Death in the Garden

by Kathleen Suzette

She got some of her smaller hand tools out and put them into the community wheelbarrow and headed to her raised bed. To her surprise, she saw weeds had begun sprouting up around her zucchini. She moved the leaves aside, hoping she wouldn’t find anything else in there. She searched through the plant stalks and leaves and was relieved when she found nothing else that might indicate she was guilty of murder.

  She slipped on her gardening gloves and began pulling out the young weeds that had sprouted. She had neglected the garden plots for several days, but it had rained twice in the past four days and so the plants hadn’t dried out.

  “Amelia, Amelia, how does your garden grow?” She heard a male voice say from behind her.

  She jumped, startled, and spun around. She came face-to-face with Detective Jackson. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to force herself to smile. “Well, Detective Jackson, I guess my garden is growing all right except for these weeds.” She glanced over her shoulder at the planter where she had been pulling weeds.

  He chuckled dryly. “I suppose that’s a never ending chore.”

  She nodded, not taking her eyes off him. How had he slipped up on her so quietly? Just past his shoulder, she could see a black sedan parked next to her car. How had she not heard him drive up?

  “Yes, it’s a never ending chore.” She forced herself to smile bigger. “What brings you out to the gardens, Detective?”

  He nodded and stepped closer to the planter, looking over the zucchini growing there. Amelia’s eyes went to the plants and her heart pounded in her chest. Did he know about the key? She suddenly thought that he must. Why else would he slip up on her like this and stand here in front of the zucchini, exactly where the key had been tossed? Maybe the killer had convinced him that it was her that killed Patty and told him there was a key in the zucchini? That was it, she thought. Never mind that the killer would have to explain how they knew that Patty’s car key was in that zucchini. They were most likely clever enough to come up with a reason.

  “My grandmother used to have a great big garden in her backyard when I was kid,” he said absently, his eyes still on the zucchini. “The thing is, I’m not much for vegetables, I never had a use for gardens.” He turned and looked at her, grinning. “How about you? Do you like vegetables?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yes, I love vegetables. All vegetables. I don’t discriminate.”

  He nodded, laughing. “I knew you were a vegetable eater. I can spot one from a mile away. Tell me Amelia, why was Patty Manning killed with your garden hoe?”

  Amelia swallowed, her mouth suddenly going dry. “I have no idea. But I’ll tell you one thing, I was just in the shed getting my tools out of my locker, and there’s something wrong with the lock. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before, but it won’t lock, so it wouldn’t take much for the killer to get ahold of my hoe to kill her with.” She tried to keep the fear from her eyes, but she knew she was failing.

  He glanced toward the gardening shed. “A broken lock?” He nodded. “Of course it has a broken lock. We searched this place when her body was found, and we didn’t notice any broken locks on any lockers.” He looked at her again.

  She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know how it could have happened then. But honestly, when I came in this morning it was open.”

  “Are you missing any tools?”

  She shook her head again. “No, I didn’t notice anything missing. I didn’t really take a full inventory, of course, I just picked up some of my tools and my gloves. I suppose I should take a closer look at what’s in there.”

  He was quiet a moment. “We’re going to find the killer,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I really don’t care who it is. I just want the killer found.”

  Amelia’s mouth felt like cotton. “Good. I expect you to get them off the street as soon as possible.” She sounded braver than she felt, but her words emboldened her. She had nothing to worry about, right? She was innocent.

  He considered her a moment. “Do you recall anything new that you didn’t already tell us?”

  “No, I can’t think of anything new. Other than the fact that people are talking about how Patty and her husband fought a lot. And the police were called out to their house several times.” She felt guilty for throwing Gary under the bus as she had, but she still felt he was the best possible suspect.

  “I’m aware of that,” he said abruptly. “I’ll be in touch.” He spun around and strode back to his car without a backward glance. Amelia watched him go.

  She didn’t turn back to her plants until he had pulled out of the parking lot. When she turned back around, she heard another car and she turned back toward the parking lot and saw Susan Potts drive up and park. She sighed and turned back to her zucchini. She just wanted to finish weeding her plots and get out of here. Next year she’d think twice about taking on any garden plots at the community garden.

  “Amelia! Amelia!” Susan called, trotting across the garden to get to her. “Amelia, was that one of the detectives from the police station?” She stopped in front of her, out of breath.

  Amelia straightened up. “Yes, that was Detective Jackson.”

  “What was he doing here?” She asked. Her eyes were big, and Amelia thought she detected a hint of worry.

  She shrugged. “I don’t really know. He stopped by to take a look around and asked if I remembered anything else about the day Joanne and I found Patty’s body.”

  She nodded slowly. “I suppose they’re still investigating then.”

  Amelia thought it was an odd thing to say. Of course they were investigating, there had been a murder, and they had yet to find the killer. “There was something odd that I found today.”

  Susan looked at her. “Oh? What’s that?”

  “The lock on my locker doesn’t work. It doesn’t catch the way it’s supposed to so it can lock. It’s odd that I never noticed that before.”

  She squinted, thinking about this. “You never noticed it before? Why wouldn’t you notice that?”

