The warm night was turning cold as Ellie sat on Lilith White’s front porch and waited with Beau. After she’d discovered Lilith’s body, she’d grabbed her phone and immediately called not 911, but Will Murphy himself. It had only taken him five minutes to arrive and a couple deputies followed not long after him. They’d gone inside and began to tape things off and take photos while waiting for the medical examiner to arrive.
Will had checked with Ellie to make sure she was all right before he’d headed inside. She’d assured him that she was fine, a little shocked, but otherwise unscathed. After discovering her first dead body, the second one didn’t come with quite the same punch.
Ellie kept one arm wrapped around Beau and waited for Will like she’d been instructed. She wasn’t looking forward to what would come next. Questions would be coming her way and she went over her story in her head a few times to make sure she didn’t say anything that might put her in an incriminating light.
Footsteps approached and Ellie looked up to see a balding man in what she guessed was his early forties. “Sorry,” she told him as she stood to greet him. “I don’t think anyone’s allowed to go in.”
“He’s okay,” Will said as he opened the front door. “Ellie Reid, this is Martin Snyder. It appears Tony, the coroner for the tri-county area, has taken an opportune week to head to Mexico. Martin here is helping us out.”
“Pleasure,” Martin said as he extended his hand to Ellie. “Sorry for the delay, detective. You lucked out. I was on vacation in the area.”
Ellie shot Will a confused look. “We worked together in Milwaukee,” he explained. “I remembered that Martin and his family own a cottage not too far from here, and hoped that perhaps they’d taken advantage of it with the unseasonably warm weather.”
“You assumed correctly,” Martin said. “Now please, show me the body.”
Experienced or not, Ellie thought the man lacked some serious tact. If she’d been a more sensitive or fragile person, hearing him refer to Lilith as simply ‘the body’ could have only made things worse.
“Wait here, Ellie,” Will instructed as he led the fill-in coroner inside.
Ellie bristled at his command, but she forced herself to remember he was just doing his job. Coming from a big city, Will had probably seen his fair share of deaths and knew what he was doing. Still, she thought she’d at least earned the courtesy of being a little more polite.
A few minutes later, Will emerged from the house. Sensing her apprehension, Beau rested his chin on her knee and she stroked his head as Will sat down beside her.
“Any lookiloos?” he asked her as he sat down beside her.
“Not yet,” Ellie assured him. “I think between it being dark and late, and the temperature dropping, people aren’t out and about.”
“Good,” Will said. “Now, I have to ask you a couple things. What were you doing here? Did you break in?”
“Of course not,” Ellie said. She explained to him how they hadn’t seen her at the latest book club meeting and she decided to check in on her. “The door was unlocked,” she told him. “I got worried and decided to go in and check on her. That’s not illegal, is it?”
“No,” Will said. “Given the circumstances. But you held another book club meeting? It might not be my place to ask, but why?”
Ellie knew it wasn’t the whole truth, but she said, “In Abbie’s memory. The ladies all said they wanted to continue as a tribute to her. We thought she’d want us to.”
“Did Lilith want to continue as well?” Will asked.
“She was the first to mention it to me,” Ellie told him. “That’s why I was so worried when she didn’t show up. Not to speak ill of the dead, but Lilith was a bit of an attention seeker.”
“I’d noticed,” Will said.
“Everyone did,” Ellie agreed. “So it was a real shock that she wasn’t there. For a woman who lives on attention, there was no reason for her to miss the meeting where she’d be in the center of it. That’s why I came out here.”
“You should have called me,” Will told her. His voice was stern, and Ellie worried she was in some real trouble. “What if the killer was still here? What if you’d been hurt?” It was then that she realized he wasn’t mad, but concerned. The realization made her belly flutter and she distracted herself from it by petting Beau.
Ellie was about to assure him that she was okay, that she had Beau with her and had her phone at the ready when the front door opened. She didn’t get the chance. Martin stepped outside and Will stood to speak with him.
“Well, I think we can confirm what you were telling me before,” Martin said before Will pulled him a few steps away from Ellie.
“Are you thinking it’s poison?” Will whispered. It was obvious to Ellie he wanted to keep from being heard, but her ears were sharp. He could whisper all he wanted, but unless they moved down the street, she was going to catch every word.
“Until your medical examiner takes a look, I can’t confirm anything,” Martin whispered in return. “But the purple staining on her lips and tongue makes me think that nightshade is your likely culprit.”
Nightshade? Ellie thought. She strained her ears to hear more and caught Will saying, “Damn, just like the last one.”
“I’ve called a bus to come pick her up,” Martin said, speaking a little louder now. “They should be here shortly.”
“Good, good,” Will said. “Thanks for helping us out, Martin.”
“Any time,” the coroner assured him. “I’ll send you my write up in the morning.”
“Thanks,” Will said, and then turned to Ellie once Martin had walked past her and back toward his car. “You mind waiting a few more minutes?”
“Sure,” Ellie said as she tried to stifle a chill.
Despite her attempt, Will must have noticed it. He slid off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders before he headed back into Lilith’s house.
While she waited, Ellie texted her grandmother to let her know what was going on. She left out most of the details, but gave her enough information to know that they were now dealing with a double murderer and that Ellie herself was safe.
With the text sent, Ellie’s mind focused on what she’d overheard. Both Abbie and Lilith had been murdered with nightshade. From the books she’d read, Ellie knew just how dangerous the plant could be at the right dose. She also knew the pretty purple plant and its dark berries looked harmless enough in any garden. Whoever had poisoned both women may have ordered it online, but she had a stronger suspicion that someone in Dundurn was growing the deadly flower.
