Second Chances [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 21

"He's just taking our things upstairs," I said, taking a seat at the island. "Any chance you're making enough for everyone?"

Mr Andrews nodded. "I didn't know when you two would be getting back, or if Archie'd be home tonight so I made extra. You're welcome to stay if you're not sick of each other yet," he added to Sweet Pea as he joined us.

"Definitely not," Sweet Pea said, taking the seat next to me. "Where is Archie?"

"Either at the school or Tom Keller's gym. He's started playing music again and wants to start boxing of all things."

"At least he's finally found something to do with himself," I said.

"Enough about that," Mr Andrews said. "Grab your plates and you can tell me about your trip."

The next morning it was like we'd never left. Sweet Pea left to handle Serpent business and I met Betty at Pop's so she could update me on the progress of her current mystery.

"What did I miss this time?" I asked, sliding into the booth with her.

"Dr Curdle Jr gave me a copy of Clifford Blossom's autopsy report," Betty said, getting straight to the point. "And get this, Penelope didn't want one to be performed but Dr Curdle Sr did it anyway."

"And?" I prompted. Betty pulled out a folder, passing it to me. I opened it to see Clifford Blossom's autopsy report. Or at least, a copy of it. Who's to say Curdle Jr didn't leave out a page or two? "Post-mortem bruising and tetrodotoxin in his system...pufferfish venom?"

Betty nodded. "Meaning Penelope Blossom poisoned her husband before staging his death as a suicide, just like all the others."

I leaned back in my seat, knowing she wasn't going to like what I was about to say next. "Sorry to be the devil's advocate here, but this doesn't prove that she poisoned Clifford."

"What are you talking about, Abigail?" she asked, eyes wide. "This fits the pattern perfectly, Penelope poisons people and then stages their death as a suicide."

"Yes and no," I replied, watching Betty's face slide from shock to confusion. "Think about it. Featherhead, Doiley, the nuns, and Claudius had cyanide in their systems. Why make the change for Clifford?"

"I don't know, maybe she didn't have any cyanide at the time?" Betty guessed. "Maybe because it was her husband, not just someone she resented?"

We sat in silence a few minutes, both of us lost in thought. It wasn't that I was trying to defend Penelope Blossom, but a part of me could understand where she was coming from. During their time as the Midnight Club, she and Daryl Doiley had become close from the sounds of it, and Penelope likely felt betrayed when the group went their separate ways following Featherhead's death. Featherhead himself had been an accident, and I believed Penelope when she said she hadn't poisoned the nuns. Afterall, they were most likely the ones who introduced her to the game of Gryphons and Gargoyles. Claudius though, I was stuck on.

"What reason would Penelope have had for killing Claudius?" I asked Betty.

"She said his death was basically for the greater good," Betty replied. "He was behind the seizures that led to the quarantine."

"Come on, Betty, there's more to it than that," I said. "We already know he was supplying the Sisters with Fizzle Rocks, which meant he was supplying others around town as well."

"No, no, no. Penelope said it wasn't the Fizzle Rocks themselves, something about the runoff being dumped into Sweetwater River."

I nodded, surprised I hadn't considered that possibility before. "That makes sense. You mess with the recipe even the tiniest bit and the resulting drugs will have unwanted side-effects. Continuously dump the runoff from the manufacturing of the drug into the same place, it's going to mix together, creating all-new side-effects."