Teaberry Invitational

by R A Wallace

  “How are you doing in here?” he asked.

  “I’m about done. Good thing too. I think I hear Grace stirring,” she said as she lifted another mixing bowl from the soapy water and began rinsing it.

  “I’ll try to get lunch ready first,” he said as he passed back into the other kitchen.

  She joined him a few minutes later. After setting the baby monitor on the counter, she began setting the table.

  “I’m going to grab a shower before I leave for work,” he said. “Are you all set for tomorrow morning?”

  “Yeah, I think I’m good with what I could get done today. I have to deliver the baked goods pretty early. Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle that?” She set the utensils next to the plates on the table.

  “It’s going to be a tough week. We’ll make it through,” he said.

  “I’ll have to get up practically in the middle of the night to finish baking,” she reminded him.

  “I know. I’ll be up to handle the kids.”

  “How are things going at work?” She stopped what she was doing to watch his response. “Are they still asking you a bunch of odd questions?”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said. “I’m probably just imagining that anything is going on.”

  “You think?”

  He transferred the food to the table then smiled at her.

  “Sure. It’s nothing,” he said. “Can you call the kids?”

  ***

  Justin clocked in and went out on the floor of the hospital. He nodded to several people as he walked toward the nurses’ station.

  “Justin, do you have a minute?”

  He turned toward his supervisor. “Valerie, sure. What’s up?”

  “A meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday as soon as you come on shift. I’ll be waiting for you in my office.” Valerie didn’t wait for a response. She nodded to him then quickly went down the hall.

  Justin took a deep breath before continuing to the nurses’ station. He nodded to the woman already there. She was finishing up her duties before going off shift.

  “What was that about?” she asked.

  “I guess some meeting was called,” he said.

  “Really? I haven’t heard about one. Maybe it’s just for you,” she said before leaving the station. “Have a good one.”

  ***

  Cole walked quickly to meet his next couple. The last couple had taken a little longer than he’d hoped and he’d barely had time to grab a boxed lunch from Pat at the restaurant and get it eaten before rushing to meet the next tee time. He found the thirty-something couple waiting for him but slowed his pace as he approached. He apparently was interrupting an argument.

  The couple turned when they saw him. The woman put her hands on her hips and took a few steps away from them. Cole could tell she was angry by the stiffness of the back she turned toward them.

  He quickly introduced himself to Shaun Brothers. He knew from his assignment sheet that the woman’s name was Celine.

  “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” Cole said.

  “You didn’t,” Shaun told him. “You’re actually right on time according to my watch.”

  “Is this your first time out on the course?” Cole asked as they began to walk.

  “We managed to get in some practice swings yesterday around all the shopping,” Shaun said with a pointed look at his wife. “I think we’re a little rusty, if our performance there is any indication.”

  “That’s funny. Gil Ressler told me he was very impressed with my performance yesterday,” Celine said as she stopped walking.

  Cole could hear the chill in her voice. He saw the anger infuse a tinge of redness in Shaun’s face as he stopped and turned toward his wife.

  “We should get moving. There are a lot of people waiting to tee off after us,” Cole said quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief when the couple behind him began walking again.

  ***

  “How is business?” Ian asked Giselle as he handed her a napkin.

  “Pretty phenomenal, actually.” Giselle wiped her mouth. “Thanks for bringing lunch.”

  “My pleasure. I hope Julia likes pulled pork sandwiches,” he said.

  “She can run out and get something else if she doesn’t.” She reached for her bottle of water. “It’s really nice having someone else to work with. I’m not used to having anyone to cover for me like this.”

  “I was a little late getting here,” Ian said. “Sorry about that.”

  Giselle grinned. “What did she do this time?”

  He shook his head. “The couch.”

  Her eyes widened. “She chewed the couch up?”

  “Thankfully, it was just the throw pillows. I haven’t decided if I should get new ones or wait until she grows out of this phase.”

  “I hate to say it, but that might not happen.” She stood up to throw the wrapper of her sandwich into the trash can by her desk.

  “What do you mean?”

  She turned to look at him. “She might be chewing up everything in your house because she’s upset about something. Like when you leave for work. If she forms the habit now, she might not stop when she gets older.”

  He balled up his sandwich wrapper. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  She gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged.

  He sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. What I don’t know is what I should do about it.”

  “You could try taking her to a trainer,” she suggested.

  “Do we have one around here?” He stood to toss the rest of their lunch things and then followed her from the office in the rear of the store.

  Giselle walked behind the front counter to relieve Julia.

  “Your turn. If you don’t like pulled pork, you can go out,” Giselle told her.

  “Pulled pork sounds good to me, thanks.” She crossed to the other side of the counter and headed for the office in the rear. “I sold a lot while you were back there.”

  “I wasn’t sure how business would be on a Sunday,” Ian said. “It seemed like a gamble to open all the businesses in town when some of them are usually closed today.”

  “So far, it’s been seriously paying off,” Giselle said. “I think some of it has to do with the flyers.”

