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  Second Bloom

  Sally Handley

  A Holly and Ivy Mystery

  Copyright © 2017 Sally Handley

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  Cover Design: www.carolmonahandesign.com

  First Printing, 2017

  DEDICATION

  To

  Mary Ellen Handley

  and

  Nina Augello

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First, I’d like to thank my sister, Mary Ellen Handley, who has been my faithful gardening companion through the years and who was with me the day I got the inspiration for this book.

  Secondly, I’d like to thank Nina Augello, my dear friend and life coach, who cheered me on through self-doubts and moments of despair and without whom I would have abandoned this book long ago.

  Thirdly, special thanks to Carol Monahan, graphic artist extraordinaire, who designed my new logo, book cover and book marks. Carol has been a great friend and seen me through many transitions, not just graphically, but personally as well. (www.carolmonhandesigns.com)

  I must, of course, thank my beta readers--Virginia Handley, my mother, Gretchen Bank, Julia Crislip, Laura D’Aprix, Jay Johnson, Joanne Manse, and Lois Tylutki, who read rough drafts and still encouraged me to keep on going.

  Next on my list to thank, Lauren B. Davis (laurenbdavis.com), author and writing instructor extraordinaire, as well as all the participants in her Sharpening the Quill classes who provided the very first critiques of this book when I just began writing. Lauren’s edits, encouragement, insights and inspiration have been invaluable to me.

  Special thanks to my Cozy Mystery critique partners, Judy Buch (www.judybuch.com/), Cindy Blackburn (cueballmysteries.com) and Diana Manley whose genuinely constructive critiques and suggestions have helped me in ways that be cannot measured.

  Finally, thanks to Sisters in Crime (Sistersincrime.org), both the national and my Upstate South Carolina Chapter (sincupstatesc.blogspot.com) and Malice Domestic (malicedomestic.org). I appreciate the many kindred souls these organizations have linked me with, both published and unpublished writers, who constantly amaze me with their generosity of spirit and willingness to share their knowledge and experience.

  1 A Change in Plans

  Holly Donnelly sped up the ramp to the parking deck connected to Newark Airport’s Terminal C. She pulled into the first empty spot she found, jumped out of the car, and ran down the escalator, out of breath by the time she reached the flight arrivals board. Scanning the flight information, she exhaled, stretched her neck, rolled her shoulders and smiled. Her younger sister Ivy’s flight just arrived at the gate. In spite of having lingered too long in the garden that morning, trying to get everything perfect for Ivy’s visit, she wasn’t late. Now she only had to wait at the baggage claim for her sister, grab her luggage and head home for the start of a delicious, carefree two-week visit of gardening, grilling and sight-seeing.

  Holly glanced up at the board again. The number five began flashing in the baggage carousel column. She headed over to the baggage area and stopped, facing the escalator nearest carousel five. As she focused her eyes on the top of the escalator, she felt an ache in her stomach remembering how forlorn Ivy looked when they said good-bye at the airport in South Carolina just three months ago after Dave’s funeral. Holly had wanted Ivy to come back with her to New Jersey then, but Ivy said she needed some time to sort through things and deal with the will, life insurance and other business matters. Holly so wanted to stay and help, but with only a few weeks left until the end of the semester, she had to return to New Jersey to deal with exams and final grades.

  Before long, Holly spotted Ivy on the escalator. She smiled, shaking her head as two men, probably in their thirties, did a double-take. Wearing black skinny jeans and a fitted red denim jacket, the petite, blue-eyed, blonde Ivy still turned heads at 52.

  When Ivy caught sight of Holly, she gave a wave and a big smile. At the bottom of the escalator, the two sisters embraced and tears welled up in Holly’s eyes as she hugged Ivy tightly.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.

  “Me, too,” said Ivy, equally teary-eyed. “Were you waiting long?”

