Agony of the Leaves: Tea Shop Mystery #13 Page 11

  “Actually,” said Drayton, “teatime was invented by the Duchess of Bedford around 1841, to help counteract her afternoon slump.” He paused, a twinkle in his eye. “Of course, we don’t know what the Duke of Bedford was up to.”

  Laughter ensued.

  “Another question?” said Drayton, enjoying himself.

  There was another question. A woman asked, “When was the first tea brought over from China?”

  “The clipper ships first brought their tea cargo to England in the early sixteen hundreds,” said Drayton.

  “So it took a while,” the woman mused.

  “Oolong time,” Drayton laughed. Then he glanced around, found Aunt Libby in the crowd, and waved for her to come up.

  Aunt Libby shook her head, reluctant to be front and center.

  But Drayton wasn’t having it. “No,” he called out to Aunt Libby, “you have to do this. After all, you’re the one all these delightful ladies came to support. You and your charity.”

  “Madison’s Home,” said Aunt Libby. Now she stood up and made her way to the front of the group. With each step her confidence seemed to grow by leaps and bounds. She let Drayton give her a kiss, then turned to face her audience. “Thank you all so much for coming,” said Aunt Libby. “I guess it’s no secret that I’m a huge animal lover. You can pretty much tell by all the birdhouses and feeding stations I have here at Cane Ridge.”

  There was laughter and nods among the ladies.

  Aunt Libby grinned. “I’m also keenly committed to helping stray dogs and cats find a safe, loving home. And that’s why the proceeds from today’s tea will be going to a wonderful shelter called Madison’s Home. It’s a no-kill shelter here in Colleton County that’s run by a group of very dedicated volunteers. But they can’t go it alone, and that’s where all of you come in.” She hesitated. “The support you’ve given us here today will make it possible to feed and house many more lovely little creatures for several months.”

  Applause rang out and Drayton, who’d moved over to stand next to Theodosia, remarked, “Not a dry eye in the house.”

  “Charity must run in the family,” said Majel, smiling at Theodosia.

  Slightly embarrassed, Theodosia said, “I like to help out where I can.”

  “I so appreciate that,” said Majel, “especially since the City Charities scavenger hunt starts tomorrow night.”

  “That’s right,” said Theodosia.

  “And Delaine explained to you how this particular scavenger hunt works?”

  Theodosia glanced at Delaine, who was now wandering from table to table, glad-handing people like crazy. Delaine hadstrong-armed her into participating in the scavenger hunt, but Theodosia had no clue about her actual role. Was she supposed to hunt things down? Was she supposed to field a team?

  “Delaine gave me some rudimentary information,” Theodosia said, hedging, “but if you could run the basic rules and regulations past me, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Well, this scavenger hunt is very fun and techy,” said Majel. “Instead of going out and actually collecting items, you locate the items or places, take a photo, then send it back to our website.”

  “Right,” said Theodosia. She was greatly relieved she didn’t have to drive to hell and gone, then load up her Jeep with a ton of useless, bizarre junk.

  “You’ll receive your official list tomorrow,” said Majel. “Then, after you’ve hunted down your items, and if the judges deem your list to be complete, you’ll move into the finals.”

  “That’s it?” said Theodosia, sounding relieved. She’d thought it’d be more complicated than that.

  “That’s it,” said Majel. She smiled as Aunt Libby came up to their table. “Hello there. I’m the party crasher.”

  Theodosia made quick introductions between Aunt Libby and Majel, then said, “You think it was a success?”

  “Oh, goodness me,” said Aunt Libby, “it’s a rousing success.” She put a hand on Theodosia’s shoulder. “And our guests have been raving about your scones. As well as the cream honey.”

  “That reminds me,” said Theodosia. “I’m driving down to Dubose Bees on Friday to check out a new product. How would you like to come along? I could swing by and pick you up.”

  Aunt Libby grinned. “I’d love to, you know I would.”

  “Then it’s settled,” said Theodosia. “We have a date for Friday afternoon.”

  “Don’t let me forget,” said Aunt Libby. “Before you leave today, I’ve got some lovely plantings for you to take back with you. Some dwarf iris, herbs, and wild violets for you to plant in your backyard garden.”