  Amelia shrugged. “I should have. I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe it only catches some of the time, but when I got here today, it was unlocked.”

  “Could you tell it was unlocked by just looking at it? Or did you know it when you started to put your combination in?”

  “It looked like it was locked. It was when I took hold of the dial to put my combination in that I realized it wasn’t locked.”

  She nodded. “I suppose that would have made it easier for the killer to get your garden hoe without anyone knowing it, then. Did you tell that to the detective?”

  “Yes, I told him that.”

  “What did he say?” she asked.

  “Not much,” she said. She was disappointed that he didn’t think more of it than he had. Certainly he could see how somebody could have gotten in there and stolen her hoe, couldn’t he?

  “Well, I’ve been thinking things over, and I think the police really need to take a closer look at her husband, Gary. Everyone knows what a terrible temper he has, and I heard he went to the flower shop and threw a fit because somebody was sending his wife flowers.” She shrugged. “I can’t imagine why they haven’t arrested him already. It’s clear he’s the killer.”

  She knew all about Gary’s flower shop visit. “I suppose he could have come down to the gardens with her that morning and they might have gotten into an argument and he killed her.” It made sense to Amelia, and she hoped the police would discover that that was what had happened.

  She nodded. “The sooner they get him off the street, the better. I’ve thought about it and thought about it, and I just know that Gary is her killer. It’s sad when you think about it,” she said. “If they were having marital problems, and that’s what I’ve heard around town, they should have just gotten a divorce. It would have been better than one of them killing the other.”

  Amelia nodded. “Can’t argue with you there.” She turned back to her zucchini and began pulling weeds again. And then she remembered what
Ruth had said about Patty digging up Susan’s seedlings. She turned back to her. “Susan, is it true that Patty dug up some of your seedlings?”

  Susan’s eyes went wide and then she frowned. “Yes, she did exactly that. Can you believe it? She had some nerve!” She folded her arms in front of herself and huffed.

  “That does take some nerve,” Amelia admitted. “Did you plant them in a plot that wasn’t yours?”

  She looked at Amelia, her mouth forming a hard line. “Who told you that?”

  Amelia shrugged. “Ruth Shore.” And Gary.

  “I should have known,” she snorted. “Well, she sure has her nose in everyone’s business. But to answer your question, yes it wasn’t mine. Look at all these empty plots out here. There’s no reason for them to sit empty when they could have been planted.” She motioned to the dirt plots that surrounded them.

  Amelia nodded. “I suppose that’s true.”

  “You have the nicest zucchini,” Susan said, changing the subject and taking a step closer to the garden box. “I love zucchini and I planted two of them myself.”

  Zucchini plants were prolific and so Amelia had only planted two of them. She would have more than enough for her and Walter and still have enough to give out to others and freeze some of it for zucchini bread in the fall. “I got a late start and I’m afraid mine are not nearly as big as everyone else’s.”

  “Oh, nonsense,” Susan said as she reached for the zucchini plant and looked at one of the blossoms that was getting ready to open. “It won’t be long before you have lots of zucchini growing on your plants. Yours may be smaller, but they look very healthy.” She began moving the stalks and leaves of the zucchini plant around “Oh look, you’ve got four more blossoms getting ready to bloom. You’ll be knee-deep in zucchini in no time.”

  Amelia leaned in and looked. She had missed the fact that there were three more blossoms getting ready to bloom. “So I will.” She smiled. Maybe her efforts would pay off after all.

  Amelia continue pulling weeds and eventually Susan wandered off to her own garden plot.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Amelia felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at it. There was a text from Joanne.

  You have to come to Dilley’s Diner to see something.

  She sighed. All she wanted to do was go home, take a warm bath, and lie around on the couch reading a book. She had finished taking care of her garden, stopped by the library, and almost did some grocery shopping. Fortunately for her, the grocery shopping could wait. It was just for a few extra things they could do without if she didn’t get there anytime soon. She was tired and ready to relax. She was fighting the rising tide of panic the detective had caused in her and had finally convinced herself that everything was fine. He didn’t really have his eye on her, and the real killer would be found. The key was another issue, though. She’d speak to Walter about it when she got home.

  She texted her back, I’m kind of tired right now. I think I’m going to have to pass.

  A text came back immediately, No, really. You need to come down here and see this. I’ll buy you an ice cream sundae.

  Amelia smiled at the mention of an ice cream sundae. She hadn’t had ice cream in what seemed like ages and now she thought it might be worth a trip over there. Dilley Steiner made the best sundaes she’d ever eaten.

  ***

  When she pushed open the diner door, she spotted Joanne sitting at a booth close to the door. Joanne waved at her and she headed over and slid into the seat across from her. “What’s up?”

  Joanne leaned forward and whispered, “look at the corner booth behind me.”

  Amelia looked over her shoulder and her mouth dropped open. Gary Manning and Ruth Shore were huddled together at the corner booth. Her eyes went to Joanne’s. “What do you think that’s about?”

  “If I had to guess, I would say they’re congratulating one another on getting away with murder.”

  Amelia’s eyes went to Ruth and Gary again. “Do you think so? Do you think the two of them really did it?”

