by Joyce
“I’m fine, Mom. I had a little run-in with one of the men in lockup when the guards’ backs were turned, but it was only a few punches and a scuffle. I get that most days on patrol.”
They all heard Mai’s car come screeching off Queens Road, almost hitting a large redbud tree as she entered the driveway. Paul ran out to meet her. Shakespeare barked joyously until Steve had to take him out for a walk to save everyone’s frazzled nerves.
The couple walked inside together. Mai hadn’t had time to get Rosie after Peggy’s call. She’d come straight to the house to see Paul.
“How did you get out? They said they couldn’t take our house for bail,” Mai said. “How did you get a lawyer who wasn’t a public defender?”
Paul smiled and handed Peggy a business card. “Because my mother has some unusual friends.”
Peggy looked at the card with a black chess knight on it and realized that the bail money and the lawyer were a gift from Nightflyer.
Daylily
Daylilies are not actually of the lily family. True lilies grow on tall stems with flowers at the top. Daylily flower stems are called scapes. They are shorter and grow from a fountain of grass-like foliage at ground level.
Chapter Twenty-five
“How did Nightflyer know about what was happening?” Steve asked when he came inside with Shakespeare.
“I told him.” Peggy hoped they wouldn’t have this discussion in front of everyone.
“I thought you didn’t talk to him anymore?” Steve pursued the subject.
“He knew what was going on and got in touch with me. I wouldn’t turn down anyone’s help in this case.” She burned to yell at him about his hypocrisy. He dared to question her about Nightflyer knowing he’d gotten rid of her documents about John?
As if Steve saw the challenging, angry expression in her green eyes, he backed off.
“Well, at least Paul is free, and we have a new lead to pursue. Millie is already looking up information on this man.”
Lilla finally got out of bed and was thrilled to see her grandson there. “This is cause for celebration. I want to take everyone out for lunch.”
After the past night’s fiasco, no one wanted to go along with that suggestion. Ranson and Lilla left a little while later with her being none the wiser of her husband’s morning activities—or eating habits.
Steve got a phone call after Paul and Mai went to pick up Rosie and go home.
Al asked Peggy if she and Steve were having problems with all the stress they’d been under.
She stared at him. “Really? I can’t believe you’re asking me if we’re okay after you and Steve collaborated to get rid of the files Harry gave Paul last year. Did you think I wasn’t going to find out?”
Al didn’t look away from her accusatory stare. “We did what was best for you and Paul. You didn’t realize it at the time, but I buried that information so that the cover-up for John’s death would stay intact. You can’t help him now, Peggy. You have a new life. Don’t dredge up the past.”
“You had no right to do that. Paul and I deserve to know the truth. All of this happened to Paul because the police and the FBI didn’t want him to know.”
“Peggy.” Al sighed and shook his head.
“What he’s telling you is the truth.” Steve put away his phone as he came back into the kitchen. “How did you find out?”
“Paul and I knew the documents were gone from the box we got from Harry. We didn’t know what had happened to them, until I found the phone in the desk drawer last night. You didn’t do a very good job hiding the evidence of the crime.”
“I didn’t think I had to.” Steve put his hand on her shoulder.
She shrugged it off and got to her feet.
“There isn’t enough information in any file about John to go after the people who killed him,” Steve told her. “The case isn’t closed, but there are no answers either. If you start poking around in it, you could be hurt. Or worse. These people don’t play around, Peggy. Leave it alone. Time has a way of working these things out.”
“Not that I’ll know if it happens since the two of you plan to keep me out of it. Maybe I should get a private detective license too.”
“You’re upset,” Al said. “Don’t do anything foolish right now when we haven’t even solved this homicide Paul is charged with.”
Logically, Peggy agreed with him, but emotionally, she still felt as though they had betrayed her.
Her phone rang. It was Sam. He needed the rest of the daylilies that were outside the house. Mrs. Schaefer, a longtime client, had agreed to take them off his hands if he’d plant them right away.
“I’m going to help Sam,” she told both men. “Let me know if there are any updates.”
She went upstairs to change out of her green dress and put on something that didn’t matter if it got dirty. It would be good to get her hands in some dirt and try to forget about everything for a while.
Steve followed her with Shakespeare behind him. Peggy could hear Al’s car leaving the drive.
“I wouldn’t hurt you for anything,” he said. “But I don’t want to see anyone else hurt you either.”
“You lied to me,” she accused him as she removed her dress, replacing it with jeans and a T-shirt. “You destroyed information that was mine to deal with.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you and Paul.”
She gazed at him as she sat on the bed to put on her mud boots. “Don’t ever do that again. I can’t trust you if you won’t tell me the truth.”
“Promise me that you won’t go off halfcocked on some wild scheme to catch John’s killer by yourself, or with Paul, and I’ll make sure you get updates when I do. Can you do that?”
“I know you mean well.” She got to her feet. “But I was surviving just fine without your protection, Steve. Just tell me the truth, and know that I can handle it. Can you do that?”