  Ian picked one up from the pile to look at it. “That was a good idea.”

  “Any word on the death out at the golf course?” Giselle asked.

  “It was definitely murder,” Ian said.

  “I know. Some of the shoppers have been talking about it all weekend. I heard some of them mention that they’re staying in groups for safety.” Giselle smiled as another group of shoppers entered the store. “Let me know if you need help,” she called to them.

  “Staying in groups is wise,” he said. “At least, until Erica and Jerry track down the killer. Hopefully that will be soon. I should let you get back to work. Thanks for lunch.”

  ***

  Jerry locked the front door of the house and slipped off his shoes. It felt good to get out of them after a long day. He saw a light on in the living room and went there first. Madison muted the television as he bent down for a kiss.

  “More wine?” he asked.

  “I’m good. Get some for yourself. You look dead on your feet.”

  “That I am,” he agreed before moving into the kitchen. He was back in no time and slid onto the couch next to her. “Anything good on television?”

  “A documentary on how prevalent big data is. I think we’re fast approaching the point where so much data has been collected on us all that everything we even think about doing can be predicted in advance,” she said as she moved a little to snuggle into his side.

  “That would make it a lot easier on us. We’d be able to find killers a lot faster.” He briefly pressed against his eyes with the fingers of one hand. “Maybe even stop them before they do it.”

  “Yeah, that would be handy. How did today go?”

  “We learned a few things,”
he said before taking a sip of his wine.

  “Not enough?”

  “Early days yet.” He glanced at the television. “Is that a scroll about the Teaberry Invitational?”

  She set her wine glass down. “Yeah, they’ve been running it most of the day. It starts tomorrow and runs all week. There’s some sort of dinner at the end of it on Friday night.”

  “With any luck, we’ll have found the killer by then.”

  Chapter Ten

  Lauren made sure that her new parking pass was visible on her rear-view mirror before she exited the van. She needed to get all of her baked goods into the tent and get back home to relieve Justin. Although he had managed to force himself awake in order to get the kids ready for school, she knew he would feel better with a little more sleep.

  It took several trips with her cart to get everything onto the tables in the media tent. She was on her final trip when she noticed a couple huddled together closely in a conversation. Whatever they were discussing, it looked private. She knew the woman. It was her contact for the golf course. Pat was the day manager in the restaurant.

  Lauren finished placing her baked goods out on the table as people began arriving. The comments she heard as they made a beeline for the things she had just set out made her smile. It was one of the reasons why she enjoyed baking. Pat was waiting for her when she emerged from the tent.

  “You’re here early,” Lauren said.

  “It’s all hands on deck this week,” Pat said. She waved toward the tent. “Everything okay in there?”

  “I didn’t have any trouble. We should be good to go all week,” Lauren assured her.

  “Excellent. Not having to worry about the media crew in the morning makes it a lot easier on me. I’m glad we thought of this,” Pat said.

  “Me too,” Lauren said. “I think I recognized some of the people in there from television.”

  “You did, yes. Some are the announcers or other media people. Others are ones who work behind the camera. To be honest, I’ve lost count of how many there are.”

  “I’ll be back the same time tomorrow morning,” Lauren said before pushing her cart back to her van.

  ***

  Dena waited with her supply cart for a moment and watched as couples emerged from the bungalows. They’d already been over to the restaurant for breakfast. She knew that they would be playing at different times throughout the week and that several of them would be teeing off within minutes. They would be coming and going all day throughout the tournament. She wanted to get in and out of their rooms as quickly as possible to be out of their way.

  She could hear them talking to each other as they walked down the long row of bungalows on the sidewalk toward her. Some were quieter than others. Most of them resembled a combination of nervousness and excitement. For some, it must have been a little stressful. She could hear hushed conversations intermittently marked with sharp retorts.

  Dena nodded to several as they passed her. She was beginning to learn some of their names. In some cases, it was because they’d actually taken the time to speak with her. In others, it was because she’d been monitoring the sports news to keep up on what was happening around her. It amazed her to know that she was cleaning the rooms of the people she saw on the news.

  Angela Russo stopped briefly next to Dena to speak to the people behind her.

  “Have you seen my husband?” Angela asked the Corbetts.

  Dena watched as the couple shook her heads in the negative.

  “Are you okay?” Rudy Corbett asked his wife as they neared Dena.

  “Must be nerves. My stomach is bothering me,” Lacey Corbett responded as they passed by Dena.

  “I thought I saw Paolo near the media tent earlier,” Celine Brothers called to Angela.

  Dena wasn’t sure that Angela was close enough to hear her at that point.

  “Why, was he with Gil?” Shaun Brothers said to his wife as they neared Dena.

  Dena saw a flash of impatience cross Celine’s face as she picked up speed and stalked off. Shaun shook his head and followed his wife.

  Dena kept the plastered smile on her face. Some of the players sounded like her when she was trying to carry on a conversation with her ex-husband. No matter how civil she tried to be with him, their conversations invariably ended in argument.

