Scones & Scandal

by Beth Byers

  “You’re blushing,” Zee said, her hands full of Culver’s clothes. She tossed them to the side and turned, staring at Az with me. We were like two cats who’d cornered a mouse. Az shifted slightly, giving himself a way before he shrugged. Too late. Too late my friend, I thought. But I just started at him instead.

  “I’m thinking that our little Az,” I said, glancing at my huge friend. He was past six feet tall and broad through his shoulders. We’d taken advantage of it many times when there was unloading to be done at the diner. “Has a little friend.”

  His dark skin hid the blush well, but if you knew him, you could see it. Zee gasped and Laney glanced between us with wide eyes.

  “Carmen?” Zee asked. Carmen was a little older than Az, but vital and beautiful. She’d joined our staff at the diner smoothly. She wasn’t, however, who had caught Az’s attention.

  I shook my head. If he’d have been lighter pigmented, the blush would have been blazing. As it was, all of the tells were there for those who knew Az.

  Zee’s gaze narrowed on me and then on Az, the new mystery more interesting than the dead guy. I didn’t want to think about him though or about how much someone had hated him that they’d broken his face. I shivered and said, “Think again.”

  I stood, setting down my water bottle. Teasing Az was fun, but it wasn’t enough. I needed…a distraction that was greater than teasing. I didn’t think that Culver’s bags would tell us anything. It wasn’t like he’d have a note in his suitcase that said, ‘If I show up dead, so-and-so did it.’

  It wasn’t going to be that easy. What did I know about murder, though? Statistically, Culver’s significant other was the most likely one to have killed him. If he were a woman, the statistic would be much higher. But as far as I knew that significant other would have been Zee. At least to her family. And Zee had left the diner, and she’d had the sheriff with her. She hadn’t done it. So who had feelings that strong about the long-time single, long-time pursuer of Zee?

  We already knew that Culver had been close enough to Zee’s family to come to their family reunion. It could have been any of them, but none of us here had lived in Zee’s hometown. None of us knew who was a major part of Culver’s life.

  For some of them, it hadn’t been all that weird to anyone beyond Zee’s side of things. Which meant, I thought, that most of her family actually preferred Culver to Zee. What a mess they were. How could they be comfortable with trying to manipulate a grandmother to do what they wanted? It just went to show that even though you aged, you never really stopped being young in your head. They didn’t see Zee as a grandmother. They saw her as the sister who had gone astray from the life plan. The sister who needed to be reined in.

  Really, it was no surprised that Zee’s family was strange. She was a ball of weird wrapped in a cactus shell. Off of the family room, you could see the doorway to the office. It was in there that the son and grandchildren had been staying. They’d been up early and spent most of their time out of the house. Unlike, Nancy, Talfryn, and Peter. I crossed to the doorway glancing inside. The blow-up mattress had already been taken down. Not the nephew, wife, and kids. They wouldn’t be fleeing the house if they didn’t find the whole setup weird.

  They, at least, hadn’t wanted anything to do with the manipulation that had been running rampant through Zee’s family. So much so that they’d been willing to sleep in a tent and avoid the tension. That took them off the suspect list to me.

  Talfryn and Nancy though. I couldn’t get them off the list. I didn’t even want to get Nancy out of it. Then there were the other sisters. Fionnula, the sister who had moved back to town. Was she younger or older than Zee? Maybe she’d always had a thing for Culver. Or Camise? The perfect one. Was she married? I hadn’t met a husband if she was. Maybe it was her? One of them always envious. If he was after the money but the others weren’t good enough?

  That didn’t make sense. Maybe it meant that one of the sisters didn’t have a well of hatred for Culver. It just meant that we didn’t know why they might have hated Culver.

  “You know, Zee…” I turned back from the entry to the office and back to Zee. I sniffed and decided I needed more than just coffee. I needed my own realm of manipulation. “We should just call them all over here. Like those old school murder mystery writers set up. All the suspects, gathered together at once. Play them off of each other. With Carver and Simon too.”

  Zee scowled and said, “They won’t all fit in your house. It’s why we needed the diner.”

