Tea Room Toxin: Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mystery #5 (Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries)

by Brianna Bates

  All conversation dried up and an expectant hum filled the tea room. Tonya and emerged from the kitchen with Noreen and five volunteer servers wearing white aprons. Missy craned her neck to see better and looked for Tyler in the melee but didn’t see him. She hoped he hadn’t been forced to go into work on his day off. They had a nice day planned.

  Tonya smiled. She was a very pretty woman. Tall and blonde and so sure of herself in a way Missy had never been. Despite their mutual dislike of each other, Missy respected the woman. She had made a good living as a consultant, enough to have footed the majority of the bill for this new business.

  Missy was lucky some months to make her mortgage payment. Any time a large, unexpected expense came up, it caused her significant stress because she was living on a shoe string budget. Tyler had offered to help one time, but she’d quickly rejected his offer, snapping at him unfairly. He was just trying to help and she should have appreciated that, but all the same it had made her feel like she couldn’t take care of herself.

  “Thank you all for coming.” Tonya smiled and waited for the applause she knew was coming. Everybody cheered and the praise filled the tea room. Feeling boxed in, Missy took a deep breath.

  Tonya held her hands up for quiet. The cheers died down. “This is a dream come true for me and for Noreen. We’ve both always wanted to do this, and when we met last year we just clicked immediately in a way we never had with anybody else before.”

  Missy felt the dig like a knife in the back. Noreen’s eyes drifted over, looking apologetic.

  Missy just smiled at her friend. No matter what Tonya said, it didn’t change what Noreen and Missy had—the deepest of friendships that had lasted for many years.

  “And without the support of our family and friends, this wouldn’t have been possible.” Tonya clapped for the people that were here. “So I’d like to take this opportunity to thank someone very dear to me.”

  Tonya gestured to her left.

  “My sister, Beth.”

  A shorter, brunette woman stood still for a moment. The resemblance was there, despite the differences in appearance. Beth looked a little bit older than her sister too. She seemed rooted to the spot until she was nudged forward.

  “Come on up here, Beth,” Tonya said.

  Her sister did, but didn’t seem happy about it. Missy wondered if she was just nervous in front of a crowd, or if there was more to the story.

  Marie, of course, knew. “Beth wanted to do this with Tonya a couple years ago, but they had a falling out. Apparently they weren’t talking for awhile.”

  “You never cease to amaze me.”

  Beth stood by her sister, a weak smile on her face. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere except up there.

  “Now, before we—” Tonya began to say.

  But Noreen cut her off. “Actually, I wanted to thank someone very special to me also.”

  Tonya’s face fell for an instant, like Noreen wasn’t supposed to interrupt her introductory speech during the grand opening. Missy just shook her head. That was Tonya to a T. She needed to be in charge, needed to be the center of attention, and needed everybody else to fall in line. But Noreen never saw it that way.

  Noreen turned to the crowd. “I want to call up my best friend, whom many of you know. She’s a real hero. I mean, a literal hero. She saved my life, and I’m not exaggerating. Yes, I’m talking about the woman who fought for me when everybody else had basically given up. Yes, I’m talking about Missy DeMeanor.”

  Missy was surprised at the cheers she got. Noreen beckoned her to come up. Missy didn’t care to be the center of attention, but at Noreen’s insistence and Marie’s urging, she made her way through the thick of the crowd to stand next to her friend.

  “I would not be here today without Missy,” Noreen said. “I would literally be in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. I owe her my life.”

  Everybody cheered and Missy hugged her friend. Noreen had tears in her eyes, and Missy felt a huge lump in her throat. She began to well up too.

  But Tonya didn’t let the moment go on too long.

  “Enough speeches,” Tonya said. “Let’s get down to why you’re all here. The tea! Our gracious volunteers will be coming around with an Earl Grey blend that I know you’ll all enjoy.”

  Chapter Two

  The servers poured the tea and offered cream and sugar to everyone. Now that the attention was off her, Missy was grateful Noreen had called her to the front because the crowd was spaced out up here.

