Strong Tea

by Sheila Horgan

  I wonder if he and Suzi would get along.

  Lindsey was dropping Lola off. She introduced Lola to Timmy. I whispered “Timmy?” to Teagan. I know she has an employee named Timmy. But Teagan’s Timmy is older, fatter, and is not a human resources kind of guy.

  Teagan just shook her head at me and stared at the screen.

  “Mrs. Gryzbowski, I’m sorry for your loss. Teagan tells me that you are interested in Gord’s life insurance policy.”

  “Yes.” She looked around the room like she knew there was something funny going on. Like she could feel all the eyes on her.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s no benefit for you. He wasn’t here long enough to have his benefits kick in. I’m sure you know that. The agreement he had with this company was that his benefits, all of them, would come into play at ninety days. He didn’t work here that long.”

  “I thought that was just the health care and the savings plan.”

  “No, everything happens all at once.” He offered her a sad smile. “I’m sure when you stop and think about it, it will make sense to you. We wouldn’t want our employees to have life insurance but not health insurance.”

  The tone of his voice was sad and supportive, even if what he was saying made her sound foolish.

  “I think that an exception should be made here.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “When my husband signed those papers, he didn’t know he was going to be murdered in the parking lot while he was trying to do his job.”

  “Excuse me?”

  We all leaned in to hear what she said. The guy that was a couple of feet from her. All of us stuck in the little closet. Nobody was breathing. Maybe this is when she would give herself away.

  “I think that an exception should be made because of the situation. My husband was killed working for this company. You owe me something for that.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but as far as we know, his death had nothing at all to do with our company. I’m sure if you can come up with a connection, Teagan would be more than happy to entertain anything you have to tell her.”

  “Maybe I’ll just do that.”

  “Would you like me to go get her? See if she is available?”

  “I can do that myself.” Lola moved toward the door.

  Teagan flew out of the office without saying a word. The cop grabbed my arm so that I wouldn’t follow.

  I’m not saying I would have, but it’s a good thing he stopped me.

  He clicked a couple of things on his keyboard, and Teagan’s office came onto his screen.

  I all but sat on his lap so that I could get the best view possible.

  Lindsey was at the office door by the time Teagan got behind the desk and took a calming breath. “Teagan, Ms. Gryzbowski is here, and she’s insisting on speaking with you.”

  “Lindsey, I’m busy. I thought that Timmy was going to take care of it.”

  “He tried, but she wants to talk to you.”

  Teagan took a deep breath. Before Lindsey could even turn around, Lola burst past her.

  “I think we need to have a little talk, Teagan.”

  Teagan addressed Lindsey. “Can you give us a few minutes, please? I’m expecting Jude Bonheur any second. Please get him a cup of coffee and tell him I’ll be with him shortly.”

  Good move. Teagan wanted Lola to know she’d better talk fast, and a man was expected at her door any minute.

  Lola didn’t even bother to sit. “My husband was killed because of you.”

  “No, your husband was killed in the parking lot. That has nothing to do with me.”

  “He was killed while at work.”

  “He wasn’t scheduled to work, and it was well after hours. I’m not sure that his death had anything at all to do with this office. As a matter of fact, I have searched through every scenario I can think of, and in none of them does his death have anything to do with this office. If you have information… ”

  “He died not more than three hundred feet from here.”

  “I understand that.”

  “He died while he was your employee.”

  “Actually, his status as an employee was under consideration. As you are aware, he was stepping back from his position while we decided if we would continue our working relationship or end it. Legally, I’m not certain what the status would be. That would be for the lawyers to decide.”

  I thought Lola’s head was going to explode. One sure way to make someone lose her composure is to keep your own. I know that, I’m just not very good at implementing it.

  “You’re trying to deny your liability?”

  “I’m sure we have no liability here, Lola. I’m confident we have no culpability as well.”

  I knew from her choice of words that Teagan was starting to get mad. Lola didn’t know that she could be the recipient of a Teagan Twister without warning. That wouldn’t be good. It would all be caught on tape. Police tape. That’s pretty official. When Lola got done suing Teagan, the company would be ruined.

  Lola said a few nasty things and ended it with a comment about my mother’s death. Had a normal person said the same stuff, it would have been hurtful and annoying, but the way that Lola said it, I was seeing red and knew that Teagan was seeing black.

  Before the cute cop could grab me again, I was out the door and into Teagan’s office.

  “Excuse me, Teagan. I thought you were alone. Your appointment is in the lobby. I thought I could just ask one quick question. I’ve been waiting in the conference room forever. If you don’t have anything for me to do, then I guess I’ll just go home.”

  The two of them were stunned for a second at the interruption, which caused the intensity of the whole thing to calm just a fraction, which was more than I’d actually hoped for. What I’d hoped for was simply blocking the camera when my sister ripped Lola’s face off.

  “I’m sorry, Cara, you’re right. I’ll be right there. Lola, if you have no information that would lead us to how your husband’s murder is connected to this office, I’m afraid there’s nothing further we can discuss.”

  Lindsey showed up at that moment. “Is everything alright?”

