Potluck and Poison

  Potluck and Poison

  Spy Kitty in the City Book Five

  Bailey Booth

  Bailey Booth

  All Rights Reserved.

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  Copyright © 2022 Bailey Booth. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to hibailey@baileyboothbooks.com

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  Booth, Bailey. Potluck and Poison. (Spy Kitty in the City #5)

  Cover Design by Dee J. Holmes, Bad Unicorn Designs

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Also by Bailey Booth

  One

  Hi, my name’s Addie Dawson, and I’m used to playing wing-woman to a famous talking cat. But for my human friends, I’m too socially awkward to help them in the romance department.

  “Are you sure you don’t want Brooke to go with you instead?” I asked when Casey arrived at my apartment. She wore the latest version of her first date LBD, Lucky Junior. She’d given Lucky Senior to me when I needed a little extra mojo to solve my very first crime with Persephone, who the world now knew as Spy Kitty in the City.

  “The last time I double-dated with Brooke and Jason, the guys hit it off, and it was like I wasn’t even there.” Casey crouched down to pat Persephone, who rubbed against her legs in greeting. “And then afterward, he made plans with Jason instead of me!”

  “So this time, you’re bringing the old people.” At thirty-two, I was ten years older than Casey and Brooke. Henry was three years older than me.

  “You’re not old. It’s trivia night, and I’d be crazy to not want Henry on our team. But if this guy blows me off for another potential bromance, I’ll know it’s something I’m doing.” She stood and did a quick modeling pose. “That’s why tonight, I’m pulling out the big guns and wearing Lucky Junior.”

  Even before the last failed double date, Casey had had a string of first dates that led to…more first dates.

  “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Or this guy.” Not that I was one to give relationship advice. Henry had recently moved to Harmony, New Hampshire to teach at the local community college, and now that I was home more often, we had a chance to spend a lot more time together. Henry was content to take things slowly, which was a total match for me, and somehow, Casey had labeled us #relationshipgoals.

  It wasn’t a bad place to be.

  “You haven’t even told me his name.”

  “His name is Josh. He works at the naval base, and he came into the shelter to adopt some guinea pigs when you were on your last case.” Her face lit up as she talked about him. “He’s friends with some of the guys who volunteer at the shelter, and you know me, I have a soft spot for people who adopt the less popular pets. Then I saw him at school. I asked him how the littles were doing, and we’ve been chatting ever since.”

  “I love that everyone is finding love at Helping Paws. Are you ready to head out?” We were supposed to meet the guys in fifteen minutes. It was my turn to pat Persephone. “We shouldn’t be long.”

  “Am I coming, too?” she asked.

  We’d taken a break from sleuthing to concentrate on shelter work, but Persephone was used to going everywhere with me. People around town had gotten used to seeing Spy Kitty out and about. But, unless I was trying to bust a bad guy, I drew the line at bringing my cat to a bar.

  “Not tonight, but how about I bring a treat back for you?”

  “Okay.”

  Her disappointment tugged hard on my heartstrings.

  “I think Persephone misses going on the road,” I said once we got into the car.

  “What about you? Do you miss it?” Casey asked.

  “I wish there was a way to solve crimes and work at the shelter at the same time.” I’d been thinking a lot about how to have a work/work balance lately.

  “But we’ve been able to help so many more animals since you started taking cases. People ask all the time what your next case will be.”

  “I tell them crime doesn’t happen during business hours.” We pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. Henry was standing out front, talking to a guy I’d never seen before. “Is that Josh?”

  “Yeah.” Casey sighed. “Looks like they hit it off.”

  “That’s not a bad thing. If things work out, we’ll all be spending a lot of time together.”

  I got out of the car, enjoying the butterflies that came to life in my belly when Henry smiled at me. I’d been worried that his move to Harmony would change our relationship, but so far, so good.

  He gave me a hug when I approached.

  “I see you’ve met Josh.”

  “Believe it or not, Josh is one of my students.”

  “You are?” Casey’s eyes widened, and she shifted her gaze to me. We’d worked together long enough that she didn’t have to say what she was thinking out loud. I could hear it loud and clear, and it translated roughly to oh no.

  “Yeah, I’m taking a few classes this semester, and art history is one of my electives. Didn’t think I’d like it much, but this guy is making it interesting.” Josh glanced at Henry, but he could hardly take his eyes off Casey.

  I was so excited for her. Not only did she want to find a great guy, she deserved one.

  “Would our plans tonight be a conflict of interest?” I asked. “I don’t want to put your new job in jeopardy.”

  Henry shrugged. “It’s not ideal, but none of the grading in that class is subjective.”

  “I wouldn’t want a grade I didn’t earn,” Josh said.

