Deadly Devotion

by Sandra Orchard

  “Don’t lie to me, Kate Adams. Around about the fourteenth time you let my call go to voice mail, I finally realized what a pitiful friend I’ve been, skipping from cloud to cloud preparing for my wedding, oblivious to how hard Daisy’s death has hit you.”

  “I’m fine, really.”

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You stuff your feelings into a little box and hide them away so the rest of us are fooled into believing you’re okay.”

  “I am okay.”

  “See, you’ve even got yourself fooled.”

  Kate’s breathing turned quick and shallow. The woolly mammoth had sharpened his tusks on the metal bars of his cage and was preparing to make a break for it. And she was pretty sure she wouldn’t survive the stampede. Not in one piece. “Julie, I really do not want to talk about this.”

  “I am not going to let you hide away in your lab, pretending everything is hunky-dory when I know darn well it’s not.”

  “I’m pretending no such thing. Daisy was murdered and the police aren’t doing anything about it. I can hardly be accused of keeping how I feel about that to myself.”

  “True.” Julie licked a dollop of ice cream off her spoon and then pointed the spoon at Kate. “But have you considered that the investigation is an excuse to avoid facing your hurt over losing Daisy?”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Kate snatched up the other spoon and dug into the tub of ice cream.

  “Think about it. You lost your dad when you were way too young. In your head, you knew he didn’t choose to die, but in your heart you must have felt abandoned. I know I would have. Now you’ve lost Daisy, and deep down you must feel abandoned all over again.”

  “Daisy did not abandon me.” Kate gulped down a gob of ice cream, but the icy milk didn’t cool the burn in her throat.

  “No, she didn’t abandon you. Even if she committed suicide.”

  “That’s not why I’m—”

  Julie held up her hands. “Okay, okay. I’m just saying that maybe your compulsion to prove the police wrong is rooted in something deeper than you realize.”

  Kate dropped her spoon into the ice cream tub, wondering how they’d jumped from a name change to her supposed abandonment issues. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  “See, this is what I’m talking about. You refuse to face your feelings.”

  Kate wished she could curl into a ball and hide until the pain in her chest eased. She knew that if she waited it out, the ache would eventually become bearable. Just like it had when she was a little girl.

  Okay, so maybe she did have issues.

  “What are you afraid of?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Hogwash. A look of pure panic crossed your face when that Peter guy mentioned your folks.”

  Kate reshuffled the test tubes as she struggled to snuff out the mutiny her emotions were waging in her chest. “Maybe I didn’t want memories conjured up when I’m already frazzled by Daisy’s death. As you so aptly pointed out, I don’t like to wear my emotions on my sleeve.”

  “Uh-huh. Now tell me what you’re really afraid of.”

  Kate looked her friend in the eye. Instead of accusations, she saw compassion.

  The crust around her heart began to crack. For years she’d wished for a friend like Julie, someone who would see the hurt she’d hidden away from the world like the good little girl she was supposed to be, and just understand.

  Tears pressed at Kate’s eyes. By the time Daisy had come along, Kate had gotten so good at the hiding that she hadn’t realized how much she’d held back. “I’m afraid of becoming the town’s latest gossip,” she admitted.

  “Because of something your folks did?”

  “My dad, yes, and please don’t ask me what.”

  To Kate’s surprise, this time Julie didn’t press for details. “The people who genuinely care about you won’t love you any less because of something your parents did.”

  “That hasn’t been my experience.”

  Julie reached across the bench and squeezed Kate’s hand. “I’m sorry, Kate. I truly am.”

  Afraid that she’d break down if she said any more, Kate merely nodded.

  “I’ll let you get back to work.”

  After Julie left, Kate locked the door and went to draw the curtains. Drawn by the warmth of the sun on her face, she lingered. As she stared at the sky, God whispered to her heart. Tell me what you’re really afraid of.

  Kate swiped her sleeve across her eyes and swung her head from side to side, but the urging didn’t relent.

