Free Seeds of Deception by Sheila Connolly

home?”
    â€œNo, it was fine. Well, more or less. So we parked the car in the driveway and went inside, and got a bite to eat, and went to bed.”
    Elizabeth was still waffling about something, Meg thought. “Mother, will you please get to the point? What did you call to tell me?” Meg looked at Seth across the table and shrugged in frustration.
    â€œWell, you know the Hagens across the street? Thismorning they saw the unfamiliar car parked in our driveway and they were concerned, since they knew we had been away for your wedding, so they called the police to check the house. When the police arrived they were being cautious, so they checked the outside before they tried the door. And they found something.”
    â€œWhat?” Meg had to work hard not to scream into the phone.
    â€œA body. In the backyard.”
    That brought Meg to a screeching halt. “What?” she all but whispered. Now Seth was looking at her with real concern. She swallowed. “This was last night? What have you been doing since then?”
    â€œWell, of course we had to go to the police station and make a statement about where we were.”
    â€œWait—why? You’re respectable citizens, and a simple call to the hotel in Amherst would establish that you’ve been there all along, right? And Daddy’s a lawyer, for God’s sake.”
    â€œWell, yes, but there was a little trouble with an arrest of the police chief’s son a while back that involved your father, so the chief wasn’t in a very generous mood. But the police let us come home this morning.”
    â€œWho was the . . . body? Someone you knew?”
    â€œActually, yes. He’s the handyman we hire to do small jobs around the property—you know, mow the lawn, or shovel snow, or watch out for ice dams. I don’t recall if you’ve met him, but we’ve been using him for years. Enrique Rodriguez, that’s—that was—his name. When we knew we’d be away for a bit, we asked him to stop by once a day to make sure that everything was all right. Take in the mail, that kind of thing.”
    â€œHow long . . .” No. Meg stopped herself. She wasn’tabout to interrogate her mother over the phone—she’d already had a hard day. “We’ll be there by lunchtime tomorrow—it’s only about six hours.” She looked at Seth for confirmation, and he nodded.
    â€œMeg, darling”—her mother started to protest—“you don’t need . . .”
    â€œYes, I do. You want me to stand by and just call now and then to see how the murder investigation of someone you knew is going? Wait, the man was murdered, wasn’t he? He didn’t have a stroke or a heart attack in your back-yard, did he?”
    â€œNo, dear.” Her mother sighed. “It was the traditional blunt force object, in this case a loose brick from the patio.”
    â€œAnd he didn’t happen to fall and hit his head?”
    â€œNot possible, according to the medical examiner.”
    â€œAre you all right, Mother? And Daddy?”
    â€œWe’re . . . coping. Your father is angry, both that this happened and that the police treated him shabbily, or so he believes. I’m just . . . tired.”
    â€œThen I’ll let you go now. See you tomorrow in time for lunch.” Meg cut off the call before her mother could protest. No matter what Elizabeth said, Meg was pretty sure that she wouldn’t have called unless she was looking for some support from Meg. Who also happened to have experience in murder investigations, although not in New Jersey.
    She jammed her phone back in her bag and looked up to see Seth watching her. “What’s the story?”
    â€œHandyman-slash-caretaker found dead in the backyard from a blow to the head with a brick. Neighbor saw the rental car at the house and got worried, so called the cops. The local