Mai gave her a strange look but didn’t comment.
“Am I under investigation? Is there something I should know?” Jonathon glanced nervously back and forth between the two women.
“It’s just routine,” Mai backed Peggy. “Please answer the question.”
“Well, as you know, we got out here quite early. I got up at six, showered, dressed, and grabbed a few protein bars before I left my house to pick up the ladies. I believe I was at Dorothy’s house a little before six-thirty, and we were all out here by seven. We picked up Mrs. Waynewright last, didn’t we, Peggy?”
She nodded. “My mom and I were together at my house. You were there a little before seven.”
“What about before six?” Mai asked.
“I was sleeping.” Jonathon shrugged after swatting at a fly. “I slept all night.”
“Is there someone who can corroborate your story?” Mai got out her notepad and put on her glasses.
“No. I live alone. I sleep alone. My cats were there with me.” He looked at Peggy. “Do I need a lawyer?”
“Not if you haven’t done anything wrong,” Mai responded. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to go back to your vehicle and wait.”
“Just one more thing,” Peggy said. “The ladies said there were some hard feelings between you and Lois. What was that all about?”
“It was something silly. Someone took some artifacts from the museum. I was blamed for leaving the door open, but it isn’t true.”
“And you think Lois took them?” Peggy found that hard to believe.
“I’d rather not say.” He frowned. “It’s not good to speak ill of the dead.”
Peggy didn’t press the point since she wasn’t really sure why the ladies found Jonathon suspicious. If he’d accused Lois of stealing something from the museum, she could see where that could cause hard feelings on her side, but not on his. She needed to know more before she could make sense of it.
Jonathon glanced back a few times as he left them, before turning the curve in the path, which led to the dry lake.
“Now would you like to tell me what that was all about?” Mai asked Peggy.
“I don’t know. A few of the women in the historical society say he and Lois were having some problems. They think he drove her out here before he picked up the group, and killed her.”
Mai’s eyes widened dramatically as her pencil scribbled on the pad of paper she held. “Why didn’t you say so before? He could be a suspect if what you’re thinking about the yew berries proves to be true.”
“I thought of that.” Peggy skirted around the edge of where the lake had been. “But I really think it’s more likely that Lois got out here and saw the berries, then ate them. It happens all the time. People can’t tell the difference between the poisonous berries and the nonpoisonous berries, but they eat them anyway. Thousands of people are poisoned every year that way.”
“Why did you question Dr. Underwood if you don’t think he had anything to do with it?”
“I guess so I could try to put the ladies’ minds at ease. They see murder in this, but I think it’s less likely than a tragic mistake.”
Mai followed Peggy past the tarp under which the group was preserving what they could find in the thick mud. She looked at the human remains around them and shook her head. “This place could be a nightmare if you’re trying to put together any kind of case! Where did all those bones come from?”
Peggy explained about Whitley Village and why the group was out there trying to preserve what they could. “They plan to bury whatever remains they find and keep the artifacts in the museum. You see what Jonathon meant about time being valuable. It won’t take a lot to ruin the site for another hundred years.”
“Let’s take a look at the spot where you found Mrs. Mullis,” Mai suggested. “I’d like to get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
Peggy laughed. “How can it bother you, with everything you’ve seen?”
“This is different. I see them
before
they get buried. All these coffin parts sticking up, it’s like a bad horror movie.”
Peggy took Mai to the old post office, explaining they knew the landmarks by the map Jonathon had of the village. “I actually wasn’t the first one to see Lois. Geneva Curtis found her, and then we all came over. The mud is a few feet thick in there, and she kept rolling over. Not on her own, mind you. I think she was in the less solid area. There’s a small creek running under the mud.”
“Have you seen any yew bushes yet?” Mai glanced around her. “I wouldn’t know one if it slapped me in the face.”
“I’ve seen a few bushes, but no berries.”
“Maybe she ate them all.”
“Maybe. They aren’t loaded with them, like blackberries or blueberries. Sometimes they don’t have any at all. Like any other plant, they have to be mature enough to grow them.” Peggy knelt beside the area where Lois’s ghastly face had appeared to her.