  The servers were having trouble moving and the pouring was slow-going, though.

  “Can I help?” Missy asked.

  “Thanks, Miss.”

  Missy went over to a counter in the hallway leading to the kitchen. She set up a line of cups and began pouring. People came and took a cup. When the line stopped, she looked back into the room at Noreen. Her friend hadn’t gotten her own tea yet.

  Missy turned and poured two more cups, using up the last in the kettle. Emerging from the hallway holding two now-lukewarm cups, Missy made her way slowly back to Noreen. But by the time she’d returned, Noreen had already gotten a cup so now Missy had an extra.

  “Oh, that was nice of you to get a cup for Tonya,” Noreen said.

  Missy didn’t say what she was thinking: that she would have rather died than get a cup of tea for the likes of Tonya. And it didn’t seem appropriate to tell Noreen with everyone listening that she’d gotten a cup for her but not her business partner.

  “I just figured somebody would need one.” Missy held out the cup for Tonya. “Here you go.”

  Tonya forced a smile.

  “Tonya, we need to take a picture!” An older woman was waving at her from the middle of the room. Missy saw a resemblance and figured it was Tonya’s mother.

  Tonya took the cup from Missy without thanking her and set it down on the table for two. She made her way over to the older woman.

  “Don’t let anybody touch that tea,” Tonya said to Noreen. “We’re already running out.”

  “You’re welcome,” Missy said.

  Noreen made an apologetic face. “There are just a million things all going on at once here.”

  Missy was about to respond, but bit her words back. Noreen was spastically nervous and giddily happy all at the same time, riding a high that Missy didn’t want to ruin. Noreen deserved to be thrilled in this moment, not derailed by a petty squabble between two of her friends.

  Beth, Tonya’s sister, walked by with her head down. The woman looked miserable. She bumped into the table where Tonya had set her tea cup, nearly knocking it over.

  “Are you okay?” Noreen asked.

  “I’m fine,” Beth said quickly, then moved on. Missy picked up on the awkward tension between the two women.

  Missy looked at Noreen. “I heard about the…” She didn’t quite know how to put it.

  Noreen nodded sadly. “It’s a shame. I was fine with bringing her in too. But Tonya didn’t want that.” Noreen lowered her voice even more. “She’s got some emotional issues, and Tonya just didn’t want to deal with all that while we were trying to get this place off the ground.”

  Missy looked around the room, marveling at how great it looked and how many people were there. “This is really great, Noreen. You should be so proud of yourself.”

  Noreen nodded. The woman couldn’t stand still. She held her tea in both hands and blew on it. “I still can’t believe it.”

  “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Well, Miss, we haven’t done anything except open. Tomorrow could be a different story.”

  “I doubt it. You picked a great location and you both know what you’re doing. I love the idea of coming here and reading in the study for a long time over several cups of tea.”

  Noreen grinned. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen. This could all be over in a month.”

  “So what if it is?” Missy asked. “At least you tried. At least you put yourself out there. Not many people do that.”r />
  “Now I’m like you,” Noreen said.

  Missy was about to object to that characterization, but somebody bumped into her while they tried to pass between her and the table where Tonya’s tea was.

  Missy nearly tipped over, spilling some of her tea in the process.

  “Excuse me.” It was Roger, Tonya’s ex-husband and now angel investor, whatever that meant.

  “Oh that’s okay,” Missy said. “It’s crowded in here.”

  Roger smiled at her, then gave Noreen a smile. “Where’s Carter?”

  “He’s around,” Noreen said, referring to her steady boyfriend. Missy kept waiting to get the call where Noreen told her they’d gotten engaged. Though Missy wondered who the maid-of-honor would be, and hated herself for wondering.

  “Let’s hope all days are like this,” Roger said. “Excuse me.”

  He pushed through the crowd toward the front door and left. Missy found it odd he wasn’t sticking around for the big toast.

