Page 46 of Blades and Bone

Hamish leaned on the counter as the girl placed the coffee down. “Hey, who’s that dark-haired guy who can’t stop looking at me?”

Her eyebrows lifted, and she looked past him to where Brodie was just outside. Then she glanced over her shoulder as the man disappeared deeper into the kitchen. “He’s one of the prep cooks. I don’t have much to do with them.”

“Thanks.” He picked up the two brown paper bags, the toasted sandwiches burning his fingers through the paper, and the two coffee cups, and made his way outside without dropping or spilling anything.

Brodie was still on the phone. He lifted a finger as if to tell him to wait.

Hamish took a sip of coffee and instantly regretted it, as it was far too hot. For half a second, he wondered if he should be eating anything that was made on-site. But he’d watched the coffee be made by the girl. They would be fine. The sandwiches had been in the cabinet, and he’d watched her place them in the sandwich press, so unless someone had literally tampered with everything…he was fine. Maybe it was the staring guy who was putting him off.

Brodie finished his call and slipped his phone into his pocket as he reached for his coffee. “You look like you have news.”

“I don’t know if it’s news, but one of the prep chefs was staring at me.”

Brodie’s lips curved as he sipped his coffee. “As long as he didn’t ask for your number…”

“It wasn’t that kind of stare. Though I pretended that it was.” He half expected that to get him into trouble. He followed Brodie away from the cafe entrance and the tables that were either in use or being cleaned by staff. “I’ve also been thinking about ways to add it to food and ways to test.”

Brodie found a table in the shade, far away from everyone. “Go on.”

“Ascorbic acid is available in powdered form, but it has to be added after the food has been cooked or it breaks down. So it might be in the icing or mixed into the salted caramel as it cools. That doesn’t mean that our overly friendly prep chef isn’t a tentacle we need to look at. But it might not be happening in the kitchen. Or at least not the way we thought.” He paused, hoping he had the next part right. “You said that the cafe remains open for room service, and that it’s a skeleton crew until the morning shift comes in. Do all the snacks for the bungalow pass through here before being delivered?”

Brodie chewed his mouthful of toasted sandwich.

He pulled a small notepad and pen out of his jacket pocket. “Cafe kitchen backs onto the main kitchen, which services the buffet. The only one that is separate is fine dining.”

“And the bungalow.”

He nodded. “To answer your question, yes. All the snacks would pass through here and be delivered first thing in the morning. What are we looking for? Liquid? Powder?”

“My guess is powder. It would be easy enough to add a little liquid if needed. Hell, it could even be injected into individual snacks, so it’s random.”

Brodie unlocked his phone and handed it over. “Show me.”

“Show you what?”

“The powder.” He gave Hamish’s sandwich a nudge. “Eat.”

“It’s just a white powder. You can buy it in any health food store or online.” He pulled his sandwich out of the bag, even though his appetite was gone. He studied the sandwich as if he’d be able to tell if it had been tampered with. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. You can’t suspect everything.”

“Ha, watch me.” But he took a bite before Brodie ordered him to do it and threatened him with a weird punishment.

“You mentioned testing for it?”

“It’s one of those things you do at school. You know, when looking at what food is made of…” It was clear from Brodie’s face that he had not done that at school. He’d probably taken boring subjects like accounting instead of food science and health. “Anyway, you need iodine as it reacts with the ascorbic acid…vitamin C.” He added just in case Brodie didn’t realize they were the same thing.

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“Because I was too busy shaking hands and tasting blood and trying to figure out how the kitchens worked. They’re busy. Everyone’s moving around, and there’s someone making sure everybody’s doing something. I was trying to figure out how I would do it, and then I was trying to remember what I knew about vitamin C…and I realized that it was nearly impossible and that it must be being added at the bungalow, but you said that was all clear.”

“Security has now been tested.” Brodie finished the sandwich and scrunched up the bag. “All clear.”

“Is that what your call was about?”

Brodie shook his head. “No. There’s been no sign of your guard. He never returned to the resort.”

“That doesn’t seem like a good thing.” Was he dead, captured, or reporting back to the Orlan in charge? Hamish blinked and saw the purple noose swinging from the tree. He drank his coffee, because he was sure that it hadn’t been tampered with…unless it was in the milk. His throat tightened, but he forced himself to swallow. “So what now? Do we need to find out about the prep cook?”