Vintage Teaberry Malice

by R A Wallace

  “Hey, there.” Megan bent down and picked up Emma. She rubbed Emma’s ears absently as she looked out the kitchen window. It was much too chilly to sit on the porch now. Megan reached for the oven and turned it on, then set Emma back down on the floor. After washing her hands, she poured her first cup of coffee and started mixing a batch of muffins.

  A small blast of cool air blew into the kitchen when Dan opened the door. He smiled at Megan when he saw her.

  “Mm, the muffins smell good.” He poured himself another cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table.

  “It’s a defense mechanism, I think. Whenever it gets chilly, I turn on the oven,” Megan said as she sat down next to Dan.

  “I’m not complaining,” Dan said with a smile. “What do you have planned today?”

  Megan’s smile slipped. “I need to take the journals to Jerry as promised.”

  Dan took a sip of his coffee, then set his cup down and covered one of Megan’s hands with his. “And?”

  “I’ll need to talk with everyone at the retirement community.”

  ***

  Rhys sat down at Erica’s desk and logged into her computer. He had been moved to the day shift for the duration of Erica’s maternity leave. He’d been assigned to work with Jerry. He was looking forward to the experience. So far, he was really enjoying having his evenings free to spend more time with Ava and Bella. He looked up when the phone on Jerry’s desk rang.

  Jerry lifted the receiver and gave a nod. “I’ll be right out.”

  “Megan?” Rhys asked.

  “Yeah.” Jerry stood and headed for the outer area of the police station. He returned a moment later with Megan.

  She was carrying both volumes of the journals and was looking around with interest. She nodded to Rhys when she saw him.

  Jerry pointed to a chair, then took the volumes from Megan once she sat. He set them on his desk and returned to his own chair. He held up a finger at Megan, then pulled out his phone and pressed a number.

  “Erica, you there?” Jerry said.

  “Yeah, let’s have it,” Erica’s voice said from Jerry’s phone.

  “So, what did you learn?” Jerry asked Megan as he settled back in his chair with the phone on his desk.

  Megan wasn’t certain how much Erica, Rhys, and Jerry already knew, so she began at the beginning.

  “The first volume begins when Alice was sixteen. She doesn’t brag about herself or anything, she just writes about some of the things she does. She doesn’t write every day, but she seemed to return to her journal during some of the bigger moments in her life.”

  “Like marriage,” Jerry guessed.

  Megan nodded. “Alice tells us about when she met her husband, Joseph, at a roller skating party and when he got a job in Oregon and they moved away. She also talks about volunteering at a hospital here in Teaberry when she was a young girl and things like that. Her husband had a pretty nice job and Alice was a housewife. She continued volunteering her time even in Oregon.”

  “Sounds like a nice person,” Rhys commented.

  “She was,” Megan said emphatically. “Up until her death, Alice was a funny, sweet, and very caring person. She had some hardships, and some of them made her really sad, but she and Joseph worked through them.”

  “Hardships?” Erica repeated.

  “She lost some babies. Two of them were miscarriages and one was a stillbirth. After that, they agreed to quit trying.” Megan watched as both men nodded. They could hear Erica make an indistinguishable sound on the phone.

  “Her husband passed away when Alice was in her late fifties. Shortly after that time, Alice started to exhibit a very serious memory loss. She was having a lot of trouble functioning in her everyday life and she was often confused. Her writing at that time begins to get difficult to follow but it seems pretty clear that’s when Ginger re-enters her life.” Megan took a break to make sure Rhys and Jerry were following her.

  “That’s the one that looked like Alice?” Rhys asked.

  Megan nodded. “Alice mentions Ginger a little in her journal when she’s younger. She doesn’t understand why Ginger seems so spiteful all the time. There were several instances where Ginger was downright mean toward Alice when they were younger.”

  “Why did Alice let Ginger back into her life?” Rhys asked but he thought of a possible reason immediately. “The confusion?”

  “Yes,” Megan said. “At that time, she didn’t appear to remember any of the bad things Ginger had done in the past. She was just grateful that someone had stepped in to take care of her and that was the reason why Ginger told her she was there. Alice wasn’t able to keep up with things like bills or other expenses at that time. She had enough money set aside from her husband, but she didn’t have the ability to handle all of that. Ginger stepped into that role.”

  “How did Ginger end up at the retirement community here?” Jerry asked.

  “Before Joseph died, he set it up so that Alice would return to Teaberry and stay at the retirement community. He hoped that she’d have old friends there. He had all of the financing and paperwork already in place for her.”

  “He knew she was having memory problems?” Rhys guessed.

  Megan nodded. “It looks that way. The problem was, Ginger didn’t have anywhere to go.”

  “But she knew that Alice did,” Jerry said.

  “And she knew that they always looked alike,” Rhys added.

  “Exactly,” Megan said. “Once Ginger found out about the arrangements Joseph had made, she promised to take Alice to the Teaberry Retirement Community. The entries in volume two of Alice’s journal stop on their way here. I’m assuming that’s when Alice died. Ginger put her in the storage unit and left her there with some of Alice’s things that Ginger didn’t want in the villa at the retirement community.”

  “Then she paid the monthly fee to rent the unit and no one ever looked in there,” Erica added.

