Freesias and Foul Play

Port Danby residents, including grumpy Mayor Price, are giddy with the prospect of a live theater show in town. Everyone dons their best outfits for opening night of The Wizard of Oz but when the lead actress is found dead, an exciting night out morphs into a full blown murder mystery. The traveling theater group has brought many new faces to town and finding the killer proves tricky. Despite a head cold, Lacey's super nose is on the case.

The familiar chime of the bell on the door was followed by Lola. This morning she had my pet crow perched uncharacteristically on her shoulder. The cold snap, a mid-spring surprise, curled its frosty tendrils around the shop before the door swung shut. I pulled the edges of my sweater closer to ward off the chill that had come with my scratchy sore throat (another mid-spring surprise).

Kingston stayed securely on Lola's shoulder and would probably stay there until coaxed away from the love of his life by one of Elsie's peanut butter dog treats, the second love of his life. I fell somewhere after Lola, the treats, perching in one of the town square's pine trees and rummaging through crumbly beach picnic leftovers with his adopted family, the Port Danby seagulls. But then who was I? I only saved the bird from certain death and provided him with a secure, warm home and all the hardboiled eggs he could eat. Lola merely had to smile his direction, and his beady black eyes glittered with stars and hearts. Not literally, of course, but they were easy to imagine with the way he looked at her.

With a huff, Lola hopped up onto the stool at my work island. "I'm reliving my worst childhood nightmare." One thing I discovered early on about Lola was that she rarely wasted time with mundane greetings like hello and good morning. She usually just jumped into whatever was on her mind for the day.

I pushed a yellow rose into the arrangement I was creating for a birthday gift. "You never told me having a crow land on your shoulder was your worst childhood nightmare."

"What?" She glanced over at Kingston. They were nose to beak for a moment, then Kingston shyly turned to stare casually out the window. "No, not Kingston. By the way, if you're wondering why we're together, like pirate and friend today, it's because your bird now feels perfectly free to trot into the antique shop every time the opportunity presents itself. He spent the morning strutting along my front counter, leaving talon prints on my newly polished glass. Mrs. Churchill, from over on Dawson Grove, walked inside the shop, placed her fists on her ample hips and said, 'oh no, not you too? Does every shop owner in Port Danby have a pet crow?' I tried to explain to her that Kingston was the same crow she saw in the flower shop, but she talked right over me going on about how the crows destroy her vegetable gardens and scoff at the scarecrow she spent hours sewing and stuffing with straw."

"I guess we can conclude that Mrs. Churchill, like our dear mayor, is not a fan of crows." I pulled a long strand of silky blue ribbon off the spool.

"My sweater is not a fan of his talons." Lola pointed discretely at Kingston. "Maybe a treat or something, so I can rid myself of the sharp-clawed hitchhiker."

I chuckled as I reached for the treat can. "Sorry about that. You should have made him fly over." I cleared my rough throat and dug out a treat.

Kingston hopped off Lola's shoulder, plucked the treat from my fingers and flew across to his window perch to enjoy it.

Lola tilted her head at me. "Why do you sound as if you've been screaming and singing along at a concert?"

I swallowed a sip of my tea and scrunched my nose. "That sure got cold fast." I put the cup down. "I woke up with a sore throat."

Lola leaned back, apparently out of germ range. "Don't give it to me. My colds always end with two weeks of an annoying cough." The door opened and Ryder walked inside to start his shift. Lola pointed at him. "And don't give it to him either because then I'm guaranteed to get it."

Ryder pulled off his coat. "Don't give me what?"

"I've been instructed, actually commanded, not to give you my cold." I tied a bow around the vase in front of me.

Ryder looked properly sympathetic. "You're sick, boss? You poor thing. I'll go down to Franki's later and buy you some hot soup."

I lifted a brow at Lola. "See, that's how a true friend reacts when someone is sick."

Lola shrugged. "I'm a true friend, and I'm there for you when you need me, just not when you're sick. I'm selfish like that," she said with complete confidence and not an ounce of shame.

I wound up the rest of the blue ribbon. "You never told me why you were reliving your childhood's worst nightmare."

My statement caught Ryder's attention. His face snapped Lola's direction. "Did you find a spider on your toothbrush again?"

A laugh spurted from my mouth. "Wait, that's your worst childhood nightmare? A spider on your toothbrush?"

Lola shrugged. "Go ahead, make fun but that little spider traumatized me so badly, I refused to brush my teeth for a week."

"Yuck," Ryder and I muttered in unison.

"Thanks goodness you got over that bit of trauma," Ryder continued in the same muted tone.

"Anyhow, the spider incident wasn't my worst childhood nightmare, it was my third worst. Second place went to the time when I threw up in front of my fourth grade class while reading aloud my spring poem."

"I hope this whole conversation gets less gross." I leaned back to admire my work. The yellow roses looked amazing with puffs of dark blue hydrangeas.

Ryder nodded with approval. "That looks great."

"Thanks." I said. "So, what is number one on the list?"

"Flying monkeys," Lola said succinctly. "I just saw two of them walking out of Les's shop with mocha lattes, and they brought back all kinds of terrifying memories."