early, too, and it certainly sounded like someone was awake. Did Mildred have her mother squirreled away in her house? Lulu thought her mom had died ages ago.
    The lacy curtains in the front window pulled aside, and Mildred’s homely face with its thick spectacles peered out. Lulu waved cheerily like she didn’t have a care in the world and had nothing better to do than visit with Mildred on the day following a prominent customer’s murder.
    Mildred smiled tentatively at