  “No, actually I was afraid you were the one who was going to be stuck waiting. I lost track of time in the garden, and when I checked the flight status and saw your flight was due fifteen minutes early, I nearly panicked. Fortunately, traffic was light. Hey, isn’t that your bag with the blue ribbon on the handle?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  Together the sisters grabbed the suitcase and pulled it off the carousel. A woman standing beside them touched Ivy on the arm and said, “I would have known that was your sister, even if you hadn’t told me she was meeting you. You two look like twins.”

  “We get that a lot,” Ivy replied laughing. The woman, she told Holly, had sat next to her on the plane.

  “I never get tired of hearing that we look like twins,” Holly chimed in. “I’m the older one.”

  “Let’s go,” said Ivy, rolling her eyes and giving Holly a good-natured shove.

  Holly smiled as she pulled on the luggage handle, leading the way to the parking garage. In the car, she asked, “So, the flight was okay?”

  “Yeah, no problems at all.”

  “The weather’s supposed to be great the next three days. Isn’t that perfect? I made chicken cacciatore in the crockpot today, but we can grill tomorrow and Sunday.”

  “Chicken cacciatore! Mmm, my favorite.”

  “Hungry?”

  “Starved!”

  On the drive home Ivy updated Holly on her dealings with the lawyer, the bank and the insurance company.

  “Thank heaven I’m done with that.” She started to cry. “It’s been so hard for me. I hated having to talk to those people. They were just so … I don’t know. They just made it so hard to understand everything. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have you to call and talk me through it. What a nightmare.”

  Holly reached over and patted her sister on the knee. “I know, but it’s over. You’re here now. Let’s just enjoy every minute together. We can do whatever you want. I thought maybe tomorrow we’d just go to the garden center and buy plants. If you like, on Saturday, we could go to New York and see a matinee.”

  Ivy nodded, drying her eyes, and the sisters lapsed into a comfortable silence.

  This is going to be great. Holly relaxed as she drove homeward. She so wanted Ivy to sell her place in South Carolina and move in with her. When she was younger, she’d never minded living alone, but now she often felt lonely. Ivy balked when she suggested the move last month. Holly realized she’d brought up the subject too soon after Dave’s death. If all went as planned this week, she was sure Ivy would come around. She just had to be patient.

  As Holly turned the corner and her Tudor house came into view, Ivy exclaimed, “Wow! The yard looks beautiful. I’ve never seen those roses along the fence look better.”

  Holly beamed. When they opened the front door, Lucky, Holly’s border collie, practically did backflips at the sight of Ivy. She couldn’t stop wagging her tail.

  “I told you your favorite aunt was coming to visit,” Holly joked. Ivy made her usual fuss over Lucky and the dog lay at her feet under the table all through dinner.

  After dinner Holly grabbed the leash and the pack of three headed to the park at the end of the block. They rounded the duck pond and came out the other side of the park on Crescent Drive.
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  “Let’s cross here,” Holly said.” Did I ever introduce you to Edna Hagel?”

  “I don’t think so, but I remember your talking about her. She’s in your garden club, isn’t she?” Ivy asked as they crossed the street, arriving directly in front of a one-story brick colonial.

  “Yep. This is her house. Come with me.” Holly headed up the driveway. “I want to stop and thank her for hiring Juan. You know him -- my landscaper. Edna asked me if I knew anyone who could do some work for her and I recommended him. His wife just had a baby and he was really happy for the extra work.”

  Holly rang the doorbell. When no one answered, she leaned over the banister and peered in the front window.

  “Guess she’s not home,” Ivy said.

  “I don’t know.” Holly shook her head, turned and started back down the steps of the front stoop. ”Let’s go around back. She might be in the kitchen and can’t hear the bell.”

  As they came around the side of the house, Lucky put her nose to the ground and picked up her pace, straining the leash. When they reached the back patio, she spotted a squirrel and took off after it pulling the leash from Holly’s hand.

