Heavenly Highland Inn 05 - Suffocating the Sunflowers by Cindy Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

flatly and shook his head. “I won't deny my mistake. If I did this, then I should be punished!”
    “ But you didn't!” Vicky said impatiently as she narrowed her eyes. “You know you didn't, and so do I, Henry, why would you risk your future when you were not involved?”
    “ No matter what, I must have been the one to put the oil on her food,” he said in a whisper with tears in his eyes.
    “ That's not necessarily the case,” Vicky argued the point and steered him away from the Holsteads’ room. “I want you to go to your room. Stay in it, don't answer your phone, don't answer your door. Only come out if it's me or Sarah, understand?” she locked eyes with him.
    “ Yes, I understand,” he nodded but his eyes were still clouded with tears. Vicky left the room as quickly as she entered it. She didn't want to be there if Barry Baker decided to look it over. She headed back to her own apartment to change her wet, flour-covered clothes. When she reached the door of her apartment she found a man standing in front of it. He didn't look like an average guest at the inn, he was very tall and very wide. His hair was gray and curly. It hung several inches past his shoulders against a brown leather jacket.
    “ Can I help you?” Vicky asked hesitantly as she stepped up behind him. The man turned to look at her, and his brown eyes widened when he saw the state of her clothing.
    “ Wow, looks like you're having a bad day,” his voice was raspy and full of humor.
    “ Not the best, that's for sure,” Vicky replied, a little more at ease because of his cheerful attitude.
    “ I'm looking for Ida,” he explained as he shoved his thick hands into the pockets of his jeans. “She said that she lived here but…”
    “ Why are you looking for her?” Vicky asked suspiciously. With the strange situations her aunt could get herself into she wasn't sure how much she should tell the man.
    “ Oh, I wanted to invite her to dinner,” he explained shyly and Vicky detected a blush in his cheeks. Despite everything unfolding around her, Vicky found his bashfulness to be endearing, and the fact that he was looking for Aunt Ida did not surprise her in the least.
    “ Well, she's probably in her room, let me give her a call,” Vicky suggested and started to reach for her cell phone until she realized it was in her sopping wet pocket.
    “ That's all right, I'll call her,” he chuckled and shook his head. “I'm Rex by the way, if you see her before I do, just tell her I'll be by her beauty in the parking lot.”
    “ I will,” Vicky grinned as she watched him walk away. Of all the men that she had seen Aunt Ida flirt with, he was the first biker. She had to wonder what came first, Rex or the motorcycle.
     
    ***
     
    Once Vicky had changed she headed back to the lobby hoping to catch up with Aunt Ida to ask her about Rex. Instead she came across Sarah and Barry standing by the door of the inn talking in tense voices.
    “ Something happened here,” he was saying sharply. “It doesn't matter what you claim, what it comes down to is that there must have been peanuts on Sandy Holstead's food, prepared and served at this inn, after she informed you of her allergy.”
    “ As I said, we took every precaution to prevent any peanuts getting into her food…” Sarah began to argue in return.
    “ Obviously not,” Barry snapped back as Vicky walked over to the two.
    “ Have you considered the possibility that Gerald was the one to add peanuts to his wife's food?” Vicky asked in an attempt to take the pressure off her sister for a moment. “Just because the peanuts might be found on Mrs. Holstead's food that doesn't mean that it wasn't added after the meals were delivered to the room.”
    Barry spun around so fast to face Vicky that she gasped in reaction to the movement. “Are you accusing a grieving widower of poisoning his wife?” he demanded and took a step towards Vicky.
    “ No, of course not,” Sarah said quickly and