6 A Thyme to Die (10 page)

Dabney’s blond eyebrows shot up. They looked remarkably like large, fuzzy caterpillars. “I’m sure I wasn’t the last person to see him alive. That might be an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“Well, I know the security guard at the gate saw him before he came inside here. As far as we know, no one else was in the convention center. I was wondering what you two talked about? Did he seem upset at all?”

Dabney grinned quickly, uncomfortably. He straightened his tie. “Are you working for the police now, Peggy? Shouldn’t you be asking questions of the vendors?”

“I’ve spoken to all the vendors,” she assured him. “This is me being curious.”

“It’s annoying.” He glanced at Paul. “Is this your bodyguard?”

“No. This is my son.”

Paul shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You look familiar,” Dabney told him. “Have we met before?”

“People say I look a lot like my mother.” Paul shrugged. “I think it’s the hair.”

“I don’t know what you heard or who you heard it from, Peggy,” Dabney said. “I had dinner with Abutto. It’s not unusual for me to have a meal or coffee with someone who’s here at the center. My wife is interested in orchids. I asked his opinion on getting some for her.”

“I see.” Peggy didn’t lose eye contact with him.

Dabney laughed. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? I should’ve asked you about raising orchids. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. Everyone in Charlotte knows that you’re the plant lady.”

“I appreciate that.” Peggy put her hand out to him. “Do you have my business card?”

“No. I’ll be glad to take one.”

Peggy promised to get a card to him and thanked him for his time. She and Paul went back into the crowd. They sat down again at the picnic table in the backyard Sam had created. Selena was passing out flyers.

“Well?” Sam asked. “Did he kill Abutto?”

“He was uncomfortable about something.” Peggy glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “I think I threw him off. He thought I was asking about his meeting with Dr. Abutto because he was looking for information about orchids.”

“That’s a good thing.” Sam finished off Selena’s lemonade too. “You don’t need him sending someone after you to look for the duffel bag too.”

“He was nervous,” Paul admitted. “I don’t think Al has questioned him yet.”

“I don’t either,” Peggy agreed.

“So what’s next?” Sam asked. “Need me to jump in somewhere?”

“I’m not sure what to do next,” Peggy said. “If something comes up, I’ll let you know. Thanks for volunteering.”

“I know the way it is. Either I volunteer or you draft me.” Sam shrugged. “Same thing, either way. At least I keep some of my dignity by volunteering.”

Paul laughed and finished his soda. “I can’t believe you were so against me becoming a cop, Mom. You’ve got your own people on the job all the time.”

 Sam agreed, chuckling.

They were interrupted when Selena came over to get Sam to talk to a potential landscape customer.

Peggy’s phone rang. She could hardly hear it in the noisy crowd.

It was Dorothy. “We have some samples we need you to look at. Anyone can keep that flower show going, Peggy. Are you our forensic botanist or not?”

“All right. These are extreme circumstances. I’ll try to find someone to fill in for me.”

Peggy had a working member of the flower show committee paged. She knew Adam Morrow had to be around somewhere, even though he hadn’t answered her calls or texts.

Adam had been her right hand man setting up the show. They didn’t meet regularly, or even work together. She’d given him tasks and he’d taken care of them. He’d updated her when something was done or needed to be done.

He finally called her after hearing the message on the PA system. “Sorry, Peggy. I got a burst water pipe over here. The plumber has been here so I think we’re good to go. My pond didn’t look like much when it was empty and my koi didn’t like it either. What can I do for you?”

Adam ran four florist shops in the Charlotte area. He was good at dealing with emergencies.

“I loved your setup,” she told him. “I came by this morning but your assistant said you were out. I thought the wedding theme was awesome. You always come up with good ideas.”

He laughed. “What are you buttering me up for?”

“I need to leave the show, hopefully for only a few hours.” She told him about her obligation to the medical examiner. “Trust me, she’s not someone you want to mess with.”

“Like I believe you’re afraid of anyone,” he quipped. “Don’t worry about it. I can walk around and listen to people complain while I hold their hands as good as you can.”

“Thanks, Adam. I’ll let you know when I get back.”

Peggy told Selena and Sam she was going. Sam didn’t care. He was negotiating the promise of a new landscaping contract for a country club in the Ballantyne area.

Paul walked out with Peggy, texting as he went. When she asked what was so urgent, he told her he was letting Mai know that he’d be at the ME’s office.

“She said we could do lunch. She hasn’t eaten yet.” Paul grinned. “It was only a sandwich. I could eat again.”

“You’re a pretty good husband. I know Mai appreciates you.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell, especially with the baby coming. There’s a lot of tension.”

He left her by the front gate, talking to Reggie’s replacement, while he went to get the car.

The daytime guard was Pete. Reggie got off right after the opening of the flower show.

“Yeah,” Pete said. “Good crowd. We had the Republicans here last month. What a bunch of angry people.”

Peggy smiled at his stories about Republicans. “I guess flower growers are probably happier people.”

“For the most part. There was this one guy when the exhibits were being set up. I thought about him when I heard about the dead guy, you know?”

Her bright red brows knit together. “Was the angry man with Dr. Abutto?”

“No. I don’t remember seeing the guy from South Africa, God rest his soul. I’m talking about that lawyer you always see on TV. The one with the big, fluffy blond hair. I can’t remember his name. Not a great commercial, huh?”

She knew who he was talking about. “Dabney Wilder. He helps run the convention center.”

“Yeah. He always expects me to valet his car. I’d tell him I’m too busy, but you know where that would end up.”

“Who was he with?”

“I don’t know who the other guy was.” Pete shrugged. “He was chewing him out royally right here in the parking lot. I thought I might have to call the police. Then they calmed down and walked inside together.”

