Berry Murderous

by Katherine Hayton

  But it was the new kitchen that set Willow’s heart pitter-pattering with anticipation. She hurried through to it now, getting the water on to boil before her guests had the change to put in their orders. Not that they needed to—Willow knew them off by heart.

  Reg, she served up with his mint tea first, letting the leaves settle in the cup to form a green shelter at the base. Next up, Harmony’s taste buds had decided on hibiscus for their monthly flavor shakeup. The fruity overtones were perfect for warming up a pair of wintry hands.

  Charley’s order was her favorite to prepare—the assortment of dried berries adding a bold color of crimson into the hot water while the floating stevia leaf added a touch of variance for the eye and sweetness for the palate.

  “Tea’s all very well,” Charley said, taking as large a sip as his mouth could stand of the hot liquid. He patted his stomach and gave her a cheeky grin. “I’m still partial to a little bit of something else, on the side.”

  Willow held up one finger, disappearing back into her gleaming kitchen once more. When she returned, it was with a tray laden with scones, cut in half, and with two silver bowls, one filled with cream, the other jam.

  “I don’t know if this is what you’re used to, back home, but this is what I think of every time you start talking with that accent of yours.” Willow placed the tray down, letting Charley serve himself first.

  “It’s not what my mother would’ve made,” he said, and Willow felt a small pang of disappointment. Then his grin reappeared, even wider than before. “But that’s only because she didn’t know how to bake. These’re lovely. Better than I could hope to get in Harrods.”

  “I notice you’re not interested in what we have to say,” Harmony said, jerking her thumb over at Reg to include him in the sentence.

  “Of course, I want to know what you think. That’s why I invited all of you.”

  “Mm-hm.” Harmony pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.

  “What do you mean by that?” Willow asked, laughing. “Am I meant to guess at what you’re thinking now?”

  Reg and Harmony exchanged a quick glance, full of meaning that sailed straight over Willow’s head. Before she could ask them again what was going on, Charley patted his stomach, having demolished two of the scones already.

  “Why don’t you sit down, now?” he said, standing up and moving aside his empty plate and cup. “When this place opens, you’ll be on your feet for so long each day you’ll regret not taking up any opportunities to sit down that was offered. I’m going to make you a special cuppa.”

  Willow complied with a laugh, giving Charley a crooked smile and wrinkling up her nose. “What’s special about it?”

  “One,” he said, jerking a thumb back at his chest, “it’s made by me, and that doesn’t happen very often. Two…”

  “Hm?” Willow raised her eyebrows and nodded her head toward Charley after he trailed off into silence. “Two is what?”

  “Two is I’m going to make you a cup of builders’ tea the like of which you’ve never seen before. Now sit still.”

  As soon as Charley walked through into the kitchen, Willow leaned across to Reg. “What on Earth is builders’ tea?”

  He smiled and leaned back. “I don’t know, but I think me and Harmony will leave you alone to find out.” He stood up, Harmony doing the same without protest.

  “Give me a call tomorrow,” Harmony said as Willow looked about her in confusion. “Tell me how your date went.”

  “What date?”

  Her two friends gave each other another smile of collusion before wandering back up the garden path, leaving her and Charley alone.

  “Here you go,” Charley announced, seemingly not noticing half of their party had vanished into thin air while he was in the kitchen. “Builders’ tea. Strong. Black. Over-stewed by at least five minutes.”

  He plonked the cup down in front of her with little finesse, but Willow wasn’t concentrating on the beverage. What she was noticing was the kind lines that radiated out from Charley’s eyes—proof positive of a life spent smiling—and the gentle lilt of his voice, a tone that seemed to speak directly to her soul.

  Thanks for Reading!

  I hope you enjoyed the second outing of Willow Foxglove in the Tea Shop Cozy Mystery series. I hope to bring you another one in a fortnight’s time, entitled Deathbed of Roses. I’ve included a sample chapter in the following pages to whet your appetite.

  If you want to ensure that you never miss a Tea Shop Cozy Mystery, then please follow me on Amazon and they’ll send you an alert email whenever a new title is released.

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  Chapter One - Deathbed of Roses

  Willow gave a yelp as someone knocked on the front door. She was wound a thousand times tighter than usual, dreading her big opening tomorrow. For the past few nights, she’d barely slept, and the dreams that she did manage to claw out of the darkness were of failure and ridicule—tea being spilled on customers, the conservatory toppling over, the kitchen exploding into flame.

  Harmony stood on the front doorstep, her face peaceful and composed. “I thought you might be in need of company.”

  Willow dragged her friend indoors, giving her an enormous hug. “Oh, my, yes! I’ve been driving myself crazy.”

  Harmony gave a gentle laugh as she extracted herself from the embrace. “I thought as much. Now, you can drive me crazy instead.”

  “I’m worried that I’ve forgotten something important,” Willow confided. “It’s like that sensation when a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t quite catch it. I’m sure there’s something more I should be doing!”

