Seeds of Deception

Book 10: An Orchard Mystery

by Sheila Connolly

Genres: Mystery; Cozy Mystery; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

With the bushels of time they spent organizing their wedding, Meg and Seth didn't have a chance to plan a honeymoon. But now that winter has arrived, there's not much to do at the orchard. So with their shared love of history and all things apple, they pick Thomas Jefferson's orchards at Monticello as the perfect getaway.

While they enjoy the beautiful sights, there's a rotten addition to the agenda when Meg's parents discover their handyman dead in the backyard. With a bitter police chief eyeing Meg's father as a suspect, Meg and Seth have to cut their honeymoon short to find the root of the problem.

Release date: October 4, 2016

Publisher: Berkley

Print pages: 304

Sample

1

"Good morning, Mrs. Chapin."

Meg was awakened by the sound of Seth's voice, followed quickly by the smell of coffee.

"And good morning to you, Mr. Chapin." Meg pried her eyes open.

Seth set the coffee mug down on the table next to Meg, then settled himself beside her on the bed, plumping several pillows behind him. "How're you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm feeling great. Why? Should I be hungover? Or should I be thinking to myself, what have I done? How do I get out of this?"

"I withdraw the question," Seth said hastily, "if that's the way you're thinking."

"Don't worry. I never drink too much, and we're both mature adults and we had plenty of time to think about what we were doing when we decided to get married. We've got plenty of time to regret it later."

"I guess that's encouraging. So, what now?"

Meg pulled herself up to the same level, rearranging her pillows, and took a long swallow of coffee. "Now as in this minute? Today? This week? This month?"

"Any and all of the above. We were so busy trying to plan this wedding, and helping Aaron out of the mess he was in, and worrying about Rachel and the baby, that we kind of ignored something obvious."

"And that would be?" Meg asked, although she had a pretty good idea what he was talking about.

"A honeymoon."

She was right. "Ah yes, that. Do we want one?"

"Don't you?" Seth asked, almost plaintively.

She reflected. Some time alone with just Seth? No chores that needed to be attended to in the orchard. No family demands (although she was quite fond of her new mother-in-law). No interruptions. It was tempting. "I guess I do. Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, I've pretty much rejected a glitzy package in Las Vegas."

"Good thinking-that's not our style."

Seth rolled over to face her. "Look, we've got a week or two free from our own work. Okay, it's winter, and that's not the best time of year for sightseeing. But on the other hand, there are fewer annoying tourists around, and it's easier to book places. We'll just wear a lot of warm clothes."

"So no tropical islands? Foreign countries?"

"Uh, no? Why? Is that what you want?"

"No! My skin doesn't handle sunbathing on beaches well. And foreign travel, much as I love it, is just too complicated right now. Hold that thought for some later time."

"Okay," Seth said amiably. "So we've decided to stay in this country and not on a beach. Fly or drive?"

"Flying's complicated, too. But do you know, we've never taken a long road trip together? Unless you count Vermont, and that was only a couple of hours."

"Did I meet your standards?"

"For a couple of hours," Meg said, smiling. "Beyond that I can't say. What's your limit?"

"If we want to enjoy ourselves and see something other than highways? Maybe two hours at a stretch. Four or five over a day, if it's broken up in the middle. You want me to drive? You want to drive? You want to split it?"

"I call navigator," Meg replied. "I love reading maps."

"You do know they invented the GPS," Seth reminded her.

"Yes, I've heard of that," she shot back, "but it's not the same as following where you are on a page. And I've known GPS to be wrong."

"So you trust my driving-that's progress. Do you want to go skiing?"

"What's this, Twenty Questions? I don't ski, or at least, not downhill. I've been known to go cross-country skiing, but not lately. May I remind you that it's winter? And we live in New England?"

"What are you saying? That you don't like snow?"

"I love snow, when I can admire it outside my window while I sit in front of a roaring fire and don't have to go anywhere."

"Got it. One veto for going north, where there's bound to be more snow, ice, sleet, et cetera. So, east, west, or south? Or maybe I should ask first, city or country? Boston would be east."

