Killing Weeds (4 page)

They were a striking couple—tall, beautiful, and fit. He was dark, and Hunter was fair. Heads turned when they walked past shoppers at the other tables in the arcade.

“Hey, you two!” Hunter hugged both of them, a distinctly female version of her brother. “Luke and I came to help. Did the police get anyone for this yet?”

“Maybe the two of you could listen to Sam’s story,” Peggy suggested. “Hang on a minute while I get someone else in on this. Believe me. It’s a lot stranger than someone vandalizing The Potting Shed.”

Peggy got Millie as Hunter, Luke, and Sam took a seat at one of the pretty tables with a colorful umbrella above it on the cobblestone walkway. There was a struggling trumpet vine with delicate orange flowers growing along the edge of the wall beside it.

Sam waited to tell his story until Millie and Peggy were seated too. When he’d finished his tale, each of his listeners had a perplexed frown on their faces.

“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Leave it to you to aim for a new high in weirdness,” Hunter teased her brother.

Millie and Luke exchanged knowing glances across the table.

Peggy knew that look. “What is it?”

“It’s not all that crazy.” Millie’s brown eyes were intent on her subject. “People scam things like this all the time, although usually there’s money or goods that changes hands. What was there for this woman to gain?”

Luke agreed. “Did you give her something to hire you, Sam?”

“No. Nothing besides my time. She didn’t give me anything either.”

“What about a signed contract for the work?” Hunter, the attorney, asked.

“We don’t work that way,” Sam said. “We’re handshake people. It’s always worked for us.”

“This might not be anything more than a stupid prank,” Luke advised. “Maybe you should consider a contract next time.”

Sam nodded.

“But what would be the point of someone doing this?” Peggy asked. “Whoever did it had to know Sam would be back to do the work. Were they standing behind the trees laughing? No one got any money out of it.”

“I think it’s odd, timed with this extreme vandalism,” Millie said. “Especially since some knowledge of the alarm system was necessary. Someone was prepared to do this and did a really thorough job of it. Any word from the police about how the alarm was disabled?”

“Not yet,” Peggy said. “I know it was cut inside.”

“But that should have triggered the alarm,” Luke added. “That’s the way it works. What’s the name of the alarm service that takes care of your shop, Peggy?” “They take care of all the shops in here,” she responded.

“I hope you don’t mind.” Millie frowned. “I took pictures when I first got here.”

Peggy nodded. “Steve wanted to see.”

“Yes. But I think the events are strange too. It could be coincidence, but maybe not. Who’s handling the case?”

“Sergeant Eve Malcolm.” Peggy handed her Eve’s card. “Whatever you can do, Millie, I appreciate it. I know no one died or anything, but it’s quite a financial blow to us.”

“Don’t forget that scams and other financial crimes can be investigated by the police too,” Luke said with a smile. “I’ll speak with the sergeant when I go in later.”

“Thanks, Luke.” Peggy included him too.

“Don’t get in trouble,” Hunter said

“You don’t have to worry about me, baby.” Luke kissed her quickly. “Let’s go inside and see what we can do, huh?”

The three went into The Potting Shed first.

Peggy held Sam back for a moment. “Don’t worry about this. You did what you were supposed to do. Even if you had a contract signed by someone who wasn’t Mrs. Hood, what good would it do? It’s not like the police would spend time having people match their signatures to it. Let it go, Sam. Let’s find out what’s really behind this.”

“I will. But I have ten thousand dollars’ worth of plants I have to find new homes for. I think that will take my mind off of it. Thanks, Peggy.”

She hugged him. “It’s going to be okay.”

But a dread, as her father from Charleston used to say, had settled on her. What in the world was going on?

Crape Myrtle

Though the beautiful crape myrtle is thought to typify Southern states, it is actually native to Asia. Many consider it a native to these shores because it has been here so long. George Washington received seeds to grow on his plantation in 1799.

Chapter Six

Clean up was over quickly with so many hands grabbing brooms and willing to do whatever was necessary. Peggy thanked them all for coming to their rescue.

When everyone else was gone, she smiled at Selena and Sam. “Well, that was the easy part. Now all we have to do is write down everything that was destroyed or stolen.”

