Teaberry Tea & Thyme

by R A Wallace

  “Have you guys learned anything about the real estate agent Blake may have met with?” Megan asked.

  “No.” Erica sounded tired. “We just got the video and Jerry is going to look through it next. What do you make of everything so far?”

  Megan shook her head slowly as she thought. “It sounds to me like Janice was right all along. I think Blake was some sort of con man.”

  “Yeah, that’s my take on it too. But why did he need to measure the property? That’s all on the deed he would have already seen in the courthouse, right? Acreage is listed on everyone’s tax records, right?”

  Megan thought about her own farm. “Yes, and you can also log in and get that information online. It sounds like he did his homework, so he should have seen all of that.”

  Erica talked to Jerry on the other end of the phone then came back to Megan. “And what about Cy Douglass?”

  “At the very least, it sounds like he was concerned about Jill Swindell’s relationship with Blake. Do you think he could have killed Blake to protect her?” Megan asked. She hoped not. She really did like Cy Douglass.

  “We’ll look into it. In the meantime, what are you going to do?” Erica asked.

  Megan slumped down in her chair when she thought about it. She was sitting on her back porch as she spoke to Erica, watching the donkeys in the paddock. “I should touch base with the twins. They were the ones who asked me to look into all of this. I think I’m going to have to tell them that Blake was scamming Jill.”

  “Better you than me,” Erica said, suddenly sounding less tired.

  Megan could hear Jerry’s excited voice in the background. Apparently, Megan had just volunteered for a job neither Erica nor Jerry had wanted.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Janice wondered if she should go in the back room and speak with Jill. Her sister had been hiding out back there all day. She’d tried to convince Jill to stay home but her sister had insisted that she didn’t want to be alone. Janice supposed it was better for her to have Jill this close. At least she didn’t have to worry about what Jill was doing home alone all day.

  They’d kept the shop closed on Monday, but Janice didn’t see any reason to stay closed today. She figured they’d have to face everyone in town sooner or later. She’d unlocked the shop door this morning, wondering how many people in town would shun them, thinking that one or both of the twins had killed Blake Vargo.

  Instead, it had been an endless parade of well wishers stopping by to ask what they could do to help. Janice couldn’t believe the support they were getting. She wished Jill had been up to speaking with them. But every time Janice had checked on her twin, Jill had been quietly crying.

  The bells on the door rang again in the middle of the afternoon. Janice turned around from restocking the energy drink supplies to find a familiar face.

  “Cy!” Janice stepped out from behind the counter and walked into a bear hug. He had always been one of her favorite people.

  Cy took a step back and looked at Janice. “How are you holding up?”

  For some reason, Janice was moved to tears. They had known Cy since they were children. Their parents had been friends also. Janice suddenly felt the weight of everything she had been dealing with lately. The near loss of her sister to a man she didn’t trust. His murder at their home and her concerns about both of them being suspected as the killer.

  “Janice?” Cy said gently.

  Janice shook her head and buried her face in his shoulder. Cy wrapped his arms around her and they stood that way for a few moments. Finally, Janice stepped back and managed a smile.

  “I’m sorry. I got your shirt wet.” Janice dug a tissue from her pocket and dried her eyes.

  Cy smiled warmly. “That’s okay. Everyone needs a shoulder now and then.” He looked around the shop and then focused on the door to the rear. “Is she okay?”

  Janice shrugged. “She will be. It will take time.”

  “Well, I won’t keep you any longer. I just wanted to see how you both were doing.”

  Janice watched her friend leave, then turned and went into the back room to check on Jill.

  ***

  Megan decided to go to Tea & Thyme as soon as she ended her call with Erica, rather than put it off until tomorrow. She doubted the Swindell sisters would want her to stay long once she told them what she had discovered so far. She should still be home in time for dinner, she thought as she parked her truck on Main Street late Tuesday afternoon.

  She found both twins in the shop. Megan browsed in the spice section while she waited for Janice to complete a sale. Once the shop was empty, Janice called for Jill to come out of the back. Megan noticed that Jill’s eyes were red, and it looked as though she had been crying.

  “Do you have any news?” Janice asked. She was standing at the end of the counter where she usually mixed her energy drinks.

  Jill walked over and stood next to her twin. “Have you figured out who killed Blake?” Jill asked in a trembling voice. “I still can’t believe he’s gone. We were so happy.” She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue she was holding in her hand.

  Rather than roll her eyes at Jill, Janice put an arm around her sister. She still looked angry at the mere mention of Blake, but she didn’t comment about his character.

  Megan took a deep breath and began explaining everything that she’d learned. While she talked, she watched a transformation take place, as the emotions of the twins flipped. Jill went from sad to angry. Janice went from angry to sad.

  Jill pulled away from her twin. “I guess you were right all along.”

  Janice shook her head slowly and turned to face her sister. “It’s the one time I didn’t want to be right.”

  Megan waited for a moment before continuing. “I do still have some questions.”

  Both women turned back to face Megan.

  “Why was Blake asking you about your deed just before the engagement party?” Megan asked.

