Fruit of the Poisoned Tree plgm-2

by Joyce Lavene

  AFTER A QUICK CALL to Selena at the Potting Shed, Peggy got in Al’s car. He and Jonas sat in the front seat for the ride.

  “I’m sorry about your friend, Peggy,” Jonas said when they were out of the hospital parking lot. “I hope you don’t feel like we were responsible for what happened to her.”

  “Not at all.” She put on some cherry-flavored lip gloss and rubbed some cream on her hands. She was drained of all emotion. She couldn’t even summon up enough to be thrilled that Beth was still alive. “I was a detective’s wife for too long not to understand the process. Beth looked guilty. You did your job.”

  “Well at least it looks like she’ll be okay,” Al added. “Once she gets through this, anyway. These things aren’t totally unexpected.”

  “So now the theory is that this boy—” Peggy began.

  “Fletcher Davis, the head of Tomorrow’s Children,” Jonas interrupted her. “He’s twenty-five. Not exactly a boy.”

  “All right. Fletcher Davis is guilty of poisoning Park and the other lawyers to get back at them for helping pollute the bay they’re trying to save.”

  “That’s right,” Al agreed. “They thought it was a good way to hold up the negotiations.”

  Peggy thought about Nightflyer’s questions. “Why didn’t he poison all the lawyers’ baskets? If he had access to four of them, he had access to all of them. Have you asked him where he got the poisoned honey? Has he confessed?”

  “We wouldn’t need you to ID him if he’d confessed,” Al told her. “This guy is too sharp for that.”

  “We don’t have all the answers yet,” Jonas admitted. “That’s why we’re still working on the case.”

  “But you’re comfortable with the idea that Alice Godwin killed Isabelle.” Peggy pulled her jacket closer and shivered. Why am I asking? Why aren’t I just happy that Beth will be cleared of all charges? I’m taking Nightflyer’s ideas too seriously. It’s all settled.

  “Comfortable? What do you want from me? I thought you’d be happy we got the murder charges taken away from your friend.” Jonas cleared his throat and shook his head. “Some people are never satisfied.”

  She didn’t answer. He was right, much as it disturbed her to admit it. Just because all the pieces didn’t add up for Nightflyer didn’t make it wrong.

  “If you’re mad about us thinking she killed her husband in the first place for the insurance money,” Al said, “she wouldn’t be the first. And considering her state of mind, that wouldn’t be surprising.”

  “What do you mean, ‘her state of mind’?” Peggy demanded.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Jonas snorted. “She tried to kill herself. She’s not capable of making rational decisions.”

  Peggy nodded slowly, her thoughts taking her in another direction. “That means she won’t be able to control the money from the insurance policy or the Lamonte estate now. Someone will have to be appointed as executor, since Foxx and Reddman are too young.”

  Al turned the car into the police parking lot. “That’s probably true. What are you thinking, Peggy?”

  “The state will appoint a guardian ad litem.” Jonas waved his hand to dismiss the subject as he got out of the car. “Who knows who that will be? But since she knows so many lawyers . . .”

  “What if that’s what someone has been after from the beginning?”

  “What?” Jonas asked, opening her car door.

  “Look,” she explained patiently. “Someone knows Park has this large insurance policy. He or she kills him with the poisoned honey. They poison a few other lawyers in Philadelphia to make it look like Tomorrow’s Children is responsible for it. Not everyone, because they don’t need to go that far. But Park doesn’t die there. He dies here going over the ramp. The insurance company jumps in and yells suicide. That would be bad for the killer. No money.”

  “Peggy . . .” Jonas tried to stop her.

  “So she, maybe Cindy Walker, passes on the information about the policy and her affair with Park to his mother. Isabelle calls in the police and raises questions about it being murder. The killer is confident enough to take it in stride. After all, murder still collects on the policy.”

  “Can we just go inside?” Al asked as Jonas paced the parking lot.

