A Corpse for Yew (26 page)

The question of how a man Lois would never have trusted could get her to eat anything, much less poison berries, was at the forefront. Without signs of coercion, she had to assume Lois ate the berries willingly.

There was also the carnelian ring. It obviously had bearing on the case. It had been out there, and she believed it arrived in Lois’s purse. Surely Lois wouldn’t have taken the ring out if she knew Snook Holt was there.

Peggy thought about the puzzle while she and the others ate gingersnaps and drank lemonade with the McWhirters before heading back to the van. The ladies were happy with the standing invitation to visit the site whenever they wanted. That and dedicating Captain Miller’s grave was a good day’s work for them. They all fell asleep on the way back to Charlotte while Jonathon drove.

 

 

PEGGY CHECKED IN ON HER father when she got back to the Potting Shed. He was asleep in her rocking chair, his chin resting on his chest. She smiled at him fondly, then shook his shoulder.

Ranson jumped up in surprise. “You sneaked up on me, Sweet Pea. Are you back from your historical expedition already?”

“
We
are.” Her mother joined them. “It was wonderful. You should’ve been there.” She went on to describe the event and meeting the McWhirters. “You would’ve been proud of your daughter. She almost backed up a man with a shotgun trained right on her heart.”

“And why would that have made me proud?” He glanced at Peggy and frowned. “You had all those prime old ladies out there, and you were willing to sacrifice yourself. I thought I taught you better.”

She laughed. “Any business while I was gone?”

“One woman came in to buy fertilizer for her African violet. I managed to sell her some tulip bulbs with it.”

“I hope she plans to put them in pots.” Peggy got behind the cash register. “Otherwise, I hope she has one of Sam’s new watering systems. The soil’s too dry and hard to plant them.”

“I’d like to see one of those contraptions,” her father said. “Think that could be arranged?”

“I don’t see why not. I’ll talk to Sam about it.”

“Talk to her about that later, Ranson.” Lilla yawned. “I’m tired and dirty, and you know that’s not a good thing for me.”

He shook his head. “You’d never guess you’ve spent most of your life on the farm.”

“Not in my youth, dear. I’m still a city girl at heart.” Lilla waved to Peggy. “I’ll talk to you later. Any luck with Steve yet?”

“I haven’t had time.” Peggy shrugged and sat down in the recently vacated rocking chair. “But I’ll talk to him tonight.”

“Good. We still have plenty of time to plan an engagement party for Tuesday night. I hope that’s not rushing you.”

Peggy said good-bye to her parents without answering her mother’s question. She wasn’t sure if it was wise to plan an engagement party when one half of the couple didn’t know they were getting engaged. She took out her cell phone and tried to call Steve, but could only reach his voice mail. What if he didn’t want to get engaged now? Just because her parents and Paul thought it was a good idea didn’t mean Steve would.

The door to the shop opened, and a woman pushing a small cart full of houseplants stepped in. Peggy helped her get the cart past the doorway, wondering why she had so many plants and hoping she wasn’t going to return them. Like any other store, she sometimes had people who weren’t happy with what they bought and wanted to bring them back.

“Can I help you?” Peggy asked after closing the shop door.

“I hope so. Are you the owner?”

The woman looked as though she’d been crying. Peggy immediately sat her down in the rocking chair and put on some tea. It was blueberry with a touch of borage. “I’m Peggy. I own the Potting Shed.”

“A friend of mine, Jolie Lamonte, told me if anyone could help me, it would be you.” With that, she sobbed uncontrollably for a few minutes.

Peggy made the tea and put a mug of it in the other woman’s hand. “Of course I know Jolie. She’s a very dear friend. What’s your name?”

“Rachael Woods. I live over in the Dilworth area. I’ve taken care of my mother for the past three years. She died two days ago. Now I have all these plants.” She spread her hands at the cart. “I want to take care of them, but I don’t know how. I think all of them are dying. What am I doing wrong?”

Peggy sipped her tea and took a good look at the plants. “Well, let’s see. I think this little cyclamen needs to be re-potted. I’m sure it’ll be fine with some new soil and a bigger pot. And this Christmas cactus has overgrown its pot, too. See how the soil looks? It’s used up all the nutrients. As far as this philodendron is concerned, I think we may have to reroot part of it. It may survive that way. It’s hard to kill one of those.”

“I’m no good with plants,” Rachael cried. She accepted Peggy’s offer of tissues. “I just can’t stand the idea of anything else dying right now, you know? If I can save them, I want them to live.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem.” Peggy opened a bag of good potting soil and set Rachael to work taking the plants out of their containers while she rounded up a few new pots. It took only a few minutes to put the plants into their new homes. “You can take these fertilizer pellets with you. Use one a month on each plant. Be sure to keep them out of drafts.”

They tackled the philodendron next. Peggy very carefully removed the only good leaf left on the plant. She didn’t want to imagine what kind of abuse the poor thing had endured. Usually philodendrons were the safest bet for a new gardener. “We’ll just put some new soil in this little pot and stick the end of the leaf in the soil. Water it a little. Don’t let it get too dry, but don’t drown it, either. It should be fine.”

Rachael sniffed, her hands and dress covered in soil. “I don’t know how to thank you. Jolie was right. You’ve been such a big help.”

When the younger woman burst out crying again, Peggy hugged her tightly and tried to comfort her. The shop door opened again, this time to admit Sofia from the Kozy Kettle. For once, Peggy was glad to see her. It took the Sicilian woman only an instant to take the girl in hand and lead her toward another cup of tea and something sweet at her shop.

