A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer! They are on the right track. More in this chapter. :) Thanks!
Chapter 15
"Miss Elphaba… I…" Mr. Samuels couldn't believe that the green woman was telling him, nor could he believe that she would be asking him what she was asking him.
"Mr. Samuels, I would not ask if I did not have good reason. No matter how I feel about you, its possible someone snuck Munchkin Blue Bonnet into your food," Elphaba said. The two sat in the kitchen talking in private. Amir was busy cleaning the dining room.
"I wouldn't even know where to get Munchkin Blue Bonnet," he admitted. He had looked at the flower in the book that she'd handed him. He'd never even seen one before. There was a knock on the door and Elphaba asked who it was.
"Mistress, you asked for me?" It was Chistery. She told him to come in and she showed him the picture of the flower. The Flying Monkey was quite observant and she was sure if he'd seen it, he would know, given his position at the Palace gates.
"Mr. Samuels, do you remember when you got that new batch of flour?" Chistery suddenly asked.
"Yes, but that was two days before Lady Glinda got sick," the chef admitted.
"Not the flour, the driver," Chistery refocused him.
"Oh yes! He was not our regular driver! He was a Munchkin named Nick. Our usual driver, Larry, was supposedly out sick," Samuels remembered.
"You had no reason to suspect him then. Why now?" Elphaba asked the two of them.
"His papers were in order at the gates. He did everything he was told while in my presence, but what is the likelihood that we had a Munchkin driver and then a Munchkin flower ends up getting Lady Glinda sick?" Chistery gave her a look.
"A little too much. Amir helped him with the flour delivery and he introduced me to him. Amir offered to take some food to Larry's house to check in on our friend, but Nick thought that wouldn't be a good idea as he didn't know what Larry had. He said he wouldn't want us to get sick," Mr. Samuels frowned.
"Did Amir go to Larry's house anyway?" Elphaba wanted to know.
"I honestly don't know. Things got a little hairy not long after that," the chef admitted.
"I'll ask, but you think this Nick tainted the flour? This flower is very poisonous - others should have gotten sick," she pointed out.
"He brought a small bag of something that was a new flour that the mill was trying. Nick said that the owners would take an order of it on the next delivery if we liked it. I made cupcakes with it – a basic recipe that would allow me to test it without ruining too many other ingredients. In fact, it was just enough to make a small batch of cupcakes. What have I done?" Mr. Samuels face fell.
"Nothing. You trusted a vendor who had been deemed same for the Palace. Where are the rest of the cupcakes? Find them and bring them to me. Meantime, I'll speak to Amir. Chistery, can you send men to the mill?" Elphaba asked. The chef ran back into the kitchen.
"On it," the Flying Monkey nodded and was gone. The green woman looked toward the door of the kitchen. The chef was exiting it with six cupcakes on a tray, but she could tell that he was very distraught.
"Help me catch this guy. Glinda and Bayram will make a full recovery. Their symptoms were bad, but we've passed the worst of it," Elphaba didn't have to the heart to tell the man that there was no medication to reverse the effects of the flower. It had to work its way through the body, which is what made it so deadly. Still the entire event was curious. Maybe it was a test run? Of course, if they had eaten more than two of the cupcakes apiece, they'd be dead.
"Anything you need," Mr. Samuels said.
"Come on," Elphaba told him.
To Be Continued…