Lyndsey Cole - Lily Bloom 02 - Queen of Poison

by Lyndsey Cole

  “Did you leave the main room?”

  “I’m here now.”

  “Okay. A smart aleck. Did you leave at any time before you came to find your mother?”

  Maggie started to walk away, then turned and looked at him with disdain. “I don’t have to answer your questions. Why don’t you ask Kirk Stevens where he went? And while you’re at it, what about that woman he’s trying to pass off as his daughter? Have you seen how they act when they think no one is watching?” She smiled when she saw the shocked looks on their faces. “I guess you hadn’t noticed that yet,” she said as she left the office.

  Tamara was the first to respond. “That girl needs a good kick in the butt. She is the rudest thing I’ve seen in a long time. What did she mean about Kirk and his daughter?”

  Nina was scanning through her photos. “Look at this. I have it all here. I was here early and was taking photos of the paintings. Kirk and his daughter are in the background in the hall here. It’s kind of blurry but it sure looks like she’s all over him. More like a lover than a daughter.”

  Ryan took her phone. “Why would he pretend she was his daughter?”

  Iris rolled her eyes. “Are you serious Ryan? He had a wife who was just murdered a few days ago. How would that look to show up at a memorial gathering with a hot younger girlfriend?”

  Lily tried to sit up but couldn’t quite manage. “Can someone get me some water?”

  Nina rushed back with a cup of water. “Look what I found in the bathroom.” She held up a brass sculpture of a tulip.

  Ryan carefully took it from Nina and examined it. At the top, between two petals, he pulled out a couple strands of blonde hair. “This looks like Lily’s hair. I’ll get this checked for prints.”

  Lily finally managed to prop herself up on one arm. “Nina, check your other camera with the photos from the opening. See if she’s in any of those.”

  Nina was excited. “I don’t have it with me. Maybe that’s why she’s been following me.”

  Ryan watched Nina. “Why didn’t you tell me about being followed?”

  “I—ah—didn’t think it meant anything.”

  Lily was sitting up. “I feel a lot better. Let’s get back to the memorial and see what’s going on there.”

  Daisy sat next to Lily. “I’ll stay here with you.” She looked at the others. “Lily’s right. You should get back out there. Nina, keep taking photos.” Everyone reluctantly left.

  Lily grinned and said to Daisy, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Daisy stood up and looked around the office. “Where do you want me to start?”

  “Try the desk drawers.”

  “What are we even looking for?”

  “Maybe we’ll be lucky and there will be a folder marked ‘murder information’.” Lily laughed.

  Daisy quietly opened the top middle drawer. Nothing but pens, markers and other office supplies, all neatly arranged in separate slots. The right side of the desk had two shallow drawers and one deep drawer and the left side had a drawer for hanging folders. Daisy started to open the top right drawer but changed her mind and pulled open the left drawer. Most of the folders had typed labels and a few were hand written. All the folders were arranged alphabetically according to a type of flower. “Nothing labeled ‘murder information’,” she noted as she quickly shuffled through the folders. “But let’s take a look inside this one.” She had a devious grin as she showed Lily a folder labeled ‘Aconitum’.

  Lily was excited. “Bring it over here. Aconitum, common name—monkshood.” Daisy sat next to Lily as they looked through the file. It was filled with pages of detailed drawings and pictures of every part of the plant. Beautiful blue monkshood to a less common yellow variety. The last page in the folder was labeled ‘The Queen of Poison’.

  Lily picked up her tote and dropped the whole folder in.

  Daisy was shocked. “What are you doing?”

  “We need to spend more time looking at this.”

  “Looking at what?” A voice startled them. They both looked up to see Jared standing in the doorway.

  “What are you two doing in here? This is my mother’s office.”

  Lily put her hand to her head and felt the goose egg bump with crusty hair stuck to it. “I guess you didn’t hear. Someone knocked me over the head and I needed a place to rest for a few minutes.”

  Jared frowned. “You look fine to me. You need to leave.”

