Chapter 21
21
“You’re not going to believe this,” Theodosia said.
“Try me,” Drayton said.
It was Thursday morning at the Indigo Tea Shop, and Theodosia and Drayton were sipping their morning cuppas. Haley was rattling around in the kitchen, baking butterscotch scones and pumpkin muffins, singing to herself. Something about “Wake up and smell the breakup.”
“Remember the box of candy that turned up here yesterday?”
“The yummy-looking chocolate-covered cherries?” Drayton said. “The ones you wouldn’t let me eat?”
“And a smart thing that was. Riley had them tested at the police lab and found they contained traces of strychnine.”
Drayton practically choked on his tea. “Strychnine? As in rat poison? No wonder Miss Dimple went home sick!”
“It’s a miracle she didn’t drop dead,” Theodosia said. “And you, you were all set to snarf down the entire box.”
“Because I thought it was candy,” Drayton cried. “Not some kind of death sentence.”
“You see the true meaning behind those chocolates, don’t you?”
“Tainted?”
“Yes, but more than that—it’s part of a pattern. The chocolates were the second thing this week to be sabotaged.”
“Jeepers, you’re right.” Drayton shook his head. “Lucky I didn’t waltz myself into an early grave.” He thought for a few moments. “So someone, maybe even Celeste’s killer…”
“Probably Celeste’s killer,” Theodosia said.
“…knows we’ve been investigating her murder,” Drayton finished.
“That’s my read as well.”
“Gracious.”
“You know that Charleston PD is definitely referring to it as a murder now,” Theodosia said. “I caught a short clip on the news this morning. K-BAM was yapping about the ongoing investigation.”
“Was it that Lotter guy who’s been bugging you?”
“Who else? Oh, and I have a little weirdness to share with you.”
“What’s that?”
“I caught Jamie using drugs last night.”
“At the cemetery crawl?” Drayton said. “What do you mean, like prescription pain pills?”
“Pain pills are what I attributed to Jamie acting spacey. And he probably is taking those. But last night I caught Jamie doing a line.”
“A line,” Drayton repeated.
“Of cocaine.”
Understanding dawned on Drayton’s face. “Oh my! That kind of line. How awful. Are you going to tell Bettina?”
“Jamie begged me not to. But, I don’t know, it’s kind of a big thing.”
“It is if they’re still planning to get married,” Drayton said. “You don’t want Bettina marrying somebody who’s saddled with a drug problem.”
“Jamie doesn’t see it that way. He told me it was a one-off, something to help dull the pain.”
“You think that’s true?”
“I doubt this was the first time Jamie used coke, and I doubt it’ll be the last time,” Theodosia said.
“Then you’ve got to tell Bettina the truth.” Drayton took a sip of tea, contemplated the Chinese design on his teacup, and said, “Where would Jamie purchase cocaine anyway?”
“You remember me mentioning the curly-haired guy who showed up at Celeste’s visitation?”
“No. Well, maybe.”
“Turns out his name is Slide and he’s Charleston’s friendly dope dealer.”
“How do you know this?” Drayton asked.
“Riley told me when he dropped by last night.”
“He told you just out of the blue like that?”
“No, he told me because Slide was right there,” Theodosia said.
“Slide was at the cemetery crawl?”
“Kind of hanging out. I’m guessing Jamie probably set it up, told Slide to meet him there so he could make the buy.” Theodosia stopped, then pursed her lips as if she was about to say something more.
“What?” Drayton said. He waggled his fingers. “You were going to say something else. What’s whirring in that clever brain of yours?”
“I was thinking about Slide. What if Jamie owed him money for drugs and couldn’t pay?”
“So you’re thinking…what?”
“What if Slide rigged the greenhouse to make a point? Pay up or face dire consequences?”
“Are drug dealers that nefarious?” Drayton asked.
“What do you think?”
“I suppose they probably are.”
The door from the kitchen whapped open and Haley yelled out, “Hey, you guys, it’s almost nine! We open in five minutes!”
“I guess we’re not going to solve any murders sitting here,” Drayton said as he got up from the table.
“And we’ve still got all that stuff from last night to sort through,” Haley added, clearly in martinet mode.
“Got it,” Theodosia called back to her. She was going to tell Drayton about the skull she found on her doorstep last night, then decided, No, I’ll let it go until later. He’s got enough to digest as it is.
