“Ladies first.” I sipped my coffee and pretended to be patient.
Serenity slipped off her gloves. “I can hardly justify eating one of these beauties with my gloves on.”
I lifted a zeppole. “Creamy goodness and—”
Out of nowhere, Serenity’s hand struck like a snake and smashed the pastry out of my hand. It flew to the floor. The China plate shattered into pieces.
She grabbed Julia’s wrist and shouted. “Don’t touch that.”
“What’s going on?!” Shock rose in my chest. “Why did you do that!”
Visibly shaking, Serenity closed her eyes and took a breath for control. “I had a terrible vision. There’s something wrong with the pastries. They’re not safe.”
As realization dawned, I glanced at the box, then at the mess on the floor. Julia had picked up the pastries only an hour ago. “We need to bag everything. Julia, get the kitchen gloves from under the sink. Put them on. Don’t touch anything until you do. Put everything into a trash bag. Double bag it. Next, call Dino. Tell him we’ve got something for him to submit to forensics.”
Wide-eyed, Julia jumped into action. “Should I call Stone as well?”
“Yes. Get him down here ASAP.” I turned to Serenity who’d opened her eyes again. “Let’s go to my office.”
Serenity followed me down the hall to my office. Her face had gone pale, and she was still shaking.
I gentled my voice, and motioned to the chair in front of my desk. “Please. Sit down.”
Serenity plopped down and sighed. “That was terrible. I’m sorry I made such a mess.”
“Don’t worry about the mess.” I sat across from her and leaned forward. “Tell me what you saw.”
I'd first heard about Serenity's abilities a couple of months ago and dismissed them as fantasy. A psychometrist—someone who gets visions from touching objects or people—sounded like con artist territory. That's why she always wore gloves—physical contact triggered the visions, wanted or not.
Her visions varied in clarity—some sharp as photographs, others murky and symbolic. But she'd proved herself invaluable when Stone became a target. Stone had hated having a babysitter at first, especially one who claimed to be psychic. But she'd saved his life more than once, and now? They were inseparable. The man was completely devoted to her.
Without her, I'd have lost Stone, which would've left me vulnerable in ways I couldn't afford. Keeping her on permanent payroll was the easiest decision I'd made in years.
She cleared her throat. “I’m so sorry about the mess.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I gave her my best disarming smile. I needed her to relax. “I’m assuming you just saved someone’s life. Tell me what you saw.”
“There were paramedics. I saw you.” She closed her eyes. “It was awful. They were trying to get you to breathe. I can’t say for sure, but I suspect those zep—what are they again?”
“Zeppole.”
“Yeah, that.” Serenity’s hands fluttered. “I think the zeppoles are poisoned. But there’s more.”
“What?”
“I’m not sure what this means—” she let out another sigh “—but I saw Julia pick them up at the bakery.”
“That’s a normal part of her job.” A small flutter of uneasiness ran over me. “La Crumbedonna makes them for me everyFriday. It’s a standing order. Barbara used to pick them up before, and now it’s Julia’s responsibility. Did you see anything else?”
Serenity shook her head. “No. Just because I saw her doesn’t mean she tried to poison—”
“Of course not.”
“It’s just—” she lowered her voice. “—I don’t normally get a vision without a reason. Since I saw her picking them up…”
“There might be something significant about it.”
“Exactly.” Serenity’s shoulders drooped. “It could be something else… I mean, maybe you were choking and we called the paramedics just to be safe?”