  “Fine. Will you please see Ms. Gryzbowski to the door?” Teagan’s tone made ol’ Lola seem like yesterday’s putrefied garbage.

  “We’re not done.” Lola’s threat seemed genuine. Much more so than her supposed sadness over her husband’s death.

  “Lola, I’ve tried to help you, I really have, but the truth is unless you can provide me solid evidence that your husband’s death had something to do with this company, we can’t help you. Even if it did have something to do with this company, he still wouldn’t have any benefits owed to you. If it was our fault that your husband died, then morally, I’d feel like I needed to step up, even if I didn’t have to do anything legally. Do you get what I’m saying?”

  “I do. I’ll think about it.”

  “I really am very sorry for your loss.”

  “Yeah, I can see just how you feel.” Lola stomped out.

  Teagan took my arm and pulled me toward the cop in the office with all the computer equipment. “Anything?”

  “Not really. She seems like she’s crazy, but there’s no law against that.”

  “Anything else we can do?”

  “Nope.”

  “Then I’m taking off with my sister. Family stuff. You need anything, just ask Lindsey.”

  “You got it.”

  I kept my mouth shut.

  I’m proud of that.

  I waited until we were in my car before I said a single word.

  “Family stuff?”

  “I’m family, and this is my stuff. Start the car, dingleberry.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’re going to follow Lola.”

  “She’s gone.”

  “Yeah. But while we were inside, the real Timmy was putting a tracking device on Lola’s car.”

  “A tracking device? Is that legal?”


  “Probably not.”

  “Don’t get me arrested, Teagan.”

  “Keep your mouth shut, and nobody is going to know. It’s just a thing that I found online. It’s more about keeping an eye on your kids than it is some super spy deal, but it will work.”

  “Dear God, what has the world come to?”

  “Let’s go. I’ve got the app on my phone. We will know where she is all the time.”

  “You and your apps.”

  “I took most of them off, so don’t start.”

  “You? App-less? I find that hard to believe.”

  “I downloaded an app the other day, and it had an ad for another app that basically runs your life by consensus. From what you wear to how you do your hair to what you have for breakfast. You put it out there, and people help you make the decision. That was just a little too scary for me. It convinced me I’m headed to a really dangerous place with too many apps, so I got rid of almost all of them.”

  “You don’t want to be involved in an app that tells you which shoes to wear, but an app used to follow someone that may or may not be involved in drama that is serious enough to get someone killed, that app is okay?”

  “Exactly. She just turned left on Bouncer. Go!”

  “Can I just remind you that if you get me killed I’m gonna be really mad?”

  “I’m not going to get you killed. Why are you always talking about that these days?”

  “Maybe because I thought that Mom would be dancing at my wedding.”

  I knew I’d pushed it too far when I saw the look on Teagan’s face. “You’re right. Pull over. We shouldn’t do this.”

  “We can look, we just don’t touch. Isn’t that always Mom’s rule?”

  “We aren’t five, dingleberry.”

  “No, but the same thing applies. Mom said she didn’t care who Daddy looked at, as long as he didn’t touch anybody but her.”

  “Speaking of that, I was talking to a woman that works in the building, and her mom passed about two years ago. She said that she and her sister prayed every Sunday that her dad would find someone to date. That happy men live longer, and that it’s a sign that Dad and Mom had a good marriage for him to want to recreate that again with someone else.”

  “Really? Well, you can be the one to tell him that, Teagan. He never really liked you anyway.”

  “Are we going, or are we sitting here? Because if we’re sitting here, I need to get back to the office and see what the cops came up with.”

  “You’re the one that changed the subject. How can you bring up Daddy dating when we are supposed to be chasing a lunatic?” I took a breath. “We’re going. Where?”

  “She’s on Belcher.”

  “Why did she go Bouncer to Belcher?”

  “It’s kind of a natural thing. Bounce then belch.”

  “You’re an idiot. I think if we go down Forty-Seventh, then right on Blander, we’ll run right into her.”

  “Go. And, dingleberry, for the record, if I got you killed, I’d be sad. For a whole day. Maybe two.”

  “Well, that makes it all better.” I stepped on the gas and did a little squeal when I flipped a slightly illegal U-turn. It got the heart rate up, which can only help when you’re in semihot pursuit of a maybe-gypsy who might or might not have the death and destruction of your favorite sister on her brain.

  “She stopped.”

  “Where?”

  “Hold on, let me get a satellite version of the map. I kept it on regular so that it wouldn’t have to work so hard to update. What the hell?”

  “What?”

  “She’s at the Fishers’ condo.”

  “I thought the Fishers’ had a ranch. Gentlemen’s ranch. Whatever the hell that was that I schlepped through the neighbor’s pasture and almost stepped in horse poop to get to.”

  “They do, but they also have a condo. It was Honey’s before they got married.”

  “Do they rent it out?”

  “Nope. They use it when the smell of the ranch is too much for them. A couple times a year, the neighbors are doing farmy stuff, and Honey doesn’t like it.”

  “Must be nice to be able to change your locale based on the preferences of your nose. How big is the complex? Maybe she’s seeing someone else there. Coincidence and all that.”

