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“Have you seen this?” he asked Lily as he waved it around. “Didn’t I tell you someone is sabotaging me? I came to see you earlier, but you weren’t at your shop.”
“I’ve been out most of the day,” she told him, homing in on the phone screen, only to find it had gone to the screensaver.
“Good. You’re working on the case then? Do you know who’s poisoning people?”
“No. What’s on the phone?”
“It’s all over social media,” he said. “People wrote posts about the lovely welcome baskets they got.” He clicked on a post and brought up a photo. “And then someone posted that they got ill after they drank tea from their basket. Now more people are ill. It’s just like here in the restaurant.”
“It definitely doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”
“What have you found out so far?” he demanded.
“Not much.” She didn’t like to admit that she’d only just begun to take his complaint seriously. “What I would like to know is who wrote the bad review for the restaurant. The one that mentioned foreigners taking the jobs on the island.”
“I’d like to know too,” Dante said determinedly. “That’s why I hired you.”
“You didn’t actually hire me,” Lily murmured. “Never mind. I think there must be a link between the reviewer and the person who sent the baskets. It seems logical, anyway, since the baskets were only sent to newcomers on the island.”
“How can we find out who it is?” Dante stared at her as though she had all the answers.
“Is it possible you remember who was in the restaurant the evening you got the review? Or around that time. Do you have a reservation list?”
“Yes.” He beckoned her into the kitchen and opened a hefty book on the table. “This is the reservation book, but if someone just came on the evening I won’t have a record of it.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “I already thought about it, but they were all very nice people, so I thought it might have been someone else who’d been in on a different day. Maybe they didn’t write the review straight away.”
“That’s a possibility.” Lily leaned to look at the relevant page in the reservation book, but struggled to read the handwriting.
“This is a teacher at the school,” Dante said, jabbing the book. “Came with her husband. Very nice couple. Can’t be anything to do with them.”
“You can’t rule people out just because they’re nice.”
“Fine,” he said. “Maybe it’s them, but I don’t believe it.” He pressed his finger onto the next name. “Zac Wheeler. He’s a fisherman. Supplies me lovely fresh fish. Great guy.”
“He definitely has the means of sabotaging you, doesn’t he?”
“With his fish? No way. They’re fresh and beautiful, and I already told you he’s a great guy.”
“It would be helpful if you could keep an open mind.”
He shook his head and trailed his finger down a line. “Mr Pengelly. Also, a great guy. Brought his staff in for dinner.”
“Wait, that’s Gordon from the garden centre?”
“Yes. Now don’t start accusing him. He’s been helping me get set up. No way he’d try to harm my business.”
“But I got ill after I drank a smoothie from the garden centre,” Lily said animatedly. “Who was he with when he came for dinner?”
“I told you – his staff.”
“Who is that?”
“Gordon and his daughter. She’s very sweet.”
Lily nodded. “I’ve met Sally.”
“Then there’s the rough-looking guy. A workman or gardener, a bit younger than me. Maybe fifty or so.”
“Denzel?”