  “Right,” I said. “But really we only need your sisters, brother, that wench Nancy, and your mom. Is Camise married?”

  Zee nodded slowly and said, “Clark is addicted to fishing. I think he’s been getting up and going out on the ocean. He’s here though.”

  “So it wasn’t him who killed Culver. Not if he was on a fishing boat. Simon should really confirm that, but for now he’s off the suspect list. Still…he should come over too,” I said, liking the idea even more. I hoped it wasn’t just the alcohol thinking.

  “Why?” Laney asked, eyes wide. She glanced between her mom and me.

  “Because if Camise killed Culver, she has something to hide and…”

  “And,” Zee said, “Clark might have an idea of what her secrets are.”

  Az saw me pouring coffee for everyone and crossed to the kitchen off of the family room to join me. He took over setting out the creamer and sugar, while I dug through my cabinets for some of the trials version of clotted cream, the marionberry jam, and some of the scones. They’d been baked before, but enough jam and clotted cream would hide the dryness.

  While Az set the tray of coffee stuff at the table, he said, “You’ll need to get everyone here before you tell Carver and Simon what you’re up too.”

  Zee’s eyes glinted with her usual fire. She made a face and said, “I could finally get a little revenge on them. Always thinking how I should live my life. This is gonna be fun!”

  Chapter Nine

  My dining room wasn’t huge. But it was big enough for the Zee’s three siblings, her two in-laws, her mother, Simon, Carver, Laney Az and me. Granted, Carver was leaning against the wall watching us all like bugs under a microscope with Simon next to him. Carver’s jaw was ticking as Az placed plates in front of people and put pizza, salad, and rolls at the table.

  We all ignored the food and stared around at each other. The food smelled amazing, but I for one, didn’t have much of an appetite. We’d gotten it from the Chicago pizza joint in town, and the salad from our own diner where we’d simply grabbed our pre-made salad, our house dressing, and all the desserts we’d intended for the tea.

  Our table seated eight, but we’d deliberately decided to not seat Carver and Simon. I didn’t want anyone facing them and thinking about how the police were listening to their every word. Instead, I wanted it to feel like a family dinner.

  In fact, I wanted it to feel like a family fight. A rumble. Something where they went for each other’s throats and machine gunned out all of their baggage at each other. So, I made sure to put Zee at the head of the table, lording over the siblings she’d left behind. I sat next to Zee with her favorite sister, Fionnula on Zee’s other side.

  The matriarch, Helen, I very deliberately left in the middle of the table. De-throned on purpose. We’d taken out the end chair and left Laney and Camise’s husband, Clark at the end by the cops. The least likely to have killed Peter were closest to the cops because they’d be the least concerned by their presence. The others, I hoped, would be detracted before long.

  I glanced around the room offering, “Thank you all for coming.”

  There was tension in the room. Ever since the family had come to town, you could feel the emotion between them all like a stifling blanket. They were tense, however, not because they knew my intentions. I glanced at them, trying to ferret out the reason why and it suddenly became clear to me. It wasn’t just me who knew that they had a killer among them. They knew it. Of course, they did.
Like Zee, they were bright and intelligent. While we’d been discussing among ourselves who had killed Peter, they had been having the same discussions.

  “Thank you for coming,” I repeated when I had all of their attention, taking charge just as Helen opened her mouth. She shot me a nasty scowl and I noticed how her skin was pale, her cheeks had brilliant red circles, and there was just a tinge of yellow about her. I felt a sudden flash of worry but that was a concern for another moment. “Let’s not beat around the bush here. I think we all know one of you killed Peter Culver.”

  Nancy’s jaw dropped while Laney choked on her bite of pizza. She probably didn’t expect me to go for the gullet, but I wanted them off balance and fighting. Even if the fight started with me.

  “Excuse me, young woman?” Helen asked snidely. The look she gave me told me I was found wanting. It made me very grateful for my own mother. I had to wonder if Zee wanted to be adopted. Because I felt like she deserved my mother over her own.

  Helen’s son, Talfryn cut in, “I’ve been looking at your history of crime here. This town is a danger-bed of murder and blackmail. Let’s be real here. Someone from Silver Falls killed Peter. He was just another victim in a string of grizzly murders. All the more reason for Zee to come home where it’s safe.”

