“So your cafe is in good hands. Although we mustn’t be too long. Mick’s doing an early morning shift, but then he wanted to visit a garden. You wouldn’t think that’s his thing by looking at him,” Aunt Beanie commented.
“I suppose it’s being in prison for so long,” Keya reflected. “He appreciates nature. I know he wants to travel when he’s saved up some money. Talking of which, Dotty, everyone keeps telling me I should take a holiday. I don’t want to go anywhere too exotic, but would you be interested in a short break, somewhere in the UK?”
“Oh, my course has a break at the end of June, and I’m thinking of accepting a commission to provide some antiques for a hotel in the Lake District. Do you want to join me when I go to visit the hotel?”
“What about the outdoor cinema event?” Gilly asked, in an uptight tone.
“When’s that?” Dotty asked.
“The 6th July.”
“That’s OK. I’ll probably visit next weekend to confirm the job and look round. Then I can come back and start sourcing what I need, and we can go back up after the cinema event. What do you think, Keya?”
“I’m not sure. As long as I can sort out the cafe …”
“Don’t worry about that,” Aunt Beanie instructed. “We’ll make sure it’s all covered. And you will need a break. And I don’t think you should be doing too much when you’re discharged from here, even for the events we already have planned.” She gave Keya a knowing look and Keya presumed she meant Gilly’s party. “Who knows what internal damage the poison did?”
“That’s why I’m still stuck in here,” Keya groaned. But actually, she was now looking forward to a relaxing Sunday reading magazines and watching the TV programmes Maitri had downloaded for her. And if lunch was as bad as the previous day, she could always graze on Maitri’s snacks.
“Time to go,” Aunt Beanie announced.
Dotty placed a box of chocolates on the bedside table and a cookery book. “I’m not sure if you can read this, but you might like the pictures.”
“I’m not a child. Oh, I see. You mean because it’s too heavy to hold up to read. Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you,” apologised Keya. “And thank you. It does look interesting. Is it one on baking?”
“Yes.”
Gilly put a tin of biscuits on the table, and Aunt Beanie added some packets of fruit and nuts and some cartons of fruit juice. Keya realised she’d have to be careful she didn’t put on weight, but at least these treats would be a welcome addition to the hospital food.
She said goodbye to her friends and settled down to read Dotty’s cookbook.
The hot drinks trolley came, and she was enjoying one of Gilly’s biscuits with a cup of tea and a recipe about coconut crunch bars when Sujin appeared.
He strode across the room to her bed, grinning. “I think I’ve found what poisoned you.”
“Really?” she replied, offering him a biscuit. “It wasn’t the cafe coleslaw, was it?”
“No, it was Daisy’s mum’s hot sauce.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Keya stared at Sujin. Finally, she gasped, “But I hardly had any.”
“You didn’t need to. The hot sauce was full of Clostridium botulinum bacteria. And as I told you, the toxin they produce is tasteless and odourless.”
Keya’s thoughts raced in one direction.
“Daisy.”
“That was my immediate thought, too,” Sujin agreed. “I’ve asked the lab to test for the Clostridium botulinum bacteria but, as they’re being so slow at the moment, and it’s a Sunday, I took the sample of Daisy’s blood that I had to the lab at Cirencester Hospital, in person. I’ve asked them to run a test and see if the bacterium in the sample matches yours.”
“And if it doesn’t? And there are no bacteria?”
“It’ll only have cost me a few pints of beer and a couple of tickets to one of our music evenings.”
Keya looked at Sujin and noticed the circles under his eyes. Reaching out, she touched his arm and said in a gentle voice, “Thank you for helping me.”
Sujin gulped. “I thought I was going to lose you before we’ve even got to know each other. The other evening, sitting by the stream, it was so easy to relax with you. And I can talk about my work, and the band, and a myriad of other subjects, and you seem interested in all of them.”
“Of course I’m interested. You know so much. I’m fascinated.”
“Is that all? You are fascinated?”
“Intrigued, full of awe. Shall I go on?” Keya joked.
“No, and speaking of awe, I’m so impressed with how well you’re coping with your poisoning, and being here in hospital.”
“I’m not that good a patient, but at least I can throw my energy into my physio sessions. And look, my right arm is nearly back to normal.” She raised her arm and touched his chest.
He didn’t ask about her left arm, and she didn’t mention it. One arm at a time.
She felt his phone vibrate.
“I better take the call out of the ward,” Sujin said reluctantly.
Keya watched his retreating back.