  “He’s really busy,” Noreen said, as if reading Missy’s mind. “Really busy. That man works fourteen hours a day on the weekends.”

  “It’s interesting he’s working with Tonya,” Missy said. “That has to be difficult after being married to the person.”

  Noreen shrugged. “They still argue like they’re married, it’s kind of funny.”

  “Argue?”

  Noreen nodded. “Don’t tell anyone, but they’re kind of seeing each other. And when I say seeing each other, I don’t mean seeing each other.”

  “Ah.” Missy picked up on what her friend was saying. Though they were divorced, they were keeping some of their favorite nocturnal activities up. “But whatever happened to…Carter’s friend, what was his name?”

  “Grant?” Noreen lowered her voice. “He was just behind you, actually. Where did he go?”

  Noreen looked over her shoulder.

  “Grant’s here?” Now Missy was really confused. She searched the crowd and spotted the bearded man deep in conversation by the threshold to the study. “Are Tonya and he….?”

  Noreen looked like a deer frozen in headlights. “Look, Miss, I overshared. I shouldn’t have said anything about Roger. Okay?”

  Missy smiled. “I read you loud and clear.”

  So Tonya still had something going with Grant while on the side she was having a little fun with her ex-husband. She couldn’t help but shake her head. Sometimes, women were just as bad as men.

  All this talk of men got her thinking about Tyler. With hopeful eyes she searched the room, but the man of her dreams was nowhere to be seen. She took out her phone and texted him.

  You still here?

  While she was waiting for his response, Tonya returned, scooping up her tea on the way.

  “Everybody is having a great time and loves the tea,” Tonya said to Noreen, pointedly ignoring Missy.

  Noreen was bursting with excitement. “I know.”

  “Congratulations again, you two.” Missy held out her cup.

  They toasted. The Earl Grey was good, even though Missy had let it get too cold. She was surprised to see Tonya make a face when she tasted her drink, but the expression quickly passed, like she didn’t want anybody to know she disapproved of her own tea.

  ***

  As the morning turned into afternoon, the people came and went but the crowd remained the same size. It seemed like everybody in the county was turning out for the grand opening of Do Re Tea.

  After running to the station for a couple hours of discussion with Vinnie, Tyler came back. He had a few inches on most of the men there and he was, by far, the most handsome guy in the tea room. Missy felt incredibly lucky and happy and all mushy inside. The last time she had felt like that was back in high school, when they’d first dated. That had been so many years ago, Missy had forgotten what it felt like to be in love.

  They’d been together for less than a month when Tyler had dropped the L-word on her. She had responded immediately and in kind. She’d known it was love, practically during their first date together. They had never stopped thinking about each other. While she had dated men infrequently in Grove City, while he had been married to another woman in Philadelphia, they just could never forget each other.

  He met her halfway in the room.

  “Where can a guy get some tea around here?” he asked.

  “Well, you’ve come to the right place.” She brushed his side. “Can I get you something, Mr. Officer?”

  His eyes almost popped out of his head. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”

  “Is it working?”

  “You know it is.”

  They kissed. Missy found a kettle and poured him a cup.

  “You know, I’ve never had tea before in my life,” he said.

  “Stop it.”

  “I’m serious.” He held up a hand. “Scout’s Honor.”

  “You weren’t a Scout. I would have remembered.”

  “Because you were stalking me since I was six?”

  “Stalking is a bit too strong of a word.”

  They gently clinked cups.

  “Do you toast with tea?” he asked.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know.” He smirked. “I’m still learning all the lingo and etiquette in here.”

  They sipped their tea. Tyler didn’t react for a moment, his face blank. Then he nodded.

  “It’s good.”

  “It’s better for you than coffee,” Missy said.

  “Oh. Here we go.” But he said it playfully.

  “What?” Missy asked innocently. “I was just saying.”

  “Are you going to crop here too?” Tyler looked around the room. “This place is designed to withstand maximum amounts of estrogen.”

  She swatted his shoulder. “Tyler Brock, how dare you be a sexist pig in front of your girlfriend.”

