Poisoned Petals

“Not unless you really have a different answer this time.”

“I think I really do. Can you meet us at the precinct?”

Al agreed to meet them there in twenty minutes. Peggy hung up as Naomi’s cell phone started ringing.

“It’s Abekeni.” Naomi saw the number on the display. “What should I do?”

“Nothing. Just ignore it. Let’s go to the police station. We need to get this whole thing straightened out.”

Naomi put her shoes and jacket on while Peggy got her pocketbook and keys for the truck. Her computer was chiming with a message, but she ignored it and left her room.

“He’s calling again.” Naomi showed her the cell phone. “Maybe I should answer it. He might get suspicious.”

“I think he’s more likely to get suspicious if he talks to you. You might say the wrong thing.”

Naomi agreed, and the phone stopped ringing. She shivered as they hurried downstairs. “I’m afraid anyway. Abekeni is very perceptive. He might already know I’m about to betray him.”

“I think that’s unlikely.” Peggy locked the kitchen door behind her as they stepped out into the breezy night. “We’re only a few minutes from the precinct. We’ll be fine.”

Peggy opened the garage door, the wind creaking in the newly sprung oak leaves and whispering through the rafters on the house. It was coming from the south, tantalizing with a hint of ocean air that reminded her of Charleston.

She glanced up at the house. The light was still on in the sitting room. She wished she’d thought to bring her father with her. It felt like the devil himself was after her. It was fanciful, but she would have felt safer with him there.

She got behind the wheel of the truck, hurrying Naomi to get into the passenger side. The engine started easily. She turned to look at the rearview mirror. Abekeni’s face was looking back at her. He smiled and held a small caliber revolver up to the window.

Naomi screamed.

Peggy wanted to scream, but the sound was trapped in her throat. She thought it might be nice sometime to be the one who screamed and covered her eyes. Sometimes it might be nice to slink down on the floor and not look at what was going to happen next. But that wasn’t what life had in store for her.

Instead, she rolled down her window, acting much braver than she felt, and stared at Abekeni. “Does your mother know about any of this?”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Of course not! She was happy getting a few thousand dollars a month from him. She was still willing to take his leftovers.”

“But not you?”

“No. Not when I figured out a way to have it all.” He nodded at the key in the ignition. “Turn off the truck.”

Peggy did as she was told for now. But she watched him carefully, waiting for any chance to take advantage of a chink in his armor.

He went back and closed the garage door as Naomi plucked up her courage and got out of the truck. “I wasn’t going to say anything. You have to believe me.”

As a partner in crime went, Peggy thought, she’d take Steve any day. Naomi folded like a dry geranium when confronted. No wonder Abekeni didn’t want her in Charlotte.

“It sounds like you’ve already said something.” He smiled at her in a sad, strange way. “I’m afraid it’s too late to go back to the way it was before.”

“What are you going to do?” Peggy asked. “Keep us trapped in the garage forever? My friend, Detective Al McDonald, is waiting for us at the uptown precinct. When I don’t show up right away, he’s going to come and look for me.”

“How long do you think that will take?” he asked her. “And when he finally comes looking, how long until he finds you here in the garage?”

It seemed like a simplistic plan to her, but she kept her opinions to herself. If he wanted to do something so easy, that was fine with her. The garage was a little damp and cold, it would make her sinuses uncomfortable for a few days, but it certainly wouldn’t kill her.

“Why did you come looking for Naomi?”

“When she didn’t answer the phone, I thought something was wrong. When I saw the two of you sneaking out of the house, I knew it.”

“Please,” Naomi begged, “I’ll do anything you ask. Please don’t hurt me.”

He stroked her hair with a gentle hand, but the gun didn’t waver. “Get back in the truck, please.”

He tied them both with some rope he found on the side wall with the tools. Then he took their cell phones and put them in his pocket.

Naomi started crying piteously.

“Don’t worry.” He hushed her. “It will be over very quickly.”

He reached around Peggy, who was tied to the steering wheel, and started the engine. “They say asphyxiation is an easy death. No pain. You just go to sleep.”

Naomi begged and pleaded. Peggy glanced at Abekeni. “You don’t want to do this. Please reconsider.”

“I’m sorry you got in the middle of all this.” He sounded very sincere. “But I can’t leave you two to run around