Grafted into Deceit

by Sherri Wilson Johnson

  Her feelings?

  What feelings?

  She couldn’t fall for this detective—not another a cop. Not Mark’s brother. No, she could not.

  Then why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? Why did being with him right now and helping him recover from the injury he received while protecting her peck at her mind?

  “Detective Roper said to take you home, and they’ll be in touch with you later.”

  “I don’t have my house key.”

  “I’ve got it. Roper got it from Knox last night after they repaired your door. He said to tell you they caught the men in the van yesterday, but they haven’t caught the shooter who shot Detective Pennington yet. When I take you home, stay there behind locked doors until they arrive.”

  Marina swallowed a bite of eggs, which had more flavor than she’d imagined. “You’re not going to stay with me?”

  “No, I have my rounds. My partner will be waiting on me at the station. You’ll be safe once you’re locked inside the house.”

  Ginger must not know what had happened at her house the day before. If the cops had kicked her door in, what would stop this beast who was after her from doing the same thing? There’s no way she’d be safe at home.

  “Home kind of scares me right now. Can I go on rounds with you?” Marina laughed, but her request contained little humor. Even a police car on patrol was a better option than her isolated home.

  Ginger shook her head, but a sparkle appeared in her eyes. “I understand your fear, but everything will be okay. Besides, you need to be home resting and healing.”

  “I need to go to my office to check on an order one of our customers says wasn’t delivered. Could you take me to rent a car instead of taking me home?” She took a bite of her toast and waited with hope.

  Ginger shook her head again. “No, ma’am. I have to escort you home and not let you out of my sight until you’re safely indoors.”

  Marina conceded. Ginger wouldn’t deviate from the instructions given her by the detectives. She had nothing to lose in making a third request, though.

  “Could you take me to my office before taking me home, then?” She grinned wide. “It’s a big request because it’s out in Southern Hope, but I need this customer’s business.”

  Ginger looked at her watch and sighed. “If you can eat fast, I’ll take you.” She pivoted and went down the hallway to her bedroom.

  “Thanks.” Marina didn’t feel warm and fuzzy from Ginger’s willingness to aid her in her time of need, but at least she didn’t feel alone.

  Now if she could put the pieces of this puzzle together and end the madness she was caught up in without being killed or witnessing anyone else being killed, she’d be one step closer to figuring out what was in her future. From where she stood right now, things seemed uncertain and out of her control, and that was not her preferred scenario.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Marina would rather be at home with a cup of coffee and a basket of mellow cream pumpkins and candy corn waiting for Steven or maybe finishing the walk with him on the Hopewell Park trail than being at the office checking the status of an order. But she couldn’t neglect her duties. Iris depended on her, and maybe if she proved she was a faithful friend, Iris would reciprocate.

  From her spot on the stoop, Marina unlocked the door to the nursery and faced Ginger, who’d refused to stay in the car. “This shouldn’t take me but a few minutes.”

  Ginger stepped forward. “I should go inside with you, just in case.”

  Marina held up her hand. “I’d feel safer with you out here watching. I’ll only be a few. You stay out here and enjoy the sunshine, but stay on guard, please.”

  Ginger surveyed her surroundings. “Okay, I’ll wait here. Be quick.”

  Marina scooted into the office foyer. The morning light flooded the room via the skylights. Without the buzz of business in the air, the place seemed almost tranquil. Serenity didn’t live there, though. And when Iris and Mack returned in a few days, any shred of harmony which might be present would explode before them.

  The air, stuffy and motionless, spoke the truth about the current state of Acres and Fields. Marina’s heart carried the weight of her business’s future and her friendship with Iris. She could crawl into the corner right now, curl up in a fetal position, and remain there until all the dust settled.

  But she couldn’t. No battle was ever won by someone who hid away and hoped for the best. She had to fight.

  She entered Iris’s office and halted in front of her desk. The sting in her heart over the secrets she’d uncovered still burned. Would it ever heal?

  She forced her feet to carry her to the filing cabinet beside the window where they kept the purchase orders and shipping receipts. A stack of letter trays sat on top of the cabinet and contained the paperwork for recent orders. Saturday’s deliveries should be in there.

  Of course, since there’d been a dead body in the back of the delivery truck, Marina wouldn’t be surprised if the paperwork wasn’t in the file. Nothing would surprise her ever again.

  “Marina?” Ginger called from the lobby.

  Marina jumped at the sound of Ginger’s voice and ducked beside the desk. Something must have happened outside.

  “Marina, are you okay?”

  She hadn’t been inside that long. Something was wrong. “I’m back here in the office to the right. Is everything okay?”

  Ginger’s voice echoed in the hallway. “Yes, are you okay?”

  Marina stood and kept her hand on the edge of the desk to steady her trembling legs. “I am. Sorry it’s taking me so long.”

  Ginger appeared in the doorway. “No problem. But you’ll be done in a minute?”

  “Yes.” She pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear and began the search with Ginger waiting in the doorway. After thumbing through three or four other orders, she found the purchase order and the delivery receipt for Jackson Florist. The signature verifying they’d received the order sat on the dotted line displayed like a trophy. “They received the order. Weird.”

