Murder By Muffin (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 3)

fell. I could have sworn I secured the place with it just a couple of hours ago.” He blinks owlishly.

“Oh, I took all that horrible-looking tape down,” says Mom. “It’s so unattractive.”

I cringe. “Um, Mom, you probably shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not? It’s not like it’s going to stop anyone from crossing over it.”

Obviously.

Travis looks as if he’s mentally counting to ten and losing the battle to keep his cool. “Rusty,” he says tightly, “can you please secure the area again?”

Rusty takes off his police cap and scratches the top of his balding head. “Sure, just hope it works this time,” he mutters before going back outside.

Zeke comes into the kitchen. He takes one look at my parents and Will, then nods at them begrudgingly. He waves Travis over. The two of them start talking in hushed tones. I wish I could hear what they’re saying.

“What happened?” Will asks me. I tell them everything I know.

“Thank God for Paco,” says Mom. She bends over and pats him on the head. “Aren’t you just the most precious thing ever?”

Paco wags his tail in agreement.

“What in blazes was that woman doing in your kitchen?” asks Dad. “Do you think she had a heart attack or some kind of seizure?”

“I have no idea. The last time I saw her, she seemed okay. As a matter of fact, she was eating one of my apple walnut cream cheese muffins.”

Travis walks back over to our group. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask everyone to leave. Technically, this is a crime scene—”

“Now that’s just about the silliest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Mom. “Obviously, that poor woman must have had a heart attack.”

“Mrs. McGuffin,” Travis says, “we can’t make any assumptions. Now please, I need everyone except for Lucy to go home. She can call you when we’re done with her.”

Will doesn’t look happy, but he urges Mom and Dad to leave with him.

Once they’re gone, Travis and Zeke walk me out into the dining room. It’s empty except for the technicians. “Where’s Gilly? I thought she was in here answering questions.”

“We had an officer take her back to the beach house.” Zeke instructs me to take a seat at one of the tables while he and Travis sit opposite me.

“Is she all right? She was pretty shaken up.”

They give each other a look. This time, my Spidey sense doesn’t just alert me. It raps its knuckles on my head. “Gilly will be all right,” Zeke says. “We understand that you went to see Tara last night.”

“That’s right. I brought her some muffins.”

“Gilly says that you threatened her.”

I snort. “Gilly says that I threatened her?”

“Not her, Tara.”

“What? I did no such thing!”

“She says that you talked about poisoning the muffins. And that you said Tara was going to get what was coming to her.”

“Oh, for the love of—that’s ridiculous.”

“Lucy,” Travis says firmly, “did Tara kick you out of the cooking competition?”

“Technically, I guess so, but … the whole thing is just so silly. I gave an interview to The Gazette, which apparently is a breach of my contract. But that was just an excuse. She really wanted me off the show because she thinks I’ve become too infamous. Only I think she changed her mind because she called me last night.”