Tainted Teacup

by Michelle Busby

  “So, you’re setting them up buffet style and giving them away for free?”

  “Yeah. People can grab a disposable plate and help themselves. We can let them line up at the end over there, and then make their way to the front counter to get their tea.”

  “Oh, wow. These look delicious. What are they? And can I have one of each now?” Sarah Beth asked.

  “Go ahead and grab some. I’ve got Late-for-a-Date Tea Biscuits, Mad Hatter Muffins, March Hare Madeleines, and Dormouse Delights”

  “You come up with the most creative names. They’re perfect for your ‘Out of the Rabbit Hole’ theme. When did you make all these?”

  “I didn’t. Finbar did. He’s quite the culinary wizard in the kitchen!”

  “It’s just a hobby of mine. But sure, the missus needed to focus on other matters, so I baked,” he said.

  “You’re a prize, Mr. Holmes. Wish I had you at my house and in my shop. Oh, that reminds me. My son Barry will be coming by to help us out, if that’s OK. I’ll put him down here to show people where to start the line.”

  “Aw, that’s great, Sarah Beth. Barry was such a big help getting me ready for my first opening. He reminds me of my own son Kevin. They’re both good fellows.”

  “Thanks. No problem. While I’m nibbling, I’ll set up your treats. Do you want the ‘Eat Me’ sign to go on the counter or the sneeze guard?”

  “Set it on the counter, please, and the ‘Drink Me’ sign goes here at the pick-up counter. I made up those little 3x5 placards for each treat with the name and a picture of the Alice in Wonderland character. They’re small, so you can stick them just above the edge of the sneeze guard with tape over each plate of treats once you’ve arranged them.”

  “What order do you want them?”

  “I don’t care. Arrange them anyway you’d like. I trust your judgment. You’re very organized and orderly that way. You truly have a gift, Sarah Beth.”

  “Yeah, sometimes my OCD comes in handy. What kinds of special tea blends are you serving?”

  “I’ve got Teadle-Dee and Teadle-Dum. The first one is a mix of blackberry leaf, peppermint, lemon balm, lavender flowers, and marshmallow leaf, and the second one is made with red clover herb and blossoms, spearmint, lemon peel, and thyme. Queen of Hearts is a flowering tea with red rose petals, raspberry leaf, and jasmine blossoms tied with green tea leaves. And I made one especially for you and your coffee drinkers with roasted chicory, mocha mix, roasted dandelion root, and roasted carob. It’s called Cheshire Cat Coffee.” Tommie winked at her. “You can serve it in your shop, too.”

  Sarah Beth teared up and raced for the restroom.

  “What did I say wrong?” Tommie asked in alarm.

  “I don’t know that you said anything wrong, missus. I think she was touched that you’ve included her, especially with the addition of the coffee-flavored blend. Just let her get on with it. She’ll be to rights shortly,” Finbar answered.

  About the time Sarah Beth came out of the bathroom, Barry Brewster entered. He seemed like a hazy shadow in comparison to his mother. She showed him where to stand and told him what to say. All the while, he nodded slowly, barely showing any emotion. Tommie unintentionally scrutinized him. That poor boy takes medication for depression, but I don’t think it’s doing him any good, she thought. She waved, and Barry gave the slightest trace of a smile and waved back.

  “Am I too early?” Earl said from the back door.

  Tommie whirled around and nearly lost her balance. She gave him her brightest smile and motioned him inside.

  “Never too early, Earl. I’m glad you’re here,” she said.

  Earl ambled in and spoke to Sarah Beth, shook the listless Barry’s hand, and sidled up to Holmes.

  “Finbar. Thanks for taking care of our girl. She looks good … and rested, for a change,” he said.

  “I’m afraid it’s going to be my calling in life, looking after our Ms. Watson,” Finbar said with a laugh.

  “Well, I’ll be happy to spell you for a bit anytime. Just give me a call. She’s a hard one to keep out of trouble.”

  “That she is. That she is.”

  “I’m right here, guys,” Tommie said, raising her voice up a notch. “I hear you talking.”

  The two men exchanged a knowing look and grinned.

  “She hears us talking,” Finbar commented.