  “Why weird?” Ginger clasped her hands.

  “My business partner said someone called and claimed they didn’t receive their order, but here’s the signature.” She picked up the phone and verified they’d received it.

  As she hung up the phone, she leaned against the desk with a sigh. Her crinkled brow sent shooting pains through her stitches and forced her to relax her face. “No one from the florist contacted Iris about the order. Something strange is going on. I should call her.”

  Ginger held up her hand to halt her. “Would she have lied to you to get you over here?”

  She chewed her thumbnail and processed what Ginger implied. “I don’t think so. But it’s possible whoever instigated these bizarre happenings wanted her here. They may not know she’s out of town. Iris could be the real target.”

  Marina replaced the purchase order into the file and almost had the file in the letter tray when her signature on a different order caught her attention. She signed the purchase orders on rare occasions and didn’t recognize the purchasing company or their rep. A search through the stack of other purchase orders prompted a gasp.

  “Ginger, my signature is on these purchase orders, but I did not sign them.”

  “Someone forged it, then?”

  “Someone printed it on them.” Marina squeezed her eyes shut and prayed all of this would go away. “This same thing happened with checks my business partner wrote to her own personal account. She forged my signature on them.”

  “Do you think she did the same with these orders?”

  “I sure hope not. I’ve been in denial even though Stev—Detective Pennington said he suspected something. But now I think he’s right.”

  “That your partner is in on all of this?”

  Marina buried her face in her hands. Her stomach churned. Her feet went numb. Everything she’d built her hopes on was disintegrating around her.

  She removed her hands fr
om her face and peered into Ginger’s eyes. “Possibly. She’s had some troubles lately that she asked me not to reveal. This could be retaliation for her actions.”

  Ginger arched an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”

  If she told anyone of Iris’s gambling debts, it’d be Steven. “I can’t. I promised.”

  “Okay.” Ginger leaned against the door facing.

  “Let me see what these shipments were for.” Marina examined each purchase order. “I don’t recognize the item numbers on them.” She used her finger to trail down the purchase order until she located the greenhouse for the products. “This says Greenhouse X.”

  “What’s Greenhouse X?”

  “I have no idea.” Marina tossed the folder on top of the filing cabinet and motioned for Ginger to follow her out the back door and onto the property. “If my business partner is doing something illegal on my property, I’m ready to find out what it is. I’ve been in denial since the detectives told me what they suspected. But not anymore.”

  “We’ll find out, Marina.” Ginger rested her hand on her gun.

  ***

  Steven winced from his seat on the bench in front of his locker as he buttoned his shirt and fought to keep the pain in his arm at bay. He’d refused painkillers at the hospital because he needed to keep his head clear. Comfort was an extravagance he couldn’t afford, nor could he protect Marina with painkillers in his system.

  “You need help with that, partner?” John came into the locker room with his suit coat slung over his left arm and a bottled water in his right hand. He offered it to Steven.

  “Nope, I’ve got it.” He took the bottle. “Thanks. No coffee, huh?”

  “Caffeine will cause you to be too jittery today. Plus, it keeps your body from healing.”

  “Is that true?”

  “Sharon says it is.”

  He twisted off the cap and gulped down half the water. The juice at the hospital this morning was the last thing he’d had to drink, and not long after the sugar high, he’d crashed. “You ready to pick up Marina?”

  John’s forehead creased, and his eyebrows met almost in the middle. “Pick her up? We’re going to check on her and get her account of the shooting.”

  Steven rotated his head, and his neck popped in several places. “I refuse to leave her at her house alone, Roper. After what happened to her, she’ll never feel safe there again. She won’t be safe until we catch the shooter.”

  John clenched his jaw and sat beside him. He folded his coat over his left leg, leaned forward, and rested his arms on his thighs. “You’ve got to put your personal feelings aside, Pennington. You’re not using discernment.”

  “Discernment? Her safety holds the same importance as all victims’ safety. My personal feelings are irrelevant.”

  John tilted his head toward him and laughed. “Right. And my desire for my wife to have a safe delivery and my baby to arrive healthy has nothing to do with my personal feelings.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I watched you with Marina at the park yesterday, and I saw something I’ve never seen before in you.”

  Steven straightened his back and leaned against his locker. He glanced sideways at John. “What’s that?”

  “You weren’t trying to fix someone or whisk her from her bad choices like I’ve seen you do in the past. You care for her, and it’s evident to everyone.”

  “I—well—” He pulled at his shirt collar. He must have tied his tie too tight.

  “Don’t be ashamed to admit it. You told me this was different. I didn’t believe you. But now I do.”

  Steven swiped beads of sweat off his forehead. “How can you tell? How can I know?”

  John whacked him on the back, and Steven groaned from the jarring of his wound. “My guess is you already know it. Now you’ve got to let her know it.”

  “There’s no way a woman I barely knew until three days ago, who went out with my brother, who doesn’t date policemen anymore for a reason I have yet to find out, would give me a chance.”

