Lethal Lily (A Peggy Lee Garden Mystery) Read Online Free

the car. “Waffle House it is.”
    * * *
    The Waffle House was nearly empty. A waitress in a pink uniform with a nametag that said, ‘Candy’ on it, came up to them quickly with two cups of coffee. Peggy asked for tea, and they each ordered a waffle.
    When they were alone, Steve took Peggy’s hands in his. “Would you like me to go with you to see Harry? It doesn’t have to be official. I’m your worried husband. I don’t have to be there as an FBI agent interested in the case.”
    “In other words, I could head out with the full—though unofficial—weight of a large national security organization at my back?” She laughed. “That might spook him! I can handle Harry, even though I might be arrested for his murder before it’s over. He’s kind of crazy and has no idea what he’s doing.”
    “I remember him that way too.”
    “But I promise to call if I need your help.”
    He looked skeptical. “You didn’t call me before you went ‘undercover’ last night.”
    “Well, now our organizations are working together. I promise to call you—if you promise not to overreact every time something unplanned happens. I’ve been doing this kind of thing for a long time.”
    “You mean getting arrested, almost killed—that kind of thing?” His smile was doubtful.
    “Exactly.”
    Their waffles arrived, with Peggy’s tea, and they talked about normal things for a while. There were roofers working on their turn-of-the-century home. They’d both been surprised to wake up and find them there one morning a few days before.
    The three-story, twenty-five room house in Myer’s Park didn’t belong to Peggy. She’d lived there with John, who’d inherited it, but it would never belong to Paul. Now, she and Steve were there until John’s cousin decided to take possession of it. The house was maintained as part of a trust by the Lee family.
    The family wasn’t happy about Peggy living there now that John was dead, but it was pointless for the house to remain empty. John’s young cousin who’d inherited it traveled extensively as part of his job and had no plans to settle down in the near future. He’d asked Peggy to stay put so there was someone living there.
    Peggy loved the old house and wanted to live there as long as she could. Her basement was filled with her plant experiments, and her foyer had a large blue spruce growing in it. It was the perfect house for her. She secretly hoped she’d die there, and they’d take her out with a sheet across her head, so she wouldn’t see herself leaving.
    But being an old house, it had a lot of maintenance that had to be done. One of the problems right now was the roof. As the work was being done, the roofers had begun complaining about the English ivy growing across the old shingles.
    The plant was beautiful, but it could be invasive too. Twining tendrils and roots excreted a sticky substance that made it possible for the plant to climb on anything. Trying to get it off where it was the thickest had turned out to be a difficult job that had made the roofers want to charge extra.
    They were pushing to spray the roof and walls with herbicide, and kill the ivy. Peggy was totally against the practice since it would kill all the other plants in close proximity to the house. With the difference in price, John’s uncle, Dalton Lee—who was responsible for the house—wanted to do whatever the roofers wanted. It had been an ongoing battle.
    “How bad could it be to use an herbicide?” Steve poured more syrup on his waffle.
    “How bad?” Peggy stared at him over her cup. “Some of the rose bushes and azaleas close to the house are over a hundred years old. You can’t find those breeds anymore. They can’t be replaced. It would be devastating.”
    “Okay.” He smiled. “Sorry. Just that you and Dalton are formidable foes. I don’t see either of you winning.”
    “Dalton knows it would be a mistake. He doesn’t understand the value of plants, but he understands the