by Joyce
“What will we do when we get the information?” Selena asked. “We can’t arrest anyone.”
“No,” Sam agreed. “But we can step on them.”
Paul and Al both frowned at him.
“What? Maybe this is someone trying to get to Peggy, but my part of the business is hurt by it too, and I’m out there selling my ass off to make up for what this person did.”
“Are you sure there was no one with this woman who ordered plants from you?” Millie asked in a quiet voice.
“No. We were completely alone. It’s not unusual. Most of the bank executives and other professional husbands aren’t interested in what their wives do with the house and yard. Even my best clients—I’ve never met their husbands. The wives have the check books.”
“What about this fake Mary Hood?” Millie wrote down his response in her notebook. “What did she look like? Do you think you could describe her for a sketch artist?”
Sam shrugged. “Sure.”
“But we don’t have a sketch artist,” Mai said.
“Maybe I could help with that.” Selena raised her hand. “I’ve taken art for the last two years. I’m not Rembrandt, but I could do a crude sketch that would give us an idea of who we’re dealing with.”
“Great idea,” Millie said. “Anybody got paper?”
“There should be some in the library.” Paul got to his feet.
Peggy paid the pizza delivery guy at the door. Shakespeare’s big head almost knocked the pizza box out of her hands as she turned around. Her cell phone rang, and she put the boxes on the kitchen table.
“Peggy? It’s Dorothy Beck. They’ve called me back from the seminar, can you believe it? I can’t even get away for two days.”
They both laughed at that, but it was a forced response. Both women knew why she was calling.
“I’m sorry, Peggy, but you can’t work on the Honohan case anymore. Conflict of interest. You know. I have to call Mai as well. You’re both on leave until this is over. I wish it could be different.”
Ferns
These plants reproduce by spores but possess true roots, stems, and complex leaves. These are ancient plants, dating back millions of years, and there are about 12,000 species. We may never know exactly how many species there are because some are lost every day to development in rain forests.
Chapter Eleven
It wasn’t totally a surprise that Dr. Beck had to pull them from the team.
Mai was emotional—she had more to lose than Peggy—and had to leave the room for a few minutes while everyone else ate pizza.
“I guess it goes along with taking me off the case,” Al said. “This pizza is good. Where did it come from?”
“Giovanni’s.” Peggy didn’t feel much like eating either. Working for the ME’s office wasn’t her entire livelihood as it was for Mai. She didn’t have expectations of moving up the ladder as her daughter-in-law did. Mai had hopes of someday taking Dr. Beck’s place.
Still, it was a black mark on her reputation. To be accused of working with Paul to kill Nita Honohan was enough to close all doors to her working with other botanists around the world. They needed a viable answer that would take the blame away from Paul. That would change everything back to the way it was. That was what she had to focus on for all their sakes.
They put Selena in the dining room with paper and pencil, away from the pizza and conversation. Millie sent Sam in first to make sure his description of Mary Hood wasn’t tainted by Paul’s description.
Peggy called Walter to let him know that there would be a noisy early morning delivery the next day. She didn’t answer his questions, telling him she had company at her house.
“If this woman has a criminal background, we should be able to ID her in the FBI database.” Millie carefully made sure her lipstick wasn’t smeared by the pizza.
“She must have some knowledge of botany,” Hunter said. “Otherwise how could she know to use this hogweed poison?”
“You could pick it up from Google,” Peggy answered. “I’m afraid making botanical poison isn’t that difficult. If you have a rudimentary intelligence, you could figure it out. It’s gruesome. I wouldn’t have thought of it as a way to kill someone. And I hope other people who read about it don’t try it.”
Mai came back in the kitchen as Selena was done working with Sam on the sketch.
“I’m sorry. I guess I just lost it.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Al squeezed her shoulder. “You just take care of you and that baby. Let us do this.”
Mai pushed herself up to her full height and faced him proudly. “I have twelve years’ experience with the medical examiner’s office. I can be a valuable member of this team. And since I have more to lose than anyone else here, I plan to take care of Rosie and make sure Paul doesn’t end up in prison.”
Al held up his hands in surrender. “You are absolutely right. I apologize.”
Sam grabbed some pizza. “Don’t ask me about the sketch. Millie says I shouldn’t talk about it.”
Millie had gone into the dining room with Paul so she could witness the procedure and make sure it was done correctly.
“Good,” Hunter said. “That’s what we need. Anything less won’t hold up in court.”
Everyone ate at least one slice of pizza, and Mai fed Rosie. Shakespeare looked so despondently at the empty pizza boxes, that Peggy gave him a dog treat. He carried it into the other part of the house, satisfied.
Conversation lagged as they waited for the outcome of the two sketches. What their next move would be hinged on what Selena drew.
It was a surprise, and a disappointment, when the two versions of Mary Hood didn’t match.
“How’s that possible?” Sam asked. “There are two women named Mary Hood living in Charlotte and trying to ruin our lives? I don’t believe it.”
Selena held up the sketch she’d done of Sam’s version of Mary Hood. She had long brown hair and had been wearing sunglasses the whole time because they’d been outside.
