Chapter 11
Burt Tidwell opened the front door and stuck his somewhat oversized head in. His dark eyes peered around as if he might be worried about interrupting something. Then again, his body language indicated he didn’t seem all that worried about interrupting anything.
Theodosia, standing at the front counter talking to Drayton, noticed him. She sighed and said, “Back so soon?”
“Huh,” was his monosyllabic reply.
“I can only spare a few moments,” Theodosia said as she grabbed a tub of dirty dishes and swept past him.
“I’m still clearing from lunch while we get the room ready for afternoon tea.
” She didn’t mention that she was also on her way to the Heritage Society, where she planned to question Roger Birch, the real estate developer.
Tidwell settled himself at the small table by the stone fireplace and glanced around again. His eyes seemed to follow Theodosia wherever she went.
Minutes later, Theodosia was back at his table, placing a cup of Assam tea and a gingerbread scone in front of him. “Well?” she said as she sat down across from him.
“It was a single-use flash-bang,” Tidwell said. “A nonbursting, nonfragmenting device that produces a thunderous bang—”
“You can say that again.”
Tidwell frowned at her interruption. “I will say that again…a thunderous bang along with an intense bright light. That type of device is generally used by law enforcement in a high-risk situation to distract a dangerous suspect.”
“It certainly got my attention.”
“And I wonder why you were the recipient of such a vexing prank?” Tidwell said. “Oh wait, could it be that you’ve been poking your nose into my Van Courtland investigation?”
“Not really. I just—”
Tidwell held up a big paw to stop her. “You just asked a few innocent questions. Tried to get the lay of the land, so to speak.”
“Right,” Theodosia said.
“Wrong. You need to stay out of this.”
“That might be difficult, since I’m already in this. You forget, I practically risked my life chasing after our murder suspect.”
“My murder suspect,” Tidwell said.
“And then you wanted my take on Payton Van Courtland’s rather flamboyant personality.”
“Just your opinion. Nothing more.”
“Come on, you know I’ve taken a keen interest in this case.”
Rather than reply, Tidwell took a huge bite of scone and chewed methodically.
“Have you interviewed Payton Van Courtland again? I mean not just spoken casually to her, really interviewed her, treated her as if she were a serious suspect?”
Tidwell continued to chew.
“For instance,” Theodosia said, “does Payton have an alibi for Sunday night?”
Tidwell swallowed, took a sip of tea, and said, “You’re sounding very procedural.”
Theodosia found Tidwell’s choice of words rather interesting. She’d never thought of her questions as being particularly procedural or ordered. Really, she felt she operated more on pure instinct.
Then Tidwell said, out of nowhere, “Did you know that Mrs. Van Courtland was the angel behind a nearby halfway house?”
“Honey Badger House,” Theodosia said.
“How much do you know about that?”
“Birdie Huger mentioned it to me but that’s about it.”
“You’ve already conversed with Mrs. Huger?” Tidwell said.
“Just briefly. Last night I was there with Gordon Twombley, the antique dealer.”
Tidwell looked unhappy. “So you’ve already insinuated yourself into Mrs. Van Courtland’s home and family life.”
“I was invited,” Theodosia said defensively, “by Gordon Twombley, who’s been cataloging Mrs. Van Courtland’s antiques.
So that’s how I happened to meet Brody Van Courtland.
” She watched Tidwell do a slow reptilian blink at the mention of Brody’s name and something—maybe her innate instinct—flickered inside her.
“Wait a minute, is Brody on your suspect list?”
Tidwell looked startled but managed to maintain his composure. “That, Ms. Browning, is none of your business.”
“Oh my lord, he is, isn’t he?” This was stunning news. News that demanded more information. “Tell me, does Brody have an alibi for Sunday night?”
But Tidwell had taken a final bite of scone and was chewing for all it was worth. He definitely wasn’t going to favor her with an answer.
* * *
“That man is infuriating,” Theodosia said to Drayton once Tidwell had left.
