Read Online Flowerbed of State by Dorothy St. James - Free Book Online Page B

I drew a shaky breath.
    I should have stayed at my desk letting the tick, tick, tick of the office clock pick at my nerves while I waited for the meeting time to arrive. Or I could have delayed my trip out to Lafayette Square until a few of the grounds crew had clocked in that morning instead of venturing out into the public park alone. Maybe then all of this trouble could have been avoided.
    For me .
    The woman I’d found in the trash can, she’d still be dead.
    “Do you know who she is yet?” I asked. “The woman I found?”
    The FBI agent nodded. “We do,” Cooper said. He seemed to be in charge. “Her name is Pauline Bonde.”
    At the mention of a name, Lorenzo vaulted out of my desk chair. His hands were shaking as he marched up to me. “What the hell were you doing out there? What was she doing?” he shouted. His face turned a deep red.
    “Now, see here,” Cooper said. “Let’s stay calm.”
    Lorenzo pushed the FBI agent out of his way. “I don’t know what you’re even doing here , Casey.” He threw open the door leading out of the office and disappeared down the hallway.
    I tried to follow. I couldn’t understand what had upset Lorenzo. Was he upset about the murder or the canceled meeting? It felt almost as if he blamed me for what had happened. That seemed terribly unfair.
    Something else had to be going on. Although we’d only been working together for a short time and, well, his solution to almost any problem in the garden was to sprinkle pesticides or a heavy-duty fertilizer on it, I wanted to win Lorenzo over as a friend. And friends helped each other.
    I tried to follow him but was blocked by the tall, hawk-nosed Wilson Fisher as he pushed his way into the office with the stack of paperwork tucked under his arm.
    “Ms. Calhoun, it’s imperative that you fill out these forms.” His hooked nose twitched and his shoulders hunched like a vulture’s. He dropped the bundle of papers on my desk. It landed with a thud. “Im-per-a-tive.” He stabbed the stack with his finger with each syllable. “This form is for employees injured on the job. This form . . .”
    I tuned out the rest.
    “I’ve also included requisition forms for the truckload of mulch you still haven’t filled out,” he said when he got to the bottom of the stack. “All of these must be completed immediately. I expect to see them on my desk first thing in the morning, if not sooner.”
    With that he turned on his heel and, his nose still twitching, marched out of the office.
    “Well, then.” Cooper’s brows furrowed as he watched Fisher go. “Well. Interesting . . . er . . . fellow. He seems very . . . thorough. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get started.”
    I kept my gaze on the door, not watching Fisher. I’d long given up trying to understand him. My concern was for Lorenzo.
    Cooper cleared his throat when he realized I hadn’t heard anything he’d been saying to me. “Ms. Calhoun, I understand you’re busy, but we really need your cooperation.”
    “Of course.” I tore my gaze from the door and forced myself to listen. “Was Pauline Bonde a White House employee?” If she was, Lorenzo might have known her.
    “No. The victim worked for the Treasury Department. We’re still trying to find out what she was doing in Lafayette Square so early in the morning. Was she heading to her office? Or was she going somewhere else? Do you remember seeing her?”
    When I closed my eyes, I could clearly picture her. But not alive.
    Should I have seen her? In my rush to pull the mile-a-minute weeds, had I missed the chance to notice Pauline or the man who must have been stalking her like a spider crawling down a dewy web in pursuit of its prey? Could I have stopped a murder? I shivered.
    “No,” I said. “I didn’t see her. I wish I had.”
    He gave a curt nod and then gestured to the nearest chair. “Please, sit down.”
    I sat.
     
    FOR THE REST OF THE DAY, THE TWO MEN TOOK turns probing and prodding,