“So you and this other lady, Geneva, found Lois here.” Mai looked at the thick brown mud around what was left of the old post office. “What happened then?”
“We called 911. She looked like she was dressed to be here. I noticed her tennis shoes and jeans. I could tell she was wearing makeup, but the red on her lips was probably berry stains instead of lipstick.”
Mai walked carefully along the edge of the shore, looking for anything the police might have missed. Peggy checked the surrounding area for yew bushes. There were several, but none of them had berries. She snipped and saved a few branches. They appeared to have had berries and seeds, which were missing. It might be possible to match the seed to the plant if not the berry.
“I don’t see any red berry blotches,” Mai told her. “Though I can see where your theory about her eating them could come from.”
“The only thing that doesn’t make any sense is how she got out here.” Peggy sat down on a large rock beside the dry lake and looked across at the small hill that was visible in the middle of where the lake had been. “According to her friends, the taxi idea was out of the question, and none of her other friends or relatives drove her here. Her cars were still at her home.”
Mai sat down beside her. “I’d say that doesn’t make any sense either, but that’s not part of our job, remember? We’re just here to speculate on the cause of death. If Mrs. Mullis died from yew poisoning, we can’t rule that a natural cause. Then we have to find out if she mistook the plant, as you said, or if someone gave it to her.”
“How will we know the difference? It’s not like you can examine her and make that decision.”
“We’ll look again for signs of struggle or bruises that could have come from her being held down and force-fed the berries.”
“I’ll try to match those seeds to the bushes close by.” Peggy glanced at her. “What if we decide she wasn’t force-fed the berries? That still leaves the problem of how she got out here.”
“We’ll file the car information with the detective on the case.” Mai shrugged, then stood up slowly, her gaze focused on something in the mud. “Do you see that?”
Peggy looked where Mai pointed. Something gleamed dully in the spotty sunshine. “It looks like metal, but I should warn you, we found lots of bits and pieces of things out here. They have a whole miniwarehouse full of them. Still . . .”
“And maybe it’s nothing.”
Peggy took off her shoes and rolled up her pants legs. “But it’s close to where we found the body. We have to check it out.”
“We don’t have to do it right now.” Mai winced as Peggy stuck her feet in the mud. “We could call a hazmat crew and let them get in there.”
“Those little currents of water running through the mud could be a problem,” Peggy explained, to keep her mind from wondering what was touching her feet and legs where she couldn’t see them. “If we don’t grab this now, it could be gone. We’d never find it at the bottom of the mud.”
“Is that safe?” Mai asked. “I hope you don’t step on something and cut yourself. Dr. Ramsey would kill me if we have to file an OSHA form.”
“Thanks for your concern.”
“You know what I mean. Just hurry and get out of there. You’re making me super nervous, and I’m feeling a little queasy just watching you.”
Peggy reached forward and snatched up the gleaming bit of metal. “Got it!” She wiped away some of the mud and looked at her treasure. It was a ring. Hard to tell when it was made. Was it modern enough to be Lois’s or one of the other ladies’? Or was it something that belonged to one of the villagers who were long gone?
Not wanting to be in the mud one moment more than she had to be, Peggy held the ring tightly in her hand and waded back to the shore. She let Mai take a look at it as she did what she could to clean up. “What do you think?”
Mai took out an evidence bag. “I think it bears further study.” She looked at Peggy. “Now how are we going to get you back to town without having the inside of the van cleaned?”
AFTER A QUICK SHOWER AND a change of clothes, Peggy met Sam, Keeley, and Jasper Wheeler at the Potting Shed. She and Sam had hired Jasper over the summer, before the drought had set in, to work with Sam creating landscape water features. At the time, water features were the hot ticket. As the land dried up, so did landscape ponds and fountains. Mecklenburg County and the counties surrounding it had passed resolutions to do without anything that required extra water.
Peggy had regretted laying off Jasper. He was a nice young man, and they had all worked well together creating the water feature in the shop. But she had to keep the Potting Shed going. She’d also laid off her part-time weekend assistants, Dawn and Brenda.
