“It’s a brother’s duty,” he teased.
Just then Mo trotted up beside me looking very pleased with himself and smelling strongly of fertilizer. He stared straight ahead and whoofed softly.
I turned and spotted Vera at the checkout counter. She stood there directing the cashier as if she were managing the entire garden center herself while a cart full of flowers that had clearly seen better days waited beside her.
“Gotta go,” I said. “I’ll tell you more later.”
“Careful, Pepper,” Thomas warned.
“You as well,” I cautioned. “And don’t let Lola know that you know what she’s up to, not yet. You don’t want her to run. You want her arrested.”
“That’s exactly what I want,” he said and went to help a customer who waved at him.
I gave a quick glance to see what Mo was up to. He had wandered off again and was sniffing the last of the summercontainers now on sale. I knew which flower he was going for as soon as I spotted them.
“Don’t dare eat the marigolds,” I called out.
He sent me a look that had a couple nearby ready to soothe him.
“Let me help you with that,” I said, reaching Vera and taking hold of the flatbed cart before she could protest.
The flowers in it looked like they had seen better days—petunias drooping, marigolds faded, and a few geraniums that seemed to be holding on purely out of stubbornness.
Vera sniffed disapprovingly. “It is a disgrace to let flowers get to that point.”
I didn’t have the heart—or the time—to explain the workings of a large garden center. Instead, I talked with her as we walked to her vehicle.
I began loading the pots carefully into the back of her SUV.
“Vera, can I ask you something?”
“More questions, Pepper? Do you ever stop?” she said, annoyed.
“It’s important,” I said. “And I know you would never eavesdrop on anyone, but when you saw Henry Walker and Lola talking, by chance did you ever catch a snippet of what they talked about?”
“At least you know I would never do such a thing as listening in on other people’s conversations. I’ll give you that, Pepper.”
I smiled sweetly, hoping to encourage her.
“But when two people stand near a door and their conversation can clearly be heard in the vault, one cannot help but listen. Why Lola was so curious about bank security and safety deposit boxes was beyond me.”
Vera’s voice suddenly mimicked Lola’s and was quite good.
“Oh, it’s so wise of you to have top-notch security. How many boxes can a person have, sweety? Oh, it takes two keys toopen the boxes. So, it would take a drill to open one if one key was missing. How time-consuming. Oh, a locksmith is called in to drill the locks open. You are so interesting, Henry, and so irresistible.” Vera gagged. “She stroked his ego until he purred like a cat.”
Everything began falling into place, and I spoke without thinking, “She was gathering information.”
“About what?” Vera asked.
“About safety deposit boxes.”
Vera frowned. “Why would she want to know that?”
“For a reason I now just realized and would have never guessed if it hadn’t involved Thomas. Lola was looking for your notebooks.”
Vera’s brow narrowed. “You are not making any sense, Pepper.”
“Everyone knows you write everything down. Names. Observations. Who you saw and where.”
