The Diva Serves High Tea (25 page)

Dear Sophie,

I appreciate my son and daughter-in-law enormously. They are very good to me, and I realize that they're busy. But some idiot told my daughter-in-law that she could microwave the water for my tea. Please set her straight?

—Grateful Old Dad in Strain, Missouri

Dear Grateful Old Dad,

Every tea drinker knows that microwaved tea is horrible. Hardly drinkable in my opinion. I'm told it's because the microwave doesn't heat the water evenly. I think there's probably more to it than that, but your daughter-in-law should stick to boiling water for tea in a kettle.

—Sophie

I was afraid to hear what Martha was going to say next. After that strange withdrawal, Martha had turned rather calm. Maybe there
had
been poison in the cake Mars threw
out. Martha scared me a little bit by shifting from being hopeless to almost prim again. I excused myself and phoned Wolf from my office.

He answered my call saying, “You were right. I was just going to let you know the shards turned up botulism spores and Martha's fingerprints. We're looking for her now.”

“You don't need to go far. She's here at my house spilling her guts. But, Wolf, I think there might be something wrong with her. I found her in Natasha's garage kind of zoned out. I think the pressure might have been too much for her.”

“I'll be right over.”

When I returned to the kitchen, Martha was saying, “Max had nothing to do with Elise's death. I don't think they ever met. Elise attacked
me
.”

Was Martha trying to protect Max?

“Under other circumstances, I would have gone to the police about it immediately. But I didn't dare bring myself to their attention. Elise thought I was Callie.”

“Me?” cried Callie. “I don't understand. Are you saying that Elise meant to kill
me
? I didn't even know the woman.”

“Apparently so. She said, ‘I've been looking for you, Callie.' And when I turned around, she lunged at me. I could see the light glinting off the blade of her knife. We wrestled, and I told her”—she shook her head incredulously—“‘I'm not Callie. I'm not Callie.'”

Martha stared off to the side. “For a split second, Elise paused. And then she said, ‘You! I saw you in his backyard trying to get away unseen. You're the woman who murdered Rosie so you could be with Robert. The woman Robert loved. The one he'd been looking for. He didn't want
me
anymore because he finally found you.' She drove the knife into me with a quick jab right at the level of my waist. It hit my metallic belt buckle, slipped, and the knife was deflected back at her. It all happened so fast. I was trying to grab it to protect myself, and it just flipped toward her. I guess she was putting her whole body into the force behind it. When it stabbed her, I jumped back, and Elise fell to the ground. The knife was still in my hand. I expected her to get up but
she moaned terribly. She had enough strength to turn over. I was afraid she would attack me again, so I took off. I just wanted to get away from her. I was distressed when I heard she died. It didn't have to happen. I'll always wonder if she would have lived if I had done something differently. But I didn't hurt her. That was totally self-defense. If she hadn't hit my belt buckle, I would be the dead one today.”

“Then you murdered Rosie, not Robert!” said Hunter.

Martha slowly shook her head. “No. Elise had that wrong. Maybe that's what Robert told her.”

Callie eyed her friend with a doubtful expression. “Martha, you've been a good friend to me, but there was no reason for Elise to seek me out, let alone kill me.”

Francie spoke up. “Not so fast, Callie. Didn't Sophie and Mars find you running from someone on the street?”

“But that was Max.”

Martha was indignant. “Max would never have chased you.”

“There
is
one person who would have liked to see you dead, Callie,” said Francie.

I was shocked. “Francie!”

“How quickly you forget.” Francie shook her forefinger at Callie. “The woman who was present when Robert murdered his wife, Livy, would have reason to shut you up.”

“And Robert was having an affair with Elise! Of course. Elise was the woman you saw at Robert's house, Callie. She was his accomplice in Livy's murder. Elise would have gone to prison along with him if you turned them in. You didn't know who
she
was, but Robert probably told her who
you
were.”

“I knew it all along!” Velma declared.

I tried to hide my amusement at Velma's proclamation.

It took a moment for everything to register. “Martha, it was
you
who threw the knife in the river, then. Was it you who saw Natasha a few nights before?”

“I was so irritated. I needed to get rid of everything that was botulism-tainted. The container in which I had transported it, and the shards of the bowl that I dropped. I couldn't
pitch them in a trash bin. And there you were, Natasha, exactly where I had planned to toss them. As it turned out, it was a good thing I still had them.”

Mars glared at her. “What did you do? Rinse them and dump some of it on my food at The Laughing Hound?”

Martha
tsk
ed at him. “It was just the dregs. I knew it wouldn't hurt anyone. But it would move all the attention away from The Parlour.”

“Yes, thank you for that, Martha.” Bernie controlled his anger but I could see him seething underneath.

Wanda stroked Natasha's arm. “Baby doll, what were you doing wandering around down by the river at night by yourself?”

Natasha's eyes met mine. I planned to play dumb.

“I couldn't sleep because Mars left me.”

Oho! Cleverly played.

Wolf tapped on the kitchen door and opened it. Two uniformed officers were with him.

