Under His Protection

Chapter Three

The next day Lisa was still fuming, and the best thing for her temper was to dig in the dirt. Leaving Kate to oversee the register, she repotted new stock and replaced the plants in the smaller gardens that had been sold in the past few days. She scrubbed terra-cotta pots, clipped cuttings, clipped herbs and tied them to dry, then deadheaded flowers. Anything to keep her mind off Nash Couviyon and the fact that he thought she was capable of killing another human being. It made her ill. And it hurt.

Lord, it hurt.

Obviously whatever relationship they’d had—and she still wasn’t certain they’d had a real one—meant nothing. Not when you’re faced with murder charges, she supposed.

Peter was dead. She grieved for him of course, but it was mild. That shamed her. She’d been his wife, in name only for the past three years. Still. He didn’t deserve to die, although she’d learned quickly in their marriage that he wasn’t a very nice person. Once she wore his ring, he’d become controlling, manipulative, obsessive.

He’d damn near driven her crazy in a few short months. And she’d learned her true purpose in his life. Be pretty, behave, give great parties, and schmooze…

A trophy wife.

Boy, did he learn he’d chosen poorly. And so did she. She’d left and started over. Started over a couple of times, in fact, she mused, and now she had every cent she’d earned in the past three years sunk into this house and her nursery business. She’d done most of the work herself and business was steady. Temple Couviyon had steered some contractors her way for her more exotic plants. Life was getting back to good, she thought, and felt as if she’d spent a century getting to this very moment.

And now it could be over. If word leaked out that she was a suspect in a murder case, she’d be ruined. Her reputation would be shot.

Shaking her head, she plowed her hands deep into the potting soil she was mixing. Though the fresh compost smelled fine, the stench of cow manure was strong enough to make her eyes water.

It was how Nash found her. Elbow deep in black dirt, pausing to add vermiculite to the mix. Outside the greenhouse, she kneaded and folded the soil, and although there were tears in her eyes, her expression said she wasn’t crying. She looked on that road between pissed off and pleased.

Nash wasn’t sure he should interrupt. “Lisa?”

She hesitated, then kept folding dirt in the large galvanized tub.

“What is it, Detective?” Lisa recognized his voice instantly, almost felt his presence before he spoke. It was irritating as hell that he could still do that to her.

He moved to her side. She glanced at him.

The impact of those green eyes left him momentarily hurting for air. “Peter was poisoned.”

Her head whipped to the side, her eyes wide. “Good Lord, how?”

“That we don’t know yet. Did he have heart trouble?”

She snorted and went back to mixing. “No. He was never sick. He’s…he was a guru about eating healthy foods, taking vitamins. Working out. It was really annoying that the man wouldn’t relax and just have fun. Be a slug, lie like a potato.” She bit her lip, knowing she’d said more than she should have. “I don’t think I should talk to you without a lawyer present.”

“You haven’t been charged.”

“And that makes a difference?”

“Cooperating will go in your favor. Do you want to impede an investigation?”

“I’ve told you all I can recall.”

“Except what you and Peter discussed, exactly.”

“He wanted me back… It doesn’t matter,” she said tiredly. “He was alive when I left him.” She moved to the sink and washed her hands. “I get it. You don’t have motive.”

“You were his wife—”

“Ex, or soon to be, at the time,” she stressed.

“—and you stood to gain. On the day of his death you were still legally married.”

“Splitting hairs, Nash. I didn’t ask for anything of his when I left him, and I hadn’t been his wife in any sense, including the biblical, for three years.”

Nash’s brows shot up. Where had she been all this time? “Not according to the legal system.”

“Fine. Have it your way. You always do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She turned, resting her rear against the sink edge and drying her hands. For a second she debated opening up this can of worms, then decided he could take a piece of the truth. “Four years ago you wanted me to wait around till you were ready for more than a few dates a month.”

Nash said nothing, bracing for the attack.

“You wanted me to be yours, but you weren’t willing to ever claim me. Even your brothers thought I was just a friend.”

The bitterness in her voice smacked him across the face. They’d shared a bed, shared each other, dammit. “So you went elsewhere?”

“I was still here before I met Peter and a couple of months after that.” She hooked the towel on a peg near the sink. “It doesn’t matter that it didn’t work out. At least I did something about it. Fish or cut bait, you know.”

“You’d have wanted to force me into something I didn’t want, then?”

She made a face. “No. Which is why I ended it.” So he wouldn’t feel he had to do the right thing because of their baby, she thought. “But that’s not the point. Face it, Nash. You weren’t ready for me.”

