“They look like little red bugs,” Mai said. “How big is that flower?”
“The part that looks like an upside-down bell with the burgundy interior, the spathe, usually opens to three or four feet,” Peggy said. “This is incredible. I missed a titan arum that bloomed in London a few years back. I had no idea how remarkable it would be!”
“It’s almost worth the smell.” Mai wrinkled up her nose. “It doesn’t look real. Or if it’s real, it looks like it came from another world. But why does it smell so bad?”
“That terrible smell attracts carrion beetles and flesh flies that pollinate it,” Peggy explained. “Without it, it wouldn’t be able to reproduce.”
“There you are!” Dr. Merton Dillard called out when he saw Peggy and Mai. “I had a feeling you couldn’t come out here without seeing Bella. She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”
Mai didn’t disagree while Peggy, Larry, and Merton talked about the gigantic flower. There was work to do, however, and Larry promised all of them e-mail photos of Bella the next day.
“You’re looking for a needle in a haystack, aren’t you?” Merton asked as they left the gardens and walked down the paved paths that led to the central botanical studies area. “Trying to piece together masticated yew seeds with their branches may be impossible.”
“We might be able to get something together on it,” Peggy said. “It could be important for the case.”
“Don’t tell me any more!” Merton held up his pudgy hands. “The last time I helped the police, I had to testify in court. I wasn’t too happy about that. I don’t like large groups of people, especially in stuffy courthouses.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Mai promised. “It would be me or Peggy called to testify.”
Peggy was surprised to find Merton working at the lab. She’d started to hug him when she first saw him, then checked herself. She noticed he was still wearing gloves. Merton had come a long way by being out of his house, but he probably wouldn’t be interested in that kind of physical contact. The man was obsessed with germs. “I can’t believe they got you out to work again.”
“Larry lured me here with promises of updated equipment I couldn’t afford in exchange for a few hours a week working here. How have you been, Peggy?”
“Just fine, thanks.” She glanced at the spray bottle of Lysol at his elbow. His iron gray hair stood straight up on his head as though glued there.
She reintroduced him to Mai, who attempted to shake his hand. Merton pulled back abruptly. “That’s far enough, young woman. I remember you quite well from the last time. What do you want me to look at? I assume someone has killed someone else and botanicals are involved.”
Peggy explained what she could about the case. Merton was an outsource. He wasn’t supposed to know all the details. It made the study blind, as far as he was concerned. And she was sure he didn’t want to know any more. “I just need to know if it looks like these yew seeds could have come from any of these sources.” She held out the branches she’d collected from the side of the dry lake.
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “I’ll give you a call when I’ve had a look at all of it.”
“I don’t want to rush you, Merton,” Peggy said, “but could you get it done as quickly as possible? We have some time constraints on this case.”
“I’ll do what I can.” He shrugged. “Time takes time.”
Again the possible evidence was signed for and resealed so the chain of custody wouldn’t be broken. Peggy heard the sound of Merton spraying disinfectant as they left him in the lab. Some things never changed. She couldn’t imagine how Larry had managed to get Merton out of his pajamas and his house and back into the lab. The man was a hopeless xenophobe, worried that being around people meant deadly germ exposure.
Mai smiled as she and Peggy bypassed the garden with the titan arum to get back to the van. “That was easier than I expected it to be. Now we can only hope Dr. Ramsey has been able to stall Chief Mullis.”
But Dr. Ramsey had not been as successful as Peggy and Mai. He swooped down on them as they came back to the lab, and told them the chief wanted to see them right away. “I apologize. I thought it would be enough that I’m the chief medical examiner. But my absence at the beginning of this case puts you in the hot seat, Sato. He may be willing to hold out another few days if
you
talk to him.”
Mai was flustered by the request. “What can I say that you didn’t say? I was here, but I don’t really know any more than you probably already told him.”
Dr. Ramsey nudged her toward the door. “Maybe you can say it differently. Go on. Take your botanical friend with you. Maybe she can find something to say, since this seems to be all her doing.”
“I don’t mind talking to the chief at all,” Peggy said with a smile. “Let’s go.”
