Fruit of the Poisoned Tree

Peggy was astonished. “That’s ridiculous!”

Hunter immediately backed down. “Okay. What do you think is fair?”

“No wonder you don’t have money for food,” Peggy continued. “Your retainer should be double that.”

The young attorney glanced at Beth, then back at Peggy. “Maybe we should talk about this later. Like not in front of the client.”

Beth laughed as she put her hand on Hunter’s arm. “My husband was a lawyer. Peggy’s right. I’ll get my checkbook, if a personal check is okay?”

“A personal check is fine,” Hunter gushed. “Or any other kind of check. Or I take Visa and MasterCard.”

After Beth gave Hunter a check for the retainer, almost triple the amount she was asking, Peggy hugged her and told her not to worry. “Hunter is very bright. If anyone can get you out of this, she can.”

“Thank you, Peggy.” Beth hugged her tightly, tears in her voice. “I don’t know what I’d do without you right now. Thanks, too, for not getting angry with me when I asked you to investigate Park’s death. I was out of my head.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Peggy said. “I know how hard it is for you right now. But everything will work out. I’m sure of it.”

“I’ll be in touch if I hear anything, Beth.” Hunter shook her hand again.

“Thank you.” Beth endured Hunter’s hearty handshake. “I’m glad you could represent me.”

“Could you give me a lift?” Peggy asked Hunter. “I’d like to go over to the Potting Shed for a while.”

“Sure. Are you ready?”

“I am. Thanks. Call me if you need anything, Beth,” Peggy told her friend as she put on her purple jacket and scarf again.

“I will. Let’s pray the autopsies take care of all of this. I’d like to think Park and Isabelle are at peace.” Beth opened the front door for them. “I’ll talk to you later.”

As they walked to the SUV in the drive, Hunter whispered to Peggy, “Do I have to give back the retainer if the autopsies clear her?”

Peggy laughed as she got in the vehicle. “I don’t think so. Don’t they tell you what to charge and how it works when you’re in school?”

Hunter slammed her door closed and started the engine. “I think that’s supposed to come from your mentor, the first person who hires you out of school. You know what happened to him. He only taught me older men still want to fool around.”

“And you taught him that women today can pack a wallop.” Peggy watched Park’s house fade behind them. “I remember that. I suppose there wasn’t much time for financial lessons.”

“Except you don’t punch out a senior partner at a major law firm without serious financial difficulties.” Hunter turned the vehicle toward downtown, the streets almost devoid of traffic. “Next time, I’ll just walk out and sue his ass. That’s the legal way to do it.”

It only took a few minutes to get to the shop. Most of the snow and ice were gone, and the only people out were walking their dogs or taking the opportunity to play in the street. Homemade sleds were everywhere, made from everything from boxes to sheets of plastic. It couldn’t be easy to try to glide down the wet slush, but it looked like fun.

Hunter got out with Peggy to go into the shop. “Wish I was a kid again. I used to love snow days.”

“I have some black plastic we use to keep weeds from growing around bushes,” Peggy volunteered. “You could try it out on what’s left of the snow.”

“No thanks.” Hunter smiled. “I got something even better today. Money! And I’m going to buy myself a new suit as soon as I chew out my brother for forgetting me last night.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Peggy opened the back door to the shop.

“You do think Beth is innocent, right?” Hunter’s attractive face was serious as they stood in the shadows of the courtyard and Latta Arcade.

“I wouldn’t have called you if I didn’t,” Peggy assured her. “You’re one of the good guys. I know you wouldn’t want to represent someone capable of killing her husband and his mother.”

Hunter considered the matter. “Probably not. Well, at least not without charging her triple what I got today.” She grinned at Peggy but sobered immediately when she saw her brother. “There you are! You are dead meat unless you have a pizza on you!” She hit him hard in the stomach as he transported a hundred pound bag of fertilizer to the loading dock.

Sam groaned but managed to get the heavy bag on top of the pile where he wanted it. “Are you crazy? What would I be doing with a pizza?”

“Remember? You were supposed to bring one over last night. What happened?”

“Oh yeah.” He rubbed his stomach where she hit him. “Sorry. I got caught up with something.”

“Or someone?” Hunter demanded, impatiently tapping her foot. “Mom wouldn’t like it if she knew you were letting me starve so you could spend time with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Sam started walking toward the front of the shop again. “At least I don’t think he’s my boyfriend. I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Yes you will!” She followed him into the shop where Peggy was already going through the mail. “I got a serious retainer fee today, thanks to Peggy.”

Sam made a face that looked like he’d eaten too many pickles. “Are you kidding? You’re going to do it again, aren’t you? You’re going to get involved in another one of Peggy’s crazy murder cases.”

Peggy heard her name and looked up from an invoice for several tulip trees. “What do you mean one of my crazy murder cases? I don’t think I’ve had crazy murder cases. You can’t really count this the same way as Mark Warner’s death. We’re not investigating exactly. Hunter just stepped in to help Beth.”

“That’s the way it started last time.” Sam grinned. “I’m not complaining. I had a good time when we did it before. Hunter was the one who whined and complained when she didn’t start picking up expensive clients when it was over.”

“This will be different,” Hunter agreed with Peggy. “Wait and see. I’ve already made more money on it than I did on everything last time. How could I charge that poor old man or his daughter for much? They didn’t have any more than I do!”

Peggy leaned on the counter beside the cash register. “Beth needs help, Sam. Park’s friend from the law firm was a little weird. There’s going to be press over this. When Hunter and I get Beth out of trouble, her name will be in the paper and on TV. Her career is bound to take off.”

“Okay! Okay! You’ve beaten me with your plowshares! So what do we do first?” Sam asked as Hunter sat in the rocking chair beside the snowman. “Do we need to steal something? Beat someone up until they tell the truth?”

“Not as far as I know.” Peggy laughed. “First, we let the police do their job. Mai told me she’d let me know as soon as the Isabelle’s preliminary autopsy is done. In the meantime, I guess we begin by compiling a list of suspects.”

“Isn’t it still possible the police will come back empty-handed as far as Park’s death is concerned?” Sam rearranged the red silk tulips in the spring display. “If his death was really an accident because he fell asleep at the wheel, the police won’t be able to say anything else to Beth, right?”

Hunter made a pyramid of her fingers as she rocked furiously, the floor creaking beneath her. “That’s true. But it won’t help with Isabelle’s death. The police could still try to say Beth decided to put an end to the old lady giving her grief over everything. Even if nothing comes of the investigation into Park’s death, I think there will still be problems with that.”

Peggy agreed with her. “But if we’re going to look for Isabelle’s enemies, it’s going to take us years. No one liked the Dragon Queen. Not even her husband and son.”

“That’s really sad.” Sam shook his head and stared out at what was left of the snow in the courtyard outside the windows. “But there’s a big difference between not liking someone and killing them. I don’t like Hunter, but she’s still alive.”

“I’m going to be generous and ignore that remark since you’re taking me out for dinner. And not fast food