The Diva Cooks a Goose by Krista Davis

Author:Krista Davis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2010-12-07T06:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

From “THE GOOD LIFE ONLINE” :

SOPHIE’S TIP

Don’t forget to remove batteries from animated decorations, candles, and Christmas toys before storing them. Batteries can corrode, damaging the items permanently.

Laci’s eyes sprang wide. “Impossible!”

George nodded. “I’m willing to bet we all do. It seems that if you combine ammonia, which most people have for window washing, with bleach, it makes an unbelievably deadly chlorine gas. People innocently make it at home all the time, thinking they’re getting a better and stronger cleaning agent.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “How could the gas be contained in the box? Wouldn’t it have leeched out?”

“The two ingredients were in separate plastic bags in the lined movement compartment. The cops are saying when Bonnie wound it up to play its song, the winding action broke the bags, the ammonia and bleach combined and wafted out. If Bonnie had been farther away from the box, she might have survived, but she probably held it on her lap and inhaled it before she realized what was happening.”

“I thought I smelled chlorine in her house, but chalked it up to Bonnie being a cleaning fiend,” I said.

George raised his eyebrows. “It’s a good thing you broke that big window so fresh air could blow into the house.”

No wonder Kenner called it devious. What kind of person would do anything so heinous? As we bit into an assortment of Bernie’s fabulous oversized sandwiches, I tuned out the conversation and entertained serious doubts about my judgment. I’d thought Bonnie was lovely, but she’d pulled a fast one on Phil with that engagement business. Beau had said Bonnie thought Shawna and her family were beneath them. Had she tried to break them up? Had she stolen Beau’s engagement ring and ruined his proposal by making her own announcement of an engagement? What a contrast to the thoughtful, caring person who came up with the Auld Lang Syne Auction. Had I misjudged Shawna, too? The police had to be wrong. I didn’t know her all that well, but I never would have expected her to be capable of such a clever murder. The killer didn’t need to be at the scene of the crime, and the murder weapon—the gas—would have dissipated into thin air before the police arrived.

I bit into my veggie-surprise sandwich. Creamy avocado contrasted with the fresh crispness of julienned cucumber. Red delicious apples and an occasional spark of lingonberry provided the surprise.

Meanwhile, Laci’s family speculated about the poison gas and Shawna. I forced myself to pay attention.

“Then someone has to talk with Shawna,” said Mom. “Someone she would confide in.” I couldn’t help noticing that Mom stared at Laci when she said that.

There was one other person at our table who’d been very quiet. Zack chewed on an onion ring and listened attentively. “I don’t know Shawna. Could she be protecting someone? Who would she be willing to go to jail for?”

He’d honed in on the right question.

“Do you think they’d let me talk to her this afternoon?” Laci asked George.

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