Do or Diner: A Comfort Food Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

were you?”
    I took a deep breath and let it out. “At Aunt Stella’s house. I mean…at my house. I was going over some bills that Nancy had given me. And then I came back to meet Mr. Cogswell.”
    “So you knew he was here?” Deputy Rutledge asked.
    “No. I didn’t. I was just coming back to fix things up for his inspection.”
    “Then you knew he was coming?” Ty asked.
    “Yes. I found a letter from him in the mail, saying that the Silver Bullet had to fix some problems from his latest inspection—minor things—and that he would be returning today in the afternoon.”
    “Did that make you mad, Miss Matkowski?” Deputy Rutledge asked.
    “No. It made me worried.”
    “Anyone see you at your house?” Ty asked.
    “Well, Clyde and Max saw me leave the house to return to the diner.”
    “But they never saw you actually inside?”
    “I guess not,” I said. “But they saw me walking down the porch stairs.” Merciful heavens, what was going on here?
    “Can I have the letter?” Ty asked.
    I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him. He read it with Deputy Rutledge looking over his shoulder as I stood there, breathing hard.
    “I’m going to keep this,” Ty said. “Okay with you, Miz Matkowski?”
    He used to call me Trixie. Now he was all business.
    “I have nothing to hide. Keep the letter.” I watched as he bagged the letter, too. “Do I need a lawyer, Deputy Brisco?”
    “Do you think you do, Miz Matkowski?”
    I shrugged. “Didn’t Mr. Cogswell have a heart attack?”
    I’d thought Ty Brisco was cute when I first met him. What was I thinking? He was a cop, just like my ex, and I had to remind myself that I wasn’t interested.
    “I don’t know for sure if he had a heart attack or what happened here,” he said. “We’ll have to wait for the autopsy reports to be sure, or maybe Mr. Manning will have a preliminary finding. Then he’ll send samples to the New York State Police lab. Then we’ll know for sure.”
    “What are you looking for, Deputy Brisco?” I asked.
    Several seconds ticked by.
    “C’mon, Ty, this is my restaurant. I think I have a vested interest in what happened here. Please, tell me what you think.”
    Several more seconds ticked by, and I could tell that he was debating whether to tell me.
    “Poison,” I guessed.
    He raised an eyebrow.
    “That’s why you’re taking his food and the daily special. You suspect that the health inspector was poisoned. And you suspect…me?” I held my breath.
    He shrugged. “I don’t know yet for sure. I’m just—”
    “Covering all bases. Yes, I know.” I was more sarcastic than I should have been.
    Then something caught my eye. “Wait just a minute, Deputy Brisco.” I inspected the dozen or so huge evidence bags lying on the butcher-block counter of the steam table, filled to the brim with the daily special.
    “Can I have a closer look at that bag? The one with the plate in it?” I pointed. “Mr. Cogswell’s meal?”
    “Why?” Ty said.
    “Because I see mushrooms.” I pointed at the contents of the bag.
    “So?”
    “There aren’t any mushrooms in the special that Juanita made. The mushrooms are only in Mr. Cogswell’s meal.”
    “Interesting,” Ty said.
    I relaxed a bit. “No self-respecting Timinski, Bugnacki, or Matkowski would ever be caught dead putting mushrooms in their pork and scalloped potatoes! So, you see, Deputy Brisco, I couldn’t have poisoned Mr. Cogswell!”

Chapter 3
    T y laughed, and I felt somewhat better, but it didn’t clear the frosty cloud of suspicion hanging over my head.
    “You do have a motive for wanting him out of the way. You failed his inspection.” Ty’s accusation didn’t sound better with a Texas tone. “And you said you read the letter and were on your way over here.”
    “To clean, not to kill, for heaven’s sake.”
    “I hear you.” He nodded, but then his blue eyes bore through me like a laser. “Did you make the pork and scalloped potatoes?”
    I shook