When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,33

come to Henryetta from Dallas, and I’d been suspicious of them, especially since they’d specifically requested RBW Landscaping. Of course, I’d been suspicious of everything associated with Dallas last summer and fall, with plenty of reason. I’d wondered if their sudden appearance in a town no one with half a brain would willingly move to was another of the Hardshaw Group’s attempts to infiltrate the county. But Sonder Tech seemed to be on the up and up, and Jed had found nothing to explicitly link them to organized crime, let alone to Hardshaw. When I’d made my pitch to them last October, one of the managers, Stewart, had told me they were bringing most of their employees with them but planned to hire three or four Fenton County residents. They must have done better than expected, though, because they’d hired about fifteen local employees since last November. From what Jed had discovered, most employees seemed to love working for them.

I pulled into the parking lot, choosing an empty space in the back even though there was an empty visitor spot by the door. There were large windows overlooking the parking lot, and I had no desire to put on a show as I got out.

Grabbing my phone and a notepad, I started to take notes and photos. Some of the flowers we’d planted a few weeks ago—an addition to the landscaping plan—weren’t looking as healthy as I’d like, so I made a note to check the soil as well as the sprinkler system. By the time I reached the building, I could see that the azaleas were dying—no, they were basically dead—which made no sense. Bruce Wayne’s crew had come out to plant the flowers. They definitely would have noticed if there was a problem. Which meant this had happened recently. I could only think of one reason a hardy plant would fail so quickly.

“Rose…wow!”

I turned to see Stewart.

“Hi,” I said, resting my hand on my belly. “Good to see you.”

“I see there have been some changes since I last saw you.”

I laughed. “A few.” I pointed to the bushes. “When did you first notice there was a problem?”

“It happened really fast. They were blooming last Friday, but they looked a little anemic come Monday morning. Now, as you can see, most of the leaves and flowers have fallen off.”

He was right. The blooms had completely shed, and the few leaves that clung to the bushes were yellow and brown.

“Do you know what happened to them?” he asked.

“It looks like they’ve been poisoned.”

“Poisoned? Why would someone poison our bushes?” he asked.

“It could be environmental.” I glanced around. The bushes were in a raised bed and had good drainage. “But I don’t think so. I think someone must have put something on them.”

“Someone purposely poisoned our bushes?” he asked in disbelief.

“I don’t know. I’m merely guessing. Have you upset anyone? Any unhappy customers?”

“Most of our customers are out of state, but aside from that, no.”

“Any disgruntled employees?”

“No,” he said, at a loss. “We’ve never even fired anyone. Everyone seems happy.”

I frowned. “I could be wrong, but I’d like to test the soil before we replace the dead plants. We need to make sure it’s healthy for them. We’ll have to send the sample to Little Rock, though, so it will take a few days to get the results.”

“Okay,” he said, with a frown. “Now I’m worried that we’ve got someone pissed at us.”

I gave him a sympathetic smile. “A number of things could have happened, and most of the possibilities aren’t malicious.” I took a deep breath. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t have mentioned that your business might have an enemy. I’m a little distracted today, and my mind just seems to automatically wander to criminal activity.”

“That murder south of town seems to have everyone upset,” he said. “But you’ve definitely given me something to think about.”

I cocked my head. “Your employees are upset about the murder?”

“No one’s thrilled about it, obviously,” he said. “Especially since there hadn’t been a local murder since last year, but Calista seems especially shaken up.”

“Calista?”

“One of our account specialists.” He grimaced. “That’s what we call our salespeople. It sounds fancier.”

“Did she know him?”

“Not that I knew of, but I’ll be honest…I didn’t ask.”

I nodded, my mind already whirling from what he’d told me. “Thanks, Stewart. I’m going to grab some soil sample kits from my truck so I can make the collection.”

His gaze lowered to my stomach. “No offense, Rose, but can you get down and