“Sure. Okay?”
“Okay. Then I promise to tell you before I go after John’s killer.” She hugged him.
He kissed her and held her close for a few minutes. “I love you, Peggy.”
“I love you too, Steve.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to run. I’ll be with Sam so I should be okay, right—the two person rule?”
“Right. I’ll call if I hear anything about Ruth Sargent or William Joseph.”
“Great.”
Peggy left with a smile. She hadn’t told Steve that Paul still had copies of those documents. At that moment, she didn’t have plans to either.
She put the last twenty daylilies in her backseat and trunk. She kept tarps in the car to protect the seats when she needed to. The planters were messy, but this way Sam didn’t have to come back for them.
The Schaefer estate was on Sharon Road. It dwarfed Peggy’s house. She’d never been inside, but the property was at least ten acres with a sprawling three-story antebellum home.
Emily Schaefer was a nice person too. The estate belonged to her family that had lived in the house since the early 1800s and had lived on that land since the 1700s. Her great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence which preceded the federal document by a few weeks. He had also lost his life to a British musket ball during that war.
Needless to say, the house and yard—not to mention Mrs. Schaefer—were steeped in history. One of the rose arbors that Sam cared for had been the first rose arbor in Charlotte.
Peggy pulled into the expansive drive that circled the huge house. Sam was working in the back, the sun shining on his blond hair and tanned back. He waved when he saw her and walked to her car.
“Thanks for bringing these over,” he said. “I’m working on the daylily bed anyway today. She said if I could get the new ones in, she’d take them.”
Peggy smiled. “Because once the work on the daylily bed is done for the month, she can’t do anything there again until next month. I know about her exacting schedule.”
“Yeah.�
�� He grinned. “But she’s a good customer. And I love working here. I talked her into planting some grapevines next month. I’m going to have Tucker put in a new arbor to the right of the carriage house. It will also be her first water feature. She’s excited about it—and we’ll make money to help get us through the deficit we’ll have this month after not being open for a while.”
“Did I mention what a great partner you are?”
“Yeah. I know. You’re a good partner too. Anything new on the murder front?”
Peggy told him everything that had happened as she helped him make room in the lily bed for the new plants.
If she was looking for therapy, this was it. The sun was hot on their heads, but a cool breeze blew steadily through the city. Peach trees were beginning to blossom along with apple and pear trees. Emily Schaefer had allowed Sam to keep one small wisteria that they’d estimated had been growing there for at least a hundred years. There were pictures of it from the early 1900s.
Sam had carefully trimmed the plant back. Its trunk was almost a foot around. As the wisteria had grown, it had been all over the place with no tending, even reaching into the nearby oak tree.
Now, after careful pruning and a watchful eye on its growth, the wisteria was barely three-feet-tall and shaped like an umbrella with the large, heavy purple blossoms hanging down almost to the velvet green grass.
The fragrance of it filled the yard. Peggy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. This was why she’d opened the garden shop. Plants were what made a large part of her life worthwhile. She was fortunate to share that with Sam.
Emily Schaefer came out for a while to talk to them. She was dressed in a buttercup yellow, full-length, Southern belle dress, complete with matching hat and parasol.
“I’m going to the historical museum’s tea party tomorrow. How do I look?” She spun her wide skirt in a circle and almost lost her balance.
Sam was quick to save her from a fall, his big hands going around her small waist.
“Oh my, sir!” Emily fluttered her lashes and purred at him. “My heart is all aflutter to have you so near.”
Peggy smiled and assured Emily that she looked wonderful. She had no doubt that most of the women Sam worked for had high hopes of enticing him into an affair. Very few knew that he was gay and very happy with Tucker.
Sam put Emily back on her feet and smiled at her, a beautiful Viking statue of a man. “All right? You look wonderful. I love the dress and hat.”
Emily adjusted her parasol and smiled at him with lustful eyes before going back inside.
“You shouldn’t lead her on that way,” Peggy said. “Now she’s probably never going to change that dress.”
“That’s crazy. And what was I supposed to do—let her fall on her pretty butt?”
“No. You did what you should’ve done. But do you have to do it so well?”
Sam laughed at her. “I can’t help who I am.”
“That’s true enough.”
Peggy got a call from Steve. They had confirmed that William Joseph had visited Ruth Sargent in prison. The two had shared romantic letters for months before her death.
“It sounds like she passed on her hatred of you,” Steve said. “It’s probable that when she died, he believed you were responsible for her death too. It’s happened before. I think this may be our answer, but who is responsible for his death? I liked it better before your ME decided it was murder, not suicide.”
Peggy took it in. Her friend had blamed her for calling the police once she’d figured out what Ruth had done. Ruth would have been out of trouble because her scheme had worked so well. The police would never have caught on, if it wasn’t for Peggy taking it on herself to make it known.
“All right. I suppose that makes sense. Thanks, Steve.”
“I don’t know when I’ll be back. I want to go through all of it with the police so we know down to the last detail what happened. Millie is out at the prison. Norris is still with the alarm company. If I hear anything else, I’ll let you know.”
