Poison in the Pansies Read online

  “Ah, not a whole lot happens up here—well, at least nothing nice. It’s one of the lesser fun places to live,” she explained. “I always wanted to live down by the beach.”

  “I think that would be lovely too. My grandmother’s got a house on the river,” she hedged. “And that’s pretty nice.”

  “The water would be lovely,” she agreed, “but I’d always be afraid of flooding there.”

  “I suppose,” she muttered. “I heard some guy up here died just a few days ago.”

  The old lady nodded. “Oh, yes, that was so sad. And he was well loved. Had a great sense of humor and so kind. He will be missed.”

  Doreen looked at her. “Oh my, the poor family. They must be devastated. Was he married?”

  “Right. I mean, it’s hard enough to find anybody in this world but then to turn around and lose him like that? That’s just terrible. He was divorced. Married quite a while ago. I used to tease him about being single all the time.”

  “I’m so sorry. Somebody said something about him working at one of the stores here.”

  “Yes, he worked at the grocery store,” she replied, “but not anymore.”

  There was such a sadness to her telling Doreen about him that it was hard not to say something. “Did you know him well?”

  “Certainly well enough to talk to him, as I went to the store all the time. But he was that kind of a person who was just really friendly and jovial, you know? One of the nice people in the world.”

  “Yeah, we need more of those,” Doreen agreed.

  “Oh my dear, we so do. It’s such a sad world out there. You’d think that people would learn to be nicer, but it seems like that’s a hardship for anybody.”

  “I wonder about that too.” Doreen smiled and nodded knowingly. “You’d like to think that they could get along in life and could help their fellow man, but too often it takes them down with them.”

  “That is sadly very true,” she agreed. She patted Mugs once again. “I’ve got to head home now. You have a good day.” And, with that, the older lady wandered off.

  Doreen watched as the older woman headed to the other side of the little mall where the grocery store was and up to what looked like an apartment building on the other side. It was always good to know where people lived, although Doreen had absolutely no reason for keeping track of this woman. Nothing in their conversation triggered Doreen’s alarms in any way. It was sad that the man who had died was only in his forties or so, per her new acquaintance.

  That was one of those shocks that you were never really prepared for. You expected to get married and have a happy-ever-after, and, when that didn’t work out so well, it was a blow. It was an ending to deal with. Just like Doreen. She’d married with full expectations of sun, stars, and moon. Too bad she ended up getting a thunderstorm and lightning and then just that eerie calm before a storm.

  Even if the storm never hit again, it was always there, that tension, that pressure, that ugliness—all that let you know that the storm could erupt again at any time, and, when it did, it would have devastating consequences. She thought about the earlier painful conversation she had had with Mack, as she just wandered up and down the streets, and how she’d been trying to explain to him about her loose tongue now that she had her freedom. Doreen wasn’t really sure how to say things the way she wanted them to come out.

  With a headshake, she wandered back to the car, put the animals inside, and decided to go into the store to get a jug of milk. If she was fast, the animals would be just fine. And it would give her a chance to take a look inside. With them all locked up, she raced inside, grabbed a jug of milk, and headed to the checkout lanes. There she saw two of the cashiers, talking together in low voices. She didn’t want to disturb them, but she didn’t want to leave the animals much longer either.

  When she cleared her throat, one of the women looked up. “Oh, sorry.” She came over.

  “That’s all right,” Doreen replied. “I heard you guys talking about the poor man who just died.”

  The woman looked at her. “Do you know him?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t know him, but I did hear he had passed away, and, of course, that’s just terrible. I was told that he was a nice young man.”

  “He was lovely,” the woman replied sadly. “One of the nice guys in the world, and it’s not fair. It seems like the jerks always survive, and the nice guys always die.”

  “I know. I have had that same thought myself a couple times.” And the trouble was, Doreen really had. Seemed like guys like her husband thrived, but then the nice guys, like this Alan, who had just passed away, didn’t. “I’m sure it was an accident, wasn’t it?” she asked.

  “They don’t know.” And the woman hesitated and leaned forward. “There’s a chance he was murdered.”

  “No,” Doreen gasped. “Really?”

  At that, the woman nodded. “He kept telling people he was being poisoned.”

  “Oh no, oh no. Why didn’t he get help then?”

  The woman shrugged. “I don’t know, but toward the end there, he wasn’t very clear about what he said he would do. We kept telling him, if he thought he was being poisoned, then to go tell the police.”

  “And definitely go to the hospital.”

  “He said something about having been to the cops, but they needed more details.”

  At that, Doreen stared at her. “They couldn’t do more? That is terrible.”

  “I know. I know.” The woman quickly rang up her milk and waited while Doreen paid. Thankfully her card went through with a tap. She wasn’t sure whether she should run out of there skipping and dancing for joy or just run and get out of the parking lot, just in case the machine decided to double-check her bank account. Because she wasn’t sure if there was very much room left for more gallons of milk or if that was just about it at this point in time. With a quick smile at the woman, she thanked her and headed back outside again.

