5 Buried By Buttercups (6 page)

There was even a new medical examiner. Her name was Dorothy Beck. After Peggy had made it through the security check and let people look at her ID a dozen times, she met Dr. Beck.

“It’s very nice to finally meet you.” Dorothy Beck shook Peggy’s hand. She was tall and thin. Her white lab coat hung badly on her. Peggy wondered why they didn’t find the right size for her.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Dr. Beck,” Peggy said.

“Please, call me Dorothy. I’ll call you Peggy. Let’s start off on the right foot.”

They walked together down the long, green-tiled hallway. Several doors led off of the hall including the main examination room, the cadaver cold storage, and the lunch room.

It had always bothered Peggy that the lunch room was so close to those other rooms. It seemed to her as though people should eat away from those areas. No one else seemed to mind. She’d eaten outside when she’d had to be there during a case in the past.

“Here’s my office.” Dorothy opened the door. “Please sit down.”

“You’ve done a great job redecorating.” Peggy took a seat in front of the glass desk. There were new, colorful curtains on the windows. A new, blue carpet was underfoot, and there were some delightful landscape paintings on the wall.

Dorothy smiled as she put on her glasses. She was about Peggy’s age—mid-fifties. Her face was long and angular. Her brown eyes appraised Peggy at the same time that Peggy appraised her.

“It’s been a while since you were here last.” Dorothy picked up a file. “The former medical examiner ran this place like it was his own private theme park. I’m not like him. I like our work to be clean and accurate. I’ve read your record. I think we’ll get along just fine.”

“Thank you.” Peggy didn’t comment on the former ME. It was best not to speak ill of the man. “I’m hoping you have some information to bring me up to speed on these botanical murders.”

“You mean The Poison Plant murders?” Dorothy looked at Peggy across the top of her glasses. “You haven’t heard? Some enterprising reporter noticed there seemed to be a pattern and now it’s all over the news.”

“That’s too bad,” Peggy said. “It makes it so much harder.”

“Don’t I know it? I’m sure I don’t have to caution you about sharing information with the press.”

“No. I don’t particularly like sharing with anyone.” Peggy accepted the manila file from her.

“That’s for the best. You’ll find everything we know about the two homicides in that file, Peggy. There’s a computer station for you and you’ll be able to view the information and receive email there as well.”

There was a knock at the door and Dorothy called for the person to come in.

It was Mai Sato-Lee, Paul’s wife. Peggy restrained herself from hugging the young woman. She’d worked with Mai before and knew professionalism was important to her.

She also knew how unhappy Mai had been on being passed over for promotion when the former medical examiner had retired. She’d worked hard to take over that position. The board that had hired Dorothy turned down Mai’s request for the position, saying that she was too inexperienced.

Peggy, Mai, Paul and Steve had talked about it for months over Sunday dinner.

“Mai.” Peggy nodded to her. She couldn’t hold back a smile.

“Dr. Lee.” Mai nodded, without the smile.

“Oh please,” Dorothy intervened. “I know you two are related by marriage. We don’t need those formalities here, do we?”

“Of course not, Dr. Beck.” Mai’s voice was polite and cool.

Peggy recalled the first time she’d met Mai. It had been at a crime scene. The young Vietnamese woman wore a blue crime scene uniform. Her huge, almond-shaped, brown eyes and pretty face were half hidden by heavy, black glasses.

It hadn’t been long after that meeting that Paul and Mai had started dating. They’d moved in together and finally were married. Peggy kept hoping for grandchildren. Mai was dedicated to her career and not really interested in that prospect.

“I’ll be glad to show you your workstation, Dr. Lee,” Mai said.

Dorothy sighed. “All right. I guess that’s the best we’re going to do today. Peggy, if you need anything, give me a call. I’d appreciate it if you come to me with any findings before you share them with the police.”

“Of course, Dorothy. I look forward to working with you.”

Mai and Peggy left Dorothy’s office. The door was barely closed when Mai began to ask questions. “Did she bring you here? Isn’t she happy with what I’m doing on the Poison Plant case?”

“I don’t think that’s it at all,” Peggy answered. “Where did they get that information? How did the press find out it was plant poison that killed those men?”

“I don’t know. But one minute, this is my case and the next you’re coming in to work as a consultant.” Mai made a growling sound. “I don’t know what she wants from me. Sometimes I think she wants me to leave.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t want you to leave.” Peggy tried to reassure her. “Why are you so stiff with her? Why not call her Dorothy?”

“It’s awkward being friends with people at work—especially people who took my job.”

Peggy knew Mai held herself to very high, sometimes impossibly high, standards. She’d truly felt her work was below those standards when the city had hired a new medical examiner from outside the office.

“You should try and loosen up a little with her,” Peggy said. “I’m sure she’s very friendly once you get to know her. I like her.”

Mai rolled her attractive eyes. Paul had talked her into getting contact lenses. What a difference those had made! “That’s easy for you to say. You’re a consultant, not fighting for your job.”

They stopped at a desk with an aging computer on it. “Here’s your workstation. If I can assist, please let me know. I’ve done all the preliminaries on this case. I know something about it, even if no one appreciates it.”