  I’m afraid that the stories Mom told me about my dad aren’t true and that maybe what I believe about Daisy isn’t true either. And that knowing the truth will hurt more than I can bear.

  The tight band crushing her chest eased its grip, and in its place she felt Jesus wrap his loving arms around her. A Bible verse whispered through her thoughts: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

  Leaving the curtains open, she returned to her work.

  Kate pipetted five hundred microliters of extraction buffer into micro tubes of lyophilized calendula leaves.

  A movement at the window startled her into dispensing too many drops from the strawlike tube. She glowered at the curtains rippling under the force of air rising from the heat vents and let out a frustrated groan. If she didn’t get a grip, she’d never finish this experiment.

  She grabbed a clean test tube and started again.

  The doorknob rattled, but this time she managed not to jump at the disturbance. She carefully finished adding the drops to the tube and ignored whoever stood outside. Ignored, that was, unless she counted the way her pulse sped up and her hands trembled.

  A key scratched the lock.

  Edward doesn’t have a key, she told herself, but she jabbed the test tube into its holder and edged toward the side door anyway.

  The hall door burst open and Darryl strode in. “You are here.” He stopped short. “What happened? You look terrible.”

  “Why, thanks. So nice of you to notice.” She finger-combed her hair, wishing she’d taken Julie up on her offer of drops for her bloodshot eyes. Not that she could blame their present redness on staring into Daisy’s journals at four in the morning.

  Darryl frowned. “Please tell me you aren’t still trying to convince the police Daisy was murdered.”

  “Well, she sure didn’t commit suicide. You know as well as I do that even if she’d been dying of some incurable disease, Daisy would never have gone against everything she believed and taken her own life.”

  Darryl opened his mouth as if he might rebut, but Kate stopped him.

  “Don’t say it. Daisy was too smart to make such a critical mistake. In fact, based on other symptoms the coroner noted in his report, I’m not convinced Daisy died from thiophene at all.”

  Darryl stared at her for a full minute, his expression unreadable. “You have to let this go.”

  “I won’t. I—” Kate clamped her mouth shut. Keith and Tom had told her to keep a low profile and trust no one, and here she’d just about spouted her theory to Darryl. But she had to be right about Edward. What other reason could he have had for burning Daisy’s journal?

  Not that she had a good explanation for why Hank had ambushed her in the woods, or why he was so adamant that the case not be reopened.

  Then there was the missing intern. She’d forgotten to tell Tom about him. When she’d thought Brewster was behind Daisy’s murder, Gordon’s disappearance had seemed connected, but not if Edward was the murderer.

  As casually as her jittery nerves allowed, Kate lifted a rack of test tubes to the bench. “Did Daisy happen to mention to you that one of her interns quit?”

  “You’re blaming her death on a student now?”

  “No.” Kate squared her shoulders and repeated more firmly. “No, I’m responsible for them. Remember? I was just wondering if you were aware one had quit.”

  “Sure, Gord . . .” Darryl looked at the ceiling as i
f the name might be etched in the tiles. “Sorry, I can’t remember his last name.”

  “Laslo.”

  “That’s it. Bright kid, but he was more interested in his gadgets than botany.”

  “Gadgets?”

  “He invented stuff. Usually things that minimized how much work he’d have to do. Nothing that ever worked too great. Although he once came up with a moisture meter that wasn’t half bad.”

  “I checked with the registrar at the university. They have no record of him quitting.”

  Darryl pulled a box of beakers down from a shelf. “You know how kids are. They just leave. They don’t think about who they’re supposed to tell. Do you mind if I borrow a couple of these beakers?”

  She waved off the question as if he didn’t need to ask. “So you think Gord quit because he didn’t want to do the work?”

  “Could be. Daisy probably told me, but you know how it is.” Darryl removed two beakers, returned the box to the shelf, looked at the two he’d removed, pulled the box down again, and took out two more.

  “Everything okay?” Kate asked, noting how preoccupied he’d been lately.

