A Corpse for Yew (10 page)

Peggy laughed. “That sounds great! Write them down and we’ll talk about them.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “I have to go to the police lab. If you need me, call me.”

“You know I will. I hope we have a lot of customers, ’cause I really don’t like cleaning the shelves.”

Peggy left Selena frowning at the cleaning list and drove to the ME’s lab a few minutes away. “You’re late!” Mai met Peggy at the door to the lab with her white coat in one hand and a file in the other. “You know how important this is. I can’t believe you could be late today, of all days.”

“I’m sorry. Traffic was bad between here and the Potting Shed.” Peggy considered, unkindly perhaps, that Mai needed a tranquilizer. It was only a minute after nine, and they were already walking back to the lab.

“I’ve heard from the chief three times since seven-thirty. His family wants to bury his aunt by this weekend. He said we better make up our minds about what killed her.”

“Did you tell him that’s what we’re doing?”

Mai shuddered. “Of course not! He’s the chief! We have to make a decision about Mrs. Mullis today. I need you to help me do that.”

The phone rang and Mai answered it. She held her hand on the receiver and made a face at Peggy. “It’s Dr. Ramsey. I guess the chief called him, too. I left all the stuff we took off the body on the worktable. Maybe you could start taking a look at it.”

Peggy nodded, glad she didn’t have to talk to Harold, and went to take a look at the “stuff.” Mai seemed fairly convinced that Lois had had a heart attack. She wasn’t sure why she was second-guessing herself.

Of course the information about Lois’s cars still being at her house and the ladies from the club not finding a friend who took her to the dry lake was part of the police investigation, not the ME’s. Peggy knew she couldn’t allow her suspicions on those other matters to color her judgment on the physical evidence.

As far as Geneva believing Jonathon was responsible for what happened to Lois, she felt sure that was simply grief and anger talking. Outside of taking on this project of collecting old bones, the two seemed to have nothing in common.

All of the plant samples Mai had taken from the body were in plastic bags arranged neatly on the long, gleaming metal table. Peggy picked up a marker and a notebook to try to classify what they’d found.

Some of it was simple. There were some blackberry brambles with tiny pieces of fabric caught in them and a stem of purple berries from false Solomon’s seal that had been found in her shoes. Most of the botanical evidence was what she would expect to find on anyone who was outside in a rural, forested environment. Nothing special.

Then she came to three small, green seeds. Those took her aback for a moment. She looked at the notation in the folder as to where they were found on the body. For a moment, she stared straight ahead at the spotless, eggshell-colored wall.

The first thing she’d noticed when she’d seen Lois’s dead face was that her lips were red. Since it appeared she was wearing eyeliner as well, she’d assumed it was lipstick. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“So? What do you think? Anything that could lead to death?” Mai glanced at the collection on the table.

“I’m afraid so.”

“I
knew
it!” Mai put her hand down hard on the table. “I don’t know why. It wasn’t that stuff you told me about her cars. I just knew it!”

“It may not be anything, but these seeds you took out of her mouth are yew seeds. The berries they were probably attached to are deadly poisonous. I saw that her lips were red, but I didn’t think about her eating something that colored them.”

Mai looked at the green seeds. “I don’t get it. They don’t look red to me. Do they change color with saliva?”

“No. The seed is almost hidden inside a bright red berry on the plant. They’re hard to spot. The berry resembles a blackberry or raspberry. It would take only this small amount to kill her.”

“You think she was out there at the lake alone and wanted a little snack? She saw the berries and decided to eat them, not realizing they were dangerous?”

“Did you find any seeds in her stomach?”

“I don’t think so. Let’s check.”

Peggy watched Mai look up the case on the computer. Mai checked everything, but couldn’t find a notation of physical evidence that would show them that berries had been ingested.

“I suppose it could be possible she didn’t have time to swallow them,” Mai suggested. “Could they be that toxic?”

“It’s possible, especially for someone who had heart problems.”

“So it could still be an accident. Maybe not a natural death, but not a homicide.”

“It could be an accident,” Peggy agreed carefully. “People, especially children, eat poisonous berries every year. Pokeberries, elderberries, yew berries—they all look harmless enough. Sometimes birds eat them, so people think they can eat them, too. If Lois saw them and ate a few, it could’ve caused her death.”

“We’ll have to go back and check to make sure the seeds aren’t inside, too.” Mai made a note. “But this theory could explain what happened.”

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been in touch with Lois’s friends from the historical society again. They couldn’t find anyone who took Lois to the lake yesterday. They even have a suspect. If they knew about the berries, I’m sure they’d be convinced she was a victim of foul play.”

“No way.” Mai sat down hard on a stool. “I don’t want to know about this. It’s not my job. We find the physical evidence on and in the body. That’s all. We don’t do any outside investigating, except for sending
you
out to look for the yew berries.”

“Branches.” Peggy shrugged. “All right.”

“Really. I mean, that’s not our job. The detectives have to check into that other stuff.”

“That’s fine.”

“And why would her friends think this, anyway? She was supposed to be out there with them yesterday.”

“She called and told them she couldn’t be there because of her lumbago. They weren’t expecting her to be there.” Peggy glanced at Mai. “To make matters worse, neither of her vehicles was there. I told you how they feel about that.”

“Maybe she took a taxi.”

