The Heart of Teaberry

by R A Wallace

Everett flattened the last of the boxes from the delivery he’d received that day. He looked around the stock room at the rear of the craft store and couldn’t find anything else to do to keep him busy. He’d already handled all of the new inventory and entered it into the system. He went into the small office in the stock room and stood there staring at nothing in particular.

  He’d been doing it a lot lately. He still couldn’t believe everything that had happened with Miles and the jewelry store. His mind kept returning to what he’d seen when he heard Miles call out for help. It wasn’t just the shock of the murder that had him upset. It was the fact that he knew his ring had been in the shipment on the day of the murder.

  He was still struggling with how to deal with that knowledge. Luella had asked him several times since then if he was okay. He kept assuring her that he was, but he knew it wasn’t the truth. He desperately wanted to propose to Luella, but he just didn’t know what to do now. He wondered if he could figure it out if he pretended to write about it in a story. He loved writing stories. He was still standing there staring when Luella found him.

  “Everett? Are you alright back here? You’ve been gone a long time.” Luella placed her hand on Everett’s arm.

  He placed his on top of hers and smiled.

  “Yes, yes. I’m fine.” He saw the kindness in her eyes and knew that she was genuinely concerned for him. It was a wonderful feeling and one he was still trying to get used to. His relationship with Drucilla before her death had been a difficult one. He would never have told her what he was really feeling. He knew she would have only ridiculed him.

  But Luella wasn’t that way. He didn’t know how to resolve the problem of the engagement ring on his own. Maybe if he explained it all to Luella, she would know what to do. He followed her to the front of the store in case any customers came in. He explained the situation along the way.

  When they reached the cash register, Luella turned and hugged him.

  “Oh, you poor man. I didn’t know that you were with Miles when all of that happened.”

  Miles listened as Luella made a suggestion, then nodded his agreement when she was finished. He knew she would come up with a way to fix the problem. He shouldn’t have waited so long to tell her about it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Shortly after lunch on Saturday, Megan left the Teaberry Farm to head into town feeling somewhat torn. She felt guilty for leaving Dan with Celia and Russ, but he swore he would be okay on his own with them. For the most part, Celia and Russ had kept to their room in the morning. The tension between them at lunch was noticeable. Megan had made an effort to keep a dialogue going and eventually the two of them appeared to relax. She didn’t think they were enjoying their anniversary so far. She wondered if the accident that required them to skip their active plans for the weekend and compelled them to remain confined in the same space without distractions had anything to do with it.

  She forced her mind to turn back to the murder. The problem with the puzzle she currently faced was that she didn’t really have a starting point. She knew that Miles Craney was suspected of being the murderer, but she had no idea why. She didn’t really know that much about him. She did know that Miles was with Ross McMann recently because Jerry had told her that. She planned to speak with Ross also. But she needed to start her investigation with some background information on Miles first.

  That was why she found herself walking into The Teaberry Salon on a Saturday afternoon. If anyone was going to know anything, it would be Irlene. Even if Irlene couldn’t tell her anything because she refused to gossip about her customers, she could at least point Megan in the right direction.

  Irlene looked up from her customer and met Megan’s eyes in the mirror.

  “I wondered when you would be here,” Irlene said with a smile. She looked back down at the customer in her chair. “Weren’t we just talking about her?”

  Tia Jameson nodded as much as she was able given that Irlene was currently adding strategic highlights to her long hair.

  “I keep saying she should join our book club at Olde Tomes,” Tia agreed. “Irlene is a member.”

  “We have a good time, Megan. You should consider it,” Irlene added with a glance in the mirror at Megan before wrapping another piece of foil around Tia’s hair.

  Megan remembered something that Miles had said to her when she was working on a previous puzzle involving stolen jewelry.

  “Miles is a member, isn’t he?” Megan took a seat behind Irlene. It had a large dryer hood on the back of the chair, but it was currently tipped up and out of the way.

  “Miles and Harriet both,” Tia said as she tilted her head to one side.

  “Harriet?” Megan watched Irlene comb out another strategic length of hair.

  “Harriet Cheung. They’re…” Tia’s eyes went up to Irlene. “What would you say? Friends?”

  Irlene pressed her lips together and spread a white mixture onto Tia’s hair.

  Megan knew the look on Irlene’s face. She had seen it in the past, just before Irlene explained that she didn’t transfer gossip from one customer to the next.

  It didn’t take long to get from Irlene’s salon to the business incubator next to Anderson’s Florist where Megan found Ross McMann.

  “Megan, it’s good to see you,” Ross said when she entered.

  “Thanks for meeting me here.” Megan followed Ross back to an office. The space he used for the business incubator used to belong to a photographer. Upon purchasing the entire building, Ross had taken over the photographer’s studio for his own use.

  Ross waved to a chair in his office before taking his seat on the other side of the desk.

  “Not a problem. Susan is next door working with Caitlyn. It’s a busy time for them. I told Susan I would work here for the day, but if they needed help to come and get me.”

  Megan was glad that Susan had found someone so kind after all the years of being single. Susan’s husband had passed away when Jax was in his late teens.

