Offed in the Orchids Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  About This Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Epilogue

  About Poison in the Pansies

  Get Your Free Book Now

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  About This Book

  A new cozy mystery series from USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. Follow gardener and amateur sleuth Doreen Montgomery—and her amusing and mostly lovable cat, dog, and parrot—as they catch murderers and solve crimes in lovely Kelowna, British Columbia.

  Riches to rags … Finally it’s calm … At least for the moment … If she’s lucky …

  Needing a break from all the murder and mayhem, Doreen and Mack plan an outing to see the local orchid show. Some of the displays are in the community center, but the more prized specimens of this genus require a visit to some of the gardeners’ homes, a rare opportunity not afforded to everyone.

  This trip, not quite a date, affords Doreen a chance to enjoy not only the company of Mack but to get to know a few more of the colorful locals. But, when one of these locals ends up dead just after their visit, the dark underbelly of orchid growing is exposed and, with it, an old murder, … not to mention another new one.

  Doreen and Mack just can’t catch a break. But can they catch a killer before he kills again?

  Sign up to be notified of all Dale’s releases here!

  Chapter 1

  Saturday, Mid-July; Kelowna, BC

  Corporal Mack Moreau, a local RCMP detective, had become Doreen Montgomery’s close friend. Mack was right, this outing was a perfect idea.

  Doreen could feel a budding excitement at the thought of going out, not only with Mack at her side, but to the orchid festival. She’d never had any experience with growing them herself, although they were plants that her husband had deemed appropriate for her to oversee and had his gardeners keep several in the greenhouse. But she had never really tried to do anything with them. They appealed, but they also almost repulsed her because they had such a strong connection to her soon-to-be ex.

  But this was the first time to potentially enjoy them without his presence, and she would see some really rare ones today. As a gardening enthusiast, she knew just enough to get herself in trouble, so deemed it necessary to not get into any conversations about orchids, outside of asking questions regarding the long-held fascination she’d had over the unique plants. Many people did really well with orchids, and others found them incredibly difficult to grow. They were so special and had captivated people for centuries.

  Doreen waited on her front porch with her three animals. She had even coerced a leash onto Goliath, a Maine coon, who didn’t seem to be arguing too much about his leash today. Her huge beautiful blue-gray parrot, Thaddeus, sat on her shoulder, and she heard Mack’s truck rumbling toward her.

  “Alright, guys, here he is,” she said to her critters. Mugs, her pedigreed basset hound, was on a leash too and barked excitedly, his tail wagging in great joy as the truck pulled up into the driveway. Goliath lay on the top porch step and looked about with disdain. As the truck rolled to a stop, Mack opened his door. “Do you need help to get in the truck?”

  She shook her head and walked down the last few steps and onto the sidewalk toward him. “No, we’re ready to go.” She walked around to the far side, opened up the passenger door to his truck, and urged Mugs up onto the seat. He was beside himself with excitement, so getting him into the footwell of the truck was one thing. But he was bound and determined to get onto the seat, where he could completely lick Mack’s face.

  Mack was laughing, as he tried to calm down the excited dog.

  Thaddeus, on the other hand, appeared to be happily nestled against her neck and just content to be going with the flow. Goliath hopped up onto the dash and sprawled out in front of them. Then Doreen climbed in and sat down comfortably, closing the door. “We’re ready.”

  “I guess you don’t go anywhere without the animals, do you?”

  “Not if I can help it,” she said. “It’s nice to have them. And they love these outings.”

  “And this one is outside, so animals are allowed.” He backed out of the driveway and went around the cul-de-sac.

  “Exactly,” she said happily. “I can’t express how much I’m looking forward to this. I hadn’t realized how depressed I was and in need of something fun and different in my life.”

  He glanced at her in concern.

  “I’m fine.” She shrugged. “It’s just—well, this was a good idea, and I’m really looking forward to it.” Something was almost lame in her response, but she wouldn’t go into it too much.

  “Depressed?” he asked.

  “I should have known you’d lock onto that.”

  “That’s because it’s so unlike you.”

  “And it’s not typically me,” she said. “I don’t know. It’s just been kind of a downer the last few days.”

  “That last case was rough. I know.”

  “It was,” she said. “Seeing that side of humanity wasn’t an easy thing. Dealing with Denise and her mind games, it was a bit much.”

  He agreed. “You know that it’s likely to be really busy at this outing.”

  “And that’s good too.” She rubbed her hands together. “I haven’t seen very many people lately, and I’m ready.”

  He laughed. “Good enough. I thought you would ask Nan to come too.”

  “She’s going already,” she said. “The retirement home already booked one of their buses full of people, but they’ll go before the general public.”

  He rolled his eyes at that. “That sounds like a good idea.” He sighed. “Your grandmother can create all kinds of chaos.”