“What did he look like?”

“He was short and he wore weird glasses. It looked to me like the lawyer could pick him up and throw him on the ground like one of those wrestlers on TV.”

Paul pulled the car up beside her. Peggy thanked Pete for his observations.

She got in the car and told Paul what the security guard had told her.

“I can’t believe I leave you for a minute and you’re chatting with the security guard about the murder.” He smoothly entered traffic going out of the parking lot.

“We weren’t talking about the murder. He was telling me about Dabney, and what sounded like Tim Roseboro, arguing in the parking lot.”

“Does that have something to do with anything that’s going on?”

Peggy smiled. “You never know.”

Traffic seemed to be confined to the convention center area. Once they got out of that congestion, there were very few cars. They reached the medical examiner’s office and morgue in only a few minutes. Mai was sitting on the front steps, waiting for Paul.

After they’d parked, Paul eagerly ran to his wife’s side. Mai was of Vietnamese descent with huge, almond-shaped brown eyes and a pretty face. Most of the time, that young face was hidden behind a microscope or heavy, black-rimmed glasses. Today in the sunshine, her long black hair was down on her shoulders and her smile was sweet when she saw Paul. Her belly was getting rounded in her fourth month of pregnancy.

“Hey there!” He wasted no time kissing her. “What are you thinking about for lunch?”

“Hello, Peggy.” Mai looked at her mother-in-law. “Would you like some lunch too?”

“No thanks. I’ve already eaten. You two go on. I don’t think I need protecting for a while.”

Mai put her arm around Paul. “I was thinking about walking down to where all the food trucks park. We could have our pick.”

“Sounds good.” He winked at his mother before he turned away. “You won’t believe the morning I’ve had.”

Peggy was glad they seemed so happy together. She knew a child on the way could be difficult. She also knew it only got harder from there, but she was thrilled by the idea of being a grandmother!

She went inside the building and greeted the security guard there. He ran her bag and everything from her pockets through a scanner as they talked about his wife and young son.

“He’s having a hard time getting to sleep at night,” the guard told Peggy. “We’re worn out every day. The doctor doesn’t seem to know what to do.”

“Have you tried a little chamomile before bed? It might do a world of good.”

“Is that okay for him to take? He’s only three.”

“Of course. I gave it to my son. It won’t be forever. Sometimes children go through these things. You can buy it in any grocery store. Look it up on the Internet. Ask your doctor, if you’re unsure.”

Peggy wrote the word
chamomile
on the back of a piece of paper from her bag.

“Thanks a lot. I think we’ll give this a try.”

She picked up a white lab coat with her name on it and went to her desk. There were dozens of Post-its all over the surface of the desk and the lampshade. Before she could look at any of them, Dorothy found her.

“It’s about time. Do we want to solve this homicide or not? I need my forensic botanist, not the plant lady for a while. Have you had lunch?”

Chapter Eleven

Geranium

Geraniums are sometimes referred to as storkbills for their wild first cousins, pelargonium. They bloom throughout the world in temperate areas. What is known now as the true geranium is a product of years of extensive breeding to produce dozens of colors and various shaped flowers. Their scent made them a favorite during England’s Victorian era.

Peggy was glad she’d had lunch already. Dorothy took her back to the morgue where they looked at Dr. Abutto’s body on the slab.

“Now I know all this stuff,” Dorothy held up a pink flower, “is thyme. You told me that. What I’m wondering is what this other stuff is? Specifically, does it have anything to do with his death? We found it all over.”

Peggy looked at the sample of the greenery in the plastic container marked with a question mark. “That’s easy too. It looks like some geranium petals mixed with some mum petals. It wouldn’t be surprising for you to have found this on him. These two flowers have been used a lot at the convention center.”

“Great.” Dorothy took a deep breath. “I know you said the thyme had some meaning to people who believe in that kind of thing.”

“Yes. It was a way of conveying messages that was created in the Victorian age.”

“What about the geranium and the mums?”

Peggy looked at Dorothy’s anxious face. “Well, geraniums mean gentility and mums have different meanings according to their color. This one is spray painted so it’s hard to say.”

“But nothing threatening, huh?”

“No. Not really. Sorry.”

Dorothy looked at the body before she covered it again. “I was hoping you might be able to provide some clues.”

Peggy noticed another plastic container on the table. “What’s this?”

“We thought it was probably pollen or some other botanical element. It’s just white dust. It wasn’t even inside of him or anything. I didn’t think it looked important.”

Dorothy handed her the container. Peggy shifted it back and forth in her gloved hands.

“I don’t know exactly what it is, but I can tell you it’s not botanical. Are you sure it’s not some kind of drug?” She told the ME about the missing bag. “There’s been some conjecture on whether or not he might’ve been smuggling drugs into the country with his orchids.”

“I didn’t know that.” Dorothy looked at the white substance. “Why am I always the last to know? We’ll have it tested. Thanks.”

Peggy looked at her friend’s covered corpse. “I’ve talked to Aris for years. We’d never met, but once we had when he got here for the show, I didn’t notice that he was different at all from the kind, knowledgeable man I’d had dealings with. I find it hard to believe he’d smuggle drugs here. He was so against them.”

Dorothy shrugged one thin shoulder. “You never know. Human nature changes. Maybe he didn’t want to do it. Maybe it was something he felt he couldn’t avoid.”

“Maybe so.”

“He has a daughter, right?” Dorothy looked at his file. “How old is she?”

“I think somewhere between eighteen and twenty. I wonder if they’ve told her about his death yet. I’d call her but I’ve never spoken with her. Aris was very private about his personal life.”

“It’s probably for the best anyway.” Dorothy left the autopsy room. “Professionals know how to handle this kind of thing. They do it every day.”