Free Pretty Poison by Joyce and Jim Lavene Page B

about Ronda. But she wasn’t going to take any chances with Mr. Cheever’s life.
    Sam called in a few minutes later. “I talked to Brenda and Dawn today. Both of them have their keys. How about the cleaning and bug people?”
    “They’re fine. I knew they would be. But something interesting happened.” Peggy picked up the Visa receipt. “The brunette who was in here with Mark before he died came by and ordered some flowers for his funeral.”
    “Did you ask if she has a key?”
    She laughed at him. “No, I didn’t. Did you take that key to Mai?”
    “Yeah. She was okay. I got my fingerprints made. I saw Paul. He grunted at me and left right away.”
    “That’s my son. What did Mai say about the key you found?”
    “She didn’t say much of anything. The prints on it were blurred. She didn’t think they could get anything from it and didn’t seem to think it meant much. But she kept it anyway.”
    “Check with Keeley tonight. You have that delivery to make to South Park Mall, don’t you?”
    “More pansies, right? Yeah. I’ll be glad when autumn’s over. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. We can compare notes.”
    Peggy hung up and glanced at the big clock by the door. It was almost six p.M. Time to close up. The shop looked empty, but their new policy was to walk through and check it out. Maybe they could avoid any other unpleasant surprises.
    The courtyard outside was deserted. The lights had been on for an hour already with the early fall twilight. She saw Emil and Sofia locking up for the night and hurried out to catch them.
    Sofia put her heavily ringed hand to her throat as Peggy approached them. Her dark eyes widened dramatically. “You startled me! After that murder, who knows what to expect?”
    “Sorry,” Peggy said. “I needed to talk to you a minute.”
    “I took a precaution anyway.” Emil brought out a huge handgun and pointed the barrel in Peggy’s face.
    “Stupid!” Sofia slapped his hand.
    Peggy’s knees shook. It wasn’t bad enough he had the gun in her face, Sofia had to surprise him!
    “What?” He put the gun away. “I was only showing her.”
    “You were showing everyone else, too! You want the robbers and murderers to know you’re armed?” Sofia slapped him again. “You’re such an idiot sometimes.”
    “A gun is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Peggy managed to say in a strangled voice. “John worked a few cases where the person breaking in took the gun away from the homeowner and shot him with it.”
    “It’s not loaded,” Emil assured her. “It’s just to scare the bad guys. They don’t know I won’t kill them dead.”
    “If you meet one, you’ll be forced into showing him what you’ll do,” Peggy answered.
    “Did you want something important?” Sofia asked her, tapping her foot impatiently.
    “I was wondering if you still have the key to my shop.”
    “Sure.” Emil took the key out and showed her. It was attached to a ring that held at least fifty keys, but he went to it without hesitation. “Did you lose yours?”
    Peggy explained about the key they found behind the shop. Emil grumbled about people being careless and asked to see the key he gave her for his shop. Sofia complained about standing in the cold courtyard.
    “Thanks anyway,” Peggy said. “I guess I’ll go and close up now.”
    “You want us to wait for you?” Emil offered.
    “No, thanks. I’ll be fine. See you tomorrow.”
    Music from the French restaurant kitty-corner from the Potting Shed spilled out into the empty courtyard. The wind swept away a few sandwich wrappers left behind by careless diners. Peggy shivered in the chill and hurried back into her shop.
    If the last two days weren’t enough to put her on edge, Emil’s gun in her face did the trick. She felt like going into a closet, locking the door, and cowering in the corner. She didn’t want to think about what could’ve happened if the gun was loaded.
    She pulled the old-fashioned shade down