by Lyndsey Cole
Iris picked up Poppy. “You gave me quite a fright, going off on that adventure.” She looked at Ryan. “What do we do now?”
“We? We don’t do anything. I’m going to have the car checked for prints and find out what Adam was doing all night.”
“Adam?”
Lily explained to Iris, “This is Adam’s car.”
Iris accused Ryan, “That ‘friend’ of yours stole Poppy?”
Ryan was busy talking on his phone. When he was done, he directed his attention to Iris. “We don’t know who stole Poppy. Yes, this is Adam’s car, but, maybe he has an explanation. I need to keep an open mind until all the facts are in.”
Iris mumbled under her breath, “I hope you don’t let your old friendship cloud your judgment. It looks pretty straight forward to me.”
Ryan shook his head and got back to work.
It was only a matter of minutes before another police car arrived and another unmarked car pulled in next to Ryan’s cruiser.
Adam got out of the second car. “What’s this all about? Did something happen to my car?”
Ryan took Adam’s arm and led him off to the side. Lily moved closer so she could eavesdrop. She heard Ryan ask Adam, “Where were you last night?”
Adam shook off Ryan’s arm. “It’s none of your business where I was. What’s this all about?”
“A stolen puppy was found in your car this morning.”
Adam’s face hardened. “I left my car here last night and went out with a friend. That’s all I’m telling you.” He got back into the car he had arrived in and left.
Lily walked over to Ryan. “Was that Vinnie Stewart driving that car?”
Ryan ran his fingers through his hair as he frowned. “Yup. Something feels wrong with this picture.”
Chapter 11
Lily and Rosie walked home. All the peacefulness she had been feeling with her early morning solitude was replaced with feelings of dread and anxiety. Her stomach was in knots from trying to figure out who was watching her and what was the message being sent. She was confident that whoever stole Poppy didn’t mean to hurt her, but wanted Lily to back off all the questions. Was there something she missed at the puppy class? Someone she should have noticed? She realized that the danger could be from anywhere and she needed to be much more observant and careful. All these strange events just made her resolve tighten and she was more determined than ever to figure it all out. How was Adam involved? Or was someone trying to frame him? Lily shook her head. It would all come together if she gave it a rest and stopped obsessing.
Rosie was as cheerful as ever. Not a care in the world. Lily was in awe of the life of her dog. Happy. Trusting. Faithful. Those soft brown eyes always looking to Lily for an explanation of what Lily needed and Rosie was glad to help out. “If only you knew all the answers, Rosie. I’m heading to work. Want to come with me today?”
Daisy was already at the shop getting everything organized for the day. She was busy making some cash and carry bouquets to restock the display cooler. It wasn’t busy at the moment but Lily had a big wedding for the weekend. This was the wedding season, after all, and she loved being part of all the happiness surrounding the events. Dealing with the bride and bride’s mother could be challenging and test her patience at times, but in the end, everyone was always pleased with her work. She had her list all set and needed to check with Jack to make sure he could supply everything.
Daisy looked up when Lily walked in. “Mom texted me that you found Poppy.”
“Yes. Poppy’s safe and sound with Mom again.” Lily told Daisy everything from the night before up until Adam arrived in the parking lot.
Daisy listened but kept working and never looked up at Lily. Her cell phone rang. Daisy turned away to answer it and told the caller she couldn’t talk.
Lily was watching Daisy who was being unnaturally quiet. She was uncomfortable about something. “Daisy. What haven’t you told me?”
Daisy’s face turned red as the roses she was working with but she still wouldn’t look at Lily.
“I promised not to tell anyone.”
“I’m not anyone. I’m your sister. What’s going on?”
Daisy put the flowers down and leaned on her work table. “I was with Adam last night.”
“Are you serious? He could be a killer.”
“I went to the Bar and Grill for a late drink with some friends and Adam came in. He was with a group of guys and they were pretty rowdy. He kept looking at me and, well, one thing led to another. We hung out for a while.”
