Chapter Two - Murdered Under The Oak

Emma carried the first flat of the blood red Iceland poppies out of the garage with Boo at her side. The poppies would be planted enmasse in front of the giant yellow Daffodils that rolled all the way up to the right of her giant oak tree. She had four more flats of them and hurried to get them in the ground, and watered and fertilized quickly. With knee pads on she knelt down and began the project of separating the rick loam and lifting a single plant from the flat and into the ground. One after another and a few minutes later the flat was empty.

She shuttled back to the garage and brought out another flat and went through the process again. Boo had caught on and rather then accompany her to the garage he stretched out in the morning sun near the discard flats and watched her studiously transporting the flats then digging and planting, one after another after another.

When the last iceland poppie was planted she pulled the hose across the yard and with a light spray soaked the new bed of poppies. She knew they would bloom throughout the summer and attract beautiful butterflies. Their centers of black buttons and red kimino petals were a feast to the eye. To see them as a mass below the heads of the giant yellow daffodils would delight those lucky enough to be invited to her garden. She scurried back to the garage with her watering can and a bit of liquid fertilizer.

At ten thirty she stopped the planting and settled back for a rejuvenating cup of coffee. Sitting on the back porch steps her mind's eye was already envisioning the entire half acre of yard. The grass was thick and green, the slender brick walkways curved and passed each island of flowers, under the shade of the Oak tree and far down the back of the yard. Drew had put those in for her just the way she sketched it out on the kitchen table. Now two years later those pathways had aged and appeared to have been there for decades. Boopy sat beside her and she passed him small bits of her banana muffin. "Isn't it wonderful?" she said aloud.

Suddenly something moved and she noticed it out of the corner of her eye. She looked to the big Oak tree then down beneath it. There in the darkness of the shade she could see a figure slouched down in one of the three Adirondack wooden garden chairs. A sleeve dangled oddly over the chair's right arm. She sat up and took noticed, even strained a bit and wondered if she was seeing things. "Look Boo ...," she said standing up. Boo continued to chew on a large portion of Emma's muffin. Emma stood there for a long moment, shaded her eyes from the now glaring morning sun and took a few steps forward. "Hello?" she called out in her "be nice to neighbors" voice. She walked toward the chair taking short hesitant strides as she moved forward. "Excuse me!" she called out, her voice much louder now as he neared the chair. As she did so she could clearly see the arm of a person wearing a light purple long sleeved shirt. Was he wearing gloves she thought as she approached the man for his hand looked odd in the darkness of the shade.

Boopy jumped off the porch and quickly followed behind her. She stopped short of the chair as she came within five feet of it. "Hello?" she said, now much more cautious. The figure in the chair didn't move. Was he asleep? she thought. She took a step back.

Chapter One - Spring Arrives With A Jolt

Emma Lindsey was up before the sun. She had to be because it was Tuesday and Spring had arrived a week earlier. The flats of young flowers she ordered were late and had only arrived the day before. She couldn't wait to get them in the ground and had spent the last two weeks cultivating the beds they would be settled in. She pampered them when they arrived.

Showered and dressed, she prepared as much of Drew's breakfast as she could: the crispy brown bacon as he liked it, his ritual oatmeal without lumps and the early strawberries she found at the grocery on Sunday afternoon, all sliced and soaking up a teaspoon of sweet sugar. Drew loved them.

By the time she had rinsed off the dishes and had the eggs scrambled and covered to keep them warm in the pan, the sun had come up. She toweled off her hands and poured a cup of coffee then stepped to the sun porch to look out over the back yard. Oh, it was going to be beautiful this year, she thought. She just knew it. The giant oak stood stately at the end of the garden, spreading its limbs so wide they almost reached her prized bed of roses. "We'll have to trim those," she said to Boopy, the little white haired Terrier she gave to Drew on his birthday two years ago. Boopy looked up at her, his tail wagging gleefully, as she continued, "They'll hide the sun from Momma's roses and we can't have that, can we Boo?" She loved the stately oak because it brought back wonderful days of summer when Drew would stretch out in the willow lounge chair and read his paper or a book while Boo rolled in the grass beside him. "We'll cover all those shade places with blue Phlox this year, Boo. They will fill the air with a lovely perfume!"

She heard Drew pull out his chair at the kitchen table and hurried back to serve him. "Good sleep?" she asked running her hand over his crop of thick brown hair and then kissing the crown of his head. He looked up and smiled at her. She poured the fresh hot coffee into his cup and pulled a warm plate from the oven. Bacon and a healthy portion of fried potatoes filled the plate. She reached for the pan of scrambled eggs and spooned them onto his plate. Drew took two pieces of buttered wheat toast from a small plate in the middle of the table and pulled the dish of apricot jelly closer to him. She removed the cover from his bowl of oatmeal and stood back to make sure he had everything. A moment later she squeezed his shoulder and returned to the back porch with Boo behind her. Out the back door they traveled to her beloved garden. Her entire morning was now devoted to setting out all those bedding plants. She smiled grandly up at the morning sun and let it shine warmly across her face. "Come Boo," she said and Boopy followed her diligently.