  But Peggy was on a roll. “But then the killer had to get messy. There’s no time for poison. He or she takes matters into their own hands and knocks Isabelle in the head with her walking stick, bless her poor old soul. It doesn’t stop the murder investigation, but that’s okay. With Beth in prison, now he or she can get at the insurance money plus Park’s and Isabelle’s estates.”

  “If you’re still thinking about Ms. Walker,” Al said. “How would she get at the money? I’m sure she’s not in the will or on the Lamonte’s list to care for the children.”

  “Good question.” Peggy tapped her cheek. “I don’t have the answer to that. But she was at Isabelle’s house during the crime scene investigation and saw me there. She could’ve trashed my house looking for the dragon’s head because she thought I had it.”

  “Nice theory.” Jonas held out his hand. “Can we go inside? They’re waiting for us.”

  “Wait! There’s more. I see it now!” Peggy started to pace with her head down and her forehead furrowed. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before! Cindy didn’t know Alice had the dragon’s head. Alice hid it away before she got there. She wasn’t trying to frame Alice for the murder. It didn’t suit her purpose for anyone but Beth to be charged with it. So when it looked like Beth was going to go free, she gave her the Nembutol. Beth is discredited or dies. Either way, the money is free game again.”

  “Once again, the question is: How would Mrs. Walker expect to collect on her crime?” Al questioned. “I could see her having motive to kill Park but not the mother. Especially not for the money.”

  “Excuse me? Have we all been transported to never-never land?” Jonas snarled. “We have viable arrests in both of these cases. Peggy, all we need from you is a simple ID. Can you do that?”

  “I think you should question Cindy Walker again.” She stopped pacing and looked at him. “I know there doesn’t seem to be a link to her and the money, but I’m sure it’s there.”

  “She wasn’t in town that night. A hundred people, including her father, Senator Walker, were with her,” Al reminded her as Jonas gave up and went inside the building. “We can’t bring her in and question her again when there isn’t any real evidence she was involved besides agreeing to call the police after Mrs. Godwin set her up to try to take the blame away from herself.”

  “Is that what you think?”

  “That’s what we think.” Al put his arm around her shoulders. “Peggy, we have all the answers already. Just ID Davis for us. Please.”

  They walked into the precinct together. “Beth could have died, too, because we didn’t see it in time. Who else might be involved if it goes on? Her parents? Foxx and Reddman?”

  He didn’t answer. “Sergeant, will you get Dr. Lee a cup of coffee? We’re going to get a lineup for her to look over.”

  “Yes, sir!” The sergeant came to stand beside Peggy. “Right this way, Dr. Lee.”

  PEGGY CALLED STEVE TO make sure he found Shakespeare at Beth’s house. “I got your bike, too,” Steve answered. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at the uptown police station.” She explained about the lineup. “They’ve got it all wrong. I’m not sure what to do.”

  “Is Davis the one you saw talking to Park and the one who ran out of the hotel?

  “Yes, but . . .”

  “Then I don’t see where you have any choice. They aren’t asking you to solve the crime, Peggy. Just ID the man they have for it. They’ve already made up their minds.”

  “I know,” she admitted, suddenly exhausted.

  “Want me to come and get you when it’s over?”

  “Yes, please.” She sighed. “I’m so tired I can hardly focus. I might not be able to ID you. Could you make a sign with your name on
it?”

  “I’m on my way,” he answered. “You’ve been up all night. We’ll have breakfast, and then you can decide what to do next.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you shortly.”

  She put away her cell phone, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. She needed a few minutes of peace, not thinking about Beth or anything else.

  Al and Jonas came into the little room where the sergeant put her. She didn’t need Steve tweaking her conscience. Guilt and remorse were starting to rip her head off as it was.

  “Okay, Peggy,” Al started, taking a seat beside her. “If you’re ready, we’ll open the blind. There are five men behind it. See if you can identify any of them. You can point or you can say the number he’s holding. It’s your choice. We’ll ask you to confirm that you know him. That’s it.”

