some hot tea,” Lorrie said. “And I encouraged her to eat some toast. She wasn’t hungry this morning.”
Finding a dead body could kill one’s appetite.
Knowing the woman would be more comfortable with Peyton than him, Liam gestured for her to take the lead. Watching her give the elderly woman a hug and gently rub her back stirred Liam’s admiration.
“Ms. Marley, a friend of mine wants to ask you some questions about when you found Leon.”
Ms. Marley’s hands shook as she set down her china teacup. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, of course not,” Peyton assured her. “It’s just routine. He’s going talk to the other residents, as well. We just want to find out exactly what happened to Leon.”
“He’s dead, that’s what happened to him,” Ms. Marley said.
Liam bit back a smile at the woman’s snappy tone. He bet this lady had been a handful in her younger years. Hell, she probably still was.
Liam seated himself across from her and offered her a smile. “Did you see Leon this morning at any time before you found him in the garden?”
“No,” Ms. Marley said, then tore her toast into small bites.
“What about last night?” Liam asked.
A thoughtful expression colored her face. “We played cards in the evening after dinner. But the old geezer cheated, and I told him so, then left.”
“Was anyone else playing cards with you?” Liam asked.
She bit her lip, and Liam knew she was hiding something. “Who else was there?”
“No one.” She leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. “It was a date, just me and Leon, but Gertie Sommers likes Leon and gets jealous, so we were sneaking around.” She rolled her eyes. “This place is a pure gossip mill.”
Liam coughed to keep from laughing at her comment. “Do you think Gertie knew about you two anyway?”
“Oh, my word, you don’t think Gertie would kill Leon because he was seeing me, do you?”
That hadn’t occurred to him. Maybe he should ask if Gertie had an alibi.
“Do you think that?” Liam asked.
Ms. Marley pursed her lips. “Heavens no. She’s a mousy busybody, but she plays around, too. Leon isn’t the only man she wants here.”
He glanced at Peyton and saw amusement in her eyes.
“I see.” Liam hesitated. “So, tell me what happened this morning.”
“I got up to go for my morning walk,” Ms. Marley said, then shrugged at the wheelchair. “I mean my stroll. I’m part of the gardening club and wanted to make sure we didn’t need to prune the roses today. Sometimes Leon and I meet our friends for coffee, but he wasn’t on the patio, so I decided to wait for him to have breakfast, so I headed out to the garden. I’d just checked the herbs when I spotted his legs sticking out of the rosebushes.” Her face paled again, and she dabbed at a tear. “I knew it was him the minute I saw his mismatched socks. He was color blind you know.”
Liam coughed into his hand. “Then what happened?”
“I started shouting and everyone came running. Well, that is, the staff did. Not many of us here can run anymore.” She chuckled at her own comment. “I so hate that he’s gone. It’s hard to find a good man at my age. Especially one who’s good at cards.”
Liam smiled again. “Did you see anyone else in the garden this morning? Maybe someone out by the woods or the pond?”
She shook her head no, then adjusted her tiny wire-rimmed glasses. “Everyone else was gathering on the patio. But then, I don’t see too good these days.”
Liam laid a business card on the table. “If you think of anything else, please call me.”
“Maybe Mr. Leon simply died of natural causes,” Peyton said as they left.
Liam shrugged. “Or maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have seen. Like the person who tried to kill your mother.”
Peyton’s pained look made him feel like hell. But he couldn’t sugarcoat the facts and protect her at the same time. She obviously trusted everyone who worked here, but he didn’t.
If someone at the Gardens was a killer, she needed to be on guard every minute.
* * *
PEYTON HATED TO BE suspicious of the people she worked with. But if Liam was right, a killer could be hiding among them, and no one was safe.
They spent the next two hours visiting and questioning each of the residents. Liam was fishing for information on the staff members and subtly inquired about problems or mistreatment.
The few residents who remembered Miller Conrad gushed that he