  “Yeah, she’s right there,” Earl agreed.

  “Thomasina, it’s almost on the hour,” Finbar said.

  “Dangit. I lost track of the time,” she lamented.

  “I find that hard to believe.” Earl glanced at the huge clock on her wall.

  Tommie let out a hmph and took a last look around the shop. Everything seemed to be in place. The window displays were bright and colorful representations of the tea party from the Alice in Wonderland children’s novel. Cloth covered tables in each window were topped with teapots of various colors, shapes, and materials from her own home, as well as mismatched teacups and saucers filled with fresh flowers. Flea market cups were stacked precariously and glued in place, and plates were piled with imitation sandwiches. Here and there, she had situated stuffed characters from the story: Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Dormouse in a pot, and a white rabbit in a waistcoat with a gigantic pocket watch. While the line formed outside, she could see the people pointing to the different elements in the display. It was organized chaos, and it completely reflected her personality. Tommie’s approach to decorating was at the complete other end of the spectrum from Sarah Beth’s meticulously ordered and regimented style. It must be from her OCD, she thought.

  “Time, missus!” Finbar called.

  Tommie made her way to the door and turned the sign from CLOSED to OPEN. The group outside cheered. She swung the door wide and welcomed each and every one of them individually as they filed in. Soon, the shop was filled with customers and friends who mingled with one another and exclaimed over the decorations and the treats. Tommie sat on her stool (which made her a much-needed couple of inches taller) and clapped her hands. The guests shushed each other and turned toward her quietly.

  “My friends. You have made me so welcome here in Floribunda. I never knew I could grow to love a place so much in such a short time. It’s been a very tough and trying few weeks, but today, I am out of the rabbit hole!”

  The crowd clapped and cheered. She signaled for quiet again. “Today I want to show my appreciation to you. You’ve saved my life and made me your friend. I especially want to mention some of the folks who have really come through for me: my Irish friend and neighbor Finbar Holmes, my shop buddy Sarah Beth Brewster, my valuable helper Barry Brewster, my cousin Sanderson Harper, my friends Maggie and Craig Kohl, Annie Lang, Terry Jackson, Henry Erving, Don Lareby, Susan Clay, Elaine Frank, and Floribunda’s finest policeman Earl Petry. Please, help yourself to some tea party treats and a cup of herbal tea blend.”

  Having made her speech, and to another round of applause, Tommie got down from her stool and began making tea for her guests. As she prepared their orders, she sipped a bottled water and nibbled from a plate of treats Earl had set to the side for her. Barry Brewster directed the people through the food line competently, and Tommie even saw him begin smiling and having conversations. She nodded and winked at Barry in appreciation, giving him a big ‘thumbs-up’ sign, and she was almost certain the young man blushed.

  Sarah Beth came behind the counter and helped out by pouring water into the teacups after Tommie filled the tea ball infusers with the desired blends. She kept the kettles filled and served the steaming teas on ceramic saucers. When the self-service items got low, she watched proudly as Barry hustled to replenish them.

  Finbar and Henry circulated among the guests and kept up lively conversations, clearing off the tables and taking the trash out to the dumpster in back. Tommie was amazed at the difference in Henry Erving. Formerly dour and unsure of himself, he had the sisters in stitches. It was comical to watch them each vying for his attention.

 
; Earl made polite small talk with people in the room, but he stuck pretty close to Tommie, taking up a place just on the other side of the cash register in front of the coolers.

  Tommie was glad for the extra help and especially for Earl’s presence and attention. She wondered idly if anything more would come from the friendship. Nope. Don’t even go there, she told herself. Let whatever comes happen in its own time, just like this blooming tea blend.

  When things began to settle down, and everyone was relaxing at the tables and along the walls, Finbar walked to the counter and had Tommie refill his cup. “Fix yerself a cup, missus. It’s time for a toast,” he whispered.

  Tommie grabbed her jumbo Zed and Red cup and filled it with boiling water, immersed a tea ball stuffed with a bit of both Teadle blends into it, and added honey from a squeeze bottle beneath the counter. She topped it with a splash of bottled water to cool it down and held the teacup in her hand as Finbar turned and faced the crowd.

