by Blythe Baker
“Well, I hope you took my advice and didn’t meddle. Keep your nose clean, Maddie. Take care of yourself. If you need anything, all you have to do is call.”
“Thanks, Drake.” My determination to prove him wrong took the last wind out of my sails. I hung up the phone quickly and tossed it roughly onto the table.
“Drake? Why was my sorry excuse for a son calling you? He hasn’t made so much as a single phone call to his own mother since I got here.” Mamma Jackie harrumphed.
I almost felt sorry for Drake. Almost.
“I had sent him some paperwork to look over. That’s all it was,” I said.
The news about the will gave me at least some relief from the anxiety that was swallowing me. I continued sifting through the mail on the table. At the bottom of the pile was a large, yellow envelope. The sender’s name wasn’t one that I recognized.
“A deliveryman dropped that off on the front porch for you earlier,” Mamma Jackie explained.
“I wonder what it is.” I held the envelope up to the light, but I couldn’t make out any of the contents.
A quick slip of my fingers under the flap unsealed it. A note tumbled out. Hope this is the right address. I had a hard time tracking you down. Here’s the picture I promised.
A picture? I pulled the rest of the envelope’s contents out and examined it. It was a gorgeous 8x10 photo of the gardens. Seeing the picture jogged my memory. The date stamp on the image showed it was taken on opening day. There had been a photographer taking pictures of an engaged couple. I had forgotten all about asking for a copy of the photo. It was a pleasant surprise to top off a rather unpleasant day. I made a mental note to drop by the pharmacy the next day. The pharmacy had a photo development center. If I blew up the image, I could hang it in the giftshop.
Suddenly, something swooped down and snatched the picture from my hands. A sharp pain seared through my finger. Fear and surprise rolled coldly through me. My eyes scanned the room frantically, trying to figure out what had happened.
Moonshine! Feathers fluttered with each demented flap of his colorful wings.
“How did he get out of his cage?” I couldn’t hide the accusatory note in my voice.
“There’s no sense in assigning blame. The only thing to do now is catch him.”
The only time Mamma Jackie didn’t want to assign blame was when she was the one at fault. Why on earth had she let him out? Determination layered with aggravation formed a mask on my face. “Come on, help me get him back into his cage!”
“Me?” She snorted. “Do I look young enough to be chasing birds?”
“What are we supposed to do then?” I asked. She looked perfectly able to me, but I didn’t want to waste time arguing.
“I would suggest turning off the ceiling fans and closing the doors. Eventually, you’ll corner him.”
Scowling, I marched into the living room. I flipped off the ceiling fan, but judging by the loose feathers already on the ground, Moonshine had already run into it at least once. The flying ball of chaos was showing no signs of slowing down. How was I supposed to corner a bird? The afghan on the back of the couch caught my eye. My hands ripped it away from the sofa. Suddenly, I was a matador fighting a feathery bull. Moonshine dove at me, sensing an impending fight. The afghan became a net in my hands. The bird dodged my attempts to catch him. His squawking sounded like laughter. Was this fun for him?
Eventually, he landed in a corner. His beak and talons glinted in the light. Seizing my chance, I dove at him with the afghan outstretched. “Gotcha!”
His angry squawk was muffled under the crocheted blanket.
My arms bundled him close. A small amount of pride swelled up inside of me. It was nice to be able to get a bad situation under control. I carefully unwrapped Moonshine and deposited him into his golden cage. Unhappy with being confined again, he promptly stuck his head between the bars of the cage and nipped my finger with his beak.
“Ouch!” I spritzed him angrily with the bottle of water sitting by his cage. For good measure, I tossed a blanket over his gilded prison. That was enough of him for one night. Nursing my finger, I stalked back into the kitchen.
“Did you get him?” Mamma Jackie was stirring a pot on the stove.
“I got him, but he bit me.”
“Doesn’t he have such a lovely, sharp bite?” The pride in her voice revealed I had come to the wrong place for sympathy.