Now she smiled and waved when she saw the three young people waiting for her on the wrought iron benches in Brevard Court. “Hello, Jasper! It’s good to see you again. How’s Christie?”
“She’s fine,” he replied with a ready smile. “She’s back in school. Still hanging out with those extreme pollution fighters, but she learned a lot from working with you.”
“I’m glad. I’d hoped she wouldn’t be angry about everything that happened.”
He shrugged. “She’s not the kind of person to hold a grudge. Besides, she doesn’t blame you for any of it. She blames Sam.”
“Me?” Sam jumped a little. “Why me?”
“Because she thinks you were responsible for ratting out the group to the police.” Jasper laughed. “Cheer up, Sam. She still wants to go out with you. Who can understand the way a sister’s mind works?”
“Hey!” Keeley shoved him. “I’m someone’s sister. Don’t act like we’re all blond.”
“Hey!” Sam took issue with that remark. “Let’s not get on that ‘blonds are dumb’ thing, or I’ll have to prove they aren’t.”
“I think we’d better go to lunch,” Peggy intervened. “It sounds like all of you have low blood sugar. How about Anthony’s? My treat.”
They all agreed quickly, and Peggy sent them to the Caribbean restaurant next door while she went to check in with Selena. She was pleased to find her shop assistant taking a Visa card for a few purchases from an urban dweller who had moved into one of the new condos in Center City Charlotte. It wasn’t a large purchase, just a few indoor plants, but it made her feel better. They needed much more to stay alive. Rent wasn’t cheap in Brevard Court, or anywhere else in Center City.
When the customer was gone, Peggy asked Selena how the morning had been. “I’ve seen better,” Selena told her. “What does it take, anyway? Maybe I should dress up like a plant and parade around on Tryon Street to drag in some customers.”
“How about we close up the shop for an hour and I buy you lunch next door instead?”
Selena’s eyes lit up. “I could go for that. But what if someone comes in and we miss them?”
“They’ll come back. Let’s go.”
Sam saw them come through the restaurant door and waved them toward the table they’d picked out. Peggy wasn’t happy to see that Anthony’s business was down as well. Normally his café was packed with hungry business-people who spilled out from the banks and other corporate centers. Today, most of the tables in the splashy, colorful restaurant were empty. Maybe it was more than just the drought keeping people out of the Potting Shed.
Before the waiter could reach them, Anthony bounced out of the kitchen. “Never mind,” he told the man. “I’ll take care of my friends.”
“It’s good to see you!” Peggy stood up and hugged him. “I haven’t been here in a while.”
“So that’s what’s happened to all my customers,” he said in his liquid Jamaican accent. “I’m glad there’s someone to blame!” He hugged Sam, Keeley, and Selena while they introduced Jasper. “I know you! You put that pretty pond in Peggy’s shop. I wish I could afford to have you do that here.”
“You can’t even offer a glass of water unless I ask for it,” Selena reminded him. “I don’t think the water police would like to see you put in a pond.”
Anthony’s black eyes widened comically. “You see them? I haven’t seen the water police, but I’ve heard about them. They dress all in black and come at night to shut off your water. You can’t ever get it turned back on if that happens.”
“I don’t know who you’ve been talking to,” Sam started, “but they’re just some guys who work for the city. And they turn your water back on as soon as you pay the whopping big fine they charge you.”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard some mighty bad stuff about them. I don’t do anything that might bring them here.” Anthony shook his head and smiled. “So what can I get you for lunch, minus the water?”
“I’ll take the special,” Peggy said. “I love the jerk veggie chicken. And I’ll have the pineapple mango shake with it. No water. That way we don’t have to worry about antagonizing anyone.”
The rest of the group had various Caribbean dishes, all with juice or Coke. Anthony thanked them for their order and went back to the kitchen.
“Okay, let’s get down to it.” Sam grinned at everyone. “I have a way to make some money.”
“No melodrama on his part,” Selena sniped.
“Never mind.” Peggy got between them before the spar-ring became a verbal battle. They were too much like brother and sister. At one time, she’d thought the two had romantic feelings for one another, but that was before she’d found out that Sam was gay and Selena preferred small, fragile young men instead of Viking giants.