5 Buried By Buttercups (5 page)

“It helps that so many of our customers are female,” Peggy said.

“Do they have to look like they’d like to eat him up when they talk to him?” Selena asked in an annoyed whisper. She bent her head close to Peggy’s. She was tall and thin, a long-distance runner at Queens University. After taking Peggy’s botany class by mistake, she went to work for her a week later.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Peggy said quietly, “the men who come in here look at you the same way.”

Selena grinned. “You’re only saying that to make me feel better.”

“Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

The young woman looked pleased with that response.

The new landscape customer left The Potting Shed with a last goodbye to Sam. As soon as the door had closed behind her, he raised a large fist into the air. “Yes! She wants full landscaping every week, even through the winter.”

“Excellent!” Peggy applauded him. “You’ve become quite the salesman. I’m sure you’ll be able to use that skill when you finish medical school.”

Sam’s triumphant expression turned sour. “Let’s not get into that again. I’m not finishing school.”

When he’d come to work for Peggy, Sam had been planning a career in medicine. Later, he’d decided that it wasn’t for him after all—much to the consternation of his family. There had been tears and some begging, even an accusation against Peggy from his parents. Nothing would change Sam’s mind.

Every so often, since he’d made that decision, Peggy had tried to subtly remind him that he had other options besides working at The Potting Shed. More often than not, he’d thrown it back at her.

It didn’t mean she wouldn’t continue to try and convince him. Sam was enormously smart as well as good with his hands. She knew he liked working in the garden, but she also knew that could be a hobby rather than a career.

“I’m glad you finally got here.” Selena heaved a sigh of relief. “Sam has been no help at all this morning. Give him some mulch to play with and he won’t step foot into the shop. I guess that changed because you were here, Peggy.”

“I just finished unloading a whole trailer full of mulch,” he reminded Selena. “I told you we could change places and I’d watch the shop. You didn’t want to do that either.”

Selena started to speak. Peggy stopped her. She knew the two could go on bickering all day. They were like brother and sister when it came to that.

“I’m here now,” Peggy said. “And I appreciate all the extra work the two of you have been putting in.”

Sam muttered something unintelligible. “I have to get that rig back to the rental place. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I need to study, Peggy.” Selena had one last grimace for Sam. “Some people who dropped out of school don’t realize how important it is to study.”

“Especially if you’re failing chemistry.” Sam walked out the back after one last barb.

“Not a problem.” Peggy patted Selena’s shoulder to keep her from following Sam and continuing the disagreement. “You go on and study. I’ll take care of the shop. Good luck with that test tomorrow.”

Selena looked at the back door where Sam had disappeared. “You know, someday someone is going to kill him. It just might be me.”

Chapter Four

Daffodil - Narcissus Family
- Lovely yellow flowers bulbs, cousins to jonquils. Very popular flower for spring. Contains toxic alkaloids in all parts of plant. Rarely fatal. During World War II, starving cattle were fatally poisoned by daffodil bulbs.

Peggy’s purple water iris was about to bloom. It was planted in the pond that she’d put in the middle of The Potting Shed after a flood had caused significant damage to the hardwood floor. Since she’d had to take the damaged floor out anyway, it had seemed like the ideal time to put in the small pond and sell water plants and other supplies.

The shop was empty after the small flurry of customers. She sat in her rocking chair beside the pond and admired the small iris bud straining to open. Maybe she should have a small party for the event and invite all of her customers, past and present. She could have Emil from the Kozy Kettle serve some food and beverages. It might give both shops a little lift in sales.

She sighed as she looked at the well-stocked shelves and hoped the economy would pick up. She’d been hoping that for the last few years. Outside of the occasional uptick when the seasons changed, business was very slow. It didn’t help that the owners of Brevard Court had raised her rent.

Feeling a little melancholy, she forced herself to get up and dust all the shelves. She rearranged everything and made sure her fall bulb display was eye catching. Winter and summer were usually slow. She depended on fall and spring sales to get her through.

The bell on the door jingled. She looked up and saw Mr. Bellows, her neighbor from Queen’s Road. He was normally so reclusive. It was odd to see him more than once in a day. As far as she knew, he’d never visited The Potting Shed before.

“Mrs. Lee.” He removed his ancient-looking tweed cap. Little tufts of gray hair stood up around his head. “I remembered when I saw you this morning that you had a flower shop. I wanted to see what it looked like.”

Peggy didn’t correct her name. She hadn’t changed it after marrying Steve. She thought it might be too confusing for everyone. She’d been Peggy Lee for a very long time.

“Hello, Mr. Bellows. Yes, this is my garden shop. Are you interested in some bulbs for the fall? I have some nice daffodils.”

He glanced around with a disinterested look on his sallow face. “No. Not really. I was interested in the shop itself. How much do you want for it?”

Now he wanted The Potting Shed? What was wrong with this man? “I’ve never thought of selling it, Mr. Bellows. I’ve had it for so long that it seems like my home away from home.”

He waved aside her words with his long, thin hand. “Yes, yes. No haggling, please. I’ll pay fair market value for it. I won’t cheat you and I expect you not to try and cheat me if we’re going to do business.”

Peggy smiled and held her temper in check. He was completely obnoxious.

“It’s not for sale. I appreciate your offer. I wouldn’t think of selling.”