“What time was that?”
Daisy thought for a minute. “They came in around nine, nine thirty, I guess, and we left around eleven.”
“Did he have his car?”
“No. He said something about meeting his friends at the park. He left his car and one of his friends was driving.”
“He already has friends here?”
“I think they were the detectives working on Carla’s case. That’s all I know.”
“Why did he tell you not to tell anyone?”
“I’m not sure, but maybe he didn’t want Ryan to find out? Because of how Adam broke up Ryan and Carla’s engagement? I didn’t ask him a lot of questions. We were busy doing other things.” Daisy grinned and blushed again.
Lily told Daisy she was going to Jack’s Greenhouse to check on her flower order for the wedding for later in the week. She wanted to double check the colors against the fabric swatches. What she didn’t tell Daisy was that she was going by the Cozy Motel to see if she could track down Adam and get some answers.
Lily always had a little flashback of her close encounter with death at the greenhouse. She had foolishly gone into the storage building to search for clues in a previous murder, and ended up being kidnapped. She used her wit, though, and got out of that hairy situation. She shrugged off that old feeling and went inside to find Jack, the new manager.
Lily and Jack had always been friends, but ever since he got the job as manager of the greenhouses they saw a much more of each other. Jack grew the best specialty cut flowers around and Lily always used whatever he had in season. Sometimes it took a little convincing to get a bride away from the traditional roses but once they saw how vibrant and fresh using local flowers was, she could usually sway them to something besides roses. Jack had beautiful snapdragons, sweet pea, campanula, alstroemeria and dianthus plus a few small amounts of some other odd flowers. Lily was looking for a particular shade of pink which she matched with the campanula and sweet pea. Adding that to some white snapdragon and alstroemeria would be perfect for this bride. She gave him her list and said she would be back to pick up everything in a couple of days.
Lily headed north from Jack’s greenhouse and slowly drove by the Cozy Motel. There were several cars in the parking lot and she could see two detectives standing around. She didn’t see the car that Poppy was found in. She realized she didn’t have a plan so she pulled into the gas station next door to get her thoughts organized.
Grabbing her tote, she left her car and walked the one hundred yards back to the motel. The two men in the parking lot stopped what they were doing to check her out. One was tall and broad and the other was about a head shorter but just as broad. She shuddered thinking she hoped she didn’t piss them off just by being there. They’d be able to snap her like a twig if they wanted to. Putting on her best confident look, she strolled over to them.
“Hey boys, how’s it going today?”
They both smiled and tensed their muscles. “Hello to you. What can we do for ya?”
“Where can I find Adam May?”
“You don’t need Adam. Can’t we help you? We noticed you walking over. Did your car break down?”
Lily gave her best flirty smile. “No. My car’s fine. I just need to talk to Adam for a minute. Is he here?”
The taller guy nodded his head toward the upstairs level of the motel. “He’s combing that room again for more evidence.”
“Oh that poor gi
rl. Have you found anything yet? Such a shame to die like that.”
The shorter detective smirked. “Yeah. Real shame.” He looked at the other detective and winked.
Lily dug the toe of her shoe in the sand. “Did you know her?”
Another quick glance passed between the two. “You have a lot of questions, don’t ya?”
Lily looked at them innocently. “Just curious. Not too much excitement happens around here, ya know. It’s all everyone is talking about.”
The short guy looked around quickly. “Well, between you and me, we did know her. She was quite the party animal.”
Lily raised her eyebrows. “Really?” she gushed.
“Oh yeah. She liked hanging around when all of us were having a good time. Caused a few problems recently.”
“Maybe she pissed off a boyfriend?” Lily decided to gently dig as far as she could.
The tall detective elbowed his buddy. “Speaking of one of her boyfriends,” he nodded toward Adam, “it looks like he’s coming down now.”
Lily winked. “Thanks boys. Great chattin’ with ya.”