  Janice turned to Jill. “He was?”

  Jill nodded. “He wanted me to put his name on the deed before we got married. I guess he was getting tired of waiting to play out his game. Oh, I can’t believe how stupid I was.”

  Janice’s eyes opened wide in shock. “You didn’t actually do anything with the deed, did you?”

  Jill shook her head. “No, I put him off. I told him we’d talk about it after the party.”

  “Were you actually going to try to put his name on the deed?” Janice asked in a shocked voice.

  Jill shrugged. “I thought he loved me. But I didn’t want to do anything that could hurt you. I figured if he truly loved me, he’d understand that. It shouldn’t have mattered if the farm was still in our names if he really loved me. Right?”

  Janice hugged her sister then stepped back and let out a laugh. “Well, it looks like we both lost in love. The man I thought was interested in me dumped me too.”

  Megan interrupted their conversation. “What man?”

  Jill furrowed her brow. “Yeah, what man?”

  Janice shrugged. “That new caterer with the Station Pub & Grill. He seemed really interested. He kept coming around and talking to me.”

  Megan asked a few more questions about the caterer and then filed the information away. “Do you have any idea why Blake was measuring your property?”

  Both women shook their heads. “He could have just looked the acreage up, right?” Janice asked.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was late on Tuesday when Jerry and Erica finally called it quits for the day. They’d been interviewing witnesses, following up on the clues Megan had given, and tracking down every lead they had on the life of Blake Vargo before he’d shown up in Teaberry. After comparing notes and putting everything up on the murder board, they were no closer to solving the case than they had been in the morning. But, they had learned quite a bit about Blake Vargo.

  Jerry had reviewed the video from the gas station where Seth had seen Blake speaking with someone. The logo on the side
of the car wasn’t clear in the video. Jerry had sent the footage to a friend in a research lab to see if they could enhance it enough to make out the name.

  After driving away from the police station, Jerry stopped at a red light and rubbed at his face. He was tired, but he was still wound up from the case.

  The light turned green, but he didn’t move. Glancing at the clock in his car, he knew it was late. He should just go home. He sat there and wondered which way he really wanted to go. To get home, he needed to drive straight. To get to Madison’s, he needed to turn left. He checked the rearview mirror and saw a car approaching behind him. He couldn’t just sit there, he needed to make a decision. Soon after, he was ringing Madison’s doorbell. He knew she had a high tech video security system and would be able to see him on her front porch.

  She opened the door with a smile. “Well, Officer Jerry. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

  Madison turned and walked to her kitchen. Flipping on the light, she opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. She held it up when Jerry entered the room. He nodded, then watched her take glasses from a cupboard.

  “Tough day at work?” Madison asked.

  Jerry managed a half a smile, then took the glass Madison passed to him. “You could say that.”

  Madison carried her own glass to the living room. Jerry followed her in and took the seat next to her.

  “Can you talk about it?” Madison asked.

  Jerry selectively ran different facts through his head before settling on one. “Why would you take measurements of a property if you already knew how many acres there were?”

  Madison nodded once then looked over Jerry’s shoulder as she thought about it. Tilting her head side to side slowly as she considered and rejected ideas, she finally nodded once again.

  “I suppose if I were planning to parcel it out, I’d need to know. For example, if I were a farmer and wanted to sell the house but could no longer maintain the fields around it.” Madison looked back at Jerry.

  He was sitting up straight and looking at her with admiration. “That’s good.” Jerry rubbed his chin as he thought. “Why else might you keep some property and sell the rest?”

  “Depends on the property. Can you give me any more clues? Is it in our area? Is it in town or in the country?” Madison asked. She could think of a lot of potential scenarios, but it depended on the specifics.

  “Yes, it’s an area outside of Teaberry and it is in the country,” Jerry said.

  Madison considered again. This time, she spoke out loud as she thought it through. “My first idea would work with that. If they wanted to keep the house but sell the rest. Something else you might consider would be the possible royalties from oil and gas leases. For example, some contracts stipulate that you need a certain number of acres before they can drill. Or, you might want to retain the royalties but sell the rest of the land. There’s really any number of possible scenarios when it comes to mineral rights.”

  It was something they’d never thought to consider. Jerry shook his head and reached for his phone.

  ***

  Erica stood in the middle of the finished nursery. Brad had been working on the renovations ever since they’d learned Erica was pregnant. He was nearly finished when she discovered they were having twins. He then had to double everything and figure out how to fit it all into the room. But it was now complete, thanks to all of the advice they’d received from Lauren on what they would need. And the baby shower that their friends had thrown for them.

  Erica walked over to a chest of drawers and pulled out one of the tiny outfits. She still couldn’t believe it. Brad walked into the room behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She set the outfit back in the drawer and closed it, then leaned back against her husband. There were two cribs. Each one had a musical mobile hanging on it. The colors were neutral, since they didn’t yet know what they were having.

  “You did a great job,” Erica said as she looked around the room. She was leaning with her back against Brad’s chest, her hands on her stomach. Brad had his hands over hers.

  “Oh!”

