Tea Cups and Carnage

by Lynn Cahoon

  “I didn’t think I even had slips for that account.” At least the money was found. We could play the blame game for days, but all that really mattered was the end result.

  “I can’t explain how she did it. Heck, I’m going to have to go back through weeks of transactions just to make sure that nothing else weird is going on. I’m betting this is just the start. It’s a good thing your aunt called me last week.” Claire leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes. “I’d hate to think of what could have happened if we’d been audited before I realized what she was doing.”

  “So back to hiring?” I thought about Ivy and wondered if she would be more of a hindrance than a help. Of course, that wasn’t fair to the woman. I barely knew her and didn’t know anything about her background. Darla had her job application. I wondered if she’d found anything we hadn’t known.

  “I have a folder in my desk.” She leaned down and pulled out a three-inch thick file. “Most of these can’t pass the background check, so that’s where I send the applications first. Then out of maybe one hundred apps, I interview probably five people. I’ll get these sent over to the investigation company this week and if they find someone that I like during the interview, in a couple months, I’ll hire someone and hope they stay for longer than it takes for the folder to fill up again.”

  “Did Ivy Corbin apply here?” I still wasn’t sure what I was looking for, and didn’t know if Claire could tell me anything anyway. So I lied. “She left her credit card at the shop and I wondered if you had any phone numbers where I could reach her?”

  Claire thumbed through the pages. “I think so, hold on.” A smile curled her lips as she pulled a set of papers out of the pile. “Success. It’s been a good day. We found your deposit and now I found a needle in a haystack. Now if we’re really lucky, we’ll be able to read the contact numbers. You won’t believe how many people don’t even put a phone number on their application. Like, how am I supposed to schedule an interview?”

  I leaned toward the desk and did my best to read upside down. I recognized the street address Ivy had listed as The Castle. Someone would have to be a celebrity to afford to live there full time. Or old family money rich and Kathi had mentioned the family wasn’t well off. So who was paying the bill?

  I had another stop to make on my way to Bakerstown. Hopefully Brenda Morgan, the Castle manager, would be in her office this morning and willing to chat.

  “Here we go. I’ve got a cell and a message number. Do you want both?” Claire had her pen poised over a note pad.

  “Sure. Does it say who the message number is? I mean, if it’s Kathi, I could just drop the card there, but it didn’t seem like they were on the best of terms.”

  “Robert, no last name. It’s the same area code as Ivy’s though. Maybe he’s in Texas where she’s from.”

  As I left the banker’s office, I mused over the name Robert. I hadn’t asked what Kathi and Ivy’s father’s name was, so it could have been him. I doubted it though, if he was as infirm as it seemed, taking messages from a sick bed seemed a little off. At least the message number wasn’t Darryl’s. I only knew of two people Ivy knew in the area. One was dead, and one wasn’t talking to her. Neither one was named Robert.

  I wondered if Toby would run the number to get a name without telling Greg I was snooping again. The last time he helped out with one of my investigations, Greg had been in the loop.

  I drove the Jeep up the winding hill to The Castle and parked in the lot. I paused at the entry gate and gave my name to the girl selling tickets. She called up to the office and then nodded me through. I smiled as I walked through the gate and made my way to the cabana.

  Brenda stood at the open door and flung her arms around me as soon as I walked up. “I’m so glad to see you. I can’t believe it’s been so long. What have you been doing? What brings you out to my neck of the woods?”

  After being released from the bear hug, I felt guilty. I hadn’t been a good friend and now I was only here to find out information from her on one of her residents. I slipped into a chair and dropped my tote on the ground. “I’m good. On my way to town to get supplies.” I looked around the office. “You’ve done a lot of redecorating. It’s beautiful.” When her husband Craig had run The Castle, the office had reminded me of those old gentlemen’s lodges where they drank scotch and women weren’t allowed, unless they held a serving tray. Now it looked like classic old Hollywood.