  “And I’ve got a check for you,” said Drayton, swooping in.

  “What?” said Aunt Libby.

  “For your charity.” He dropped a personal check into her hands and smiled as he saw tears spring to her eyes.

  “Why, Drayton,” said Theodosia, “I had no idea you had such a soft spot in your heart for dogs and cats.”

  “Please,” he said, stiffening, “tell no one.”

  14

  It was late afternoon by the time Theodosia and Drayton made it back to the Indigo Tea Shop. The place was locked up tight, with no sign of Haley. Probably, Theodosia decided, she was upstairs, soaking in the bathtub with some of the Indigo Tea Shop’s own Lazy Lavender Bath Tea. Haley had gotten up at five this morning just to prep and prepare all the food, so she certainly deserved to kick back. Especially since Haley had promised to drop by later tonight and pick up the boxes for the Coffee & Tea Expo. Long day for Haley. Long day for everyone.

  “You think we can just stash this stuff in your office?” Drayton asked, as he muscled one of the coolers out of the car. “Deal with it tomorrow?” He didn’t just sound tired, his shoulders drooped and his walk was more of a shuffle.

  “Works for me,” said Theodosia. There weren’t anyleftovers—what little that remained had been given to AuntLibby—so it shouldn’t be a problem. As far as the plants Aunt Libby had given her, well, those were going to stay here, too. She’d sort out how she was going to deal with them tomorrow.

  “Then I’m going directly home,” said Drayton. “To slouch in my leather chair and lose myself in a good book. And perhaps contemplate an opera. Turandot or Don Giovanni.”

  “No TV?” Theodosia asked. “No surfing the Net?” It was her little joke. Drayton was a confirmed Luddite who despised any sort of newfangled technology and still prized his collection of vinyl records. There’d be no iPod with earbuds for him.

  “I suppose I’m just anold-fashioned fellow,” said Drayton. “Who’s set in his ways.”

  “You have convictions,” said Theodosia. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  After dropping Drayton at his home in the historic district, Theodosia was happy to finally pull into her driveway. She knew Earl Grey was okay, since Mrs. Berry, a retired schoolteacher from down the block, picked him up every afternoon and took him for a nice long walk. Probably was clandestinely teaching him his ABCs, too. And how to add and subtract. Or do quantum physics.

  “Oh, hey,” Theodosia said, as she ducked around the little fishpond that was rimmed in rocks and approached her back door. “What’s this?”

  A brown cardboard box sat on her back stoop. A delivery.

  Scooping it up, Theodosia noted the return address. “It’s here,” she said aloud, feeling a little tug of joy.

  A muffled woof from inside the house greeted her.

  Theodosia juggled the box, stuck her key in the lock, and pushed open the door. “I’m home, dear,” she announced.

  Earl Grey immediately stuck his furry muzzle into her cupped hand. It was awelcome-home ritual they’d repeated for several years.

  “Hey, guy,” she said. She felt hot doggy breath on her hand and was instantly comforted. “How you doin’?”

  “Rrrow.” Good. And you?

  Theodosia set the box on the kitchen table. “Look here. My teapot finally arrived. That was the thump you probably heard at the bac
k door.”

  Earl Grey cocked his head, then watched as Theodosia grabbed a sharp knife, carefully cut the packing tape, and opened the box.

  “Plastic beans,” she said, making a face. “Awful.”

  She swished the little nasties aside, even as they stuck maddeningly to her fingers, and pulled out her teapot. It had ablue-and-purple pansy motif against a swirl background. Manufactured by Arthur Wood & Son in Staffordshire, En-gland.

  Earl Grey nosed closer, the better to see and share the moment, as most dogs are wont to do.

  She held the teapot lower so he could sniff. Earl Grey did so and was politely positive. Still, he wasn’t quite as thrilled as Theodosia.

  Once Theodosia had taken a quick turn around the block with Earl Grey, she called Shelby.

  “Shelby,” she said, “this is Theodosia.”

  “Oh…hi.” Shelby sounded distracted. And lots more distant than she’d been this morning after the service.