It had stopped raining, but the clouds and dampened atmosphere lingered, creating mist and fog on the streets. The temperature had dropped to a more seasonal coolness that probably wouldn’t linger past the next day.
Mai and Peggy talked about the case as they drove to the chief’s office. It seemed very simple to Peggy that the chief wouldn’t want to bury his aunt before all the possible questions were answered. “Unless he has an ulterior motive.”
Mai’s face contorted as though she were in pain. “You aren’t going to suggest that to Chief Mullis, are you? Just because he drove his aunt to the lake doesn’t mean anything. It certainly doesn’t mean he was involved in her death. Please,
please
don’t say that to him.”
Peggy didn’t promise anything. It might be good for everyone if the question was asked and answered. That way they could all get beyond how and why Lois was at the lake before everyone else.
They moved slowly through the line of people waiting to be scanned for weapons before entering the police department. Peggy and Mai had left their purses in the van and brought only their IDs inside with them. One man seemed to be having difficulties getting through the metal detector. The officers scanned him several times, and still the buzzer went off. There didn’t seem to be anything else he could get rid of that would contain metal, certainly no place he could hide a gun or knife.
Finally they located the problem: a metal clip holding an elastic bandage on his ankle. Once they understood the situation, it was simple to fix and the line moved quickly.
Chief Mullis’s assistant, a tired-looking young man with droopy shoulders, met them in the hall as they got off the elevator. “Chief Mullis is in a meeting with Sheriff Bailey. He’d like you to wait in his office. The meeting should be over shortly.”
Peggy and Mai took seats across from the huge, cluttered desk. Mai drew in an unsteady breath. “I really don’t like this. I don’t know if I can be the chief medical examiner if I have to confront people this way. I’m not good at confrontation.”
“I hadn’t noticed.” Peggy smiled at her. “Cheer up. Harold isn’t going anywhere for awhile, and you’ll get better as you go along. What about that ring we found?”
“It was an old ring. I’m having Bosco look it up on the Internet. Or maybe contact an antiques dealer. I don’t know.” Mai glanced at the closed door and bit her lip. “David, who does auctioneering on the side, said he thinks the stone is a carnelian. It has some kind of carving on it. It’s too dirty to tell exactly what it is, so I’m letting it soak in a cleaning solution.”
“Of course it could belong to any of those poor souls who lived and died in the village.”
“Or it could belong to the killer.”
“Or the victim.”
The door to the office opened behind them, and Chief Mullis greeted them as he stepped into the room. “I appreciate you coming by, Ms. Sato.” He sat back in his burgundy leather chair and made a pyramid of his fingers as he frowned at Peggy. “I recognize you. You work in the lab?”
“Yes. And I’ve been helping the Shamrock Historical Society out at Lake Whitley. I was there when they found your aunt. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
He snapped his fingers. “You’re John Lee’s widow, Paul’s mother. You were at the house when those crazy ladies broke in.”
It wasn’t the way she wanted him to remember her, but she had to acknowledge her involvement. “Yes, I was.”
He smiled and sat back again. “John was a good man and a good officer. We worked together several times, coming up through the ranks.”
“Thank you.” Peggy wanted to change the subject to the reason they were there before Mai fell apart. “I’m also working as a contractor for the ME’s office. That’s why I’m here.”
“That’s right! You’re the plant person. I can understand why they called you in on this one, although I might question your objectivity, since you’re a member of the group and you were on the scene when they found Aunt Lois.”
“I can assure you that Dr. Lee is extremely objective,” Mai said. “She’s worked with us on several cases and her work has always been exemplary.”
“That’s fine.” The chief picked up a manila file folder on his desk. “I said someone could
think
that, not that they did. I don’t have a problem with the situation or Dr. Lee, Ms. Sato. My problem seems to revolve around
you
.”
“M-me?”
“That’s right. I’ve been looking through your notes, and I don’t see any mention of bruising around my aunt’s mouth that might be consistent with someone forcing her to eat poison berries.”
Mai frowned as she sat forward. “Those are
my
notes. I haven’t released them yet.”