  “I was wondering if you can tell me about Miles Craney,” Megan said.

  “I can’t believe what happened with that,” Ross said with a frown. “Miles is the last person I would have thought would be involved in murder. Can I assume you’re trying to help him?”

  Megan made a face showing her doubt. “The problem is, I don’t really know him all that well. I don’t know if he’s guilty or not.”

  Ross studied her for a moment. “Fair enough. I know you’ll look for the truth, just as the police are doing.”

  “That’s all I can do,” Megan agreed.

  “Okay. Well, let’s see. Miles and I have been guest speakers at an entrepreneurship class out at the college branch. There have been other small business owners who have participated in past semesters.”

  “I understand there was some incident there recently with Miles?” Megan asked. She was mostly guessing at that. Jerry hadn’t really told her anything about it.

  “Yes. Miles and I were walking together when we came across a group of people. I didn’t know at the time, of course, but I’ve since learned that one of them was the victim.” Ross frowned.

  “Did you know anyone else?” Megan asked.

  “No. But I can tell you that Miles referenced someone by name.”

  “Harriet?” Megan guessed.

  Ross wasn’t surprised that she would already know.

  “Yes. Miles was upset when he saw her with the victim. He was barely coherent for a while after he heard them making plans to meet each other for coffee.”

  Megan saw a look of dismay cross Ross’s face.

  “I think I may have inadvertently fueled the fire,” Ross confessed. “The night before Miles was arrested, I mentioned that I saw Harriet at the diner with the man from the college.”

  ***

  Caitlyn walked into the bar side of the Station Pub & Grill on Saturday night. There was a stool at the end of the bar and off to the side so that no one else would sit in it. Doug smiled wh
en he saw her and left the business side of the bar to get the stool for her. He set it next to the bar and made a show of kissing her before returning to the other side of the bar to help Cathy keep up with the drink orders.

  Caitlyn didn’t have to place her own order. Doug served her a chilled glass of white wine and another smile. She split her time between watching him work behind the bar and people watching. The bar was packed. She wasn’t surprised. She knew that many opted to celebrate the holiday on the sandwich weekends, those that fell before and after the holiday, in the hopes that the crowd wouldn’t be as large.

  After about thirty minutes, Caitlyn watched another bartender come onto shift. A few moments later, Doug joined Caitlyn on the other side of the bar with another glass of wine for her and a beer for him.

  “Our food should be out shortly,” Doug said.

  “Good crowd tonight.” Caitlyn looked around the room. It was the dinner crowd and both sides of the restaurant were packed.

  “Yeah, I’m glad I ordered takeout.” Doug had been at the restaurant all day. An evening home with Caitlyn sounded much better. “Did you get all your orders completed?”

  It wasn’t only the restaurant that was busy for the holiday. Caitlyn had several weddings and her normal holiday flower deliveries to deal with. Her schedule was packed through the next week.

  “Yeah. I’m glad you ordered takeout too. I really want to get my shoes off.”

  “Did you hear anything more about the jewelry store murder?” Doug asked.

  Caitlyn shook her head.

  “I know that everyone, including my brother, has asked Megan to look into it hoping she’ll magically solve it in time for everyone to get their rings.” Caitlyn was rooting for her friend, but she knew it was a tall order for Megan.

  “Speaking of which, what do you think we should do about that?” Doug asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Our rings are tied up in that mess,” he pointed out. “It might be a long time before we get them back if they’re somehow connected to the murder. It’s possible they might even technically be part of the evidence.”

  He’d asked pretty much everyone who had come into the restaurant if they’d heard any details yet. So far, the answers had all been negative.

  “What are the options?” Caitlyn asked.

  “We already paid for the rings,” he reminded her.

  “Yeah,” she agreed. “There is that.”

  “I guess we could just wait,” he suggested.

  Caitlyn considered it. “As you said, it could end up being a long time.”

  He shrugged. “We aren’t really in a rush, right? We both agreed we want to get married. Does it matter when? I mean, we’re good, right? We know what we want.”

  She tried to argue the logic in her head. It didn’t work. He was right. They had already paid for the rings.

  “Okay. We’ll just wait and see what happens.” She knew it was logical. She just wished it didn’t hurt so much.

  Doug put his beer glass down. “Are you sure?”

  Caitlyn debated it all again. The bar was so noisy with all of the people, she really didn’t want to yell something this personal above the noise. Just as she turned to answer him, their food order was placed in front of them. Doug spoke to the server for several moments before gathering the food up.

  Caitlyn had already pulled her coat back on.

  “I cannot wait to get home,” Doug said as he led her through the throng of people.

  When they got outside, he took her van keys and put the food inside before getting into the driver’s side. Caitlyn was already in the passenger side.

  As he waited for the van to heat up for a few moments, he turned to her again.

  “I’m sure it won’t take long for them to solve the murder mystery. I mean, things might get tied up in the evidence for a bit, but I’m sure it will all work out soon.”

