Pretty Poison (13 page)

“I was calling to see if you lost your key for the shop.” Peggy came right to the point. “Sam found one in the back by the loading dock, and it doesn’t seem to belong to anyone else.”

For a long moment, there was no reply. Peggy thought her signal might be bad.

Keeley finally said, “Maybe. I’ll check. I never seem to need it, since Sam’s always there.”

“Is something wrong?” Peggy wished she could talk to her in person. “You sound strange.”

“You know me. I’m always strange. Anything else?”

“The police arrested Mr. Cheever for killing Mark Warner. I went to see him. He told me he saw a woman run out of the shop that night.”

“That’s terrible. I hope he has a good lawyer.”

Peggy told her about Sam’s sister. “She’s quite a character. I think you’d like her. How would you like to come over for a brainstorming session later? Maybe we could come up with something to help Mr. Cheever.”

“I’d love to, but I have to study. Maybe later?”

“Sure, Keeley. I’ll talk to you later.”

Something was definitely wrong. She sounded preoccupied and nervous. Peggy put away her cell phone and was about to start on the tree again when a cardinal flew by, swooping down close to the dog. The Great Dane jumped up and missed the bird, but he kept jumping at it anyway. The nylon rope that said it could be used to tow a car snapped. The dog ran off, following the bird.

“Oh, no!” Peggy heard a scream from Clarice’s backyard followed by Poopsie’s frantic barking, and ran next door.

Both Poopsie and his larger counterpart were standing on top of Peggy’s neighbor. Covered with mud and screaming, Clarice was trying to push the dogs off of her. With the cardinal resting in a large crape myrtle above her head, the Great Dane wasn’t moving. His booming bark sounded around the enclosed garden like a fog horn.

Peggy grabbed her dog’s collar and finally managed to pull him away. The cardinal flew off, unaware of the commotion it caused.

Clarice staggered to her feet, refusing Peggy’s offer of help. “That animal is a menace! If I see it out of your yard again, I’m going to call animal control.”

There wasn’t much point in assuring her that the dog wouldn’t get away again. Peggy dragged the dog as he licked her and wagged his tail. “You’re going to have to come in here while I print up some flyers to take around. My life is complicated enough without a big lug like you causing a disaster every five minutes.”

After making sure there was nothing he could knock down, she put him in the laundry room with a pail of water to drink. Then she went upstairs to shower and change clothes.

There were a dozen E-mails waiting for her when she turned on her computer. One of them was an invitation from Nightflyer to play chess again at eight that night. It was sent through the gaming site, so it didn’t include an E-mail address. She saved the E-mail anyway.

She had to find out how he knew about the poisoning death in Columbia. It was too eerie to let go. There was probably a simple explanation; he worked at the hospital or something. But she planned to meet him on-line that night and ask him.

The flyers were simple to make. She used Microsoft Word to create the document, then printed twenty copies. Surely there weren’t that many Great Danes lost on Queens Road in the last few days. Arming herself with a stapler, she checked on the dog. He was sleeping in the far corner of the laundry room on top of the furnace vent. He looked up and started to get excited when he saw her. Peggy quickly shut the door.

She didn’t bother putting on her cape. The sun was still warm. She put the first flyer on the electric pole right outside her house. Then she stapled one on every pole as she walked down the street.

“Looking for the owner?” Steve’s voice took her out of her world of worrying about the police stopping her for putting up signs on the street.

“Yes.” Peggy was glad she’d changed clothes on the off chance that she might see him. People had told her that her cranberry wool slacks and matching sweater were flattering. She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and dropped the stapler. So much for trying to seem elegant or sophisticated.

He picked it up and smiled at her. “Looks like you could use some help.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t seem to come up with more than one word at a time. He looked even better today than she remembered. She loved the sound of his voice and the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled.

“Which way are you going?” he finally asked after a few minutes.

“I thought I’d go this way.”
For goodness sake, he’s just a man!

