Lyndsey Cole - Lily Bloom 02 - Queen of Poison (7 page)

Maggie walked out of the museum
and stopped next to Lily. “You’re just in time to meet the evil stepdaughter.” She continued on her way, laughing to herself.

Daisy asked Lily,
“Evil stepdaughter? Who was she talking about?”

“I don’t know but I’ve got goose bumps all over. This museum brings nothing but
distressing feelings after what happened at the opening. It’s all flashing back. Having Marion Barry dead in my arms—that dead weight was like a lifeless sack of potatoes. Let’s get these flowers where they belong and get out of here.”

Kirk Stevens was in
side talking to a woman. “Lily, come meet my daughter. I’ve been telling her all about your arrangements. Do you have the one I requested? With monkshood?”

“Yes. Where do you want me to put it?” She showed him the basket filled with monkshood and white lilies.

“Very nice. What do you think Brandy?”

Brandy was busy studying her nails giving the impression that she was totally bored with the situation. She leaned against the wall with her legs crossed and her brown hair hanging down around her face. Her skirt was a bit too short for the occasion and her age Lily thought.
How old was Kirk when she was born?

Brandy looked up. “Yeah. Whatever.”

Lily felt she had to say something in this awkward situation. “I’m sure you are very upset about your mother. I’m terribly sorry.”

Brandy gl
anced at Kirk. “She was my stepmother. Not exactly my favorite person.”

Kirk’s leg was nervously bouncing on the ball of his foot. He stroked Brandy’
s arm and laughed anxiously. “I’m sure she would appreciate it to know you flew all the way from California to come to the memorial gathering.”

Brandy ignored that comment. “When can we get out of here?”

“Come on, honey. I’ll show Lily where to put the flowers and then I’ll take you home.”

She shrugged. “I’ll wait here.”

Lily and Daisy followed Kirk. He kept looking back at Brandy until they entered another room. “This is where the memorial gathering will be. You can put the flowers here, just inside the door. Sorry to have to run, but, well—”

Lily interrupted, saving him from having to make up some excuse for Brandy’s rude behavior. “We’re all set.”

Kirk hurried back to where Brandy was waiting. Daisy put her hand over her mouth. But once they were alone, the giggle escaped. “Wow. She’s a prize. That must have been who Maggie was referring to.”

Lily was trying not to laugh too hard. “Kirk has some history we don’t know about
. I’m guessing Brandy didn’t like to share him with Elizabeth. For some reason she looks familiar to me.” Lily got back to business. “I need to find Evelyn to get her vases for these bouquets.” She walked to the back where the office was located.

“Listen Jared, you better come tonight. I don’t care what you thought of my sister.” Lily heard the sound of a phone slamming down.

Lily knocked on the door. Evelyn looked up and quickly put a smile on her face.

Lily asked,
“I have the flowers. You said you have some antique vases?”

“Oh, y
es.” She looked around her office then got up. She walked into the hall. “They’re in this closet.”

As Evelyn reached in, Lily noticed a
garden spade and dirty garden gloves pushed to the back.
Who would put dirty tools with valuable antiques?
She thought.

Evelyn quickly closed the door and showed the vases to Lily. “Will these work?”

“Yes. Perfect. Where do you want to put them?”

Evelyn walked to the front entrance. “One can go here on this table and the other will go in this other room where we will have the
memorial gathering.” She looked around. “Oh. You already put flowers here.”

“Kirk ordered those. He wanted monkshood in Elizabeth’s memory.”

“Really? That sounds a little morbid after what happened to Marion.” She pointed to another table. “You can put the other bouquet there. I have to get back to my office. Thank you so much Lily.” Evelyn hurried off to the back of the museum.

Lily and Daisy fixed the flowers in the vases, fanning them out so they looked cheery.
Lily looked around at the faces in the portraits staring at them. The museum felt cold and the quiet seeped into her bones. The quiet that makes you feel like something is lurking around every corner. “Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

Daisy mumbled
, “Since when did you become such a nervous Nellie? Maybe tonight, with people here, it will feel warmer to you.”

The rest of the afternoon flew by in a whirlwind of people coming and going in the shop. Lily didn’t have time to think about all the events or to worry about the
memorial for Marion and Elizabeth. Iris helped and Marigold was content to keep Sweet Pea company in the work room. The sound of the cash register and the phone ringing never seemed to stop. Jennifer and Katie took Rosie back to Ryan’s house. She felt safe now with her ex in jail and with Rosie watching over Katie.

Lily
was tired when she told Daisy it was closing time. “Let’s clean up the shop and get out of here before anyone else walks in.” Just as the words were out of her mouth, the door jingled and Nina Baldwin walked in. Lily saw who it was and frowned.
What could she want
? At least she didn’t have her camera in front of her face snapping pictures already.