  “Don’t be stupid, T,” Zee said. I’d told her to be extra mean, but the tone in her voice showed me she’d been holding back all the time I’d known her. This was a level of nasty that surprised me despite our friendship. Or maybe it was just that no one could belittle you like family. “Every one of those murders was solved. Most of the killers were from out of town. And all of them had a motive. It’s not like we have an unsolved serial killer in Silver Falls picking off random people.”

  He flushed and his wife cut in, “Don’t you talk to Talfryn like that.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” Zee snapped, “Fancy Nancy.”

  Whatever that meant left Nancy pale and shaking. The others gasped. Apparently that was a low-blow even for Zee.

  “That is quite enough out of you, Zapphirah. You ungrateful brat,” Helen snarled. Her age showed as her hands shook. “I won’t have…”

  “You don’t get to say that anymore. I don’t have to be grateful that you raised me, Mother. It’s not like you picked me up on the side of the road. How did you put it? You did your Christian duty by me and I’ve been nothing but a disappointment?”

  I growled at that and heard my reaction echoed by Az, Laney, and Carver. Simon had to actually hold Carver back. I shot him a quelling look and Carver placed himself against the wall as though he’d walked himself through each movement. I leaned back in my chair, crossing my fingers over my chest examining the table. Most of them were staring at Helen, but Nancy was still scowling at Zee. Nancy’s hand was to her chest again.

  “What a mother!” I said meanly trying to channel Zee. “What? Because you didn’t marry the jerk of her choice, you’re ungrateful?” I filled my tone with mocking and Helen sniffed once.

  “Pretty much,” Zee snarled. The way she said it had the feel of an old argument. One that had played out time and again. No one at the table seemed surprised except those of us who weren’t related.

  “You always did hate my daddy,” Laney added, almost flinching away from the look Helen shot that way. “Daddy did good by us.”

  “He left didn’t he?” Helen snapped. “She couldn’t even keep him. A mechanic from a broken home. Whereas Peter was the child of my best friend and had loved the undeserving Zapphirah since she was a brat. Despite her being unworthy of his affection!”

  “I left James, Mother,” Zee said. “I never bothered explaining but let me do so now. James was unhappy. He loved me, but he wasn’t in love with me anymore, and I wasn’t going to hold him back.”

  “So you stepped aside for his mistress,” Helen said, glancing at Laney. “With no regard for your children.”

  “With every regard for us,” Laney said. “She left Daddy, let him be happy, and never, ever said anything bad about him. Unlike you. You take every chance to talk about Daddy as though he was a worm. At least he didn’t need to get someone else to pressure him into a relationship. Peter Culver was a creepy weirdo and only you actually thought he was worthwhile. Otherwise, why didn’t he marry anyone. Ever? No one wanted him.”

  “Peter wanted your mother. And, he wouldn’t have cheated on your mom. No matter how much she deserved it.”

  I flinched for Zee. How could her own mother think that her child was deserving of someone cheating on her? Zee had the twin circles of rage now too. I was pretty sure we all did.

  “James didn’t cheat on me. I just let him go. He and Sarah were after me and him.”

  “He married his mistress within months of the divorce.”

  “No, he married his best friend within months. He is an honorable man, and he didn’t cheat on me, Mother. Like I have told you 1000 times. We fell out of love. He fell in love with someone else. It was what it was.”

  “All the more reason to have given Peter a chance then. But instead, you decided to move even farther away.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Zee shouted. “Why wouldn’t I get away from you as fast as I could. I would have done anything to protect my kids from you and that bastard, Peter. He cozied up to you because he had an eye on your money. He never wanted me. He wanted what you could do for him.”

  I cleared my throat and mildly said, “Of you all, the only one who has an alibi is Zee.”

  A roar of protests drowned everything out and were unintelligible. Everyone protesting their innocence, no one bothering to hear each other out.

  I slapped my hand down on the table, watching as Helen’s had paled even further. Was she all right?

  “Of the attendees of the breakfast this morning who live in Jackson, Clark also has an alibi.”

