A Root Awakening: A Flower Shop Mystery Read Free Page A

yipped and wagged her tail. She gave the boy’s hand a lick, making him laugh.
    “I had a dog,” Daisy said.
    “When?” Bud asked with a scoff.
    She thought for a moment, then said to her mother, “I had one, didn’t I?”
    “Didn’t I what?” Sandra asked in a schoolteacher’s voice.
    “Didn’t I, Mommy?”
    “Of course you did, honey,” Sandra said, giving her an affectionate smile. She whispered to me, “Imaginary playmates.”
    “They’re home from school early today,” I said.
    “They’re homeschooled,” Sandra said with a mixture of pride and exhaustion. “Bud, Daisy, our gingerbread cookies should be about done. We’d better go back inside and make sure they don’t burn.”
    The boy rose with obvious reluctance.
    “Say good-bye,” I said to Seedy, who obliged by giving two yips and wagging her tail as the children reluctantly took their mother’s hands.
    “Bye, Seedy,” Bud said sadly.
    I heard a car door slam and turned to see a large,balding man with a bad comb-over, wearing an XXXL shirt and battered blue jeans, climb out of a faded blue Chevy van. He paused to look at the emergency situation unfolding just yards away and then continued in our direction.
    Seedy glanced around, saw the man coming, and dropped low to the ground with a whimper, her little body beginning to tremble. I scooped her up and held her close, murmuring assurances as he got closer.
    “What happened?” the man asked Sandra.
    “One of the painters fell,” she said. “Norm, this is Abby Knight Salvare. She was here to see the house when the accident happened. Abby, this is my husband, Norm.”
    “We’re baking gingerbread cookies, Daddy,” Bud said as I shook Norm’s hand.
    “We were just saying good-bye to Miss Abby so we could go check on them; weren’t we, children?” Sandra asked.
    “I’ll be in as soon as I see what the situation is,” Norm said, ruffling Bud’s hair. “Save me a cookie.”
    Norm strode toward several of the workers while Sandra hustled the kids to the front door. Daisy kept glancing back at me and paused at the door to give me a look that I didn’t know how to translate, except to say that it felt as though she recognized me from somewhere.
    I put Seedy down and walked toward Marco, still pondering the girl’s puzzling glance. My internal radar was clanging a very distant warning, and I didn’t know why.
    Lorelei stood beside her black Camry talking on her cell phone, while the paramedics loaded the painter onto the stretcher and the remaining two painters carried thealuminum ladder to their van. I went to where Marco and Reilly stood, then turned to watch as Norm talked to the roofers, who were heading back to their jobs. One pointed to the peak of the roof and gestured, obviously describing the accident. I expected Norm to come talk to the cops next, but instead he went inside his house.
    “Any news on the painter’s condition?” I asked the men.
    “He’s still unconscious,” Reilly said, hooking his thumbs through his thick leather belt. “His blood pressure is very low but his other vital signs are holding steady. The EMTs didn’t know any more than that.”
    “Does anyone know why he fell?” I asked.
    “One of the roofers said he’s had some health problems and thought he might have suffered a heart attack,” Marco said.
    Seedy was tugging again, this time in the direction of a small white-and-red tube lying on the ground where the man had lain. Curious, I handed Seedy’s leash to Marco and went over to investigate.
    “What did you find?” Reilly asked.
    “This,” I said, and handed him a white Magic Marker with a red cap.
    As Reilly examined it, Seedy barked and wagged her tail as though she wanted him to toss it for a game of catch. “Sorry, girl,” Marco said. “Not this time.”
    “It must have fallen out of the painter’s pocket when he fell,” Reilly said. “I’ll pass it along to the detectives. In the meantime, I’m going to start taking