  “I’ve come to know Missus Thomasina in just a month’s time, and I believe she is one of the finest lassies I’ve ever known. So, I’d like to propose a toast. Raise yer cups, lads, to Thomasina Watson.” He held his cup aloft.

  “To Thomasina Watson,” the guests repeated.

  Tommie raised her cup and brought it to her lips. Things happened quickly from that point on, but to Tommie, the events were in slow motion.

  “No! Oh, dear God! No! Tommie, don’t drink it!” Sarah Beth screamed.

  From the corner of her eye, Tommie saw Sarah Beth leap toward her. She knocked the cup from Tommie’s hand, and it smashed on the floor at the foot of her stool. Earl Petry grabbed Tommie by the shoulders and literally lifted her over the counter. Finbar turned and blocked the walk through, preventing Sarah Beth from leaving. Barry shouted for his mother, who had crumpled to the floor in tears. The sisters screamed and rushed into Henry’s arms. Don stood up and actually called 9-1-1 this time. Maggie, Craig, Terry, and Annie huddled together against the front door. Sandy pushed in behind the counter and guarded the spilled tea and broken teacup. Tommie hid her face in Earl’s chest and sobbed.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Tommie and Finbar settled themselves in Tommie’s house. He sat on the loveseat with his feet up on the square ottoman, and she reclined on the chaise with her legs outstretched. The three dogs were sprawled on the area rug on the floor.

  “D’you know that yer an exhausting woman to be around, Thomasina?” Finbar said, taking a swallow from his second cold can of Guinness.

  “You think it’s exhausting for you? You should be in my position!” she said, noisily slurping from her second cup of Zzzzz-Tea.

  Finbar sighed and shook his head. “I missed it. I completely missed it,” he said with a groan.

  “You only missed it because I hadn’t yet shared with you what Sandy told me on the phone. You’d have put it together immediately.”

  “Did you?” he asked.

  “Not until it was almost too late. I had one of those uncomfortable feelings, like when you know something, but you just can’t put your finger on it.”

  “What made you discomforted?”

  “Something she said about arranging the snacks. She said that her OCD came in handy sometimes. It made me think of our conversation with the siblings. Elaine said that Prozac was an adult medication for OCD.”

  “They also told us that Gary Brewster takes a medication for bipolar disorder, and the son takes Citalopram for his depression.”

  “Yes, that didn’t register until I saw Barry talking with his mother. I remember thinking to myself that his depression medication wasn’t working. That should’ve been a dead giveaway, but it went right over my head.”

  “Citalopram. That’s one of the medications I read about on the internet. I’m such an idjit. It should’ve registered.”

  “Too late to beat ourselves up about it now.”

  “But, we might’ve lost you, lad. How could I have lived with that? D’you know how important you are to me?”

  “About as much as you are to me, and our dogs to each other. I wish Earl would call. I’m anxious to hear what Sarah Beth had to say. I still can’t believe she actually killed Coral and Beverly.”

  “She nearly killed you twice, Thomasina. I misjudged that one all right. Idjit!” he said, draining his can of ale.

  Earl didn’t call; he came over. Tommie welcomed him in. Once the dogs settled down, Finbar gave up his seat on the loveseat to Earl and sat in the grey leatherette armchair in the corner across from them, his bare feet on the small round matching ottoman.

  Tommie cocked her head and smiled at Earl.

  “Would you like a cup of tea?” she asked.

  “No, thank you. I’d rather have what he’s having.”

  Finbar hopped up and went to the refrigerator. He came back with two more cold cans of Guinness.

  “Sláinte! That means ‘health’ in Gaelic,” he said, handing Earl the can.

  “Same to you,” Earl replied, raising the can. The act of toasting made him wince as he remembered how close Tommie had come to being poisoned. He glanced at her quickly, and then he upended the can and drank down nearly half of the cold ale.

  Finbar and Tommie stared at him without speaking.

  Earl wiped his mouth and burped silently with his mouth closed, and then he drained the can.

  “Dangit, boy,” Tommie said, barely restraining a guffaw. “Finbar, I think he needs another.”

  She needn’t have said anything; he was already on his way back from the refrigerator with a fresh cold one.

