Poisoned by Kristi Holl Page A

clothes?
    “Brooke, are you sure you don’t need the scholarship?” Jeri asked. “Do you really have plenty of money? Then why were you borrowing money from Nikki? I heard her mention loans you didn’t pay back.” Jeri turned to Ms. Carter. “If you call Brooke’s parents or ask the headmistress, you might discover their real money situation.”
    Ms. Carter studied Brooke thoughtfully, a frown line deepening between her eyes. “Yes, I suppose I could do that.” Brooke took a big breath. “You don’t need to.” Her shoulders slumped, and her breathing was ragged. “Pretty much everything Jeri said is true.”
    “You
did
poison me?” Emily’s voice rose shrilly. “Why? I thought you were my friend!”
    “I am!” Brooke’s voice caught in her throat. She glanced at her roommate, then away quickly. “I never put enough in your food to really hurt you.”
    Horror was etched onto Emily’s face. “I ended up in the hospital!”
    “I know, and I’m really sorry! I don’t know how that happened. I must’ve guessed wrong on the amounts.” Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “I just needed you to miss the science fair.” She leaned her elbows on her knees and stared at the floor. Tears ran in thin lines down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. “Jeri’s right. My parents’ florist shop is almost bankrupt. If I don’t get the scholarship for next year, I can’t come back.”
    You won’t come back now anyway,
Jeri thought.
You’ll be expelled.
    Jeri glanced at the girls now huddled silently in the hall. Nikki stood at the back. “Nikki’s bigger than Emily,” Jeri said, “but she got the sickest at Abby’s birthday supper. Why?”
    Brooke mumbled so low that it was hard to make out her words. “I don’t know. I mixed some poisonous mushrooms in with the good ones from the grocery store when I was in the kitchen.”
    “But nobody saw you,” Jeri said.
    “It was while Abby was changing clothes and I was helping you get tea refills. I wanted it to look like a bug that was going around.”
    Jeri nodded. “It’d be too obvious if only Emily got sick.”
    Brooke squirmed on the couch. “After we sat down, I knocked over Emily’s glass, as a distraction. While Dallas mopped up the water, I added more mushrooms to Emily’s salad. I don’t know what happened to Nikki.”
    “I think I do,” Nikki said, coming into the room. “I helped clean up afterwards. Before throwing away the leftover salad, I picked out the mushrooms. I love mushrooms. Well, I
did.
Not so much now.”
    “And I hate mushrooms,” Rosa said. “I picked mine out. That explains why I never got sick that night.”
    Jeri cocked her head to one side, studying Brooke. “I suppose the other incidents during the week were to make it look even more like a virus spreading.”
    Brooke nodded, and then glanced up at Jeri. “I knew about the daffodil bulbs from my parents’ florist shop, but how’d
you
know?”
    “Mr. Petrie’s book listed poisonous foods, but also flowers—like hydrangea and jonquils and daffodils.” Jeri rubbed her sore elbow. “You got the bulbs from the greenhouse, right?”
    Brooke didn’t move or answer. Ms. Carter touched Brooke’s shoulder, and she jumped. “Come with me,” the house mother said quietly.
    “Wait.” Jeri wanted to know one more thing. “What did you add to the trail mix?”
    Brooke was silent.
    Jeri decided to try a bluff. “Rosa didn’t eat hers, but she saved it. We can have the police lab test it.”
    Brooke sighed. “Dried elderberries.”
    Jeri frowned. “Elderberries? Those aren’t poisonous. My grandma made elderberry jam, and it never made me sick. Grandpa made elderberry wine too.”
    “Cooked berries are fine.” Brooke stole a guilty glance at Emily. “Raw ones are poisonous.” Suddenly she cried out, “But I didn’t mean to make you that sick! I
didn’t!”
She sobbed and couldn’t seem to catch her breath. “I th-th-thought you were going to