  Caitlyn smiled but didn’t answer. A horn behind them let them know that someone wanted their spot. Doug focused on navigating the van out of the lot. Caitlyn thought about the situation with the rings as he drove them back to her house. She finally decided that if he wanted to wait to get married, even if it meant until the rings were released from police evidence, it was probably for the best that they do. She certainly didn’t want to talk him into something that he didn’t want to do.

  ***

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to talk you into something that you don’t want to do,” Celia said to Dan.

  “No, I’m totally serious. That’s an awesome idea.” Dan looked at the architectural plans that he’d had drawn up for the addition they were planning.

  Celia sat back in the dining room chair. At her urging, Dan had spread the plans he’d had drawn up on the dining room table. Megan finished cleaning up the dinner things in the kitchen and joined them. She noticed that Russ was sitting across from Celia and he was watching her intently.

  “I didn’t realize you were an architect,” Megan said.

  “She’s not,” Russ said.

  Megan thought his answer sounded terse. She noticed that he was still watching Celia.

  Celia looked over at Russ then turned her attention to Megan.

  “No, he’s right. I’m not. Not anymore, that is. I started out as an architect but ended up making a lateral move to the business side of the company. I deal a lot more with sales for my company now.” Celia reached out and touched the drawing in front of her again. “I guess I miss it more than I thought.”

  “Architecture was always her dream,” Russ said, still watching his wife.

  “What made you change?” Megan asked curiously.

  Celia forced a brief laugh. “Oh, you know how it is. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” She shrugged. “It made sense at the time. There was a promise of more money and better advancement opportunities if I shifted. And, they didn’t lie. That all happened.”

  Megan wondered why she looked so sad when she said it.

  “But?”

  Celia looked up from the drawing.

  “But now my work schedule is insane,” Celia said.

  “And when we aren’t working, we’re playing like there’s no tomorrow,” Russ said.

  Celia locked eyes with her husband.

  “I thought you liked spending time with your friends.”

  Russ glanced at Megan and Dan.

  “Do you want me to help you up from the table?” Russ asked Celia.

  Dan stood. “Thanks for your suggestions with our addition.”

  “It was fun looking at them. Planning a nursery must be so exciting,” Celia said.

  Russ watched as she reached out to touch the drawing in front of her again.

  Celia looked up and met his gaze again.

  “I wouldn’t mind some help up.” She turned to Dan and Megan. “Would you mind if we joined you in the living room for a while. Maybe I can look at the rest of the drawings? I might have some more suggestions.”

  “I have some wine chilled, if you’re interested. Or, there’s coffee or tea.” Megan said. “We have the fire going in the living room.”

  “That sounds great, but I should check on the animals first.” Dan turned to Russ. “I have some projects out in the barn if you’re interested. I’m making a crib and a rocking chair.”

  “Seriously?” Russ said as he stood. “I used to play around a little with that before we got married.”

  Celia smiled at the enthusiasm she saw in his face. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen it. She pushed herself up from the dining room table and leaned on Russ as he helped her into the living room.

  “Will you be okay in here?” Russ asked as Celia sat down on the sofa.

  She could tell he was eager to see Dan’s projects. She smiled up at him.

  “The fire feels great. Maybe tomorrow you can help me get out to the barn so I can see them too.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jax finished making breakfast just as he
heard his front door open. He listened to the excited voice of two-year-old Jasmine talking nonstop about French toast as Trina removed her coat. A moment later, a ball of energy arrived in the kitchen with her arms outstretched. Jax swung her up easily and nuzzled her neck just to hear her laughter.

  “I hate to say it, but I’m glad there wasn’t any new snow to plow this morning,” Jax said after greeting Trina with a kiss.

  “It’s nice to have a day off,” Trina agreed as she began removing plates from the cupboards to set the table.

  Jax took Jasmine to the table and set her in a booster seat. He already had a special cup for her filled with a little juice. Trina put a plate in front of her and began transferring food from the plate Jax had set in the middle of the table.

  “She’s going to be a sticky mess when we’re done,” Trina cautioned.

  “I figured. That’s why we’re eating in the kitchen,” Jax said. “It’s easier to clean the floor.”

  “I can put her in the tub after, too. I brought an extra set of clothes over.” Trina cut up a piece of French toast on Jasmine’s plate.

  Jax stood back and watched without speaking. Trina looked up after she finished with Jasmine’s plate.

  “Are you okay?” Trina asked. She didn’t understand the sad look on his face.

  “Don’t you wish that you didn’t have to do that?” Jax asked.

  Trina looked down at her daughter. Her hands were already covered in syrup.

  “What, bathe her after breakfast?”

  “No. I mean, bring clothes over.”

  She was confused by his mood.

  “You want me to leave some of her clothes here?” Trina took the seat next to Jasmine.

  “No. I want you to leave all of them here.”

  Trina’s shoulders drooped. “Jax, we’ve talked about this before. I know it seems silly for me to live next door with my mom instead of here, but I’m just not comfortable moving in like that.”

  Jax walked over and took the seat on the other side of Jasmine. Jasmine immediately held out a sticky hand with a piece of French toast in it.

  Jax pretended like he was going to eat it. He knew this game. Jasmine pulled it away just as his mouth got close and she laughed.