Fruit of the Poisoned Tree

“What?”

“The ME wants to reopen the investigation because of the honey I found?”

“Yes. I told Mai this would only encourage you! They don’t need your help.” He took her hands in his. Green gazes collided across the laptop. “Stay away from this, please. For my sake, if not your own.”

“I won’t do anything I don’t have to do,” she promised, taking her hands out of his clasp. “That’s the best I can offer. I want to know the truth about what happened to Park.”

He nodded but didn’t look at her. “Fine. I have to go. I just wanted you to know the lieutenant talked about you in our briefing this morning.”

Peggy didn’t know whether to be pleased or offended. “What did he say?”

“He said no one should give information to busybodies who think they’re amateur detectives. He called you a busybody and a snoop, Mom.”

She tried but couldn’t suppress the smile that sprang to her lips. Really, she knew she should take it more seriously. She just couldn’t. “Did he call me a busybody by name? I mean was it like, ‘Peggy Lee is a busybody and a snoop. Don’t talk to her.’ Or was it more general?”

Paul didn’t find it amusing. “Everyone knew he was talking about my mother. It made me feel like an idiot.” His voice lowered dramatically. “Think about it. I’ll talk to you later.”

Peggy watched him leave before she giggled. “He’s always had a bent for melodrama.” She sighed as she stroked Shakespeare’s head, which rested on her lap. “I wish there was a school I could take him to. But it’s probably too late for him anyway. Some old dogs won’t learn new tricks.”

Carlos Gonzales, the garbageman turned taxi driver, picked her and Shakespeare up a few minutes later. She told him about her trip to the landfill. He laughed when she described the landfill manager. “I know him. He tries to charge everybody for everything. You were smart. Did you find what you were looking for?”

She was careful about what she told him. She liked Carlos but didn’t want the information in the newspaper tomorrow. As she described finding the honey jar, she wondered if Paul had something to do with Mai not calling her about the ME’s decision to reopen the investigation.

Peggy took out her cell phone as Carlos navigated the high-speed traffic on the interstate. Should she call Mai? Or should she leave well enough alone? She didn’t want her to lose her job or get in any trouble. Maybe she should wait and let Mai tell her that she couldn’t do anything else.

Looking down from watching traffic before they came to the ramp she was beginning to despise, she noticed there were four messages on her cell phone. How had she missed them? She checked them and found that they were all from Mai. It was a simple mistake. She turned off her ringer at the police station that morning and forgot to turn it back on.

Mai answered her phone on the first ring. “Peggy! I’ve been trying to reach you all morning! The ME wants to see you. I told him you had some samples of poisoned honey. He wants you to bring them by. Will you do that?”

PEGGY AND RUE SAT down, exhausted by their workout with Shakespeare. He started acting up when he walked through the front door at Whiskers and Paws. A woman with a new kitten was leaving. Shakespeare saw the kitten and let out a deep, booming bark. The kitten yowled, scratched its owner, and jumped to the floor. In the ensuing confusion, three flowerpots were broken and several chairs were knocked over.

After that beginning, things got worse. Peggy held Shakespeare’s leash while Rue took him through a series of commands. When he was told to sit, Shakespeare barked. When Rue pointed to the floor and told him to lie down, he jumped up on her, putting his large paws on her shoulders and almost knocking her over. No matter what they tried to get him to do, Shakespeare did the opposite.

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with him,” Peggy huffed, lying back in her chair. Shakespeare was at her feet. He whined and covered his face with his paws. “I know he wasn’t this bad before I went to Pennsylvania. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

Rue shook her head. “Some dogs have a harder time learning. He’s a tough cookie, but we’ll work it out. He might’ve been thrown off by chasing the kitten when he first came in. Or maybe it’s the new surroundings. We’re not off to a great start right now, but I’m sure things will get better.”

“I hope so.” Peggy glanced at her watch, then got to her feet. “I have to go. Thank you for putting up with us. We’ll see you Thursday.”

“Not a problem. It’ll work out.”

“And I’ll replace those vases my big nitwit broke, Rue. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Peggy. Just be careful with him. I’d hate for you to get hurt before we calm him down!”

Carlos came back for them. He laughed and couldn’t believe Shakespeare wouldn’t follow the trainer’s commands at the shop. “He’s always so good in the car. Aren’t you, boy? Maybe it was the way she was talking to him.”

Shakespeare barked and jumped over into the front seat, almost managing to sit on Carlos’s lap. Peggy tugged on his leash and ordered him into the backseat while Carlos tried to steer the taxi around the dog that was almost as big as him.

When Peggy finally got Shakespeare to move, Carlos straightened his cap and looked in the rearview mirror at her. “That’s a lot of dog, Peggy. You gotta be careful he doesn’t break your arm.”

Peggy, who was almost sitting on Shakespeare to keep him down in the backseat, was breathing hard when she promised to be careful. “Maybe this is too much dog for me after all. I went from not having any pets to this monster. It would probably have been better if I’d found a poodle.”

Carlos let them off at Peggy’s house. He promised to come back for her at the same time Thursday. She told Shakespeare what she thought of his behavior as she walked him in the front yard for a few minutes. She didn’t let him off of his leash like she usually did when they went into the house. Instead, she walked him into the laundry room, told him to stay, and closed the door.

She made herself a cup of sassafras tea to steady her nerves while she checked her phone messages. The university was asking for all school personnel to attend a training/awareness seminar on how to handle early dismissal for bad weather. She glanced at the big clock on the kitchen wall. She was already twenty minutes late for that. Not that she saw much point in having a seminar for letting people out of school early.

Instead, she tried to relax as she drank her tea. It was a homemade brew. Her mother went out to find the mitten-shaped leaves on the sassafras tree and dig for the roots to make her own tea back home. There was a railroad track by the house, a place sassafras loved to grow. Her mother walked the track for hours to get enough root to dry and carefully preserved her stock.

Drinking it made her think of home and her childhood. Her grandmother always made them drink sassafras as spring was approaching. She said it was a good spring tonic. It wasn’t until later, when Peggy began studying plants, that she knew the science behind it. Sassafras was a stimulant, a poison actually, when used in its purest form. The orange brown tea helped the body get over the human slowdown that accompanied winter. And it was delicious!

She finally called Mai to let her know she’d be at the precinct by three thirty. That would give her plenty of time to talk with the medical examiner, show him her samples, and still be at the Potting Shed before five. She was looking forward to meeting the ME, despite Mai’s assertions that the man was obnoxious.

Just when she thought she had everything in hand, the front doorbell rang. She opened the door to find Beth and a young man in a dark gray business suit on her doorstep.

“How could you do this, Peggy?” Beth cried and wrung her hands. “How could you do this to me?”

“David Rusch.” The young man tripped over the edge of the rug at the door as he tried to shake Peggy’s hand. “I’m representing Mrs. Lamonte for Lamonte, Rusch and Peterson.”

Peggy could see the resemblance between father and son. Same dark hair and gray eyes. Except the elder Rusch was much more sophisticated, smoother, and taller. She watched David try to get his foot untangled from the fringe on the carpet for a moment before turning to Beth. “I did what I thought was right. I’m sorry if that