Page 111 of Demon and the Raven

“Nice of you not to leave the work for your underlings on a Sunday,” I said.

“No. It’s simply good service. I can’t let my customers down, and especially not Father Dennis. I think you get in trouble with God if you let a priest give a homily in front of dead flora,” he said, chuckling. “But at least I can save this one. It’s the only one alive out of the whole bunch.”

“It looks like it’s on its last legs,” I noted.

“No, it’ll be fine. But I gotta get it back to the nursery and then return with replacements so people don’t think Father Dennis and the nuns are killing plants.”

“Tanner did a really bad job, didn’t he?”

He nodded. “Whatever the opposite of a green thumb is, that’s what he had.”

“You didn’t let Tanner touch any of the plants at Sanctuary, did you?” I asked, scared of the answer.

“Are you kidding?” He shot me a look like I was nuts. “That’s my baby. Plus, my team, and above all, Carmella—you know, you’ve met her—she’s way too careful about who she lets go where and when in there. She runs a tight ship.”

His assistant manager had always been very nice to me.

“You’re never gonna believe this, but Carmella found the plants someone used to poison the bees. You know, Diana Flint’s bees and Ken Slater’s?”

“She did?” Lorne crossed his arms, looking at Mal. “Where were they?”

“In our dumpster. Carmella noticed soil and checked it out because when we lose anything at the nursery, we put it in our compost bin. So she was surprised to find these plants with flowers on ’em. I can promise you, Lorne, we had nothing to⁠—”

“No. I know. And Amanda has replaced the hives for both Diana and Ken, so if those plants are safe to be in your compost bin, then go ahead.”

“No, we’ll put ’em in the incinerator. Once they’re ashes, then they’ll be safe. I wanna make sure. And I was going to report it anyway.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And hey, speaking of, Carmella found something else in the trash that she thinks Tanner stole from Amanda Sterling’s office. She remembers seeing it there when she and her husband bought their house earlier this year. It’s like a little, I dunno, like a⁠—”

“Broom?” Lorne asked him.

“Yeah,” Mal said, smiling brightly. “Like a baby broom with dried plants all over it.”

“It’s called a besom,” Lorne told him, “and Amanda was missing it.”

“I’m so sorry, but if you would let her know that Carmella has it in her truck, and she’ll run it over there tomorrow.”

“I will,” Lorne said with a long sigh, as relieved as I was to know Mal was himself.

“That’s weird, don’t you think? Stealing something like that?” Mal mused, looking at me.

“Weird and a bit creepy,” I assured him.

“Agreed. That’ll teach me to listen to Pace when he makes recommendations on people to give a job to.”

“Oh? He’s the one who suggested you hire Tanner?”

“Yeah, and get this. Tanner convinced Pace to sell Haskell Manor to Abundant Life, but it turns out Pastor Wilkins never wanted that deal. They can barely fill up the one-room building they have now.”

“It was probably Tanner who wanted the building,” Lorne proposed.

“Yeah. Looking back on it, I knew better. I had a weird feeling in my gut from the first time I met the guy that I ignored. I should have listened to the little voice, ya know?”

He should have. Always. I was amazed at how many moments of warning most people missed simply second-guessing themselves.

“You should never do that,” I cautioned him.