  “Thanks. I’ve been digging through the storage bins and you wouldn’t believe all the great stuff that’s in there, just gathering dust. I wanted it to feel more upbeat and fresh than before.” She sat next to me on the sofa. “So tell me why you’re really here. I’ve got a tour starting in twenty minutes.”

  “Am I that transparent?” Her gaze made me squirm a bit.

  She leaned into the couch. “I’m very good at reading people. Living with Craig taught me that skill and it’s worked well for me ever since. So don’t feel bad, what do you need?”

  Hoping I wouldn’t sound stupid, or worse, stalkerish, I just dug in. I explained about Kathi moving to South Cove, then her sister showing up, then the cousin being murdered. Even to my ears, there didn’t seem to be any connection except they were family. “She’s living here. And what I want to know is who’s paying the bill. Can you tell me that? Is that breaking confidentiality?”

  Brenda didn’t answer. Instead, she stood and walked over to her computer, tapping a few keys. “It looks like a Robert Marshall’s credit card has been used to pay for the room. She’s been here a week and from what I can see, likes her room service. But the room’s on hold this week as she called to change her reservation.”

  “I knew that. She’s gone back home to Texas until Friday.” There was that name Robert again, but this time it came with a last name. At least one good enough to fool the credit card people if this was a hoax. And I knew something else. Kathi and Ivy’s dad wasn’t the mysterious Robert.

  “Thank you so much.” I found my car keys in my tote. “I’ll get out of your hair now so you can do your tour.”

  “Just don’t put yourself in danger. You know how you are. One minute you’re chatting up someone and the next you’re locked in a burning house.”

  “That only happened once.” I hadn’t really believed the mild-mannered travel agent could have been the murderer, I’d thought it had been the cheating husband.

  Brenda wasn’t buying my deflection. “Or the time you and Sadie got locked in a gated cave that happened to fill with water during monsoon season.”

  “Okay, so going out by ourselves probably wasn’t smart.” I had to admit that idea hadn’t been my best.

  “Like I said, just be careful. And make sure Greg knows where you are when you go sleuthing. At least that way, he can help get you out of the trouble you get into.” Brenda’s phone rang. “Sorry, I’ve got to take this.”

  I had been dismissed. Brenda’s heart was in the right place, but she could make me feel like a rebellious kid just for—I paused my thoughts as I walked back to the car. Just for what? What was I doing? Investigating. And since I was, her warnings to take care made sense. I pushed away my initial anger and instead felt gratitude for my friend’s help as well as her concern.

  Now I needed to get into Bakerstown, finish my errands, and stop by the caterers to make sure everything was set for Friday’s author event. My car’s Bluetooth picked up a call from Aunt Jackie a few minutes into my drive.

  “Where are you?”

  I drove past The Coastal Inn and paused. I’d planned on stopping there too, but I’d forgotten the marketing cookies I took when I was courting a new business to come and join our Business-to-Business meeting. I’d have to buy something in town and stop on my way home. It wasn’t Sadie’s cheesecake, but bakery cookies would do fine. “I’m going into town. Don’t worry, I’d already planned on stopping by the caterers.”

  “Don’t worry about that, I’ve already called them
. Since you’re out, stop by Linens and Loots and rent tablecloths and runners for the tables. We need twenty. Then go to the craft store and get large vases, and as many blue marbles as you can find. I’ll call your friend Allison for the flowers.” Aunt Jackie took a quick breath and I jumped into the empty slot.

  “Hold on, I’ll call you when I get to Linens and Loots. Are you sure they rent linen?” I’d never been part of the planning for one of these big events so I didn’t know much about the whole party scene.

  “If they don’t, ask who does. I’m sure there’s somewhere in Bakerstown we can rent the linens. I was planning on doing these errands myself, but as you know…” She let the sentence trail off, adding to the guilt factor.

