Part II – Clean Kitchen? Two days later, Ami knocked on the door of a neat house in the neighborhood of the sick children. The one thing all the victims had in common was strawberry pie. Miss Emma Braithwaite, well into her eighties, had promised the neighborhood children fresh strawberry pie in exchange for them picking berries from her backyard. Miss Emma’s pies were well loved by everyone. So, the children had picked berries, and Miss Emma had made over a dozen pies to share. Unfortunately, a pinch of E. coli seems to have been added to the usual ingredients. The door was opened by a small woman with snowy hair and snapping eyes. "May I help you, miss?" she asked. "Yes, ma’am. I am looking for Miss Braithwaite. I am Dr. Ami von Hoffer. I’m with the county." "Come in, come in. I heard you’ve been talking with the neighbors about the sick children. Have you found out the problem?" Miss Emma held the door open. Ami entered the spotless house. This was the part of her job she really disliked. "That’s what I’ve come to talk to you about. We’ve tracked the illness to a bacterium that produces a nasty toxin. It causes a type of food poisoning." "I don’t know anything about food poisoning," Miss Emma remarked as she offered Ami a chair. "Only food. I used to be a cook. May I offer you a bite to eat? I was just about to have some pie." Ami schooled her features. "You haven’t eaten any of the pie yet, have you?" she asked. "Child, I can hear it in your voice. What are you not telling me?" Miss Emma sat rigidly down in a straight-backed chair near the window. "Ma’am, we think the bacteria came from the strawberry pies you made. It is the only thing everyone ate. Please tell me you haven’t eaten any. If you still have some, I need to sample it." Miss Emma sat even straighter. "I keep a clean kitchen. Different knives between raw meat and fresh produce. Wipe down the cutting board between foods. I pay attention, so don’t you try to tell me I poisoned someone." "Ma’am, we didn’t say you poisoned anyone, but we are concerned the berries may have been contaminated. Please, you haven’t eaten any, have you? No offense, but at your age food poisoning could be very serious." "Bah, I keep a clean kitchen. I washed all the berries well." Miss Emma got slowly up from her chair. "Come see my kitchen." "There was an outbreak of this same strain up north last month. It came from hamburger. Have you had any hamburger lately?" Ami followed her into the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, it was spotless and smelled faintly of some cleaner. The aroma brought back memories of her grandmother’s house. Miss Emma stopped short. "I had some hamburger that thawed in the refrigerator. It leaked all over. I threw it out because I didn’t trust it. Made a right mess in the kitchen. Scrubbed it all down before I made the pies. Same cleaner I’ve been using for years. No one ever got sick before. Go right ahead and run your little swabs along the counter. Right there is where I made the pies.