  “She sure can, but she can also calm it down,” Doreen said. “So she’s an asset to have, when the rest of them get going.”

  He chuckled. “I haven’t seen too much of that aspect of her. Ever.”

  “No, but you will over time.”

  “Did she help smooth things over with your ex?”

  She glared at him. “We’re not talking about him.” His eyebrows popped up, and she winced. “A little too forceful, huh?”

  After a few seconds of silence, he continued. “Is that part of the depression?”

  “I have no wish to see him, and I wish he’d stop calling me.” At that, Mack stared at her in surprise. She shrugged. “Sorry, I haven’t been telling you about it. You’ve had your hands full already, and I didn’t want to bother you.”

  “You need to tell me about things like that.” His tone was serious. “I can’t have Mathew getting out of line.”

  “He lives out of line,” she muttered. “And don’t worry. I have told Nick every time.”

  “Maybe I need to find out what my brother is doing about it.”

  “Maybe.” Doreen gave him a tiny shrug. “It seems like absolutely nothing’s happening. Mathew refuses to sign the document Nick drew
up.”

  “Ah, I’m sure we can trust Nick to deal with that.”

  “I just wonder if he’s asking for so much money that my ex will never agree.”

  “He’s not asking for more than what anybody else would ask for.”

  “I don’t need all his money.”

  “And you aren’t getting all of it,” Mack said. “I think Nick’s asked for 50 percent, plus something to make up for all the stress Mathew’s caused you since the separation.”

  “Well, that I approve of.” She laughed at the idea. It sounded good but would never happen. It was a nice dream. If she could get something until Nan’s houseful of antiques sold, she’d be golden. “It’s been brutal.”

  He chuckled. “It has been, but you have done very well for yourself.”

  “Maybe, but I think that has more to do with Nan’s generosity.”

  “Your bank balance is not the point,” he said. “It’s all about how you emotionally and responsibly handle things, and you’ve done really well with that.”

  She smiled, appreciating the kind words, and she appreciated him. They had such a nice relationship, and she hadn’t realized where this closeness came from, but somehow those warm feelings were there, and she didn’t even know what to do with them. Yet she refused to act on anything with him, not until she settled up with her ex. The thought of getting into another relationship and dealing with those issues made her wince. It wasn’t her style at all. But then again people rarely waited, and she knew that she was being old-fashioned about it. But still, she had to do what felt right for her.

  Mack pulled up beside another truck in a parking lot in front of an empty building next to a field.

  She glanced around. “Are we allowed to park here?”

  “The market space is full of the orchids,” he said, “and this building and property are no longer being used. It’s the old school district building. So you can park here for the market, and nobody minds.”

  “Well, you’re the cop.” Laughing, Doreen opened the door, and Goliath hopped down, and so did Mugs. She struggled to get out with the leashes still on the animals, as they were not willing to wait. She called out to Mugs. “Hey, wait up, buddy.” But he danced around on the grass, too excited to sit still. She looked back at Mack. “It’s not just us who are looking forward to this outing,” she said. “Look at these animals.”

  Even Goliath’s tail twitched back and forth in assumed disdain, but his eyes were bright and clear, and his nose was in the air, sniffing everything.

  “Do you think they’ll be a problem?” Mack asked.

  “I don’t know why they would be,” she said. “They’ve been really easy to deal with all the time.”

  “Maybe.” But Mack looked at her a little doubtfully.

  “I won’t leave them in the truck.” She shook her head. “So either we’re all going, or we’re staying.”

  “Nope, we’re going.” He walked around to her side of the truck. “Do you want me to take one of them?”

  She handed him the leash for Mugs, who was happy with the handoff. “Sure, here,” Together—her walking with Goliath and Mack with Mugs, plus Thaddeus sitting on her shoulder between them—they headed toward the display. When she saw how many people were here, she stopped and stared. “Gosh, I wasn’t expecting this many.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’ve never seen anything in Kelowna with this many people. There must be hundreds or even thousands of people.” The whole area, which was a normal marketplace every Wednesday and Saturday, was completely full of booths similar to the usual market setup, but everything displayed now was orchids.

  “It’s a beautiful sunny day,” she whispered, “but orchids are still beyond temperamental.”

  “Which is why only some of the display is here,” he said. “The rest is on a tour at everybody’s personal greenhouse.”

  She nodded. “That part is fascinating. I mean, I’ve seen them get ready for commercial sales,” she said, “so I wasn’t really expecting that there would be this many here.”

  “It’s a very popular hobby apparently.”

  She nodded. “I’ve heard that. Mathew thought they were the thing too.”

  “He grew orchids?”

  “Mathew had his gardeners grow orchids,” she corrected. “I’m not sure that’s the same thing at all.”

