Alex Harris 00 - Poisoned

come over on the weekend?”
    “No. But he is part of the family and they definitely seem to want Mrs. Brissart out of the way, so he’s a suspect. He could have been working with someone else.” John sighed. “Though a conspiracy theory is rather farfetched. He’s full of himself. A trait, I might add, that he shares with everyone else connected with the family.”
    “Most families have their nut cases, but in this one, I think it’s the sane who are the exceptions.” I told John about seeing Steven at the health club and his possible financial setback, which seemed odd for a man who worked as a financial investor. I asked John if the police had any concrete suspects hoping he could eliminate Mrs. Brissart.
    “No. Everyone’s a prime suspect at this point. Maybe I’m way off base and should be looking outside the family, but I don’t think so. I’ve talked to a few people who worked with Bradley thinking maybe there might be something there; a problem with a coworker or something, but nothing. Everyone he worked with had nothing but praise for him.”
    “Well, can you narrow it down by the number of people who would have access to the poisons?”
    “No, not really. If you want something bad enough, you can find it. Everyone had access to the tool shed in the garden. Mr. Kaminski keeps a lot of insecticides out there for the roses and the vegetables, though I don’t think anything contains cyanide. The lab is checking everything.”
    I reached for another piece of bread and smothered it with butter then just for the heck of it sprinkled on some salt.
    “Several cookies containing poison remained on the plate. I never asked Mrs. Brissart how many she had,” John said.
    “As the saying goes ‘there but for the grace of God, go I.’ Mrs. Brissart could have been killed just as easily as Bradley. Which should eliminate her as a suspect,” I added quickly.
    “Yes, she could. Except if she put the poison there herself… Let’s not get into this,” John said and then continued anyway. “The entire family is full of suspects and then we have Kendra, and Mrs. Platz, and Mr. Kaminski, and let’s not forget J.T.”
    “I’m certain you can scratch Mrs. Platz off your list,” I said casually.
    “Oh, and why is that?” John’s voice did not sound so casual.
    “She’s frightened, John. I think she’s afraid whoever did this will strike again.”
    “Just how do you know this?”
    “I offered her some comfort. We do have the unfortunate luck of finding bodies in common and I thought she could use a shoulder to cry on.”
    John looked at me with resignation on his face. “There’s really no sense in telling you to keep out of this. If I arrested you for interfering in a police investigation, Sam would probably run down to the jail with a file.”
    “Baked in a cake, no doubt, most of which would be eaten by the time she arrived.” We laughed and the tension dropped away.
    When we started seeing each other I had my reservations about dating a cop. But there was so much more to John than just being a detective. He had many great qualities but basically he was just an all around nice guy. My family loved John, and Meme gave him her seal of approval—something she had never given any of the other guys I dated, even Peter. She took to John immediately. That was a good sign.
    I stared at him for a moment, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “ I am easily satisfied with the very best , and you John Van der Burg are the very best.”
    John reached across the table and took my hand. “I don’t think Winston Churchill had me in mind when he said that. So,” he began again, getting back to the murder, “what about Mr. Kaminski and J.T.?” he teased. “Can I safely eliminate them as well?”
    “I haven’t met Mr. Kaminski so I wouldn’t know if he’s a poisoner or not, but J.T. would go on my list. He’s so, so…smarmy.” I almost told John I saw the developer earlier arriving at June’s, and also at his office, but didn’t want John to know how deeply involved I had become. Asking questions in the Brissart home was one thing, roaming the city in search of suspects quite another.
    John laughed. “Yes, he is that. But he also seems to be exactly what he claims to be. We’ve done a background check. You know that new office complex in Stamford? Well, he did that.”
    “That’s really nice. We have a client over there,” I said, again marveling