“Did you try the fettuccine?”
“Fettuccine? I never saw any and believe me, I was on the lookout ‘cuz I love it.”
Carlita’s brows knitted. “You never saw the dish?”
“Nope.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You need me to hang around and help clean up?”
“I appreciate the offer, but we have enough volunteers.” After he left, Carlita tracked down Steve Winter and his girlfriend, Paisley. Similar to what Shrimpy had said, they didn’t recallseeing a dish of fettuccine, which made sense. From what she had observed and discovered, it had barely been touched.
The last guest departed, leaving Pete, who arrived not long after the party started, the guests of honor, Mercedes, Elvira, Tony, Shelby and the kids, to help clean up. Working together they had Ravello’s shipshape in no time.
“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.” Elvira dashed out the front door, returning a short time later. “I talked to Sonny. He’s at the hospital and starting to feel better. They’re pumping him full of electrolytes.”
“Thank God.” Carlita briefly closed her eyes. “We needed some good news.”
“The doctor is keeping him overnight for observation. I might swing by and say ‘hi’ to him later.”
Dernice nudged her sister, giving her googly eyes. “Sure you are.”
Elvira punched her in the arm. “Stop. I’m doing this for Carlita.”
“You’re visiting him for me?” She arched her eyebrow.
“To avoid a potential l-a-w-s-u-i-t.”
“Good point. Although we don’t know for sure it was something he ate here.”
Elvira lifted her finger. “Sonny plus Yvonne? It’s too much of a coincidence if you ask me. At the very least, I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks you to pay his out-of-pocket medical expenses.”
“If my food is responsible, I’ll pay for his care.” Carlita thought about the uneaten fettuccine. “I am concerned about the fettuccine.” She shared her suspicions with the others.
“You think someone intentionally poisoned Sonny and Yvonne?” Dernice started to say something and stopped.
“What is it?” Mercedes asked.
“Remember when I told you about Creed’s accident and him arguing with another biker?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure if I mentioned who it was. It was Sonny’s brother, Rocky.”
“Who wasn’t here,” Luigi added.
“I think you mentioned it, although it didn’t register. Sonny’s brother, Rocky, was the person Creed accused of causing his accident?” Carlita asked.
“Correct,” Dernice said. “Rocky Skidz. Rocky and Sonny claim it was Creed who caused his own crash, calling him reckless. It was a big mess.”
“Huge,” Luigi said. “The cops showed up and everything.”
“Was anyone arrested?” Pete asked.
“Nope. No one wanted to press charges.”
“Do you think Creed was angry enough to poison Sonny?”.
“Creed was ticked, I’ll give you that. I mean, he could’ve died,” Dernice said.
“If these guys are out to get each other, I hope they do it somewhere else,” Carlita said. “And if they intentionally contaminated my pasta, they injured an innocent person.”
