Deadly Devotion by Sandra Orchard Read Free Book Online

but his change in expression told her how utterly ridiculous the accusation sounded.
    “I read the newspaper like everyone else.” He plugged in the kettle, then snapped open his briefcase. “I know you miss her, but she’d want us to carry on.” With a sympathetic smile, he handed Kate a piece of paper.
    “What’s this?”
    “A list of all those infernal interns Daisy took under her wing. You get to follow up on them.”
    A new smidgen of hope took root in her heart as she scanned the list. Daisy had started her first round of visits the day before she died. Following her steps was exactly what Kate needed to do.
    She grabbed her purse and keys. “Good idea, Darryl. I’ll start right away.”
    He staggered backward in mock disbelief.
    She grinned. “Hey, I don’t always disagree with you.”
    Ten minutes later, Kate squeezed her VW into the last parking spot at Landavars Greenhouses and reported to the owner.
    “Please accept my condolences,” he said in a thick Dutch accent and pointed down the main aisle of the greenhouse to a door at the other end. “The intern’s in the cold frame.”
    Kate strolled through the greenhouse, taking time to scan the benches for anything suspicious. Not that she expected to find marijuana plants in the open where anyone could walkby them, but a leaf or two might have fallen when plants were moved in and out.
    By the time she reached the cold frame, sweat beaded her forehead, and despite its name, the cold frame’s air wasn’t much cooler.
    “Hey, Miss Adams. I wondered if you’d be our new supervisor.”
    Kate recognized the plump, dark-haired girl from the night class she’d helped Daisy teach last semester. “Had Daisy been in to see you since you started?”
    “No, I saw her nephew, though.” Patti’s hands fluttered as she talked, her eyes gleaming with the light of a teenage crush. “He was delivering something to Harm.”
    “Probably more of his promotional freebies. They must work. Donations have been way up since he took over our PR department.”
    “It’s his Clive Owen good looks raking in the donations, don’t you think?”
    Kate gave a little shrug and made a mental note to ask Julie who Clive Owen was. Some heartthrob actor, she imagined.
    “I guess you want to know what I’m doing.” Patti banged a plant out of a four-inch pot into a wheelbarrow. “We start seed trials tomorrow, but today, I’m on grunt work. Aren’t I lucky?”
    “Ah, yes. I remember those days well.” Kate peeked over her shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “Did the police happen to interview you after Daisy’s death?”
    “Sure, for a few minutes. They talked a lot longer with the interns Miss Leacock visited the day she died.”
    Kate’s hopes surged. Knowing which interns Daisy had visited would save Kate a lot of time. She showed Patti the list. “Could you tell me who they are?”
    “Sure. Carol, Ned.” Patti tapped her finger on the name Gordon Laslo. “He’s not around anymore.”
    “Why not?” She managed to ask with a nonchalant tone even though her imagination went wild at the news. Gord might be the student Daisy caught plagiarizing a report. A retaliatory prank turned deadly would explain his sudden disappearance.
    Patti shrugged. “He just up and left a couple of weeks ago.”
    “Are you sure? A full two weeks ago?”
    “At least, yeah. I remember because Ned had to borrow money from me to make their rent payment.”
    “Do you know where Gord is now?”
    “No. No one’s heard from him. He’s not answering his cell phone.”
    Kate returned to her car and pinpointed the location of Gord’s work placement on her road map. Daisy died fifteen days ago, which meant Gord had left around the time she’d succumbed. That either made him innocent or made him guilty of premeditated murder.
    Maybe his boss knew where Kate could find the young man and get some answers.
    Unfamiliar with this part of the Niagara region, she drove slowly on the