“Because he won’t make you privy to his investigation?” Drayton said.
“Something like that. Yes.”
“You should know Tidwell’s MO by now. He comes in, drinks our tea, wolfs down our scones, and pumps you for information.”
“He didn’t get anything from me this time.”
“No, because you’ve learned to keep him in the dark.”
“I just wish he’d be a little more forthcoming,” Theodosia said. “I mean, it wouldn’t kill him. Maybe I could help.”
“Here,” Drayton said, thrusting a flutter of paper into Theodosia’s hands. “This should cheer you up and take your mind off the investigation for the time being.”
Theodosia fumbled to contain all the papers he’d handed her. “What am I looking at?”
“Today’s receipts. Maybe you can peruse them while I pack up the rest of our borrowed antiques.”
“Happy to,” Theodosia said. She stared at the papers in her hands, then peered at Drayton again. “We did good?”
“I think you’ll be more than pleased.”
“Well…thank you then.”
Theodosia was sitting in her office, tallying up the receipts, thinking what a great day they’d just had, when a sharp knock sounded on the back door.
“Huh?” she said as she lifted her head. Then, in a polite but firm voice that was intended to carry, said, “Could you kindly go around front?”
Whoever it was out there in the alley knocked again. Louder this time.
Feeling somewhat put upon, Theodosia rose from her desk and went to the back door. She opened it and peered through the screen. “If you’ve come for tea and scones you should—”
“Hey,” said a young man. He touched a finger to his forehead in a friendly mock salute.
“Hey,” Theodosia said back, wondering what this was about. A delivery? Or was this guy a friend of Haley’s?
“I need to talk to you,” the young man said.
He was around twenty or so with an eager, open face, shock of dark hair, and what was probably a lithe-bordering-on-skinny body shrouded in a baggy Gap hoodie.
Like most kids his age, he wore blue jeans and tennis shoes, only his were the popular HOKA brand.
“Talk to me about what?” Theodosia asked.
“Is it true?” the young man asked. Even though he shuffled his feet nervously, he projected a certain intensity.
“Is what true?”
“That when somebody offed poor Mrs. V at the tea party you ran after them?”
“Tried to. How did you hear about that? And, for goodness’ sake, who are you anyway?”
“I’m Lenny. One of the kids from Honey Badger House.”
“Lenny,” Theodosia said. She unlocked the screen and pushed it open. “Maybe you should come in after all.”
Lenny nodded as he walked into her office.
He looked around, took in a five-foot stack of bright red felt hats, said, “Cool,” then added, “I heard about you chasing after that guy. The cops told us. Right after Mrs. V was killed, they came by and questioned all of us. Grilled us pretty hard. Wanted to know where we were, what we were doing that night.”
“Because they considered you to be suspects?” Of course they did.
Lenny scowled. “The cops think because we’re poor and some of us have sketchy pasts that one of us might have murdered Mrs. V.” He pressed his lips together in defiance, then said, “We wouldn’t do that, we couldn’t. She was our…what would you call it? Our benefactor.”
“I did hear that about her.”
“Mrs. V was a righteous lady who treated us like real people, not just dumb kids.”
“So you really did know her.”
“Darn straight,” Lenny said. “When Desi fell off the roof and broke his leg she even paid for his rehab at a private clinic. Even though he had no business climbing up on that roof in the first place.”
“That was kind of her,” Theodosia said. She noticed a small bouquet of flowers clutched in Lenny’s hand and said, “What’s that you’ve got?”
“Flowers. Some of us got together and passed the hat around, bought these blue irises because we know they were one of her favorites. They always reminded her of the blue morpho butterflies in her garden.” Lenny sniffled, wiped hastily at his eyes, and said, “We really feel bad about what happened.” He held out the bouquet to Theodosia.
“You seem like a nice lady. Could you see that somebody in her family gets these?”
Theodosia accepted the flowers. “I will for sure do that,” she said as tears sparkled in her eyes as well.