  She nodded, not speaking as she wrestled with what she should do. She’d been part of the process for so long. She could hear John’s voice urging her to do what was right. But what was right in this case? She didn’t believe Fletcher poisoned Park and the others. She couldn’t prove it. But what if she was wrong? What if she didn’t ID Fletcher, and they couldn’t hold him? What if he was responsible?

  Jonas opened the blind, and Peggy looked out at the group of men. She knew him immediately. He was wearing the same old jeans and red T-shirt. They seemed to be the only clothes he owned. He didn’t look up at the window, but he did turn from side to side on command.

  “Well?” Al asked her after a few moments of waiting patiently. “You don’t have to rush. If there’s any question in your mind that one of those men isn’t Fletcher Davis, the man you saw at the hotel in Philadelphia, just say so.”

  She took a deep breath. “That’s the man I saw outside Park’s hotel room, during the demonstration, and again here in Charlotte.” She pointed to him. “I don’t think he did it. But that’s him.”

  “Thank you, Peggy.” Jonas hurried to shake her hand and usher her from the room. “You did what we needed you to do. We’ll take care of the rest.”

  “May I speak with him?” she asked impulsively.

  “Peggy . . .” Jonas motioned for an officer to escort her out.

  “Wait!” she appealed to him again. “He knows me. Let me talk to him. He might tell me something about the poisoning. Something you can’t get from him.”

  Jonas ran his hand under the back of his shirt collar. “It’s not procedure. I don’t know what good it would do. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about it!”

  “Please let me try,” she persuaded. “Who knows? He might confess to a friendly face. He looks scared and alone to me.”

  “All right.” Jonas looked around the empty room. “Let me find Al. If anything goes wrong, this will be his fault, since he wanted to bring you here for the lineup.”

  Fletcher was taken to an interrogation room. Jonas and Al watched from a two-way mirror while Peggy was escorted into the room by an officer. She sat down at the scarred wood table and smiled at the young man across from her. “I’m Peggy Lee. Do you remember me?”

  “Darmus’s friend.” The young man nodded and glanced at the officer who stood inside the doorway. “Are you with them? Gestapo pigs! They don’t understand!”

  Peggy searched his face. “You look exhausted. I’m sorry you had to go through this. If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe you poisoned those men.”

  Fletcher sat forward. His face became animated, and he put his cuffed hands on the table between them. “Thanks. Don’t get me wrong. I would do almost anything to keep the bay from being polluted by those idiots. But murder is a little too much. What difference would it make anyway? By now the corporation has hired ten new lawyers to replace the ones who died. That’s their mentality. I don’t think people or places can be destroyed on a whim and replaced.”

  “I’m a botanist and somewhat of a conservationist myself. Darmus is as impassioned as you are. But he would never kill someone.”

  His eyes suddenly showed signs of life as he leaned closer to her. “Then you know what I mean!”

  Peggy touched his hand. “I’ll let Darmus know that you’re in here. Anyone else I can contact for you until this mess is cleared up?”

  “No thanks.” He smiled at her. “But I appreciate you stopping by. I don’t have much faith the police will find me innocent. I believe this whole thing was a setup so that they could plunder the bay without having to worry about me trying to stop them. They’re afraid of me, you know. But it was nice seeing you again, Peggy.”

  “You, too, Fletcher. I think you’ll get out of this. When you do, stop by my shop.” She tucked a Potting Shed business card into his shirt pocket. “I make a mean cup of chocolate mint tea.”

  Peggy nodded to the officer at the door, and they walked out of the room together. Fletcher slumped over the table when she left him.

  “What was that all about?” Jonas demanded when they closed the door. “I thought you were going to get him to confess.”

  “He can’t confess to something he didn’t do,” she explained. “You heard him. He wouldn’t go that far to save the bay. He didn’t even know how many lawyers were poisoned.”

  Jonas hit himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. Al hid his smile with a ragged cough as he turned away.

  “Go home, Peggy,” Jonas pleaded. “You’re going to make me take early retirement.”

  She didn’t argue with him this time. She was still too unsure in her own mind to have any idea what was going on. Everything since Park’s death was a confusing blur.