“I’m the chief of police. The notes don’t have to be released for me to see them. Dr. Ramsey was kind enough to bring me everything on this case.”
“But we’re not finished yet—”
“Unless you have something more than I see in this file, I think you’re finished. I see no evidence of foul play. Aunt Lois had a bad heart. She had another heart attack. It’s a terrible thing that she had to die out there alone, when she had so many people who loved her.” He closed the file and tossed it in Mai’s direction. “But sometimes that’s the way it is.”
“What about the man she helped get arrested?” Peggy jumped in. “How do we know where he is right now?”
“I really don’t see any reason to ask where he is,” Chief Mullis said. “Unless you’re suggesting he was somehow responsible for her having a heart attack, I’d say it’s irrelevant to what happened.”
“I think there’s more to this,” Peggy added. “All we’re asking for is a few more days. What harm can that do?”
“The harm, Dr. Lee, is delaying Aunt Lois’s burial and memorial service. Plus many of those people I mentioned who loved her are concerned about the police holding on to her body. They think there’s something wrong, and we can all clearly see there isn’t.”
“How did it happen that you dropped her off at the lake that morning?” Peggy really didn’t mean to ask that question. It just sort of slipped out.
“Excuse me? Are you suggesting I’m somehow involved with what happened to my aunt?” Chief Mullis moved forward in his chair to glare at her. “I think you should leave that kind of conjecture to the professionals. The police department appreciates your help, Dr. Lee. You provide a necessary service. But you’re not a police detective.”
Peggy felt her temper begin to rise. Why wouldn’t the man answer the question if he had nothing to hide? She started to ask him exactly that when Mai put her hand on her arm. “Thank you, Chief Mullis.” Mai abruptly got to her feet. “I’ll release your aunt’s body to the funeral home. I’m sorry for the delay.”
Peggy fumed as she followed Mai into the hall. The satisfied look on the chief’s face made her even angrier. “What was that all about?”
“I’ve worked really hard to get here,” Mai answered. “I’m not letting something like this knock me back down. I mean, really, Peggy, do you honestly think the chief killed his aunt or was involved in any way?”
They’d stopped walking and confronted each other in the hall, ignoring the people who passed them. “I think your integrity is more important than backing down because the chief doesn’t agree with you.”
“I asked you not to say that to him.” Mai started walking quickly toward the elevator. “I care about what happened to Mrs. Mullis, but he’s right. I looked for bruises anywhere on her body that would tell us she’d been physically coerced in some way. There was nothing.”
“But we know she chewed on some yew berries,” Peggy argued.
“That’s true. And it may or may not have caused her to have a fatal heart attack. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to say one way or another. But without some reason to suspect that someone forced her to eat the berries, we’d have to conjecture she saw them and wanted to eat them. You said yourself people are poisoned every year by eating something they shouldn’t eat. As far as I’ve heard, Mrs. Mullis wasn’t a nature specialist who could identify poisonous berries.”
They got in the elevator together. “So that’s it?” Peggy asked.
“Unless one of Mrs. Mullis’s friends comes up with something else that makes sense.” Mai shrugged her thin shoulders. “I can’t see anything else to do.”
“What about the blood work you sent to Raleigh?”
Mai swallowed hard. “When we get that back, we’ll deal with it. I’m not antagonizing the chief about this.”
Peggy didn’t agree with her, but her arguments were pointless without evidence to back them up. She could only hope Merton came up with something conclusive from the seeds.
They drove back in silence that was neither agreeable nor friendly. Peggy said good night, but there was no response from Mai. She called Steve as she left the lab. She’d already fielded a call from Selena asking if she could close the shop early. There had been only two customers since lunchtime. The rain usually slowed things down, but not so dramatically.
Steve’s voice mail picked up. She started to leave a message, then decided against it and went home. When she saw Steve’s SUV wasn’t in her drive, she parked her truck and plugged it in, then walked to his house. He lived only a few doors down, in another turn-of-the-century house on Queens Road. It wasn’t as large or grand as the house that she was fortunate enough to live in, but it was a good, solid redbrick house that would probably stand for another hundred years.