  “Oh, no,” said Holly taking off after the dog, Ivy right behind her. At the left far edge of the patio, Lucky leaped up two stone steps and bounded down the pea stone footpath that ran through the yard.

  “Lucky, you come back here right now!” Holly shouted as she watched the dog leap past some overgrown shrubbery that blocked the path, disappearing from view.

  “Uh-oh,” said Ivy as both of them stopped in front of the shrub barrier. ”What should we do?”

  Holly sighed. ”I guess we better just wait here. The property is completely fenced on three sides, so she can’t get out. I just hope the leash doesn’t get caught on something. I’d hate to have to make our way through this jungle to get her. Some days I wish I could return that dog to the shelter.”

  “Yeah, yeah …” Ivy smiled, turning to look around the yard. “What a beautiful piece of property. With some work, I imagine this would be paradise.”

  Holly turned and nodded. “It really is something, isn’t it? You’d never believe you were in a city in New Jersey.”

  Arborvitae formed a lush green wall completely screening the house to the left. About forty feet from where they were standing, a white picket fence marked the end of the property. A row of trees along the back fence almost completely blocked the view of the neighboring house that faced the next street over. On the right, various shrubs and trellised vines stood in front of a six-foot, white, vinyl, privacy fence separating the Hagel yard from the neighboring property on that side.

  “You’re right. I’d never believe I was in northern New Jersey. That pine over there really makes me feel like I’m in a forest.”

  Holly followed Ivy’s gaze upward to the top of the 35-foot tree towering above the privacy fence.

  “Remember going out to the lake when we were kids and playing blind man’s bluff around the pine trees there?”

  “Yeah, you were really good at that.”

  “That’s because I always tried to stay near those trees. I could feel the softness of the needles through my sneakers. If I stood still, somebody always came close just as a teaser. It didn’t matter how quiet they were. As soon as they stepped on the needles, I could smell the pine. That’s when I’d pounce.”

  “You’re kidding? That was your secret? Here I thought my big sister had x-ray vision.”

  The two laughed and gazed dreamily upwards, admiring the pine tree, when suddenly Lucky appeared with a grin stretching from ear to ear, the leash dragging behind her.

  “Oh, you!” Holly glared at the dog and bent down to retrieve the leash. “Bad dog.”

  Ivy chuckled. “By the looks of her wagging tail, ‘bad dog’ doesn’t mean the same thing to her that it does to you.”

  “C’mon,” Holly said, turning and heading back down the path to the house.

  “Look at this shed!” Ivy exclaimed, as they descended the stone steps to the patio. “I completely missed it on the way in.”

  To the right stood a shed custom-built in the style of a cedar-shingled Cape Cod half-house. A blue door and two shuttered windows with flower boxes beneath graced the front façade. Dead plants filled the flower boxes and the shutters needed paint.

  Holly shook her head and sighed. “It’s so painful to see all this in such a run-down condition. You should have seen this place in its heyday. I remember coming here for the Hagel’s 50th anniversary party, probably twenty years ago. There was a moonflower vine in the center of the side fence over there. That vinyl fence wasn’t here then and the pine tree wasn’t so tall. The vine was so loaded with white flowers that it almost looked like a constellation, like a mini Milky Way. And the scent! Positively intoxicating. The whole night was magical.”

  “Look at this rose bush.” Ivy stopped to admire a bright red shrub rose bush planted on the far side of the shed in front of the arborvitae. “This woman really knows her yard. There’s an awful lot of shade back here, but this spot seems to get just the right amount of sun for a rose bush.”

  “Yep, she’s been a master gardener as long as I know her,” Holly said.

  As they continued toward the house, Ivy pointed to a cleared section extending from the shed to the house. “It looks like this area’s been weeded.”

  “You’re right. Juan must have started.”

  Holly crossed the patio, tied Lucky’s leash to a patio table leg and headed to the back door. “You can see why she needed help. Last month I saw her walking in front of the house with a nurse. That’s when she asked me if I knew anyone who could give her a hand with the yard work. She used to do most of it herself, but she’s probably in her nineties now.”

