Free Ladle to the Grave (A Soup Lover's Mystery Book 4) by Connie Archer

but obviously the glue hadn’t held. She carried the wineglasses back to the kitchen and dug the wood glue out of the drawer.
    So annoying
, she thought.
Why won’t this leg stay in place?
She turned the table over and squirted glue into the wood slot, maneuvering the table leg back into place. As she got to her feet, she heard a shout from the street below. She rushed out of the apartment and peeked out to the street from the hallway window. Sophie was standing at the bottom of the outside stairway. Sage was crossing the street, heading back toward Sophie.
    Lucky opened the window and leaned out. “What’s going on?” she called down to them.
    Sage shook his head and shrugged. Sophie turned and looked up at the window.
    “Hang on.” Lucky slammed the window shut and ran down the stairs. She pulled open the front door. “Was that you I heard?” she asked Sage.
    He nodded. “There was a guy lurking on the other side of the street. Something about him . . . He was definitely watching us. I told Sophie to wait and I turned back to walk over to him. As soon as I did, he took off.”
    “Strange.”
    “I saw him too,” Sophie said.
    “Did you get a good look at him?” Lucky asked.
    “Nah,” Sage replied. “And he’s gone now. Go back inside, Lucky. Make sure that front door’s locked, okay?”
    “I will.” She waved good night and climbed the stairs to her building, glancing around at the street. She usually never worried about her personal safety. Snowflake was such a quiet village where everyone knew one another. Everyday crime was almost unheard of here. Granted, there had been murders in the past, but there had been reasons for those. She shuddered as she climbed the stairs, remembering that two people had died under suspicious circumstances within the past two days.

Chapter 12

    N ATE PULLED THE cruiser to the side of the road and turned to Jack. “Is this where you were?” They had driven about half a mile from town along the Old Colonial Road.
    “This is it.” Jack nodded. “There’s a path down to the pond from here. Near the water is a good place to find certain plants.”
    A newer-model sedan pulled up behind them. A botanist from the University, Professor Lois Hightower, had followed Nate’s cruiser in her own car. She climbed out and waited for the two men. Jack nodded to her and started down the path. Nate and the Professor followed him.
    The day had grown quite warm, and the first sweet fragrances of summer filled the air. Bees swarmed over flowering bushes and insects flitted in the air. The woods felt as if everything had come alive. When they reached the pond, Jack turned and followed a well-worn path to a shady area. “Here we are,” he said, pointing to a hearty clump of sweet woodruff. “I picked those leaves right here, Professor.”
    “Please, call me Lois.” She smiled and knelt down. “Well, this is definitely our sweet woodruff,
Galium odoratum
. I’m sure you know, Jack, that it’s an herbaceous perennial.” She picked a small leaf and held it to her nose. “If this was all you picked, then I can’t see how this could have caused a problem for anyone.” She stood and surveyed the area, then walked in a circle around the tree, studying the ground and nearby vegetation.
    “You see anything interesting?” Nate asked.
    Professor Hightower looked up and smiled. She was a tall blonde with a ruddy complexion that betrayed the time she spent outdoors. “I’m just checking the area. There are lots of everyday plants that are terribly poisonous, even some houseplants. People die or become sick every year because they pick the wrong kind of leaf or the wrong type of berry, particularly children who like to put anything they find in their mouths. Sometimes it’s all parts of the plant that are poisonous and sometimes just the leaves or seeds. Even everyday foods can cause harm—uncooked potatoes, things like that.”
    Nate nodded in agreement.
    The Professor continued.