A Cold One: Epilogue

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Revelations

Mooney came back with a manic gleam in his eye. He pulled up the biggest table, he could get and laid down a single cauldron of stew in the center.


“Everyone sit down. Time to eat. Callo, stand guard.” Callo promptly took his scariest pose along with his big flintlock rifle.


“Eat.” Mooney himself took the first spoonful and closed eyes as if in meditation. Gregory swallowed a mouthful, found it too spicy for his liking and reacted by sticking his tongue out to dry.
Mauray had a big spoonful. So, did van Borren. Rankin refused. Callo forcefed him. At gunpoint.


“Yes, now that everyone has eaten it, say your last prayers. I added this.” He placed, on the table, a small bottle with a red label. “Mizo Chilli Powder. 100 times hotter than the Baltimore variety of spice. Guaranteed to melt your minds. Eat again.”


Rankin smirked at that and took two more spoonfuls. He seemed to like it. Gregory and van Borren forced a smile and ate more.


Mauray had broken into a sweat, “I don’t feel so good. I think I’ll pass.” Mooney grabbed his hand. “Oh, no. Mauray you must eat this.”, he said as he raised another spoon to Mauray’s mouth. Mauray struggled wildly as the spoon neared his mouth. “STOP. It is poisoned! I don’t want to die! We are all going to die!” screamed Mauray.


“And why do you say that? Tell me or Callo will personally feed you this.”


 “Because I poisoned the chilli powder. Now, take me to the medicamp. Soon.”


Mauray had given up. He was sitting slumped up in his chair. Callo put a hand on his shoulder. 
Mauray breathed, “I loved her. Always have. She is a bitch though. Duped me. Her and Acetone, still work together. She played me. Didn’t have to, if she had asked for the money I would have given it to her. Then, Acetone came and roughed me up. That bastard. I poisoned his sausage soup this morning. Nice large dosage. Mixed Ricin in her shot and also in her drink. Dead.”


“Relax, it is not poisoned. It is another bottle. One that I like to use with my soup. Mauray here has been poisoning Acetone’s food and Niel’s drink. With Ricin. It is made from castor seeds. Easy to do for a chef. I studied toxicology and biothaumaturgy for my major. I saw the symptoms and made my play.”


The snowstorm hadn’t subsided. The night was yet to come.

[it all began here Prologue]