  I turned to Talfryn and said, “Your son doesn’t have a motive and Laney doesn’t have a motive.”

  “Why does who lives in Jackson matter?” He asked, but in a way to point out that I was stupid.

  “Culver’s face was broken,” I said, letting that sink in around the table. Someone gasped and someone else choked. I didn’t look away from Talfryn, but I was seeing Peter’s face in my mind again. “Only someone who hated him could do that. Only someone who associated with him. This was an act of pure, unadulterated rage. And you simply don’t feel that for the weasel trying to get into your aunt’s pants. You feel nauseous and mocking. Not murderous. That leaves the rest of you.”

  Nancy started to protest, but I held up my hand and said, “Perhaps you could say that Zee would have every reason for that much feeling, but firstly, she has an alibi.”

  “Her shady boyfriend,” Nancy snapped back.

  Zee’s gaze narrowed on her sister-in-law but I placed my hand on Zee’s shoulder and said, “None of us in Silver Falls really care what you think of Carver Jones. But, I can assure you that they have alibi beyond each other.”

  No one said anything to that, and I needed to keep the attention on me and the fight going. I turned to the man at the end of the table. “So…Clark, why does your wife hate Peter?”

  Clark blinked and then looked at his wife. She stared back at him and then glanced to me as Camise said, “But I don’t.”

  It was such a simple statement. But it didn’t feel like a lie. She expanded, however, making it feel even less like a lie. “I told Mom to leave Zee alone about Peter. Decades of refusing him should be enough.”

  Clark took his wife’s hand and then said, “To be honest, I thought Peter was a nasty little worm. I no more want Zee to marry him than I want her to marry a rabid raccoon. Camise feels the same. But she told me not to worry about it. I wanted to warn Peter off. Cam said that Zee didn’t need us to protect her, and she wanted to know if Zee’s boyfriend would.”

  I tilted my head and then said, “And what do you think of Carver’s protection?”

  “I like it,” Camise said, glancing at Carver and then
back at Zee. “He lets her fight her own battles and is just there with her. Peter always talked about how he’d take care of Zapphirah, right. But Zee’s never wanted that. She doesn’t want to be rescued. She wants to rescue herself. And to be frank, she doesn’t need rescuing.”

  “Camise Michelle,” Helen snapped. “Enough.”

  “No, Mother,” Camise said. “No. You leave Zee be. You drove her away. Accept it. She’s never, ever coming back. She has a second family here, and good for her. She deserves people to love her. We never did that very well.”

  Camise turned to Zee and added, “Clark and I talked about it. We aren’t going to let Mom divide us anymore. I’ve always been proud of you. Always.”

  Laney sniffed, and I realized that she was crying for her mom. I looked at Zee, and her face was expressionless. Perhaps there was more history there than one apology could correct.

  I crossed Camise off my list. Her husband might have an alibi, but he was backing his wife up. They’d come here hoping to see Zee reject Peter again and interested in Carver. They seemed to be truly together. I doubted such a declaration hid rage.

  “Well la-dee-dah,” Nancy said mockingly. “The favorite child gives her favor. Isn’t that lovely, everyone? Zee rejected us all. Not just poor Peter. She rejected you, Camise.”

  “We deserved it,” Camise said simply.

  I glanced back towards Nancy. The sour woman seemed to almost spew venom. She’d been detestable since she arrived, so I wasn’t sure that her actions meant anything. Could I see her as having killed Peter? Yeah. I’d prefer for it to be Nancy. I didn’t like her one little bit.

  “Shut up, Nancy,” Fionnula said. “Cam is right. You never should have dragged Peter into Rosemary’s home. You never should have been so mad about them breaking up. Why’d you care so much anyway? Always so angry about it. It was as if leaving him was hurting you.”

  “It did hurt me! We were friends! The four of us. Me, Peter, Talfryn and Zapphirah. She didn’t just leave him, she left all of us. She left you, Fionnula. Was she there when your husband left you? You weren’t big enough to just let your husband fall in love with someone else, were you? You fought to the bitter end and then came back home miserable. At least Zapphirah isn’t bitter. You can’t say the same, can you?”