Poisoned Petals

“It was all going to come crashing down anyway. I couldn’t keep going the way things were. I had to do something. But I can see what I did was wrong.”

“Come back with me,” she urged. “Talk to the police. You’ve never done anything wrong in your whole life. They’ll take that into consideration.”

“All right.” He sighed heavily. “Dr. Margaret Lee, purveyor of the right. We’ve had some grand times together, haven’t we? I remember when John was alive. When we were in college. Those were the days, like the song says, right? Those were the days.”

She reached out and put her hand on his cheek. He was still crying, tears slipping silently down his cheeks. “It will be all right, Darmus. I’ll go with you.”

“All right. Let me change clothes. I’m living in the apartment here. I don’t want to meet the police looking like this and smelling like trash. You, either. Come back for me in an hour. We’ll see what we can do to clean up everything else.”

“Okay.” She wasn’t sure if she should insist on going with him. He sounded rational, like the old Darmus. She knew he probably wasn’t. But she was afraid if she pushed him too hard, he might never go in. “I’ll come back in an hour. Promise me you’ll be here.”

“I will.” He kissed her hand. “Pretty Peggy.” “Oh well. One hour then?”

“One hour.” Peggy heard him leave. He was only a shadow in the alley. She wasn’t sure what to do. Should she follow him to make sure he was going to do what he said? She knew where to find him, if he was telling the truth.

But even if she followed him, what would she do if he decided to leave? She couldn’t stop him. He was small, but he was strong. It was terrible even thinking it could come to something like that between them.

But Darmus wasn’t in his right mind. She realized that now. He wasn’t responsible for what he did. Glancing back at the club, she wished her father, Steve, or Sam was there with her. She couldn’t afford to lose Darmus, either. She followed his shadow as he crept through the alley toward the nightclub.

Peggy tried calling Al, but there was no answer. She dialed 911 on her cell phone and waited to push the Send button. She hid at the side of the building while she watched Darmus disappear up a flight of stairs toward what looked to be an apartment. The music was so loud from the club she didn’t have to worry about him hearing her behind him. Colored lights from the party flashed across the darkness, spotlighting the Dumpsters and pallets behind the building.

She kept her eyes on the stairs. The palms of her hands burned from where she fell. Her head pounded in time to the music. She glanced at the time on her cell phone. Almost twenty minutes had gone by. How long did it take to change clothes?

Pushing her cell phone carefully into her pocket in case she needed to hit 911 quickly, she went slowly up the stairs. She opened the door into a small kitchen that was spotlessly clean. A short hallway led to a living room, bathroom, and bedroom.

“Darmus?” She switched on the hall light and peered into the bedroom. There was no answer. She walked into the bedroom. It was empty. The bed was made up with a clean, white sheet and a pillow. The bedside table held a copy of his favorite book, A Man for All Seasons. The stump of a candle was next to it with a dried piece of mock orange.

“Deceit.” She touched the withered white flower with her fingertip. “Very apt, my friend.”

A small window was open to the night air and the loud music. Peggy looked down and saw a fire escape. Darmus had run away again.

9

Daisy

Botanical: Bellis perennis

Family: Asteraceae

The daisy has been treasured for centuries. It has been used medicinally for mental problems as well as stomach and eye difficulties. They are hardy perennials that are associated with fairies and good feelings.

THE NEXT MORNING Peggy mulled over her problem. They were burying “Darmus” that afternoon. A huge, full-page memoriam, paid for by Feed America, was in the Charlotte Observer that morning. The burial was at Pentecostal Church of Holiness cemetery.

She’d tried calling Al and eventually had gone over to his house. But he wasn’t home. His wife, Mary, told Peggy he was out at their cabin on Badin Lake in Montgomery County trying to prepare for the sad event. He and Darmus were close, and grief was hitting him hard.

With no one else to turn to, Peggy realized she was on her own. As much as she wanted Darmus to turn himself in, she didn’t want him to be with unsympathetic strangers in the police department. The fears from the previous night that nearly prompted her to call 911 were pushed back. Darmus deserved good treatment. She wasn’t sure he’d get it with anyone but Al.

But she couldn’t let Albert Jackson be buried in Darmus’s place. She’d tell anyone the truth before that happened. John always said it was easier not to bury a question than it was to dig one up.

As Peggy considered the problem, she decided her next step should be to talk to Holles. If he knew what was going on, she wanted to know, too. She drove to Holles’s apartment near UNCC. He didn’t live far from where Darmus had lived. Not feeling the least remorse for disturbing him, she pounded on his front door until he answered.