The doorbell rang.
"So it begins," muttered Ed, getting up to answer the door for his inaugural trick-or-treaters.
This was Ed's first Halloween since moving to town, so he'd prepared a tray of rather lopsided homemade cakes, along with some assorted chocolates and lollies from the supermarket.
These kids were polite; not wishing to offend him, they grabbed a cake each and as much wrapped sugar as their buckets could carry. Ed knew they would wait until they were out of sight, then toss his cakes into the hedge.
That's why he'd put the poison into the store-bought candy instead.