  “Come and sit down.” Harmony perched on the edge of the sofa and patted the cushion next to her. “The best thing to do is to compose a list of everything that must be done for you to open tomorrow. Once we’ve gone through and ticked off every item, you’ll know that you’re set.”

  Mavis appeared at their feet, looking up expectantly and giving a cautious meow. “Did I forget to feed you?” Willow asked, clutching a fistful of her blouse in horror. She tried to think back through the events of the day, relaxing as the memory of opening a can and spreading the portion out precisely as the kitten liked it popped into her head.

  “I’m not going that doolally,” Willow whispered to Mavis, picking the kitten up around the waist and giving her a boop on the nose. “If you keep asking me for food when you’ve already eaten, you’ll turn out ten times the size you’re meant to.”

  Harmony snorted at that suggestion. “Your little kitten still has a lot of growing left to do. Perhaps you should be experimenting with an extra serving, now and then.”

  “According to the vet, she’s perfectly well fed.” Willow gave Harmony a small nudge on the shoulder. “Please don’t add any extra concerns to my list. I’ve quite enough to keep me worried for a lifetime.”

  “Fair enough.” Harmony lifted a notepad out of her handbag, and the two of them began to construct a list of all the things.

  When it grew so large that Harmony needed to turn the page, Willow felt mollified. Yes. It really was a daunting task opening a new business. Her addled mind wasn’t inventing the stress.

  “What time are your employees due tomorrow?”

  Willow blanked out for a second. The words sounded so strange in connection with her. She’d never had employees before in her life. Yet, starting tomorrow, she would have.

  “They’re arriving fifteen minutes before the doors open,” Willow said, pressing a hand to her chest where her heart raced. “So, around quarter past nine.”

  Given s
he wasn’t a naturally early riser, Willow had opted to open her establishment as close to her usual waking time as she dared. Not that she expected to get any sleep at all tonight. Or tomorrow. Or ever again.

  “That seems like the perfect timing.”

  Willow gave Harmony a quick check from beneath lowered lashes. Her friend had been resolutely positive, but a small demon in her mind insisted that was to be polite, and her actual thoughts might differ.

  If they did, Willow could see no sign of it. Harmony was nodding to herself as she read over the list they’d compiled.

  “Anything else you can think of?”

  “I need to check with Reg and see that he got the flyers up.” Willow chewed on the edge of her cuticle, nerves firing up to full steam once more. She’d asked him to pop them into as many stores in town as he could get them into but also any other hangouts that he thought appropriate.

  Sometimes Reg’s life seemed full of strange meetings taking place in dark rooms and hidden offices. Those were the places that Willow hoped to gain notice. If the small cliques and niche groups around town began treating her tea rooms as a meeting ground, it would assure her custom all year round.

  “Come on,” Harmony said, suddenly jumping to her feet. “Let’s go outside and take a peek at how it all looks before the sun goes down.”

  Willow followed along behind, Mavis trailing in her wake like a fluffy shadow. The path that cut along the side of her house was formed from inlaid bricks with whirls and swirls baked into the clay. Willow had wanted to create an atmosphere of intrigue and mischief right from the start.

  “I love these,” Harmony said, pointing at the paintings along the side of Willow’s formerly cream timber walls. She’d hired a local artist to decorate them in the style of the seventies so that a wave of color and movement compelled visitors to move forward.

  “Well, apart from showing my age, I love it.” Willow gave a hesitant laugh. Like everything else connected to the tea rooms, she second-guessed her own decisions.

  The path led in a round-about way to the back of the property, where the double doors for the conservatory had been transformed into the entrance for the tea rooms. When Willow stepped forward and tried the handle, she frowned. “I’ve left them locked from the inside.”

  “Well, go around and open it up then.” Harmony stamped her feet, miming impatience. “You’ve got a guest waiting out here, you know.”

  With a laugh and a toss of her head, Willow ran back around the side and opened up the doors from the inside. She had a couple of blackboard signs perched against the doors—a reminder to put them outside to hook potential customers inside.

  “And what would you like to drink?” Willow asked, pulling out a napkin and fluttering it down to cover Harmony’s lap.

  “I’ll have the special of the day.”

  “Well, then. You’re out of luck!”

  Harmony gave a snort of laughter and peered up. “Do you want me to give you a bad Yelp review?”

  “I’m afraid that the kitchen is closed for the evening and I haven’t worked out a special for the day before opening.” Willow tried to project the image of a huffy waiter. “I’m afraid that water is all we have to offer.”

  Harmony laughed and got to her feet. “It went so well up until the last part. I recommend that you leave the service to your new staff.”

  Willow nodded, closing the doors and locking them against the encroaching darkness. The new kitchen for the tea rooms was spotless, and she couldn’t resist dragging a finger along the aluminum bench just to check it remained dust-free.

  “Sarah has all the patter off by heart already,” Willow said, following Harmony back through into the living room. “And April is well on her way to learning. I think they have a lot more experience at this job than me.”

  “That’s what makes a good employee,” Harmony said, plonking herself down on the couch so quickly that it expelled air from its cushions with a squeak. “Knowing more about their job than the boss does. It also stops you from micro-managing them.”

