Killing Weeds Read online

  Walter was there in shorts that were too tight and short. Starr Richards was helping Selena take inventory of what had been destroyed. Emil and Sofia, from across the cobblestones, were handing out free coffee and donuts.

  Even one of the FBI agents who worked with Steve, Millie Sanford, was there. She appeared to be giving the dead Koi a proper burial in a shoe box.

  “I didn’t know if you wanted to bury them or flush them. I thought you could decide when you’re ready.” Millie hugged her, her straight red hair swinging across her shoulder. “I’m glad I didn’t go to the conference. When Steve told me what happened, I came right over. Do they have any idea who did this yet?”

  Feeling completely overwhelmed by all the effort on her behalf, Peggy was close to tears. She spoke with each of her friends and thanked them for being there. She answered the question on everyone’s minds—so far they had no idea who’d damaged the shop.

  Sam came in as everyone was talking and drinking tea or coffee. His handsome face was grim as he asked Peggy to join him outside in the courtyard.

  There were benches and tables available for shoppers to take a break and enjoy the historic shopping area. Each of the pots of flowers had a small sign advertising The Potting Shed since she and Sam took care of them.

  Right now there were purple hyacinths and yellow pansies in every pot.

  “Can you believe it?” she gushed. “All those people came out to help us. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe you should sit down, Peggy,” Sam said. “Something else has come up.”

  Trumpet vine

  An attractive wild plant in many locations, the trumpet vine flower is loved by hummingbirds and butterflies, but hated by some gardeners who find it invasive, but the plant can be grown with care and kept in its place. The tubular flowers vary in color from yellow to red during the summer. In fall, the plant produces long seedpods.

  Chapter Five

  After they’d found The Potting Shed completely trashed, and she’d gone to a terrible crime scene, Peggy felt comfortable standing for whatever his bad news was. Maybe Mrs. Hood wasn’t willing to wait to have her landscaping done. Maybe she’d hired someone else to do the work. Either way, compared to everything else, she was sure she could handle it.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “If you won’t sit, maybe I will.” Sam collapsed on the cute wood bench next to them, and put his head in his hands.

  She sat, too, when she saw how upset he was. “Was Mrs. Hood nasty to you about not getting the job done right away?”

  Sam stared hard into her eyes. “Mrs. Hood, who contracted me to work on her landscaping, wasn’t Mrs. Hood.”

  “I don’t understand.” Peggy could hear laughter and music from inside. It was awkward being out here knowing her friends were inside cleaning. She wished he’d get it over with.

  “I got a call from Mrs. Hood. She wanted me to start doing her landscaping.”

  “Yes. I know. That was last week.”

  “That’s right. I made an appointment and went to see her. We walked around her yard for an hour as she described what she wanted to change and the plants she wanted to add.”

  Please get to the point. “Yes. That’s what you always do.”

  “I went to tell her what had happened, and to reschedule. Only the Mrs. Hood that I spoke to a month ago wasn’t there.”

  She understood what he was saying, but couldn’t grasp the explanation. “Who was there?”

  “Mrs. Hood. The real Mrs. Hood, I assume. She didn’t look anything like the other woman, and she knew nothing about me doing her landscaping.” He pushed a stray lock of hair out of his face in frustration. “I must have sounded like a crazy person. She called her husband and took out her revolver before she showed me her driver’s license to prove who she was.”

  Now he had her complete attention.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.” Peggy tried to get at the heart of it. “Who else would’ve been there besides the owner?”

  “I don’t know. But because I knew we were on a timetable, I reordered everything for her before I went back to her house. I thought it would be good to present her with a done deal, you know? Now we’ve got about ten thousand dollars in plants coming tomorrow, and no one to sell them to. I called, but I couldn’t stop it. I’m sorry, Peggy.”

  She mentally calculated what the loss would be if they couldn’t find someone else to take the plants before they were too far gone to survive. It was going to hurt, especially on top of the loss from the vandalism.

  Her mind kept coming back to someone impersonating Mrs. Hood to hire Sam for the job. Why would anyone do such a thing? “It wasn’t the woman who lives next door to the Hoods, was it? Was it some kind of mistaken identity? I guess you only met with Mrs. Hood outside.”

  He nodded. “We didn’t go inside. But you know that’s not unusual. I don’t know how it happened. It was the right house. I remembered everything she’d said she wanted and where she wanted to put it. I don’t know if I’m losing my mind or if we were set up.”

  “Who would purposely do something like this?”

  “I don’t know. I already told Sergeant Malcolm about it. I think she was opting for me going crazy. She said she’d get back with me, but what’s there to say?”

  Peggy got to her feet. “I’m not sure. Let’s tell Millie about it. I know she can’t actually involve the FBI, but maybe she can shed some light on the matter.”

  Sam’s sister, Hunter, came up the cobblestones as they were about to go inside. She was with off-duty Charlotte Police Officer Luke Blandiss. They’d been dating since he’d given her an expensive speeding ticket last year.

  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 d
id 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 U
niversity. 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.”