Chapter 24
As soon as Theodosia arrived at the tea shop, she called Brody’s cell phone (he’d given her his private number) and said, “Have you heard from Amber?” She was anxious for any news.
“No. Have you?” Brody sounded both angry and jazzed. As if he’d been up most of the night.
“Not a peep,” Theodosia said, trying to keep the anxiety out of her voice. “Then again, I didn’t expect to. Did you get a call from the kidnapper?”
“Nothing yet,” Brody said.
“Where are you right now?”
“Still at my mom’s house. Sitting here with Birdie and two police officers who’ve been tasked to babysit me. The ransom call came in on this landline so I’m afraid to leave.”
“Have you spoken to your Aunt Veda?”
“Are you kidding? Three police officers stormed in here last night to tell us what happened to her. Bizarre. So of course I rushed right over to the hospital.”
“How was she?” Theodosia asked.
“Pretty out of it last night. As if she was on death’s door, which she might have been. But I talked to her this morning and she sounded pretty good.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to your Aunt Veda.”
Brody seemed to want to talk. “I have to say,” he said, “it was a nasty surprise when the police showed up last night.”
“Again, it’s really unfair that you’re going through all of this.”
“The worst part was—the police kept giving me these sideways looks. Like they thought I was some kind of mastermind criminal. Me. I’ve been the proverbial goof-off all my life and now, suddenly, they think I could have murdered my own mother, kidnapped my girlfriend, and tried to poison my aunt.
Can you believe it?” Now Brody sounded utterly bereft.
“But you didn’t do any of those things,” Theodosia said. She was feeling fairly convinced of Brody’s innocence.
“Of course not,” Brody said, his voice heavy with sorrow.
“And Detective Tidwell knows this.”
“Well, I wish he’d clue in the rest of his investigation team. Because they’ve been treating me like dirt.”
“I’ll talk to him. See what I can do,” Theodosia promised. “You say the police are there now?”
“This place looks like an armed fortress.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“We’ll see,” Brody said.
“Okay, let me know if you hear anything,” Theodosia said.
“You know I will.”
Theodosia hung up the phone, turned to Drayton, and said, “Brody says no word from the kidnapper yet. But on the plus side, Veda is doing better.”
“Bad news, good news,” Drayton said. “Are you still going to call Detective Tidwell and tell him about the hospital bills?”
“I guess I kind of have to at this point,” Theodosia said. They were minutes from opening the tea shop so she decided to have this conversation in her office in relative privacy—just in case Ken Lotter or Bill Glass came barging in looking for the latest news.
But Tidwell was otherwise occupied and couldn’t take her call so Theodosia ended up talking to Glen Humphries, his assistant.
She told him about seeing the hospital bills for Tommy Huger on the table and wondering if Birdie was desperate for money.
Humphries listened politely, thanked her, and said he’d pass the information on to Tidwell.
Back at the front counter, Theodosia said, “Gosh, I hated pointing the finger at Birdie like that. It felt so sleazy.”
“Still, it had to be done,” Drayton said, “because…well, you never know about people’s motivations. Or what truly lurks deep in their hearts.”
“You never do, do you?”
Theodosia finished setting the tables then while Drayton busied himself brewing pots of peppermint and spiced plum tea.
At precisely nine o’clock Theodosia hung out her little Open for Business sign. And at nine oh five, Lenny from Honey Badger House pushed open the front door and peered in.
“May I help you?” Drayton asked when he spotted the young man.
Looking timid, Lenny slowly inched his way in. “I’m looking for Theodosia.”
“I’m right here,” Theodosia called to him. She’d just pulled a stack of linen place mats from the highboy. “Come in, we won’t bite.”
“I don’t want to interrupt anything,” Lenny said.
“You’re not,” Theodosia said. “In fact, we just now opened.” When she saw how nervous Lenny was, she said, “May I offer you a cup of tea? Drayton, what do we have ready?”
“I just brewed a lovely pot of peppermint tea,” Drayton said. “Very refreshing.”
“Perfect,” Theodosia said. She hurried to the front counter, watched Drayton pour out two cups of tea, took one, and handed the other to Lenny. “Let’s enjoy this in my office, shall we?”
Once Theodosia was seated behind her desk, and Lenny was ensconced on the big chair they called The Tuffet, Theodosia said, “What’s up?”
“The police came by last night.”
“I know,” Theodosia said. “Detective Tidwell told me.”
“And his officers hauled three of our guys away for questioning. Desi, Chuck, and Mikey.”
