wrath of the Sea Queen (131 page)

"
Surely she was
just
upset. 
She couldn't really
have
mean
t
it.
"

"
Let me finish, C
a
eli.  Ben
also read the letters and
agreed that the
author
intended to follow through on the threat. 
He
was unable to
track the lady down.  It
ha
s been hanging over my head for months. 
I
t occurred to m
e
last night that you might have been the first intended target.
"

"Me?"

"Yes. 
Ben does
n
o
t believe that
the energy bars were poisoned by accident. 
I disagreed with him at first. 
Then
we talked about it some mor
e last night, and I can
see
his point
.  You know that he
i
s almost never wrong about these things. 
I'm afraid it is
my fault you were drawn into this. 
It's my fault that you had to suffer. 
This lady must have found out that you and I
are
related
and
d
evised this way to strike at me by hurting
you
.  I
a
m really sorry,
"
Salma explained.

"
Salma, that can't be true!
"
 

"
I'm sorry,
Dear
, but
I know
it is.  Ben
confirmed it."

"How?" 
C
a
eli
insisted.

"
He
d
id
some research
online
last night
and
discovered that there was never any recall issued
on the bars because t
he company doesn't exist. 
It never did. 
It's fake.
 
W
hatever website you ordered from was probably set up by the same person who wrote me the letters.
"

C
a
eli refused to believe it. 
She could not believe it because
Lara gave her the bars.  Salma and Vin thought she ordered them online because she never told them about Lara's surplus delivery.  It didn't seem
as
important at the time
as it did now
.

"
But Salma,
y
ou don't understand.  I did
n
o
t order the
bars
from the website that I showed you.  My friend Lara
gave me
some of her
extras.  They came straight from her.  So the poison could not have been meant specifically for me.  If Lara had eaten any out of that
shipment
, she would have
been
sick, too. 
I tried to call her last night, but I was not able to reach her. 
Y
ou see, it has to
be a mistake.
"

She
could not believe that her friend would be involved in anything like this.  Yet, in the back of her mind, C
a
eli
understood
that Lara
would be well aware of the
origin of the
bars.  She
must have known
that something about the
company
she ordered from
was not right, especially if it was that easy for Salma to
see through the false website
. 
Therefore, as hard as it was to accept,
Lara
's
involve
ment was not
only
possible, it was
also
very likely
.

"
I'm truly sorry, but your friend is
tangled up in this
to some extent.  Maybe she didn't have any choice.  Perhaps she was forced to give them to you. 
Perhaps she is sick, like you said. 
If that's true, your friend
's life
could be in danger, too.
"

C
a
eli did
n
o
t know what to think.  It was too early to
digest
such complicated
matters
.  She would talk to Vin
when he woke
.  He would help her sort it out
.  He always helped her see things clearly
, especially
when she was too emotionally
involved
.

"
No matter how it turns out, it is not your fault
,
Salma.  You are not responsible for making me sick.  Whoever poisoned those bars
will have to answer for that. 
T
hankfully, I'm fine. 
No lasting damage. 
So
,
let's worry about the specifics later.  Right now, I need your help with breakfast.
"
  C
a
eli shared
a portion of
her meal plan with Salma before slipping quietly into her room through the porch entrance.

Vin woke around seven o'clock to the smell of
freshly brewed
coffee and the muffled sounds of someone moving around.  He
instinctively
reached
for
C
a
eli
, but
she
was not in bed.  He turned to look across the room and
found
her busy in the little
kitchenette
.  She turned to smile at him when he stirred.

"
Good morning, handsome.
"

"
Not before I've had
a cup of
coffee it isn't. 
D
o I happen to smell
some
brewing over there?  I
'll
make it worth your while if you
wi
ll
pour
me a cup.
"

"
And I suppose I have to deliver the coffee to find out what it's worth?
"
  C
a
eli teased as she poured coffee
into an oversized mug
and carried it to
Vin
.  He took a few sips then sat it
on the table beside the bed. 

"
Umm, that's good.  Where did you find Irish mocha?  You know it's my favorite.  Actually, when did you have time to find it?
  How
long have you been
up?
"
  Vin
leaned forward
and gave her a kiss, the promised payment.

"
I confess.  I brought it with me.  I was going to fix it for you on Friday, but today seemed like a much better day for it.
"
  C
a
eli hopped up and returned to the breakfast nook, smiling and humming.  She was busy fixing something that smelled delicious. 

Vin grabbed
some
clean clothes as he got up and walked into the bathroom. 
He quickly showered, went through his morning routine while he chatted with C
a
eli, and began to get dressed. 
Unfortunately, when he looked for his shirt, it
was
conspicuously missing.

"
C
a
eli,
have you seen
my shirt?  It was here a minute ago.
"

"
I
have
it.
"
  She
replied
with a
casual hint of mischief in her voice
.

Without any further expl
anation
forthcoming,
Vin walked out of the bathroom to
retrieve
it
.  He found C
a
eli
still
busy
in the breakfast nook with his dark blue
t-shirt
draped over her shoulder.  He
had not
see
n
her slip in and
remove
it
from
his
pile of clothes on the
bathroom
sink
wh
ile
he was in the shower
.

C
a
eli continued to hum happily as she
fix
ed
breakfast. 
But this
was more than
a
ny
ordinary
meal
.  S
he was
cooking pancakes
; a dish
Vin
remembered fondly as the first meal she had ever cooked for him
.  There wasn't anything Vin liked more than
C
a
eli's
homemade pancakes.  She knew
exactly
the right combination of cinnamon
and brown sugar
that made his mouth water.  And there w
ere
, he noticed for the first time,
three
whole stack
s
of them
under a steam filled, glass dome
on a large serving tray; more than he could eat in a
month
.