  “There’s no such thing as coincidence.”

  “Sure there is. We got adopted by the same parents. I know they haven’t told us yet, but it’s the only explanation I can come up with for why you are so Teagan, and I am completely Cara.”

  “Mom dropped you on your head a lot. Case closed. Let’s just see if Lola moves.”

  “I know you’re trying to be funny, but I read an article the other day that said people who had brain injuries as kids often have memory problems like mine. I think maybe I did have a brain injury and that’s why my memory is so weird.”

  “You did get smacked in the head with the swing that time. Hit you so hard in the back that you went forward and knocked out two baby teeth.”

  “Yep, and remember when I was waxing the family room floor?”

  “You mean when you used furniture polish on the floor, put on Dad’s socks, and slid right into the dining room table?”

  “I looked like a unicorn, the bump on my forehead was so big.”

  “Dingleberry, nobody in the family is going to argue that you might have brain damage, but for now, could we please stay focused on this?”

  “We’re here. You said you don’t want to move. Don’t get all Teagan on me. Are we just gonna sit here and watch? Hope she happens to walk right past us? Or are we going to break all the rules and actually get out of the car and see if we can find Lola?”

  “You see her car?”

  “No… ” I swiveled my head from one side to the other. Just as I was going to give up, I saw something in my side mirror. I hissed. “Shit!”

  Lola walked up on Teagan’s side. “What are you doing here?” She said it loud enough for us to hear through the window, which meant other people could probably hear us, too. That was good. At least they would report that there was a woman yelling before the gunshots.

  Teagan rolled her window down a bit. “I’m sorry?”

  Lola looked as angry as anyone I’ve ever seen. She had a huge handbag. She could probably hide a really big gun and a short guy that knows how to use it in there.

  “I asked what you’re doing here.”

  “We drove over to take a look at the clubhouse. What are you doing here?”

  The fact that we’d said I was working with Teagan today and she had an appointment waiting in the lobby when Lola left didn’t lend itself to Teagan’s story, but Lola didn’t seem to notice.

  “Why do you want to look at the clubhouse?”

  “Cara’s getting married. My business partner, Mr. Fisher, owns a condo here. They have told me about fifty times that the clubhouse is absolutely gorgeous. Cara and her fiancé don’t want a traditional wedding, so I thought that maybe we could use the clubhouse. That doesn’t answer why you’re here.”

  I swear Teagan is the best liar in the family. She used to really suck at it. Must be she is practicing now that she’s gonna marry a spy and everything.

  “It’s none of your damn business why I’m here.”

  “Well, that’s hardly fair. You asked me, and I answered.”

  “Yeah, well this isn’t a game of show me yours.”

  “Ew.” Teagan turned to me. “On second thought, I don’t think this is going to work out.” She turned back toward the window. The look she gave Lola spoke volumes. Most of them indicated that because Lola was in the neighborhood, the neighborhood was not up to our matrimonial standards.

  That was my cue. I took off before Lola could say anything else.

  “Well, that didn’t work.” I pulled over when we were out of sight. “She caught us.”

  “What the hell was she doing at Mr. Fisher’s condo?”

  “Maybe they know each other.”

&
nbsp; “Then why wouldn’t they say something about it? If it’s all in innocence, why the secrecy?

  We both said it at the same time. “People don’t hide what they’re proud of.”

  My mother, obviously channeling her wisdom.

  “Okay. Dingleberry, why don’t you just drop me at the office, and we’ll call it done.”

  “Probably because you’re going to jump in your car and do something stupid, and as your favorite sister, I reserve the right to accompany you on all stupid adventures so that when something goes wrong — and it probably will — I can say I told you so.”

  “I’m not sure what to do at this point.”

  “Well, you could track down Lola and force her to tell you what’s going on, or you could do the safer thing — physically, not emotionally — and confront your friend and business partner.”

  “Mr. Fisher doesn’t have anything to do with a murder.”

  “You would have sworn he didn’t have anything to do with tax evasion until the computer guys found evidence on your work computer.”

  “Mr. Fisher says that’s all innocent, and with everything else going on, I haven’t followed through. If those computer guys turn me in to the IRS, I’m gonna have a really lousy excuse. The judge is not going to be impressed.”

  Teagan began her soliloquy while I drove her back to the office. I could imagine her in front of a judge. “You see, your honor, I meant to contact the IRS, really, but then my business partner, the one you’ve already sentenced to life in debtor’s prison, confused the hell out of me when he was at a hotel full of naked people. My brain was still spinning because of the whole porn thing, and then there was the murder and everything. Really, I’m a good Irish Catholic girl who follows the rules and keeps her nose clean.” There was a pause. “And speaking of that, when was the last time I had a facial? My life is falling apart, Cara.”

  “You’re worried about a facial? Really?”

  “No, I’m not worried about a facial. I’m worried about what the lack of a facial means. Think about it. Not all that long ago, it was just Jessie and me. We were fun. We had the time to do anything we wanted. We used to sleep the whole weekend sometimes. Well, not sleep… ”