Paul’s version of the woman had short blond hair and blue eyes.
Peggy stared at both of them. “Let’s skip the face and ask another question—how tall was she? Small? Medium? Large? It’s hard to hide your height.”
“She was pretty short.” Sam held his hand at mid-chest level. “Petite, I guess, and thin.”
Paul mostly agreed with that. “Not thin. She had large hips and breasts.”
“But short, right?” Al asked. “You can add padding and change wigs, but it’s hard to hide height.”
“So we assume she’s short and thin—you can’t make yourself thinner—and she probably has short hair,” Peggy said. “Maybe she has blue eyes. It’s hard to say with contacts.”
“What about her age?” Millie asked. “Young? Old? Middle-aged?”
Sam glanced at Paul. “I think fifties. What about you?”
“Late forties or early fifties. She was wearing a lot of make-up.”
“Yeah. I’d say that too,” Sam agreed.
“It could be the same woman,” Mai said. “If you could set up another meeting with her, Paul, I could jab her with a needle and do a DNA test. We’d know who she is soon enough.”
Paul put his arm around his wife. “Getting a little vicious, are we? Why not just shoot her?”
Mai hugged Rosie tight. “I’m good with that. She’s trying to ruin our lives and doing a good job at it.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Al said. “We can describe her as a short, thin woman in her late forties or early fifties when we go to Stewart’s Furs to have a look at their customer list for the day.”
“How are we going to get something like that without a court order?” Hunter asked.
“We don’t need a court order,” Paul said. “I have my PI license. I can use that as ID.”
Mai groaned. “That’s what got us into all this trouble.”
“I’m sorry,” Paul said.
Rosie was tired and started fussing, so P
aul and Mai decided to go home. There was nothing more they could do until the next day.
Millie talked with Al before she left. She wanted him to be very careful that he didn’t jeopardize his thirty-plus years on the job. “You’re only off this case right now,” she cautioned. “I’m sure you don’t want it to be a permanent thing.”
Al laughed. “My wife would shoot you if she thought you were trying to keep me from retiring. I’m not worried about CMPD finding out that I’ve helped Peggy. I’ve given them a lot of good years. That includes losing my best friend to the job. If they want to get rid of me for what I do on vacation—so be it.”
Millie shrugged. “I understand. I’ll see you all later. Hang in there, Peggy. We’ll make this right.”
Peggy hugged her and said goodbye. Hunter left with Millie. Peggy hadn’t realized the two women were friends. She’d only known them to have met a few times at her house.
“We’re going too, unless you want me to stay,” Sam offered. “I can take Selena home and come back. I don’t know if you should be alone.”
“I’ll be fine. Shakespeare is here, and I lived alone in this house for many years. Don’t worry about it. Get some sleep. I know that plant shipment is coming early.”
“You won’t sleep through it either, you know,” Sam joked. “Those guys are noisy, and so is their truck. They aren’t used to quiet urban neighborhoods. You might get some angry calls from your neighbors.”
“Drop it off in that big open area by the garage. Only Walter will know, and I’ll tell him to expect it.”
Sam, Selena, and Peggy hugged before they left.
Al was the last to go. “Come and stay with me and Mary until Steve gets back. I know you lived here alone for a long time, but now it isn’t the same thing. We don’t know what this woman has in mind. If she’s masterminded both these events to attack you and your family, she’s clever and resourceful. You should be making a list of your enemies.”
She smiled and hugged him. “You know I don’t have any enemies. And I’ll be fine until Steve gets back. I’ll set the alarm and probably spend the night in the basement with my plants. Whatever this woman has in store, she must not want to kill me, just ruin my life. And we don’t even know that for sure yet.”
“Okay. If you’re sure I can’t change your mind.” He squeezed her hand. “Call me if you need anything—I mean anything. Don’t wait for it to be life-threatening. We don’t know for sure Mary Hood isn’t out there waiting to kill you either.”
Al finally left. Peggy fed Shakespeare and then made sure all the doors were locked. He gobbled his food down quickly and quietly followed her to each door.
She set the outer perimeter alarm and turned off the lights upstairs. Shakespeare followed her into the basement to sniff the sliding glass doors and whine as though asking if she’d made sure those doors were locked too.
“They’re always locked,” she told him. “Unless you’re asking to go out. Is that it?”
In answer, he walked around in a circle on his rug and then collapsed on it. He whined and beat his tail on the floor once or twice before laying his head down and closing his eyes.
Peggy patted his head and gave him a kiss. “I guess that means you don’t want to go out. But you know how boring it is for you being down here so you’re taking a nap. Good choice.”
She hadn’t exaggerated about staying in the basement. She’d put in a cot and a small fridge years ago. Sometimes when she was working on a project that needed to be checked every twenty minutes, it was easier to stay down here.
It hadn’t happened as much since she’d married Steve. She tended to limit those time-consuming projects, but that didn’t stop her from being a member of several botanical groups that did research into various types of plants.
She really loved working with groups that were looking for ways to make food plants go further. She’d grown large tomatoes—the size of soccer balls—and fast-growing short wheat that took less time and space to produce a full harvest.
