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.”
“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 August 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.”
“Hey.”
The two women ran in the same circles and Missy felt like they would have been close friends, were it not for the fact that circumstances had forced Missy to question Alison not in one murder investigation but in two. Though Missy felt like Alison liked her as much as she liked the other woman, Alison had always kept Missy at arm’s length.
“So that happened,” Alison said, shaking her head.
“Yeah…though I wonder what happened.”
Alison raised an eyebrow. “Have you heard?”
Missy shook her head. Why was she always the last to hear about everything?
Alison whispered. “Poison.”
“Poison?” Missy said, much too loudly. She felt the eyes of a few people nearby swivel to her.
Alison waited till the few people watching them lost interest. “I overheard a couple of the cops. They didn’t realize I’d come around to the side of the building to smoke.”
“Poison?” Missy repeated, in a much lower voice. As much as it shamed her, her immediate thought was about herself. Was it something in the tea? If so, was the poison working its way through her?
Through Tyler?
“I was worried too.” Alison smiled. “But if it hasn’t happened yet, I think we’re okay.”
Poison. Missy couldn’t believe it. But all the same, the two cops wouldn’t have just come up with that. She looked over her shoulder at Tyler. He was still on the phone, with his back to her. She wanted to get his attention.
“So that makes it murder,” Alison said what she’d been thinking.
Missy nodded. Her whole body had tensed up. The parking lot was filled with people who’d been inside. And one of them was a murderer.
“I can’t believe this.”
Alison smirked. “It wasn’t you, was it?”
Missy didn’t see the humor. “No! Of course not!”
Alison was still smirking. “Just kidding, Missy. I know you two didn’t really…gel.”
“Are you kidding or not?” Missy asked. “Because I can’t tell.”
Alison shrugged. “Just having a
little fun. I’m getting you back for those two other murders where you interrogated me.”
Missy couldn’t keep her voice down. “I didn’t do this, Alison. I’d never kill anyone.”
Alison raised an eyebrow again. “Not even Tonya?”
“No!”
Alison held out her palms. “Easy, Miss. I’m just kidding.”
“Well, I don’t appreciate the joke.”
Alison stopped smiling and looked her in the eye. “Now you know how it feels, Missy.”
Before Missy could respond, Alison walked away and lit up another cigarette. Missy thought of following and reading her the riot act, but decided against it. Alison had a point. Missy had questioned her before, so she really couldn’t take offense if Alison had returned the favor.
Poison…
Missy began to feel queasy. Though if that was from the same poison that had killed Tonya, or if that was a psychosomatic reaction, or if that was just her stressing because she was worried, she couldn’t tell. Tonya had died two hours ago, and so far nobody else had also. Missy was starting to think that the poison had only found Tonya.
In her mind she replayed the day’s events. With this new information, everything took on a different tone. Tonya and Noreen had served coffee cake only twenty minutes or so before Tonya had died. Missy didn’t know if Tonya had eaten any herself, but that would have been one means of poisoning her.
Missy didn’t know much about poison, but she figured it would have been easier to slip something into Tonya’s tea as opposed to her food. It just seemed logical.
And with that thought, she realized she was a suspect.
She’d poured Tonya’s tea in the hallway where nobody had been watching her. Missy didn’t know if Tonya had had a chance to have any more tea after that.
Racking her brain, Missy recalled the details from earlier. After taking the cup from her, Tonya had put it on the table where it sat untouched for a few minutes. In that time, Missy and Noreen had stood near the cup, though plenty of other people had passed by. Beth, Tonya’s sister, had almost knocked the cup over. Roger, Tonya’s ex-husband and current fling on the side, had bumped into Missy. And…yes, Grant, Tonya’s current boyfriend, had been in the immediate vicinity.
Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset Page 56