  Brad jumped when Erica called out. “What?”

  “Did you feel that?” Erica turned to look at Brad. Her eyes were as wide as saucers.

  Brad looked down at her stomach, then looked back up at Erica.

  “No. Was it a kick? Isn’t it too soon? What did it feel like?” Brad realized that he was talking too quickly. He took a breath as he watched the look of wonder on Erica’s face.

  She shook her head. “No, it was soft. Like butterfly wings. I can’t feel it now.” Erica frowned.

  “Quickly. No, quickening. It’s called quickening,” Brad said excitedly. He’d been reading about this.

  Erica looked up at him. “It is? Is it normal? Are we okay?”

  Brad smiled. “Yes, it’s normal. It means we’re great.”

  “Good.” Erica blew out a breath. She hadn’t known what to think at first. It had just happened out of the blue. She heard Jerry’s ringtone on her phone and went to the kitchen where she’d left the phone recharging. She managed to catch the call before it went to voicemail and answered.

  “Hey, I’m at Madison’s,” Jerry said.

  “Tell her hello,” Erica said. “I had butterflies.”

  “Butterflies? Oh, you felt the babies. That’s great. It’s called quickening,” Jerry said.

  “How does everyone know this?” Erica replied, drawing her brows together in confusion.

  “Listen, Madison had some ideas about the property and why Blake was measuring,” Jerry said. He explained everything Madison had said.

  “Excellent. We’ll see what we can find on that tomorrow. Tell Madison thanks.”

  Erica disconnected and turned back to Brad. “Seriously, how does everyone know about quickening?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Wednesday morning threatened rain. Megan went out with the four wheeler and some metal baskets and collected more apples while she still could. She wanted to make an apple spice cake for dessert. It was one of the foods she had trouble passing up. In the past, she discovered that if she made the cake for herself, she indulged too much by eating the whole thing.

  She’d learned that one way around that was to make cupcakes from the batter instead and freeze them without frosting. She would take a few cupcakes out and make only a half a batch of frosting at a time, keeping most of it in the refrigerator for when she pulled out more cupcakes. Now that she was married and was cooking for two, she thought she’d try baking half a cake and see if Dan liked it. If so, he could save her from herself by eating some of it.

  She returned to the barn and put some of the apples in the refrigerator out there. She brought the rest into the house. It started sprinkling as soon as she got to the house and the intensity increased over time. After spending a couple of hours cleaning and slicing apple slices, she put some of the zippered bags into the freezer for Lauren. She then mixed up the batter for the apple spice cake using enough ingredients for half a cake.

  While it cooled, she caught up on her web site work. Her client list had been growing and, at this point, she made more money from her web site work than she did with her bed and breakfast or produce sales. Megan was making the frosting for the half cake when she heard the doorbell. It had been raining so hard, she hadn’t heard a car pull into the drive.

  She found a slightly damp Caitlyn shaking her umbrella on the front porch. Megan invited her in and laughed when Caitlyn identified the cake by smell as she was following Megan to the kitchen.

  “You’re just in time for a piece. I was about to add the frosting.” Megan frosted the cake, then cut a piece and passed a plate to Caitlyn. “Do you want coffee to go with it?”

  “Oh, that does sound good.” Caitlyn sat down at the table with her cake.

  Megan made them both a cup of coffee and then sat down with her. “What brings you by today?”

  Caitlyn pushed her empty plate away. “I want
ed to say something to you sooner, but I just wasn’t sure. I checked with my mom first, and she agreed that I should.”

  Megan raised her brows at her friend. “Sounds serious.”

  Caitlyn shrugged. “I don’t know. I wasn’t sure if I should say anything or not.”

  Megan sat back, curious about what Caitlyn meant.

  “The thing is, I guess he never technically specified that the order was a secret.” Caitlyn still seemed to be debating with herself if she should say anything.

  Megan waited patiently, taking a few bites of her cake as she did.

  Finally, Caitlyn let out a sigh. “Here’s the thing. Someone has been sending Jill Swindell flowers.”

  Megan nodded. “Okay.”

  “For thirty years.”

  Megan laughed. “What do you mean?”

  “Someone has been sending Jill flowers every year on the same day for thirty years,” Caitlyn said.

  “Seriously?” Megan wasn’t certain what to think about that. “Who would do that?”

  “Cy Douglass.”

  “Oh!” Megan reorganized some of the puzzle pieces in her head. “Do you know the significance of the day?”

  “I didn’t. I asked my mom. She took the original order when she first opened. I guess it’s the anniversary of their homecoming date in high school.” Caitlyn lifted her coffee cup and took a tentative sip.

  “Wow. That’s just, I don’t know. That’s sweet.” Megan sipped from her own cup as she considered it.

  “I just wasn’t sure about saying anything. I mean, he’s not even a suspect, right? It’s probably not even important.” Caitlyn looked at Megan and her eyes narrowed. “He’s not, right?”

  Megan looked back at Caitlyn and made a face that meant maybe.

  “Really? I can’t believe that. He’s such a nice man.” Caitlyn slumped in her seat.