“That’s easy too,” Selena declared with a toss of her newly-cut black hair. Her golden brown eyes focused on her laptop. “I have everything right here. We can make a print-out for the insurance company and police from this.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah. Right. That’s looking at new inventory. What about old inventory?”

“What old inventory?”

“The stuff that hangs around forever. Plastic birds. Trellises. The stuff that doesn’t go bad but sells slowly. That stuff. We never throw any of that away, but none of it is any good now.”

“I’m sure I’ve got that too,” Selena said confidently. “We got everything listed that I saw on the floor. I think we’re good to go.”

“Let me take a look at that.” Sam turned the laptop toward him.

The front door opened, and an older gentleman in a neat suit and tie came in.

“I’m sorry. We’re closed,” Peggy said as Selena and Sam wrangled over the laptop. “We had a break-in last night and lost most of our merchandise. I’ll be glad to take your name and information if you’d like me to contact you when we open again. Or I can still take orders.”

The man with the neatly trimmed beard stepped forward and shook her hand. “Dr. Lee, I’m guessing. I’m Robert Dean from Gromer’s Insurance. I’m sorry about your trouble. I’m here to help if I can.”

Peggy liked his open smile. He had a good handshake—not so hard that she felt like he was going to squeeze her hand off but not like she was holding a wet noodle either. He seemed a pleasant person, surprisingly so since he was an insurance adjuster.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, Mr. Dean. We just got the cleanup done. I hope that wasn’t a problem for you. We have plenty of pictures of the damage if you need to see it, and the police have even more.”

“That’s fine.” He handed her a business card. “You can send those to my email along with your loss inventory list.”

“Thanks.” She handed the card to Selena and introduced her assistant and Sam to him. “What else will we need to do to be reimbursed for our loss so we can get the shop up and running again?”

“I’m assuming the police have cleared you in their investigation. I’m afraid I just got into town and haven’t had a chance to speak with them on this matter.”

“They’ve finished the investigation here at the shop,” she told him. “The only question seems to be what happened to the alarm system.”

He raised his mostly gray brows that matched the slight gray fringe of his hair. “That’s right. You have an alarm. Did the police respond in a timely manner?”

“They responded after someone from The Kozy Kettle across the way phoned it in,” Sam answered. “There was nothing from the alarm company.”

“It’s odd that I haven’t heard anything from them today either,” Peggy said. “I should probably give them a call. We don’t want to stock up again until the alarm is repaired.”

“It didn’t do much good last time,” Selena reminded her.

“I’ll have a conversation with them for you, Dr. Lee.” Robert Dean checked in his notebook for their information. “It’s the least I can do to get this process running smoothly.”

“Please, call me Peggy.” She smiled at him. “Whatever you can find out would be helpful. I appreciate your being here.”

“We’ll figure this out, Peggy. And please, call me Bobby. All my customers do.”

With another handshake, and a cursory look around the front of the shop, Bobby left.

Selena laughed. “I think Bobby likes you, Peggy. And that was some fine flirting you were doing too.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Sam said. “She wasn’t flirting with Bobby. She has Steve.”

“Hey. A woman can flirt a little with a nice older gentleman. You never know when that’s gonna help your insurance claim. I’m surprised you weren’t flirting with him too.” Selena always found a way to give Sam a hard time.

“Aren’t you supposed to send something to someone?” Sam asked. “I’m going to visit our customers and see if we can unload some of tomorrow’s shipment before it gets here.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Peggy said. “And thank you, Selena. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through this without the two of you.”

“You’d have
Bobby
,” Selena suggested with a big grin.

Sam grunted and slammed the back door as he left the shop.

Peggy helped finish the inventory report. Selena sent off the emails, and they left too.

“You don’t have to worry about getting a new laptop right away,” Selena offered. “We can use mine right now. With spring break, I’m not using it much. Good thing I backed up The Potting Shed’s files to my laptop too.”

“Thank you,” Peggy said. “Do you need a ride somewhere?”

A loud red Mustang pulled into the back lot and a handsome young man leaned out the window. “Hey, beautiful! You almost ready?”