  “Harmony’s so small, I see my teachers all the time,” Casey added. “It’s no big deal.”

  “But you don’t go out for a beer with them.”

  “It’s trivia night, so it’s educational.” Henry reached for my hand and squeezed it as we walked into the lounge. If he wasn’t worried, I had no reason to be, either.

  Most of the tables already had their teams at them. There were lots of familiar faces in the room. A lady came over to show me pictures of Sydney, a long-haired Siamese she’d adopted over a year ago.

  The cat had taken over the home, and the family was in love with her.

  No surprise Henry was amazing at trivia night, but Josh had emerged as a secret weapon. Better yet, he knew things that Henry didn’t.

  “You’re good, man,” Henry said. “Some of those questions had me stumped. We’ll have to do this again. Next wee—after the semester ends.”

  Casey nudged me under the table.

  “Here we go,” she said only loudly enough for me to hear.

  “He’s into you.” I wasn’t as smooth as my friend, and my cheeks burned when Josh caught me.

  “I am.” His smile was all for Casey. “Maybe next time, we’ll be a trivia team of two.”

  I turned to Henry, who was giving me one of those goosebump-inducing smiles of his own. “
Maybe we should leave these two to finish their date on their own.”

  “We could ask for our own table,” he suggested.

  Casey gasped and grasped my arm. “Addie, do you know about this?”

  She pointed at the TV, where a very familiar scene played out from my favorite cooking show, Parking Lot Potluck. At first, I thought the restaurant just had the good sense to play it between trivia rounds, but then I realized this was a news channel, and the headline read, “Host and judge poisoned on the set of Parking Lot Potluck.”

  I almost choked on my virgin piña colada. The DJ was playing nineties hip-hop at maximum volume, so we couldn’t hear the TV. The captioning was having a hard time keeping up with the live feed, but it became clear that something very bad had happened.

  While filming in Seattle….

  The show traveled all over the country, and celebrity judges would bring regional food and traditional dishes that the contestants used to deconstruct and create a unique meal.

  …host Sig Simpson was allegedly poisoned and died…

  No! The caption had to be wrong. But as his picture flashed on the screen with his birth year and this year, my heart twinged. Even in this horrible moment, I had to admit he wasn’t my favorite. He’d only joined the show last season, and things hadn’t been the same with him. He was an old-school cooking show chef, and even though things had changed since his day in the spotlight, he hadn’t. I’d always suspected the judges didn’t like him, either.

  But that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. Off on his own show, maybe, but definitely not dead.

  Goosebumps blossomed on my forearms at the thought that someone had been murdered on the set of Parking Lot Potluck.

  Diana Diamond, my favorite judge, had also fallen very ill. But from what I could gather from the captioning, she was still alive. They only showed a picture of her behind the judging desk, while they had short interviews with George Adamos and Maxim Moreau, the two other regular judges of the show.

  “Some of that food’s gotta be pretty bad. Are they sure it isn’t just food poisoning?” Josh asked. I shot him a look that made him understand this was no joking matter.

  “Addie takes Parking Lot Potluck very seriously. Like, if it was on tonight, she wouldn’t have come out with us. Whatever happened, it’s serious enough for this guy.” Casey pointed to the officer on the screen.

  “Potluck is my happy place. And it could’ve been food poisoning. The contestants only have twenty minutes to make the dishes. Sometimes mistakes happen. But could food poisoning kill someone?” Since I’d started my semi-pro sleuthing business, I didn’t have a lot of time for the Parking Lot Potluck online forums anymore. But I’d read many interviews with the regular judges. Once, I’d even sent in a question asking how they objectively judged dishes that might not be their favorite, but I wasn’t ready to admit to that level of fandom in this setting.

  Maxim had answered my question.

  “Wouldn’t they all get sick if it was food poisoning? They eat the same dishes,” Henry pointed out.

  “If there was poison in the food, wouldn’t it have been in all the food?” Josh added.

  I was about to ask the waitress if she could turn up the volume when she dropped off our basket of fried pickles, but the news had already moved on to the next story. Instead, I picked up my phone to do a little online investigation, but I was interrupted by an incoming call.

  “It’s Margaret,” I said. She was Persephone’s former owner, and she’d also become my de facto booking agent when someone needed my cat to solve a case for them.

  “Oh, cool, you were just saying Persephone was ready for a case,” Casey said.

  “Hey, Margaret.”

  “Am I catching you at a good time?”

  “Of course.” I headed outside so I’d be able to hear her over the music. “How are you?”

  “I’m doing well. I was hoping to see you soon. I’m sure Henry’s told you he’s been helping me with a new Bournaise exhibit.”

