Evidence in the Echinacea

by Dale Mayer

  He followed her, his hands going over to the hutch. “This is a matching set to the dining room,” he cried out happily. He just stood and stared for such a long moment that she realized this really was a surprising discovery for him.

  She turned to the nearby piece of furniture and asked, “And that sideboard, is it also?”

  He looked at it and frowned. “It’s close, but it’s not a match.”

  She could hardly be disappointed when apparently the dining room table and eight chairs and the hutch were all a matching set. “So maybe the sideboard got lost somewhere along the line,” she said, “and this was an easy replacement? It looks the same to me, but I guess to your trained eye it’s not.”

  He shook his head. “No,” he said, “and it appears all of these drawers are also full. Let me take photos. We’ll leave here soon for the day,” he said. “They’re preparing the lowboy dresser up there and the vanity,” he said. “I’m not even sure we’ll get the bed apart today. We don’t have the right tools. A couple newer screws were put in which we don’t have the right heads for, and we definitely want to make sure we use the right tools for every piece.”

  She nodded. “As long as you get the rest out, then that’s something.”

  He said, “So I’ve only got about an hour more here, and I promise we’ll be back tomorrow morning.” He stared at the dining room set in fascination, then looked at her. “You do want to sell it, right?”

  Her head bobbed. “While you’re gone,” she said, “I’ll pack up everything in the drawers, if I get time. I really don’t know what to do with all the china though.” As she thought of that, she thought about china handed down through the ages. “I’ll ask Nan if these are sets from my great-great-grandmother.” She hadn’t heard back from her latest text to Nan about the table leaf, but Doreen sent her grandmother another.

  At that, his eyes lit up. He walked over to the hutch, opened up the glass doors, and pulled out a piece of china, a small cup with a saucer. He flipped it over and let out a low whistle. “It’s Royal Copenhagen’s Flora Danica,” he said. “And that is also a lovely find. Each of these pieces would have been hand-painted.” He turned back to her and said, “Your Nan has done a very special thing by making sure everything in this house has value. And she’s done right by giving it to you now. It’s much better than waiting until somebody dies. If she wasn’t around, you might not be doing this. You could have just brought in a junkman and tossed it all.”

  She hated to admit it, but that was a possibility.

  He deliberately backed up and said, “If you don’t mind, I’ll take a bunch of photos. Back at the hotel I’ll have some discussions with colleagues. I’ll take some photos of those pieces on the mantel too. A couple items there I just don’t know about.”

  She nodded. “Nan had eclectic taste. She not only liked some antiques but she really liked some modern pieces.”

  “That makes her not a collector but somebody who enjoyed life,” Scott said warmly. As he stepped back, her phone rang.

  “I have to take this, if you don’t mind,” she said. “It’s Penny.”

  “The murderer?” he asked with interest.

  She winced. “I hope she’s not.”

  He chuckled. “My dear, how could you possibly know?”

  She didn’t say anything but headed to the kitchen. “Hi, Penny. How are you?”

  “I just realized how chaotic your day likely is,” Penny said. “I shouldn’t have called. You must have the appraiser there.”

  “It is chaotic. But the men are almost done. What can I do for you?”

  “The Realtor said, if we’re doing any yardwork, we should do it fast, like that front garden bed. She agreed we should do something with it. Curb appeal opportunity is huge, and, once the photos are taken and people come to view it, it has to be in essentially the same condition.”

  “So, you want me to come today?” Doreen asked, wincing as she glanced at her wrist and the time. “I suppose I could get an hour in this afternoon. Scott is leaving soon, and I seem to have a bundle of energy I’m trying to wear off just from the excitement of the day.”

  “Isn’t it lovely to find out you’re getting money?” Penny said enviously. “And, if you could come by, that’d be awesome. At least then, once you start, you’d know what to do to get the rest done tomorrow and the next day.”

  “When is the photographer coming to take photos of the house?”

  “Wednesday,” Penny said.

