A Corpse for Yew (19 page)

“Would you like to make a small wager on that, Dr. Lee?” Harold had sneaked up behind her, and stood rocking on his heels as he spoke.

“I’d be happy to,” Peggy replied. “It was a difficult situation. You know Mai did the right things, the things
you
would’ve done. You might as well admit it. She does a good job.”

Dr. Ramsey sniffed dismissively. “I’d give her a B-minus on her performance. I was called home early from a conference because she couldn’t communicate with Chief Mullis. The job of a medical examiner is to work with the rest of the police department. We are
not
an island, Dr. Lee.”

“And you are the biggest blowhard I’ve ever met.” Peggy turned away from him. “I’m ready to look at the ring now, Mai.”

“I’m sure
you
would’ve handled it differently,” he taunted her as the two women walked away. “I suppose
you
would’ve accused Chief Mullis of killing his aunt. Yes, that
would
be brilliant, Dr. Lee.”

“I’m ignoring you,” Peggy yelled back at him, then whispered to Mai, “That man never changes.”

“Now that I know he has to take the heat for everything we do in the lab, I feel a little more respect for him,” Mai admitted. “Not a lot. And I still want his job. Just not right now. I’m missing something I hope to gain as I go along.”

“And what’s that?”

“I’m not sure.” Mai shrugged. “I’ll let you know when I find it.”

Peggy watched as Mai took an evidence bag out of a drawer. The ring that had been so encrusted with mud was clean and shining. “It’s beautiful!”

“I got a jeweler friend of mine to clean it up once we knew it wasn’t evidence. He did a good job.” Mai took the ring out of the bag and handed it to Peggy. “He said this is an old ring. He could tell by the quality of the stone and the gold. I’m not sure what the symbol carved into it is. He didn’t know, either, but he said it’s valuable.”

Peggy examined the ring in the light. It was heavy and large, definitely a man’s ring. The stone was square with a carving taking up most of the reddish brown space.

“Ah, yes!” Dr. Ramsey joined them in the evidence room. “A very nice sienna-colored variety of chalcedony. Carnelian. You don’t see this kind of thing much anymore.”

“You certainly don’t,” Peggy agreed. “Whoever this was made for had massive hands. The carving is intriguing. I wonder if you could find it on the Internet.”

“I didn’t look, since it wasn’t relevant to the case anymore,” Mai admitted.

“You mean since there
was
no case,” Dr. Ramsey reminded his young assistant.

“Still, it would be interesting to know. You said the museum is going to take it?” Peggy asked Mai.

“Yes. They were very excited about it. I talked to the director, and he’s on his way over. I was glad you could come right away. I didn’t think he’d come and get it that quickly. Nobody ever moves that fast.”

“There are some serious history buffs in this town,” Peggy explained. “This is like a pot of gold for them.”

“I’m glad we can give it to them.” Mai took the ring back and put it in the evidence bag. “We were lucky to find it in all that mud. I guess everyone out there collecting the bones has made other things come to the surface.”

“There’s a wealth of things from the past out there,” Peggy agreed. “You wouldn’t believe anything could still be there after being underwater for so long. There are cups and saucers, pottery, even some personal items that looked like barrettes to me.”

“And this is where I leave you,” Dr. Ramsey said. “I don’t understand people’s fascination with the past. I suppose, being a man of science, I don’t appreciate hundred-year-old bric-a-brac.”

“I guess it must be because you are a
man
of science.” Peggy smiled up at him. “As a
woman
of science, I was fascinated by it.”

“The bones I could see,” he conceded. “The rest, you can keep.”

The security guard called the lab to let them know there were visitors at the front desk. It was Jonathon and Geneva, who was the museum docent for that day. “Peggy! I didn’t expect to see you here,” Jonathon said. “I came by to pick up the ring they found out at the lake.”

“Jonathon, this is Mai Sato, the assistant ME. Mai, this is Jonathon Underwood, the director of the historical museum. And Geneva Curtis. She’s a member of the Shamrock Historical Society.”

Everyone shook hands and said a few nice words. Mai sympathized with the pair over the loss of their friend. “Could I ask why you call it the Shamrock Historical Society?”

Geneva was glad to explain. “It came from our very first member, Captain Marcus O’Malley, who donated the property for a museum. The group that raised money for it decided to call it the Shamrock Society after the large patch of shamrocks where they planned to put the building.”

“That’s very colorful.” Mai smiled. “Here’s the ring. Peggy waded into all of that gook to get it. I suppose she’s the one you should thank for saving it.”

Mai handed the bag to Jonathon. Geneva gasped when she caught sight of the ring. “Where did you say you found this?”

“Sort of floating in the mud,” Peggy answered. “It was close to where we found Lois’s body.”

“You were lucky it wasn’t sucked right down,” Mai added. “What’s wrong?”

“That ring.” Geneva looked at Jonathon. “It’s already registered in the museum’s catalog. It’s been a part of the collection for more than a century. There’s no way it should’ve been out there at Lake Whitley.”

Jonathon peered closely at the ring without removing it from the plastic bag. “It may be a different ring, Geneva. They may look the same, but the other ring must be still in the collection. Maybe someone who lived in the village had something similar.”

“No way.” Geneva was certain of it from the set look on her face to the rest of her body language. “This is the
same
ring. I just want to know what it was doing out there.”