  Joanne nodded. “I do. Honestly, I was all set to believe that Gary had lost his temper and killed her in a fit of rage, but now that I see them here together like that, I think both of them had enough reason to do it together.”

  Amelia looked at her. “Do you really think so?”

  She shrugged. “Don’t you think it’s odd that they’re huddled together in a corner booth like they are? Look at them. They’re sitting right next to each other.”

  And they were. It was odd that Gary had been playing the grieving husband, but now he was cozied up next to another woman so soon after his wife’s death.

  Amelia turned back to Joanne. “It certainly is strange, especially after what Susan just told me.”

  She looked at her with interest. “Oh? What did she say?”

  Amelia wondered if she should tell her. She hated sneaking around and talking about people, but there was no other way she was going to be able to clear her name. As much as she had mentally worked on making herself believe that the detective wasn’t looking at her as his prime suspect, it was odd the way he had just shown up at the garden the way he had. She needed to make sure she found the killer herself. “Ruth argued with Patty four days before she died. At the post office.”

  “The post office? What on earth would she argue with her about at the post office?”

  She shrugged. “Patty tried to cut ahead of a long line of people on the Friday afternoon before she was killed. She was out of her mind, obviously.” Amelia chuckled. “I don’t know, I guess it’s silly, isn’t it? Thinking that one simple little argument could mean that Ruth had anything to do with her murder.”

  Joanne shook her head. “No, it isn’t silly. I saw them argue at the grocery store once. And everyone knows about Gary. Not everyone knows that they argued frequently, of course. But what some people don’t know is that Patty instigated a lot of those arguments. I know she did.”

  Amelia narrowed her eyes at her. “What do you mean? How do you know that?”

  “I witnessed it once at the community garden. He was there helping her with her plot, and she just nitpicked at him until finally, they ended up arguing. I could just tell it was something that happened frequently. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but I don’t think so.”

  Amelia considered this. “It wouldn’t surprise me. We all know how Patty was and it would be a shock if they didn’t argue a lot.”

  She nodded. The waitress arrived and asked what they would be having. Amelia ordered a black and white sundae and Amelia ordered a strawberry sundae.

  “I love ice cream,” Joanne said when the waitress had left with their orders. “Don’t tell anyone, but this is one of my regular stops in the middle of the week.”

  “I don’t blame you, they have the best ice cream here,” Amelia said.

  She nodded. “I think I’m supporting most of Dilley’s family with my ice cream addiction.”

  Amelia laughed. “You’re doing a good deed, then.” Her eyes went back to Gary and Ruth. Could she bring this up to the detective? Or would it look like she was trying to deflect attention? She thought it might make the detective more suspicious. She had to talk to her husband and see what he thought about it.

  When Gary and Ruth stood up and headed toward the door, they had to pass Amelia and Joanne’s booth. Amelia made sure she caught their attention and smiled at them. “Hello Gary, hello Ruth. Fancy meeting you two here.”

  The look on Gary’s face said he was surprised to see them, but Ruth only smiled.

  “Yes, we thought we’d stop in for a late lunch. I intended to get something to eat earlier, but time just got away from me.” He glanced at Ruth.

  “They have great burgers here, don’t they?” Amelia asked, making eye contact with Gary. Was that surprise in his eyes? Fear? Or guilt? She wasn’t exactly sure, but she knew there was something there. He didn’t want them to see him there with Ruth. Maybe that was why
they had had such a late lunch. They were hoping the diner would be deserted, as it almost was, and hoping not to see someone they knew. Unfortunately for him, Joanne had seen them and alerted her.

  Gary nodded and looked away. “The best. This is one of the best places in town to eat.”

  “I love this place,” Joanne added.

  “Do you come here often?” Amelia asked, looking from Gary to Ruth. She wanted to ask if they ate here together often, but she didn’t want to push her luck.

  “I come several times a week,” Ruth volunteered.

  “And you, Gary?” Amelia asked. “Do you come here often?”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “I drop by occasionally. Why?”

  Amelia shrugged innocently. “I just wondered is all. It’s good to see people frequenting a local business.”

  “Do you get to come together often?” Joanne asked.

  And there it was. Amelia was glad Joanne had asked so she wouldn’t have to.

  Gary gritted his teeth and his cheeks flushed pink. “What business is that of yours?”

  Joanne shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just wondering is all.”

  He sighed. “I think we’ve got to be going now.”

  “I come here as often as possible,” Joanne said. “I’ve seen you in here a number of times, Gary. It’s funny that you never came with your wife.”

  “What do you mean by that? What are you trying to say?” he asked, gritting his teeth together again.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, I just wondered.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “You have a lot of nerve. I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but Ruth and I have been friends for years. She was friends with Patty, too. I’ve got to be going now, I’ve got errands to run.” He turned and stomped off toward the front register leaving Ruth standing behind him, looking confused. She glanced at Amelia and Joanne and then followed after him without saying anything else.

  “That’s a lie if I ever heard one,” Amelia said.

  Joanne nodded. “Isn’t it though? Ruth and Patty were never friends. Ruth can’t stand her.”