“You didn’t give me a chance.”

She made a sound between a laugh and disgust. “You had plenty of chances. You just didn’t want me the way I wanted you.” Forever.

There was hurt in her voice, a hint of it, barely disguised. She pushed past him, but didn’t make it far.

He caught her arm, the move putting her nearly against him. “My God, Lisa, did you think I didn’t care about you?” His gaze raked her face as he searched for something to grasp and knew he shouldn’t even be trying.

“Caring was all I got from you.” And a baby I never got to hold, she thought.

Nash struggled with his heart. He wanted to say things, things she needed to hear and he wanted to tell. But he couldn’t. Not when just looking at her pushed the heat simmering between them up a notch. Even in the apron and grubby T-shirt and steaming mad, she turned him inside out. He’d always felt incredible heat and electricity with her, more than anyone else. He’d never trusted it. And there was more here, this time. Yet the expression on her face said he didn’t have a chance. And the fact that he was prying into her life and considered her a prime suspect wasn’t helping his position. Did he want something with her? Was he willing to resurrect the past? No. Attraction was only about hormones, he thought, and forced himself to shut off the thoughts and turn up his cop brain.

He let her go. After a moment he asked, “What herbs and flowers do you use to make the teas?”

Back to detecting, she thought, rubbing the warmth from her arm. “For the bath I use lavender, rosemary, lemon balm…eucalyptus, if I have it. For drinking…mint, lemon mint, chamomile and catnip. A couple of other herbs if they’re growing well.” Her frown deepened. “Why?”

“I’m not at liberty to say right now.” Because he wasn’t certain how the digitalis got into Winfield’s system.

“Fine. Didn’t I tell you to talk to my lawyer next time you wanted to ask me anything?”

Nash pushed his fingers through his hair. “What are you hiding?”

“Not a thing.”

“Then talk to me.”

“Considering we have a past, I don’t think that’s wise.”

He knew she was right. It was almost a matter of pride to be objective with her stomping on his every effort. “I’m not trying to send you to jail over four-year-old jilted feelings, for pity’s sake.”

“Jilted, Nash? You have to be engaged to be jilted.”

With that she marched up the steps and into the house.

NASH SPENT the rest of the day trying not to brood and went through Winfield’s briefcase again. For a broker, there wasn’t much there. It was as if he’d put together this briefcase for just this trip. The PalmPilot gave Winfield’s schedule in New York, yet the appointments stopped the day he flew into nearby Charleston. There was a notation of a number. Nash called it. He got the Baylor Inn. Okay, nothing new there. What about the blank real-estate contracts in the victim’s briefcase?

He backtracked and called the man’s lawyer. After a ten-minute conversation in which Nash explained that his client was dead and privacy would only hinder finding out who killed him, the lawyer told him that Winfield had gone to Indigo to take up with old acquaintances and perhaps purchase property. No, the attorney said, he didn’t know what property Winfield was interested in. The record of Winfield’s calls from the hotel produced only one—to Lisa.

Nash spent the remainder of the afternoon calling Realtors and came up empty. Winfield hadn’t contacted any of the Indigo Realtors, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t searching outside the area. Maybe Winfield had been looking at real estate in Charleston, and was just using Indigo as a base because Lisa was here. Nash would have to widen his search and wondered what unsuspecting rookie he could sic on the job. Maybe Winfield spoke directly with the property owners?

Nash stared at the pile of evidence he still had.

Blank sale contracts. A PalmPilot that held nothing past the day he’d arrived and a laptop with a password even his best tech experts couldn’t get around. Then there was the picture of Lisa.

Talk to me, Winfield. Who wanted you dead?

He reached for the phone to call New York and see what the police had found in Winfield’s apartment, but caught a glance at the time. He muttered a curse and quit for the day, but when he was driving home, he decided to swing by the Baylor Inn and see if he could learn how the gift basket got into the hotel room. Although the concierge said all deliveries were recorded and signed for, the gift basket got past the reception desk somehow. This time, Nash went to talk to the lowest man on the totem pole. And struck gold.

The bellman, Mick, a young blond about eighteen, gave him an exasperated look. He was on his break and didn’t want to spend it talking to the police. “Look, man, I don’t know what else to tell you. It was the messenger service half the town uses. Mercury.”

Nash was relieved. Lisa had said she hadn’t delivered a basket. “Did you check it, stop them?”