Lily walked slowly toward the stairs, making sure to give the ogling detectives something to dream about. She could feel their eyes burning holes in her butt. Creeps, she thought, but I may as well use what I’ve got to get what I want.
Lily waved to Adam. “Hey, could I talk to you for a minute?”
Adam looked over with no emotion showing on his face except for a small flicker of his jaw muscles clenching. “I’m busy.”
“I know you’re busy trying to solve this murder.” She noticed a slight flinch at the word murder. “But I need to talk to you about Daisy.”
“Daisy?” His voice softened a bit and he took Lily’s arm and steered her to the far side of the parking lot. Away from any nosy ears.
“She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”
Lily glared at him. “I’m her sister, not anyone, and I want some answers.”
He peeked at his watch. “Okay, five minutes.”
“How did my mother’s puppy get into your car? Daisy said you didn’t get to the Bar and Grill until around nine thirty, plenty of time to drive to Waterfield and back and drop your car off at the park.”
“I didn’t go to Waterfield.”
“Where were you before you hooked up with Daisy?”
“I can’t tell you and you need to stop digging around before you get yourself into a bad corner you can’t get out of.”
“Are you threatening me, Detective May? What happened to Carla? You were staying in the room right next to her. Seems a bit suspicious to me.”
Adam clenched his lips. “Not a threat, Ms. Bloom, more like a warning. You have no idea what’s going on and you’d better be careful, real careful, who you spout off to. You seem like a nice person. Ryan is obviously smitten with you and I’d hate to see him loose another girlfriend.” A car drove in and Adam walked away from Lily.
She hollered after him, “Stay away from Daisy.”
Adam ignored her. She watched as Vinnie got out of the car that drove in and he and Adam had an animated conversation. Unfortunately, Lily couldn’t hear any of it but she noticed them glance at her and she felt cold shivers run down her spine.
Chapter 12
Ryan was waiting at Beautiful Blooms when Lily got back.
She threw her tote on her desk. “It smells good in here.”
Ryan opened a take out bag. “Food to enjoy while I fill you in. Want a blueberry muffin and coffee?”
She looked at him skeptically. “Buttering me up for something?” Lily took a bite, watching him carefully. “Sunflower Café makes the best muffins. So, you have some information?”
Ryan settled into the chair with Sweet Pea on his lap. “First, those detectives you asked about, Larry and Chris, were both in town helping with the investigation. I don’t know when they arrived. According to Adam, Carla wasn’t involved with either of them.”
“Adam? You were talking to him?” Lily said with disgust.
“He is working on the investigation. I have to talk to him or Vinnie to get any information. What do you have against Adam?”
Lily glanced at Daisy but said nothing. “It’s more like what don’t I have against him. What about finding Poppy in his car?”
“He has witnesses saying he was here in Misty Valley. His story checks out. We didn’t find anybody else’s prints on his car. Maybe someone was pulling a prank.”
Lily almost spit her coffee across the room. “A prank? That’s ridiculous. You know what Adam told me?”
That got Daisy’s attention. “Adam? You talked to Adam?”
“I wanted some answers. He basically threatened me and told me to stop asking questions before I get hurt. Or something like that. So, no, I don’t think someone stealing Poppy was a prank. It was someone trying to scare me away from Lana’s mother.” She looked at Ryan. “I need to find out what Lana knows.”
The front bell rang and Daisy hustled to the front. Ryan got up to leave. “Listen Lily, Adam has a good reason to give you that warning. Let him do his job. There’s stuff I can’t tell you about.”
“That’s ridiculous. Don’t try to scare me with non-information. I know what my gut is telling me and something isn’t adding up. I want to clear any suspicion that I had anything to do with Carla’s death. What about Adam’s room getting trashed? What was that all about? And another thing. Ellie Hill told me that someone stopped at their farm and bought roses from her mom the morning before Carla was found dead. Maybe you should try to track down that mysterious person.”
“I can’t tell you Lily. Adam confided in me and I can’t break that confidence. When did you find out about the roses from Hill Farm?”