  “I don’t think it is.” Mack snorted. “I tend to think of a hobby as being something you do yourself, not something you direct your employees to do.”

  She nodded, as they walked up to the first booth. She smiled at an older gentleman, sitting with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. “Are you cold?” she asked, frowning. “It’ll be almost 100 degrees today.”

  He looked up at her and glared. “My orchids should be at home.”

  “Oh dear,” she said. “Could you not keep yours in the greenhouse? I’m not sure how that works.”

  “Only so many could do the home tour.” He shrugged. “And I could pop mine and move them, so I did.” He glanced down. “But still, some of my more special ones are at home.”

  She nodded. “I can see that. I’m sure that a lot of people don’t bring out their best specimens just for that reason.”

  “Well, we have an amateur section.” He pointed. “And we have the professionals. The professionals got to keep theirs in their greenhouses. I just missed the professional designation by this much.” He held up two gnarly fingers pinched together.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know that I would have brought mine out either.”

  He nodded. “At least you understand something.” He huffed as he looked around. “I’ll stay here for a few minutes, but that’s it.”

  She smiled, then nodded and moved on, watching as another group of curious people stepped into the void that she had left behind. “I wonder if his attitude is the same for everyone,” she muttered.

  “I don’t know,” Mack said, “but, when you think about it, anything that’ll be in a limited supply will cause some trouble. This is the first year of the event, and there are definitely different levels of growers.”

  “Oh, yes,” she said, “and some of the professionals or the more advanced hobbyists will have quite the conflict with bringing them in here with the others.”

  “Which is why those are on the home tour,” he added.

  She nodded. “That in itself has got to be stressful for the owners and the orchids.”

  “I imagine it is,” he said. “We’ll do that tour after we walk around here.”

  “These are lovely.” She stopped, staring. “His were pretty. I mean, I loved the pinks and purples he had. But these? Wow!” Ahead of her was a series of orchids more of a silvered-blue color. The whole table was just in that one shade. She smiled at the woman sitting on the other side. “These are truly beautiful.”

  The woman nodded quietly and didn’t say anything, but it was obvious she had been pleased by the comment. Doreen didn’t even know what else to say. She was just stunned at the glorious displays, as she moved from booth to booth to booth.

  They finally got down to the far end of this section. Mack asked, “Do you want a coffee? They’re offering refreshments too.”

  She looked up at him. “For free?”

  “Of course not.” He laughed at that. “They have to make money for next year’s display as well.” He pointed off to the side, where Doreen saw a short line before several trailers that appeared to have coffee and snacks.

  “I’d love one.” She was inordinately pleased at the idea of wandering around with a fresh coffee.

  He led her off to the side into the shortest line. With the animals tucked up close to keep them out of the way, they waited until it was their turn, and he ordered two coffees for them. When he picked up two huge cookies and added it to their tray, her heart warmed.

  “Now that,” she said, “was a really good idea.”

  He grinned, as he handed her a cookie. “Can you handle all of th
is and Goliath?”

  “I can if Goliath behaves himself,” she said, “but I’m not sure how much walking around I’ll do if he’ll give me trouble. I’d need a free hand for that, though you can’t be much help if you’ve got Mugs.”

  “Well, that’s your fault for having so many animals.” He laughed.

  She smiled, knowing he didn’t mean any of it, and they stepped off to the side, while she ate the cookie. With that down, the coffee was barely cool enough to have her first sip. “I’m really happy to see so many people here.” She took in her surroundings. “I wasn’t thinking about it being much different than the contest with the local produce or the kiwis.” She shook her head in remembrance of that case. “But it’s really something to see how many people come together in a setting like this.”

  “It’s all done in good fun,” he said, “and anything that’s good fun is good for a community.”

  She nodded. “I just don’t have much exposure to that,” she murmured. “So this has been an excellent opportunity to see how the community pulls together.”

  “You saw some of it,” he murmured, “when it came to doing your deck.”

  “That is very true.” She smiled. “And I love my deck.”

  “Good, because a lot of people came together to make that happen in a very short time frame.”

  “Very true,” she muttered, then thought she recognized somebody from her deck crew. She pointed off to the far side. “Isn’t that one of the guys who did the cement work?”

  Mack looked over and nodded. “Yeah, good eye. I’m not surprised to see him here. He’s a gardener. Lots of people in town are gardeners.”

  “Well, there are gardeners,” she said, “and then there are orchidists.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I’m not sure I know the difference.”

  “And I don’t really either, in the sense that I’ve never tried to grow orchids myself,” she murmured.

  “I’m surprised. I would have thought this was definitely your kind of thing.”

  “I think because they were my husband’s thing and because he thought that it was something that we should do since it was a high-class, well-respected hobby, I never got into it. Anything that he thought was a good idea, I tended to avoid.”