  “Fine. Everything’s fine.” He stuffed the box back on the shelf. “Could soon be great, actually. Did you see the article in the paper about the pharmaceutical company that wants to build here?”

  “I saw the headline.”

  “Well, one of their reps, a guy by the name of Peter, was talking to the director yesterday.”

  Peter. That had to be the same guy who talked to her in the tea shop. The guy who knew her parents. The guy who could blow her secret.

  “The company wants to partner with us on some research. It’ll mean a nice cash injection for our department.”

  “A drug company wants to partner with us? They’re our worst critics.”

  “Yeah, but they have deep pockets, and they won’t be so critical if they want to stay on our good side.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “You might have to lump it, whether you like it or not. Two more donors revoked their funding to your project since news of Daisy’s cause of death broke.”

  “I don’t believe this.”

  “Believe it.”

  “I don’t get your attitude. You should be as anxious as I am to prove Daisy didn’t kill herself by drinking marigold tea.”

  “I have enough on my mind worrying about what folks are drinking at my wife’s shop.” Darryl paused at the door. “She’s been too sick to work, and I’ve had to take up the slack.”

  “She’s sick? I thought I saw her out driving last night.”

  “No, she’s been in bed for days.”

  Kate hesitated. “I’m sorry to hear that. What’s wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “No,” he said abruptly, his hand on the doorknob. “I’ve got it under control. Thanks.” He left without telling Kate what was wrong with Beth, and Kate had a sinking feeling the lapse wasn’t just an oversight.

  She had seen Beth’s car last night. Tom had confirmed the plates. Why would Darryl lie about her going out? What was he trying to hide?

  Kate sank onto a stool and laid her head on her arms.

  What’s happening to me, Lord? I used to trust everyone, believe the best about people, no matter how things looked. Now I’m becoming like Tom—suspicious of everyone. I don’t want to be like that, Lord.

  Except Tom wasn’t suspicious of her, even though she stood to gain from Daisy’s death too. No, Tom had seemed genuinely worried about her. Willing to risk his job to find the truth. And here she sat squirreled away in her lab, taking nada risks, while he and his dad tried to solve her friend’s murder. The least she could do was track down the missing intern and then pay Beth a surprise visit. Find out if she really was sick.

  Reenergized by the decision to take action, Kate finished her experiment and then phoned the registrar’s office for Gord’s home address.

  “I can’t give out private information. You should know that,” the receptionist said.

  “It’s information I could get out of any phone book or online directory.”

  “Then go ahead.”

  “Do you know how many G. Laslos there are in the region? And I don’t even know if he’s from this area.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

  Kate could picture the smirk on Lana’s face—a woman who loved power way too much. Kate would love to be a spider on the wall when she sicced Tom on her and he marched in flashing his badge, demanding information or else. Of course, knowing Lana, all Tom would have to do was flash his pearly whites to get the information.

  Kate’s mouth soured. Maybe she’d find another way.

  She gathered her purse and headed toward the rear exit. First she’d check out Beth’s alibi for last night. Kate phoned Tom’s cell and left a voice mail detailing where she was heading, then slipped outside. Despite Keith’s promise to phone the minute Edward’s car came within an hour of Port Aster, she slinked toward her parking spot in the shadow of the building, scanning the lot for a green Porsche.

  Once safely locked inside her car, Kate let herself breathe again. Maybe paying Beth a surprise visit wasn’t such a smart idea. Kate’s heart could take only so much racing in one day. Besides, Darryl hadn’t seemed too pleased by her offer to help.

  Men. If Beth had been stuck in bed for a few days, she must be desperate for company. Of course, she hadn’t been in bed last night.

  But her following Kate had to be a weird coincidence.

  And the only way to find out was to ask.

  Kate parked in front of the bakery. A half-dozen warm-from-the-oven apple fritters were just what she needed to get Beth talking. The door to the shop opened and Kate’s stomach gurgled at the delicious smell of sweet pastries that wafted out.