  Lily slowly stood up with Daisy’s help. “Congratulations on your appointment as director of the museum, Jared. It’s too bad your aunt isn’t around to share in your achievement.”

  His face softened a little and he seemed to puff out his scrawny chest. “I’ve got big plans for the museum. I want to bring it into the twenty-first century and move away from all these boring dingy flower paintings she was so fond of.”

  “Oh?”

  “I have some installation art ideas and a big photography exhibit. Not just flowers.”

  “Well, I hope you still continue the Art in Bloom tradition. It’s something everyone in town looks forward to. You might not know that since you haven’t been living here.”

  Lily picked up her tote and walk past Jared holding onto Daisy’s arm. She tried to remain calm, hoping he didn’t see the corner of the folder sticking out of the tote.

  “Wait a minute.” Jared’s grating voice stopped them cold. “Did you drop this?” He held out a set of car keys.

  Lily took them. “Not mine. These belong to someone who owns a Honda.”

  Jared mumbled under his breath. “Must be Brandy’s. What was she doing in here?”

  Daisy giggled. “I can think of something she and Kirk might have been doing.”

  Jared’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Kirk and Brandy?” His face turned to disgust as her meaning dawned on him. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Lily put the keys in her pocket. “I’ll give them to Kirk.”

  By the time Lily and Daisy got back to the main room most people were gone. Evelyn was flitting around saying thank yous and goodbyes. Kirk was lurking in the background without Brandy. He looked angry and was watching Evelyn.

  Lily made her way to stand next to Kirk. “Where’s your daughter? Did she leave already?”

  Kirk plastered a friendly smile on his face. “Brandy? She wasn’t feeling well so I took her home.”

  “That’s too bad. I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss the big event.” Lily took the keys out of her pocket. “Does Brandy drive a Honda?”

  Kirk ran his fingers through his hair. “What?”

  “Does Brandy drive a Honda? Did she lose her keys? I found these and someone said Brandy drives a Honda.”

  “Where did you find them?”

  “In Elizabeth’s office. Well, I guess it’s Evelyn’s office now. On the couch.”

  His eye started to twitch. “What were you doing in Elizabeth’s office?”

  “I guess I could ask you the same thing about Brandy? So, are these her keys?”

  “You ask a lot of questions, Ms. Bloom. Yes, I think they are.” He took the keys and walked over to Evelyn who was finally standing alone.

  Kirk put his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn and look at him. “I can’t believe you did that Evelyn. I thought we had an agreement.”

  “I only said I would consider your offer to be the new director but I decided Jared is a better fit. I’m sure you understand.” She patted his arm in a conciliatory manner.

  He jerked away from her. “Don’t patronize me. Understand? Why would I understand? This isn’t how it was all supposed to end,” he hissed. “You’ll regret double crossing me.”

  Kirk scanned the room and his steely glare targeted Lily. He pointed a smooth finger in her direction before shouting, “You’ll be sorry too.”

  The room was spinning around Lily. Everything was moving in slow motion like she was moving through Jell-o. Then everything went black. For the second time that night.

  Cha
pter 14

  Once again, Lily was looking up at faces staring down at her. But at least she was on something soft with a warm tongue licking her cheek. She moved her hand to pat Rosie.

  “Lily, can you hear me?” Lily registered the sensations of Iris gently stroking her arm while Rosie licked her face.

  “What happened?” she asked as she tried to sit up.

  “Oh no you don’t. You got up too soon after that whacking. You have to stay right here until tomorrow. I’ve got Rosie on guard and I’m staying with you tonight.”

  Lily was relieved to let her body relax back into the soft cushions of her couch. Her eyes moved around the room—Iris, Daisy, Marigold, Nina, Ryan, Jennifer and Katie were all watching her.

  Katie ran over, putting her head between Lily and Rosie. “Are you okay? Can I see your booboo?” she asked as only a five year old would.

  Lily smiled and turned her head for Katie’s inspection. Rosie immediately licked it clean of dried blood. “That’s gross,” Katie squealed, watching Rosie.

