Sweet Tea and Spirits

by Angie Fox

  “I’m glad that you’re both here, and that you both care,” Ellis said, stepping between us. “Look, Verity. Mom’s been helping me add a few more tables,” he said. “I have to admit her layout is better than the one I had. We even fit two more four-tops.”

  “That’s great,” I told them both. She had done a good job. Each table shone with a thick candle inside an antique-looking iron lantern. “I like the new table lights as well.”

  “Just a restaurant-warming gift,” Virginia said, pleased.

  She should be. They were really nice.

  I turned to Ellis. “Listen, can I talk to you for a minute?” I glanced over at Virginia. “I was just over at Vincent Youngblood’s house.”

  Ellis gave a quick nod. “Would you mind taking a look at the tables in the archways, Mom?”

  She strolled that way without an argument, which made me suspicious all over again. I caught her glancing at us over her shoulder, but she moved out of earshot, thank goodness. I didn’t have time for Virginia and her games. Instead, I took a seat at the nearest table and told Ellis all about my visit with Julia’s widower.

  “He was shady, Ellis,” I insisted. I might not always suspect people’s worst motives, but I could read them pretty well. “He appeared all sad and proper, yet he’s having another woman over before his wife is even in the ground.”

  Ellis ran a hand through his hair. “I know all about him. The police have been watching Vincent since his first wife died five years ago,” he said, frustrated. “We’ve investigated everything to do with her death, but we can’t pin it on him.”

  I planted my arms on the table. “Well, then what about the second wife?”

  “He was in an entirely different country when she died,” Ellis said, as if that irritated him as well. “The St. Kitts authorities ruled it an accident and US authorities can’t investigate unless he asks for our help.”

  I leaned back. “Which he didn’t.”

  Ellis watched me carefully. “Do you think something’s suspicious about Julia’s death?” he asked, as if it were a new idea.

  Of course. “I left you a half-dozen messages.”

  He drew back as if he’d been slapped. “I didn’t get them.”

  “Oh my gosh,” I said, reaching for his hands, “of course I’ve been calling you.”

  He let out a half-breath, half-whoosh of relief. “I was wondering what the hell was going on.” His green eyes caught mine. “It bugged me when I didn’t hear from you. Not that I can demand you check in with me.”

  “You should expect it,” I said, squeezing his hands. “I like that you’re looking out for me. I mean, we are dating.”

  He withdrew a hand and rubbed his temple. “I know. I just—” he began. “Forget it,” he concluded, taking both my hands once more. “Now start from the beginning. Tell me everything.”

  I did. I told him how I’d never seen Julia’s death spot; how she’d been about to hire a private detective; about the missing cameras that, admittedly, could have been her doing. I told him about the list of objects that she appeared to be investigating, or for all I knew, that she could have removed herself; I told him every detail about Constance showing up at Vincent’s house for a cozy sip of champagne when he was supposed to be mourning Julia.

  “So that’s the little tart,” Virginia said from across the room. I’d almost forgotten she was there.

  She stalked up to us, grabbing a bottle of water from a table along the way.

  “You’ve been eavesdropping on us?” I asked, a little sharper than I’d intended.

  “Of course I have,” she said, arms out. “I’m his mother.”

  Ellis appeared less than amused. “I knew you had eyes in the back of your head, but this is ridiculous.”

  “It’s not my fault this big room carries sound well,” she said, taking a seat at the table like she belonged there. “Julia suspected he was fooling around on her,” she continued. “I’ll bet that’s why she was hiring the detective.”

  Virginia really had heard everything. I supposed there was no use denying it. “Julia gave me the cash instead. I’m not sure when she was supposed to meet this other person, but I don’t think she ever made it.”

  Virginia frowned. “I told her to let it go. The heritage society didn’t need a scandal.”

  “Some things are more important than saving face,” Ellis said. “Besides, I don’t see how Vincent’s indiscretions would reflect badly on the heritage society, even if his wife was president.”