“Because some very disturbing things have happened lately,” Theodosia said.
“But none of us are involved in those things,” Lenny protested. He took three quick gulps of tea, then set his cup on Theodosia’s desk.
“Maybe you’re not involved, but somebody from Honey Badger House could be.”
“No,” Lenny said, “not those guys, not nobody. We’re all completely innocent.” He touched both hands to his chest, then spread his arms apart as if to emphasize his words.
“That’s a judgment call best left to the police,” Theodosia said.
“Please believe me when I say we loved Mrs. V,” Lenny said. “We never would have harmed a hair on her head.”
“What about Brody’s girlfriend? Did the police tell you she’d been kidnapped?”
“Yes. But we don’t even know her.” Lenny was vigorously shaking his head.
“Or Veda Fisher, Mrs. V’s sister?”
“Again, we had nothing to do with that. You have to believe me,” Lenny said. “Please.”
“I’d like to,” Theodosia said. “I really would. But not until the police complete their investigations.”
“What about your investigation?” Lenny asked. He held up a hand and continued. “I know you’re looking into things as well. And I hope—no, I pray—that you’ll find the monster who’s masterminding all these terrible things.”
“You know what, Lenny?” Theodosia said. “So do I.”
* * *
Theodosia let Lenny out the back door, then hurried to the front of the tea shop.
Drayton looked up from a steaming pot of tea and said, “Anything new? Anything resolved?”
“Afraid not,” Theodosia said. “Lenny believes all the Honey Badger kids are completely innocent.”
“And you don’t?”
“I’m reserving judgment.”
“Which is always a prudent thing,” Drayton said just as the kitchen door whapped open and Haley came steaming toward them with a silver tray piled high with scones. Drayton’s eyebrows suddenly shot up. “Mmn, what delightful treats do we have here?”
“Strawberry scones and lemon cream scones,” Haley said.
“These are for our take-out customers, and I have more in the kitchen for morning tea and lunch.” She plucked the top off their large glass cake stand and started stacking the scones.
“By the way, Theodosia, I’m baking chocolate scones for your afternoon tea event at the Featherbed House. ”
“I’d almost forgotten about that,” Drayton said.
“Lucky I didn’t,” Haley said.
“What else are you concocting for me?” Theodosia asked.
“Chicken salad and cucumber cream cheese tea sandwiches—the same ones we’ll be serving for today’s lunch,” Haley said. “And peanut butter bars, the chocolate scones, and as an added attraction, a pink lemonade cake.” She paused and said, “You think that’s enough?”
“For an afternoon event? I think it all sounds perfect,” Theodosia said.
“Good. What time do you plan on leaving here?” Haley asked.
“Right after we finish serving lunch. Probably around one thirty,” Theodosia said.
“Then I’ll have everything packed up in our wicker hampers,” Haley said. She gave Drayton a hopeful look. “And maybe Drayton will help me load them into your Jeep?”
“Count on it,” Drayton said.
The Indigo Tea Shop got busy then. A dozen or so guests arrived for morning cream tea and several shopkeepers from up and down Church Street wandered in for their morning cuppa.
Theodosia seated her guests, took orders, chatted with the shopkeepers, and poured tea.
Just as Drayton slid a Shelley Dainty Blue teapot across the counter to her, the phone rang.
She grabbed it, said “Indigo Tea Shop, how may I help you?” and heard Tidwell’s gravelly voice in response.
“I checked on this Tommy Huger thing you were so hot about,” Tidwell said.
“And?” Theodosia said. Maybe this held the answer to all the bad things that had been happening.
“And his aunt Birdie Huger was indeed paying his bills.”
“So you called the hospital?” Theodosia asked. “Talked to the billing office?” Probably, with his law enforcement bona fides, he’d had better luck prying information out of them than she had.
“I spoke to them just this morning. Turns out the full balance on Tommy Huger’s bill has been paid. Birdie Huger paid half by check and put half on a credit card.”
“And Tommy Huger is Birdie’s…”
“Nephew,” Tidwell said. “Apparently he had a bout of pancreatitis a while back but now his prognosis looks good. Tommy works as a sous chef at The Catawba Grill in Goose Creek and apparently got behind on his payments.”
“So nothing fishy? You don’t suspect him?”
“On the night of Mrs. Van Courtland’s murder he was making port wine reductions in a kitchen with ten other people,” Tidwell said. “And contrary to your suspicions, Birdie Huger is not lacking for funds.”