“I thought of that. She hated taxis. Her friends said she’d never take a taxi.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m telling you what they said and what they’ll probably insist on telling the chief. I don’t know if he’ll listen to them. Even if yew berries poisoned her.”

Mai stood up again, shaking her head. “No. I won’t get involved in this. We have too much to do, and the chief wants results today. We have to give him what we have. We’ll have to take another look at the body. There’ll be more tests. The detectives have to do their job. That’s the way it has to be. Let me know if you find the right branches or berries out at the lake.”

 

 

LAKE WHITLEY WAS ONLY FORTY minutes from the ME’s office. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into this,” Mai said as she drove. “I have a hundred things to do today, not the least of which involves redoing part of the autopsy on Mrs. Mullis.”

“You said we should go and look for yew bushes at the lake.” Peggy shrugged. “I thought you meant right away.”

Mai glanced at her. “I didn’t say
we
should look for yew bushes. I don’t even know what yew bushes look like. You’re the forensic botanist. You’re supposed to go out and take care of these things.”

“And I will, but—”

“But you couldn’t resist taking a look around at the crime scene,” Mai continued. “And for some reason, you wanted me to come along.”

Peggy laughed. “Not for some reason. I like you, Mai, and we don’t spend enough time together.”

“Great! In other words, you want to snoop on Paul and me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. The two of you are coming for dinner on Tuesday, right?”

“Short of an emergency. Or if you keep dragging me off on weird field trips and I never finish my work.”

“You’ll finish,” Peggy assured her. “Paul told me you’ve decided to paint the house.”

“
We
did. Why is that kind of thing always
my
decision?”

“Did I say
you
decided? I meant both of
you
. What color are you doing the dining room?”

“Is this some kind of test? Our house isn’t as big as yours, Peggy, so what looks good at your place won’t necessarily look good at our place.”

“I don’t know why you’re so upset.” Peggy pointed out the turn to Lake Whitley. “I only asked what color you’re doing the dining room.”

“Rose.” Mai looked at her with a belligerent gleam in her dark eyes. “Go ahead. Say it. Paul has said it often enough. Rose isn’t a good color for a dining room. A bedroom maybe, but not a dining room.”

“I think it’s a lovely color for a dining room. Especially since you have those beautiful rose pattern dishes.”

“Really? I think it’s going to look great. I’m doing the kitchen Sunday Sand and the living room Torrid Taupe.”

“That sounds wonderful! I hope Paul’s helping you paint.”

Mai pulled the ME’s van into a spot beside the line of crime scene tape. “Oh, he’s helping, or it’ll get ugly really fast. We went furniture shopping last week. He didn’t want to do that, either. He’s such a
man!
Next I think he might want a La-z-Boy and a big-screen TV.”

“You mean he doesn’t already?”

“Probably. He hasn’t said so.” Mai’s pretty face grew serious. “He said something to me about you and Steve. He’s worried about you. He likes Steve. He’s just not sure about your relationship.”

“I’ll tell him when I think he’s ready,” Peggy said. “It’s been only three years since his father died. I don’t want him to think I’d forget John because I love Steve.”

“I think he can handle it better than speculating on what’s happening at your house. He’s not a little kid anymore. And he’s not stupid. If you don’t tell him soon, he’ll catch you guys and confront you. I know you don’t want that.”

A knock at Mai’s window drew their attention. She opened it and smiled at the officer on the other side. “We’re going to take another look around.”

“Sure thing, ma’am,” the officer replied. “Just thought you should know someone has been out here playing with our crime scene. We caught this guy a little while ago.”

The officer pulled Jonathon closer to the van. The museum director smiled and adjusted his glasses. “Peggy? Maybe you could tell this man that I wasn’t here to disturb the crime scene.”

Peggy thought about what Geneva had said in regard to his relationship with Lois. “What
were
you doing out here, Jonathon?”

PEGGY VOUCHED FOR JONATHON, THOUGH she was reluctant to do so. It seemed odd to her that he’d be out there, apparently alone. Of course she
could
be allowing Geneva’s doubts to cloud her judgment. “What were you doing out here?” she asked him again as he accompanied her and Mai to the area where they’d found Lois.

“I didn’t realize this was considered a crime scene.” Jonathon held back a blackberry bush for the two women. “Why are the police investigating Lois’s death? I thought it was obvious she’d died from natural causes.”

Mai’s dark eyes narrowed. “And what made you think that was obvious, sir?”

“No one would want to hurt Lois. She was the backbone of the group. Besides, those things happen only on TV.”

“Not quite,” Peggy answered. “Even if there were no suspicious aspects of this death, the ME is required to take a look at anything that’s out of the ordinary. Lois may have had a heart attack while she was waiting for the group, but she wasn’t exactly at home in her bed.”

“I didn’t realize. I thought she’d just died, and we’d go on with the excavation.” He smiled at Peggy and Mai. “Time nor tide waits for no man. We’ll have rain eventually, and everything you see here will be under forty feet of water again.”

“I understand your dedication, Dr. Underwood,” Mai began, “but we have to clear anyone before they can come into the crime scene. Nothing else can be disturbed until we know for sure what happened here.”

“I’m sorry.” His large hands went up to his sun-reddened face. “I didn’t take much out today. Everything I found is under the tarp over there. I won’t touch anything else until you tell me.”

Just for the sake of asking the question, Peggy wondered, “Where were you before you picked up the ladies and brought them out here?”