“No. Not only is it not my job, they come in all the time—messages, flowers, deliveries from local shops. People vacation here, y’know, they buy stuff and don’t want to carry it around, so they have it delivered. The delivery people just go right to the room if they know which one. If no one’s there to accept it, they drop it off at the desk and I take it up later. I didn’t. Not to Mr. Winfield.”

This wasn’t the efficient picture the concierge had painted. “So you remember Winfield?”

The teen snorted. “Yeah, I do. He was a good tipper, but the man wanted you to practically cough up a lung for him for the cash.”

Nash smirked, wondering how Lisa could marry a guy like that. “Can you describe the messenger?”

“My height, black hair. Wearing a helmet, goggles and bike shorts.”

Nash had seen the riders around and made a note to call Mercury Messenger Service. At least he was getting somewhere. The searches on the other employees’ pasts would take a bit to compile. And read.

“What time was it when you saw the delivery?”

“About six.”

Nash dismissed the kid after handing him his card and reminding him that if he recalled anything else to phone him. The teen slouched away and Nash set out to find Kathy Boon; he was lucky enough to find her just starting her shift. She was in a second-floor storage room tying her sneakers.

She smiled brightly and the smile stayed there when he flashed his badge. “You caught me at a good time—I just got here.”

She was younger than he’d expected and she sure as hell didn’t look like a housekeeper. Peaches-and-cream skin was the first thing he noticed, then her eyes, crystal-blue and set gently in an angelic face. Rich, nut-colored hair surrounded her face and spilled onto her shoulders in fat curls. And man, did she have curves. Compact and wearing shorts and a polo shirt bearing the inn’s logo, she was adorable.

“Come on,” she said, curling a rubber band around the ponytail of hair. Still smiling, she inclined her head as she pushed a cart that looked too heavy for her to manage down the hall. “I didn’t think of anything else, Detective Couviyon.”

“It’s pronounced coo-vee-yon,” he corrected, smiling back. “Do you recall a messenger coming to Winfield’s room?”

She knocked on a suite door, called out, then let herself in with her passkey. “No, sorry. I didn’t see anyone but the redhead in lime-green. You should sit down, darlin’. You look exhausted.”

He was, and couldn’t recall the last time he ate, but continued, “Have you ever used the back stairs?”

“Good grief, no. Too steep and I don’t trust them. Plus, there’s no reason to trek up there.” She collected used glasses and plates, depositing them outside the door.

“Have you ever seen anyone go up there?”

“To the balcony? Only the guests use the balcony to watch the sunset. It’s eye-popping gorgeous, but I bet from up there, it’s magnificent.”

“Are you from around here?”

She kept her head down as she polished an antique clothes press. “No, farther north. Is there anything else, Detective? I’ve got six suites to clean and a double shift.”

Nash heard the sudden chill in her tone and frowned.

“Miss Boon?”

She looked up, her expression blank as a card.

“Is there something you’d like to tell me?”

She looked thoughtful and he wondered if his suspicion was valid. “No, I don’t think so.”

Her hand trembled a bit as she lifted a vase and dusted beneath it. Nash recognized fear. Of him or of something else? “If you do think of anything else, call me.”

She nodded mutely. He slipped out of the room and didn’t see her drop to the bed and cover her face with her hands.

THE NEXT MORNING, after leftover Chinese food and a lousy night’s sleep, Nash nursed a cup of double-shot cappuccino from the Daily Grind while he waited for Kilpatrick to show up. The coroner’s office wasn’t exactly his favorite spot to spend the morning, but a vague message from Quinn had gotten him there early.

“It’s a bold and brash lad who thinks he can put his feet on my desk.”

Nash slid his feet to the floor and smiled. “I’ve never been known for subtlety. Didn’t think you were so possessive.”

“Never assume, Couviyon,” Quinn said.

“So what did you find?” Nash asked.

Quinn looked insulted. “What? No ‘thank you, Quinn, for the extra hours and being brilliant? For breaking a date with the cutest creature to walk in this town in six months?’”

“Oh, yeah, who?”

“Kate Holling. Lisa’s employee.”

Nash frowned. He didn’t remember the woman beyond blond hair and gold lipstick with dark liner. Kate didn’t seem like Quinn’s type. He usually went for the more exotic. “So was it worth the overtime?” He gestured to the lab.

Quinn flicked on all the lights and Nash winced at the fluorescent glare as the man moved to the coffeemaker and started a pot. “You could have been gracious and done this, you know.”

“With all these chemicals? I’d kill us.”

Quinn flipped the switch and faced him. “I found the exact cause and the method.”

“No kidding?”

Quinn slid a faintly insulted look to Nash, then said, “It wasn’t digitalis.”