"I've done Boston, remember?" Meg had lived there for several years, but while she had enjoyed her time there, she felt little need to revisit the place, and she didn't feel compelled to share it with Seth. "And while I think New York or Washington, D.C., could be wonderful, somehow I don't want to spend my honeymoon running around a city trying to fit in all the touristy sites. It's supposed to be time for us."

"Agreed. Scratch cities, at least for now."

They both lapsed into silence. Meg sipped her coffee and wondered what she did want. Alone time with Seth would be a luxury, even if they were holed up in a cabin in the woods. As long as there was heat, food, and good coffee, she amended. Was there someplace she wanted to visit, something she wanted to see, that she hadn't had the time or the opportunity for until now? "May I make a suggestion?"

"Of course you may, Meg. I'm all ears."

"We both love history. You like old houses; I like apples and I want to know more about them. I know it's not the best season to look at either, but can we somehow follow our interests? That would give us a sense of purpose as we roam around the country in a car, avoiding cities and snow."

"You, Mrs. Chapin, are a genius. Of course we can. Monticello?"

"Exactly! I've always wanted to see that, but I don't think I've ever been that far south. And it's got both architecture and apples!"

"Okay, that goes on the list. What else?"

"Have you ever heard of Bartram's Garden?"

"Can't say that I have. What is it?"

"It's a place outside of Philadelphia. The Bartram family distributed one of the earliest plant catalogs in the American colonies-and they had lots of apples."

"Excellent. How about Mystic Seaport? Have you been there? No apples that I recall, but it's really interesting."

"I don't insist on apples everywhere, you know, and no, I've never been to Mystic Seaport. It's reasonably close, isn't it?"

"It is."

Meg was silent for a moment, then said carefully, "If we're headed to Monticello, we could stop in at my folks' house on the way back, and you could see where I grew up."

"All right. Your parents aren't home yet, though, are they?"

"No, they're not. I didn't catch all the details before the wedding-things were a little crazy, as you may recall. I think when they stopped by with the wedding suit, they were on their way to some nice bed-and-breakfast somewhere, but I got the impression that they planned to return to civilization after the wedding, I think in Amherst."

"If I never got a chance to say it, that was a lovely suit you wore."

"What, you noticed? It was such a wonderful idea, wearing something that belonged to my grandmother. Something old and something borrowed, if you can borrow something from someone who is no longer living. I'm amazed it fit, though."

"Maybe it was meant to be-your grandmother was looking out for you."

"That would be nice, wouldn't it? In any case, maybe Mother is in Amherst to celebrate-I think she despaired of ever marrying me off."

"Was she pressuring you?"

"No, not at all. You may have noticed that we don't talk about personal stuff like that very often. My parents may live in New Jersey, but they're Yankees through and through."

"So if I'd turned out to have two heads and drooled, she would have breathed a sigh of relief that someone wanted her spinster daughter?"

Meg swatted his shoulder. "Hey, she came of age in that last big wave of feminism. She would never insist that every woman had to be married. I think she was worried that I'd lead a lonely life."

"So of course she sent you to Granford, where you knew nobody."

"Well, that wasn't supposed to be permanent-just long enough for me to get my feet back on the ground and figure out what I wanted to do, while at the same time fixing up the house to sell it. I think that part was supposed to be therapeutic, but obviously my mother has never tried her hand at home repair. I could say that meeting you changed everything, but as I recall, you didn't like me much when you first met me."

"True, but I was an idiot. I apologize, if I haven't already. But in my defense, it did get kind of messy when you accused my brother of murder. Is your father okay with me?"

"You mean, would he be happier if you wore a suit every day and went to an office in a high-rise? Maybe, but he just wants me to be happy."

"And are you?"

"Yes, Mr. Chapin, I do believe I am."

He leaned over to kiss her, and the kiss kind of kept going. It was a while before they pulled themselves apart.

"You know, I could get used to this," Seth said.

"You mean, not having to get up at dawn and go deal with late deliveries and reluctant pickers? I second that. But this won't last."

"That wasn't the part I was talking about, but you're right. All the more reason we should throw together a plan for this honeymoon. The day is still young-we could be in Mystic by mid-afternoon."

"What, you want to leave today?"

"Why not? Any reason why we can't?"

Meg reflected. "Well, no, I guess not. I'm just more used to planning things ahead of time."

