Pretty Poison (19 page)

“I’ll do my best,” Janice promised, not quite disguising the gleam in her eyes at the mention of money. “We should be out soon.”

Peggy and Lenore sat back down to wait. Peggy didn’t know what to say that could make it better. She apologized to her friend, then glanced at the little ficus she’d moved away from the door. It was doing quite well.

“You know I didn’t mean those things I said,” Lenore answered. “I know whose fault this is. What did I do wrong, Peggy? Keeley has always been so high-spirited. She and I are like aliens together. I don’t understand her at all.”

“You’ll be fine.” Peggy patted her hand. “A few years from now, Keeley will have her own family, and things will be different. All of this will be a bad memory.”

They waited for another two hours. Peggy called the school and canceled her afternoon lecture. Lenore fell asleep with her head back against the wall, a testimony to her sleepless night at the hospital. Peggy woke her as the door opened, and she heard Janice’s voice. Keeley came out before her lawyer, teary-eyed and eager to leave.

“What happened?” Lenore was on her feet at once, clinging to her daughter. “Are they letting you go? Are they going to arrest you?”

Janice silenced them and hurried out of the station. A barrage of reporters shouted questions and videotaped them leaving. They made it to Janice’s car and drove to a parking lot to talk.

“I’m okay, Mom,” Keeley assured Lenore. “They didn’t charge me. But they might want to talk to me again. I didn’t kill Mark. I guess they believed what I told them.”

“It’s more that they have a stronger case against Mr. Cheever,” Janice explained. “They’ll probably check back through their forensic evidence now that they have your fingerprints. If they find anything that could link you to the crime, it will be a whole different scenario. If you think they might find anything, you should tell me now.”

Keeley shook her head. “There’s nothing for them to find. I didn’t even touch him that night. Why would I? He made it clear where he stood about me and the baby. He might’ve fooled around a lot, but he wasn’t leaving his wife for anyone else.”

Peggy hugged her. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Especially with men,” Janice finished. “The stories I could tell you!”

Lenore and Peggy stared at her. Keeley sniffed and waited to hear more.

“Well, that doesn’t matter. It’s good you didn’t touch him. We’ll wait and see what happens,” Janice cautioned.

Peggy left the other three women in Janice’s car. She’d brought her bicycle in the trunk and decided to ride to the Potting Shed. She knew Selena and Sam would be anxious for information about Keeley. Steve had told her he was going back to work. She’d left him with everything up in the air between them. But right now, her whole life seemed to be that way.

Before she could get to the shop, she found herself face-to-face with Ronda McGee. The tall brunette ran to catch up with her as soon as she saw her go past the wrought-iron gate into Brevard Courtyard. “Peggy? Could I have a word with you?”

“Of course.” Peggy glanced at the Potting Shed. It didn’t look exceptionally busy. She felt guilty that Selena had to miss her break, but she’d been looking for a reason to speak with Ronda again.

They sat in the courtyard and ordered coffee from Sofia. The smell of frying food from the French and Caribbean restaurants spilled enticingly out to the afternoon shoppers who were enjoying the beautiful weather.

“I saw that girl on television this morning,” Ronda began. “I realized what it might look like to you. After all, I was seeing that bastard, too. I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

Peggy sipped her coffee. “As I understand it, he was seeing a number of women.”

“That’s right.” Ronda fidgeted with her spoon. “I guess I knew at the time. But I didn’t have any expectations of marrying him. Certainly not having a child with him! I’m happily married. I have two children already. I was just looking for some fun, you know?”

Peggy realized there wouldn’t be a better opportunity to question her. Ronda was worried about being put in Keeley’s position, except with far greater consequences for her personal life. “What exactly did happen between you?”

“I knew Mark for years. He worked with my husband. I don’t know what made me think about going out with him. It was one of those things.” She played with a strand of her hair and bit her lip. “We had dinner a few times. We stayed at this cute little bed-and-breakfast that was part of a winery. He didn’t drink alcohol, you know. He was allergic to it. But we still had a good time. We both knew we weren’t serious.”