  Jennifer gently took Katie’s hand. “Time for bed. I said we’d wait till Lily woke up. You can visit again tomorrow.”

  Spontaneously, Katie hugged Lily and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  Lily watched them leave. “What happened? I can’t remember anything except someone pointing at me.”

  “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. You need to get some sleep.” Iris covered her with a blanket and shooed everyone out the door.

  Lily drifted into a restless sleep. She was trying to run away from someone but couldn’t move. There was always someone hiding around every corner but never a face to see who it was. Finally, she opened her eyes to see the sun streaming in the window. That made all the ghosts in her head evaporate.

  Iris helped her sit up and gave her a steaming hot cup of tea. “Let’s start with this before you try to get up. You’ve got a bump on your head the size of an extra-large egg.”

  Lily sipped the tea. It felt hot and good, warming her from the inside out. “What happened?”

  “Do you remember anything?”

  Lily thought. “We were at the museum. I remember being in that office with Daisy. Something happened but I don’t remember.”

  The back door opened and a deep cheery voice yelled a hello. The delicious aroma of muffins straight from the oven hit Lily’s nose and she instinctively sucked in her gut, remembering her vow to cut out carbs. Oh well, she thought, one more day before starting to work on the muffin top won’t make a difference.

  Ryan walked in with Katie dancing by his side. “Jennifer made you some muffins if you feel up to eating anything.”

  “Smells scrumptious. You bet I’ll eat one, maybe even two, before I go to work.”

  Iris and Ryan both frowned at her.

  “What? I’m feeling good. I can’t just sit around here all day, I’ll go crazy.”

  Ryan looked at Iris. “I have to go to work. I’ll let you deal with your stubborn daughter. Come on Katie. Jennifer is taking you to the playground today.”

  Iris grinned at Lily. “You can stop sucking in your gut now. You certainly weren’t doing it to impress me.”

  “What? You could tell?”

  “If Marigold was here, she would have been able to tell. Listen, honey, just be yourself. You’re much more interesting with all your imperfections. Perfect is not remarkable.”

  “I was just trying to be perfect like you, Mom.” Lily managed to keep a straight face for about three seconds, then they both howled with laughter. “Are you coming to the shop with me to make sure I don’t overdo it?”

  “Do I need to?” Iris asked with a your-mother-knows-best look.

  “Nope. I promise to take it easy and Daisy will be there to help.”

  Lily savored every crumb of the muffins, even licking her fingers. “Ryan is gonna get fat if Jennifer stays with him. She’s a great cook and she seems to like it too. I hope she always makes enough for me.”

  “Go take a shower. See how that goes and then decide about going to work.”

  The hot water pelting on her felt like it was washing all the fear away. She couldn’t put her finger on what was making her feel fearful but there was something lurking in the background. She still couldn’t remember what happened at the museum. Something happened and it had seeped into her dreams. Was someone out to get her? Work was the best remedy to clear her head.

  Dressed in her usual uniform of jeans and a t-shirt, she was good to go. “I’m ready. Feeling like a new me.”

  Iris was skeptical but Lily was a big girl and she could learn the hard way if that was the way she wanted it. “Let’s go. Do you want me to carry anything for you?”

  “All I need is my tote. It should be here someplace but I can’t find it. Not that important, maybe I left it at the shop.”

  Lily walked into chaos at her shop. Besides the phone ringing, customers lined up and Daisy furiously wrapping flowers, she inhaled the sweet scent of the flowers which always helped her feel better. This was her sanctuary whether it was hectic or quiet. Daisy looked up when the door jingled. “I’ve never been happier to see you, Lily. Get the phone, I’ll take care of these customers.” So much for a moment of reflection.

  Lily jotted down the phone order and saw the list already waiting to get done. She hurried to the design area to get going on the list of orders. Jack, who was managing the local greenhouse, walked in the back door with buckets of flowers. “Where do you want these Lily? I’ve got snapdragons, alstroemeria, hybrid delphinium, dianthus and hosta leaves.”

