Page 23 of Scripted for Love and Poison (Sol and Luke Mystery #2)

“ W here did you leave Sol?” Divya asked Luke the following morning as he dropped by her hotel so the two of them could talk about the case.

“She dropped me off and headed to some Pilates class, if she’s to be believed,” he explained.

“Ouch! LA is not proving you well. You sound grumpy. You’re never grumpy,” Divya told him.

“Try being away from home without an end in sight, and then we can talk about grumpiness. Let’s not make this about me, though. We need to talk about the investigation.”

“Mind if we do it while we walk?”

“There’s no walking here,” Luke said, only slightly exasperated. The sooner Divya understood certain things about Los Angeles, the better.

“Don’t be daft, mate. You just need to know where to go. Sol sent me a ton of recommendations about the area last night.” Divya checked the maps app on her cell phone. “We’re very close to Playa del Rey.”

“Not another beach!” he protested .

“Since when do you have an objection against beaches?”

“Since now?”

“Ah, it’s an objection against California beaches then,” Divya pressed.

“Why is everyone so insistent on me enjoying my stay here? This is a work trip!”

“I was going to tease you, saying that it started as a pleasure trip, but I feel that would be rubbing salt in the wound,” Divya said while she navigated them toward the ocean.

“Very much so.”

No pleasure had, whatsoever.

“So let me tell you my theory about the case after I had a look at all your notes and updates.”

“Please tell me you’ve cracked it,” Luke pleaded. “The sooner we wrap this up, the sooner we get paid and go back home.”

“I haven’t really cracked it, and you’re not going to be happy,” Divya said.

“Why would I not be happy?” He turned toward her and, as he did, a couple of shirtless men came running in their direction. Luke rolled his eyes. Even runners looked like wannabe actors there. And, of course, they ran by the beach while sunbathing in January!

“You’re not going to be happy because I don’t think the incidents with the three critics are related. This is not one single case like we were hoping.”

“You’ve got to be joking.” Luke pinched his nose in exasperation.

“I wish I was.”

“So we need to solve three cases now?”

“I don’t know. I think so, though. Two at the least.”

“It’s too much of a coincidence—three journalists writing or editing reviews, one of them disappears, one of them is poisoned, the other dies.

And all of the incidents happened at almost the same time.

You know I don’t believe in coincidences,” Luke said and then reconsidered. “ We don’t believe in coincidences.”

“That’s exactly why, if you have any other theory, I think we should pursue that one first.”

“I think the director did it.”

“That would be . . . ?”

“Victor Lago, the director of Haughty Horizons ,” Luke explained. “Simon Smith writes a terrible review about his film, the work he’s been devoted to for more than ten years. A movie that’s been ruined forever because of that review. People won’t watch it, and it won’t get any awards recognition.”

“Isn’t it a bit extreme? To kill because of a bad review?”

“You haven’t been in this city enough, but these people are crazy about their work,” Luke explained. “So Lago gets rid of Simon, but he’s still not happy. He decides to go against Simon’s editor as well, the person who enabled Simon to publish his rubbish review.”

“That’s the Jason chap?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t Sol talk to him and wasn’t he very ashamed of Simon’s review?”

“Yes, but Lago didn’t know that. So he tried to poison him at the party, only the waiter got high and confused and handed Jason’s plate to Travis. Fortunately, because of Travis’s nut allergy he didn’t trust the food much anyway, and he didn’t ingest enough poison, and he’s still alive.”

“So Lago almost gets the wrong person killed once, but he’s cold-blooded enough to try and get Jason killed a second time? ”

“Yes, he’s avenging his masterpiece. And I do think my theory holds to that point,” Luke said.

“But here’s where it has a few holes and where I could use your insight.

How did Lago do it? How did he dispose of Simon Smith, and why did he get rid of him?

Why did he switch to poison after that? I think getting the cyanide in the food at the party should have been easy enough, but how did he manage to poison Jason at his home? ”

“Not sure how he got rid of Simon Smith, but he probably realized making someone disappear isn’t easy. So he could have switched to an easier method, like poisoning, for his second attempt,” Divya said, even if she didn’t sound completely convinced about her working theory.

“I guess that could make sense. I mean, we still need to find Simon Smith ...”

“Pesky little detail. But I think I know how Jason was poisoned.”

Luke looked visibly puzzled. He knew his professional partner was good. She was the best. But even she couldn’t magically figure out cases. She’d barely landed. She didn’t even know the whole cast of suspects and persons of interest, and she already knew how the killer had managed to get to Jason?

“Yes, I do,” Divya said, as if answering Luke’s skeptical thoughts. “And you would, too, if you weren’t such an idiot, and instead of being all touchy and offended, you’d taken the time to talk to Sol about her visit to Jason.”

“I talked to her about it plenty!” he protested.

“No, you didn’t. You were mad and felt insecure because she hadn’t told you she was going to see Jason Zit. Guess what? You kept telling her to stay away from the case, so she decided not to tell you that she was tired of being told what to do! ”

“I didn’t tell her what to do!” Luke said.

“Yes, you did, Mr. Flawed Feminist. But not happy with that, you then went and never bothered asking her about the visit to Jason’s house as you would have done with a regular person involved in the case.”

“She’s not involved in the case!”

“Stop grinding your teeth! Your blood pressure must be through the roof. I don’t care if you like it or not, she is involved,” Divya told him in a serious tone that took no exceptions.

“The last time she was involved in one of your cases, you missed clues, ignored common-sense rules, and lost your job. Can you at least try and keep your cool this time? We’re in LA, mate.

This might be the capital of mindfulness and tree-hugger vibes.

Let’s hope some of that rubs off on us, eh? ”

“Tell me what Sol told you about her visit to Jason Zit’s place, then.”

“Only if you promise to bloody calm down,” Divya said.

“Fine, I swear I’ll bloody calm down, alright?” Luke conceded. “What did Sol tell you?”

“That a box of chocolates with Jason’s name on it had just been delivered when she was there the day he died.

She saw it on her way out. My guess? Jason Zit had a sweet tooth, saw the chocolates, and couldn’t help himself—probably scoffed a couple of them before heading out of the house and smashing his car outside a bloody cinema, of all places.

Victor Lago could have easily sent those chocolates, lacing them with a fatal amount of cyanide. ”

“Why didn’t she tell the police about the chocolates? Why didn’t she tell me ?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know, mate. Did either the police or you bother to ask?”