Nightshade on Elm Street: A Flower Shop Mystery by Kate Collins Page B

words.”
    Marco opened the passenger-side door for me. “Will you humor someone who is crazy about you?”
    My scowl left in a hurry.
That
sounded like an invitation for something yummy. “Always. Just name it, Salvare.”
    “Good. Then let’s review your notes on the ride home.”
    “What do we have so far?” Marco asked, as he backed out of the driveway.
    As soon as I was buckled in, I took out the notepad and flipped to the first page.
    “I’ll read everything I took down, and then we can go back over it. Okay, here goes.
    “Pryce and Melissa had an argument before the other guests arrived, as witnessed by the Burches, who heard Melissa threaten him. Or rather Orabell heard her, because Halston seems to have a hearing problem.
    “Jillian and Claymore noticed that Melissa was upset when they arrived, and later that she tried to hide it by being super friendly. I also noted that after Jillian made a comment about Lily’s tardiness, Pryce was very quick to jump to Lily’s defense, which makes me wonder if there’s something going on between Pryce and Lily.”
    “Because he defended her?”
    “Remember, this is Pryce we’re talking about. He wouldn’t jump to anyone’s defense unless he genuinely cared about that person…or was hired to do so.”
    Which explained why he hadn’t rushed to my defense when his parents attacked me.
    “We’ll have to dig deeper there,” Marco said. “Go ahead.”
    “Okay, next up is the Burches. They seem nice but verge on snobbishness. Maybe that’s because they don’t open their mouths when they speak, like they have lockjaw. Anyway, I agree with them that Pryce has some accountability for Melissa’s disappearance, but I don’tthink he did anything sinister to her, which is what I thought Orabell was implying.”
    “What about the scene they witnessed?”
    “Well, if it’s true that Pryce broke off his engagement on Friday evening, then I feel even more strongly that Melissa’s gone MIA to lick her wounds and possibly to punish him by making him worry. I still don’t understand why Pryce wasn’t up front with us about their split.”
    “Sunshine, think about it. Would you really expect him to announce to you that he broke another engagement?”
    “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
    “Take the probably out of it.”
    “Okay, Mr.
Right
. Shall I continue?”
    “Could I stop you?”
    “Nope. But lucky for you, we have only one person left—Jake, who struck me as a player, and not a bright one. But we didn’t get to talk to him for long, so I could be wrong. How about you?”
    “I wasn’t impressed with Jake, but maybe he’ll grow on us.”
    An image popped into my head as I took out my cell phone to check for messages, making me laugh.
    “What?” Marco asked.
    “When you said ‘maybe he’ll grow on us,’ the first thing that came to mind was a toadstool.”
    “A toadstool?”
    “Toadstools grow by absorbing matter from their host. They’re a fungus.”
    “And Jake’s a toadstool because he lives off of Lily’s money?”
    “Correct. Also because toadstools look harmless but can be quite deadly.”
    “Is that a gut feeling about Jake?”
    “No, my gut is telling me that if we’re leaving at fiveo’clock to come back out here for the evening, we should stop for a light meal on our way.”
    “How about if I bring roast beef and cheddar sandwiches from the bar?”
    “Marco, have you ever known me to turn down an offer of good food?”
    “I’ll pack the sandwiches in the cooler.”
    Back at Bloomers, Marco’s mom, Francesca Salvare, was playing hostess in the coffee and tea parlor while Lottie took care of the shop and Grace was at lunch. Francesca had started helping out back in June, when a murder involving Grace as a suspect had Marco and me working nearly around the clock to clear her.
    Marco’s mom was a cheerful, energetic woman who didn’t know the meaning of relaxation. All her energy had worked in our favor when we were