  Wednesday. “Ouch,” Doreen said. “That’s a lot of work to be done tomorrow.”

  “I believe he’s coming early afternoon. Maybe even at noon.”

  Doreen groaned. “That’s a ton of work. Okay, I’ll come this afternoon as soon as Scott leaves.”

  She hung up and turned to see her vanity making its way down. At least, she presumed it was from the size. She couldn’t see anything of it because it was completely wrapped up in packing blankets. Scott was muttering to himself in the dining room, and she didn’t dare mention the basement or the garage. But she was pretty darn sure the garage was full of garbage. Still, how could she possibly know if she didn’t check it out or have Scott look at it? With all the antiques still in the house, she needed to be wary of intruders too. She’d hoped it would all leave today, but now that they had found more, apparently not. Just then her phone rang. It was Mack.

  “Are they gone?” he asked.

  She stepped out on the veranda and said, “No, and they can’t do the bed today.”

  “Oh,” he said, “well, that’s too bad.”

  “Something about missing certain tools, how some of the bolts have been replaced over the years, and one they don’t have the right tool for.”

  “Makes sense,” he said. “And, of course, they don’t exactly travel with a ton of tools.”

  “Right,” she said. Cautiously she added, “He also thinks the dining room set could be valuable.”

  Mack was silent for a moment, and then he chuckled. “You know what? I’m not sure I ever saw your dining room set. You keep the door to the dining room closed. Only if you go around through the kitchen do you see it. And it’s always been one of those stately rooms nobody ever uses.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “So he wants to do some research tonight. He’s taking photos of everything right now, and then they’ll come back in the morning to work on the bed and potentially the dining room set.”

  “Well, you must be thrilled.”

  “Thrilled and still terrified,” she said, “because that means I have to keep the place safe and the pieces in good condition until he comes back tomorrow.”

  “Right. That’s why I called. To make sure things were going to plan.”

  She stared out at the garden and said, “I have a favor to ask.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, his tone almost like he had returned to work and was only paying partial attention.

  “Can you take a look at the autopsy report on George?” She said it in such a rush she wasn’t sure he understood.

  Silence was on the other end. “George Jordan?” he asked cautiously.

  “Yes,” she said, “and I know … I know this sounds stupid. It’s just something I found in my living room and something I saw in Penny’s garden. I’m about to head up there as soon as Scott leaves and do some work in her front bed because she’s just listed her house, and they want to come and take pictures on Wednesday.”

  “Hold on,” he said. “You’re not making any sense. Why are you working on her garden if you’re now asking me about the autopsy report on her husband?” he asked, his tone sharp. “Do you suspect she might have murdered him?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said, “but the thought won’t leave me alone.”

  He groaned. “You can’t go looking for trouble everywhere. And how on earth would you possibly sign up to do gardening work for her if you think she killed her husband?”

  “Well, I figured it was, one, for the money,” she said drily. �
�Remember that thing I need on a regular basis?”

  He snorted at that.

  “And, two,” she said, “it might be a way to find out more.” At that he exploded. She winced. “Obviously I’m not going to do anything dangerous.”

  “You don’t know the meaning of the word dangerous,” he said in an ominous voice. “I will look. But,” he said, “you’re not in any way, shape, or form to bring it up or to mention it or to do anything that’ll cause Penny to think that’s what you believe of her.”

  “Of course not,” she said with feigned innocence. “That would just be mean.”

  He snorted at that. “Also something you don’t understand. You’re the nicest damn person I’ve ever met.” And, with that, he slammed down the phone.

  She heard the heavy clunk and winced. “Well, nice job again, Mugs,” she said, feeling a body up against her leg. Only she looked down to find Goliath winding through her legs.

  She pocketed her phone and picked up the cat in her arms. “I’m sorry, baby. You don’t like all these strangers in the house, do you?”

