“I’m at the uptown police station.” She explained about the lineup. “They’ve got it all wrong. I’m not sure what to do.”
“Is Davis the one you saw talking to Park and the one who ran out of the hotel?
“Yes, but . . .”
“Then I don’t see where you have any choice. They aren’t asking you to solve the crime, Peggy. Just ID the man they have for it. They’ve already made up their minds.”
“I know,” she admitted, suddenly exhausted.
“Want me to come and get you when it’s over?”
“Yes, please.” She sighed. “I’m so tired I can hardly focus. I might not be able to ID you. Could you make a sign with your name on it?”
“I’m on my way,” he answered. “You’ve been up all night. We’ll have breakfast, and then you can decide what to do next.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you shortly.”
She put away her cell phone, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. She needed a few minutes of peace, not thinking about Beth or anything else.
Al and Jonas came into the little room where the sergeant put her. She didn’t need Steve tweaking her conscience. Guilt and remorse were starting to rip her head off as it was.
“Okay, Peggy,” Al started, taking a seat beside her. “If you’re ready, we’ll open the blind. There are five men behind it. See if you can identify any of them. You can point or you can say the number he’s holding. It’s your choice. We’ll ask you to confirm that you know him. That’s it.”
She nodded, not speaking as she wrestled with what she should do. She’d been part of the process for so long. She could hear John’s voice urging her to do what was right. But what was right in this case? She didn’t believe Fletcher poisoned Park and the others. She couldn’t prove it. But what if she was wrong? What if she didn’t ID Fletcher, and they couldn’t hold him? What if he was responsible?
Jonas opened the blind, and Peggy looked out at the group of men. She knew him immediately. He was wearing the same old jeans and red T-shirt. They seemed to be the only clothes he owned. He didn’t look up at the window, but he did turn from side to side on command.
“Well?” Al asked her after a few moments of waiting patiently. “You don’t have to rush. If there’s any question in your mind that one of those men isn’t Fletcher Davis, the man you saw at the hotel in Philadelphia, just say so.”
She took a deep breath. “That’s the man I saw outside Park’s hotel room, during the demonstration, and again here in Charlotte.” She pointed to him. “I don’t think he did it. But that’s him.”
“Thank you, Peggy.” Jonas hurried to shake her hand and usher her from the room. “You did what we needed you to do. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“May I speak with him?” she asked impulsively.
“Peggy . . .” Jonas motioned for an officer to escort her out.
“Wait!” she appealed to him again. “He knows me. Let me talk to him. He might tell me something about the poisoning. Something you can’t get from him.”
Jonas ran his hand under the back of his shirt collar. “It’s not procedure. I don’t know what good it would do. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about it!”
“Please let me try,” she persuaded. “Who knows? He might confess to a friendly face. He looks scared and alone to me.”
“All right.” Jonas looked around the empty room. “Let me find Al. If anything goes wrong, this will be his fault, since he wanted to bring you here for the lineup.”
Fletcher was taken to an interrogation room. Jonas and Al watched from a two-way mirror while Peggy was escorted into the room by an officer. She sat down at the scarred wood table and smiled at the young man across from her. “I’m Peggy Lee. Do you remember me?”
“Darmus’s friend.” The young man nodded and glanced at the officer who stood inside the doorway. “Are you with them? Gestapo pigs! They don’t understand!”
Peggy searched his face. “You look exhausted. I’m sorry you had to go through this. If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe you poisoned those men.”
Fletcher sat forward. His face became animated, and he put his cuffed hands on the table between them. “Thanks. Don’t get me wrong. I would do almost anything to keep the bay from being polluted by those idiots. But murder is a little too much. What difference would it make anyway? By now the corporation has hired ten new lawyers to replace the ones who died. That’s their mentality. I don’t think people or places can be destroyed on a whim and replaced.”
“I’m a botanist and somewhat of a conservationist myself. Darmus is as impassioned as you are. But he would never kill someone.”
His eyes suddenly showed signs of life as he leaned closer to her. “Then you know what I mean!”
Peggy touched his hand. “I’ll let Darmus know that you’re in here. Anyone else I can contact for you until this mess is cleared up?”
“No thanks.” He smiled at her. “But I appreciate you stopping by. I don’t have much faith the police will find me innocent. I believe this whole thing was a setup so that they could plunder the bay without having to worry about me trying to stop them. They’re afraid of me, you know. But it was nice seeing you again, Peggy.”
“You, too, Fletcher. I think you’ll get out of this. When you do, stop by my shop.” She tucked a Potting Shed business card into his shirt pocket. “I make a mean cup of chocolate mint tea.”
Peggy nodded to the officer at the door, and they walked out of the room together. Fletcher slumped over the table when she left him.
“What was that all about?” Jonas demanded when they closed the door. “I thought you were going to get him to confess.”
“He can’t confess to something he didn’t do,” she explained. “You heard him. He wouldn’t go that far to save the bay. He didn’t even know how many lawyers were poisoned.”
Jonas hit himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. Al hid his smile with a ragged cough as he turned away.
“Go home, Peggy,” Jonas pleaded. “You’re going to make me take early retirement.”
She didn’t argue with him this time. She was still too unsure in her own mind to have any idea what was going on. Everything since Park’s death was a confusing blur.
She didn’t like herself for helping the police, but when the answers were finally found, she was sure Fletcher would be acquitted. Until then, she felt closed in by the system. John frequently disagreed with things that happened when his cases went to court. But he upheld the law because he said it was the only thing that made men civilized.
Peggy ignored everyone as she walked out of the precinct. Steve was waiting for her outside, holding Shakespeare on his leash. She kissed and hugged him without a word of explanation, patted the dog’s head. “Can we go now?”
He nodded and opened the passenger door for her on the Vue. “Let’s go over to IHOP and have some breakfast.”
Before they could leave the parking lot, Paul hailed them, running up to the driver’s side window and smacking it with his hand. Steve opened the window, and Shakespeare came up from the backseat to see what was going on.
“Hey! Where are you guys going? I’m just getting off duty. How about some breakfast?”
“That’s exactly where we’re headed,” Steve answered. “Hop in the backseat if you can push the dog over.”
Paul glanced at his unusually silent mother. “No dog, even one the size of a pony, is going to keep me from breakfast.”