Fruit of the Poisoned Tree

“I’m fine. I just got back from a conference in Pennsylvania. I won’t ask how you know about Park. I have this picture in my mind of you sitting in front of twenty monitors, reading news reports from all over the world.” She moved again: pawn to e5.

“That’s too close to the truth!” He took her pawn. “His wife will be charged with his murder.”

“Are you psychic now?” Knight to c3. She moved too quickly and bit her lip. “Park was killed in an accident. I’m sure you know I witnessed it.”

“There’s more going on than you realize. I believe Park was killed in the accident you saw, but what caused the accident?” Pawn to d4.

Peggy considered his move before making her own. “Are you saying Beth is responsible for his accident in some way?”

“No. I’m saying she’ll be charged in the matter. I don’t think she’s guilty. I’m waiting for a pattern to emerge.” Bishop to g5.

“Not in the mood for subtlety, are you?” She surveyed her position. “Are you telling me everything you know? Is there something I should look for?”

“I’ll let you know. Your move. Careful not to make yourself more vulnerable. Speaking of which, be careful, Nightrose. This could be dangerous for you.”

Peggy was distracted by his conversation and didn’t move at all. “Could you be more precise about the danger? I like riddles as much as anyone, but nice, solid answers would be good. If I’m going to help Beth, I need to understand everything.”

“That’s all I can tell you until I know more. I’ll get back to you when I do. Do you want to finish the game?”

His evasive answers made her angry. “I don’t think so. I’d like to know more about how you gather your information.”

“Maybe some other time. Good night, Nightrose. Better get that dog some training!”

She sat back in her chair. “How did you know? Are you monitoring my phone calls?”

“ROTFL! Or I saw your name and Shakespeare’s name on Rue Baker’s Web site. What do I have to do to get you to trust me?”

“Lunch?” ROTFL: online chat and e-mail talk for rolling on the floor laughing. So he thought it was funny?

“Maybe. Someday. Oh ye of little faith. I may have to call you Thomas. Good luck with finding out what happened to your friend. I’ll do what I can to help you.”

“Thanks.” She logged off right after him. Men could be such a problem!

PEGGY WAS BETWEEN CLASSES the next morning when Mai called her cell phone. “We finished most of the new work on Lamonte’s car this morning. Took it apart. There was nothing wrong that would make it unsafe. Just like the insurance company said.”

“That’s good news,” Peggy replied in relief. “What about the autopsy?”

“That’s another story. There was nothing overt that we found in examining him the first time. He definitely died from massive trauma following the accident. But there was something unusual in his tox screen when we dug deeper. They sent the results to Raleigh for more analysis. We couldn’t identify what we found.”

“What did you find?”

“Some kind of foreign substance. The ME isn’t sure if it has anything to do with the case. In fact, he’s really leaning toward it being a natural health food kind of thing.”

Peggy frowned. Park never used a natural health food product in his life. The few times they’d discussed anything of the sort brought snickers and jeers from him. He was definitely a meat-and-potatoes, traditional medicine (if any!) kind of person. “Can you tell me what the substance was without endangering your job?”

“I don’t see why not, since it probably isn’t anything important anyway. It was bee pollen. The kind people take for instant energy. You know what I mean? Mr. Lamonte had a high concentration of it in his body.”

“Bee pollen?” Peggy was amazed. Had Park finally succumbed to her way of thinking? Was he trying to combat the fatigue she saw in his face with bee pollen?

“That’s it,” Mai agreed. “Looks like your friend is off the hook. At least on her husband’s death.”

“Thanks for letting me know. May I tell Beth?”

“I think the chances are pretty small that a police detective will tell her.” Mai laughed. “They tend to only want to deliver bad news. Everything else you get in a report. Does Beth have a lawyer yet?”

Peggy told her about Hunter being involved. “I’m sure they’ll both be glad Park’s death didn’t turn out to be a homicide investigation.”

“I’m not too sure about Hunter. I think she’s still looking for that big score that will make her famous.”

It was past time for Peggy to go to her next class. She half agreed with Mai about Hunter, thanked her again for calling, and hurried out of the teachers’ lounge. She wasn’t able to call Beth until the Botany 301 class was over. By that time, Hunter had already gleaned the information from her sources and given her client the good news.

“I can’t believe it’s over!” Beth gushed. “I thought it would be so much harder.”

“You were lucky it didn’t go any further,” Peggy assured her. “Anyway, I’m very happy it turned out this way for you and the boys.”

“Thank you so much for your help. Why don’t you bring Steve over for a celebration dinner tonight? Is seven okay with you?”

“That’s fine. I’ll check with Steve.”

“Please come anyway, even if he’s busy. I feel like there wouldn’t be a celebration without you.”

Peggy called Steve at his office and asked him about dinner.

“That’s fine,” he agreed. “I should be done checking out this pregnant hamster by then.”

She laughed as throngs of students passed her, spilling out of the school into the sunshine. “What is there to check out on a pregnant hamster?”

“The owner thinks the hamster is past her due date,” Steve said then added, “Well maybe not. Here they come now. Call you back later.”

There was no sign of the snow or ice that had changed everyone’s lives for a few days. Peggy got her bike out of the rack and headed for home. She’d managed to squeeze in an appointment with Rue Baker at Whiskers and Paws right after lunch. Things were looking up.

She watched a noon report on Channel 14 news that included a small bit about Isabelle. The reporter talked about the mysterious circumstances of her death and her life as a social leader in Charlotte before her husband died.

Peggy couldn’t believe the police would continue to investigate Isabelle’s death as a possible homicide after Park’s death was declared an accident. The Dragon Queen’s autopsy probably wouldn’t be finished for a few days. Hopefully, it would indicate natural causes. The position of her cane, missing dragon’s head, even the bloody letter could go away in that light. If Beth was cleared of any wrongdoing in Park’s death, it wouldn’t make sense for her to attack Isabelle.

Of course those were all her concepts. The police brain was different. Especially Jonas’s brain!

Keeley pulled up in Peggy’s drive a little before one. It took both of them to get Shakespeare into the Potting Shed truck. Once he was inside, he kept trying to get on the floor, wagging his tail and barking at them. “I hope this woman you’re taking him to knows what she’s doing,” Keeley said, pushing the dog away with her foot.

“I hope so, too. Steve thinks Shakespeare’s the same as he’s always been. But I think he’s much worse. I don’t know what happened to him.” Peggy finished speaking just as they were about to go over the same ramp that she’d watched Park’s car plummet from. It seemed to go up much higher than she noticed before. At one point, it looked as though the truck was going to fly off the edge as well.