  His mother’s frown deepened. “Julia also knew Vincent’s floozy was someone in the society, from a token the woman left behind in her marriage bed—a charm from the necklace each member received at last year’s Heritage Ball.”

  “Ouch,” Ellis muttered.

  “Nobody suspected Constance. At least I didn’t,” Virginia admitted, as if it were a personal failure.

  “I wouldn’t have thought of her, either,” I said. She was too young and she didn’t strike me as sophisticated enough to draw Vincent’s attention. “Would Constance even be his type?” I asked. “Vincent seems to like independently wealthy women, and I’m not sure she has a lot of money.”

  “She doesn’t,” Virginia answered sharply. “Her family owns Baker’s Garage and her brothers even work there. She could probably change your transmission if you asked,” she said, as if working on cars were a failing instead of a skill. “I’m sure she liked it that a man of standing took interest, but she’d be a fool if she thought it was going anywhere. Vincent does keep to a certain standard.”

  “All of this would be helpful for the police to know,” Ellis said. He scooted his chair back. “I’ve got to call Marshall,” he said, standing. “Alone,” he added when he saw both of us start to rise. Ellis drew the cell phone out of his pocket and headed for the kitchen doors at the back of the restaurant.

  “We’ve already heard everything,” Virginia said to me. “Now we need to decide what to do about it.”

  I watched Ellis disappear into the kitchen. “I hate to jump to conclusions, but we’ve all heard the rumors about Vincent’s previous wives. I know they’ve never found anything, but…do you think Vincent could have killed Julia?”

  “He’s more than capable.” She folded her hands on the table between us. “Constance has been a project from the start, but it won’t do to let her get wrapped up with a killer. If what you’re saying is true and someone really did murder Julia, we need to address the situation. Now.”

  Virginia actually believed me and trusted what I’d seen on the other side. Wonders never ceased. “So we’re kind of on the same side here,” I said, not used to the feeling.

  Virginia’s thin lips turned up. “Don’t get used to it.”

  I wouldn’t want to. Still, I wasn’t above seizing the advantage for however long it lasted.

  “Tell me what you know,” I said, folding my hands on the table in front of me. “Don’t leave anything out.” Even the smallest details could be important.

  She matched my stance. “Vincent is evil. I knew from the first time Daisy brought him to town he was trouble.”

  “And Daisy was his first wife,” I confirmed. I hadn’t remembered her name. “I know they belonged to the yachting club. They liked to sail.” It was how she’d died.

  She huffed. “He liked to sail. She only went out on the boat with him when he insisted. And even then, she didn’t go often.” Virginia leaned forward, her hands clasped. “But there they found her, dead in the water. It was an accident, they said. She wasn’t skilled enough to sail the boat alone.”

  “But you don’t think she’d have gone out alone in the first place,” I said quickly.

  “Never in a million years,” Virginia vowed. “We reported it to the police, but they could never prove anything.”

  “His second wife drowned on a Caribbean vacation; he wasn’t even there.” He seemed blameless in that.

  “Kate was an excellent swimmer,” Virginia said. “She swam
competitively in college. Precise strokes, outstanding endurance. She took great pride in it. Yet she died on a bright, clear afternoon with no heavy waves.” She eyed me. “Vincent claimed he drove to Chicago to see friends the weekend it happened, but no one saw him at the restaurants he loves up there.”

  “How would you know?” I asked. “There are a lot of restaurants in Chicago.”

  She gave a small smile. “I know more than you can imagine.” At my shock, she added, “There are some things your sister can’t look up at the library.”

  “Did you tell the police?” I asked.

  The corners of her mouth turned down. “Of course I did. But it’s not about what’s true. It’s about what you can prove.”

  Didn’t I know it.

  So if Vincent had killed Julia…I gasped. “I told him about the cameras she set up in the museum.” My horror doubled. “And that she gave me a wad of cash when she hired me at the society. And about her list.”