  She knew that the last couple walking toward her were two of the announcers on television. They weren’t arguing. From what she could tell, they were just friends.

  “Ready for another tournament?” Phoebe asked.

  “If their behavior off the course is any indication, we might see a few fireworks between the players this week,” Van predicted. He nodded to Dena as he passed her.

  “Wouldn’t hurt our ratings,” Phoebe said with a chuckle.

  “Want to stop at the media tent first?” Van suggested.

  “Yeah. We need to find out who is going to fill in for Jay,” Phoebe said.

  “True. He was supposed to handle several slots in the production.” Van pointed. “Looks like a big group beat us to it.”

  Phoebe stepped inside the tent and looked around.

  “We don’t need to bother going to the restaurant for breakfast tomorrow if they’re going to lay out a spread like this,” she said.

  “Maybe we should sample some of it first to see if it’s any good,” Van suggested.

  He heard Phoebe chuckle behind him. Gil Ressler was standing at the table in front of him.

  “What do we have here?” Van asked as he joined Gil.

  “I guess one of the local bakers is going to bring something every morning,” Gil said. “Listen, do you have anyone filling Jay’s spots yet?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. Are you interested?” Van asked as Phoebe and Avery came up behind him.

  “I would love to,” Gil said.

  Van turned to Phoebe and raised his eyebrows.

  She nodded her agreement. “If the powers that be are okay with it.”

  “Great. I’ll touch base with them.” Gil looked past Phoebe and Van. “There they are. Thanks again.”

  Phoebe watched Gil for a moment then turned back to Van. He was holding a large pastry.

  “Are you going to eat all of that?” she asked.

  “I’ll split it with you,” he said with a grin.

  “Hey, one thing we haven’t discussed,” Phoebe said as she took half of the pastry and grabbed a napkin.

  “What’s that?” Van bit into his half.

  “Are we going to talk about the murder during the broadcast?” Phoebe wiped Van’s chin.

  “Good question.” He watched her take her first bite. “It’s good, isn’t it?”

  She nodded agreement. “I’m thinking we should stay away from the topic until the police have solved it.”

  “It is technically an active investigation. I think you’re right,” Van said before popping the last bite into his mouth.

  ***

  Megan sat patiently in the front of the police station watching Martha work as she waited for someone to come out. Several minutes later, Jerry emerged from the back and waved her in. She crossed the reception area and began following him down the long hall to the main office area.

  “Thanks for taking the time to see me. I know you’re busy,” Megan said.

  “We were wondering if you were planning to stop by.” Jerry stopped as two other officers crossed in front of them from another hallway. Once the hall was clear again, he continued walking. Erica was sitting at her desk when they arrived in the office.

  “I’m not getting the connection,” Erica said.

  “What?” Megan stood next to her desk and tried to stay out of everyone else’s way.

  “The connection. You know. You usually have some sort of connection to the puzzles you work on,” Erica said.

  “Oh. Well, in a way maybe I do.” Megan watched as Jerry took his seat at his desk. “Cole Vanderen stopped at my place Saturday afternoon and asked me to look into the murder.”
>
  “Really?” Erica glanced over at Jerry. “Why’s that?”

  “Mostly, he seemed worried that you were going to arrest the golf instructor for it,” Megan said.

  “We thought about it,” Erica said with a frown. “Wonder why Cole is worried about that?”

  Megan shrugged. “I got the impression they were friends. You know Cole is working there, right?”

  “We interviewed him,” Jerry said.

  Megan hesitated for a moment. “Cole is a nice kid. I imagine he enjoys working with Wes.”

  “What does that mean?” Erica asked.

  “It’s got to be tough, not having a dad,” Megan said.

  “You’re thinking he’s grown attached to the golf instructor?” Erica didn’t wait for an answer. “So why are you here?”

  “I might be able to help.” Megan pulled out her press pass. “I’m supposed to hang out there all week.”

  Erica sat straighter in her chair and she pointed at Megan.

  “Do not do anything stupid.”

  Megan smiled. “I’m not taking any chances. I’m just saying that I’m going to be there anyway and I might hear things.”

  “Things that you will immediately pass along to us,” Erica said.

  “Of course,” Megan agreed.

  “And you will not try to handle on your own,” Erica insisted.

  Megan understood that Erica was just worried about her and decided to change the subject.

  “There is something else,” Megan said.

  That earned a suspicious look from Erica.

  “I did have an appointment to meet with Jay on Saturday.” Megan watched the disbelief form on Erica’s face.

  “I knew it. I knew you were going to be tied up with this somehow. Why were you meeting with him?” Erica demanded.

  Megan put her hands up. “The mayor asked me to. I’m working on the town web pages. That’s why I have the press pass.”

  “You’re like a magnet for murder, I swear,” Erica muttered.

  “What can you tell me about it?” Megan asked.

  Erica shot an exasperated look at Jerry before answering.

  “Not much. We know that the victim spent most of the previous evening in the bar at the restaurant out there. He had to be fairly intoxicated. Witnesses report he had trouble walking out of the place.”