  “We need to get together,” said Theodosia.

  “Mmm,” said Shelby, hedging, “I’m kind of busy right now.”

  “Right now this minute or right now this evening?” asked Theodosia. She wasn’t about to let Shelby off the hook. “Because we really need to talk. So here’s a plan, why don’t we meet up around eight o’clock?”

  There was silence on the other end of the line and then Shelby said, “I suppose. So…maybe meet at a coffee shop?”

  She wants to meet in neutral territory, Theodosia thought. She doesn’t want to come here.

  “Sure. Which one?”

  “How about the Big Grind over on Water Street?”

  “See you at eight,” said Theodosia.

  But when quarter to eight rolled around, Theodosia was already there. She’d arrived early so she could scope the location and pick a table where they wouldn’t be disturbed. Now she was waiting and thinking, preparing herself mentally to ask Shelby some hard and probing questions.

  At five past eight, Shelby rolled in. Dressed in blue jeans and a mauve T-shirt, with a fringed suede bag slung across her shoulders, she gazed around blankly, then finally spotted Theodosia. She walked slowly over to the table and sat down.

  “I hope you don’t mind meeting at a coffee shop like this,” were Shelby’s opening words. She gave a sheepish grin as she set her bag down and they both watched it puddle on the table. “I hope you don’t think it’s akin to sleeping with the enemy.”

  “Not at all,” said Theodosia. Maybe just a little bit.

  “And they do serve tea,” Shelby pointed out.

  “Yes, they do,” said Theodosia. She’d already gone to the counter and bought a glass of grapefruit juice. “It was thoughtful of you to pick a place that has tea on the menu.” Theodosia knew the tea served here came in little bags instead of beingfresh-brewed from tea leaves. Bags were fine in a pinch, as long as you realized they contained the dregs of tealeaves—the little bits and pieces of leaves and stems that were left behind once the really fine leaves were selectively chosen, measured out, and packaged by the better tea providers.

  “You want anything?” Shelby asked.

  Theodosia lifted her cup.

  “Be right back,” said Shelby, as she dug out her wallet and headed for the counter.

  Shelby was uncomfortable and stalling, but Theodosia didn’t much care. She was going to get to the heart of thematter—the will andinheritance—even if Shelby squirmed like a worm on a hook for the next thirty minutes.

  When Shelby returned to the table with a cup of coffee, Theodosia didn’t waste any time. “I have a few questions,” she said.

  “I know you do,” said Shelby. She took a sip of coffee, winced, then blew on it.

  “First things first,” said Theodosia. “Do you know anything about the missing file?”

  Shelby rolled her eyes. “Oh, jeez. You mean the one marked Current Projects?”

  “That’s the one exactly.”

  “I don’t have it,” said Shelby. “All I can tell you is that the police have been asking me about it nonstop.”

  “I’m sure you can see why,” said Theodosia. “The contents are missing andwe—that is, Detective Tidwell andI—believe they might hold pertinent business information. In fact, I’d imagine you’d want to recover it, too. After all, Parker did name you as his heir and insurance beneficiary.”

  Shelby looked unsettled. “I had no idea he was going to do that!”

  “But now you do,” said Theodosia. “Now you’re a very rich girl.”

  “I don’t want to be.”

  “That’s beside the point,” said Theodosia. “Now Solstice is your restaurant and you’ve been dumped right in the middle of the soup.”

  “The soup?” said Shelby, not understanding.

  “A highly suspicious death. And the ensuing murder investigation, ” said Theodosia, biting off each word. “Which will grind relentlessly forward until Parker’s killer is apprehended.”

  Shelby stared at Theodosia, and then her eyes went wide and her guarded expression suddenly crumpled. “Oh, my gosh!” she moaned. “You think I killed him, don’t you?”

  “Did you?” asked Theodosia. She had to ask.

  “No!” Shelby wailed. “Of course not!”

  “But you were at the Neptune Aquarium that night.”

  “I told you that!”

  “And you could have easily led Parker onto those walkways,” said Theodosia. “You could have slipped him a coy little note and he wouldn’t have been one bit suspicious. In fact, he probably would have thought you had some delicious little surprise up your sleeve.”