  This time Ivy sighed. “Is this what we have to look forward to? I just hate getting old.”

  Holly stopped and grabbed Ivy’s arm. “Hey! Stop that. We’re not there yet. C’mon.”

  Ivy followed Holly up the steps to the back door. Holly rang the bell. When no one answered, she leaned over the banister and peered through the kitchen window.

  “We’ve been back here quite a while,” Ivy said. “Wouldn’t she have noticed us by now if she was home?”

  Holly pushed back from the banister and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. “I guess so. I just can’t imagine her being out this time of day. It’s nearly seven.”

  Holly put the phone back in her pocket and knocked on the door. “Maybe the bell isn’t working.” She cupped her eyes with her hands and looked through the glass panels of the door. “Wait a minute.”

  “What is it?” Ivy asked.

  “I can’t be sure.” Holly moved her head trying to find a better angle to see inside. When that didn’t work, she leaned over the banister again. “Hold on to me,” she directed Ivy as she leaned far enough to grip the window sill and raise herself to see deeper into the kitchen.

  “Oh, no!” She jumped back. “Edna’s lying on the floor.”

  “Quick. Call 911.”

  Holly got her phone out and tapped 911 as she descended the steps to the patio looking out on the back yard.

  “Hello? This is Holly Donnelly. I just found -- uh -- I’m at 12 Crescent Drive. Yeah, in Pineland Park. I’m in the backyard with my sister. We see Mrs. Hagel inside. She’s on the kitchen floor. Can you send…”

  Holly turned back to face the house, but Ivy was nowhere in sight.

  “No, no. I’m still here. Wait a minute. The backdoor is open. It looks like my sister got into the house.”

  Holly walked to the foot of the steps and stopped, “No, I don’t know anything about her medical condition. Can you send someone quickly? Great.”

  Holly turned off the phone and hurried up the steps. As she opened the screen door about to enter the house, Ivy appeared.

  “No, Holly,” she said, blocking her path. “We’re too late.”

  2 A SURPRISE VISIT

  As they stood at the foo
t of Edna Hagel’s driveway waiting for the EMTs to arrive, Holly looked down at her cellphone clock, then over at Ivy. “They should be here soon. I’m so sorry about this,” she said.

  “It’s not your fault,” Ivy replied, bending to pet Lucky. The dog had lain down on the pavement, mirroring the subdued mood of her two human companions.

  “It’s just that this is not exactly how I wanted to start your visit here.” Holly sighed.

  “Relax. It’s okay. In thirty years of nursing I’ve had to learn to deal with death. It’s never easy. I’m actually glad I’m here with you and you didn’t discover Mrs. Hagel by yourself.”

  Ivy stood back up and squeezed Holly’s arm. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

  “Thanks.” Holly frowned, looking at her cellphone again.

  “Here they come,” Ivy said, pointing at the Rescue Squad ambulance coming down the street.

  The vehicle pulled into the driveway. A man was driving and a woman sat in the passenger seat. The two, wearing matching white tee-shirts and baseball caps with the letters EMT emblazoned on the front, parked and emerged simultaneously. The female EMT opened the back door of the rescue vehicle, while the man approached Holly.

  “I’m Holly Donnelly. I made the call. This is my sister, Ivy.”

  “Hello. I’m Jamal Benson. That’s Sue Wardell. Where’s our patient?” Benson turned to help Wardell remove a stretcher from the back of the ambulance.

  “You’ll have to go around the side of the house and in the back door. She’s in the kitchen,” Holly answered.

  “She has no pulse and her body’s cold,” Ivy added. Benson stopped and stared at Ivy.

  “I’m a registered nurse,” Ivy volunteered in answer to the unspoken question. “While Holly was on the phone, I tried the door and found it open. I only felt for a pulse.”