Murder Most Floral

by Judith Mehl

  Kat patted her arm reassuringly. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re safe. How did Irving find you if he didn’t follow you?”

  “It was just my bad luck that he happened to be watching the house and saw my light on a while after I got there. And can you believe Detective Hill thought I considered Nick a threat, just because that taxi driver repeated something I said?”

  “What was that?”

  Agatha turned to Kat, her concern still etching strain lines around the mouth. “I mumbled something about how Nick was going to kill me. I meant that he would be upset that I’d snuck out. I was fine. Then Irving came.”

  Kat knelt down by Agatha’s side and gave her a hug. “You must have been so frightened.”

  “Not so much at first. Though having a gun point at you is unnerving. I wonder if the album with his name and photo that I left by the door helped the police find me. Did they go to my house?”

  “We’ll have to ask the detective when he gets back. I have some questions of my own.”

  Dave and Carmelita sat nearby, whispering to each other. Detective Hill had already interviewed Carmelita. He’d only spent a minute with Dave. Since Dave had worked with Hill earlier to help investigate the backgrounds of many of the herb farm employees, he told Kat that the detective had only asked for a quick version of the scene at Irving’s.

  Hill interrogated Chandler, Eastwood and Akins, himself. He was gone a long time.

  Kat used that time to review the men’s handwriting. Hill had moved her into a tiny office, empty at the moment. It looked like a converted closet holding the essentials—a computer, a lamp, and pegboard, double-layered in important notices. She sniffed at the dying plant on the miniscule table in the corner when Hill ushered her in. He got the point and whisked it under his arm with one hand as he gave her the samples of handwriting from Chandler and Akins. “Could you put down in writing what we suspected earlier? It appears these men hadn’t written the notes with the bouquets but your efforts in clarifying that would help. Plus anything else the handwriting reveals.”

  “Am I free to leave my cell when I’m finished?”

  “Funny. Yes, just go back out front and give them to the desk clerk. Seriously, maybe your analysis will reveal more about the men that would help us with further interrogation regarding the fraud charges.”

  She nodded, already at work on Chandler’s writing. She pointed out the shape of the ‘D’ right away. “This squarish ‘D’ shows signs of paranoia, possibly a fragile ego. Combined with other things, it means this person is on the fringe of sanity.”

  Hill puzzled over that. “Thanks. He hides it well. We’ll use that information to alter our approach when we interview him.”

  When Hill returned, he called Kat and Nick forward. Then he asked Agatha to come forward also. He formed a semi-circle with the chairs near the front of the room and swept his arm to urge them to sit. He reported, “Our session with Eastwood revealed him as the angry silent type. We got nothing useful from him so far except for confirmation that Earl Briggs was sent to torch the Jones farm and disappeared afterward. I didn’t tell him we had Briggs.”

  Nick said, “What about Akins, he revealed a slight conscience. So far the only one in sight. Get anything from him?”

  The detective said, “The man easily admitted that he and Chandler followed Miss Fanny Endicott’s car. He said he had no idea what Chandler planned to do with her or Agatha Hartman once he found them.”

  “What was going on out at Gunther’s place?” Kat asked.

  Nick had already explained part of the game plan while they waited. Hill said Akins filled him in on the rest. He added, “Akins said that Chandler sent him to the back of the property to protect their backs. Apparently Chandler gave Eastwood the job of killing Nick here if things went wrong.”

  Nick scoffed at that possibility.

  Hill looked thrilled, however. “Akins gave us even more. Condemning words just flowed from this guy. He said Chandler wanted that development real bad. He told of other development scams. Best of all, he squealed on Eastwood.”

  Hill turned to Kat. “He says Eastwood killed Rosalin Bromfield.”

  Kat’s eyes misted at her friend’s name, thinking that at last there might be some justice for her.

  Hill continued, “Apparently Eastwood saw her lurking around the Jones farm and the herb farm. Akins said the second time he saw her he panicked. Chandler had sent him to scope out the places for possible fires.”

  “What happened?”

  “Eastwood followed her home. Akins said that when he attacked her she started to push him away. Eastwood told him he couldn’t resist shoving her down those stairs. We had just enough tissue from under her nails that we can test Eastwood. From what Akins says there’s no room for doubt, but the DNA will help prove it.”