“Is there something you can do to make it hurt less when he bites, or maybe teach him not to bite at all?” Turning on the faucet, I ran cold water over the cut on my finger. Diluted blood swirled in pale, pink circles down the drain. It reminded me of the day I had dyed my hair. That seemed so long ago now.
“Some people file their beaks, but I think that’s inhumane. Besides, if he ever gets out of the house, he’s got to be able to defend himself. I can’t bear the thought of him being alone and helpless.”
“Helpless!” came the agreeing squawk from the next room.
“See?” Mamma Jackie took Moonshine’s mimicking as confirmation of her beliefs.
I bit my tongue and left the room to find a first aid kit. The finger Moonshine had bit pulsed with pain. Fresh blood still lined the jagged triangle he had nipped into my skin. It took most of my willpower not to curse under my breath. My feet carried me to the bathroom closest to my room. I opened the medicine cabinet.
“Nothing. Great.” It occurred to me that since my grandmother lived alone, she may have only stocked the medicine cabinet in her master bedroom. I walked back down the hall to her room.
I hadn’t gone into her room since the day I had found the incomplete copy of the will. The chill in the air gave me shivers. The room still felt off limits. Someone else’s bedroom was a private and personal place. Quickly, I rushed to the bathroom. I felt the need to close the door. Something about having nothing between me and the room where my grandmother had died was unsettling. With the door closed, I felt more protected. It was silly, but it made me feel better.
My bloody finger rummaged through her medicine cabinet. A pack of adhesive bandages was stashed in the corner. Locating a bottle of peroxide, I cleaned the cut. White bubbles lined the opening to the wound. I sucked in a sharp breath. The sting soon subsided. Gently, I pressed the bandage into place. Suddenly, my ears perked up. The floorboards outside of the bathroom squeaked. A knot formed in my throat.
“Okay. Maybe I just imagined it.” There was a small silence full of anticipation. Just as I was about to laugh it off, the bathroom door handle shook. “Or not!” I jumped and looked for anything I could use as a weapon.
The door knob rattled a second time. It was more violent, more insistent. My hands snatched up a hairdryer and pointed it like a pistol at the door. Pounding vibrated the door against the frame. Summoning up my courage, I held my breath and opened the door. In one fluid motion, I held out the hairdryer and screamed. If nothing else, I could at least catch my assailant off guard.
“Land sakes, child!” Mamma Jackie screamed and tumbled to the floor clutching her chest.
“I’m so sorry! I thought you were…someone else.”
“Well, don’t just stand there. Help me up! It’s the least you could do after almost giving me a heart attack.”
“Right. Sorry. Here.” I reached down and grabbed her hand. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live. Barely. I was just coming up to tell you that dinner was ready.” Her attitude was huffy.
Guilt settled into my stomach. “Mamma Jackie, I’m really sorry.”
“Sorry won’t bring back the ten years you knocked off my life. Come on, now. Let’s go eat. Unless you have some unfinished business with that hairdryer.”
I put the dryer back where I had found it. The two of us went downstairs. Mamma Jackie had moved Moonshine’s cage into the kitchen by the dining table. Two heaping plates of food were already positioned in front of some chairs. Moonshine let out a cawing laugh as he saw my bandaged hand.
“What is he do
ing in here?” I eyed him cautiously.
“I would think that would be obvious. We are having a homecooked, family meal. Moonshine is part of the family. Aren’t you, my precious boy?”
“Family!” the bird squawked in agreement.
“I can’t have him feeling left out. He’ll start molting.” Mamma Jackie pushed one finger through the cage, and the parrot nuzzled against it.
I decided to change the subject, preferably in a civil way. “Thank you for cooking. It was really nice of you.” I took a bite of the chicken. There was still a strong aftertaste of alcohol that hadn’t completely been cooked away. The taste made me choke.
“It’s good, isn’t it? I think I should have used a little more tequila personally.”
More? She thought it needed more? Maybe over the years Mamma Jackie had become immune to the smell and taste of alcohol. I just smiled politely and tried to hide the coughing that each bite seemed to cause.
