moment. “I heard she was selling off some of her art and collectibles. But, then, you already know about that.”
“Right,” volunteered Haley, who had been unpacking Chinese blue and white teapots from a newly arrived shipment. “Giovanni Loard brought in that Edgefield pot last week.”
“I
“Changing her name?” asked Drayton. He’d obviously been listening, too, as he double-checked the order forms for some covered tea mugs that had caught his eye in a supplier’s catalog.
“Yes,” said Miss Dimple, her memory coming back to her now. “Word is out that Doe is going back to being just Doe Belvedere.”
“You know why I think she’s doing it?” asked Haley. “Because Doe Dixon sounds like an exotic dancer.”
“Nonsense,” said Drayton, a smile playing at his lips. “You determine your exotic dancer name by combining your pet’s name with your mother’s maiden name.”
“Oh, my God!” screamed Haley. “Then mine would be Lulu Rendell!”
“See?” said Drayton.
“You two!” said Miss Dimple, shaking with laughter.
Chapter 27
Wynton Marsalis played on the CD player, and she was deep into Pearl Buck’s
“Not at all, Professor Morrow,” she said, sliding a bookmark between the pages and closing her book. Her heart seemed to thump an extra beat in anticipation of his news. “I’m delighted you called. In fact, I’ve been looking forward to hearing from you,” she told him.
“Good, good,” he said. “Took me longer than I thought. But then, everything takes longer these days, doesn’t it? I’m teaching a two-week interim course this June, and Kiplinger, our department head, just now suggested I develop an online syllabus. So of course I had to scramble—”
“What’s the course?” asked Theodosia, trying to be polite.
“Herbaceous perennials,” said Professor Morrow.
“Simple to teach, not a lot to prepare, and students always seem to like it.”
“Great,” said Theodosia. “I really want to thank you for taking time to do this soil analysis.
“Right,” said Professor Morrow, “the analysis.”
Theodosia had a mental picture of Professor Morrow adjusting his glasses and thumbing through his notes, ready to deliver a short lecture to her.
“I ran a standard micronutrient test, measured levels of sulfur, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and boron. As far as pH level goes, I’d have to say your dirt came from an area where the soil was quite acidic.”
“What kind of plants grow in acidic soil?” asked Theodosia.
“Are we talking flowers or shrubs?” asked Professor Morrow.
Theodosia made an educated guess. “Flowers.” In her mind’s eye, she could imagine someone stepping out into his garden, shoving the point of a trowel into soft, black dirt, then scooping that dirt into a plastic bag to carry to the yacht club.
“Flowers,” said Professor Morrow, weighing the possibilities. “Then you’re talking something like verbena, marigold, calliopsis, or nicotiana. Of course, those varieties are all annuals. In perennials, you’d be looking at baptisia, coreopsis, platycodon, or silene.”
“Wow,” said Theodosia, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
“Of course, roses are also notorious for preferring acidic soil, but you can’t have it
5.5 and 6.5. Any more than that, and they get chlorotic.” “What does that mean?” “Their leaves mottle,” said Professor Morrow.
Chapter 28
“It’s a good thing he faxed you his notes,” said Drayton, “otherwise this would be
For the last hour, Drayton had been poring over Professor Morrow’s jottings, checking them against three different gardening books that he’d borrowed from Robillard Booksellers next door. Books, faxes, and pages torn from Drayton’s ledger were strewn on one of the tea shop’s tables. In between waiting on customers and serving fresh-from-the-oven pastries, Haley hovered at the table where Drayton and Theodosia had set up headquarters.
“I’m going to end up buying these books,” Drayton announced. “They’re very good, and I don’t have them in my collection. Just look at this tabular list of garden perennials and this lovely chapter on bridge grafting. You don’t run across information like this every day.”
Earlier, Theodosia had shared Professor Morrow’s findings with Drayton and Haley, and they had both jumped at the chance to be involved in the investigation. Although it felt like they were heading down the right trail, their task also felt slightly daunting. Professor Morrow had given them so many details and possibilities that one almost needed a degree in horticulture to figure everything out.
“Haley, we’re going to need litmus paper,” said Dray-ton. “Can you run down to the drugstore later and pick up a packet?”
“Sure,” she agreed. “You’re still convinced we can get a handle on who might have overpacked that pistol by testing soil from various gardens?”
“And the yacht club,” said Theodosia. “Let’s not forget the yacht club.”
“Right,” said Drayton, then added for Haley’s sake, “this is a gamble that
“So how exactly are we going to pull this off?” asked Haley. She was almost dancing in place, excited at the prospect of being involved in a full-blown investigation and, at the same time, keeping a watchful eye on her tea shop customers.
“Drayton and I already talked about that,” said Theodosia. “We’ll all be at Timothy Neville’s tonight, so that will serve as a kind of home base.”
“Right,” agreed Drayton. “We’ll work from there. Doe lives half a block away, so we can easily scout her garden and obtain a sample.”
“You’re sure she’ll be at Timothy’s tonight?” asked Haley.
“Absolutely,” said Drayton. “In fact, she’ll be attending with Giovanni Loard. He called me yesterday about a silver teapot someone brought into his shop, and he mentioned that he’d be there. If you remember, his garden is on tomorrow night’s tour. So he’s very excited about the entire Garden Fest event.”
“He’s not still mad about the other day?” asked Theodosia.
“Never mentioned it,” said Drayton.
“Okay then,” said Theodosia, getting back to business. “Booth Crowley lives two blocks away on Tradd Street, so his garden should be an easy hit as well. We know he’ll be there tonight, since his wife Beatrix serves on one of the Garden Fest committees with Delaine.”
“Perfect,” said Drayton, rubbing his hands together.
“What about Billy Manolo and Ford Cantrell?” asked Haley. “I thought they were on your hot list, too.”
“They are,” said Theodosia, “but Billy Manolo doesn’t really have a yard. Well, he does, but almost every
