Lip Service by Susan Mallery

Author:Susan Mallery [Mallery, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780373773725
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2009-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

SKYE KNEW something was wrong. She couldn’t figure out what it was, exactly. The guests were still talking, but the overall noise level wasn’t right. There was a slight hush she couldn’t explain.

There was plenty of food. She saw the servers circulating and the guests eating. They hadn’t run out of liquor. From what she could hear, Jed hadn’t said anything that had offended twenty or thirty people. So what was it?She was about to tell herself she was imagining things, when one of the servers hurried up to her.

“There’s a problem,” the woman said. “A couple of people are sick. It came on really fast. I hate to think it’s the food, but maybe it is.”

Skye’s body tensed. “Where are the guests who aren’t feeling well?”

“In both downstairs’ bathrooms.”

She hurried in that direction, only to have a local banker go rushing past, his hand covering his mouth. She heard a gagging sound and saw a well-dressed woman suddenly vomit.

Horror rushed through her. What was going on? Had the caterer brought something tainted? Was it food poisoning? Didn’t that usually take—

She turned toward the kitchen and saw Garth standing by the bar. He raised his glass toward her. All around her people started rushing for the door.

She walked to Garth. “What the hell did you do?”

He smiled. “Something seems to be wrong with your party. It can’t be the food, can it?”

“You poisoned my guests?”

“Poison is a strong word. It’s more of a prank. But you might want to call nine-one-one just in case.”

“Bastard.”

He took another sip of his drink. “Yes, but you already knew that.”

Two hours later everyone had left. Whatever had caused the sickness faded as quickly as it started. The paramedics took a few older people to the hospital to be checked out.

“This is going to ruin me,” Mary, the caterer, said. “I don’t know what happened. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

Skye didn’t know what to say to reassure her. The truth was Mary hadn’t done anything wrong.

“If you need a reference,” Skye began.

Mary wiped away tears. “Like that will help,” she whispered, then walked away.

A few minutes later Dana arrived.

“I got your message,” her friend said. “What happened?”

Skye told her about people getting sick and what Garth had said. “One of the paramedics said there were only a few things that could cause instant vomiting.”

Dana shook her head. “Are you sure it’s Garth?”

“I know it’s Garth. He practically told me he did it. But when I explained that to the police, they wouldn’t listen. Why would a guy like that do something like this?” Skye was beyond frustrated. “At least that’s their reasoning. Oh, they’ll do an investigation, but they’re assuming it’s somebody’s kid playing a stupid game. Maybe a fraternity initiation. Garth is too smart to get caught. I’m sure he’s covered up his involvement. Jed’s no help. He disappeared at the first sign of trouble.”

“Can I make you feel better by saying you’ve never loved throwing Jed’s parties. Maybe now you won’t have to.

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