A Corpse for Yew (6 page)

“I knew he was going to say that!” Dorothy pushed her blue scarf back on her head. “I knew it. I believe I told all of you what they’d say.”

“Hush, Dorothy.” Annabelle turned to face Paul. “Young man, I know you’re trained to do what you do. But I was Lois’s friend for fifty years. We grew up together. I’m telling you Lois would
never
take a cab. Not if her life depended on it.”

“All right.” Paul acknowledged her argument. “What about a friend taking her there? Maybe she changed her mind at the last minute and didn’t want to bother you. Isn’t that possible?”

Mrs. Waynewright had drawn herself up to her full height of barely five feet, and looked as though she planned to give Paul her take on Lois’s death. At his question, she fumbled for a handkerchief in her pocket, then conceded, “I suppose that could be what happened.”

“If it is, we’ll find out.” Geneva patted Mrs. Waynewright’s shoulder. “Right, Peggy?”

Peggy’s head came up fast from her contemplation of the spotless garage floor. “What? I mean, I don’t know what else I can do.”

“Your mother’s told us about your exploits,” Dorothy explained. “Of course, a few of us remember reading about Mark Warner and poor Park Lamonte. You helped the police with both of those cases, bless their souls.”

“I did,” Peggy admitted. “But they were accidental. I work with the police now. I don’t know if I can do something like that on the side.”

“What you mean is that you
won’t
help.” Dorothy folded her large arms across her chest.

“Of course she will!” Lilla sailed into the fray and put her arm around her daughter. “Margaret will do everything she can to help us find out what happened to Lois.”

“Mom . . .”

“Right, Margaret?”

Peggy heard her father stifling a laugh behind her. The women stared at her, tears in their eyes. Lilla stared, too, but with an earnest, pleading look that reminded her that her mother was desperately trying to fit into this new environment after spending her whole life in Charleston.

“All right.” She gave in to the stares and the tears. She knew her mother was trying to impress her new friends. And unfortunately, Peggy could remember what it was like when she’d first moved here with John thirty years ago. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Thank you!” Geneva threw her arms around Peggy, followed by the rest of the society members until they resembled a Carolina Panthers’ Sunday huddle at the stadium.

Paul shook his head with a look on his face that didn’t bode well for her helping the group. Her father just seemed to find the whole thing hilarious. Peggy ignored them both, trying not to think about her failing garden shop and the fact that she might have to go back and beg for work at the university again.

“That’s settled.” Annabelle wiped the tears from her face, leaving a long, brown smudge on her cheek. “What do we do first?”

“I don’t know right now,” Peggy admitted. “I wasn’t prepared for this. You’ll have to give me some time to think about it.”

“Let me give you my cell phone number.” Grace wrote the number down on the inside of a matchbook she had in her purse. As she did, all the other women found something to write their cell phone numbers on as well. “You’ll let us know when you have some idea of what to do.”

“I will.” Peggy shoved all the pieces of paper into the pocket of her jeans.

“If I could say one more thing”—Paul interrupted—“I think I can give you an idea of where to start.”

The other women looked at him with skepticism and outright hostility, but Peggy was grateful for any help he could give her. “Where’s that?”

“Since all of you knew Lois so well, maybe you’d be the best people to contact her friends and find out if someone gave her a ride to the lake. And if you can’t find anyone who took her, that would give you something to go to the police with.”

“What a good idea!” Peggy put her hand on her son’s shoulder. “That’s
exactly
where we should start. Each of you come up with a list of friends and then cross-reference them. When you have a master list, you can divide it up and contact each person on it. Once we have that information, there may be no need to go any further. If you find someone who took her out there, that might be the end of it.”

The women nodded slowly, taking it in. “We’ll need your cell phone number, Peggy.” Geneva rummaged in her huge purse until she found some paper. “That way we can call you when we find out.”

“I have a few business cards with me.” Peggy pulled them from her pocket. They were a little wrinkled and muddy, like her, but they’d do. “Call me as soon as you know something.”

“What a wonderful idea, Paul!” Lilla commended her grandson. “What would we have done without your help?”

“Yes, Officer Lee.” A stern male voice interrupted their soft and fuzzy moment. It was Chief Mullis. “And if I’m not interrupting, what the hell are all of you doing in Aunt Lois’s house?”

THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL of foot shuffling, and many glances were thrown Peggy’s way. She took a deep breath and prepared to defend their actions, but Paul jumped in an instant before she could speak. “I’m sorry, Chief. I thought it would be a good idea to hear what your aunt’s friends had to say about her death.”

“So you thought you’d break into her garage to listen?”

“We didn’t break in,” Geneva enlightened him. “Lois gave us a key.”

Grace held up the key with an impertinent glare. “She trusted us. We were her friends.”

Chief Mullis shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’m just surprised to find you here. I was afraid someone had broken into the house. I guess I thought it might help make sense of Aunt Lois’s death if someone was here illegally.”

“You don’t think it was natural causes?” Dorothy asked.

“I don’t know what to think yet. And neither do you.
Any of you
. It was a shock to find her that way. That doesn’t mean she didn’t have a heart attack.” He smiled at the band of women. “I know she loved all of you. She loved your little historical society. We all want what’s best for her now, so let the police do their job. They work very hard to come up with the right answers.”

Geneva started to speak, but Mrs. Waynewright nudged her with her elbow. “That’s just fine, Arnie. We’ll all go home now. Thank you for tending to the situation.”

The chief opened the garage door and shook his balding head. “Don’t tell me all of you rode over in that Jeep? I can’t believe you’d encourage that kind of behavior, Officer Lee. That vehicle was made to seat only five. It must have been well over capacity.”