  Virginia slammed a hand on the table. “Heavens, Verity! You never change, do you? You just say exactly what’s on your mind.”

  “That’s not a bad thing, you know,” I shot back, even though it felt pretty terrible right now. He might think I had video that I didn’t. He now knew about the payment Julia had wanted to keep secret. Then there was the list…

  “I can’t believe she hired you,” Virginia fumed. “And you know why she gave you cash,” she added. “To keep it from us and her husband.”

  Whoops.

  “You don’t think,” she huffed.

  “That’s not fair,” I said, although I had to admit, I saw her point.

  Virginia leaned across the table. “What did Julia want from you? Did she have you chasing down a bunch of widow ghosts? Perhaps Mother Mary herself? If so, why?” She threw her hands up before I could begin to answer. “Were you looking for the things on Julia’s list? I should have guessed you were working for her,” she seethed. “Julia would have to be desperate to allow you in the society.”

  “Thanks,” I said, “and I’m not going to tell you what she wanted. I’m going to practice tact.”

  “You don’t even know what the word means.” She stood, toppling her chair. “When Beau made a mistake, you went after him publicly so that the entire town knew everything.”

  I stood and faced her. “That was Beau’s fault. His. I told him when I caught him assaulting my sister that I wouldn’t marry him. He pushed for the wedding. He wanted to humiliate me when I didn’t show up.”

  “Good girls show up!” she seethed. “Good girls go through with it, no matter what. You don’t have to stay married to him. You annul it. Quietly. After the out-of-town guests go home.” She choked out a laugh, giddy with disbelief. “If your grandma were alive, she’d have told you that.”

  “She would have told me to torch his ass.” And she would have lit the torch for me.

  Virginia drew back like I’d slapped her. “You humiliated yourself and my baby son,” she ground out. “I hope you’re happy.”

  “I stood up for myself,” I said. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

  “And that, my dear, is your problem,” she said, as if she’d scored the victory. She walked around the table and stood directly in front of me. “I can’t trust you with my son or my family because you have no filter. You do and say whatever is on your mind and people get hurt.”

  “I refuse to let someone walk all over me,” I told her. “But I promise you, I don’t have any grand secret agenda. Or any secrets, period. I’m not going to hurt Ellis.”

  “It’s true you have no dirt.” She walked behind me. “I checked. It’s all out there already.”

  “Lovely,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at her.

  “I’m not going to let you threaten me anymore.”

  Me? When had I ever threatened her? I wasn’t the tyrant. I turned to her. “I didn’t start this.”

  She glanced at the closed kitchen doors. “You may have worried me at first, carrying on with Ellis. He’s been so disappointing already.” She leaned close enough for me to choke on her expensive floral perfume. “Then I realized something. You’re temporary. A blip. I’m always going to be in his life.”

  I lifted my chin. “You’re going to have to do better than that. He really likes me and I’m quite fond of him as well.”

  She stepped back. “Then why weren’t you here today instead of me?” She righted the chair she’d toppled. “Why weren’t you with him the night Julia died?”

  Because I was doing my job. “I tried to call him.”

  “I know,” she smirked. “I saw his phone on the bar. I hung up on you.”

  Son of a gun. “So it wasn’t a bad connection.” Or a ghost.

  I took a moment to let that sink in.

  “It was a mother who knows best,” she said, cold and calculating. “I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with him, yesterday and today. I erased caller ID and your whiny little messages. Just like I wish I could erase you.”

  It seemed I’d underestimated her. “It won’t work. He still calls me. We’re good together. I might not do things the way you like, but if you opened your eyes, you’d see I make him happy. Shouldn’t that count for something?”

  She could have her society and her secrets and her lies. Ellis wasn’t a pawn she could control. He was her son and he was trying to do his best by her. She couldn’t pick the way he led his life or whom he dated. He was his own person and she should be proud of that.

  She eyed me like I’d just tried to put one over on her. “That sort of talk used to upset me. But I can wait you out.”