  “Girlfriend…” His eyes grew serious as they looked deep into hers. “Missy, you know I’ve been thinking.”

  Her throat had gone dry. Her sixth sense had picked up on this Serious Moment About To Happen. They’d talked vaguely about the future, discussing living arrangements. Their relationship had flowed so naturally that it never felt forced. It just felt right.

  But right now? She was a Nervous Nelly. Was he going to…

  “I know we haven’t been together too long.” He smiled his gorgeous smile. “But I’ve known you my whole life and I’ve loved you for a long time.”

  Tyler.

  She couldn’t quite get the word out. She swallowed hard, but her throat remained locked up.

  His hands gripped her sides, squeezing the love handles she normally hated. But right now, she didn’t think twice about them. She just didn’t want Tyler to take his hands away. Ever.

  “I’ve been trying to think of all these fancy ways to ask you, but I’m just a simple man, Missy. You know that about me. So I was wondering.”

  He reached into his pocket. Missy’s knees felt weak. She’d never been one of those women who’d imagined in great detail her man’s proposal, building an elaborate and impossible-to-meet fantasy. But as Tyler spoke and as he reached into his pocket, she knew this was the perfect moment. The hundred people surrounding them disappeared for her. She couldn’t hear the talking or laughing or tinkle of china. She couldn’t hear anything except her own breathing.

  “Missy DeMeanor, would you—”

  There was a loud crash in the kitchen, and everybody started. Missy’s heart skipped a beat. She and Tyler both chuckled at the sound of somebody accidentally dropping a glass or a plate. Tyler brought his hand out of his pocket. It held a tiny box.

  “Missy DeMeanor, would you—”

  This time, it wasn’t a crash that interrupted Tyler’s question. This time it was an ear-piercing shriek from the kitchen that made Missy’s blood run cold.

  “Somebody get a doctor!”

  Missy whirled at the sound of Noreen’s voice.

  Chapter Three

  It was a grey Au
gust afternoon with an unseasonable chill in the air. Storm clouds bunched along the horizon, turning that edge of sky almost black.

  Two hours had passed. From around the side of the building, Missy saw the paramedics bringing Tonya out of the back, transporting her lifeless body into the ambulance. She might not have liked Tonya, but the sight of the dead woman saddened her. Tonya was Noreen’s friend, of an age with her and Missy. The death made Missy feel all the more mortal.

  Missy leaned her head against Tyler’s chest. He rubbed her back. She wondered how long Noreen was going to be kept inside. The police had been questioning her for at least an hour.

  Tyler spoke as if reading her mind. “We’re going to be here awhile, sweetheart. They have to talk to everybody that was inside.”

  She looked up at him. “You know, I have investigated a few murders over the last couple of years.”

  He nodded apologetically. “Sorry, just a cop habit.”

  “Speaking of cops, do you know any of these guys?”

  Do Re Tea was in Castleton, which shared a county with Grove City where Tyler was the Chief of Police.

  Tyler nodded as he took them the Castleton police in. There were ten patrolmen camped out around the tea room’s parking lot, their eyes watching everyone. Four more patrolmen were directing traffic in the street. The two detective were inside with the crime lab techs.

  “I know just about all of them.”

  Missy smiled, feeling safe with Tyler here. So far, the rumors had been flying about what happened to Tonya. Heart attack. Stroke. Seizure. Missy hadn’t spoken to Noreen yet, though. Her friend had been the only other person in the kitchen when Tonya had died suddenly.

  Tyler got a call. “Sorry, Miss. It’s Vinnie again.”

  He separated from her and walked to the edge of the parking lot so he could speak privately with his second-in-command. She wondered when Tyler would resume his proposal. She got the urge to run up behind him and shout YES! Tonya’s death had reminded her how fragile life was, how quickly it could come to a random end. The morbid thoughts saddened her.

  She was happy, though, when Alison Breckmyer appeared in the crowd. “Hey, Missy.”