  “Not that kind of surprise!” Shelby cried. “Believe me, I’m just as confused and upset as you are!”

  Theodosia’s expression was one of cool appraisal. Did she believe this girl? Or was Shelby incredibly skilled at deception? That was the big question, wasn’t it?

  “Please,” said Shelby, looking pained. “You have to believe me. I never would’ve harmed Parker or conspired to set him up.”

  Theodosia continued to stare at her. “I want to believe you.” Do I really?

  “Then believe me!” Shelby cried. “That’s not who I am. I’m not a killer!”

  Theodosia took a sip of juice while Shelby pulled a Kleenex from her bag and dabbed at her eyes.

  Crocodile tears? Or genuine tears?

  A few seconds ticked by. “Okay, then,” said Theodosia.

  “You believe me?” asked Shelby, still sniffling.

  “I want to,” said Theodosia. “I really do.”

  “Then ask me anything,” said Shelby. “I want Parker’s killer brought to justice just as much as you do. That’s why I came to you in the first place!”

  “In that case,” said Theodosia, “I want you to try to dredge up some answers for me.”

  “I’ve been trying!” said Shelby. “But between talking to you and the police and his family, my brain is like cobwebs! Because I don’t think I really know anything!”

  Theodosia held up a hand. “I hear what you’re saying. But a few days have passed, and now you’ve had some time to reflect. To kind of digest everything.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.” Shelby didn’t sound convinced.

  “I know I asked you this before, but what was going on in Parker’s life?”

  Shelby gave a helpless shrug. “I don’t know. Probably just…business as usual.”

  “Think,” said Theodosia. “Think hard. Had he been worried about anything in particular? Were there certain problems or issues that were preying on his mind?”

  Shelby shook her head again.

  “Anything to do with his restaurant? Perhaps something that had veered off track?”

  Shelby touched her foam cup to her lips and nibbled at it. Seconds passed. She said, “You mean like the aquarium deal?”

  15

  Theodosia’s heart did aslow-motionflip-flop. “What aquarium deal?”

  “The one for the restaurant franchise,” said Shelby. Then she shook he
r head, as if to quickly dismiss the idea. “No, it wouldn’t have made any difference. That deal had pretty much evaporated.”

  Theodosia put her elbows on the table and leaned forward expectantly. “Tell me all about the restaurant franchise. And start from the very beginning.”

  “Oh,” said Shelby, her brows puckering as she tried to construct her thoughts, “but that was all over with maybe a month ago.”

  “Tell me anyway,” said Theodosia, trying to sound a note of encouragement.

  “At one point Parker was under the impression that he was going to be awarded the restaurant franchise at the Neptune Aquarium.”

  “Okay,” said Theodosia.

  Shelby nodded. “They’d issued something called an RFT?”

  “An RFP?” asked Theodosia. “A request for proposal?”

  Shelby snapped her fingers. “That’s it. Anyway, Parker had put together a whole pitch…a proposal. And a pretty neat one at that. His idea was to call the restaurant Angel Fish and servebistro-type fare. You know, grilled fish, steaks with pommes frites, a couple of pasta dishes.”

  “And his pitch was well-received?”

  “As I recall, it was at the time. Parker met with the director and was pretty much promised he’d be given the restaurant.”

  “Just to be clear,” said Theodosia, “when you say director, we’re talking about David Sedakis.”

  “Yes.”

  “So the Neptune Aquarium gave the nod and there was a contract drawn up? An agreement was put in place?”

  “Mmm…it seemed like there was,” said Shelby. “But there couldn’t have been, could there? Because the deal went away.” She made a little accompanying sound. “Pfft.”

  So that’s why Sedakis tabled the restaurant discussion last night, thought Theodosia. Because Parker’s name would have probably come up. And there I was, sitting right there in the middle of his cozy little group!

  Theodosia pondered this new development. David Sedakis had been seemingly won over by Parker’s proposal, had even told him on the down low that he was going to be awarded a contract. Then Sedakis had changed his mind and taken it away from Parker.