Madam Rosa scrunched her forehead. “No, I don’t think she’d been into the shop before.”
“Can you tell us anything else?” Riley asked.
“He ordered the dark forest oolong, and she got the toasted hazelnut comfort.”
Leave it to Madam Rosa to remember only their order. I forced a smile for her even though it was the opposite of how I felt. “Do you remember anything about what the girl looked like?”
“I’m sorry. I’m terrible with faces, but I believe she had red hair. It was quite beautiful, and I’m pretty sure she was a shifter. Us dryads have a sense for these things, you know.”
A red-headed shifter girl. That narrowed things down at least a little. “Thanks for your help.”
“My pleasure.” She bustled off, leaving Riley and me stewing in silence.
“So what now?” I asked after a few more sips.
“Now we test this out.” He pulled out a small vial filled with shimmering purple liquid from his bag.
My mouth fell open. “Is that poison?” I hissed.
“Yes.” He opened his phone and showed me a webpage for Tea and Tarot that listed the menu and their hours from 8:00 in the morning to 6:00 at night.
“Where did you even get that?” I gestured to the poison.
“I pulled a few strings.”
“You pulled a few strings and somehow got poison?” I repeated incredulously.
“Well, it’s not enough to kill someone, so they were a bit more flexible,” he said. “According to the website, thedishes here are enchanted with an anti-malady charm to negate any negative substances in the food or drinks and protect customers.”
“And if the website is wrong?”
He pulled another vial, this time filled with a white substance. “Then I’ve come prepared. If it looks like things are going south, I need you to give this to me within thirty seconds or I’ll have a long, uncomfortable night.”
“What if you’re unconscious? How am I supposed to give it to you?”
“Mouth-to-mouth is preferable, but I’ll leave it up to you.” He winked and poured the poison into his cup.
I shook my head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I’ve been told that before,” he said, stirring it with a dainty silver spoon, “but most people add the word ‘charming’ on the end.”
I rolled my eyes but watched intently as he took a sip.
His phone buzzed on the table, and he picked it up and read a message.
“Who is it?” I didn’t take my gaze off him.
“Tessa, a friend on the force.” Riley lowered his voice. “Apparently, they identified the poison used on Graham.”
“What poison was it?” I asked, curious if it was one I’d know from either my chemistry major or from my potion-making even though that wasn’t the same as studying poisons.
“She didn’t send the name, but she said it had an effective window of six hours.”
“Meaning Jaxon wouldn’t have been able to poison Graham if they’d only seen each other in the morning.” I glanced at my watch. Half a minute had passed, and Riley was still fine.
“Yes.” He sighed. “It would’ve lost efficacy by then since they were both gone all day.”
“I told you so.” After another minute passed, I released my death grip on the hem of my sweater and let out a long breath.
