6 A Thyme to Die Read Free Page B

delayed.”
    “I’m afraid so.” Al took out his worn notebook and a pen. “When were you here last, Peggy?”
    “Last night at ten-thirty. Everything seemed to be ready. The mound wasn’t there. I got home at about eleven.”
    She glanced up at Steve again. Their gazes clashed and skittered uncomfortably away.
    “Any idea who might be in there?” Steve asked her.
    “Absolutely none, Director Newsome .” She answered with a cheeky smile.
    “I guess we’ll know when we get rid of that dirt.” Dr. Beck got on her cell phone with her team who were in the parking lot.
    “I’ll go and tell the vendors the bad news.” Peggy walked away, the only thing holding her back straight, a refusal to let everyone see how disappointed she was. She felt their eyes on her.
    Her new shoes pinched her toes, the sound of the heels echoing in the huge room. She kept herself from falling apart after all the hard work by reminding herself that all of the vendors and growers deserved to know what was going on.
    Hundreds of flower show participants were waiting at the gate with several police officers stationed between them and the chain link fence. When they saw Peggy, they rushed to the gate asking dozens of questions.
    Peggy held up her hands and called for quiet so they could hear her.
    “I’m very sorry to tell you all that the flower show won’t open this morning.” She knew better than to tell them that she’d found a dead body inside. That would have to be for later, after the police had released their information. “The police are checking out an irregularity that could make it dangerous for any of you to be inside.”
    “The police?” A grower she recognized from Florida pushed forward. “What kind of irregularity? I’ve got twenty thousand dollars’ worth of plants in there that aren’t getting any fresher.”
    “I know. And I’m sorry. That’s all I can say right now. I have all of your contact information. Someone will get in touch with you as soon as we’re able to open.”
    There was a lot of grumbling and complaining until the crowd of participants finally started moving away from the gate. That left a smaller group of visitors who had paid for tickets on opening day.
    “There will be a full refund,” Peggy assured those unhappy people. “You’ll also be able to come to the flower show on another day. We’re trying to work out this problem as quickly as possible.”
    That group of people complained before heading back to their cars. There was even a bus from Huntersville, North Carolina with at least fifty people on it that had to turn around and go back home.
    In the midst of all the disgruntled people leaving the parking lot, Peggy caught sight of Sam and Selena from The Potting Shed. She told the police to let them through the gate.
    “You two are a welcome sight.” Peggy hurried them away from the officers.
    “What gives?” Sam Ollson had been working for Peggy since his first year of college. His blond hair and year-round tan from working outside made him look like a large, muscular surfer. He’d given up attending med school to become her partner in The Potting Shed.
    “I think someone may have been murdered in there last night after I left,” Peggy whispered.
    “Murdered?” Selena Rogers’s voice went higher and louder than Peggy would’ve wished. “How is that possible? It’s a bunch of flower growers.”
    “Hey! I’m a flower grower.” Sam spread his large hands that he frequently used to express himself when he wasn’t shoveling dirt or planting flowers. “I think I could get rid of someone giving me a hard time. Maybe you.”
    “You wish.” Selena glared at him, her cocoa-skin emphasizing her whisky-colored eyes. Long, black hair blew across her shoulders in the morning breeze. She was very thin but muscular, a long distance runner at Queen’s University.
    Peggy was used to the two of them bickering back and forth, but now wasn’t a good time. “Don’t make this any