Peggy didn’t even have a chance to say thank you before Mai left her there. She’d known her daughter-in-law was angry but hadn’t realized how much she resented her new boss. She wondered if Mai would stay on with that attitude.

The thought made her cringe. Paul could get a job anywhere as a police officer. There was only one medical examiner’s office in Charlotte. If she left her position, Mai might want to leave town.

Peggy spent the rest of the afternoon familiarizing herself with the case. There were a lot of facts, as Mai had said. It was clear, however, what the manner of death was. In both cases, poison had been injected into the victims. Mai had made a note of the unusual types of poison. More often than not, poisoning came from arsenic, cyanide—something easy to get from commercial products.

These poisons were specially made, it appeared. As Peggy had told Al, a person with specific knowledge and the right equipment had to be responsible.

It seemed odd to her, as she looked at the files. Both men were named John and their middle names were Lee. One was spelled Leigh, but it was still the same name.

Maybe it was because she was married to John Lee that she found that fact unusual. Al and his three detectives hadn’t thought both men being named John was strange at all.

It was starting to get dark when Peggy finally left for the day. She didn’t feel as though she’d made any significant contribution toward finding the killer. She’d familiarized herself with the case. She’d have to work from there.

Traffic was heavy again going out of the uptown area. She stayed on the side of the road and avoided any trouble. Cars and trucks whizzed past her. They couldn’t possibly be driving the lower speed limits that were posted.

The outside lights on the house were on a timer so they were on when she got there. Shakespeare began barking as soon as he heard her. She let him out for a few minutes before she went to the front door and checked her mail.

The house seemed empty without Steve. She wouldn’t have thought she could attach herself to someone so quickly. She glanced at her watch. There was still an hour before their next Skype session. Time to change clothes and find something to eat.

It was then she noticed that the front door was slightly open. It surprised her. Had she forgotten to set the alarm again? She was going to have to be more careful about that. Someone had broken the lock on the door to shove a thick envelope between the door and the frame.

Peggy opened the door all the way and the envelope fell on the floor. It was addressed to her.

She opened it and read,
“Recognize me yet?”

Chapter Five

Elder – Sambucus
- Common wild shrub in backyards, roadsides and forests. Dark, hanging fruit that can be eaten or made into jelly or wine after ripened and seeds removed. Cyanide glycosides in leaves, twigs and seeds. Children have been poisoned by making whistles from the hollow twigs. Listed as a highly effective medicinal for many years.

“It’s probably your old buddy, Nightflyer, playing games with you.”

Peggy had shown the note to Steve when she picked him up at the airport the next morning. It wasn’t the romantic welcome home she’d hoped to give him. She’d been up most of the night thinking about the note.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not? You said you’d heard from him again. This sounds like something he’d do. You should let the police handle it.”

It was raining hard, crashes of thunder stalking the morning commute into Charlotte. Lightning stabbed across the dark sky. Cars moved slowly with their emergency lights flashing. The road was bumper-to-bumper when traffic moved at all.

“I plan on giving it to Mai this morning. I feel a little silly. It might not have anything to do with the case at all.”

“I don’t know. The murder happened across the street and you’re involved. Why take chances?”

“I know you’re right. I also know their budget is tight. I hate to waste it on something that doesn’t matter.”

“Just give it to her, Peggy. Mai will take care of it. Consider it the perks of having a daughter-in-law who happens to be an assistant medical examiner. We need one in the family.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She couldn’t glare at him because she needed to concentrate on the drivers that obviously weren’t nervous about the weather or bad traffic.

“You know what I mean. You said you weren’t going to get involved with cases like this anymore. I’ll bet Paul gave you a hard time.”

“Not anymore than you,” she quipped. “I didn’t know you felt so strongly about it.”

“You were almost killed once or twice trying to solve a case the police couldn’t. How did you expect me to feel?”

For starters, she’d expected him to back her up on all her decisions. She should’ve had that put into the marriage vows. Honor. Support. Never question.

Peggy didn’t say anything else about it until they’d reached the house. She was relieved to have driven through the traffic from the airport without getting in an accident. They’d passed several bad wrecks on the way.

Steve seemed to agree with her silence. He hadn’t said anything about it again either. He got out of the SUV with his bag and opened the kitchen door as Peggy parked the vehicle in the garage.

He and Shakespeare were enjoying their reunion when Peggy got inside. Steve was on the floor with the Great Dane standing over him, wagging his tail.

“At least
he
missed me,” Steve said.

“Yes, well, he didn’t take part in a murder investigation. He didn’t have to listen to your lecture about his safety.” Peggy closed the kitchen door with an extra push.

Steve got up and put his arms around her. “I’m sorry. I worry about you. Someone was killed right across the street and you received a mysterious message. That doesn’t make me happy. Whoever left that message could’ve been inside waiting for you.”

Peggy thought he looked tired. She ran her hand through his thick, brown hair. There were dark circles under his brown eyes and his face looked a little pale. He also had a small cut on one cheek. She got over her anger when she thought he might be getting sick.

“You have a vivid imagination and a suspicious mind. Didn’t you sleep well at the conference? You look like you’re coming down with something? How did you cut your cheek?”