Sweet Revenge by Carolyn Keene Page B

of Brock’s food before he got sick? Or his utensils?”
    â€œUh, actually I did more than touch the guy’s food. I helped myself to a little of it. Not really his food,” the reporter added hastily. “Just some of that weird artificial sweetener he took around with him. I put some into my coffee at lunch-time when he was busy signing an autograph. I know it sounds dumb, but I wanted to cut a few calories.
    â€œWell, if that’s it I guess I’ll be going.” Dan Avery started off in the direction of his car, but Nancy grabbed his arm.
    â€œWait a minute,” she said suddenly. “You say you took the sweetener at lunchtime, Mr. Avery?”
    He nodded.
    â€œAnd you were feeling sick at dinnertime?”
    â€œMore than sick!” Avery said emphatically. “I mean, I was—ah—really indisposed all afternoon.”
    â€œThen it might be the sweetener!” said Nancy excitedly. “If it made you sick, it could have poisoned Brock. This could be the break I’ve been looking for!”
    George was looking at her curiously. “So someone put the poison in the sweetener?”
    â€œThat’s got to be it!” Nancy exclaimed. “Let’s get going, guys. Bess and George, could you head back to the inn and see if you can track down that jar of sweetener? Maybe Mr. Avery could give you a ride back—”
    â€œBe delighted to,” said the reporter with a big grin. “It’s the least I can do.”
    Behind him Bess was giving Nancy a disgusted look that said “thanks for nothing.”
    â€œWhere are you going, Nan?” George asked.
    â€œTo the police lab,” she replied. “The lab technicians and I are going to have a little chat. About poison.”
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    â€œI think I can get you in to see Dr. Demado,” said a young man at the reception desk. He led Nancy down the hall to an office.
    Dr. Demado turned out to be a calm, gray-haired woman in a business suit. “Of course I’ve heard of the Oakwood case,” she said when Nancy explained why she’d come. “Calomel poisoning, right? As far as I know, we haven’t traced the source yet.”
    â€œBut I’ve just found something out.” Nancy went on to tell Dr. Demado what she’d learned from Dan Avery.
    The chemist whistled. “No wonder he felt so sick! A dose of calomel could really lay a person flat.”
    â€œBut how could one poison have caused two such different reactions?” Nancy inquired.
    â€œCalomel definitely could,” Dr. Demado said with a firm nod. “Do you remember what Brock was using the sweetener for?”
    â€œIced tea,” Nancy told her. “Iced tea with lemon. And coffee. I saw him use the sweetener in that, too.”
    â€œCalomel breaks down into a poison when itcomes into contact with acid,” Dr. Demado explained. “Acid like the lemon in Brock Sawyer’s tea.”
    â€œAnd in the chocolates he tasted,” Nancy suddenly remembered, growing more excited. “They were lemon truffles. And he ate two of them before he collapsed.”
    â€œSo he got a double dose of acid,” Dr. Demado mused, shaking her head.
    â€œWait a minute,” said Nancy. “Let me catch up to you.” Rapidly she summarized what she’d heard so far.
    â€œSomeone dumped calomel into Brock’s artificial sweetener. Brock and Mr. Avery both used the sweetener, but neither of them noticed that it had been poisoned because calomel is tasteless. It made Mr. Avery fall sick because that’s what calomel does. But it poisoned Brock because he took it with the acid in his tea and in those lemon truffles. Is that right?”
    â€œRight.”
    There was still one piece missing from the puzzle, Nancy realized. “But where would someone get calomel?” she asked.
    â€œNow, that’s something I can’t answer,” said the chemist.