Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Arthur’s lips were parted as he stared at Lily. The piercing shriek of the door as he closed it behind him sent a shiver up Lily's spine. She could definitely defend herself against him. If it were a case of incapacitating him for long enough for her to do a runner, she wouldn’t be at all worried.
The problem was, it wasn’t herself she was worried about. It was Flynn, passed out on the floor, that had her heart racing and her brain searching for the best way out of the situation.
“Why are you in my greenhouse?” Arthur asked, while his hands fumbled in the pockets of his fleece jacket. “And what did you do to PC Grainger?”
Lily squinted, slightly concerned about what he was searching for in his pockets. “You can’t have expected to get away with it forever,” she said. “You must have known you’d get caught at some point. This needs to stop now.” She looked him right in the eyes and he tilted his head as though trying to figure out what to do with her.
She shifted her gaze to Flynn, comforted by the steady rise and fall of his chest. Maybe the effects really might not be as bad as with Gordon. Maybe he’d only be unconscious for a few moments.
If he could wake up about now, it would be helpful.
“Is he okay?” Arthur patted the pockets of his jeans, then scratched his head.
“Yes,” Lily said confidently. “He’s okay, and we need to make sure he stays that way. If you help him, everything will be better for you. You can apologise for what you’ve done, and things won’t be so bad. We really need to get him medical attention, though.” She pressed her lips together, hoping the tactic would work.
“Yes,” Arthur said. “He needs an ambulance. What did you do to him?”
“I didn’t do anything,” she said. “He touched your plant.”
“Which plant?”
She pointed, hoping she wasn’t being foolish by drawing attention to the potential weapon in the room.
“Another sleeping beauty.” Arthur’s eyes widened as he took a step towards it. Then his gaze flicked to Flynn. “His hand is bleeding.”
“I know,” Lily said. “He needs an ambulance.”
“Yes.” Arthur patted his chest, then unzipped his jacket and reached inside to pull out his mobile. “I’m going to call Sergeant Proctor. He’ll come and arrest you, and he’ll send the ambulance. PC Grainger will be fine.”
Since she didn’t seem to be in imminent danger, Lily crouched beside Flynn and took his hand, partly for comfort and partly to keep the wad of tissues pressed against his cut.
While she listened to Arthur on the phone, she closed her eyes, trying to figure out what on earth was going on.
“He already knew,” Arthur said when he ended the call. “The ambulance is already on the way.” He frowned, looking as confused as Lily. “Why did you poison him and then call the police?”
“I didn’t poison him!” Lily said. “You did. It’s your plant.”
“It’s not mine.” He peered at the plant. “They’re illegal and Sergeant Proctor said I couldn’t have one.”
“But it’s in your greenhouse,” Lily said. “Along with all these other poisonous plants, and the dried herbs and teas, which were in the welcome baskets. You’ve been poisoning people. The evidence is right here.”
“They’re not mine,” he said flatly. “I don’t know where they came from, but they weren’t here this morning…” He drummed his fingers against his thigh. “I don’t think they were here anyway, but I wasn’t paying as much attention as usual because Sally came over yesterday evening and told me not to come to work until Monday. Usually I’d work today and tomorrow. Also, before Gordon got injured she’d said that we could visit the ice cream shop together tomorrow. I don’t know if we’ll still do that…” He trailed off and scratched his head. “I was quite distracted, but I didn’t notice them this morning.”
Lily’s gaze locked with Arthur’s as the sound of sirens reached them, faintly at first, then getting louder.
“You really didn’t poison anyone?” she asked.
He shook his head and she was certain he was telling the truth. “I know all about the plants,” he said. “It interests me. But I wouldn’t hurt anyone. I really wouldn’t.”
Lily turned her attention to Flynn, continuing to clutch his hand.
“He will be okay,” Arthur said. “He’ll be fine again in a day or two, just like Gordon.”
“I know,” she whispered while Arthur muttered about going to meet the paramedics.
She knew in her head that Flynn would be okay, but she also knew she wasn’t going to fully relax until she saw him up and about.
Reluctantly, she moved out of the greenhouse when the ambulance arrived, leaving the paramedics to deal with Flynn. Not that there was much they could do, except get him to the hospital and monitor him until he came round. Hopefully that wouldn’t take long since Lily wasn’t sure her nerves could take it.
“Everyone’s going to think it was me,” Arthur said, eyeing Lily intently. “Everyone will think I’ve been poisoning people, but I don’t understand how that stuff got into my greenhouse.”
“I suspect someone wanted everyone to think it was you,” Lily told him. “Someone is worried about being caught, so they wanted to get rid of the evidence and shift the blame to someone else.”
“I don’t know anyone who would do that,” Arthur said. “Everyone I know is so kind.”
“I suspect someone isn’t,” she said softly. “We just need to figure out who.”
Her first thought was Gordon, since he was the one who’d pointed her in Arthur’s direction. But Gordon had been poisoned too. She also couldn’t see how he could have left evidence in Arthur’s greenhouse. Surely it couldn’t have been there long without Arthur noticing it, but Gordon had been in the hospital.