  When she got to her car, she got in, put the grocery bag on the floorboard, and checked that all the animals were doing okay. “Okay, guys, let’s go home.”

  And, with that, she drove toward the exit, only to see an old guy standing at the side, watching her. She frowned at that, and he frowned right back.

  Not sure why, she pulled up beside him, opened her window, and asked, “Are you okay? Do you need a hand?”

  He looked at her and glared. “Do I look like I need a hand?”

  She nodded. “Actually, you do. It looked to me like you were calling for help.”

  He stared at her. “No, obviously I wasn’t,” he replied in exasperation.

  “Oh.” She explained, “Looked to me like that frown was telling me to come over and help.”

  “You think that’s what people are looking for when frowning at you?” he asked in astonishment, and then he shook his head. “Lord, you really are crazy, aren’t you?”

  She stared at him. “Do you know me?”

  “Who in town doesn’t?” he asked. “Those animals are a dead giveaway.”

  “But the animals were in my car,” she noted. “I just went in to grab a gallon of milk.”

  “Yeah, well, it was pretty hard not to see them,” he snorted. “I mean, the bird just storms back and forth on the headrest, and the dog sits up half the time, looking out the window.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, they’re pretty active in my world, but I don’t understand why that would bother you.”

  “It’s not the animals that bother me.” He glared at her. “You do.”

  She tried not to take offense, but it was hard. “I don’t even know you, so I’m not sure why you would feel that way. I haven’t done anything to hurt you, have I?”

  “No, not getting a chance either,” he replied in a grumpy voice. “You’re nothing but one of those nosy-bodies, sticking your nose into everything.”

  “Well, hardly,” she argued. “Unless of course you’re one of those people who are always in trouble and needed to be put away
for something that you did wrong.”

  “Oh, I’m too old to deal with that nonsense anymore,” he snapped. “Besides, it’s got nothing to do with who I am.”

  “No, sure doesn’t,” she replied cheerfully. On that note, she closed her window and then cried out to him, “Have a nice day.”

  He just glared at her and opened his mouth.

  She didn’t give him a chance to say something nasty. Instead she gunned it and pulled back into traffic and got out of there. She didn’t know why people would have that reaction to her, but Mack would likely say it had to do with the cases that she’d solved and the perspective that a lot of people had that she was interfering.

  Maybe she was. She’d certainly upset a few apple carts in the process, but it still wasn’t something that she terribly understood because she had been helping other people.

  Back home again, she grabbed her milk and the animals and headed back inside. Just as she walked in her house, her phone rang. “Hey, Mack,” she said. “Have you decided to fill me in on the Poison in the Pansies case?”

  “No,” he replied. “What were you doing in Rutland?”

  She frowned. “And how did you know I was in Rutland?”

  “Because somebody phoned in to report that animals had been left in a car. Including a dog, a cat, and a parrot.”

  She stopped, shaking her head. “Yeah, I did. I left all three of them in the car, while I ran in and got a gallon of milk.”

  “You drove to Rutland to get a gallon of milk, huh?” he asked, his tone neutral.

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked.

  “Well, we never like to see people leaving animals in a car,” he explained. “But it certainly wasn’t a hot day, and you weren’t gone for very long, so it’s not like it’s something that anybody needs to check out.”

  As she thought about it, she asked, “It was that old goat, wasn’t it?”

  He laughed. “What old goat?”

  “There was this old guy, and he was glaring at me, so, maybe out of perverseness, I don’t know,” she explained, “I stopped and asked him if I could help him because obviously he needed help.”

  “You said what?”

  “Well, he was glaring at me, so obviously he was cranky and miserable and needed something,” she replied by way of her defense. “It seemed to really upset him that I took that frown of his that way though.” She snickered.

  “Ya think?” he asked. Then he sighed. “And what did he want?”

  “Nothing, I think he just realized who I was and said that I was an interfering busybody and that I should leave well enough alone.”

  “And I suppose you told him that you weren’t, right?”

  “Well, I’m not,” she argued.

  “Not in your eyes, no,” he replied, “but you know a lot of people don’t take it that way.”

  “Well, he certainly didn’t. He was just grumpy. Anyway, I told him to have a nice day, and I left. So I wonder if he called before our conversation or afterward.”

  “Don’t know, probably before, if you left the animals in the car.”

  “Right,” she muttered. “Anyway, yeah, went up to check out the area,” she added cheerfully. “And of course I have a cold case now to work on.”

  At that, silence came from the other end. “You have a what?”

  “That’s all right. I’m not stepping on your toes. You guys don’t even consider it to be a case.” She smiled broadly. “So it’s none of your business.”

  “Anything you do is my business,” he noted, his tone grim.

  “Nope, nope, nope, nope. I’m not in any danger on this one,” she argued. “I won’t be any trouble to you. I promise I’ll stay out of your world.”

  At that, he snorted, the sound loud and clear to the point that even Thaddeus looked at her phone and cried out, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  “Wow, Thaddeus is on a rampage.”

  “He heard you through the phone, so thanks for upsetting my animals.”