  She didn’t like herself for helping the police, but when the answers were finally found, she was sure Fletcher would be acquitted. Until then, she felt closed in by the system. John frequently disagreed with things that happened when his cases went to court. But he upheld the law because he said it was the only thing that made men civilized.

  Peggy ignored everyone as she walked out of the precinct. Steve was waiting for her outside, holding Shakespeare on his leash. She kissed and hugged him without a word of explanation, patted the dog’s head. “Can we go now?”

  He nodded and opened the passenger door for her on the Vue. “Let’s go over to IHOP and have some breakfast.”

  Before they could leave the parking lot, Paul hailed them, running up to the driver’s side window and smacking it with his hand. Steve opened the window, and Shakespeare came up from the backseat to see what was going on.

  “Hey! Where are you guys going? I’m just getting off duty. How about some breakfast?”

  “That’s exactly where we’re headed,” Steve answered. “Hop in the backseat if you can push the dog over.”

  Paul glanced at his unusually silent mother. “No dog, even one the size of a pony, is going to keep me from breakfast.”

  Peggy called the hospital to see how Beth was doing. She explained what happened to Paul as they rode to the restaurant. “They expect a full recovery, thank God.”

  “But she’ll be confined for a while for her own safety,” Paul said. “That’s the law.”

  “I know.” Peggy acknowledged. “Unless we find out it wasn’t an attempt at suicide.” She told Paul and Steve her theory.

  “I suppose that could make sense,” Steve agreed, his eyes on the crowded streets.

  “Do you have some idea who would be in line for the money?” Paul asked.

  “No,” she admitted.

  “It seems like it would be Beth’s family with Isabelle out of the way. Do you think they had something to do with this?”

  “No! Of course not!” Peggy looked at her son for the first time. He was thinking intently about what she said, but his eyes were shadowed and his mouth was a grim line. “Oh, sweetie, I forgot. I’m so sorry about you and Mai. I wish it could’ve worked out differently.”

  “That’s okay.” He shrugged. “I guess it happened too fast, huh? These things take time. At least that’s what she said.”

  Steve glanced at Peggy. “I don’t know about that.
It all depends, doesn’t it?”

  Paul’s laugh held a bitter edge. “I’m not saying anything about the two of you. Just don’t mention marriage or getting a house together, and maybe you’ll be okay.”

  Peggy reached over and squeezed her son’s hand. “If it doesn’t work out with Mai, there’ll be someone else.”

  “I think you can say it’s over between us, Mom. You’re always too optimistic.”

  “We’ll see,” she said as they pulled into the restaurant parking lot. “Thank goodness we’re here! Now that I’m feeling better, I’m starving!”

  The three of them went inside together and sat down at a booth. The waitress took their orders and brought them orange juice, coffee, and water. The restaurant wasn’t very busy at that hour. The rush had come and gone before nine.

  Peggy’s mind was still busy with things other than eggs and pancakes. Even the sun-deprived ivy, still in its little Christmas container on the window ledge, only caught her attention for a moment. She gave it some water from her glass and found a single shaft of sunlight for it to bask in. “Is there some way I could find out who would be the executor or guardian for the children?”

  Paul sipped his coffee. “It’s not easy to find a legal guardian sometimes. It might be the first person a judge appoints for the job.”

  “What about Beth’s parents?” Steve asked, sitting forward. “Wouldn’t they be the logical choice since they already have the boys?”

  “From what limited information I know about the law,” Paul began, “the people who take care of the children and the person responsible for the purse strings can be different. You might have to see a copy of Park and Beth’s will.”

  “Let’s give Hunter a call and see if she can find anything.” Peggy took out her cell phone as her breakfast arrived. “Maybe she can solve this riddle for me.”

  STEVE DROPPED PAUL OFF at the police parking lot, then drove Peggy back to her house. She just finished feeding Shakespeare a piece of biscuit she’d saved for him from breakfast. She hated leaving him in the car and wouldn’t have considered it if the temperature was warmer. It wasn’t always best for the pet to ride with the owner.