Fruit of the Poisoned Tree

on me. It’s not surprising. She liked to know what was going on.”

Peggy tended to agree with her. With Isabelle dead, those small intrigues would be over. Still, it disturbed her. Did Isabelle know about the insurance policy and Park’s affair with Cindy, courtesy of Alice? Is that what made her think Beth was responsible for Park’s death?

Alice called Beth to let her know the boys were ready for their stories. Peggy said good night to her but waited for Alice to come downstairs.

When the housekeeper saw her, she drew her arms up combatively and her dark eyes narrowed. “What do you want now, Miz Peggy? Can’t you leave good enough alone?”

“I suppose not. Not with everything that’s going on.” Peggy focused on the other woman, who was easily twice her size. “What kind of things did you report to Isabelle?”

“Nothing! I worked for both of them. Don’t mean I spied on either of them, if that’s what you’re thinking!”

“So you didn’t tell Isabelle when Park had the affair with Cindy or about the insurance policy Beth took out on him?”

Alice’s lip curled. “I didn’t have to tell her about the insurance policy. Mr. Lamonte’s doctor told her when he went in for a physical to qualify. And I know you don’t think I had to tell Miz Isabelle about Miz Cindy! That woman was bursting to tell her!”

“But you did tell her things, didn’t you?”

“Things about the boys.” Alice shrugged. “Nothing important. Nothing that would hurt Miz Beth. She didn’t offer to pay me for anything, you know. It was like my duty to her. With her it was always like I should be grateful for her letting me work there. When she got me this job, I was supposed to be double grateful. But don’t take a leftover potato or a decent Christmas bonus home. No, ma’am!”

Alice’s voice was bitter. Peggy looked at the surly housekeeper but decided to leave it. Alice worked for both households, had access to both dead family members. But it was hard to imagine where Park’s or Isabelle’s death would benefit her.

Peggy called for a taxi and waited outside for it. There was nothing else she could do, and she was tired. She wanted to go home. She left a message on Al’s cell phone about Alice and Cindy while she was waiting. Maybe the information would be helpful.

The cold air cleared her head. It was dark at six p.m. The streets were starting to freeze over for the night. All that melting left a lot of water on the pavement that quickly became a glossy sheen under the streetlights’ gleam.

She heard some rustling in the bushes close to the house. Thinking it was probably a cat caught in a frozen holly, she went to help. She took a step back when Cindy Walker emerged from the cover of blackness where the lights couldn’t penetrate the shadows.

“Peggy! It’s nice to see you again.” Cindy’s pale green ski-bunny outfit was perfect for her. Her blond hair was pushed up under a matching green knit cap with a white tassel on the top. “Cold out here, huh?”

“What are you doing out here, Cindy?”

“Not spying, if that’s what you think. I was about to go in and offer my condolences. Not that she’d come and offer any to me! And not that I’m not entitled to a few. He was my husband first! And he still loved me.”

“You can sashay around the truth as much as you like,” Peggy said, “but when it comes right down to it, Park was with Beth. Not you!”

“Not because he wanted to be,” Cindy declared passionately. “He wanted to leave her. She wouldn’t let him go. He didn’t want to lose everything. That’s the God’s honest truth! Ask her!”

Peggy knew the only thing that kept this woman in Isabelle’s good graces was that her father was a state senator and she had a pedigree that went back before the Civil War. Cindy had to make the Dragon Queen grind her teeth just to talk to her!

Unfortunately, she could hurt Beth’s case with her last declaration. The police would listen to her once they knew the whole story. Especially since Beth had lied to them. “I’m sure you were devastated as well,” she finally said to Cindy. “It’s been hard for everyone. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Cindy’s shoulders sagged dramatically. “He was my life. She never loved him like I did. And he loved me. Now she’s killed Isabelle, too. I have no one. What am I going to do?”

Peggy sympathized with her for a few minutes, patting her shoulder until the taxi came to take her home. But she thought about her for a long time after she left Myers Park. Cindy could be the prosecution’s best witness against Beth. She was also a good suspect. But while she definitely had motive to kill Park, Peggy couldn’t imagine her hurting Isabelle, her staunch supporter. Park, she sighed, what a mess you left us in!

PEGGY WAS GLAD TO be home safely after a five-minute drive became a twenty-minute obstacle course. A car was turned sideways on Providence Road, blocking all traffic. Her driver, David, knew some side streets to take and skidded down them to reach her house. She gave him a large tip and some advice on what to do for the cramps he was having in his legs. “Eat plenty of bananas. That should help. You might need to see a nutritionist.”

“Thanks, Peggy. Those eyebright drops you recommended did good for my wife.”

“That’s wonderful, David! Eyebright will do the trick! Say hello to Agnes for me, and drive safely.”

Shakespeare was barking loudly when she opened the door. He ran and slid across the wood floor, taking a rug and a table with him, crashing into the wall. He looked up from his upside down, feet-in-the-air position and wagged his tail.

“You’re a mess,” she told him as she extricated him from his tangle. “If we don’t get over to get those lessons soon, there won’t be anything left of the house or the shop.”

She made herself a light supper of cheese and crackers while she looked through her mail and watched the news on TV. She was headed upstairs to change clothes and check on her plants when Hunter called. Beth had called her, as she promised.

“This is bad, Peggy,” Hunter began. “When the police find out Beth and Park were having problems, then a big insurance policy surfaces after he dies, it will be very bad.”

Peggy sighed. “I know. There’s nothing we can do about it now. Let’s hope they don’t find anything suspicious about Park’s accident. No matter how guilty Beth looks, if there’s no crime, it doesn’t matter.”

Hunter agreed. “I hope she’s not hiding anything else from me. I can’t help her if I don’t know the truth.”

“I know. I’m sorry this happened. But I really think it was a mistake and nothing calculated on her part.” She told her about her words with Alice and Cindy.

“I hope so,” Hunter said. “On a lighter note, Sam took me out to a nice pizza and spaghetti place for dinner. There was no one there, so we got great service. They closed the place down as we were leaving.”

“That’s great,” Peggy enthused. “But Sam is going to be with his new friends a lot. You need a boyfriend to take you out to dinner.”

“Easier said than done. The last date I had was two years ago when a junior partner at a law firm took me out for lunch.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was interviewing me for a job.” Hunter laughed. “Pathetic, isn’t it? But it’s the best I can do. It’s not easy meeting men when you work twenty hours every day.”

“I’ll have to see what I can do. You’re gorgeous! There’s no reason why any man shouldn’t be proud to be with you!”

“Thanks but no thanks, Peggy. I don’t need to be matched up like Paul and Mai. They knew each other first anyway. I’m going online now to order some clothes. Maybe I’ll order up a boyfriend, too! Talk to you later.”

Peggy went upstairs to change her clothes. The house was cold. She put on a purple sweatsuit and thick socks. She wouldn’t put her hands in the pond and get soaked tonight! That cantankerous old furnace was acting up again. She was going to have to give it a good kick when she got downstairs.

But before she reached the basement, she heard knocking at the door. Shakespeare ran for the front foyer