The rest of the women toasted Sheldon. He stood up, put one hand on his belly, and bowed. After returning to his seat, he told everyone to start passing dishes.
He scooped fried plantains onto Nora’s plate before serving himself. “Heroes do better with a partner.” He offered the platter to June but kept his eyes on Nora. “Holmes didn’t need help solving cases. He needed Watson’s friendship. Poirot needed Hastings. Monk needed Natalie. You need me. I’m your Robin, so you should tell me when you’re transforming into Batman. I could get the wrinkles out of your cape. Shine your boots. Warm up the Batmobile.”
“Batman kept things from Robin all the time. For his own safety.” Nora handed Sheldon the avocado salad.
Sheldon scowled. “I have chronic pain, but I’m not made of glass.”
“Are you going to sulk through the whole meal?” June asked, holding the breadbasket aloft. “Because if you are, I’ll take my plate of gorgeous food into the kitchen where I can eat in peace.”
“You can’t go anywhere. I want to hear what Hester has to say almost as much as I want to shovel this Arroz con Pollo into my mouth.” Estella looked at Sheldon. “What makes the rice yellow?”
“Cumin and saffron. It’s the ultimate comfort food. My abuela made it whenever she came to visit. All in one pot.” Sheldon’s face softened at the memory. “She would have loved everyone at this table.”
June picked up her glass. “To Abuela!”
After the toast, everyone began to eat. As his friends tried every dish, Sheldon received round upon round of praise. When he’d finally heard enough, he asked Hester to tell them about the investigation.
Hester raised a finger. “Before I get to Beck, I want you all to know that Lazarus Harper has been helping me at the bakery.”
Forks hung in the air. Everyone stopped chewing.
“It’s only temporary,” Hester went on. “After he pays his legal fees and covers the cost of the mirrors he knocked off of those two parked cars, he’ll head back to Pine Hollow. His civil case has finally been rescheduled, and now that Beck’s admitted to selling untested CBD products to Mr. Harper and lots of other people, I believe Lazarus is feeling like a new man.”
Sheldon groaned. “Please tell me that wasn’t a risen-from-the-dead reference.”
Hester laughed. “It was bad, wasn’t it? Okay, on to the serious stuff, starting with the contents of Beck’s pockets. The biggest shocker was the flask of homemade chloroform. He soaked a bandana with it in the front of the bookstore and walked back to the ticket agent’s office. That’s when Sheriff McCabe came up behind him and put the kibosh on his Knockout Nora plan.”
Sheldon raised a brow. “Homemade chloroform? That’s a thing?”
Before Hester could answer, Estella said, “It’s basically chilled bleach combined with acetone. Next to history, chemistry was my favorite subject in school.”
“And you’re an artist by trade,” said Nora.
Estella beamed. “You just earned a free conditioning treatment the next time you come in for a color and cut.”
“What else did Beck have in his pockets?” June asked Hester.
“A murder weapon.” Hester paused for dramatic effect. “After drugging Nora, Beck was going to inject her with liquified wolfsbane. He had a syringe loaded with the stuff. It’s probably the same syringe he used on Celeste. The ME must have missed the injection site.”
Nora remembered the bruises on Celeste’s cheeks and found that she was no longer hungry. “He didn’t miss it. Beck must have forced Celeste’s mouth open and shot the wolfsbane down her throat. He offered her the mustard powder because she swallowed wolfsbane. There was no obvious injection site or evidence that she’d had anything to eat or drink.”
A hush fell over the table, and Nora apologized for ruining the mood.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Sheldon told her. “None of you do. Unless you don’t finish what’s on your plates. That would be unforgivable. Keep going, Hester. We need to get to the end of this story. We need to know that the good guys win.”
There was a murmur of agreement from everyone else, and Hester promised to continue after another bite of pork. She then tore a piece of bread in two and stacked the pieces on top of each other. “Imagine this was Bren’s burger from the night of the festival. A bean patty in a bun. If it looked different, Bren would have noticed. If the texture was off, Bren would have noticed. But what wouldn’t have made her suspicious was a sprinkling of what looked like salt on both her burger and fries.”