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Inigo walked slowly around the greenhouse, checking all the tables, but everything was exactly where it should have been. There were no extra pots, no newly planted orchids anywhere. In fact… Hmm, hadn’t there been eight trays of Cobra Lilies? Now there were only seven. And the carnivorous lilies were another plant that was temperamental and difficult to grow. Had someone taken the pesky plants somewhere else to try a different temperature or watering program for them? But surely the boss would have told him. He’d spent endless hours working on those orchids. They were his babies.
Inigo left Greenhouse Four and walked along the winding path past Greenhouses Three and Two to Greenhouse One where Head of Horticulture James Jewel had his office. Delwynne was the only person working in the greenhouse when Inigo arrived, and she was intent on checking leaves for insect pests so he just nodded to her and kept walking.
As usual, James had his door propped open with the world’s ugliest concrete garden gnome. Inigo stood in the doorway and shuffled his boots on the concrete floor until James looked up.
“I just wanted to ask you about the orchids,” Inigo explained.
“Sure, sure, you’ve done well with them. Far more grew than the usual success rate. Any problem there?” asked James.
“Have you moved some of them?” asked Inigo.
“Say what?”
“There are only eight trays of orchids in Greenhouse Four. The two trays with the most developed plants aren’t there anymore. I wondered if you’d had them moved into a different greenhouse to be replanted into pots or something.”
“Hell no. They need to be in those warming trays for a while yet. Two missing you say?” James looked thoughtful.
“Yes. And I think a tray of lilies has disappeared, too.”
“The Cobra Lilies as well? Damn! A dozen bonsai Japanese Maples have vanished, too, from Greenhouse Three. Obviously this is not coincidence or carelessness. Someone’s stolen them.”
“Well, they’re hardly going to turn up on eBay. Only nurseries that know what they’re doing could sell such unusual plants as these.”
James looked straight into Inigo’s face. “You haven’t mentioned this to any of the others, have you?”
Inigo shook his head.
“Please don’t say anything to anyone else yet. I want to conduct a proper inventory. If someone is stealing things as easily counted as trays of orchids, it’s a reasonable bet they’re stealing other stuff as well. Delwynne was complaining this morning she couldn’t find her favorite wheelbarrow. I won’t be surprised if a whole raft of things has vanished. I need to be sure of my facts before I call the police.”
Inigo nodded again, watching as James opened a drawer and got out a notepad.
Inigo left, thinking, It does seem as though a thief is among us. It isn’t as if a Botanical Garden has much security apart from a few guards to redirect lost people and to discourage them from falling into the lake.
****
“Daddy, Daddy, look what Mommy bought me for the beach. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Eight-year-old Beverley ran into the living room wearing her brand new Barbie bikini and twirled around in front of her daddy.
But Daddy sat up straight in his armchair and he frowned.
“Look at your gut flopping everywhere. It’s disgusting. Haven’t you been doing your sit-ups each morning? And your thighs. Wobbling all over the place like a bowl of Jell-O. Damn it, girl, you’re so ugly, I can’t bear to look at you. Get out of my sight!”
Crushed, Beverley scuttled back to her room and hastily took off the bikini, burying it at the very bottom of her clothes closet.
Bev knew she wasn’t as thin as some of the other girls at school, but she hadn’t realized she was fat and ugly. She never, ever ate bad foods. Mommy wouldn’t allow junk food in the apartment and all Beverley’s pocket money was spent on plants. She had her own little garden out back in the yard and spent hours every day with her plants.
She did the exercises Daddy had taught her every day. Likely she should be doing more. Beverley dried her tears, took her stance in the center of her bedroom and began doing squats. Daddy said squats were the best aerobic exercise. Instead of doing twenty, she’d do one hundred. Every day. Then Daddy would love her again.
****
Beverley was trying hard to get a grip on herself about Sunday. Hyacinthe had arranged for Inigo and Bev to come to her apartment and each bring their favorite DVD to watch and discuss and a platter of their favorite food to share.
It sounded like a great idea on the surface, a good way for Beverley and Inigo to get to know each other a little better with the soothing, familiar presence of Hyacinthe there as well, but Beverley just knew they’d all end up in bed again or worse still, in the shower, and Inigo would be as disgusted with her flabby body as her father had always been.
Could she possibly delay the sex until evening and darkness? Nah, not going to happen. Lust would capture them all and likely they’d be in bed even before they ate lunch.
Hyacinthe was small, slender, fair, and beautiful. Inigo was muscular and well-built with broad shoulders and a tan that emphasized his blond hair. And she, Beverley, was stocky and pudgy and mediocre in looks. And it wasn’t that she ate like a pig and slumped on a couch all day. She watched her diet carefully, never ate more than the recommended portion size, never ate junk food, never drank soda, and had maybe a handful of glasses of alcohol in a year. Plus she exercised fiercely and was on her feet pretty much all day long. Life just wasn’t fair.