  Earl accepted the can, but he drank this one slowly, savoring the cold bitterness on his tongue as he tried to choose his words. Finbar and Tommie waited patiently.

  “Sarah Beth confessed to the poisonings, and to clocking you on the head, Tommie.”

  “Why, Earl? For the life of me, I can’t understand it,” she said, shaking her head slowly.

  “Not really supposed to tell you, this having yet to go through the legal process, but if I don’t, you two will do your own dadblamed investigating. Am I right?”

  Tommie and Finbar shrugged innocently.

  “Aw hell. Sarah Beth has more of a buttoned-up life that you’d think. She and Gary and their son are all on medication. To the outside world, they seem happy and well adjusted, but they’re really pretty dysfunctional. That son of theirs is clinical and should probably be institutionalized. He’s attempted suicide more than once. Gary’s bipolar, and unless he’s on his meds, he’s liable to be either manic depressive or hyped up higher than a monkey eating coffee beans.”

  It wasn’t funny, but Tommie had to put her teacup to her mouth to keep from laughing. Stress or shock. Just hold it together, she told herself. Thankfully, Earl didn’t notice.

  “Between the two of them, Sarah Beth walks a tightrope, never knowing when Barry might attempt suicide or when Gary will snap and be abusive. I’ve known them all my life, but I honestly never expected anything like this from Sarah Beth. OCD isn’t something that makes you try to kill people.”

  “Then why?” Tommie asked, her voice soft and low.

  “She was jealous; she was ambitious. Maybe she was desperate. When Sandy got tired of his pitiful excuse for a sandwich shop, she had visions of renting both shops and making one big business.”

  “My gosh. Just like Charles,” Tommie said.

  “Pretty much. That’s one reason she hated him. He had the means to buy both shops, and she didn’t.”

  “But, Earl. Those are Harper properties. Sandy can’t sell them outside the family. She could never have bought them. Neither could Charles,” Tommie explained.

  “You know that, but Sarah Beth didn’t. She thought you were a renter, just like her. When you told her Sandy wouldn’t sell, she just figured she could coerce him somehow into giving her a long-term lease. Same difference in her eyes.”

  “But only if you were out of the picture, lad,” Finbar said, “one way or another.”

>   “Exactly,” Earl said. “Even if she couldn’t buy them, she would have a place for Barry to work so she could keep an eye on him, and it would give her a cushion to fall back on in case Gary went completely over the edge one day and either left her or beat her senseless.”

  “But how was killing Coral Beadwell even an option for her?” Tommie asked.

  “She didn’t intend to kill Coral. In fact, she didn’t intend to kill anyone.”

  “Coral wasn’t the target; Thomasina was,” Finbar stated, “or rather her shop was.”

  “Bingo! You got it. Sarah Beth used her key and went into your shop that Monday morning aiming to put something into a cup that would make one of your customers sick. The things she had available were medications from her own house: Haldol, Prozac, Celexa, and Tagamet. She crushed up some of the pills and put the powder in a piece of tinfoil. Linda Beadwell was beating on Brewster’s door before 6:00 a.m., wanting to get in so she could be there when Charles arrived. Sarah Beth panicked, afraid she’d been seen, and dumped the whole packet of crushed pills into the first cup she came into contact with. It happened to be Coral’s. She told me she didn’t even know Coral had a favorite cup.”

  “It could just as easily have been yers, missus, just like you said,” Finbar noted.

  Tommie shivered, and Earl patted her leg. “I don’t even want to think about that, but it could have. Back to her confession. Just before you opened, Linda came back into her shop and began to argue with her. Knowing you’d soon have customers, and wanting to be get away before then, she rushed Linda out the back and drove to the Winn Dixie where she had the butcher cut up a special order for her, giving herself a solid alibi.”

  “So, it was to discredit me? To put me out of business so she could take over my shop?” Tommie asked.

  “Yes. Charles planted that idea by telling people your cups weren’t sanitary and your dishwasher was old. I like the new one, by the way. And Linda fed into it by saying she didn’t know what was in your herbal tea blends. Funny how things like that can stick in someone’s mind and be twisted.”