“THIS WON’T MEAN ANYTHING TO what happened to Mrs. Mullis,” Mai told Peggy. “You know that, right? There is no case. It’s been ruled an accidental death. Officially ruled by the acting medical examiner, me.”

Peggy was going back to the museum with Jonathon and Geneva to check out the ring. She’d tried to say all the right words to dispel any fears Mai was harboring about her case, or lack thereof, falling apart after she’d put her
official
seal on it. She’d never do anything to undermine Mai’s authority . . . unless something important changed the parameters of the situation.

She sat in the front seat of the history museum’s van with Geneva chattering constantly about the ring. “This is the same ring that caused all that controversy a few years back. You don’t remember that, Jonathon. You weren’t here yet. I was just starting as a docent at the museum. I can’t quite recall what all the fuss was about. I’m sure one of the other ladies would remember it better than me.”

Jonathon kept his eyes on the traffic as he drove through the downtown area to the museum. “The carving on the ring is interesting. I thought that from the first time I saw it. I haven’t had a lot of time to look it up. I’m surprised someone hasn’t figured it out by now.”

“What was the controversy about, Geneva?” Peggy asked.

“Something about the ownership of the ring and who donated it. There were a few people who claimed it belonged in their family. Like I said, we’ll have to talk to Mrs. Waynewright or Annabelle. They’ve been in the society longer than anyone; well, since Lois died.”

Peggy watched another parking deck being demolished to make room for another set of expensive condominiums as they stopped for a red light. Soon there wouldn’t be anything but expensive condos in the downtown area. A few weeks ago, she’d gone to look at a rooftop garden in a building where the condos started at one million dollars. That had stunned her.

“I feel responsible for this,” Jonathon said as he took off from the light. “I should’ve kept better records of things going in and out of the museum.”

“Are you sure it’s the same ring now?” Peggy wondered. He’d been so sure it wasn’t, at the lab.

“I don’t know. It might’ve been a knee-jerk reaction to seeing it there when it should’ve been locked safely in the collection.” He glanced at her. “It’s unlikely there would be two rings so much alike. I guess we’ll see when we get there.”

They reached the new history museum, fittingly located on Shamrock Drive. Peggy was getting out of the van as Jonathon’s long strides were taking him to the door, keys in hand. Geneva held her back, using the open van door as a shield between them and Jonathon.

“I’m telling you, Peggy, there’s something fishy about Lois’s death. You finding this old ring just focuses the sunlight into the dark corners. Maybe you should be asking Jonathon about the big slap down between him and Lois the day before she died.”

Peggy looked into Geneva’s pretty, chocolate-colored face. She guessed Geneva had retired early. She was much younger than most of the other ladies in the Shamrock Historical Society. “I asked him about that when we were at the lake after finding the ring. He said there were some items missing from the museum. He made it sound as though Lois might’ve been involved.”

“As if! Twice we came here and found the back door left open. Jonathon’s a sweet kid, but we didn’t have a say in who replaced our old director. Most of us feel he could use a little seasoning, if you know what I mean.”

“I think I do.” Peggy closed the van door and began walking toward the modern granite building. It was two stories, with past flags from Mecklenburg County flying in front. “Do you think that’s how the ring got out to the lake?”

Geneva narrowed her eyes and glanced toward the door. “
We
think Jonathon had the ring out at the lake when he argued with Lois and made her eat those poison berries.”

“You mean that’s what the other ladies will think when they know about the ring.”

“I texted all of them on the way over here. We thought he had something to do with Lois’s death in the first place. Don’t you see that this lends us credibility?”

Peggy didn’t really follow that line of thought. Why would Jonathon bring the carnelian ring out there with him if he was going to argue with Lois and eventually kill her? It sounded like desperate thinking to her. She was amazed the ladies felt so hostile toward Jonathon, who seemed to be a very likable young man. What had he done to alienate them? A few unlocked doors didn’t seem like enough to engender such harsh feelings.

They finally went inside. There was no sign of Jonathon. Geneva pointed them in the direction of the museum’s locked collection, where several dozen valuable pieces of jewelry were on display.

Jonathon was already unlocking the case and pulling out the drawers. “The carnelian was stored right here.” He pointed to the empty space. “I know I didn’t take it out. The question is, who did?”

Geneva glared at him. “We have only your word for that, Mr. Director. I suggest we call the police and report this as a theft, and let
them
find out who took it.”

“That would be my thinking on the subject as well,” he agreed, taking out his cell phone. “No matter what you think, Geneva, I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Possibly those ruffians you hired to come in those times when you conveniently left the back door unlocked did the job for you, Mr. Underwood.” Mrs. Waynewright stood at the door to the display area, flanked by Grace and Dorothy. She held her head high under a subdued black felt hat.

Jonathon smiled sadly and shook his head. “I don’t know how I’ve wronged you ladies. I’ve tried to be what you’ve needed as a director. I’ve gone along with all of your suggestions. What do you have against me?”

No one spoke for a moment, then Grace stepped forward. “I’ll tell you what we have against you. You’re too young to have the responsibility for this place our ancestors struggled to maintain. When Mr. Hawkins retired, the board should’ve named someone with a little maturity to this position.”

The historical society members nodded in agreement as the sound of sirens reached them from the street. Peggy wondered who’d called; when she looked at Grace, she held out her cell phone. “It takes only one button. I always have 911 on speed dial. I called them on our way over here after Geneva explained the situation.”

They waited for the police to come to the front door. Geneva let them in and led the way to the showcase.