“When I delivered her wedding flowers. She said she would talk to her mother and get back to me. But, ya know, it probably slipped her mind with all she had to do to get ready.” Lily studied Ryan carefully. “You make your choice about Adam May and I’ll make mine. But I’ll tell you this: I don’t trust that guy and I don’t know why you think you can after what he did to you.” Lily got up and went in the cooler to bring out flowers.
Ryan watched her walk away, his shoulders sagging as he left to go back to work.
Iris passed Ryan on her way in. She asked Daisy, “Why is he looking so glum?”
“Oh, you know, Lily is mad at him for something. It’ll blow over. How’s Poppy? Any worse for her adventure?”
“I had to give her a bath, but other than that she’s just fine. I’m not completely recovered though. Vinnie said he’d buy me a coffee to help me mend.”
“Don’t tell Lily. She’ll probably give you a lecture. I was hanging out with Adam last night and I thought she was going to disown me. She actually went and talked to him. Can you believe it?”
“Shhh. Here she comes.”
Lily looked at the two women. “You both act like you just swallowed canaries. What’s up?”
Iris fluffed up her hair. “I’ve got a date.”
“Oh please don’t tell me you’re going to see that detective.” Lily scowled.
Daisy looked at Iris. “I told you so.”
Lily got her tote. “You two can make googly eyes at these detectives but I’m going to have another talk with Joanne. Come on Rosie. Let’s take a ride.”
Lily called Joanne, hoping she would answer her phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi Joanne, this is Lily. Can I meet with you so we can talk some more?”
“Um. I don’t know.” There was a long pause before Joanne said, “Okay. Meet me at that same diner.”
“Thank you so much. I’ll be there in about thirty minutes.”
Lily pumped her fist in the air. This must be my lucky day, she thought. She rolled the windows down in her minivan and let the warm summer breeze blow through the car. She pulled onto the highway, turned the radio up and sang as she watched the scenery fly by. A loud thump, thump, thump, made her slow down and pull off at the ne
xt exit.
She walked slowly around her van trying to figure out what caused the noise. It didn’t take long. Her back rear tire was as flat as road kill. She slammed her hand on the side of the van. “Crap. I hope there’s air in my spare.”
Lily opened the back door to get the tire and jack out when she heard a car slow down and pull over next to her. The car looked familiar. Not in a good way. It looked like Adam’s car, not exactly the person she wanted to see. She kept at her task until she felt a presence behind her.
“Do you need some help, Ms. Bloom?”
A chill went up her spine. Lily slowly turned around forcing her body to stay relaxed. “I think I can manage.”
“It looks like your spare is flat too. I could give you a ride back to Misty Valley.”
“Why are you driving Detective May’s car?”
“Mine’s in the shop. It had a little dent to get fixed.”
Lily looked at Detective Vinnie Stewart. “Did your investigation bring you out this way?”
Vinnie leaned against Lily’s car with his arms folded. “You could say that. So, how about that ride? I promised your mom a coffee so I need to get going.”
Lily sighed. This was not part of her plan but she didn’t have much of a choice. “Alright. I need to grab my tote.”
Vinnie waited in his car for Lily to slide into the passenger seat. “All set?”
“I guess so.”
Vinnie hit the power lock for all the doors and took off, making Lily’s head snap back against the headrest. His eyes gleamed and one corner of his mouth arched up. “I just had a nice chat with a friend of yours.”
Lily could feel the sweat of her palms soaking through her jeans as she realized this was probably a bad decision. “Oh? Who would that be?”
“An old friend of mine, Joanne Shaw.”
“You two are friends?”
“Yeah. That way she gets some special favors for her daughter, Lana. She’ll do anything to keep Lana safe in prison. The guide dog program? I helped Lana get picked for that.”
Lily’s skin was crawling. She slowly moved her hand to the door so she could unlock it and jump out if he slowed down. “Anything? Like what? Sex?”
