Free Killing Weeds by Jim Lavene, Joyce Page B

She sat in the large velvet chair beside the window that overlooked Queens Road. “And you shouldn’t eat pizza.”
    “There are a few slices left,” Peggy told her father. “I can reheat them if you’d like.”
    He smiled. “You know I like it better cold, little girl. Come down and sit with me anyway. Let your mother get some rest.”
    Peggy and her mother hugged briefly, not too tight or close.
    “If you need anything, Mom, let me know. There are clean towels in the closet at the end of the hall. I’ll see you in the morning.”
    “Yes. And we’ll talk about what you’re doing to make this right. Goodnight, Margaret.”
    Ranson and Shakespeare went down first. Peggy followed them. She hoped Shakespeare wouldn’t knock her father down the stairs. But they managed to make it to the bottom safely.
    Her mother and father had moved to Charlotte a few years back after selling their farm. They’d wanted to be close to her, to Paul, and the new baby, finally realizing that she was never moving back home again. They had a small house between Paul and Peggy’s places that made it convenient to see them regularly.
    She put the cold pizza out on the table for her father, found a beer in the back of the refrigerator and put that out too. Father and daughter sat at the same wood table that John had used as a child with his mother and father.
    “So, Sam was a little short on explaining what happened to Paul. I think I understand the whole thing about him getting bamboozled by some pretty girl into doing something that may have caused someone else’s death. Is that about right?”
    Peggy opened the bottle of beer as her father chewed his pizza. “Something like that. Paul is working as a private detective and got caught in the middle of a murder. That’s about all we know right now.”
    Ranson’s gray brows went up in his lean face. “You mean like Rockford Files ? We used to love that show. Did they already fire him from the police department?”
    “No. He hasn’t been fired. He was working on the side to try to figure out what happened to John. You know he’s always wanted to do that.”
    “I know. He’s been like a bear with a honeycomb stuck on his paw. We’ve talked about it a few times. I think he would’ve been better off hiring a private detective than becoming one. Lilla and I would’ve been glad to foot the bill if the Lee family isn’t interested.”
    “It’s not that they aren’t interested. They believe what the police said. Paul and I have learned better.”
    Ranson quickly polished off a slice of cheese pizza and took a few sips of beer. “He’s got a family now, Margaret. He can’t go off on these wild hares looking for what happened to his daddy. He has to consider his daughter and Mai.”
    “I know. I had no idea what he was doing.”
    “He lives close by.” Ranson chuckled. “You’re not up in his business enough. That’s what mothers are for. Ask Lilla if you don’t believe me.”
    “If we can get him out of this mess with his job intact, I’m sure it will be a while before Paul uses his PI license again.”
    “And can you get him out of this?”
    Peggy frowned. “I hope so, Dad.”
     
    Spiraea
    Sometimes considered to be a pest, spiraea shrubs are in the Rosacea family and have been known as medicinal plants for hundreds of years. The shrubs contain salicylates, such as those found in aspirin, and may have been the first source of the drug.

Chapter Thirteen
     
    Peggy and her father talked in the kitchen until her mother yelled over the rail upstairs that it was time to go to bed. They separated with a hug, and Peggy curled up with Shakespeare for the night in her bed.
    It seemed as though she’d just gone to sleep when she heard loud banging and conversation outside. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was five a.m., just barely starting to get light. She’d forgotten how early deliveries came since Sam had taken over that part of the business.
    Yawning,