  She buried her face in his neck while giving him a good scratch along his face and his ears. His heavy guttural purr kicked in, and he rubbed hard against her neck and head. She leaned against the railing, and, sure enough, Thaddeus, who had been quietly sleeping upstairs until the men had gone into the bedroom, had flown out the back door and was even now walking back and forth on the railing. “I promise, guys, things will calm down soon.”

  She just didn’t know how soon. Thaddeus hopped up onto her shoulder and cuddled in close. Now she had Goliath in her arms, who reached out a paw, as if to swat Thaddeus off her shoulder. “No jealousy, you two,” she ordered. “I’m tired. It’s been a very long day, and apparently I have a lot of heavy physical work to do now too.” She groaned at the thought, but, at the same time, it might help her understand something more about George’s death. Although she had no clue how or why, and she had absolutely no motive for Penny to kill George, Doreen couldn’t let go of the idea …

  Chapter 12

  Monday Late Afternoon …

  Exhausted, but knowing she had to get started anyway, Doreen grabbed a bottle of water and put it in a small pack. She had pocketed her phone and Mugs’s leash. He came running at the jingle, and so did Goliath. She looked down at Goliath and grinned. “I really should get you a harness.”

  He just shot her a look and reached up, stretching along the kitchen door. “Yes, we’re going out,” she said. Right now the house was silent. The Christie’s guys had finally left, but they would return tomorrow morning. She went through the motions of packing chunks of cheese and an apple, then filled her water bottle. She locked the front door and set the alarms, slipping out the back door just in time. With Thaddeus on her shoulder, she followed the creek toward Penny’s house.

  When she arrived, Penny was out front, looking at the bed in question. When she saw Doreen, she cried out, “Oh, good, I was so afraid you wouldn’t be able to come.”

  “I’m here,” Doreen said. “Unfortunately it’s been a very long, tiring day.”

  “Right, and, because of the photographer,” she said, “we don’t have much time.” She had a couple shovels, and apparently she would work at Doreen’s side. Doreen couldn’t be upset at that. She needed the help to get this done so fast. With the animals milling around the center of the yard, Doreen and Penny dug out the plants currently in the bed. “So, are we moving that Japanese weeping maple?” Doreen asked.

  “Maybe,” Penny said, “although I was wondering if we should just do flowering shrubs.”

  “The maple is a statement piece,” Doreen said. “But we are taking a chance transplanting it. It’s not that they’re difficult, but they can be touchy. The other concern I have is that you don’t appear to have any water here, no underground irrigation. Is that correct?”

  Penny nodded. “It does get hit by the sprinkler though.”

  Doreen assessed where the water lines were. “So, sprinkler or spray?”

  “There is a pop-up sprinkler head on that side,” Penny said. “It hits this area.”

  “Well, that’s something. If you were looking to put flowering shrubs in here, they should be ones ready to flower in order to have color this year, but the transplanting could also set them back many months.”

  Penny’s face fell. “I was hoping to put in echinacea.”

  “We can put some of it in. They are past green at this point so a good choice,” Doreen said, “but we should take a fair bit of dirt with those plants to make the transition easier.”

  They walked to the backyard and looked at some of the perennial bushes. “That isn’t a bad idea though,” Doreen said. “What you really want is something that’ll flower over the next few months while the house is being shown, correct?”

  “Right,” Penny said, “and that front bed’s not very big, yet … I don’t know what to put there.”

  “How about we do a mix of black-eyed Susans, echinacea, daisies? You have painted daisies here, and their bright pink would offset the lovely purply-pink of the echinacea and the white of the daisies. And, of course, black-eyed Susans are yellow, and they look ready to bloom, but they will come a little later. I can’t guarantee they’ll all come out at the same time but instead will produce interesting color all summer.”

  “It would be better if we had some come in stages, right?”

  “Exactly.” Doreen walked back to the bed in the front yard, studied the size, and guessed it was about six feet by six feet. “This isn’t very big,” she said. “We’ll dig down quite a bit more and need to get some peat moss and topsoil. This is really rocky soil here. The flowers or the maple won’t take well to this transplant if we don’t boost the soil condition. Do you have a tarp?”

