A Corpse for Yew Read Online Free PDF Page B

likeness ended for the most part. Paul had fiery red hair, like Peggy in her youth, and bright green eyes. He also had her temper, a fact that had put them at odds many times.
    “There you are!” He hugged her. “Are you okay?”
    “As good as can be expected.” She wiped away a stray tear that had somehow formed on her freckled cheek.
    “I heard what happened out there. Poor Mrs. Mullis. It had to be terrible for all of you. What were you doing out there, anyway?”
    “I was helping your grandmother with her group project of collecting bones for the historical society.”
    “You didn’t tell us that,” Sam said. “That makes it even better.”
    While Lilla explained the importance of collecting the bones from the dry lake, Paul offered to take his mother home. “You look like you could use some time on your own.”
    She was surprised and pleased by his perception. This from her son whom she sometimes despaired of understanding. Was that how her mother felt about her?
    Her cell phone rang, and when she answered, Geneva Curtis was on the other end. “Peggy? We need your help. Something’s wrong with what happened to Lois. We don’t think it was an accident. We’re at her house. Can you come over?”

3
    Zinnia
    Botanical: family Asteraceae
    These flowers, which have grown to be tremendously popular in the United States, are native to Mexico, where the Spaniards called them mal de ojos (ugly to the eye). They were first cultivated in Austria in 1613. In the language of flowers, zinnia means thoughts of absent friends.

    “I THINK IT IS PERFECTLY right for me to come with you,” Lilla said. “Even though I wasn’t invited, I was the one who introduced you to the group in the first place.”
    “That’s fine, Mother,” Peggy said for the tenth time since they’d left the Potting Shed. She hadn’t been happy about leaving the shop so soon, but her mother had convinced her that the ladies needed her. Unfortunately, there was no foot traffic coming through Latta Arcade. With a sigh, she agreed to close early so Selena could go home and study for a test while she went to meet with Geneva and the other ladies of the historical society.
    Paul, who’d made the decision to ride along with them, drove them to their destination in his new Jeep. He was proud of his new toy, even though it went against his mother’s beliefs in conservation. He didn’t have a problem with the internal combustion engine, a fact his grandfather found perfectly fine.
    “So, where are we going again?” Ranson Hughes, Peggy’s father, asked from the backseat as he held on to the roll bar. He’d arrived at the Potting Shed to pick Lilla up just as they were leaving. “I thought we were going out to supper with Steve.”
    “That’s next Tuesday, Dad,” Peggy reminded him.
    “I told you,” Lilla began, “we have to go and see the historical group. Margaret found a dead body, and they think there’s something at the dead woman’s house she should see.”
    “Then why aren’t we going in Paul’s squad car?” Ranson laughed. “I think we should have our sirens blazing for this emergency!”
    “Grandpa, I told you I can’t chauffeur my family around in a car that belongs to the city,” Paul said. “My boss wouldn’t take kindly to that.”
    “It sounds to me like you need to have a man-to-man talk with your boss,” Ranson replied. “He obviously undervalues you. You could go anywhere and get a job. You could go to Charleston!”
    “Not now,” Lilla whispered. “We just moved up here to see him and Margaret more often. What good would it do us if he moves back home?”
    Peggy put her hand to her sunburned forehead. She was starting to get a headache. It was just the day for it. She wished she could be more concerned about what the Shamrock Historical Society had to say about Lois’s death. But she was more worried about the lack of customers at the Potting Shed.
    She couldn’t afford a massive advertising campaign.