“What happened the night Mark was killed?”

Ronda hesitated. “This might sound bad, but it’s the truth. My husband was out of town. I was supposed to go to Blumenthal to see
Oklahoma!
with some of my friends. Mark called and asked me to meet him at the Omni. I agreed, thinking I could cover my tracks by going to the performance, disappearing for an hour, then coming back before the show was over.”

“That was quite a plan,” Peggy said. “Wouldn’t your friends have missed you?”

“Of course! They wouldn’t say anything though. Half of them are having affairs, too. We cover for each other.” Ronda said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Anyway, I got this phone call. I couldn’t tell who it was or even if it was a man or a woman. The voice was disguised or something. It warned me to stay away from Mark. It threatened to hurt me if I didn’t. Whoever it was made it clear that it would be bad if I saw him again.”

Peggy took out a notebook. “When was this?”

“About an hour before I left to see
Oklahoma!
” Ronda answered. “I thought it was stupid at first. But the more I thought about it, the more afraid I got. I didn’t even call Mark to tell him I wouldn’t be there. Instead, I left the play and got in my car. I drove around for a while, then went back. No man is worth losing your life over.”

“Why did you go out at all?”

“Because I didn’t want my friends to know I chickened out. I didn’t tell them about the call. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone.”

Peggy closed her notebook. Ronda didn’t have any more of an alibi than Angela, Keeley, or Mr. Cheever. Any of them could have killed Mark. Ronda and Angela seemed to have less motivation than Keeley. It sounded like their affair was all fun and games. Unless Mark threatened to tell her husband. But he seemed to have as much to lose by that as she did since Bob McGee was his boss.

It was possible whoever called to warn her off was the killer. Maybe somehow the killer knew if Ronda didn’t show up at the Omni, Mark would go to the Potting Shed. That made it sound like Keeley.

“Peggy? What are you thinking? I swear I didn’t kill Mark. I know we went to your shop sometimes, but I wouldn’t meet him there to have sex! I always thought Mark was a little conspicuous about the whole thing. Everyone I know is really careful not to get caught. It was like Mark
wanted
Julie to know. I know that sounds crazy. But he insisted on meeting places where people would notice us.”

“Did he ever say anything about his marriage? Any possible reason he might want Julie to know he was cheating?”

“No. We never talked about her. She and I have lunch once in a while. I tried not to think about it.”

That was all Peggy could think to ask. “If the case goes to trial for my friend, his lawyer might contact you. The only way to help him might be to prove other people who were involved with Mark could’ve done the deed as well.”

Ronda didn’t have much choice. “Isn’t it enough that college girl was having sex with him? Doesn’t that prove anyone could do it?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“It’s bad enough I have to go and be tested for STDs after finding out he was having sex with that girl. I don’t want to lose my marriage over it. I hope you’ll take that into consideration.”

Peggy bristled at hearing Keeley referred to as “that girl,” but reassured Ronda, “I hope the police find the real killer before Mr. Cheever ever goes to trial, for your sake as well as everyone else’s.”

“Thanks. I really didn’t kill Mark.” She put on her sunglasses and picked up her pocketbook. “Good luck finding who did.”

Mark’s death was getting more complicated. Every conversation she had with the many women in his life ended up with another suspect. Any of them could be responsible. She wasn’t sure how to tell the killer out of the group of suspects. But someone killed him, and she was sure it wasn’t Mr. Cheever or Keeley.

Selena was glad to see Peggy, especially without the big dog. “Sorry you lost him. I guess he would’ve been some company for you. I hate to think of you locking up by yourself and going home to that big, empty house.”

“You know, I never felt sorry for myself until you put it like
that
.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. You have a busy life and all. I just meant . . . never mind. Tell me about Keeley.”

Peggy told her what she knew. “It sounds bad for Keeley. If the police hadn’t already built a case against Mr. Cheever, I’m sure they would’ve taken her into custody.”

