Page 70 of Murder Most Haunted

In that moment, all hell broke loose. Everyone was standing and shouting and at one point Harold threw some of Noah’s cookies on to the ground and began stamping on them like a wild man, until Midge pointed out that they weren’t poisonous snakes that needed to be killed.

‘It wasn’t me!’ Noah kept insisting, tearing up at the sight of his decimated baking, ground into the rug.

Midge was by Bridie’s side. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked.

Bridie was leaning back against her chair, red in the face from coughing. When she was finally able to speak, she waved Midge’s concern away. ‘I’m fine, I think . . . all the excitement aggravated the cough.’ She paused for a moment, thinking. ‘Has everyone eaten the cookies?’

‘There’s nothing wrong with the bloody cookies!’ shouted Noah.

Midge and Harold raised their hands.

‘And you’re all OK?’

Midge thought about it. Her heart was racing slightly faster than normal, but that was only to be expected.

‘Wouldn’t we be feeling the effects by now?’ said Harold.

‘That depends,’ said Rona. ‘It’s one of those poisons that the levels can build up and then suddenly, one small dose on top could prove to be the lethal one.’

‘The killer would have to anticipate an awful lot of cookie-eating for that to happen,’ said Midge.

‘Well, Noah has certainly baked enough,’ said Rona, pointedly.

‘For God’s sake, look, I’ll bloody eat one,’ he said, grabbing at the nearest cookie.

‘Wait a moment – you could be deliberately picking the only one without poison in,’ said Harold. ‘We’re not a bunch of amateurs, you know.’

‘Right,’ shouted Noah. ‘You choose.’

Harold locked his eyes on Noah and picked one of the cookies that hadn’t fallen on to the carpet. ‘Here you go.’

Everyone watched as Noah polished off the cookie in three bites, opening his mouth to show that it had all been swallowed. Midge was surprised at the amount of fillings he had for someone so meticulous.

‘Could have taken an antidote, of course,’ said Harold.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Noah. ‘Where would I get my hands on arsenic, let alone an antidote?’

‘It’s far more common than you think,’ shrugged Rona. ‘In medicines, household cleaning items, even in those mines out there.’

Midge stared at Noah, who was showing a distinct lack of poisoning symptoms. He was the one who had been adamant all weekend that he wanted to see the experience through to the end. And he certainly had motive enough to recreate the ghost story. But still, something else felt out of place.

‘You said that someone could have been administered arsenic over a period of time, and then it could just take one small dose to kill them?’

Rona nodded.

‘Small like a pill?’ said Midge, a slow feeling of dread inside her. ‘Perhaps a pill that they think is a sleeping pill?’

They all stared at her.

‘Oh my God,’ said Rona, her face white. ‘Gloria!’