  Molly walked out in a stunning black sheath, dripping with diamonds—well, cubic zirconium, more likely. Convincing, though.

  A light blend of floral scents—rose, iris, orange blossom—enveloped her like a fine silk wrap. Kate inhaled. Wow, the fragrance didn’t smell like any department store perfume she’d ever tried. More like something only the rich and famous wore. She’d have to ask Molly where she found such a great knockoff.

  Absorbed in a phone call, Molly almost plowed straight into Kate. “Yes, Daddy, everything worked out perfectly. I love you too. Bye.”

  Kate whistled. “Hot date?”

  “Yes.” Molly beamed. “Edward’s taking me to the theater.”

  “Oh.” Kate choked down her surprise. “That’s great. How long have you two been dating?” And why hadn’t Keith called to warn her that Edward was back in town?

  “We’re engaged.”

  “Engaged?” Kate squeaked. “Really?” Suddenly more worried about poor Molly than where Edward happened to be at the moment, Kate debated how to respond. How could Edward drag such an impressionable young woman into his sordid schemes? If only she hadn’t been so busy with the investigation, she might have gotten to know Molly well enough to warn her.

  Curiosity tugged Kate’s gaze to Molly’s left hand, and the girl obliged by fluttering her mustard seed–sized diamond under Kate’s nose. “Gorgeous, don’t you think?”

  “Wow. Congratulations. I can’t believe Edward didn’t tell Daisy that he planned to ask you. She would’ve been thrilled.”

  “Yes, he misses her terribly. Her death hit him so hard.” Molly cupped her hands over her heart as if she shared his heartache. “But it’s made him realize how very lonely he’s been without me.”

  “You knew each other before moving here?” Kate couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

  “Yes.” Molly’s lips curved into a satisfied smirk, no doubt savoring her victory over a would-be rival. “He had a brief bout of cold feet after my aunt died but has come to his senses now.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time. I’ve got to run or I’ll be late.”

  Elsie Wagner, strands of gray hair dribbling from her bun, open
ed the bakery door. “Are you buying? We close soon. Ja?”

  Kate followed her inside and let the yeasty, cinnamony smell transplant her concern for Molly. Rows of pastries, squares, and old-fashioned donuts lined the shelves behind the glass. “I’ll have six apple fritters, please.”

  Elsie wiped her floury hands on her apron, then took up the tongs and boxed the decadent delights. If these couldn’t coax the truth out of Beth, Kate didn’t know what would.

  Confident Edward would be more than preoccupied with his fiancée for the next couple of hours, Kate left her car parked in front of the bakery, walked the half block to A Cup or Two, and slipped down the side alley to the back stairs that led to Darryl and Beth’s second-floor apartment.

  A scuffling erupted behind her. Flattening her back to the wall, she knifed her keys between her fingers. What had she been thinking, trapping herself in an alley with no other exit?

  A rat scurried out from under a jumble of boxes and disappeared through a hole in the back fence.

  Kate cringed and ran up the metal stairs before any other creatures appeared. She half expected the clatter would draw Beth to the door, but it remained firmly shut.

  At the top of the stairs, Kate smoothed her hair, held up the box of fritters, took a deep breath, plastered on a smile, and knocked.

  The deadbolt scraped open, then the chain latch rattled against the door at the same time that her cell phone rang. She couldn’t very well juggle the fritter box and dig her phone out of her purse, let alone be rudely talking on it when Beth opened the door. Whoever was calling would just have to wait. The worn brass knob seemed to turn in slow motion. Then as the door opened, Kate pulled her gaze from the knob to—

  Her breath caught. “Darryl?”

  10

  How could Kate think he wouldn’t mind her visiting the woman who’d tailed her car last night? Halfway through Kate’s phone message, Tom grabbed his coat and raced out of police headquarters.

  The clock tower clanged out the time. Each gong lobbed Tom’s chest with the force of a billy club. Five. Forty minutes since Kate left the message on his cell. Hours since the call from his dad.