Chapter 0341
Abby
Today has been a whirlwind of frustration and disappointment.
After the health inspector shut down my restaurant and the news media turned against me, I know I
have to do something. I can’t just sit around and let my reputation crumble without a fight.
So, I decide to take matters into my own hands and try to unravel the mystery behind the string of
unfortunate incidents that have befallen my business.
I’ve been pacing back and forth in my living room for nearly an hour, pondering how to go about this.
My phone has practically been ringing nonstop, and finally, I decide to answer it with a sigh.
It’s Chloe.
“What is it?” I bark, far more sharply than I meant to.
Chloe pauses for a moment, and I can tell she’s perturbed. “Abby, honey,” she finally says in a cautious
tone, “are you okay?”
I stop my pacing, chewing my lower lip. “Well, not really,” I admit with a wry chuckle. “This is bullshit. All
of it.”
“I know,” Chloe says with a sigh. “How are you holding up?”
I pause for a moment as I look around at my living room. It’s a bit of a mess right now; at some point,
during my frantic search for information, I dug through my filing cab to find the documents from the
potential arson case that went nowhere. Papers are scattered all around my coffee table.
“I’m, um, fine,” I say. “Just trying to figure stuff out.”
She sighs again. “You’re ying detective, aren’t you?”
Her words hit home. She knows me too well; there’s no sense in hiding it.
“Yeah, I’m trying to get to the bottom of it,” I say. “Chloe, my kitchen has always been spotless. Up until
the cookingpetition business started, I had never had a food poisoning outbreak; so how is it that,
all of a sudden, I’m getting two back-to-back—one of which is the Alpha gathering?”
Chloe is silent for several moments. My words all just came out in a rush, and I realize that I sound a
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little crazy right now.
“Abby,” she says cautiously, “I understand where you’reing from. But—”
“No buts,” I say with an exasperated sigh. “I know this wasn’t my fault. And you can all think I’m crazy,
but I’m getting to the bottom of this. Goodbye.”
Before Chloe can answer, I’m hanging up the phone and tossing it down on the couch, returning once
more to my investigation.
First on my list is to review the CCTV footage from the restaurant. I spend hours going through the
recordings, starting with the first food poisoning incident that urred right before the cook-off.
I watch as my staff rushes around the kitchen, preparing the meal that we shared the day before the
cook-off. But nothing is amiss, no matter how hard I search; they’re all just as professional as ever,
washing their hands, disinfecting tools, and cleaning surfaces.
Dead end.
Next, I examine the recordings from the night of the burst pipe and electrical outage. Right up until the
point when the power went out, there’s nothing. No hooded figures, no one shoving stuff down my
drain, no one even walking in the general direction of the basement door.
Another dead end.
Feeling a bit more frustrated now, I move on to the recordings from the day of the Alpha party. I watch
as my team and I prepare the food and set up the dining area.
But nothing is amiss.
I sigh and lean back in my chair, feeling defeated. It seems like I’m chasing shadows, and I have no
leads to follow. But I can’t give up. I have to keep digging, keep searching for answers. Co?tent оf
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I spend the rest of the night wondering what my next move should be. I barely sleep, barely eat, barely
even rest. And by the time the sunes up in the morning, I have a next step nned out.
With renewed determination, I decide to pay a visit to the art gallery next door to my restaurant.
I walk into the gallery and find Mr. Caldwell standing near one of the exhibits, his nose in the air as he
examines a painting. I approach him, feeling a bit uneasy.