The Mafia's Heirs

51. Can I Trust You?

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"Anyway, do we have a suspect?"

"Linda."

"Why?"

"Don't know. She keeps denying it. But she served you the soup so.."

"The soup?"

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"Yeah, it wasn't the bread. We all ate it and it was wrapped. And the soup was made only for you."

"Yeah, but anyone could have done it."

"But only she and Janet knew it was meant for you." Mateo said. "I gave all the other house helps the month off because I thought we would leave for Italy today."

"Then wouldn't she know she will be the prime suspect if something happened to me?" She asked. She continued before he could argue. "And wouldn't she try to escape? Also, how can you be sure it was for me in the first place?"

Mateo wasn't going to answer the last question. He wasn't ready to tell her that it was her life that was in danger due to Mona. Not until he had taken that wench down.

"Maybe that was her plan River, to pretend she didn't do it." Mateo had seen it happen way too many times. He was not taking a chance when it came to River and their children.

"And do you have any proof?" River was getting too worked up. Mateo didn't think that was good for her. "The girl got the soup and served it right in front of me. I should have seen it happen Mateo."

"She could have put in before you got there." He tried to explain. He frowned at how River was trying to defend Linda but then realized why. "I know Linda and you have grown pretty close but you still can't trust her so blindly, love."

He bit his tongue as the word of endearment slipped out but River didn't seem to notice it because she was too focused on getting Linda off the suspect list.

"No, that is not the reason. I just know she couldn't have done it. The drug was found in my body in its original form. It denatures above 104 degrees. So, it was not put in the hot soup. And the bread still had its wrapping so she can't be the one who messed with the bread."

"But we tested the bread you ate. It had no such drug in it."

River bit her lip as she looked at him, exasperation and helplessness evident on her face. He knew what she was thinking, which was exactly what he was thinking; if they could get to her, they could get to the kids.

She rubbed her face hard and took deep breaths as if thinking hard at what could have happened. And all of a sudden, she looked up, her eyes wide. "The cookie jar wasn't properly closed."

Mateo raised a brow as he tried to interpret what that had to do with the situation.

"You ate the cookies?" He asked, finally catching on.

"And it tasted weird, bitter. I thought it was because you people didn't close it properly." She said. The couple stared at each other as they tried to figure out what had happened.

"The kids and Adam didn't eat the cookies because the kids had decided yesterday that the rest of the cookies would be for you and Adam had promised he wouldn't touch it." Mateo said. "And he is not the kind to break any promises."

"And the cookies weren't completely spoilt so it happened today." She added.

All the pieces of the puzzles fell into place.