  “Me?” he asked in outrage.

  “Yeah, you,” she replied, “and your brother never called me.”

  “Yeah, he’s probably avoiding you.” Mack laughed.

  “Why? What did you tell him about me this time?” she asked in an ominous tone.

  “I said that you were on a rampage, looking for money.”

  “Oh, great.” She sighed.

  “Well, you might not be on a rampage, but you definitely need money.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not Robin’s money that I need,” she explained. “I need a way to be self-sufficient, without having to depend on people dying to get it.”

  There was a moment of silence on the other end, and then, with a splutter, he added, “Well, that’s really good to hear. Then I won’t have to worry about you trying to knock off people to get money.”

  “Oh my, can you imagine?”

  “I don’t want to,” he replied. “That is not anything I even want to contemplate.”

  “No, of course not,” she stated. And then she laughed. “But you know a lot of people would blame me for it, right?”

  “A lot of people would blame you for a lot of things,” he stated quietly, “which is why I try so hard to keep you out of trouble.”

  “Yeah, it’s not working though, is it?”

  “No,” he roared. “But you could try.” And, on that note, he hung up the phone.

  She put on the teakettle, took off the leashes, hung them up, and fed everybody a little treat. When the tea was ready, she took her laptop and her tea outside onto the deck. As she sat here, smiling at her beautiful deck, researching the names that Nan had given her, Doreen started her Google search with the one case that Mack was working on because Doreen had been up there looking in Rutland and everybody had said how nice Alan was.

  Doreen found a small notice in the newspaper about him involved in some volunteer work. In that article he was surrounded by a group of people and had his arm around a woman at his side, as if they were close. If she was still in his life, she’d be going through a tough time. Doreen’s heart immediately went out to the poor woman.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “It’s tough enough being with someone, but, in your case, if you were happy, then a loss like this is brutal.”

  Absolutely no point in talking to this woman’s picture on the internet, but, hey, Doreen was probably seen as getting crazy about some cases these days. She quickly checked for more information and found it suspiciously silent on any actual helpful forensic data. But then, of course, the authorities may not know anything yet regarding Alan’s death. The police were just dealing with this case right now, so they probably didn’t have a whole lot to bring to the table yet. Now, if only Mack would let her help, that would be a different story.

  On that note, she returned to the information she had found on Chrissy, who had died earlier this year. She’d also been talking about people poisoning her, apparently. And again, it was pretty hard to find anything, but there was an obit with a mention that she’d died peacefully in her sleep.

  “Died peacefully in her sleep,” she muttered. “So how is that being poisoned?”

  But of course no answers were to be found. As she sat here, pondering the lack of information, Nan called her. “Hi, Nan,” she greeted her grandmother.

  “Oh my dear, we’ve discussed it here at the home.”

  “Uh-oh,” she replied. “What have all you lovelies at Rosemoor decided?”

  “We’ve decided that we’ll help you.”

  “Nan, I told you when I was there last that I couldn’t get you involved.”

  “Of course you couldn’t,” she replied. “But it’s not you getting us involved. It’s us getting us involved,” she stated on a determined note. “You know that could be any of us. Just because it was Chrissy who died doesn’t mean it couldn’t be us next time.”

  “Are you thinking she really was poisoned?”

  “The food here can be just awful
sometimes,” Nan replied. “I mean, there’s that one cook here who we’re pretty sure is not trained at all.”

  “That’s not the same thing as killing a person,” Doreen noted in exasperation. “Just because somebody’s cooking might feel like it’s killing you doesn’t mean it is. That’s like saying I could kill you with my cooking.”

  “You probably could,” Nan replied.

  Doreen gasped and Nan laughed. “You left yourself open for that one, dear.”

  “Nan, that’s a terrible thing to say, even as a joke.”

  “Well, have you learned to cook better?”

  “I’m working on it,” she stated.

  “Work harder and work faster. You know that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

  “Well, that won’t work then because Mack takes care of his stomach just fine.”

  “Oh, so you have accepted that you’re working on getting closer to Mack? That’s … that’s very good.”

  Doreen heard a bit of scratching going on. “Nan, you’re not taking bets on my love life, right?”

  “Of course not,” she replied, as she continued to scratch away on paper.

  “I don’t believe you,” Doreen stated bluntly.

  There was a moment of silence on the other end. “I might not be taking bets, but I certainly don’t want anybody else either.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Well, people will talk, my dear. And, if I don’t give them something to discuss, they’ll make it up.”

  “Nan, I don’t want anybody talking about my private life.”

  “Of course not, of course not,” she noted in that soothing tone that was immediately getting Doreen’s back up.

  “Oh, goodness, Nan,” she stated. “You know how I feel about lack of privacy.”

  “Yeah. I wondered about that though,” Nan replied. “Because really, you’ve been in the media an awful lot for somebody who doesn’t want to be.”

  She snorted. “That’s not fair. I didn’t get there on my own.”

  “No, you sure didn’t,” she answered quietly. “You had lots of help. From Mack. And now we’ll help you with this case too.”