Sofia glanced at Peggy as though she had made Rachael cry. Peggy shook her head to deny it, but it was no use. A few minutes later, Emil ran across the courtyard and let himself into the Potting Shed. “What’s wrong over here? Did that girl try to take your man? You know that happens sometimes. It might be for the best, since you aren’t good for each other, anyway. He likes the animals and you like the plants.”

Peggy started adding up what she’d put together for Rachael. “That’s not the problem,” she explained. “She was crying because her mother died and I saved her plants.”

Emil rolled his expressive dark eyes. “You can believe that if it makes you happy. You come over and eat when you get done here, and we’ll talk about it.”

“I have ten other places I have to be, Emil. But thanks for the invitation. Can you help me get this cart over there?”

Emil picked up the cart and carried it across the brick courtyard. Peggy noticed that someone had left an ICEE in one of the big flower pots she maintained for Brevard Court. She took it out and dropped it in the trash can. The bright rust and red mums looked none the worse for the experience.

Rachael was still crying when Peggy got to the Kozy Kettle. She took out her credit card when she saw the cart full of plants. Peggy ran the card, happy it was good and she wouldn’t have to tell the girl she couldn’t buy what she needed.

“I won’t ever forget what you’ve done,” Rachael said as she signed the receipt.

“You take care of yourself and those plants,” Peggy advised, giving her a copy of the transaction. “I’m sure your mother wouldn’t want you to go on this way and make yourself sick.”

Sofia crossed herself. “No. Not like my Cousin Gena. She made herself crazy when her mother died. We had to lock her in the attic for months. Then her father died. What a mess!”

Peggy didn’t wait to hear more of the story. She went back across the courtyard and closed the Potting Shed. She started home, intending to look for Steve. He was probably in his basement with a patient, and that’s why he wasn’t picking up the phone. She was sure he wasn’t ignoring her when he saw her name and number on his caller ID. Surely he’d at least talk to her.

Her phone rang as she closed it. “Peggy, you have to get over here,” Mai told her. “This is officially still my case, and I need to know where we are as far as those berries are concerned.”

“We’re nowhere right now,” Peggy told her, not planning to go near the lab until she’d talked to Steve. “Merton says none of the branches I’ve given him match the seeds you took from Lois.”

“Then we need more branches. She didn’t get those berries out of the air. We need to know where they came from, now that we know Holt was involved.”

“Have they charged him with her death?”

“No. They’re waiting on evidence, waiting for
you!
”

“I can’t cut branches off of every yew bush out there,” Peggy said. “There are hundreds. Besides, that doesn’t explain your findings. You said there were no bruises and you didn’t think anyone had forced Lois to eat the berries. Surely you don’t think now that she willingly took poison berries from a man she would’ve been afraid of?”

“I don’t know what to think right now,” Mai admitted. “But I have Dr. Ramsey and Chief Mullis breathing down my neck. I need you here to back me up.”

“If it’s any help,” Peggy said, “I think this whole thing is about the carnelian ring. Did you see the contents of Lois’s pocketbook that we found at the lake?”

“I’ve been going through it all day. Are you talking about the ring box?”

“Yes. I think if we can figure out why Lois took that ring out to the lake, we may be closer to figuring out why she died. The yew berries could be from anywhere out there.”

“But that may not be true either,” Mai argued. “Please, Peggy. Come to the lab. What else are you doing that’s so important? It’s past six, so I know the shop is closed.”

Peggy couldn’t bring herself to admit she was going to look for Steve and ask him if he still wanted them to be together. She liked Mai, but this wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with her. It was bad enough to start the day discussing it with her family. “All right. I’ll come over for awhile. I’m not sure what good I can do, but I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Great! I’ll schedule a conference with everyone.”

“Is everyone me, you, and Harold?” Peggy asked, but the phone was dead. Apparently Mai had raced to schedule that conference. Why did she have the feeling she had volunteered to walk through a minefield?

She tried calling Steve again. There was still no response. A feeling of dread was creeping into her. Steve never went this long without answering. Even though she hadn’t left him a message, he had to know she’d been calling him all day. If he’d wanted to talk to her, he would’ve called.

Maybe it was just as well. The whole thing could be a mistake. It had taken her parents and son to convince her it wasn’t a mistake. That said something in itself. She wasn’t sure what, but maybe it was better to leave things as they were. When she recalled how angry and frightened she’d been the night before, she tried to summon some of that frustration. But all she got was a strange feeling of emptiness.

She parked the truck in the lab parking lot, not surprised to see how many techs were still working. There was a growing number of crimes in the city and always a shortage of good help. It was one of the reasons she’d agreed to do this work. It brought her a lot of satisfaction to solve cases, but it also made her feel as though she was doing something good for the community.

“Dr. Lee.” Harold loomed up out of the stainless steel and green paint in the lab. “How nice of you to join us.”

Peggy’s cell phone rang. It was Steve, of course. “I’ll just be a minute, Harold.”

“Dr. Lee,” Chief Mullis addressed her, “I see we’re all here. Shall we get started?”

PEGGY SIGHED AS SHE TURNED off her cell phone. Steve was going to have to wait.

She sat down at the long, battered conference table with Harold, Mai, and Chief Mullis. Before they started talking, Captain Jonas Rimer and Detective Al McDonald joined them. A few pleasantries were observed; Peggy knew Jonas’s wife, Georgette, and asked after her since she hadn’t seen the couple in a few months.

Chief Mullis killed that notion quickly. “Are we here for the social hour or are we here to find out what happened to my aunt?”