They walked together, stopping to staple a flyer on each pole. Peggy held up the paper, and Steve stapled it. Traffic moved quickly past them. Saturday afternoon shoppers and soccer moms whizzed by in SUVs and minivans.

“Do you know how the investigation’s going on that man who was found dead in your shop?”

Peggy explained about the police picking up Mr. Cheever and visiting the jail. “I know he didn’t do it. But the police won’t look for anyone else with him in custody.”

Steve stapled another flyer. “That was pretty cool that you got into the jail to talk to him. It’s too bad he didn’t see what happened.”

She didn’t elaborate on the woman Mr. Cheever saw running out of the shop. She needed a chance to sit down with Keeley before she told anyone else about that. “I wish there was something more I could do to help him.”

“Unless you get a confession from the real killer,” Steve considered, “it doesn’t look good for him.”

Peggy realized they’d come to an intersection. She could see the Warners’ front door from where she was standing. “I think I’ll take a flyer to a friend’s house over there. Maybe she knows something about the dog.”

He studied the house. “Unless the pictures on the nightly news are distorted, that’s Mark Warner’s house. Doing a little investigating?”

“Maybe. A little. I know Julie Warner. She came to the shop the other night. I thought I might stop in for a cup of tea.”

“Maybe I should go with you. You might need someone to distract her while you look through her garbage for the murder weapon.”

She laughed. “You watch too much TV. Besides, the police already have the murder weapon.”

“Does that mean you’d rather I didn’t go with you?”

“Of course not!” She took a deep breath and slowed down. “If you’d like to come along, that’s fine.”

Julie and Mark Warner had a huge estate on a full five acres of parkland. The house had over fifty rooms. They had two children, a son and a daughter. Everything they did was the envy of every society-minded woman in town. Probably even down to Mark’s untimely demise.

They walked right up to the front door of the mellow redbrick Georgian-style house. It was decorated with an elaborate wreath made from magnolia and holly leaves, trimmed with acorns and pinecones. Peggy admired it, then used the heavy brass door knocker.

A tall, thin Hispanic woman answered. “Miss Julie is out for the day. Making funeral arrangements.”

“What a terrible thing this has been for her,” Peggy sympathized. “I hated to bother her. I thought I could ask her help, and it might take her mind off of everything for a few minutes.”

“Maybe I could help. What is it?”

Peggy showed the flyer to the housekeeper. “Have you heard anything about this, Emma? Your name is Emma, isn’t it? I think I remember you from the last time I was here.”

The woman smiled. “Yes. And you’re Mrs. Lee from the garden shop, right?”

“That’s right! You were here the day I came to look at Julie’s delphinium. It was breathtaking, wasn’t it?”

“It was. She has such a gift for growing things.” Emma shivered. “But come inside out of the cold. Is this Mr. Lee?”

Peggy assured her that it wasn’t and introduced Steve to the housekeeper.

“Come in, come in. I know Mrs. Warner would want me to fix you some tea since you’re here. Dr. Newsome, maybe you can take a look at my cat. She’s been sick for a few days.”

Everyone knew Julie Warner did her own decorating. She had exquisite taste and style. Her house was a mandatory stop for house and garden tours. It was her crowning achievement. Crystal chandeliers shimmered in the sunshine coming in from sparkling windows. Everything in the house was from the early 1900s or a faithful reproduction, from the rugs underfoot to the tapestries on the wall. Above the fireplace was a life-sized portrait of Julie with her children.

“How’s she holding up?” Peggy asked while Emma poured each of them tea in pristine white cups. The strong aroma told her it was a blend of pekoe and hibiscus.

“She’s good, I guess. It’s a brave face. She deserved better.”

“Everyone does. Thanks, Emma.”

“You’re welcome.” Emma sat down beside her at the scrubbed oak table. “Mark Warner was a
snake
.”

Peggy heard the white-haired cook catch her breath, but she never stopped kneading the bread dough on the floured board. “That’s pretty harsh!”