* * *
The Indigo Tea Shop was busy with customers this morning. Theodosia did her graceful ballet of dipping, pouring, and spinning back to the counter to grab more pots of tea. Drayton happily brewed pots of Puerh and chamomile tea, as well as a special request for vanilla chai.
At ten o’clock Delaine and Bettina walked through the front door, looked around, saw Theodosia, and gave friendly little finger waves. Theodosia hurried over to greet them and seated them at a small table near the front door. She glanced back at the tea room, decided she could spare a few minutes, and plopped down alongside them.
“Did you see the segment on the news this morning?” Delaine asked.
Theodosia nodded. “I did.”
“The police are calling it a murder now,” Delaine said. “Even though we’ve known that all along.”
“That’s for sure,” Bettina said.
“I have a question for Bettina,” Theodosia said. “Do you remember the curly-haired guy who was ghosting through the crowd at Celeste’s visitation?”
Bettina ticked a finger in Theodosia’s direction. “You mean the same guy I saw at Smedley’s Saloon? That Jamie didn’t introduce me to?”
“That’s the one,” Theodosia said. “His name is Jimmy Simonton but his street name is Slide.”
“This man is a musician?” Delaine asked.
“Not quite,” Theodosia said. “Slide happens to be our friendly local drug dealer.”
“What!” Delaine cried.
Theodosia ignored Delaine and focused only on Bettina. “Jamie used to hang around with him, right?”
“I think so.” Now Bettina looked seriously flustered. “But he doesn’t anymore.”
“But he did,” Theodosia said.
“Maybe. For a while,” Bettina said.
Theodosia decided to just spit it out. “Was Jamie buying drugs from Simonton? Is Jamie buying drugs from Simonton?”
Bettina’s eyes widened and her lashes fluttered like frightened butterflies. “Not that I know of.”
“Jamie doesn’t do drugs,” Delaine scoffed. “He’s a straight arrow.”
“You’re sure about that?” Theodosia asked.
Delaine lifted her chin and said, “I happen to be an excellent judge of character.”
Theodosia knew that Delaine was a terrible judge of character. She’d hooked up with more dingbats, drifters, and con artists than you could shake a stick at. But this wasn’t the time to bring up her relationship shortcomings.
“I think you need to have a serious talk with Jamie,” Theodosia said to Bettina. “A real heart-to-heart. If you truly care for him…”
“Of course I do!” Bettina cried.
“Then you’d better hash out his relationship with Slide.”
“I will,” Bettina said. “For sure.” She ducked her head, embarrassed. “I do hear what you’re saying.”
“Good,” Theodosia said.
“It feels as if you two are talking in riddles,” Delaine said.
“No,” Bettina said. “We’re clearing the air.”
“If the air is sufficiently cleared, do you think we could order?” Delaine asked. “Some of us have actual businesses to run.”
Theodosia smiled and took their orders.
Ten minutes later, Theodosia was at the counter, asking Drayton if they had a tin of Mufi Cha, a traditional Japanese barley tea.
“We did at one time,” Drayton said, studying his shelves. “But I’m not sure…” He turned, looked past Theodosia as the front door snicked open, and said, in a low voice, “We have a guest.”
Theodosia whirled around and registered a tall man who’d just entered the tea shop. He was standing just inside the front door, looking all buttoned up in what was probably a thousand-dollar three-piece suit and carrying a Gucci briefcase. She hurried over to him, offered a warm smile, and said, “May I help you? Would you like a table or are you meeting someone?”
“More like trying to connect with a particular individual,” the man said. He had a square jaw, dark brown eyes, and reddish-brown hair that was a tad over collar length. His eyes roved about the tea room until they finally settled on Delaine. “I think I might have found her.”
“You’re looking for Delaine?” Theodosia asked.
“You can confirm that’s Delaine Dish?” the man asked. “Excellent. Her assistant at Cotton Duck said I might find her here.”
“Is there a problem?” Theodosia asked. She was getting strange vibes from this man.
“Shouldn’t be,” the man said as he brushed past Theodosia and went over to Delaine’s table. “Excuse me, Miss Delaine Dish?”
Delaine looked up at him. “Yes?” Then, deciding she rather liked what she saw—a good-looking man, three-piece suit, Gucci briefcase—she smiled, cocked her head, and purred, “What can I do for you?”
“My name is Howard Pinzer and I’m a lawyer with Collins, Druid, and Dunn. Our firm happens to represent Celeste Haynes’s family in a wrongful death suit.”
“What!” Delaine screeched.