He gazed at her with his cold blue eyes, as though she were a thing to be purchased too. Was he weighing her merit to see if it matched the price he thought was fair for her?

“What do you want for it? I don’t have time to stand here and wait all day, Mrs. Lee. I have more important things to do.”

It was difficult, but Peggy managed to be polite. “Mr. Bellows, I’m not selling The Potting Shed. If you’d like to purchase something, I’ll be happy to help you. If not, perhaps another shop owner in Brevard Court or Latta Arcade might be interested in your offer. Thanks for stopping by.”

“You must be out of your mind. Anyone who was sane would take my offer on this place. Good day, Mrs. Lee.” He tipped his cap to her then put it back on his head and left.

Peggy couldn’t believe the nerve of the man. What had he expected her to say? What made him think she wanted to sell the shop, or the house, for that matter?

Still steaming, she dusted and rearranged a little more forcefully. At least one thing was good—she normally didn’t see him at all. That had been a blessing she hadn’t realized until today.

Emil Balducci brought Peggy lunch from the Kozy Kettle. His thick, gray mustache drooped a little on the right side when he frowned. That didn’t happen often. He always seemed to be in a good mood.

With his broad Italian features, craggy brows, and shadowed dark eyes, he was quite a ladies’ man. Especially when his wife, Sofia, wasn’t at the shop. 

“I made my special crusted eggplant on Ciabatta bread.” He kissed his fingers on his big, callused hand. His voice was still heavily accented even after twenty years away from Sicily. “You’re gonna love it!”

Peggy smiled. “I know I will. Thank you for bringing it over. I’m the only one here right now.”

“Like the old days.” He nodded as he handed her a cup of peach tea with a lid on it. “I remember when you were always here by yourself. I thought that would change once you married again. I think you married the wrong man. A husband should be around when a wife needs him.”

“I suppose I could’ve put a note on the shop door and come over to get lunch.”

“That’s not it. You hire people. Where are they? You pay people money to help you, right? When you need them, they aren’t here. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s why I don’t pay no one. Sofia works with me now. Your husband should be here with you.”

“He has a job, a career of his own,” she reminded him. “He’s a veterinarian, remember?”

Emil made a grimace that brought his big mustache almost up to cover his nose. “What’s that? He could do that here. A woman needs a man, Peggy.”

His swarthy face was very close to hers. Peggy had always thought Emil was joking around when he said such things, though she’d talked to other women who had insisted he wasn’t. She’d felt sure he would never really go too far.

For a moment, she wasn’t as certain.

“I have to go.” He said with a sigh. “We’re expecting a group this afternoon. Sofia is making those little sandwiches they like. You should come over.”

“What kind of group is it?” she asked politely, knowing she didn’t have time for a meeting.

“Sofia and I, we call it the lonely hearts club. The group, they call it singles.” He shrugged. “Same difference. You should come over.”

“I’ll try. Thanks again for lunch.”

He waved as he walked out of the shop.

Peggy was almost done with lunch when Sam got back. He ranted for a few minutes about the rental company refusing to give his deposit back.

“They said the trailer was dirty.” He walked around through the narrow aisles, flailing his big arms in the air. “Can you believe it? I swept it out. They wanted me to wash it out. I’m never renting from them again.”

“I’m sure it will be worth it to have the extra mulch in. We always sell a ton of mulch in the fall.”

Sam stopped walking around and complaining. “Are we gonna make it, Peggy? I look at the numbers every day on my computer. I know we’re holding our own right now, but there isn’t much left over. Maybe we should think about moving to a cheaper place. The rent here is killing us.”

“I know it’s high,” she agreed. “It’s the location. I love it here, Sam. I’d hate to move.”

He came close and hugged her. “I know. I like it here too. I guess we’ll keep going, at least for now. Let me get cleaned up and grab some lunch and you can go investigate dead people. What’s that? It smells good.”

Peggy slapped at his hand as he grabbed a piece of her sandwich. “Eggplant.”

“The bread is good anyway.” He grimaced once it was in his mouth.

Sam was back in a few minutes with a burger and fries. They talked for a while about the shop and the murder investigation. Peggy and Sam were more than just partners in this business. Sam was nearly as dear to her as her own son, Paul.

“All right. Get out of here,” Sam said when they were both done eating and their conversation began to wane. “Be careful. Don’t dig up too many secrets.”

Peggy hugged him. It was all she could do to put her arms around his wide chest. “I’ll call you later and we can see how the rest of the day goes. Don’t give up yet, Sam. I think we’ll be okay.”

He shrugged. “If not, we can always sell the shop.”

Her green eyes narrowed suspiciously. “That’s a peculiar thing for you to say.” She told him about Mr. Bellows.

“Don’t look at me.” He held his hands up. “I don’t even know the man and you know I wouldn’t do anything like that without talking to you first.”

“I know.” She frowned. “Just striking fear into your heart.”

He went behind the cash register and put on a green Potting Shed apron. “Yeah. My hands are shaking. Get out of here before I start crying.”

Peggy got her pocketbook and climbed on her bicycle. The weather had held—blue sky and puffy white clouds. It wasn’t a long ride from Brevard Court to the medical examiner’s office. Traffic wasn’t even too bad.

She had to use her new police badge for identification at the entrance. There were many new faces since she’d worked here on a regular basis two years ago.