Free Malibu Mayhem Trilogy 02: Mystery At Malachite Mansion by Carolyn Keene

what happened?”
    Austin gagged. He stood up and ran out of the dining room to find a bathroom.
    “Quick, Wayne,” Bev shouted to the cameraman. “Get a close shot of the chef’s face.”
    I stared at the platters of half-eaten seafood. The Blue Greenies had just admitted they despised Chef André Walters. Had that been their mission? To poison the party?

 

POISED FOR POISON
     
    S tacey was livid. “André,” she fumed, “did you experiment with some new recipes?”
    “Excuse me,” Chef Walters said, narrowing his eyes. “Are you saying the bad food was my doing?”
    “Don’t put words in my mouth, André,” Stacey said. “I only suggested that maybe—”
    “Maybe you should get yourself a new chef for your party,” André snapped. “Or order takeout.”
    The chef headed for the door.
    “André, you can’t quit days before the party,” Stacey cried.
    “Watch me!” he screamed.
    Stacey’s shoulders drooped as the chef marched out of the dining room. When she realized she was being filmed, she glared at Bev and shouted, “Okay, show’s over. Get that camera out of our faces—now!”
    I was happy to see the camera crew dart out of the dining room, but the feeling didn’t last. We had a serious situation on our hands.
    “My party—and my career—are imploding before my eyes,” Stacey moaned. “When word gets out what’s happening to this event, I’ll never eat lunch in this town again.”
    “Do you have to mention
eat
?” Mallory groaned.
    “Olgaaaaa!” Stacey shouted.
    But Olga had been standing in the dining room all that time. She startled Stacey as she appeared right behind her.
    “Olga, make the Casabian sisters some herbal tea,” Stacey ordered. “I’ll call my doctor and ask him what we should do.”
    “Sure,” Olga murmured.
    The housekeeper walked past, tossing her hair away from her face. How weird: This time her crooked nose looked
straight
again.
    Quit it, Nancy
, I thought.
There are more important things to focus on than Olga’s nose
.
    Like the tainted food.
    “I hope the food wasn’t poisoned,” I whispered to Bess and George. “If it was, I have a pretty good idea who pulled it off.”
    “Blue Greenies,” George answered. “Now do you believe those nuts are guilty as charged?”
    “I suppose,” I said. “Though I can’t figure out how they could have gotten to the chef’s food to poison it. One of his assistants in the kitchen would have seen them, for sure.”
    “They must have found some way,” George said. “Guys, I really think it’s time we talked to Stacey about everything we know.”
    The event planner was frantically texting as we walked over.
    “Stacey, we think we know who tampered with the seafood,” George said.
    “You should also know what happened here in the middle of the night,” Bess said. “Somebody—”
    “Talk to me later,” Stacey said. “I’m in crisis mode. I’ve got to find another performer
and
a chef.” She hurried out of the dining room.
    “We’ll just have to try again later, when she’s calmer,” Bess said.
    “Don’t you mean
if
she’s ever calmer?” I joked.
    For the next hour or so the three of us sat withMandy, Mallory, and Mia as they sipped their tea. Austin’s mom had already come to pick him up and take him to the doctor.
    “I think I feel better now,” Mallory said.
    “Me too,” Mia said. “That doctor Stacey called was right. It was probably a case of food poisoning.”
    “Literally,” George added.
    We suddenly heard Stacey’s voice calling us from outside.
    “Now what?” I said as we left the dining room.
    When I looked outside, I gasped. Towering over Stacey in the driveway was a ginormous red creature—an inflated crab with huge claws and a sign around its neck that read LOVE ME, DON’T EAT ME!
    “We’re not even serving crab,” Stacey cried. “Is the world going bonkers or what?”
    We stared at the sign, written in bright blue letters. Hadn’t we just seen another