Howard Pinzer twiddled a business card between his fingers, then handed it to a stunned Delaine. “We’ll be in touch.”
Delaine dropped the card like it was covered in rat poop. “Be in touch!” she screamed. “Be in touch about what?”
But the lawyer had already spun away from her.
Delaine stood up, her face flushed bright pink and her arms beating the air. “I’m talking to you!”
The front door slammed shut and Mr. Pinzer was gone—poof—like Beetlejuice disappearing into the Netherworld.
“Delaine,” Theodosia said, in a commiserating tone. “What in the world…?”
“Did you see that?” Delaine sputtered. “The nerve of that guy. Some uppity lawyer isn’t going to pin a wrongful death suit on me! I had nothing to do with Celeste’s accident. I only planned the wedding, I didn’t sabotage that stupid greenhouse.”
Bettina tugged at Delaine’s sleeve. “Sit down, please. You’re embarrassing me.”
Delaine sat down as Theodosia tried to soothe her.
“It’s probably nothing,” Theodosia said. “An opening salvo, very pro forma. I’m sure nothing will come of it.”
Delaine settled back in her chair. “That lawyer seemed awfully pleased with himself.”
“They learn that in lawyer school,” Bettina said. “How to manufacture bluster at the drop of a hat.”
“And he wants to bring a lawsuit? Against me?” Delaine pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets and screamed, “YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS!”
Bettina nudged her again. “You’re still embarrassing me.”
Delaine took her hands away and stared at Theodosia. One of her false eyelashes had come loose and now it trembled with every blink. “Theo, you see what kind of trouble I could be in? Now I’m begging you to kick your investigation into high gear and find the killer!”
“I’ve been giving it my best shot, Delaine. But I’m afraid I haven’t turned up all that much,” Theodosia said.
“Not so. You’ve been more proactive than the sheriff’s department and the police put together,” Delaine said. “You had Martin Hunt’s name the day after the greenhouse collapse. And Adam Lynch’s name the day after that.”
“You two really should have told me about Lynch,” Theodosia said.
“We never thought it was important,” Delaine said, waving a hand. “Lynch was in the past, and the past is the past.”
“That’s not always true,” Theodosia said.
“And now we’ve got crazy Sabrina, who’s all whipped up over Madame Aurora mentioning her finances,” Delaine said. “What was that about?”
“It turns out Sabrina stands to inherit a pile of money,” Theodosia said.
“How big a pile?” Delaine tapped a fire-engine red nail against the table. “How much money?”
“Ten million dollars,” Theodosia said.
Delaine’s eyes popped wide open. “What!” she screeched. “Did you say ten m-m-million?”
Theodosia nodded. “Sabrina and Celeste each stood to inherit five million.”
Delaine was no slouch at putting two and two together. “So with Celeste out of the way, Sabrina inherits it all?”
“Correct,” Theodosia said.
“So that’s why Sabrina was so upset at yesterday’s tarot reading,” Bettina said. “She thought we’d suspect her. Which…now that we have this information…we kind of do.”
But Delaine’s anxiety was so maxed out she was ready to burst. She whapped the palm of her hand against the table, making the teacups jump and clatter in their saucers. “There you go,” she spat out. “Sabrina has to be the killer! It’s like on those TV detective shows when they talk about following the money!”
“Exactly,” Bettina said. “When you know who profits, you find the killer!”
Theodosia sighed. If only it were that simple.
“Excuse me,” Drayton said as he walked up to their table. “Are you staying for tea?”
“No!” Delaine cried. “Not after what’s come to light. Come on, Bettina, let’s get out of here so Theodosia can get to work.”
Drayton stared after them as they fled the tea shop, then turned to Theodosia and said, “Did I miss something?”
“Now they’re convinced that Sabrina is the killer.”
Drayton nodded sagely. “Of course.”
* * *
The killer was feeling another hint of unease, another nip of uncertainty that plans might not work out perfectly. First, that tea shop woman had stuck her nose into things. And now she was running around, questioning people, looking for suspects, and making trouble.
Was she smart enough to figure things out? Would she eventually come to the conclusion that Jamie had been the intended target? Would she figure out why?
There were, of course, ways to send her careening off course. Or if it came right down to it, to get rid of the tea shop lady altogether.
Yes, a new plan would have to be implemented. Spook her, tease her, then reel her in for a final showdown.
This wouldn’t be easy, but it would make for an exciting challenge.