  Hill pointed directly at Kat. “It’s lucky for you we’d already had Irving’s address when we got your cryptic message. We’d just found it when everything broke loose with Agatha’s defection and kidnapping.”

  Agatha hang her head, “I’m sorry. Did my leaving the photo album at the front door help any?”

  Hill relented and told her. “Yeah, it helped. Officer Columbia had tracked down the ownership of a local house to Irving Brantley. They’d been looking for Irving relating to Margaret’s death. At the time, Brantley was not a suspect, just the only relative they could find.”

  Kat asked, “So what happened?”

  “When we knew Agatha was possibly abducted, I sent Officer Columbia to check her house. At the same time, we received Kat’s message. In hopes that this Irving guy was involved, I took a man to the address we had. Before we got there, I heard from Columbia and he had found the album photo.”

  Kat was puzzled.

  Hill said, “It confirmed that we were probably heading to the correct place and to be on the lookout for Agatha. Little did we know that you and your amateur team had already breached the stronghold.”

  Kat didn’t know whether she should laugh or not.

  Agatha came to her rescue with a question. “Did Irving confess to anything?”

  Hill smiled at her. “Now, there, you were a big help. Everything you told me Irving confessed to you, helped us refine our questions to him. He cracked almost too willingly. Started bragging about the foxglove he used in Margaret’s salad, and practically gave me the formula for making a deadly belladonna tonic.”

  Hill relaxed back into his chair. “It’s all over. With this info, the bad guys will hang,” he said.

  Kat sighed with relief, then watched him stand up quickly and straighten, looking over her shoulder. She turned and saw Chief Burrows stride forward.

  “Good job, Hill.”

  As she rose to move out of the way, Burrows grasped her shoulder. “And you, Katharine, now will you stay out of police business?”

  Kat motioned to include Hill and Burrows while evading a direct answer. “Thank you for solving these murders and helping our friends to rest in peace. How about joining us at our party to celebrate Agatha’s return?”

  Chapter 41

  Rounded letter forms, connected with garlands like open bowls, indicate an open, caring person. A wonderfully nice person.

  Agatha, ensconced in her corduroy chair in Margaret’s home, surveyed the entire herb crew, mingling and circling around her. The herb shop closed early and employees brought gifts and food to share their delight at Agatha’s return. The day after her friends rescued her, all the farm workers celebrated Agatha’s return. They carried huge bouquets of flowers and two of their favorite homemade wines—calendula and honeysuckle, truly bottled summertime.

  Agatha was back, and though things weren’t all right with the world, at least they’d captured Margaret and Rosalin’s killers and the security in that knowledge allowed everyone to relax. She knew that this farm house would hold many good memories for her, but was content in her recent decision.

  She thrilled to see some new additions to the group. Smiling
back on her own scheming days with Kat to arrange a relationship between Fanny and Fulton, Agatha gleamed at the two of them paired in the background. Chief Burrows stood nearby with an avuncular smile and a hand on Fulton’s shoulder.

  Agatha shifted her head sideways to Kat and cupped her mouth so no one else could hear. “Don’t they just look all cozy? How’d that happen? Last I heard Fanny wouldn’t talk to Fulton.”

  Kat whispered, “He went hat in hand to her door and apologized. He also made sure he was the first one to tell her that Agatha was safe and the killers caught. Apparently she jumped up in excitement and hugged him to death. He did his own version of a hug and kissed her senseless. At least that’s Fanny’s version.”

  Agatha looked pointedly at Kat’s outfit. “I see you wore suitable clothing for a farm party.”

  Kat studied her well-constructed selection of flouncy denim skirt and Fendi banded strap wedges. Carmelita had admired the shoes the minute Kat came through the door. She’d told the envious young woman that her excuse this time for expensive shoes was the intricately woven elastic bands anchored with leather around the ankle.

  Carmelita merely nodded and said, “Right. Sturdy. To prevent tripping on a farm.” Her eyes lit up with a smile and she headed over toward Dave.

