“That wasn’t fair, Dr. Lee,” one student protested. “I wasn’t ready.”
“We’ve been going over this material for six weeks,” Peggy responded. “If you don’t know it now, maybe you should do a little more studying.”
Gathering up the papers, she put everything into her backpack. The ride over made her knee a little sore but not too bad. It was good to be on the bike again. Taxis were fine for late nights or important meetings. If anything could spur her into getting the work done on the old Rolls, this was it. She hated being dependent on other people to take her places, though she was grateful so many were willing to help her.
She hadn’t heard from Steve since the night they’d stolen the body from the crematorium. She wasn’t surprised. Something like that would be hard enough to take with a person you knew well. She and Steve would probably never have that opportunity. Still, it was a pleasant experience being with him. In some ways, it gave her hope for the future.
“Hey, Peggy.”
She was surprised to see Al standing beside her desk. “Good morning. What brings you by?”
“I wanted to give you an update on our progress. I feel like I owe it to you since you brought the cases together.” He smiled at her and picked up her backpack. “Any place around here to get coffee?”
Peggy was a little suspicious that he’d take time away from the investigation to update her on anything, despite her help. When he mentioned coffee, she was immediately on guard. “Sure. We can have coffee in the cafeteria.”
They walked together through the halls in awkward silence. Students rushed by them, and announcements grated over the intercom. The aroma of lunch being prepared heralded the cafeteria before they came to the double doors.
Al filled his cup with coffee and waited for her to find a seat. “I’m glad I had a chance to talk with you about this. I wasn’t sure if you’d be here today.”
She pulled out a hard plastic chair and sat down at an empty table. “Al, you’re the worst liar I’ve ever known. You can stop feeling bad about whatever it is and tell me why you’re here.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t lying. I came by to talk to you about the case.”
She raised her eyebrow in question.
“I
“That’s all you had to say. But how will you know any information I give you isn’t biased? Even if I knew Keeley was guilty of something, I wouldn’t be likely to share it with you.”
“I know you better than that, Peggy. You want to know the truth as much as we do. Even if your friend is involved.”
She sighed and folded her hands around her cup of tea. “That’s true. But what can I tell you that you don’t already know?”
“First of all, what I’m going to tell you can’t be shared with anyone else. Not your friend or her lawyer. The information is part of the ongoing investigation. It has to stay confidential until we decide whether it will be used as part of the case.”
“All right,” she agreed.
“It looks like Warner and Molly Stone did have a thing going on. There were calls back and forth from both their homes and offices. Her husband told us she went out of town one weekend a month for business. Her supervisor told us the bank never scheduled those weekends. We have people still checking for receipts and confirmation that the two of them were away together, but it’s only a matter of time.”
Peggy wasn’t surprised. “The husband didn’t suspect?”
“No. At least he says he didn’t. The problem is, he’s already been questioned about the poisoning. The police in Columbia tore his home and office apart looking for proof that he made the poison and gave it to his wife. So far as they can tell, he’s clean.”
“So that leaves you with Keeley.”
He nodded as he swallowed his coffee. “Pretty much. We already know she was at the shop. She had opportunity to administer the poison, wait for it to work, then whack him in the head with the shovel.”
“Why bother?” she asked. “If she knew enough to poison him, she had to know he was going to die.”
“We figure it was a last-minute thing. It wasn’t enough that he was dying. Kind of the way a killer will continue shooting or stabbing a victim even after they’re dead. Rage. Frustration. Maybe the poison wasn’t hands- on enough for her. I’m not a shrink.”
“What do you want me to tell you?”
Al got to the point. “How long before Warner would’ve felt the effects of the poison?”
“It would all depend on the dosage. Probably an hour or so. A small amount would’ve taken longer and had less effect. A large dose would’ve taken him down right away.” She finished her tea and waited for him to write down the information. “Has the ME decided what the poison came in?”
“The last thing he ate was a Snickers bar washed down with a bunch of coffee. We’re not sure if both were poisoned or just one.”
“It seems to me with the time frame involved, the poison had to be given before he got to my shop. If he walked from his office to the Potting Shed, then collapsed after he spoke with Keeley, he probably ingested the poison at his office that night.”
“Or she gave it to him when she met him at your shop.”
Peggy disagreed. “If we believe Mr. Cheever, he went in right after Keeley ran out and found Mark on the