Arthur stared at her. “We need to figure it out quickly so they don’t hurt anyone else. And so I don’t get into trouble. I don’t want to go to prison.”
“You won’t,” she said. “I’ll figure this out.” There was no way whoever was responsible for Flynn lying unconscious was going to get away with it.
“Some people say you’re a private investigator,” Arthur said.
“Not officially,” Lily replied. “But I keep getting caught up in things recently.”
“Can you be my private investigator and catch whoever is doing this so I don’t have to go to prison?”
She gave him a gentle smile. “I’m already on the case.”
“Do you need a sidekick like Sherlock Holmes has? I could be Dr Watson.”
That drew a proper smile from her, even if it was only a brief one. She looked over at the greenhouse. “I already have a sidekick,” she said sadly.
The sound of cars approaching made her breathe easier.
“What the hell has happened now?” Sergeant Proctor boomed as he stepped out of the police Land Rover. “And why was a civilian using PC Grainger’s radio?”
“That was me,” Lily said sheepishly.
“Told you.” PC Hill got out of a second police car and eyed Lily with amusement. “I knew you’d be involved somehow.”
“What happened?” the sergeant asked, looking over Lily’s head at the greenhouse.
“We found another of the plants that cut Gordon. Flynn cut his hand on it.”
Sergeant Proctor shook his head. “I suppose it didn’t occur to him not to touch the plant that can knock you unconscious.”
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Lily snapped. “He was helping me find evidence of the poisonings.”
“Funny that because he told me he was out on patrol.”
Anger coursed through Lily’s veins. “He was patrolling,” she growled. “And while doing so, he found a bunch of poisonous plants that account for all the poisoning over the last few weeks. There’s also a box with dried herbs and teas, like the ones in the welcome baskets.” She drew in a breath. “And now he’s bleeding and unconscious, so maybe you could be a little more compassionate.”
“Did you say it’s the same plant that poisoned Gordon?” PC Hill asked, his voice much softer than the sergeant’s. Lily nodded in reply. “So it’ll just knock him out for a while and then he’ll be groggy, but fine, right?”
“Yes,” Arthur said. “There won’t be any lasting damage.”
The sergeant turned to Arthur. “And why exactly do you have poisonous plants in your greenhouse?”
“He didn’t do anything,” Lily said, narrowing her eyes. “Someone is trying to set him up, so there’s no need for you to start swinging your handcuffs and trying to look heroic.” She kept her gaze on the greenhouse as the paramedics brought Flynn out on a stretcher. “Sorry,” she mumbled when it occurred to her that taking her anger out on the sergeant wouldn’t help her figure out who’d done this.
“I’m not the enemy here, Miss Larkin,” he said, but the sergeant’s eyes were on Flynn and his features softened as he took a step forwards. “Is he going to be okay?” he asked the paramedics.
The taller of the two men had also been at the garden centre, treating Gordon. He shrugged. “His vitals are stable. It looks the same as with the other guy.”
“I’ll follow you to the hospital once I’ve dealt with things here,” the sergeant said.
“Can I come in the ambulance?” Lily asked.
“No, you can’t,” the sergeant replied. “You’re not going anywhere until you’ve explained everything properly.”
They watched as the paramedics loaded Flynn into the ambulance and set off for the hospital, then the sergeant walked over to the greenhouse. The rest of them followed.
“Whoever has been poisoning people tried to make it look as though it was Arthur,” Lily said, remaining at the entrance to the glass house while the sergeant and PC Hill ventured inside. “But it wasn’t him. When Arthur arrived, he thought it was me who’d hurt Flynn and he called the police.” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “ You. He called you. Arthur had no idea what was going on. He doesn’t know anything about the plants.”
“Actually, I know everything about the plants,” Arthur said unhelpfully.
Lily almost laughed at his serious expression. “But you didn’t know they were in your greenhouse, or how they got there.”
“No.” He looked at Sergeant Proctor who’d put a glove on to sift through the packages of herbs in the cardboard box. “I didn’t know that. And I would never hurt anyone.”
The sergeant scanned the greenhouse until he spotted the sleeping beauty plant. He pointed an accusing finger at it. “That thing needs to be destroyed before it does any more damage.”
PC Hill lifted an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t we hang on to it as evidence?”
“Possibly.” Sergeant Proctor straightened up. “Sod it. I don’t want to risk anyone else. Burn the plant, but take photos first.” He waved his hand in the air. “Take photos of everything. Then bring everything that could be evidence back to the station.”
PC Hill nodded. “Will do.”
“I’m going to head to the hospital and make sure PC Grainger is all right. Lily, Arthur, you’ll need to go to the station with PC Hill and tell him exactly what happened.”
“I’m going to the hospital,” Lily said, then grimaced under Sergeant Proctor’s icy stare. “I’ll give you a statement later, when we know Flynn is okay. It doesn’t matter if I tell you what happened now or later, does it?”
“I suppose not.”
“I can help PC Hill with the plants,” Arthur said amiably.
“Thank you.” The sergeant walked out of the greenhouse and took a few steps before turning back. “Be careful!” he called, then let out a long sigh and caught Lily’s eye. “I assume you’re getting a lift with me?”
She nodded eagerly.