  Now Agatha’s eyes twinkled to see Dave and Carmelita sitting close together in the corner. Last week she’d been considering what to do with the herb farm management and thoughts had cropped up about Dave and Carmelita. Then, when they helped rescue her, she took it as a sign. That morning she’d pulled them aside and announced that she would be selling the house and farm to them jointly, and they could manage it for her until they could complete the payments. Though surprised at her decision, they didn’t question it. Carmelita had looked shyly at Dave and nodded once. He’d choked up at the possibility of a future with the woman he’d come to love. Agatha had seen his joy. She knew that she could find peace in her own place now that Margaret’s house would once again be a home.

  Agatha handed Kat a small canvas bag, which she opened immediately. Inside were piles of beautiful fabric and a pattern, with a photo and directions.

  “This is fantastic. A quilt of my own. Well, a quilt-to-be, but thank you so much.”

  Agatha covered Kat’s hands with her own and looked into her eyes. “Thank you—for everything.”

  Kat chocked up, nodded, and grabbed for her ringing cell phone. She stepped over to the corner. “Well, it’s about time you got back to me, Maddy.” She listened quietly, then responded. “Okay, so you were out shopping for two days. We, on the other hand, were dealing with Agatha’s kidnapping and catching the killers of both of our friends.”

  “Uh, huh. Maddy you have to be here to keep up on everything. Wrap a ring around Ted and come on home.”

  When she returned to Agatha’s side she heard her inform everyone in the room of the change in management. The employees sighed in relief. Agatha knew they’d all wondered if they’d be out of a job. She assured them that the new owners agreed to keep everyone on.”

  Kat laughed. “I remember Carmelita’s writing. She has slightly rounded angular forms. It shows flexibility while revealing a tendency for persistence and firmness. Fits in with her zeal. Think you can all handle a boss like that?”

  Dave looked at the woman next to him in delight. “I like the zeal part.”

  Agatha broke into the buzzing discussions among the workers. “I have one more announcement. I want to turn around our fear of ever seeing a note with a bouquet. We love flowers. We sell flowers. This will be our very own statement that we believe in the power of herbs and flowers.

  “But no more posies and murder. Let’s cheerfully remember our friends and include a spiritual saying with each bouquet we sell.”

  With a smile to Kat, “Typewritten, of course.”

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to blame all errors in Murder Most Floral on “the other guy.” Unfortunately, all are mine. However, great praise and thanks goes to many who have helped me write this book, including the following people, who made my life easier, and hopefully, my book more interesting.

  Robert M. Allen, Monroe County Coroner, for setting me straight on the monumental task of the coroner’s office, jurisdiction issues, and the cooperative efforts with police.

  Dr. Ellen Bowers, AAHA certified analyst, for her assistance in handwriting analysis.

  Michael Covelli III, Firefighter, Downers Grove Fire Station #2, Illinois, for what not to say about a fire.

  Jane Maughan, P.C. for her assistance in fraud detection.

  Chief William Parrish, Stroud Area Regional Police, Pennsylvania, for keeping me straight on police info.

  Officer Joe Vetell, of the High Point Police Department, High Point, North Carolina, for his research assistance, including a ride-along in a patrol car.

  Our Lady of Victory Crazy Quilters, for sharing their early memories of quilting mistakes.

  Thank you to all who edited and proofread my book.

  About the Author

  Judith Mehl’s interest in handwriting analysis began when she edited the American Association of Handwriting Analysts’ journal. She realized you could learn all about a person from their handwriting andfound the perfect skill for an amateur sleuth. The Kat Everitt Handwriting Analysis Mystery series was born. Handwriting analysis is a scientific and serious method of evaluating people, but it is also fun. In Judith’s personal life, everyone attempts to disguise their handwriting, or send e-mails.

  Now a full-time fiction writer, Judith has 15 years experience in higher education publications and public relations work. A former reporter, she has published numerous newspaper and magazine articles prior to her move to fiction writing. She lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania where she explores the medicinal value of woodland plants.

  Judith Mehl is the author of Formula for Murder and Game, Set, Murder, the first two books featuring Kat Everitt and handwriting analysis. Available on Amazon.com and her website. For more information about clues and Kat and other books in the series visit her at www.judymehl.com.