Anything else, you’ll have to contact her attorney.”
Peggy glanced at him. “But I don’t have an attorney, honey.”
“Maybe you should get one,” Mai warned. “We don’t know how this is going to end up yet. And you
Peggy sighed and got to her feet. “We’ll see. Thanks for your help anyway.”
“Any time.”
“Come over here,” Paul invited his mother, closing Mai’s office door with a loud bang.
She followed him into an unoccupied office.
“You shouldn’t be here.” He closed the door behind them.
“I wanted to know what they found out,” she defended. “The dead man was in
“Look, Mom, this is embarrassing enough without you making it worse!”
“
“Yes.” Paul’s pacing was hampered by the tiny room stuffed full of furniture. “What do you think it’s like with people knowing my mother found a dead man in her garden shop? Mark Warner, of all people, for God’s sake!”
“You can hardly blame me for what other people think.”
“I know that. And I don’t blame you. But being here only makes it worse.”
“In what way?”
“What do you think everyone will say when they know you were here asking Mai for details?”
Peggy shrugged. “That I was interested?”
“Look, Mom, stay out of it! Go home. Let everyone do their job! You were married to a detective, but that doesn’t make you one.”
She looked at her son’s handsome face. “I’m going home. Well, actually, I’m going home
“Mom—”
“I’ll talk to you later, Paul.”
“
She smiled and kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry so much. Come by, and I’ll make you supper one night.”
“Dad always said you were too stubborn for your own good.”
“I love you, too!”
Peggy showed herself out of the station after getting some water from the drinking fountain to use on the ficus. She half expected Paul to come out screaming after her. When he didn’t, she took a deep breath and unlocked the chain on her bicycle. She glanced at her watch. It was eleven-thirty. The air was delicious with the smell of frying onions and peppers from the uptown sidewalk vendors. It made her stomach growl, reminding her that she only had tea for breakfast. She had just enough time to go home for lunch before her class.
THE WIND WAS BRISK and cold, but she welcomed it in her face as she pedaled into her driveway past the Chinese fountain and the frostbitten crape myrtles. She’d come to like having the four distinct seasons in Charlotte. Growing up at the coast, there was summer and a cool month. Then it was summer again. Or at least it seemed that way to her as a child.
“Good morning, Clarice,” she called to her neighbor.
“Morning, Peggy!” the other woman greeted her. “I was wondering if you could tell me how close I should trim these roses? Last year, I think I trimmed too close, and they didn’t do so well. John was always such a dear to help me with them, bless his soul.”
“It’s probably not how close you trimmed them.” Peggy leaned her bike against the house, then walked around the neat wood fence that separated their yards. She ignored the little tug on her heart at the reminder that John was gone. “Give them plenty of lime and make sure they have enough water. They should do fine in a sunny place like this.”
“Thanks, Peggy!” The neighbor’s inquisitive eyes roamed over the shiny red bike. “You know, it’s not safe for a woman your age to be riding up and down the streets on that thing. When are you going to start driving again?”
“After I finish the hydrogen conversion.”
“Excuse me?” Clarice looked at her like she had two heads. “What are you talking about?”
She started to explain about her project converting her father-in-law’s 1940 Rolls-Royce from a gas-burning pig to a more polite hydrogen-fueled vehicle. A sudden commotion in the backyard stopped her. Clarice’s tiny toy poodle was barking like something was ripping him to shreds.
“Poopsie?” Clarice ran toward her dog, the effort straining her brightly flowered slacks.
Peggy ran after her. The apricot-colored poodle was dyed to match Clarice’s hair. It was no bigger than a large squirrel, but it had cornered something in the garden. It was difficult to tell what it was. Even though it was massive compared to the poodle, the other animal was balled up in fright against the side of the fence.
“What is that