  “Pennington, I saw something different in the way you looked at her. I saw that same thing in her eyes and in the way she clung to every word you said. She was freaking out in the car when you passed out from the gunshot wound.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m her hero. Like you said, victims fall for their heroes. It means nothing.” He closed his eyes and rubbed the scruff on his face. She was freaking out when he was unconscious? Could she be starting to develop feelings for him?

  “When she thought you were going to die, she—well, you should let her decide that for herself.”

  Steven moved his hand to his right shoulder and massaged the area above the wound. “I don’t think she’s looking for a man right now, and I think she isn’t looking for a churchgoer. Her faith is going through a crisis.”

  “We’ve all been there. You’re the man to walk her through it, Steven.”

  He shook his head. “Man, did you hear me? She went on a few dates with my brother. That would be weird.”

  “Why?”

  “Maybe they kissed.”

  “So.” John laughed. “Again, it’s not your call.” He stood and offered him his hand.

  First, Steven needed to catch a killer. Then he could catch a woman’s heart.

  ***

  Marina pointed to the twenty feet wide and forty feet long greenhouses in the first row. “Each one of our greenhouses has wooden end walls that make them look like log cabins. They’re covered in a polyethylene film, and they’re all numbered with our special codes per the types of plants they have in them. P for perennials and A for annuals, so P1, P2, A1, A2, and so on. We also do our grafting in one of them.”

  “Grafting?”

  “Yeah, where you created different breeds of plants, like hybrid apples and such.”

  “Cool.”

  “Iris handles all of that. I deal with the landscape design. We have more than forty greenhouses, though.”

  Ginger surveyed the greenhouses and nodded. “You’ve got a nice setup here.”

  “Thanks. I designed the layout and all the landscaping around the greenhouses, including the winding gravel paths. We sell to businesses 90% of the time, but homeowners come out here too. Customers feel more like they’re at home in their own backyards here instead of feeling like they’re at a business. They can better envision their needs here. I know this place better than I know my social security number. But I don’t know anything about Greenhouse X or where it’d be or why it has a different letter than P or A.”

  Ginger propped her hands on her hips. “We need to find it.”

  “I agree.”

  They walked the property and checked the placard beside each greenhouse door. When they arrived at Greenhouse P30, Marina threw her hands up and screamed. “This is ridiculous! There isn’t a Greenhouse X anywhere.”

  Ginger folded her arms in front of her stomach and focused her attention to the woods surrounding the nursery. “How far does your property extend into the woods?”

  “Fifteen or so acres deep all the way around. They back up to the O’Reilly ranch on the west side. The McCormick ranch is north and the Porters are on the east. Why?”

  “There’s a path worn to that section of woods.” Ginger pointed to the west.

  Although Marina’s ankle throbbed, and relaxing on her couch at home came first to mind, knowing the path’s end took precedence. “Let’s go see what’s in there.”

  Ginger grabbed her forearm before she could charge into the woods. “Let’s be aware of our surroundings, okay? Your partner sent you here, and this could be a setup. If someone’s back there, and something illegal is going on, our lives could be in danger.”

  Marina halted and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Would knowing what was happening, if anything, in those woods help her or hurt? If she stumbled on a gambling facility or a drug manufacturing site, she could wipe out all her efforts over the last few days to stay alive. Were they crazy to move
forward with no idea what they’d find?

  She linked her gaze with Ginger’s. Confidence and determination stared back at her. Ginger didn’t seem afraid at all. “Ginger, I have to know what’s going on in Greenhouse X.”

  “Okay, stay close to me.”

  They followed the path into the woods, pine straw and dried leaves crunching beneath their feet, and about eighty feet in, an abandoned white house came into view. Overgrown with ivy and overhanging trees, someone else would have missed it if they blinked, but Marina had known about it when she bought the property. One day, she’d fix it up as a weekend getaway.

  “See that house? The guy who owned this property before me used to live in it. I don’t have any power or water run out here, so I don’t use it. But I hope to one day.”

  Ginger studied their surroundings for a few minutes. “I think we’re looking at your Greenhouse X, Marina.”

  “No, it can’t be. Without power and water how would someone grow plants?”

  “Generators. Hear them?”

  Marina listened. Generators hummed, and her knees buckled. Could this site be where drugs were being grown?

  “And there’s probably a well out here, I’m guessing.”

  “Yes, there’s a well. There’s also a spring-fed pond.” Marina pointed.

  “Well, there you go. We’ve found our place in question. Let’s approach with caution. If Pennington and Roper knew I let you do this, they’d write me up.”

  “You’re not letting me. I’d have done this if I was here alone. You’re keeping me safe.” Marina took another step closer to the house. About forty feet away, extreme heat overwhelmed her, and she recoiled. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands. “What’s that smell? Is it a dead skunk?”

  Ginger flexed her fingers around her gun. “It’s marijuana.”

  Marina leaned against a tree and covered her mouth with her hand. Had she heard Ginger correctly? “Marijuana? Are you kidding me?”

  “I wish this was a joke. Someone’s growing marijuana in this house.”

  Marina bolted toward the house, ran up onto the creaky porch, and yanked on the door, but a padlock prevented her entry. “Why would it be padlocked?” She stepped over to one of the windows, but the panes had been painted white. She ran to the window on the other side of the door. Paint covered its panes too.