Molly returned to the shop to find that May had already left. She had long since put all the keys back in the storage room in their newly sorted key pots. Molly had only another hour or so until her shift was supposed to end. She didn’t think she had the time or energy to try more keys on more locks without her twin sister. She filled Theo in on her interview with the detective and thought she’d call both Claudia and May on her way home to tell them the details.
It was busier in the afternoon than in the morning at the garden center. She was glad Aiden had showed up a bit earlier than he normally did, probably because he, like May’s kids, was in his first week of summer vacation.
Theo came and hovered over Molly, who was kneeling on the floor as she restocked and organized the display of gardening kneelers. He spoke in a hushed voice, bending down so his face was closer to hers: “Isn’t that the runner? The guy who discovered the broken bridge, the same person you saw yesterday morning really early? You know, when you and Claudia were there?”
“Brooks? Where? I need to talk to him!” Molly stood, her head swiveling wildly to catch a glimpse of the man. She wasn’t sure how he was involved with all of this, but she wanted to know. But would confronting him mean she wasn’t leaving the issue alone like the killer wanted her to? Was he really the killer? Would this also go against the detective’s instructions of being alone with someone she didn’t know?
“Outside. He just parked his blue car by the trail and is stretching. Like he’s getting ready to go on a run. I guess he’s going in the opposite direction.” Theo wasn’t looking at Molly, but stood with his hands on his hips, his line of sight on the far end of the parking lot. Molly strained to see where he was looking. “He parked behind that big silver van. You probably can’t see him anymore.”
“Theo, we have to talk to him!” Molly whisper-yelled.
“Yeah, yeah. I can finish what you’re doing. He’s still there, I think. I haven’t seen him head for the trail yet.”
“But the letter from this morning! What if the guy is watching the shop or something?”
“Oh, you’re right. Yeah. Yeah,” Theo said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. He paused for just a beat. “Okay. I’ll go talk to him.”
“You will?” Relief washed over her, along with gratitude for the loving person Theo was. “Can you ask him why he was there that morning? And ask what he found. And why he ran away from us …” Before Molly felt like she was quite done listing what she wanted to discuss with Brooks, she saw him emerge from behind the van and take off toward the trail, already running.
“I’ll let you know!” Theo said as he left at a sprint out the door behind Brooks. Molly was glad that Theo regularly wore running shoes to work. He was certainly much more fit than she was from playing on the minor league soccer team. She had no chance of catching the runner, but Theo definitely did.
Aiden looked up from behind the counter and made eye contact with her, a questioning look on his face. She shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned. The two customers that were nearby didn’t seem to have noticed Theo’s sudden exit. Molly watched as he ran across the parking lot. Theo was so much faster than she would have been.
Molly finished her restocking and stood behind the counter with Aiden, who rang up bags of topsoil and mulch for one of their customers. Theo would have offered to help load the purchase, but Aiden did not. The man didn’t seem to notice.
Molly didn’t even realize that Charlotte arrived for her shift because she was worrying about what was happening with Theo. He had been gone fifteen minutes. How long were they going to talk? Should she call the police for the second time that day? Maybe she should text him. He probably had his phone in his pocket, right? Did she just send Theo off into the woods with a killer who had committed murder on that very trail the week before?
To distract herself, Molly ducked into the staff area and went over the two living flower arrangement orders that May had put on the worktable for her. More succulents, this time with orchids. She’d need to order some orchids. The other order was for a funeral, with nothing specified. She knew she would enjoy the creativity of an open-ended project. Oh, where was Theo? Molly made some sketches for the funeral arrangement with white iris bulbs and white lilies with a small evergreen tree. She always thought evergreens were good in funeral arrangements. Should she add some twigs? Did that remind people too much of death in a morbid way? As she considered this, the front door chimed and Molly jumped. Was it Theo? She looked at her watch. It had been thirty-seven minutes since Theo had raced out the door. She’d normally be leaving for the day in a few minutes.
Molly put down her pencil and turned to leave the workroom. Theo collided with her before she was fully out of the doorway. He was out of breath, sweaty, and smiling.
“You are seriously not going to believe what Brooks just told me! You will never, ever guess. Ever,” he told her, eagerly making chopping motions with his hands with each syllable.
“Theo! You were gone so long! I was so worried!” She shoved him, but it was a loving shove, a show of concern. He still smiled and shook his head, waiting for her to guess at his announcement. “Okay. What is it? What did Brooks tell you? I’ll never guess.”
“Brooks is involved with Shannon,” he said, eyes wide.