Poisoned Petals

and hurried toward Paul’s car.

“Good luck, sweet pea,” Ranson said to his daughter. “I wish I were going with you.”

“It’s only the police station,” Peggy explained.

“I don’t care.” He sighed. “Any place is better than another mall!”

When they were alone and on their way back uptown, Steve squeezed Peggy’s hand. “It’s too bad you didn’t have a chance to talk to Darmus. I suppose they’ll arrest him?”

“I know they will.” She bit her lip, thinking through her revelation about the hyacinths. “If nothing else, pretending to be dead is a fraud.”

“You think there’s something more?” Steve asked perceptively, negotiating traffic. “The man in the house who everyone thought was him, right? They’ll want to know how he got there.”

“I’m sure they’ll want to know that.” She gripped her hands restlessly to keep them from shaking. “And maybe more.”

They parked outside the precinct. The sergeant at the front desk was expecting her and told her to go back to the conference room. They waited there, barely speaking, with Peggy dreading what was coming next.

Finally Captain Jonas Rimer joined them. “Hello, Peggy. Steve.” He shook Steve’s hand. “Hard to believe what happened today, huh?”

“At least for most of us,” Al said, following him into the small room. He was still wearing his good black suit from the funeral chapel. “Maybe some of us knew what to expect.”

“Hello, Jonas. Al.” Peggy got to her feet. “Any word on Darmus?”

“Not yet. He was taken to the hospital. They’ll let us know what’s up when they can.” Al closed the door to the room behind him.

They settled in ladder-back chairs around the empty table. Peggy was glad they weren’t in an interrogation room anyway. This was just a small conference room. They’d had a birthday party for John once in this room.

Jonas looked at her with a wary eye. “Okay. One of you want to tell me what’s going on?”

Steve nodded at Peggy. “Let her tell it. I’m just an innocent bystander.”

“Who feels like he got hit with a truck, right?” Jonas nodded. “Yeah, I feel the same way around her.”

“Well, obviously, Darmus isn’t dead.” She ignored their jibes and started to explain. “He and his brother, Luther, planned to fake Darmus’s death. Darmus wanted to get away from Feed America. He was afraid he was going to lose everything if he just gave it up. Luther wanted to take his place.”

“What?” Jonas’s face mirrored his amazement. “What difference does that make? People give up jobs all the time. The Council of Churches would probably have been thrilled to have a pastor at the helm, especially Darmus’s brother.”

She shrugged. “They obviously weren’t thinking clearly. Darmus has been paranoid about the group since he founded it. He thought if he faked his death and gave it all to Luther, he could walk away without feeling guilty. Luther wanted what Darmus had. I guess it seemed like a win-win situation.”

Jonas looked skeptical. “And they found a man willing to cooperate by dying in Darmus’s place?”

“Something like that.” She explained the situation and didn’t mind telling them about Holles’s involvement and his threatening behavior with her. “Darmus was going to turn himself in. I was supposed to meet him at his apartment and come down here with him.”

“Peggy.” Al shook his head. “You know better!”

“I left a hundred voice mails for you!” She pointed her finger at him. “This is as much your fault as mine! I tried to tell the police through you! I wanted Darmus to be taken in by someone he knew. You can see why. The poor thing isn’t in his right mind, bless his heart.”

“I’m glad to hear we were going to be informed about all of this at some point.” Jonas smiled. “I’m surprised at you trying to take all of this into your own hands, Peggy. You should have come to us right away.”

“I know. But I wanted to find Darmus first. Then I tried to get Al, because he knew him.”

“Noble, but still wrong,” Al told her. “You could go to jail for harboring a fugitive.”

“Except he wasn’t a fugitive,” Steve reminded him. “No one was looking for him.”

Jonas shrugged. “True enough. But a judge might see it differently.”

Steve smiled slowly. “But you don’t want to do that. You want something from Peggy. Right?”

Al glanced at his boss and looked away.

“Steve, I thought you were a veterinarian?” Jonas laughed. “You would’ve made a great lawyer.”

Peggy was surprised, too. And pleased. “Luther knew about this, too. He helped Darmus set it up. I have a letter from him confessing to everything.”

“Interesting.” Al and Jonas both nodded.

“Neither one of them ever did anything like this in their lives,” she argued the brothers’ plight, not caring about her own. “I’m sure the DA won’t want to prosecute Darmus.”

“Except for the hyacinth which you told us about,” Jonas said. “I might agree with you.”

Peggy’s stomach dropped. “What’s the flower got to do with it?”