  Penny looked at her in surprise. “Sure, but why?”

  “Because we have to dig out all this rocky ground,” she said, “and you’ve got a nice driveway here that I don’t want to ruin with lots of dirt. If you have a tarp, we can shovel it onto that and then drag it someplace to get rid of it.”

  Understanding, Penny disappeared into the garage, and then she opened a double garage door so she could walk out that way. It was the first time Doreen had seen the inside of Penny’s garage. Doreen didn’t want to be resentful, but the fact that it was empty and held a vehicle made her very envious. “I wish my garage looked like that,” she murmured. Mugs woofed at her side; Goliath had stretched out on Penny’s porch steps in the sun, and Thaddeus snoozed on the railing beside him.

  “This was George’s domain,” Penny said. “Any time we wanted to do carpentry work or renos or repairs, we’d move the vehicles out, and then he’d have this as his shop.”

  “Looks lovely. It’s also incredibly neat and clean.”

  “Well, that was George,” Penny said, laughing. “He always had to be busy. I think it had to do with stopping his mind from wandering in the direction of what happened to his brother.”

  “Understandable,” Doreen said. She anchored the digging fork into the ground and went to help Penny tug out a big tarp. “It doesn’t have to be a big tarp,” she said cautiously.

  “It’s the only one I’ve got,” Penny said. Finally they spread it out beside the garden bed. Mugs was now lying in the shade, ignoring them. Indeed, the tarp was at least ten foot by ten foot, but Penny shrugged and said, “Like you said, we can’t get everything all dirty with this little project.”

  They started digging, removing the rocks, but it was hard work. Penny took the digging fork and loosened up a bit of the bed and then took the shovel and carefully lifted the rocky soil and tossed it onto the tarp. The deeper she went, the more dirt and even more rocks there were. She groaned and said, “Maybe that’s why nothing is growing here.”

  “I think so,” Doreen said. By the time they had the entire garden bed down a good foot, they found even more rocks. But she turned and said, “Any chance you have a pickax?”

  “Are you st
rong enough to use one?” Penny asked in surprise. “I do have one. George used it, but I can’t remember what for.” She walked back into the garage and came out dragging a large pickax.

  Doreen sighed. “Well, here goes nothing.” She took it in a firm grip, hefted it over her head, and forcefully pounded it down. If she let it just drop, the bounce would ripple up her arms and destroy her shoulders. But this way she took the blow all the way down, and she could feel it in her back too. But it did seem to make a dent. She did ten more of those strikes and then sat back, saying, “That’s hard work.”

  By the time the rocks were mostly dealt with, the sun had gone behind some clouds. Doreen said, “Well, we didn’t get very far, but honestly this is more than I expected to get done. And it’s not quite dusk yet.”

  Penny, sweat dripping down her face, had been sitting off to the side for the last bit, catching her breath. “Do you think it’s deep enough? It just seems to be filled with more rocks.”

  “I gather a lot of Kelowna is built on rocky ground,” Doreen said. With the digging shovel she cleaned out the last of the loose rocks. “You know what? We’re probably fine here. There is ground underneath, and it looks like we’re hitting a bed of clay. We’ll use the pickax to just loosen that up, and then we’ll drop some good soil in on top to help it replenish that ground.” She looked at it and frowned. “You need to get some really nutritious soil in here.”

  “What do you mean, I need to?” Penny said. “Can’t you pick up a bag?”

  Doreen chuckled. “How much do you think one bag will fill?

  Penny groaned. “Can we take any from the back garden? I don’t really have any money to bring in something. The delivery fee will be incredible.”

  “Probably about fifty bucks,” Doreen said absentmindedly. She looked at the back garden. “I could steal some. Let’s go take another look.” She grabbed her shovel and headed into the backyard. That woke up the animals, and they all raced to her side.