“Lily, I’m so glad I caught you before you closed. I have some photos I want to show you.”

“I don’t have time now. Maybe after the memorial at the museum? Are you going?”

Nina hesitated. “Someone has been following me. I finally got a shot of her and I was hoping you might be able to identify her.”

Lily was surprised that Nina was asking her for help and she actually sounded subdued and a little worried. “Okay. Let me see.”

Lily looked at the photo. It was through a car window and a little hard to see the details until Nina zoomed in. “Oh my goodness. Yes
, I just met her today. That’s Kirk Stevens’ daughter.” Lily looked up at Nina. “How long has she been following you?”

“I’m not sure but I’ve noticed her for at least the last couple of days.”

“That’s strange. When I met her, Kirk said she had just flown in from California. Are you coming tonight?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Definitely. And make sure you get lots of photos of her. Along with everyone else attending.” Lily hesitated for a second. “Nina?” Lily put her hand on Nina’s arm. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you should try to be a little more casual. Try not to get right into people’s faces.”

Nina started to protest but stopped. “You’re not the first person to tell me that. I’ll work on it.”

***

Iris picked up Lily just before seven. Marigold and D
aisy were already in the car discussing how it wasn’t the same exciting feeling they all had just a few nights ago on the way to the museum opening.
How could so much happen in such a short time?
Lily thought.

Surprisingly, the street outside the museum was lined with cars.
There was probably a big curiosity factor for many of the people arriving. A double murder always brought that out in folks. Lily, Iris, Daisy and Marigold joined the line of people making their way into the museum. Somber cello music played in the background. It was a slow meander getting to the main room to give condolences to Evelyn and Kirk.

Of course, the folks going in all had theories about what happened since not much detail had been revealed yet. Lily did hear someone talk about poison and of course everyone had seen Lily’s picture on the front of the paper with the stolen painting. She felt glances her way but she kept her head high and ignored it all.

The main room for the memorial gathering had a table set up with photos of Elizabeth and Marion. The flowers had been moved between those two displays. Iris leaned over to Lily. “Your flowers are about the only cheerful thing in this room.” Until her eyes found Kirk’s daughter. She nudged Lily. “Look over there. Who is that? She looks like a street walker. ”

Lily whispered to Iris,
“That’s Kirk’s daughter. She’s a real prize.” Lily couldn’t believe that she was dressed in a too short, too tight, red dress. About as inappropriate for this occasion as it could be. She was making some kind of statement as she clung to Kirk’s arm.

Nina strolled over to Lily to say hi and showed Lily that she had her iPhone instead of the big camera she usually used for her job. “I took your advice. I won’t look as obvious with this.
I got here early and already have a boatload of photos.”

The line was
winding around the room so everyone could talk to Evelyn and Kirk. Evelyn pulled Lily aside when she reached them. “Have you seen Ruth yet?”

“I just got here.
I haven’t seen her.”

Evelyn scanned the room. “Oh, she’s just coming in. Please keep an eye on her for me.”

Lily turned to see Ruth, dressed all in black from her hat and veil down to her pointy black shoes. It was certainly an outfit from another era but somehow it suited Ruth’s nasty personality. She was alone and staring at Evelyn.

Kirk looked at ease except for his
occasional nervous glances at Brandy who looked like this was the last place she wanted to be.

Evelyn clapped her hands and told the gathering that she was going to say a few words about her sister. “The museum will continue as it always has. Marion was generous and handed it over
to me in her will. I won’t be—”

Ruth screeched,
“That wasn’t in her will. She wanted it to go to the town of Misty Valley.”

The
room fell silent for three seconds, then buzzed with chatter. Lily noticed Nina warily documenting it all with her phone.

Ev
elyn tried to get control. “Yes, Marion did consider that option but after consulting with me, she didn’t change her original will. I want everyone here to know that the Misty Valley Museum will continue as always and I’m appointing my son, Jared, to be the new director.” She put her arm around Jared and smiled like a proud mother.

Kirk’s face turned into an angry
, dark sneer. He stormed from the room with Brandy click-clacking after him on her high heels.

Maggie appeared at Lily’s side. “I told you. Evil stepdaughter. Fireworks. My mother doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing.”

Lily scanned the room and couldn’t see Ruth anywhere. She went out the way Kirk had gone and saw Nina ahead of her. Ruth was at the closet door taking the garden spade out. Lily grabbed Nina’s arm and pulled her into an alcove so they wouldn’t be seen but they could hear voices coming from the office.

Lily whispered in Nina’s ear
, “Go find Ryan Steele. I’m going to listen to what’s going on in there.”

Nina was wide eyed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Go. And don’t lose your phone with those photos.”