  Frustrated with the way the conversation was going, I sighed. “Look, I don’t mind helping. Oh, and the lost money has been found. Apparently it was an account issue. The check got put into my savings rather than the business account. I really need to set up online access to my personal accounts. If I’d thought to look there, we wouldn’t have worried so long.”

  “Managers lose their jobs over mistakes not even this big. What did the bank examiner say?” Even over the Bluetooth, I could hear the stress in my aunt’s voice.

  “I didn’t talk to a bank examiner, I talked to Claire. The problem is fixed now.” Traffic was almost non-existent today, which was a good thing since my aunt’s call made me feel like ramming the Jeep into a solid object. Okay, maybe not that drastic; I kind of loved my car.

  “I’m sure there’s some sort of procedure for this situation. Just because Claire’s a friend doesn’t mean she should get away with this. What if the money had been put into a stranger’s account? Someone without money that watches the balance daily and could have spent it all before we tracked down the problem.” Aunt Jackie was getting wound up, again.

  “Look, we’ve got other fish to fry. Can we get back to the errands? Besides linens and vase stuff, do you need anything else from Bakerstown? I’ve got to get back as soon as possible.” What I didn’t say was the reason I needed to return was to find out more about this Robert character. I thought maybe I might have some type of lead in the murder investigation, even if I was just playing at trying to solve the puzzle.

  “One more thing before you hang up on me, dear,” Aunt Jackie sounded ticked off. Even though I hadn’t been planning on hanging up on her. Thinking about it, yes, just not planning to do it. I still feared the woman’s iron fist, even if she hadn’t disciplined me since I was four and ate all the cookies for the adult dinner party later that night.

  “I wasn’t planning on hanging up.” We might as well get all the cards on the table. If she wanted to play me with the guilt, the least she could do was hear my side of the conversation.

  I heard her shrug even if I couldn’t see it. “Fine. Whatever you want to tell yourself.” She paused for the dramatic effect. “Kathi came into the shop last night after everyone left and ordered a coffee. She said that if the contractors didn’t finish soon, she was going to run out of money by the end of next week.”

  “What would happen with Tea Hee?” I’d been excited when Kathi’d bought the run-down building across the street. I believed in the notion that many hands made light work, even if people just wanted to stand around and watch when the heavy lifting is being done.

  “I guess she’d sell the shop and go back home to Texas.”

  Chapter 17

  By the time I returned to South Cove, I’d had five more calls from my aunt, which added six more stops, including the current one where she asked me to drop the supplies off at the shop so she could get a start on making party favors for the guests. I unlocked the back door to the office and was surprised to have Harrold taking the first set of boxes out of my hands. He sat them on a table they’d set up near the walk-in freezer and nodded to the door. “Let me get the rest.”

  “My personal stuff is in the back seat, all the stuff in the hatchback storage is for the party.” I called after him as he hurried out the door. I walked into the shop and swept the mail up from the floor where the postman had dropped them through a slot in the door. Sorting through the envelopes I saw three bills and five pieces of junk mail. I trashed the junk and put the bills on my desk.

  Harrold had brought in all the rest of the bags and boxes. He stood going through one of the bags, pulling out white ribbon for chair decorations.. “I haven’t seen this much craft stuff since Agnes was helping Lille with her wedding planning.”

  I picked up a bag of blue marbles and tossed them in the air. “I know, it’s like craft central in here.” Then Harrold’s words hit me. “Wait, Lille was married?”

  He sat down the roll of ribbon and leaned against the table. “Actually, no. The wedding was called off. The groom got cold feet.”

  “I’ve never heard this. Who was she dating? Do I know him?” Lille was a mystery to me and I’d always wondered what made her tick. Thinking of her planning a wedding that never happened made me see her in a more positive light. Man, that had to sting.

  “He’s dead now, but right after he broke it off with Lille, he married someone you do know.” Harrold watched me carefully.

  The only person I knew who had a deceased spouse was Sadie. And it couldn’t have been her, but as I thought it, I realized it made perfect sense. “Sadie’s husband? He was engaged to Lille?”