“Ellie?” Will’s voice echoed in her ears and brought her out of her deep concentration. She’d been trying to think of the gardens she saw around town while she walked Beau and if any of them had purple flowers in them. So far, she hadn’t been able to think of too many with unique flowers in the right shade, but couldn’t be sure.
“Yes?” she asked.
“We’re going to have to get an official statement from you,” Will told her. “Once we’ve removed... well, you know. Once we’re done here, I’m going to need to take you down to the station.”
“Am I a suspect?” Ellie asked, her pulse quickening.
“No,” Will said as an ambulance arrived. There were no sirens, no flashing lights. Nothing to draw attention. There was no need for noise or lights, not when the ambulance had no reason to rush. “Of course, I won’t deny it could look a little strange to an outsider that you discovered both bodies, but I see no reason to call you a suspect. I will need an official statement for the record, though.”
“All right,” Ellie agreed as if she had a choice.
Ellie stepped off the stoop as the paramedics did their job. Despite the situation, they worked quickly and wasted no time at all. With everything done, Will left the deputies to seal off the house and led Ellie to his car.
“Beau okay to ride in back?” Will asked as he opened the door for the pooch.
“Sure,” Ellie confirmed, and Beau happily hopped in the back of the tan sedan.
With Beau in back, Ellie got in the passenger seat while Will got behind the wheel. Ellie normally didn’t have any issue striking up a conversation with people, it was part of why she was so good at her job, but something felt different with Will. What was worse, he wasn’t speaking to her either. So Ellie spent the entire short car ride thinking about who in town would know enough about plants and poisons to successfully grow and cultivate deadly nightshade.
Bit by bit, she went through the neighborhood in her head, but didn’t get very far before Will put the car in park. They were at the station again and Ellie really wasn’t happy about the fact that this was becoming a normal occurrence in her life. Until recently, she was proud to say the only reason she’d been in a police station was to give a statement when her purse was stolen.
Of course, that had changed when she’d had to go to the local station a few months before she’d left Chicago to bail her then ex-husband out when he’d been brought in for public intoxication. Despite their divorce being finalized, she was still the person he’d called to get him out of a jam. Ellie just assumed that’s what she got for being the responsible one, and made sure to tell Alex that the next time he was going to do something stupid, he should call his new girlfriend.
Oh, Ellie knew all about her. The ink on the divorce papers was still drying when Ellie started getting texts and messages from her friends telling her all about Chantal.
“You coming?” Will asked, his voice bringing Ellie back to reality. In spite of the circumstances, she was happy to have something to distract her from the rabbit hole of her ex. Moving away from Chicago was supposed to help keep him from her thoughts, and trying to solve a murder – now two – was definitely doing wonders for that.
Still, he crept in now and then.
“Yeah, sorry,” Ellie said as she opened the back door for Beau and led him toward the station.
It was late and thankfully the station was deserted. With privacy, there was no reason for Will to lead her into another investigation room. Instead, they sat at his desk, Beau at her heel, while he booted up his computer.
While she waited, Ellie looked over Will’s desk. She’d had the impression that he was a neat and organized guy, but his desk made her think otherwise. Papers were piled haphazardly, a couple of half-finished coffee cups were sitting by his monitor, and a few kids’ toys were strewn about. It painted a very different picture of Will Murphy than the one Ellie had already started to form in her mind.
“Okay,” Will said as he got the computer running. “Just tell me everything you said earlier, don’t leave anything out.”
“Just like last time,” Ellie said with an attempt at a light laugh. Getting accustomed to giving statements to the police was not something she ever thought she’d do. It took a few minutes and Ellie had to repeat herself a few times to make sure Will got her entire statement down, but after a while, he turned the monitor toward her so she could read it over.
“Let me know if I missed anything,” Will said, but after a quick once over, Ellie saw he’d gotten it all. Every last detail.
“I’m going to print this for you to sign,” Will told her once Ellie confirmed everything looked correct. “If you want to call someone to give you a ride home, I’ll be right back.”
“Oh,” Ellie mumbled. “Um, sure, okay.”
She’d gotten it in her head that Will would be taking her home and now that he wasn’t, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Despite how they kept meeting, she did find herself enjoying the time they spent together.
While Will went over to the printer, Ellie used his phone to call her grandmother. After having to promise her eight ways from Sunday that she would fill her in on all the details in the car, Ma’May finally agreed to come pick her up right as Will returned with her statement to sign.
“You sure you’re doing all right?” Will asked as Ellie signed her name on the paper. “There are counsellors we can have speak with you, if you’d like.”
“I’m fine,” Ellie assured him. “Honestly. I think it would be different if things were, you know, messy, but I really think I’m okay.”
“You’re one tough cookie,” Will told her as he filed away the statement. “Come on, I’ll wait with you for your ride.”
The night was cool, but with Will’s jacket, Ellie was warm enough. Part of her wanted to lean against him while they waited, but she thought better of it. Between not knowing how he felt about her and her definitely not knowing how she felt about him, it was better to avoid any undue awkwardness for the night.
Thankfully, Ma’May’s car pulled into the parking lot in less than ten minutes. Ellie knew she’d probably sped the whole way there, but she was glad to be able to call it a night there. She handed Will back his jacket and gave him a wave goodbye as she packed Beau into the car before she climbed in herself.
“Tell me everything,” Ma’May said as she put the car in drive. Her face was a mix of concern and fascination and Ellie sighed. She wasn’t exactly in the mood to rehash the story all over again, but did her best not to skip too many details.
When she was finally done, Ma’May asked, “Are you okay, dear? You can always take the day off tomorrow, if you want.”
“I think I may,” Ellie said as they pulled around the back of the building that housed the store and their shared apartment. “But not to mope. I have some serious work to do.”