"So let's be spontaneous. Gas up the car and take off. Bree can keep an eye on the animals. Who knows-it could snow tomorrow. Why wait?"

"Mister measure twice and cut once, being spontaneous? You're full of surprises today. But can we check the weather report first, please? Much as I enjoy your company, I don't want to get stuck in a snowdrift on a highway somewhere."

Seth grinned at her. "Spoilsport. Have you no sense of adventure? And I've already checked the forecast-looks fine for the rest of the week, at least for most of the Eastern Seaboard. And I had my car tuned up recently. Unless you want to take yours?"

"No, yours is fine."

Seth jumped quickly off the bed. "All right! I'll go down and work on breakfast, and you can find all the maps in the house, and then we'll sit down and figure out where we're going."

Seth left the room before Meg could answer, and she lay back and wondered what had just happened. Seth seemed positively giddy. Staid, responsible Seth? Was this what marriage did to people?

She got up more slowly and ambled down the hall to take a shower. By the time she was dressed and downstairs, her orchard manager, Bree, was seated at the table, and Seth was whistling as he flipped pancakes.

"Mornin'," Bree said. "I cleared out last night, in case you wanted some privacy."

"Very thoughtful of you, Bree," Meg said, trying to mute her sarcasm. Seth had been a constant feature of the house she and Bree shared for quite some time, so she must have been used to his presence by now. Had she expected some different kind of behavior from them, now that they were legally wed? She tried to imagine what might scandalize Bree and came up blank.

"The wedding breakfast, ladies," Seth said, depositing a platter of pancakes on the table between them. "Syrup coming up." He turned and collected the maple syrup-locally made, of course, at the Parker farm a few miles away-and the coffeepot, then set both on the table. "Enjoy!"

"Did you have a good time at the party, Bree?" Meg asked. It had been kind of a hodgepodge event, with family members and friends from the area. The ceremony and the party after had both taken place in Gran's, a restaurant in the heart of Granford, and one that Meg had helped to create by convincing the local farmers to become shareholders as they provided locally sourced food. There had been so little time or energy to make plans, for either Meg or Seth, and the whole thing had been thrown together when there was time, which wasn't often. But from what she could remember of the night before, people had looked happy, the food had been excellent, and the place had looked lovely in the December twilight.

"Yeah, it was nice," Bree said, as she dug into her pancakes. "Good food. People looked like they were enjoying it. You have any complaints?"

"Nope. It was exactly what I wanted. Small and personal. Although I think my mother was a bit bewildered by the whole thing." Meg glanced at Seth. "Seth and I were talking about taking a honeymoon."

"Really? You mean, actually leave Granford?" Bree said in mock amazement.

"Hey, we once went all the way to Vermont!" Seth protested.

"That was only a couple of hours away," Bree pointed out.

Seth smiled. "We were considering going a little farther this time."

"You mean, like two states away instead of only one? You better leave a trail of bread crumbs, or you'll never find your way back," Bree said, forking up a large wedge of pancake dripping with butter and syrup.

"That settles it-we're getting out of Dodge," Meg said firmly. "Bree, Seth suggested we drive south and check out some historical sites, like Monticello. You mind feeding Max and Lolly and the goats while we're gone? And walking Max? Lolly's low maintenance."

"Of course not. I'm not planning to go anywhere. How long?"

"We haven't decided."

"When you leaving?"

"We don't know yet. Soon."

"Well, obviously you have the planning thing under control. Let me know when you make up your minds. I can handle the animals."

"Thank you, Bree," Meg said formally, with a smile. "Look, Seth, we have Bree's permission to take a honeymoon. There's no stopping us now!"

2

Of course, after that nothing was quite as easy, Meg found quickly.

"Can we leave today?" Seth asked, after they'd finished eating breakfast and cleaned up. Bree had vanished up to her room over the kitchen.

"Seth, it's going to take me a couple of hours to sort out the laundry," Meg protested. "That's one of those things I'd been putting off because of the wedding." And the end of the harvest. And trying to help solve an old crime. "Can we leave in the morning tomorrow?"

"All right. If you insist." He tried to look aggrieved, but Meg suspected that leaving the next day had been his intention all along. He certainly should know there were limits to her spontaneity, and she wasn't about to take off for a week or more without clean clothes.