“Wow!” Selena’s eyes were wide with wonder. “Imagine Keeley and that rich
old
banking dude. Who would’ve guessed?”

“He wasn’t that old. He was only thirty-nine.”

“That’s almost old enough to be her
father
! People that old shouldn’t have sex anymore.”

Peggy put on her apron and stood beside her. “Did I tell you that I might be dating again?”

Selena smacked herself in the head. “I know. But I didn’t mean
you
. And besides, that’s different. You wouldn’t date someone younger than you.”

“He’s forty-five. I was fifty-two in September.”

“I think I’m leaving now before I say anything else.” She picked up her book bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Peggy. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help Keeley.”

Peggy laughed at her. “Bye, sweetie. Don’t worry. The old people of the world who are still having sex aren’t going to come after you. You’re young, and you don’t know any better. We make allowances for that.”

It was only two hours until closing when Selena left. Sam called in, and Peggy told him everything that had happened. They were due for another shipment of pansies that would be planted outside the uptown library building. With Keeley gone, other arrangements would have to be made.

“I’ll call Dawn or Brenda,” Peggy told him. “One of them might be able to help with the planting. Do you have a design in mind?”

“Yeah. I had this swirly kind of universe-in-motion idea. But the library board didn’t like it. They want straight rows. No imagination.”

“I guess that says it all. What time is the shipment due tonight?”

“It shouldn’t be too late. Maybe you could go and get supper, then come back. I’m sorry I can’t be there.”

“That’s okay, Sam. I’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later.”

Peggy decided not to go out for dinner. She ran to Emil’s shop and picked up some tea and a bagel. She didn’t need any rich, French food or spicy Caribbean. What she really needed was some time to mull over everything that had happened. Somewhere, all of it made sense.

She set up her portable radio, changing the station to NPR. Then she put her legs up on the garden bench and ate her bagel sandwich while she looked through some new gardening catalogs. There was a lovely new miniature blackberry bush she marked to buy. Also some antique-looking garden implements she thought might go over well in her market. In Charlotte, the next best thing to real antiques were faux ones.

She called Hunter when she finished eating. She was out; Peggy left her voice mail. She glanced at the big clock on the wall. It was almost seven-thirty. She was wondering when the delivery truck would come when she heard it make the turn into the back. Putting on her jacket, she walked to the loading dock.

The back light still wasn’t working. She went inside for a flashlight, worried that the truck driver would back right through her storage area if he didn’t have
some
light. The truck was moving into place when she emerged again. She switched on the flashlight and went to stand at the end of the dock. Not sure how to signal the driver, she tried waving the flashlight back and forth like they did at the airport.

It was cold despite the sunny warmth of the day. Sunset brought a biting wind and a clear, starlit sky. She could smell the Dumpsters behind the shops around hers. The sweet aromas of baking bread and cinnamon were long gone from the bakery a few doors down. Everything was shut tight in the courtyard.

As she was looking up into the sky, a hand came out of the darkness behind her and pushed her off the dock into the path of the truck. It was so startling, so fast, it took her a moment to realize what happened.

Her knees and hands stung from hitting the gravel. She couldn’t catch her breath. The truck kept coming, not seeing her. The flashlight had rolled to the other side of the dock. Red taillights coming closer pushed her to her feet. She had to get out of the way.

Reeling from shock and pain, she limped to the stairs and collapsed. The wood was hard and real under her. As hard and real as the hand that pushed her off the dock.

She glanced back into the shadows and took out her cell phone. Her hands were shaking so badly, she could barely push the numbers. When the 911 operator came on, she gave the address and explained what happened. Her voice sounded weak and pathetic to her ears.

The truck was in position at the dock. The cab door squeaked open and slammed shut. Footsteps started toward her. “Hey! Whatcha doin’ down there? I coulda hit you. It’s dark back here. Ain’t you got no light?”

She couldn’t find words to explain to him. She still couldn’t believe someone had tried to kill her. She couldn’t see another way to say it. And that’s what she told the police officer who came right after the paramedics.