  “I don’t understand. What made Ginger hate Alice so much that she tracked her down later in life, killed her, and took her place?” Rhys asked.

  Megan shook her head. “We only have Alice’s viewpoint from the journals. She was a good, kind person. She couldn’t understand Ginger’s behavior either. All we know from Alice’s journals is that Ginger was often malicious toward her when they were younger.”

  Jerry drew his brows together. “But you’ve spoken to others. What did they say?”

  “That Ginger was jealous. She didn’t understand why people didn’t love them equally if they looked alike. She couldn’t see that it was Alice’s gentle ways and kindness that drew people to her.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The growth of the grass was slowing down for the season. Jax looked around the campus of the Teaberry Retirement Community and knew that they’d be out here with snow plows instead of lawn mowers in the not too distant future. That was okay with Jax. He was looking forward to getting the wintertime version of his new business established.

  He looked over at Seth and Trina as they geared up for the day. He’d made it through his first summer with just the three of them, but he wasn’t sure about the near future and he knew he’d need more employees next summer. He was thinking about adding at least one more employee for the winter. By next summer, he’d definitely be hiring some additional employees. He and Seth had been talking more about making their partnership more official. So far, they’d been sharing in the income. Jax thought it was time to get Seth’s name on the business.

  Jax walked over to Seth and Trina. “We ready for this?”

  Trina gave a thumbs-up and took off on a large, zero-turn mower. Seth and Jax jumped on some stand-on mowers and took off in their own directions.

  ***

  Megan pulled into the retirement community and saw someone on a mower in the distance. It looked like Trina. She saw some people walking near Trina as she worked. They waved to Trina and Trina waved back. Megan pulled into the lot at the main office, parked her truck, then wen
t inside. She found Leslie and Gina.

  Gina stood when Megan entered. “You ready?”

  Megan nodded and followed Gina out to her golf cart. “They all decided to gather at the restaurant out in front.”

  Gina sped off. As they passed the short distance through the community to the front, several people waved to Gina. She returned their waves, but this time she didn’t stop to chat. She wanted to hear the rest of the story.

  Megan joined the group in the restaurant. She and Gina took the seats that Victor and Silas had pulled over for them from nearby tables. They all looked expectantly at Megan. For the second time that day, Megan told the story of Alice and Ginger. There was total silence from the group when she finished.

  Finally, Gina spoke. “That is just so sad.”

  “I remember Ginger,” Silas said with a shake of his head. “I should have known that’s who we’ve been living with all this time. She was just as mean-spirited back then as she was later in life.”

  “We all should have known it wasn’t Alice,” Laura said with a glance at Josie.

  Josie grimaced at Laura. “I should have figured it out when she wouldn’t eat the gingerbread men.”

  “I should have known when Ginger wouldn’t dance with me,” Sam said. “Alice always danced with me when we were younger. She never made fun of my two left feet though. She was that sweet.”

  “Why did Ginger leave the note to find Alice?” Kevin asked.

  Megan thought for a moment. “Maybe she had remorse for what she’d done? She figured at that point she’d be gone too, and it wouldn’t matter if anyone knew?” Megan shook her head. They might never know.

  “What happens now?” Victor asked.

  Megan shrugged. “As far as the police are concerned, there’s nothing they can do. The murderer is already dead.”

  Megan stood to leave, then turned back toward them. “The one thing you can do is remember Alice as the kind, generous person that she was.”

  Megan’s Recipes

  Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

  2 1/4 cups flour

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 cup butter, softened

  1/4 cup granulated sugar

  3/4 cups packed brown sugar

  1 package (3.4 ounces) chocolate or vanilla instant pudding

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  2 eggs

  1 package (12 ounce) chocolate chips

  1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

  Mix flour with baking soda. Combine butter, sugar, pudding mix, and vanilla in large bowl; beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture then stir in chips and nuts. Batter is stiff. Drop onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

  Sausage, Bean, and Cabbage Soup

  1 pound ground sausage

  1 small onion, diced

  3 cups finely chopped cabbage

  1 can (15 ounces) great northern beans, drained

  32 ounces unsalted beef broth

  3 cups water

  Brown the ground sausage, drain if necessary, then add the small onion. Cook for a few more minutes until onion is tender. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer until cabbage is tender and flavors have blended, about 40-50 minutes. Stir often.

  Note: Megan uses hot Italian sausage.

  Books by R. A. Wallace

  If you enjoy a book, please consider leaving a review.

  R. A. Wallace is the author of two cozy mystery series:

  Indigo Investigations Cozy Mystery Series

  Callie Indigo heads the private detective agency Indigo Investigations. When she isn’t working a legitimate case, she’s often talked into helping out friends and family. Her life becomes even more complicated with the appearance of Greyson Divine who teams up with Callie to solve cases. This cozy mystery includes a female sleuth, friends, and family.

  Teaberry Farm Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery Series

  Megan is the main character in the series but interacts with a wide range of other characters in the fictional town of Teaberry. A difficult first marriage ended in the accidental death of her husband. She supports herself with her bed and breakfast, produce from her farm, and her tech skills as a web developer. Over time, she discovers that the love of her life was in front of her all along. Main characters in the series are multigenerational.