Peggy liked working on ornamental hybrids too. She’d produced the first night blooming rose, dozens of miniature lilies, and huge ferns.
She checked each of her experiments every day and kept records of their growth rates and variables of temperature and humidity as well as any problems she encountered.
Currently she was working on a project with twelve other botanists from around the world to prove if melatonin enhanced growth in soybeans. So far her findings had been good. Her soybeans had grown more energetically and abundantly than soybeans grown without melatonin.
With the basement running the entire length of the big house, and every inch of the ceiling covered with grow lights, she had a big project at the far end. Enhanced spinach, the size of ten-foot elephant ears, was growing. Normal spinach was packed with vitamins and iron. One leaf of her spinach held enough vitamins and iron for an entire day.
She was thrilled with the thick, dark green leaves and enormous stems. They didn’t require good soil either, which was always a plus for growers. And the taste was excellent. She picked off a small leaf and chewed it as she went to check on her other plants.
In the heart of the basement was a small pond where she worked on the dwarf cattails, irises, and other water plants before she took them to The Potting Shed to sell. She also had some lovely water lilies that always made her day better just looking at them.
She cupped one of the large floating yellow lilies with her hands and smiled. They were so beautiful. It was hard to maintain any anger or frustration when she was down here with her babies.
Peggy was getting ready to check on her peanuts that could remove food allergies from other peanut plants and foods derived from them. The doorbell rang upstairs. She jumped nervously, and for the first time since Steve had the unit installed, she turned on the monitor that could show her who was at the door.
“Hi, honey.” Her father and mother waved to her. “Sam gave us a call and told us about what’s happening. We’ve brought a few things so we can stay here with you until Steve comes back.”
Cotton
No one knows exactly how old cotton is. Cotton bolls and cloth have been found in Mexico that are at least 7,000 years old. Cotton has changed very little from what is grown today. Colonists in America were growing cotton in 1616 along the James River in Virginia, creating a whole new, wealthier way of life for many.
Chapter Twelve
Like many people, Peggy had a love-hate relationship with her family.
She got along better with her father, Ranson Hughes, than she did her mother, Lilla. She was more like her father in personality but more like her mother in looks. She got her red hair from her mother and unfortunately, her short body, prone to gain weight by looking at a slice of cake.
Ranson was tall and thin with a patient disposition. He didn’t like to stir things up the way Peggy and her mother did. Most of the time, he got between them when there was trouble.
Peggy went upstairs with Shakespeare at her heels. They went to the kitchen door and opened it for her parents—a big hug from her father and polite air kisses from her mother.
“Why didn’t you call us?” Lilla demanded as Ranson maneuvered their suitcases into the house.
“She didn’t want to bother us,” her father said. “Don’t pick at her now. She’s had a rough day. We’re not here to make it worse.”
“What about Paul’s job?” Lilla continued as she strode confidently into the house leaving her handbag on the kitchen table with her pink sweater. “Is he going to be all right? I can’t believe you didn’t at least tell us about this. He’s our grandson, and Rosie is our great-granddaughter. We have a right to know.”
“Everything happened so quickly,” Peggy began to explain. “I didn’t think of it. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay, honey.” Ranson smiled. “Where should I put these bags?”
“You really don’t have to stay with me. Steve is only gone one more night. I’ll be fine.�
�� And I’m going to kick Sam for calling you as soon as I see him.
“We’re here now, Margaret,” her father said.
“And we’re not going home until things get better,” her mother added imperiously.
Peggy sighed. “Follow me.”
They walked through the rambling old house that had been built during the turn of the last century for John’s family. It was big, even compared to the other large houses around it.
Situated on an acre of land in the heart of Myer’s Park, the house had dozens of bedrooms, a large library, and a dining room that could easily seat twenty. The Lee family had made their money from shipping, and this was where John’s great-great-grandfather had brought his new bride.
Everything in the building of the house had been carefully chosen and selected to last a lifetime. Hardwood floors and paneled walls had been cut in Wilmington and brought to Charlotte. Expensive chandeliers and furniture were the best money could buy at the time.
Peggy had been raised in Charleston, South Carolina as the only child of a gentleman farmer on hundreds of acres of land close to the sea. But she’d lost her heart to John Lee when they were in college, and it was here that he’d brought her as well.
John had inherited the house and land as part of a legacy. Paul didn’t inherit it at John’s death. The trust went to John’s nephew, who wasn’t ready to settle down.
She lived there with his good graces but without the elder family members’ approval. They were even unhappier when she’d married Steve, but it was important for someone to live in the house. She loved the old place and thought it might as well be her.
They walked through the ground floor past the thirty-two foot blue spruce that was growing under the skylight beside the circular staircase. Peggy had planted that right after she and John had moved here. She felt as though it was the soul of the house.
Her mother and father followed her up the three-story marble staircase. Peggy loved its cool smoothness beneath her bare feet in the summer. Shakespeare had a hard time with it, slipping and sliding down the stairs more often than walking down.