  “Let me guess,” Willow said with a smile, “You’ve been reading up the business section books lately?”

  Harmony was a consummate book hog, devouring everything and anything put in front of her. When she sought out a special interest, she could read the library out of all the related books in a week flat.

  “Something like that,” Harmony agreed with a small chuckle. “But we both know that you’re going to be wonderful, in any case. Now, where’s that check-list got to?”

  Willow picked it up from the table and quickly scanned through the items. Apart from the ones impossible to do until tomorrow, she felt confident that everything got a solid tick.

  “I know that this should reassure me.” Willow flapped the notepad at her friend. “But it just makes my stomach wind up in more knots. Every time I’ve managed to get to sleep this week, I wake up after a few hours with some new nightmare playing out in my head.”

  “Like what?” Harmony leaned forward, her eyes bright with interest.

  “There was one where I forgot to open the doors, and the customers were piling up outside, crushing each other.”

  “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? That’s a sign that you’ll have plenty of people banging down your doors.”

  “Another one, all of the wait staff were naked, and when I asked them to put on clothes, they said that I’d been the one to tell them to strip off.”

  Harmony put a hand to her mouth, but it was too late to stem the giggles that erupted. “I never knew you had that particular perversion, but I’m sure that would bring a lot of customers to your door, too.” She pulled her lip down on one side. “Though, perhaps not the clientele you were aiming for.”

  “The worst one is when everything seems to be going perfectly. I’ve served everyone in the room, and the customers are all happily eating and drinking. Then, one by one, all my clients drop dead!”

  “So they’re dying to get in. Honestly, if that’s the worst your imagination can conjure up, I think you’ll do fine.”

  “Why? What had your imagination cooked up over the years?”

  “Mainly spiders,” Harmony said with a moue of disgust. “I don’t even mind them that much when I’m awake, but at least once a week I have a dream where they’re abseiling into my face.”

  “Ugh.” Willow wiped herself down surreptitiously, almost feeling the cling of spider’s silk about her person.

  “See? Unless you’ve had dreams of your kitchen being invaded by creepy crawlies, I think you’re doing fine.”

  Willow shook her head, starting to laugh despite the panic still gripping her midriff in a tight fist. “I think your bar is rather low. Success will be assured as long as no nightmares involve spiders.”

  “It’s a famous fortune cookie saying, don’t you know.”

  That made Willow giggle all the harder until she struggled for breath.

  “How about we watch mindless telly for the rest of the evening? That should take your attention away from everything that could possibly go wrong.”

  Willow settled in beside her friend, the predicted effect not working. She could still imagine a host of terrors—all her fault—taking place tomorrow morning. Even when her favorite show came on, Miss Walsham Investigates, Willow couldn’t concentrate enough to honestly follow the storyline. When the killer was revealed in the penultimate scene, she couldn’t remember having seen the character before.

  “How about a walk?” Willow suggested as the closing credits rolled. Her body was jumping with so much energy that she couldn’t imagine ever falling asleep again. “Just down to the end of the road and back.”

  “Sounds good,” Harmony said, stifling a yawn on the back of her hand. “Then I’d better get home.”

  Willow grabbed her friend’s forearm. “Can’t you stay the night? It’d make me feel so much better.”

  “Of course, I can. If Mavis doesn’t mind?”

  They both glanced at the k
itten, more involved in licking her nether regions than their discussion.

  “Which way?” Harmony asked on the sidewalk. “Toward town or away?”

  Willow’s street was a long one, perched close to the edge of town. Given how small Aniseed Valley was, that wasn’t much of a feat.

  “Let’s head down toward the hotel and then back.” Willow strolled in the direction, not giving her friend much choice. “I just need to do something to convince my body it's tired.”

  “These days, I need to do something to convince my body it’s not!”

  The moon had swiveled into the sky above them, casting enough light that the lampposts were an added feature rather than a necessity. The early spring air was still quick to cool when the sun went down, and lazy tendrils of mist rose from the overheated ground on either side.

  “No wonder Reg believes that there’re alien creatures out there,” Harmony said in a musing tone. “On nights like this, I half believe him.”

  “I’d say don’t encourage him, but I don’t think he cares what anyone thinks.”

  Harmony tipped her head back, staring straight up at the heavens. The light pollution on the edge of town crowded the sky too much to see anything. Further out, the night was truly dark, and the array of stars on view was spectacular. On the few occasions that Reg had asked for company, Willow had been stunned at the difference that driving away from a few lampposts or house lights could make.

  The Bonaventure Hotel stood at the entrance to town, a crossroads where you could continue up the main street or veer right onto Willow’s road. Even though it was one of the busier intersections, the area was tranquil as the two women approached.

  As the two ladies walked under the main sign, a pebble bounced down onto the footpath just behind them. Willow jumped. Given the current state of her nervous system, she was pleased not to cry out, too. They walked a step further, then she turned her attention back to the stone. No cars were passing. It could only have been dropped from above.