“Rawk! Tequila!”
“That’s the spirit, Moonshine!” Mamma Jackie pinched off a piece of her roll and tossed it to him in his cage. His sharp beak snapped it up happily.
After dinner, Mamma Jackie patted her stomach and sipped on her peach julep. I carried the plates to the sink to rake them off in the garbage disposal.
Mamma Jackie stood up and stretched. “I’m going to bed. Put Moonshine back in the living room, will you?”
“Okay. Sure.” I eyed the bird carefully. After being bitten, I was leerier of sticking my hands close to his cage. I scrubbed the plates and pots clean before turning to the feathery menace. He was watching my every move and cocking his head to the side. It may have been an innocent or even curious glance, but to me it seemed like he was plotting the best way to inflict more bodily harm to me.
“Okay, you. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to put on these oven mitts, and then I’m going to carry your cage back into the living room and cover you up with a blanket. Got it?”
“Rawk!” was the only answer I received.
“Good. Now, don’t bite me.” I took a deep breath and placed my mitten hands on the cage. Moonshine reared his head back and chomped on the oven mitt.
“Ha! I didn’t even feel that. Do your worst, little buddy!”
A smug smile spread across my face. It was nice to be prepared for something bad for once. It wasn’t like the rock that I wasn’t expecting, or the intruder at the giftshop. Maybe that was part of my problem. I needed to think ahead and prepare for the impossible. Then again, how did you prepare for something like finding a dead body in your tea garden on opening day?
I placed his cage in the corner of the living room and threw a blanket on top of it. In a moment of childishness, I stuck my tongue out at him. Twirling around towards the kitchen, I slipped the oven mitts back off.
Something on the floor behind the couch caught my attention. The picture. So that was where it had landed. Moonshine hadn’t seemed to have damaged it. It really was a beautiful picture. I added the undamaged photo to the small list of wins in my life currently. The losses seemed to be piling up, but even the few wins that I had kept me going. There was just enough reward to make all of the hardships worth the effort.
Chapter 15
The next morning, I walked into the pharmacy with the picture secured in its yellow envelope. A few people were milling around the store. The smell of vitamins seemed to linger in the air. Spying the photo development center, I walked briskly over to the counter.
“Can I help you?” A young man in his early twenties leaned over the counter.
“I hope so. I was wanting to see about getting this enlarged.” I passed him the envelope. “Do you think you could put it on some canvas, maybe? I always think canvas looks more modern and classier than a typical frame.”
“Sure. How big do you want it?”
The list of sizes and mockups were on the wall behind him. I locked my eyes on the largest one. There was still a lot of empty space on the wall that I wanted to fill up. “How about the 30x40 one?”
“Alright. Give me an hour?”
“Okay. I’ll just…wander around I guess.” My fingers drummed on the counter before I walked away awkwardly.
An hour to kill. There weren’t many customers in the store. I stood in front of an aisle of candy, studying it as if I were in front of a masterful work of art. Time seemed to crawl by. On my second lap of wandering around the store, I started to feel like someone was watching me. I struggled to remain calm. Uneasiness slithered through me. A figure approached me from my peripheral vision.
“Hello again, Miss Morgan.” A man in jeans and button-up shirt was standing behind me.
I recoiled from the hand that reached out to touch my arm. “Excuse me?” I asked.
“How are you doing today?”
“Do I know...Wait. Detective Sullivan? I didn’t recognize you out of your uniform. Are you following me?”
“Actually, I’m just here for some aspirin. That’s what I was reaching for.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I stepped out of the way. So, he hadn’t been reaching for my arm? “Sorry. I must just be on edge still.”
Michael nodded and smiled. “Anything you want to tell me about?”
“N-no.” I looked away quickly and tried to make myself seem busy. Did he somehow find out about the rock? Was he upset with me for not reporting it? Did not filing a report somehow make me seem less honest and trustworthy?
“Alright. I was just asking because you said you were on edge.”
“Well, who wouldn’t be? I’m under a lot of stress right now.” I brushed my hair out of my face.
