roam of the house after he’d taken a long walk in the yard. “I’m going to trust you not to break too many things and not to howl. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Your food and water are in the kitchen. If someone tries to break in, I expect you to bite him. And keep an eye out for Nightflyer. We
The dog sat and looked at her with his head cocked to one side. When she finished speaking, he barked once, then padded toward the kitchen. Peggy shook her head. Of course he didn’t understand a word she said. But at least he didn’t jump up on her or drag the china cabinet into the kitchen with him. Maybe everything would work out. Maybe having a dog wouldn’t be so bad after all.
She listened to her messages while she changed clothes. There was a sweet phone call from Steve who asked her how Shakespeare was doing. Paul called to see how she was doing. The other two messages were telemarketers. She pressed Erase, then finished dressing.
The taxi driver who brought her from the downtown precinct was the same one who came to pick her up when she called. He was relieved that she left her dog at home. There was an overturned truck that was blocking College Street. The driver swore and honked his horn. Peggy suggested an alternate route . . . and some Saint- John’s-wort. Really, people were too tense.
Selena was ready to go when she reached the Potting Shed. “I have to run, Peggy. I hope you can handle closing up. If not, Sam says to call him. He said he’ll be here to pick you up.”
“Thanks. Late class?”
“Nope. Date!”
“Good luck. I hope he’s Mr. Right.”
Customers walked through the shop fitfully, looking but not buying. Peggy kept a close eye on a toddler whose mother was too absorbed in a catalog to notice what he was doing. He finally managed to pull a bag of fertilizer over on himself and started howling. That got his mother’s attention. She muttered something about stores not being childproofed and dragged the child out.
A distinguished-looking gentleman with a sheaf of flowers on his arm approached her. “Peggy Lee?”
“Yes.”
He handed her the flowers. “These are for you. I hope you enjoy them.”
She smelled the heather. “Where did they come from?”
“I’m just the delivery boy. There’s a card attached.”
Peggy waited until she was alone to sit down and read the card. She looked at the heather, pink, white, and purple, wrapped in green tissue paper. Heather like this would be difficult to get. The card read:
The lights were coming on in the courtyard. It was so quiet she could hear the big clock on the wall ticking. The scent of heather wafted sweetly around her. She had to admit that he knew his flowers. He’d given some thought to his gift. In a way, that made it even more frightening. It was like he
“Ready to go?” Sam asked as he bounced in from the back around 9 p.M., after a late delivery. “Nice flowers. Going to a funeral?”
“No. The flowers are from an admirer.”
He grinned. “That Steve knows his way around, doesn’t he? I wonder if he has a brother?”
“No. They aren’t from Steve.” She told him a little about her cyber stalker. “It sounds silly, but the idea that he’s looking over my shoulder gives me a chill.”
“It’s probably nothing. You know, it’s not easy to meet someone face-to-face nowadays. You have to worry about how your hair looks and whether or not your teeth are as white as Tom Cruise’s. Then there’s the whole smell dilemma. Do you wear Giorgio or go natural with some good soap and deodorant? Who knows what people are looking for?”
She smiled at him. “It sounds terrible. How do you survive?”
“By coming up with great ideas like these flowers.” He sniffed the heather. “You meet someone on-line. Talk to him a little bit. Get a feel for what he’s into. Check him out with the police and FBI to make sure he isn’t a terrorist. Then you send him something pretty. That way, when you meet in the real world, if you’re lucky, he won’t notice that your hair never lays down smooth on top because you have a double crown.”
“So you’ve done this before?”
“No. But it sounds like a good idea. I might try it.” He grabbed a Coke from the minifridge behind the counter. “I’m starving! Have you eaten? What’s with the black clothes? Do you have ninja class or something tonight?”
“Let’s grab some food.” She explained her plan to him. “Then you could drop me at the uptown precinct. I can go with Mai from there.”
He whistled through teeth that made Tom Cruise’s look dingy. “That sounds wild. Need any help?”
“You’re my most experienced assistant,” she told him. “I can’t afford for both of us to be in jail.”
Sam couldn’t argue with that logic. He didn’t seem eager to try. They locked up the shop, and went for pizza before he drove her to meet Mai.
“Can I leave the heather in your truck?” Peggy asked him.
“Sure. Want me to take it to your house?”
She looked at the flowers, thinking about what they meant. “No, that’s okay.”
“So much for