“I know. But it’s true. Everybody knew it. He treated Miss Julie like she was worse than a dog! Running after anything in a skirt. Not caring everybody knew. The man deserved to die and
that’s
the truth!”

Steve choked on his tea, apologizing as he picked up his napkin.

Emma glanced at him, then continued. “He could be doin’ it with anyone! Miss Julie never knows when he’s comin’ home. Once he even gave her a
disease
.”

Peggy was more surprised the housekeeper shared that information than she was by the fact. “That’s awful!”

“She was pregnant with the boy when the doctor told her. It wasn’t serious. He treated it. But she knew how she got it. Threatened to leave him.”

“Why did she stay?”

“She got all this.” Emma waved her hand around the huge kitchen. “And he always promised it wouldn’t happen again.”

“There was a woman who was at my shop with him.” Peggy pressed her for more information. “Tall, athletic. Dark hair. Anyone you know?”

“Sounds a lot like Mr. Warner’s secretary, Angela Martin.” Peggy was surprised by the housekeeper’s

“Really?” Peggy was surprised by the housekeeper’s response. Was there another woman in Mark’s life besides Ronda McGee?

“Yes. But he promised Miss Julie it was over between them.”

“But she didn’t make him fire her?”

“Mr. Mark says he can work with her without cheatin’. He says what happens at work is his business, and he can’t let someone go without good reason.”

“So she was still working for him?”

The housekeeper nodded. “Last I heard. They should check on what she was doin’ that night. Maybe they’d find the killer.”

“Did you tell the police that?”

“No. They didn’t ask me. Besides, Miss Julie won’t hear nothin’ bad about that man. But he deserved what he got, no matter. I hope his
puta
gave it to him good!”

“Did the police ask what Julie was doing that night?” Steve questioned.

Emma waved her hand. “Miss Julie wouldn’t kill that man! She got too much to lose! Besides, that night she was up with the boy. He was sick all night, coughing and running a fever. I saw her with him.”

When they were getting ready to leave, Emma took Steve to see her cat. The animal was curled up in a basket lined with an old blanket.

Steve crouched down to pet the white Persian’s head. “How long has she been this way?”

“I’m not sure. Sometimes she gets outside. A few days. I know it hasn’t been a week.”

He examined the cat, looking in her eyes and touching her stiff legs. “It looks like she got into something outside. I can’t tell what without doing some tests. If you’d like to bring her by, I’ll be glad to see if I can help her.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” Emma took a business card from him. “Could I bring her by later today? I get off at five.”

Steve agreed. Peggy thanked her for the tea, and they left the house.

“Who would ever guess they were so unhappy?” Steve walked beside Peggy down the front sidewalk. “I didn’t know them personally, but they were always smiling for the camera in the newspaper.”

“If ever a woman had a motive to kill a man, it seems to me that Julie did. But I don’t think she’s physically capable of the task. And Emma gave her a good alibi.”

“You were really thinking that Mrs. Warner killed her husband?”

“Somebody did. To save Mr. Cheever, I have to find out who.”

 

 

SHE WAS TEN MINUTES LATE for her chess game with Nightflyer. Hal Samson began sending the preliminary autopsy results for his poison case. He told her the police had questioned and released the woman’s husband. A South Carolina biohazard team was looking for the possible point of poisoning. They ruled out the bank where she worked and concentrated their efforts on her home.

“I thought you weren’t coming.”
Nightflyer’s words appeared in the chat box.

Peggy made her first move on the chessboard. Black pawn to f4.
“I was busy.”

She barely noticed his move.
“How do you know about that? Are you on Dr. Samson’s staff? If you are, you should know that discussing this could be a breach of your hospital contract. You could be fired.”

“Then who are you?”
She moved. Black bishop takes white rook on e4.

The game proceeded forward with no response from Nightflyer. Peggy admired his skill at chess. It was all she could do to keep him at bay. They chased each other across the virtual chessboard. Her gaze stayed glued to the screen while she waited impatiently for his reply. Would he admit to poisoning the woman?

White queen checks black king at g8.
“Check.”