  “He did.” I beamed with pride at the thought of it. Henry had helped her group paintings together along with some excerpts from Bellamy Bournaise’s journal. Maybe she wanted to plan a surprise for Henry. “Is there a date for the opening?”

  “There is, but you might miss it if you’re interested in the case that came in for you,” she said. “Would you be interested in heading to Seattle and figuring out who poisoned two people on a cooking show?”

  Two

  No. Way.

  “I…um…well…” Never did I think that my adventures with Persephone would ever lead me to solve a crime that happened on the set of my favorite TV show.

  Was this even my life?

  “The case is a little different than the ones you’ve been involved with so far.” Margaret was all business. “Unfortunately, this case involves a murder. There’s a forensic team working to isolate the poisonous substance used in the crime. You wouldn’t be responsible for the scientific end of things. There’s a dog who spends time on set—”

  “Chloe,” I added.

  “Oh, you’re familiar with the show?”

  “It’s my favorite,” I confessed. “The ladies at the shelter tease me about it because I watch it so much and I don’t even cook.”

  “You don’t have to participate in an art form to love it.” Of course Margaret would get me. She ran an art gallery but had never mentioned creating any art herself. “The producer thinks Chloe the Great Dane might have seen something, and if Persephone is interested in talking with her, maybe the two of them can help solve the case.”

  “Do they know anything about what poisoned Sig and Diana?” It was surreal to use their names in one of my cases. This was bigger than anything I’d been involved with before. All my cases had been with celebrities, either human or feline, but no one had tried to kill any of them.

  “All she told me was that the investigation was ongoing. So, are you two interested in heading to Seattle?”

  “Let me talk to Persephone.” On paper, this case was my dream case. But in reality, it terrified me. Sig was dead, and there was no telling how Diana would fare. Could I really point a finger in blame at someone attached to Parking Lot Potluck? Or would I overlook important details because it would change my opinion of the show?

  “How’s Purry Pants?” Margaret still referred to Persephone by her nickname for her.

  “She was a little disappointed I didn’t bring her with us to trivia night, so I think she might be anxious to solve another case.”

  “Let me know what she says, and we’ll draw up the contract. Since you have knowledge of the show, we can use that as a negotiating tool.”

  I bid Margaret good night and wandered over to the bench in the parking lot of the restaurant in a total daze, which was the only reason I didn’t care it smelled like a thousand old cigarettes. Not only was someone on my Parking Lot Potluck dead, and my favorite celebrity in critical condition, but they wanted me and my cat to find out who did it.

  I’d lost count of how many times I daydreamed about being on Parking Lot Potluck.

  But never like this.

  “Everything okay?” Henry asked when he came out of the restaurant. “Did Margaret have a case for you, or did Nicole break her parole agreement?”

  Nicole was Margaret’s niece and the very first criminal I’d caught. Before Henry got a new job, he’d been overseeing her community service at the art department of his old school.

  “I was feeling a little like a third wheel in there. I don’t think Casey will have another first date for a while,” he added when I didn’t answer right away.

  “It’s Parking Lot Potluck,” I finally said. “They want Persephone and me to figure out who poisoned Sig and Diana.”

  His mouth formed an O. “Addie, that’s amazing.”

  “It’s weird. I mean, dream job, right? My favorite show. But there was a murder on my favorite show. I’ve never taken a case this big before. I’ve worked with famous people, but
they’ve all been alive. I don’t know if I can do it.” I looked up at him, hoping he’d have some advice, but he didn’t say anything. “It’s the thing I watch to escape all the bad stuff that happens in the world. After a rough day at the shelter, one that makes me have serious questions about humanity, Potluck always makes me happy. Things won’t be the same if I work on this case.”

  “I get it.” Henry took a seat beside me on the bench. “I felt that way when I did the work-study on the Bournaise estate. I’d looked up to these artists ever since I realized I wanted to make a living with art. What if I’d held them up on a pedestal they couldn’t live up to?”

  “Exactly.” Not really, because no one died while he was there, but close enough. “How did it go?”

  “Amazing. I walked away with experience I would’ve never had otherwise. I can call some of my heroes friends. And I saw a part of the world I’d never been to before.”

  “I want to help them. Persephone might be the only one who can crack the case. But I’m afraid of what I might uncover.”

  “Whatever you decide, I don’t want you to have any regrets.” He squeezed my hand. “But tonight, we can celebrate the fact you were invited to work on your favorite show.”

  I was pretty sure we’d take the case. Because—Parking Lot Potluck. But also, I’d never been the type of person to say no when someone needed my help, especially if it was something scary. If Chloe the dog was the only one who really knew what happened, I could make sure if someone intentionally hurt Sig and Diana, they’d never have a chance to do it again.