  “Perfect timing. Put them wherever you can find room. I’ll process them when I have time. Everything’s in water already?”

  “You bet. How are you feeling? I heard you got whacked last night.”

  Lily grinned. “I’m feeling pretty good, thanks for asking. News sure does travel fast in this town. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, you do have a direct link to Tamara and everyone knows how she likes to share news.”

  Jack nodded. “About as fast as a pat of butter melting on a hot griddle. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “With the look of these orders, I’ll need another delivery later in the week.”

  Lily finished up a couple of arrangements and put them in the cooler along with the ones Daisy had already made.

  The rest of the day flew by without much peace and quiet. Lily and Daisy worked well together, anticipating what needed to get done or knowing when another pair of hands was needed to hold something. Lily knew she was lucky to have Daisy around and didn’t know what she would do if Daisy decided on a different career. Lily was even thinking of expanding the flower shop and adding specialty chocolates so Daisy could have her own space. She didn’t have the money yet for an expansion, but if business kept going at this pace it wouldn’t be long.

  Daisy flopped into the chair, picking up Sweet Pea and stroking her soft fur. “This was one long and busy day. I’m glad you weren’t completely incapacitated or I would have had to have Mom help.” They both rolled their eyes. Iris was great, but they both preferred not to work with her.

  “Don’t worry. I never plan to put you through that.”

  The door that had actually been quiet for the past half hour jingled and Daisy groaned. Lily peeked out front. “It’s just Ryan.”

  “What do you mean, ‘just Ryan’?” she teased. “Maybe it’s time for me to head home. Can you finish up?”

  Lily looked at the clock, shocked to see it was almost five. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll make a few deliveries and then close up.” She hugged Daisy. “Thanks. I couldn’t do this without you.”

  “I know.” Daisy was twinkling from the compliment, said hi to Ryan and left the shop.

  Lily looked over to see Ryan casually leaning in the doorway to the design room, arms crossed and trying not to smile. She could see the edges of his mouth twitch just enough for her to know he was on the edge of a big toothy grin but was going to say something serious i
nstead. She waited.

  “Why did you go down the hall last night? Who were you following?”

  Lily scrunched her face in deep concentration. “I don’t remember.”

  “Come on Lily. This isn’t a game. What were you and Nina doing?”

  “Ryan. I really don’t remember anything from last night except being in the office and someone pointing at me.”

  His face got serious. “I thought you were just trying to avoid answering my question.”

  “I wish that was the case. I tried to remember. I had bad dreams all last night—someone chasing me, but I could never see a face.”

  Ryan picked up Sweet Pea and sat in the chair, letting the cat get comfortable in his lap. “Something will trigger the memory. Are you almost done?”

  “I have to make a few more deliveries, then close up. Why?”

  “Nina is stopping at my house later to show me the photos on her two cameras. Come on over, maybe that will trigger something.”

  “Okay. Will there be food?”

  “Probably. Jennifer loves to cook. I’ll miss that when she finds her own apartment.”

  “You’re a rotten brother. You’ll miss her cooking but not her?”

  He laughed. “Of course I’ll miss Jennifer and Katie and the kitten I got as a surprise for Katie.”

  “Really? She’ll be thrilled.”

  He stood up. “See you later?”

  “I’ll come for the food and your sister’s company,” she teased.

  Ryan walked over to Lily. “I’ll give you something else to miss.” He put his arms gently around her waist and pulled her close. She could feel his heart beating through his shirt. The rhythm of the beat matched hers. She could get lost in his arms. “This is part one. If you’re nice to me, you might get part two.” He sighed and let her go.

  Lily loaded the flowers into her van and got everything delivered in record time. She wanted part two from Ryan Steele.

  Back at the shop she had to feed Sweet Pea, check the cooler and lock up. Her mind was already back in Ryan’s arms when she walked in the back door of the shop.

  “It’s about time you got back here. I almost gave up.”

  Lily’s blood ran cold at the sound of that voice. The voice was the trigger unlocking her memories of the night before.