  Heavens to Betsy. “We’re never going to fix this, are we?” I’d hoped with time, she’d learn to accept me, that she’d see how good I was to her son.

  “Let’s not argue,” she said, straightening the chairs around the table. “We don’t want your face to be all blotchy when my son comes back out.” She leaned close to me again, as if sharing a secret. “Men don’t like overly emotional ladies.”

  Ellis burst out of the kitchen, swearing under his breath. “Marshall is saying it might be murder now. That’s why they haven’t released the body yet.”

  “I knew it,” I said.

  “I knew it first,” Virginia said. “So what do we do?”

  Ellis joined our grim little circle. “The head wound isn’t consistent with a fall down the stairs. Also, her pearl bracelet is missing.”

  I gasped. “What about a necklace? That was on the list.” I’d told Vincent all about it.

  Virginia shot me a pleading look. “This is what I’m talking about.”

  “Well, wait,” I said. “It couldn’t have been Julia’s necklace because she wrote the list. But Constance was wearing a necklace that I saw on a ghostly portrait in the society house. A double strand of pearls with a gold C in the middle. When I asked her about it, she said it was a gift.”

  “So you just flat out asked her,” Virginia said, as if I’d taken a marker to the Mona Lisa.

  “What else could I do?” Truly.

  “You make discreet inquiries,” she seethed.

  “Yes. To my vast network of contacts,” I ground back.

  “You two have a brand-new issue now?” Ellis asked, as if he were a bit afraid of both of us.

  “No,” we answered in unison.

  “Great,” he said, glancing from me to his mother. “Kelli Kaiser was the last person to see Julia alive. Marshall talked to her this morning. She said Julia was wearing the pearl bracelet.”

  “Kelli was at the society house that day. She arrived as I was leaving,” I confirmed. “In fact, she was the second sponsor for my membership.”

  “After I sponsored her mother and her sister,” Virginia burst out.

  “Focus,” I told her. “The ghosts know something,” I said, turning to Ellis. “When I refused to go back into the house this morning, they stopped my car there. It won’t even start.”

  “I was surprised that car was running
ten years ago,” Virginia remarked.

  Ellis eyed his mother. “I’ll call Ron at the garage. Now, Verity, you said you found a list Julia made.”

  “Yes.” I told him about the necklace and the other missing items. And about the ghostly pearl that had tumbled down the main staircase as I fled the house this morning.

  “You can’t let any of that get out,” Virginia said, her hand wrapping around my arm like a steel band. “Information is power.”

  “I realize that,” I assured her, my head spinning from the secrets. And here I thought the heritage society committees would do me in.

  “I’ll need that list of missing items,” Ellis said.

  “I know where to find it.” I’d left it on Mother Mary’s desk. I nudged Ellis’s arm. “Want to come with me?”

  “Always.” He grinned.

  Virginia looked ready to spit nails. “You can have my key,” she said stiffly.

  And just like that, we were back in business.

  Chapter 14

  Ellis called Ron at home and he agreed to come on over and check out my car once he fetched his mother from church.

  That gave us some time, I mused, as I watched Virginia drive away from Southern Spirits.

  But Ellis had other ideas. “I’d rather not have it all over town that I accompanied you inside the society when it was closed,” he said, walking me out to his truck.

  “Good point.” Ron would tell his wife, who would tell her mother, who would tell half the town. “I’d like to get cleaned up a bit anyhow. And check in on Lucy.”

  So we drove to my house. I took a long bath while Ellis entertained my skunk.

  I walked downstairs in a fresh sundress to find her chasing him around the kitchen island.

  “That’s got to make you dizzy.” I laughed as my skunk merrily chased my boyfriend, nipping at his heels.

  “She’s fast,” he said, turning back to her and letting her dash into his arms.

  She wriggled while he scratched her neck, her ears, her head.

  Then we called Ron from the garage, who assured us he was on his way.

  And just after we’d enjoyed a dinner salad on the porch, I heard the tow truck rumbling up the drive.