“Really?” Theodosia was flummoxed. If not Birdie, then who was responsible for all the strange things that had been happening?
“Really.”
Theodosia decided to pry a little harder. “Okay, then what can you tell me about the Honey Badger kids you scooped up last night?”
“You’re referring to Huey, Dewey, and Louie?”
“Very funny. I believe their actual names are Desi, Chuck, and Mikey.”
“I tasked two of my best investigators with interviewing those kids.”
“Did they get anything out of them?” Theodosia asked.
“Not really. In fact, we released them after an hour or so,” Tidwell told her.
“Why?”
“Because those three young men had no discernible motive for killing anyone and we had zero credible evidence against them.”
“What about the butane torch you found on their back porch?” Theodosia asked. When she was met with silence, she said, “Oh wow, I’ll bet someone called in an anonymous tip on that, right?”
“You’re quite correct.”
“So I’m guessing there were no fingerprints on the torch?”
“It had been wiped clean as a whistle,” Tidwell said.
“Are you thinking the butane torch was planted there in order to throw you off the track?”
“Bingo. Give that lady a plush pink panda as a prize.”
“So no leads at all,” Theodosia said with a sigh. “Now we’re just waiting on a call from Amber’s kidnapper.”
“No, I’m waiting on that particular call. You are not.” A loud click sounded in Theodosia’s ear. Tidwell had unceremoniously hung up on her.
“Excuse me,” Drayton said.
“Yes?” Theodosia was still staring at the phone.
“What if the kidnapper calls this afternoon and you’re busy at Angie’s Gift Show Tea?”
“I don’t know,” Theodosia said. “I want to help Brody but I can’t put my entire life on hold either.”
Drayton gave her a wicked grin. “Even though true crime is a part of your life.”
* * *
Around eleven thirty, just as Theodosia was running early lunch orders to the kitchen, grabbing pots of tea from Drayton, and pouring refills, Ken Lotter came strolling into the tea shop. He glanced around, grinned when he spotted Theodosia, and slouched his way to a table.
When Theodosia finally got around to Lotter, she said, “Are you here for lunch or just slumming for information?”
“Here’s the thing,” Lotter said. “I happen to know you’re involved in any number of strange goings-on and their related investigations.”
“How would you know that?”
“I have a police scanner in my car and several paid contacts on the force. Which puts me up to date on a murder, a kidnapping, and…dare I say it, a poisoning?”
“So what?” Theodosia said. She was depressed that all this information was out there, swirling around in the ozone.
“As always I’ve also got a TV crew standing by. Just in case something pops.”
“Please,” Theodosia said, trying to sound bored. “Nothing’s going to pop.”
Lotter smiled benignly at her. “So you say.”
* * *
Friday lunch at the tea shop proved to be fairly busy.
Good thing Haley had created a menu that included an avocado, basil, and tomato salad; corn chowder; two kinds of tea sandwiches; mushroom and cheddar quiche; and assorted scones and dessert bars.
Theodosia greeted her guests, seated them, then did her tea shop ballet of taking orders, pouring tea, and delivering orders.
The Dove Cote Inn had called in an order for ten box lunches to go so that took some time and energy to pack up as well.
Theodosia was at the front counter, ringing up a sale and wrapping a French porcelain teapot, when the phone rang. She grabbed it and heard Brody’s whispered voice.
“I just got a call from the kidnapper.”
Slightly taken aback, Theodosia said, “You did?” Then, “Why are you whispering? And what’s that awful banging noise in the background?”
“I don’t want the police to know I’m calling you so I’m hunkered in the alley where they happen to be collecting trash.”
“So what did the kidnapper say?” Theodosia asked. She wasn’t just intrigued; she was burning with curiosity.
“They said they’d call back with a time and place to make the swap,” Brody said. “So you see, I still need you.”
“Brody, after all Tidwell’s warnings, why are you still asking me to do this?”
“Because I trust you implicitly. That’s why I need to keep you in the loop.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m not supposed to be in the loop,” Theodosia said.
“I don’t care what the police want. I still need you to deliver the ransom.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Sure you can. We drive to the rendezvous point, I give you the money, and you hand it over to the kidnapper. Then we get Amber back, safe and sound.”
“You’re envisioning a scripted episode of Law and Order. I don’t think in the real world a ransom exchange would ever go that smoothly.”
“It will. It has to,” Brody said.
“Brody…” Theodosia said. But he’d hung up. Lots of that going on.