Lily tiptoed closer to the open office door.
She sensed someone behind her but then everything went black.

Lily opened her eyes to see her mother’s face.
Iris’s mouth was moving but Lily couldn’t hear any words. She focused on the smile lines around Iris’ mouth as they smoothed out when she talked. Ryan crouched down next to her. Concern was written all over his face. His wonderful scent drifted to her nose. She noticed how extremely handsome he was; the dark shaggy hair and deep chocolate eyes that she was getting lost in. Slowly, the sounds around her started to register.

“Lily. Lily. What happened?” She looked from
one face to another with no reply. She stared and tried to remember but she didn’t even know where she was or why she was lying on a cold hard floor.

Tamara’s voice penetrated the fog. “She must have a concussion. What was she doing back here anyway? Did she fall?”

Nina pushed her way next to Ryan. “We were following someone. All dressed in black. And Kirk Stevens and that woman in red. Lily told me to get you.” Nina’s voice trembled, obviously shaken up by the events.

Evelyn arrived all out of breath, took one look at Lily on the floor and fainted into Iris’ arms. Iris lowered her to the floor. “She won’t be any help.”

Ryan checked the office and came out shaking his head. “No one is in there. Nina, did you hear or see anything else?”

“
We saw the woman in black take a garden spade out of the closet. We hid in that alcove so we didn’t see where she went but we could hear people in the office. Lily must have gone closer after I left.”

Ryan picked Lily up and gently placed her on a small couch in the office. He stroked her cheek. She squeezed his hand and her mouth crinkled a little at the edge. Relief flooded his voice. “Now that I can see you’re going to be alright, I ought to knock you out myself for being so careless.”
He looked around, searching for Iris or Daisy. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her get up.” He strode out of the room on a mission.

Tamara helped
Evelyn into the office. She was still a little shaky but would be fine, especially since Iris broke her fall as she fainted. Tamara fluttered around taking control, making sure Lily was comfortable and finding a chair for Evelyn.

Evelyn
looked around the office. “What happened?”

Ryan came back in with the garden spade. “Is this yours
, Evelyn?”

She blanched. “Where did you get it?”

“It was outside the back door. Nina saw Ruth take it out of your closet in the hall.” He didn’t take his eyes from her face. She looked everywhere but at Ryan.

Maggie rushed into the office, saving
Evelyn from answering Ryan’s question. “Mom, are you okay? Jared said you fainted.”

Evelyn
got up from the chair. “I need to get back to the memorial before everyone has more to gossip about.”

Maggie started to follow but Ryan held her arm. “Wait a minute. I have some questions for you.”

Her face took on a blank expression.

“Did you leave the main room?”

“I’m here now.”

“Okay. A smart aleck. Did you leave at any time before you came to find your mother?”

Maggie started to walk away, then turned and looked at him with disdain. “I don’t have to answer your questions. Why don’t you ask Kirk Stevens where he went? And while you’re at it, what about that woman he’s trying to pass off as his daughter? Have you seen how they act when they think no one is watching?” She smiled when she saw the shocked looks on their faces. “I guess you hadn’t noticed that yet,” she said as she left the office.

Tamara was the first to
respond. “That girl needs a good kick in the butt. She is the rudest thing I’ve seen in a long time. What did she mean about Kirk and his daughter?”

Nina was scanning through her photos. “Look at this. I have it all here.
I was here early and was taking photos of the paintings. Kirk and his daughter are in the background in the hall here. It’s kind of blurry but it sure looks like she’s all over him. More like a lover than a daughter.”

Ryan took her phone. “Why would he pretend she was his daughter?”

Iris rolled her eyes. “Are you serious Ryan? He had a wife who was just murdered a few days ago. How would that look to show up at a memorial gathering with a hot younger girlfriend?”

Lily tried to sit up
but couldn’t quite manage. “Can someone get me some water?”

Nina
rushed back with a cup of water. “Look what I found in the bathroom.” She held up a brass sculpture of a tulip.

Ryan carefully took it from Nina and examined it. At the top, between two petals, he pulled out a
couple strands of blonde hair. “This looks like Lily’s hair. I’ll get this checked for prints.”

L
ily finally managed to prop herself up on one arm. “Nina, check your other camera with the photos from the opening. See if she’s in any of those.”

Nina was excited. “
I don’t have it with me. Maybe that’s why she’s been following me.”

Ryan watched Nina. “Why didn’t you tell me about being followed?”

“I—ah—didn’t think it meant anything.”

Lily was sitting up. “I feel a lot better. Let’s get back to the
memorial and see what’s going on there.”

Daisy sat next to Lily. “I’ll stay here with you.” She looked at the others. “Lily’s right. You should get back out there. Nina, keep taking photos.”
Everyone reluctantly left.