Selena giggled and waved to Peggy. “This is him—Mr. Right. I’ll see you later.”

“I guess Mr. Right doesn’t have a name.” She watched them leave, the Mustang spitting out gravel as it tore out of the parking lot.

She got in her car, thinking that if he was really Mr. Right, she’d learn his name later. There had already been many Mr. Rights in the years she’d worked for Peggy.

Selena had accidentally taken one of Peggy’s botany classes when she was still teaching at Queens University. Despite not being interested in botany as a profession, Selena had stayed with the class and eventually started working at The Potting Shed for extra money.

Peggy was always glad she had. Selena could be a little flighty at times, but she had a good heart and was wonderful about being there when Peggy needed her.

After getting into the car, Peggy saw there was a text from Mai. The samples she’d taken at the Honohan crime scene were ready to be analyzed.

Peggy tried to call Paul on her way over to the medical examiner’s office. Maybe he didn’t deserve a heads-up since he hadn’t told her or Mai what he’d been doing the night before. 

But he was her son. She planned to yell at him for not telling his wife the truth and pry out of him what was really going on.

Relationships that didn’t include trust didn’t last. She’d hate to see Mai and Paul break up over his need for secrecy, even if he was just working extra hours with the police for the benefit of his family.

But she was even more worried that he might still be trying to find his father’s killer. Paul was slightly obsessed with it. He’d decided to become a police officer for that reason, but lately he’d grown more impatient for information.

There was no answer. Peggy left him a text while she sat at a stoplight. The light changed, and she immediately got a loud honk from the driver behind her for her trouble.

The medical examiner’s office was a low, flat building with a large parking lot. Peggy parked her car and greeted the landscaper who was mulching soil around a large bed of daffodils, purple hyacinths, and pink tulips. She’d always admired his work on the site—never cutting back the crape myrtles too far or cutting down flowers before they had a chance to set seed.

He pulled at his gray cap. “Thank you, ma’am. People don’t much notice the work that goes into keeping things pretty around here. You must be a gardener.”

She put out her hand. “Peggy Lee. I own a garden shop in Brevard Court.”

“Nice to meet you.” He glanced back at the building. “What are you doing here? Nothing but death in that place.”

“I’m a forensic botanist on the side. I guess I love the work because it involves two of my favorite things—puzzles and plants.”

“Thanks.” He laughed. “I was about to ask what a forensic botanist does.”

“I didn’t know what it was at first either. But it’s a good feeling when we solve a case and give a family the answers they deserve.”

“I suppose so.” He shook her hand again. “I’m Billy Lowe. If you ever need any help, give me a call.”

She promised she would, thinking that Sam might need some extra help if he managed to resell all those plants and shrubs that had been destroyed.

Peggy was yawning as she went inside. Four a.m. was just too early to be up, and stay up all day. She hoped Steve wasn’t feeling the same way and smiled as she texted him a yawning emoticon.

“There you are Dr. Lee.” Mai uncomfortably glanced around the empty hall. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“Everyone around here knows we’re related.” Peggy put her bag down on her desk. “Even Dr. Beck calls me Peggy. It’s okay for you to do it too.”

“I have to be more careful than Dr. Beck because I’m not the medical examiner, and she’s not your daughter-in-law. I was wondering where you’ve been.”

As Peggy put on her white lab coat, she explained about everything that had been going on at The Potting Shed.

“Is that where Paul was too? I’ve been trying to reach him all day.” Mai walked into the lab with Peggy.

“No. He wasn’t with me. I’ve tried calling him too. With everything the police have to do, I’m sure he’s just very busy.”

But Peggy’s stomach was starting to churn. Where was Paul?

It was probably only because of this other business—it wasn’t like she kept track of him every day. He was a grown man. But still . . .

Another worker in the medical examiner’s office knocked at the door and then came in. “Dr. Sato, we’ve gone through all the evidence that was found at the Honohan crime scene and separated it. Do you want to take a look at it now?”

“Sure, Dave. Thank you.” Mai smiled at him, but as soon as he was gone she urged Peggy to identify the residue they’d found on Ms. Honohan as quickly as possible.