“Woah. What happened there?” The bandage on my hand had caught his eye. The sight of the injury appeared to change his mood instantly.
“Oh, it’s nothing. My mother-in-law’s bird bit me last night. Well, ex-mother-in-law now. It’s fine. I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.”
“You seem to be a magnet for bad situations.”
“Yeah. Story of my life.” I shifted nervously and glanced at my watch.
“Do you have somewhere to be?”
“I’m waiting on a picture, actually. Then I have to head to work. Wait, don’t you have somewhere to be? Like trying to figure out who killed Angela Jenkins?” I couldn’t disguise the edge in my voice.
“It’s my day off. And all that thinking has given me a headache.” He rattled the aspirin bottle. “Don’t worry though. I can assure you that the case is being worked thoroughly by our best detectives. Myself included.”
“Well, I would hope so.”
The speakers overhead crackled. “Maddie Morgan, your order is ready.”
“That’s me. I should get going.” I gave him an awkward wave and walked away. Was it really a coincidence that he just happened to show up at the same store I was at? He would have been really attractive if he didn’t think I was a murder suspect. Somehow, that was a big turnoff.
“Here you go!” The guy behind the counter at the photo center handed me a bag with a large canvas in it.
“Thanks.” I paid for the picture and started to leave. On my way out, I could feel eyes on me again. Detective Sullivan was still watching me. I let out a frustrated sigh and picked up my pace.
Placing the canvas in the front passenger seat, I revved up my car’s engine and drove to the tea garden. Having a routine had always made me feel more in control of my life. Days when that routine was disrupted left me feeling off kilter. Luckily, even with taking a detour at the pharmacy, I was the first one to arrive at the tea garden.
Being alone during the day wasn’t nearly as frightening as being alone at night. A thin layer of mist blanketed the garden. Birdsong echoed ethereally. The twittering lifted my spirits. I filled my lungs with crisp air. Sunlight glittered off of the waterfall. There were some days I wanted to just keep the garden to myself. My own little personal paradise. It was rare for me to get to the garden before Kelly or some guests had arrived. Had my grandmother felt the same way?
Part of me tried to picture her strolling through the garden on a similar morning. The tea garden had turned into a thread linking us together.
I opened the door to the souvenir shop. The perfect place for the canvas was waiting for me between the silk fan and family photos. It was nice to see what the garden looked like in its early days, compared to a picture of how it looked now. Somehow, it seemed fitting. The images closed the gap between when my grandmother started the business and when I took over for her. It was like finding two bookends decades apart. A satisfied smile curved along my lips.
The sudden urge to get one more solitary walk in before the garden opened washed over me. With everything in place inside, I walked back out into the sunshine. There was a sense of peace that I hadn’t felt in a long time. The sunlight warmed my face and tried to banish the darkness that always seemed to be circling around me.
That was the moment it really sank in. The gardens were mine. They were a part of me now. After the phone call with Drake, I wasn’t worried about the second will anymore. That reassurance meant more to me than I had realized. Even so, I avoided the koi pond where Angela was found. There was no need to darken the beautiful mood I was in. I could only hope that over time the stigma of her death would fade from that part of the garden.
Tender green and bold bursts of pink and red painted the hedges. Dew still clung to the leaves and blades of grass. The sweet smell of fresh blossoms danced on the breeze. The wind rustled through the trees and sounded like gentle whispers. The whimsical part of me imagined it was my grandmother, but I knew it was nothing more than the wind.
“There you are!”
Startled, I turned around to see Kelly. Her voice was perky like it always was. Too perky.
“Hi, Kelly.”
“I saw your car in the parking lot. I just wanted to make sure you were okay before we opened.”
“I’m okay. Actually, I’m more than okay.” I took a deep breath. “Kelly, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Okay?”
“My grandmother had a will that left the tea garden to you, but it was incomplete. I had a lawyer take a look at it. I’m not telling you this to get your hopes up. It’s null and void since it wasn’t dated or signed. Did…did you know about the will?”