“Don’t be silly!” Annabelle responded. “We parked our car down the street a little so it wouldn’t be noticed while we were here. Peggy, Lilla and her husband, and this officer came when we called them.”

“I don’t know whether to be relieved or frightened that you’d think such a thing. You ladies have been watching too much TV.” The chief smiled at them as they strolled out of the garage, but he held Paul back. “We need to have a word.”

Lilla, Ranson, and Peggy got into the Jeep to wait. “Now he’s going to lose his job,” Lilla fretted. “I blame myself.”

“I blame you, too,” Peggy said. “I hope it won’t be that bad.”

Ranson added, “Paul’s doing a fine job for the Charlotte Police. I’m sure they’ll take that into consideration.”

Paul’s face was red when he finally emerged from the garage. He got in the Jeep, slammed the door, and started the engine without speaking. They were all the way to the street before Lilla finally blurted out, “I can’t stand it anymore! What happened? Were you fired? Because if you were . . .”

“I wasn’t fired,” he replied through clenched teeth. “You could say the chief took me down a notch or two. If anything else like this happens surrounding Mrs. Mullis’s death, it will be a lot worse.”

Peggy sighed. She was almost too tired and dirty to care what happened next. She asked Paul to drop her off at home. The ride from the shop to her house on Queens Road was less and less appealing, especially considering it was rush hour. Charlotte drivers didn’t like to share the road with bicyclists.

“Sure.” Paul turned sharply on Kings Drive. “What’s up with the Potting Shed? It seems really slow. Isn’t this your busy season?”

“It should be,” she agreed. “But this drought is really hurting business. I’m trying to come up with something clever to bring in customers.”

“I suppose the problem is watering what you plant,” Ranson said. “You just have to convince people to catch some rainwater for their plants.”

Peggy nodded. “I know. But we have to have rain to catch.”

“You’ll think of something,” Paul said. “You always do.”

“Any good forensic work coming up?” Ranson almost rubbed his hands in anticipation. He loved being part of Peggy’s “cases.”

“Don’t encourage her.” Lilla dampened his spirits. “Why would you want our daughter out investigating dead people? Of all things for a woman to do!”

Peggy couldn’t believe her ears. “Weren’t you just begging me to help your friends find out what happened to Lois?”

Lilla rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t say
begging,
exactly. I was grateful you were willing to organize them. The poor old things don’t know what to do. That’s a different kettle of fish from you out there cutting open some stranger who died mysteriously.”

Paul laughed. “Sounds the same to me.”

“Well, I never!” Lilla refused to look at them as they pulled off Queens Road into Peggy’s driveway.

Steve’s green Saturn VUE, newly airbrushed with NEWS-OME’S ANIMAL CLINIC, was parked close to the house. He was getting out of the SUV and waved to them as he came around to the back door.

“Steve must be here as much as he’s home.” Ranson chuckled. “I know it’s not the cookin’. Must be somethin’ else bringing him back.”

Lilla perked up when she heard that. “I don’t want to tell you how to live your life, Margaret, but people are going to talk if he’s here all the time.”

Paul laughed. “They must be talking a lot if that’s the case. I’ve been here at midnight and six in the morning when Steve was already here. I think he has a crush on Mom.”

“Look at that eucalyptus over there.” Ranson tried to change the subject. “It won’t take much more. I’ve never seen a time so dry. Looks like we need a rain dance or two around here.”

“We could stop in for dinner,” Lilla offered, already opening the door.

“Not tonight, Mom,” Peggy said. “I’m taking a shower and going to bed. I might manage to eat some toast on the way. I don’t think it’s a good night for company.”

“Maybe you should tell
him
that.” Lilla nodded toward Steve as he approached the Jeep.

“Now, darlin’,” Ranson whispered.

“Hey, are you guys getting out or just sitting here?” Steve asked as Paul rolled down his window.

“There appears to be a debate going on about that,” Paul told him. “For me, it depends on what’s for dinner. Mom says she’s having toast and going to bed. Did you have something else in mind?”

Lilla sucked in her breath. “Paul! For goodness’ sake! What kind of thing is that to ask?”

Steve laughed. “I wouldn’t expect much more than that, Paul.” He nodded to Ranson and Lilla. “Hi, there. If you’d like to come in, I’m sure I could scramble a few eggs.”

“Presuming there
are
eggs,” Peggy corrected him.

“He acts like he lives here,” Lilla hissed at her husband in a way that made it clear to everyone what she thought of the idea. “Margaret, you’d better take care.”

“I think you’re right, Sweet Pea,” Ranson told his daughter. “It doesn’t seem like a good night to come in. Besides, we’re having dinner next Tuesday, right? We’ll see you later.”

Lilla protested, but was overruled as Peggy got out of the Jeep and Paul started backing down the driveway. “I don’t know what she expects from that man! She encourages him to take advantage of her at every turn. Why, if I didn’t know better . . .”

Peggy waved as the Jeep sped away, mingling with the heavy traffic on Queens Road. It had been a good idea to let Paul drop her off here. She could barely make her tired body take her into the house. Her father was right about the eucalyptus she’d planted before the drought had reared its ugly head. It was looking pitiful. The twenty-five-room, turn-of-the-century house, built by John’s great-grandfather, had a well that had been in place for years before city water had reached the property. But it was a huge yard, and it was hard to keep up by hand-watering everything from the well as much as it needed. The property had remained its original size despite the city building up around it. It was a blessing to have so much green space in the middle of the city, but right now it was also difficult to care for it.