“I know you will. I’ll talk to you later.”
Camellia
Camellia sinensis is called the tea plant since it is the most common form of the plant used for tea production. Camellia bushes are long-lived. The oldest living camellia was planted in 1347 and still blooms in China’s Panlong Monastery.
Chapter Twenty-six
Over the next few days, everything became clear.
It seemed as though William Joseph had chosen Nita Honohan as his victim because he’d seen her at the fur store. He’d already had an idea of what he was going to do with the mink, according to notes he’d left behind from Ruth. She’d suggested he should add the poison mixture to a coat and give it to Peggy.
Obviously she hadn’t meant that coat to be a fur. She had to know Peggy well enough to know she wouldn’t have taken it.
He’d insinuated himself with the alarm service to be able to control the alarms at Peggy’s house and the shop. The plan was so well-thought-out, but he couldn’t have done it without Ruth’s guidance from prison.
The insurance company knew nothing about William—they hadn’t sent an adjuster or investigator to the break-in at The Potting Shed because their service was terrible.
Peggy decided that once everything was cleared up, she was shopping for a new insurance company.
She demanded that the company send someone out to meet her and speak with the police, threatening a lawsuit. The woman on the phone was flustered and said she’d have someone out right away.
It took a lot more to clear Paul’s name and get him out of police custody and back on the job. There were endless interviews, letters from people who knew him well and could vouch for his character.
She was proud that he had endured it all with a smile and a grim determination to go back to his former life. He’d managed to put it behind him and was scheduled on the next duty roster a few days later.
Peggy had lunch with him and Mai in the sunshine by the magnolia tree outside the medical examiner’s office.
Mai was back at work, and Peggy’s good name had been restored. A family of bluebirds chirped from their nest in the tree. Life was back in balance, and spring was wonderful.
Dorothy ate lunch with them at the picnic table. They’d visited the Greek food truck and come back with delicious treats.
“It’s hard to imagine being so obsessed with someone that you’re ready to kill for them,” Dorothy said as she plowed through her souvlaki. “I love my husband, but I wouldn’t stalk people for him or kill someone. It’s crazy.”
“Especially since Ruth was already in prison for killing someone,” Mai said. “I mean—hello! I’m not a good person. Don’t fall in love with me.”
Paul laughed and hugged her. “It doesn’t work that way. People feel sorry for inmates sometimes. They believe that their stories about being innocent are true.”
“Well, I’m just glad it’s over,” Mai declared. She left some crumbs for the birds from her pita. “I like my life being normal. Which reminds me—have you given back your private detective’s license?”
“You don’t give it back, sweetie,” Paul said. “And I’m not done with it. There is still a lot we don’t know about Dad’s death. I’m going to continue looking into it.”
Mai and Dorothy both groaned.
Peggy understood, especially after Steve and Al had been so clear about why she shouldn’t question what happened. She’d forgiven both men for their interference, but she agreed with Paul—she wouldn’t be happy until she knew the truth.
But she didn’t say that.
It was a beautiful day. Things were falling back into place in her world. Queens University had called and wanted her to do a symposium on potentially fatal plants that were coming into the area. She enjoyed going back from time to time and taking on her professor’s mantle again.
After lunch, Peggy had an appointment with real employees of the alarm service and the insurance company. She was pus
hing to get The Potting Shed reopened in time for Mother’s Day. That was always a big week for her.
The only question that still nagged at her was how William was able to get so much done. Granted that he’d hired the men who’d showed up and said they were from the alarm company. He’d put himself into a position where he could cover up the call from her shop when they’d broken into it.
It was even easy to imagine that he and Ruth had talked about things he could do to get revenge for her. Their letters mentioned the fur coat idea, but only in a vague way. There were no specifics. How had he managed to follow through with her concept on his own?
How had someone like William figured out a way to create a unique poison that would kill its victim from the outside? Not only a botanist could have done it, but it took more thought and some background in forensics that didn’t seem to be available to William.
Ruth had dreamed up the project and found a way to get him through it. It was hard to swallow, but stranger things happened. And what about the woman Sam had met with at Mary Hood’s house? So far, there were only a handful of men showing up as part of the plot. They had pretended to be the alarm service techs. There was also the question about the woman who had paid Paul to take the mink to Nita.
Where was that woman?
She shook her head to clear it as she negotiated heavy traffic on the streets to reach Brevard Court. She had to put it behind her. It was wonderful to be out in the fresh air on her bike again. She’d been driving too much recently.
Using a lock and chain to secure her bike to the iron rail that went up the back stairs at The Potting Shed, Peggy supposed these were the details Steve had spoken of figuring out. She’d be glad when he did. The details always bothered her.
She went in through shop. It was still too early to meet with either of her visitors. Instead she went across the cobblestones to visit with Emil and Sofia. They were still bustling with a large, lunch crowd and barely had time to acknowledge her.
Peggy took out her phone and answered emails, checking other messages as well.
