“Of course. You can’t seem to find the time to get down here. So even though Aunt Rachel and Uncle Stripey can’t make it, Mama and I and Cousin Melvin and Aunt Mayfield are coming up to see you in April.”
“What about planting, Daddy? Won’t you need to plant in April?”
“I took care of that, angel. I hired a few boys to help me out this year. I’ll get them started at the first of the month, so by mid-April we should be able to spend a few weeks up there with you. You’ll have to give your mama and Aunt Mayfield a place on the ground floor of that big old house of yours. Neither one of them can get up those grand stairs. But otherwise, nothing special. I know you have grits in your cupboard. That’s all we need. Well, maybe some chicken would be nice, too. But we could always visit the Colonel for that!”
Peggy digested the information. She panicked just knowing her parents were coming. They hadn’t been there since John’s funeral. She always tried to be the one to visit them.
Aunt Mayfield was a difficult, complaining woman at best. Cousin Melvin had sleep apnea and fell asleep at dinner, in the bath, and during conversations. He snored loudly enough to be heard from one end of the house to another, and she didn’t even want to think about how bad his feet smelled.
“Are you still there, pumpkin?”
“I’m here, Daddy. That sounds great. Maybe Paul can get some time off, and we can all do some sightseeing or something.” She was careful to keep any doubt out of her voice. At least this way she had time to prepare for them coming.
“Don’t put yourself out, Margaret. We’re just coming to see you and Paul. Nothing fancy. What’s that sound?”
Peggy listened to Shakespeare’s alternate barking and howling. “That’s my dog. He’s waiting for his supper.”
“Got yourself a beagle? They make a good hunting dog. You remember Maisy. She could track anything. Remember that time your mama lost her car keys? Maisy found them.”
“Shakespeare is a Great Dane, Daddy. He doesn’t track much.”
“Great Dane, huh? What kind of name is that? No wonder he doesn’t track. You have to give him a proper name for a hunting dog. Call him Skippy or Yeller. Then he’ll track for you.”
She sighed. “I don’t want him to track anything, Daddy.”
“He’s not gonna be much of a hunting dog if he can’t track, Margaret.”
“I don’t really want to take him hunting. I don’t hunt. I’m a vegetarian, remember, Daddy?”
“Thought you’d grown out of that by now. Oh well. It still wouldn’t hurt you to give that dog a decent name.”
Peggy didn’t argue with him. “I’m looking forward to seeing you and Mama anyway. We’ll have a good time while you’re here.”
“Okay then. I’ll talk to you later. Give Paul a hug for us.”
“I will. Kiss Mama for me. Bye, Daddy.” She put down the phone and threw herself back in the chair. Her family was coming up to see her. The house was dirty. They hated Charlotte. She knew they’d try to convince her to come back home with them as they had after John’s death. And what about Steve? They were bound to notice that he was younger than her. And what would they think about the Potting Shed?
Peggy got to her feet and went to rescue Shakespeare. She took him out for a walk, then fed him and made a grilled cheese sandwich for herself. He still refused to eat. He lay down beside his food and groaned, looking up at her every few minutes. She tried to get him to eat by offering individual pieces of food. He covered his eyes with his paws.
Glad that he had another obedience class tomorrow, Peggy sat down at the kitchen table to eat her sandwich and drink her sassafras tea. She made it with plenty of sugar and milk until it was pink rather than red. It was the way her mother made it when Peggy was growing up. That thought brought on a whole group of issues she’d have to face when her parents came to visit.
Refusing to face those problems right away, Peggy watched the news for a while, then went upstairs to change clothes and check on her plants. Her Antares water lily was barely alive. She wasn’t sure if it was going to survive. Her experiment with the strawberries was completely destroyed, and she had mites on all of her plants. She was probably going to have to spray for them since she couldn’t use complementary planting to control them in that environment.
Sighing over the loss of time and her companions, she spent two hours trying to straighten up the mess and check on all of her plants. The frog helped himself to some of the mites, and she thanked him. “If I had a few more like you, I could clean them up pretty easy.”
She went back upstairs to her room and showered. Shakespeare was already in her bed when she came out. He hadn’t eaten anything or ripped anything apart, so she collapsed in bed beside him. His coat felt smooth and warm under her hand as she petted him. Her eyes were just closing when her computer made a loud beeping noise. Immediately, she jumped out of bed and checked her e-mail.
Nightflyer sent her an instant message: “r u busy? if not, let’s play!”
Peggy almost didn’t go. He’d ignored her summons. But curiosity finally won over impatience. She sat down in her chair and went to the new chess site. When she was logged on, she found Nightflyer waiting for her.
“Hello, Nightrose! Are you ready to play?”
“I’m ready. What happened to you? Are you okay?” Peggy made her opening gambit: pawn to e4
He returned: pawn to c5. “I’m fine. Just a little trip I had to take. Sorry I couldn’t let you know. I was off-line.”
“No computer? That’s awful. How did you survive?”
“It wasn’t easy. What have you been up to?”
“Don’t you know?” She moved her pawn to e5.
“I have a few ideas.” Knight to d5. “How is your friend doing?”
“Beth? She’s going to be fine. The police have made arrests for Park and Isabelle’s murders.” Knight to c3.
“The conservationist and the housekeeper. I know. But I don’t think Davis is responsible. Do you?” Nightflyer moved his pawn to f6.
Peggy shrugged and moved her pawn to d4. “He was at the hotel. He had access to the gift baskets. He had motive. It makes sense.”
“He only poisoned four baskets. There were ten lawyers staying at the same hotel. Why not put poisoned honey in all the gift baskets that went to the lawyers representing the firm that wants to drill for oil? Why only poison four of them?”
“Good point. Why do you think he would only poison four of them?”
“He wouldn’t. If Fletcher Davis is passionate enough about his cause to poison four men, why not all of them? Hotel videotapes show he had access to all of the baskets. But they don’t show him touching all of them.” Bishop to g7.
“He could’ve tampered with the videotapes.” Bishop to e3. “Or maybe he didn’t have time to poison the others. Maybe he panicked.”
“That’s possible. Or he didn’t do it.” Knight to d4. Nightflyer took Peggy’s pawn.
“Then who did?” Knight to f6.
“Perhaps someone who wanted to throw the blame on Tomorrow’s Children. Maybe even someone who wanted to murder Park and get away with it. Park is the only lawyer who also had his mother killed.”
“Which the police speculate Alice Godwin did, since she had the murder weapon, motive, and opportunity. She has no alibi between the time she left Beth’s at 9 and the time she found Isabelle at 10 and called Cindy Walker.”