Lily grinned and said to Daisy, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Daisy stood up and looked around the office. “Where do you want me to start?”

“Try the desk drawers.”

“What are we even looking for?”

“Maybe
we’ll be lucky and there will be a folder marked ‘murder information’.” Lily laughed.

Daisy quietly opened the top middle drawer. Nothing but pens, markers and other office supplies, all neatly arranged in separate slots
. The right side of the desk had two shallow drawers and one deep drawer and the left side had a drawer for hanging folders. Daisy started to open the top right drawer but changed her mind and pulled open the left drawer. Most of the folders had typed labels and a few were hand written. All the folders were arranged alphabetically according to a type of flower. “Nothing labeled ‘murder information’,” she noted as she quickly shuffled through the folders. “But let’s take a look inside this one.” She had a devious grin as she showed Lily a folder labeled ‘Aconitum’.

Lily was excited. “Bring it over here.
Aconitum, common name—monkshood.” Daisy sat next to Lily as they looked through the file. It was filled with pages of detailed drawings and pictures of every part of the plant. Beautiful blue monkshood to a less common yellow variety. The last page in the folder was labeled ‘The Queen of Poison’.

Lily picked up her tote and dropped the whole folder in.

Daisy was shocked. “What are you doing?”

“We need to spend more time looking at thi
s.”

“Looking at what?” A voice startled them. They both looked up to see Jared standing in the doorway.

“What are you two doing in here? This is my mother’s office.”

Lily put her hand to her head and felt the goose egg bump with crusty hair stuck to it.
“I guess you didn’t hear. Someone knocked me over the head and I needed a place to rest for a few minutes.”

Jared frowned. “You look fine to me. You need to leave.”

Lily slowly stood up with Daisy’s help. “Congratulations on your appointment as director of the museum, Jared. It’s too bad your aunt isn’t around to share in your achievement.”

His face softened a little and he seemed to puff out his scrawny chest. “I’ve got big plans for the museum. I want to bring it into the twenty
-first century and move away from all these boring dingy flower paintings she was so fond of.”

“Oh?”

“I have some installation art ideas and a big photography exhibit. Not just flowers.”

“Well, I hope you still continue the Art in Bloom tradition. It’s something everyone in town looks forward to.
You might not know that since you haven’t been living here.”

Lily picked up her tote and walk past Jared holding onto Daisy’s arm. She tried to remain calm, hoping he didn’t see the corner of the folder sticking out of the tote.

“Wait a minute.” Jared’s grating voice stopped them cold. “Did you drop this?” He held out a set of car keys.

Lily
took them. “Not mine. These belong to someone who owns a Honda.”

Jared mumbled under his breath. “Must be Brandy’s. What was
she
doing in here?”

Daisy giggled. “I can think of something she and Kirk might have been doing.”

Jared’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Kirk and Brandy?” His face turned to disgust as her meaning dawned on him. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Lily put the keys in her pocket. “I’ll give them to Kirk.”

By the time Lily and Daisy got back to the main room most people were gone. Evelyn was flitting around saying thank yous and goodbyes. Kirk was lurking in the background without Brandy. He looked angry and was watching Evelyn.

Lily made her way to stand next to Kirk. “Where’s your daughter? Did she leave already?”

Kirk plastered a friendly smile on his face. “Brandy? She wasn’t feeling well so I took her home.”

“That’s too bad. I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss the big event.” Lily took the keys out of her pocket. “
Does Brandy drive a Honda?”

Kirk
ran his fingers through his hair. “What?”

“
Does Brandy drive a Honda? Did she lose her keys? I found these and someone said Brandy drives a Honda.”

“Where did you find them?”

“In Elizabeth’s office. Well, I guess it’s Evelyn’s office now. On the couch.”

His eye started to twitch. “What were you doing in Elizabeth’s office?
”

“
I guess I could ask you the same thing about Brandy? So, are these her keys?”

“You ask a lot of questions
, Ms. Bloom. Yes, I think they are.” He took the keys and walked over to Evelyn who was finally standing alone.

Kirk put his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn and look at him. “I can’t believe you did that Evelyn. I thought we had an agreement.”

“I only said I would consider your offer to be the new director but I decided Jared is a better fit. I’m sure you understand.” She patted his arm in a conciliatory manner.

He jerked away from her.
“Don’t patronize me. Understand? Why would I understand? This isn’t how it was all supposed to end,” he hissed. “You’ll regret double crossing me.”

Kirk scanned the room and his steely glare targeted Lily. He pointed a smooth finger in her direction before shouting
, “You’ll be sorry too.”

The room was spinning around Lily. Everything was moving in slow motion like she was
moving through Jell-o. Then everything went black. For the second time that night.