emerald in her eyes. John always teased that it meant trouble for anyone trying to stand in her way. She wasn’t sure how much trouble one botany professor/garden shop owner could cause. But she was about to find out.
“You look great,” Sam said when she hobbled back downstairs. “Are you bringing the horse with you?”
“Shakespeare,” she corrected him. “And yes, I think we can fit him in your truck.”
He laughed and patted the dog’s head. “Yeah, if me and you ride in the back. Have you taught him to drive yet?”
Peggy’s first stop was the university. Everyone in her class had heard about what happened to her. They talked about it for a few minutes. She didn’t explain more than she had to. As she finished and opened her textbook, the dean came in. She took a deep breath and went through the whole story again.
Class went quickly since there were only about twenty minutes left when she was done answering questions about her experience. Sam was waiting when she got outside. They drove through the busy streets toward the heart of the city. Shakespeare rode between them, sitting on the seat with his head up and his chocolate-brown eyes alert.
“What’s next?” Sam asked her. “Do you have anything else up your sleeve?”
“I don’t know. As far as I can tell, Ronda and Angela had fewer motives for killing Mark than Keeley. I’m not sure where to go from here. I know any of them could have done it. At least physically. All three of them are fine, strapping young women. Any of them could’ve hit him in the head with the shovel.”
“But how do you decide which one actually did the deed? Maybe you could convince one of them to confess.”
“That would be nice. But another thing they have in common is brains. I think they’re all too smart for something like that. There must be something we’re missing. John always said there was no such thing as a perfect murder. Everyone makes mistakes. We have to find what those mistakes were.”
He turned the truck into the parking lot behind the Potting Shed. “One of my professors says we should listen carefully to our patients and make sure we write down everything they say to us. That way, we can look back at our notes and come to a better understanding of the problem. Maybe you should try that.”
Peggy nodded as he jumped out and helped her from the truck. “Thanks, Sam. For the ride and the suggestion. I’ll do that this afternoon.”
He glanced at his watch. “I have a class, then I’m supposed to help Dawn plant primroses at Mrs. Margate’s house over on Providence Road.”
“Outside?”
“That’s what she wanted.”
“You told her they couldn’t survive the winter, right?”
Sam shrugged. “The woman wanted primroses planted on the west wall of her house. She says they can survive there because her eaves will protect them. What was I supposed to say?”
“That you’d plant them, I suppose. Where in the world did you find primroses at this time of year?”
“They grew them for me at that new greenhouse over by UNCC. They cost a fortune, but Mrs. Margate didn’t care.”
Peggy wasn’t completely surprised. Sometimes they got strange requests. Last year, one of the wealthiest families in the city asked her to plant a thousand brown-eyed Susans for their brown-eyed daughter named Susan. Her birthday was in January. The family had a wonderful party, then she went back and ripped out the plants that had frozen overnight.
Selena hugged Peggy when she saw her. “I’m never going to leave again before closing. I can’t believe anybody would want to hurt you.”
“Thanks, sweetie. We both know you can’t always be here. But Shakespeare can be.” The big dog came bounding in with Sam. “It looks like it might be just as well that I’m going to keep him.”
Shakespeare walked through the shop, sniffing everything. He finally curled up on the big rag rug in the middle of the autumn scene. Garden implements and plants flew out of the way as he made room for himself.
“I guess he’s made himself at home,” Selena said hesitantly. “If it helps
“I’ll be back to take you home,” Sam told Peggy. “Wait for me.”
Peggy promised not to hobble anywhere without him. She took off her coat and put on her green shop apron. The lunchtime crowd was starting to mill through the Arcade and Brevard Court. For the next two hours, she and Selena were too busy to talk.
They sold out of red tulip bulbs and had to order more. Jumbo elephant ears were almost gone as well. They seemed to be a favorite of the new uptown urban dwellers who were bringing weekend life to the city.
“I think we’re going to need more of those antique-looking watering cans,” Selena told Peggy after she rang up a sale and thanked her customer. “They’re really popular.”
Peggy noted it on her supply list. “I’ll have some brought in with the next shipment Thursday.” She told Selena about the faux antique garden implements she’d seen in her catalog the night before. “I think they’ll go over big, too.”
Selena laughed as she went to help a man pick out a new brass sundial for his garden. “You know what we say around here. If you can’t get real antiques . . .”
“. . . get new ones that look old,” Peggy finished.
When the rush was starting to become a trickle, Sofia brought lunch from the Kozy Kettle. “I can’t believe what a hellhole this place has become! You’d think we were living in a big city. Guns. Drugs. People pushing old ladies off of loading docks.”
Peggy took exception to the “old lady” part. “It could’ve happened to anyone. I don’t think age was a
