Mulch ado about nothing

couple?”
    Shelley, having no more information than Jane, said nothing. They just stood there, transfixed and wondering what to do with the huge flower arrangement.
    Detective Mel VanDyne had spotted Jane as well, and came out the front door a moment later. Scowling fiercely, he had a brief word with the unknown couple and the officer with them and turned and headed toward Jane and Shelley.
    “What are you two doing here?“ he snapped. “Gawking?”
    He should have known from the sizzling silence that met this inquiry that he was going to be sorry for that remark. But he compounded the looming problem by adding in an unfortunately demanding tone, “Well?”
    Jane said coldly, “I don’t normally carry around a huge vase of florist flowers when I’m just out for a ‘gawk.’ Perhaps you’ve noticed that about me over the years? These flowers,“ she said, pointing at the arrangement, “were delivered to me by mistake and were meant for Julie Jackson. Shelley and I were merely bringing them to her.”
    Shelley was about to butt in, but thought better of it. Jane was doing fine by herself. She picked up the flower arrangement and handed it to Mel.
    He was trying to figure out how to apologize without actually saying the word “sorry“ and feeling very stupid holding a vast arrangement of flowers at the crime scene. In a more pleasant voice, he said, “I see.“
    “They’re probably evidence,“ Jane said, turning on her heel dramatically to get back into the car. She tripped over the curb and came down hard on her right foot, and her shoe turned sideways with a sickening popping noise that made her yelp involuntarily.
    Mel set down the flowers, and he and Shelley rushed to scoop her up.
    “Are you okay?“ Mel asked.
    “Aside from ruining my exit, I think so,“ Jane said, grimacing with pain. “I’m feeling a tad faint.”
    Mel opened the car door, shoved her into the passenger seat, and made her take off her shoe and felt her foot. “No obvious break. Can you move your ankle?”
    Jane felt like crying, not only because her foot was hurting horribly, but because she’d made a bit of a fool of herself by flouncing off like that. She wiggled it around and said, “My ankle’s fine. Just leave me alone.”
    To her dismay, Mel and Shelley took her at her word. Jane put her shoe back on, muttering to herself, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
    Mel looked at the flower arrangement sitting unevenly on the grass. “Who are the flowers from?”
    Shelley shrugged. “We don’t know. The envelope is sealed.”
    He pulled out the little clear plastic stake and glanced at the card. “Why’s it scorched?“
    “How would I know?“ Shelley said airily.
    Mel held the envelope by one corner, slit it open with a penknife, pulled out the card with a pair of tweezers, and glanced at it. “Hmm.”
    Shelley craned her neck to see what the card said. There was no signature.
    “What does it say?“ Jane asked from inside Shelley’s van.
    “It says, ‘You’re next,’ “ Shelley reported. “No name. Jane, you need to go home and get some ice on your foot to keep it from bruising. “ Shelley walked around the front of the van and got in.
    Mel came to Jane’s window. “I’m sorry,“ he admitted.
    “So am I,“ Jane said, but her words drifted on the wind as Shelley took off like a rocket.
    “So what do you think happened?“ Shelley asked when she’d helped Jane up the steps, into her house, and onto the sofa.
    “Something awful for sure. I’m still mad at Mel for accusing us of going over there to ‘gawk.’ There I am, with about three tons of lilies and baby’s breath in my arms, and he thinks we just horned in to take a looky-loo.”
    Shelley went to Jane’s refrigerator, found ice, a plastic bag, and a dish towel. She was putting together an ice pack while saying, “There wasn’t a body brought out. That must mean that somebody was just hurt and was being treated. I hope.“
    “Or that they were waiting for the photographers before moving the body.“
    “Don’t be depressing,“ Shelley said.
    “I am depressed. My foot really hurts again. It was kind of numb for a while, but...“
    “Take off your shoe and put it up on the sofa.”
    Wincing, Jane removed her sneaker. The foot was red and swollen and had an imprint of everything on the inside of the shoe on her skin. A deep purple mark was along the outside of her foot.
    “Jane, that doesn’t look good.“
    “Just give me an hour with