  Harrold nodded. “It about killed the girl when he brought his new bride back to South Cove. And when Nick came along just shy of nine months later, Lille sat on my living room floor and cried for a full day. She was in love.”

  “Is that why she’s so guarded now?” I didn’t want to talk bad about Lille, since she and Harrold were still friends.

  “I thought you were coming right back up,” Aunt Jackie’s voice echoed down the stairs as we heard her thump down each step. She paused at the doorway. “Oh, Jill, I didn’t realize you were here.” Using the furniture as handholds, she moved toward the table.

  Harrold grabbed the office chair and put it behind her. “Here, use this to move around.”

  “Thanks.” This time she actually smiled at him as he tried to help her rather than bite his head off. The rest must be helping her control her pain. She considered each of the items out on the table. “These are lovely, Jill. They are just what I would have bought if I’d been able to go shopping myself.”

  I glanced at the clock. I still had to get ready to present to the council. For this being my day off, it sure felt like I was working. “I’ve got to get back to the house to be ready for the council meeting. Don’t stay up too late.”

  When I pulled out of the alley, Greg’s truck was heading the opposite way down Main Street. He pulled alongside me and rolled down his window. “Hey, I just stopped by the house to let you know I won’t be at the council meeting.”

  “Seriously?” My heart started pounding. I had counted on him being there for moral support. “What’s more important than being there for me?” My voice had taken on a squeak.

  His eyebrows raised in response to my obvious emotion. “My job? Sorry honey, but you know the drill. Ballistics came back on the bullet they took out of Darryl and even though I don’t think she killed the guy, I have to know where Kathi thinks her gun has been.”

  I felt my eyes widen. “Kathi? She killed Darryl?”

  Greg drummed his fingers on the side of the truck. “That’s not what I said. Look, all I meant to say was I won’t be there tonight but I’m thinking about you.”

  And with that he drove away. A horn blared behind me and I went home, thinking about what Greg said. Sometimes he fed me information to see what I could do with it. I didn’t feel like that was the case with the gun evidence. I think he just slipped. I thought about the blonde who kept her glasses a secret from the world because she was worried about what people might think. No way could she have killed someone, much less a relative.

  If I didn’t get a move on, I’d be presenting in the tank to
p and capris I wore into town. I ran upstairs for a quick shower and change. When I was done, I grabbed my laptop and ran through the presentation one more time.

  I closed the computer and headed to the door. Pausing at a mirror to check my hair, I figured I looked at least presentable. I knew these were just other business owners, like me, but for some reason, I was nervous for this particular presentation. Mostly since I knew Mayor Baylor would be there, judging every word and gesture I made.

  Think of him in his underwear. The old speech saying popped into my head and I grimaced at the visual image that followed, Mayor Baylor, all portly and pink sitting in a chair glaring at me. I decided instead to find some friendly faces in the crowd, like Bill and Amy, and focus my attention there.

  I glanced at my watch. In two hours tops, this would be over and I’d be back here in my pajamas, celebrating with a slice of double chocolate cheesecake.

  The meeting room at city hall was crowded when I entered, but I took my laptop up to Amy at the front where Bill and the other council heads sat. She gave me a hug. “You look great. You should do the report for the business group all the time.”

  I blew out air and shook my head. “I’m a great liaison, I know how to delegate to just the right people. Mary’s perfect for this. If she ever plans on coming back now that the baby’s here.”

  Bill turned my way after hearing my comment. “Mary will be back on Thursday. She’s excited about the library event. And I’m leaving Saturday morning for my visit with the little tyke.”

  “Boy or girl?” Amy asked.

  We talked about the new grandson for several minutes, until we heard a gavel and Tom Hudson, the council chair, trying to call the meeting to order.

  “I didn’t give you my slides.” I whispered to Amy, feeling sick. If I didn’t have the slides to use, I couldn’t remember the presentation points Mary wanted me to make.