“Martha Carter? I have a warrant for your arrest.” He recited her Miranda rights, and one of the officers handcuffed her.

As she walked out the door, Martha turned back. “Open The Parlour tomorrow morning, Callie. I might be a little late.”

When the door closed, Francie said, “That woman has slipped over the edge. It's like she doesn't understand what's happening.”

“Do you think we can believe anything she said?” asked Mars.

“It's sort of hard not to.” Nina peered into her empty glass. “Her version answered too many of the things we didn't understand. Is anyone else starved?”

Everyone crowded in. Some sat at the banquette. Mars and Bernie brought in chairs from other rooms.

“We could eat in the dining room,” I suggested. But no one moved.

We chowed down on those luscious savory, slightly salty, smoky chickens and the three sauces. Nina had bought huge
quantities of home fries, fried platanos, black beans, and Caesar salad. White wine and apple cider bottles were passed around.

Mars glanced at Bernie. “Weren't you bringing dessert?”

“Indeed!” Bernie bounded to his feet and pulled a box from the cold oven. The logo of Big Daddy's bakery was on the side. Bernie opened the top. “Sophie's favorite, Apple Harvest Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting.”

Those cupcakes were tied with Krispy Kreme doughnuts in my affections.

I jumped up, gave Bernie a big smooch on the cheek, and picked out a cupcake.

Francie and Velma were the first to head home. Bernie and Mars walked with them on the pretense of giving Daisy, Duke, and Peanut some exercise.

Wanda, Harvey, and Natasha were next. As they walked out the door, I pulled Wanda back for a moment. She had been so helpful and kind to Martha. If she had truly spent the night with Robert, wouldn't she have called someone for help when he was so ill? “Wanda, if you didn't spend the night with Robert, where were you your first night here?”

Wanda smiled at me. “I couldn't sleep knowing my baby had been attacked. At the first light of day, I made my bed, found some gloves, and pulled weeds in Natasha's garden for a couple of hours. When she still wasn't up, I took a nice long stroll around Old Town. It sure is a charming place. I'm not surprised that you girls like living here.”

I felt a bit foolish for having jumped to conclusions. “One more thing. How it is possible that Natasha doesn't know about the chickens yet? She must wonder what Harvey did with them.”

“I made up a story about her car being in the shop and offered to let her use my car temporarily. And she never once even thought to ask where the chickens went! I guess my Natasha was meant to be a star, not a country girl. She's been thinking a lot about Mars, though. I don't want you two girls fighting over him, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma'am.” I closed the door behind her, thinking that Natasha might have a tough time getting Mars back.

When I returned to the kitchen, Nina was eating a cupcake, Hunter/Eddie was stoking the fire, but Callie appeared uncomfortable.

Callie toyed with a napkin. “Sophie, is Alex expensive? Do you know what he charges?”

Nina's eyebrows lifted. “Oh? Do you need a lawyer?”

“I don't know.”

Eddie, whom I still thought of as Hunter, swung around and studied her. “Maybe I can help pay for him, Callie. Are you in trouble?” He slid into the banquette next to her.

“Hunter, you're too sweet.” Callie pecked him smack on the lips. “I don't know if I'm in trouble. If I keep my mouth shut, it might just go away.”

I saw a sparkle in Nina's eyes. “You're among friends. Why don't you tell us? Maybe we can help you?”

Ohhhh. Bad Nina!

“You understand, I'm not saying this actually happened, but supposing someone entered someone else's house through an unlocked door at night. I'm afraid that's some kind of crime, but it's not breaking and entering because the door was unlocked.”

“And did this person happen to take something from that house?” asked Nina.

“Absolutely not. And what she went there for was hers anyway.”

I exchanged a glance with Nina. What was Callie talking about?

“So this totally hypothetical person walked into an unlocked house to take something that belonged to her? You mean the owner of the house stole something of hers?” I asked.

“Not quite, but close. I'm not sure the owner of the house even knew she had it. She never would have missed it. I'm certain of that.”

Breaking and entering? What had she done? “I gather you weren't caught?”

Callie's mouth twisted to the side. “The hypothetical person may have slammed a pillow on the other person's head.”

“Oh the horror of it all. Not a pillow!” Nina quipped. “What a vicious burglar.”

“Are you talking about Natasha?” I asked.

“This is strictly hypothetical,” protested Hunter.

“You were Natasha's intruder?” I couldn't help chuckling a little bit. “And you hit her with a pillow?”

“What did Natasha take from you?” Nina was smiling.

“I'm not saying this happened, but she might have bought a sideboard with something of mine in it.”

“The rock! It was the rock Robert used to kill Livy!” Finally, it was making sense. “It was you who broke into Natasha's house looking for the sideboard. But it wasn't there.”

“How do you know that?” asked Callie.

“Because it was in Natasha's detached garage near the alley. So that's what you were looking for!”

Nina frowned at Callie. “You must have hit her with more than a pillow. I saw some of her bruises.”

Callie threw her hands up. “I don't know how that happened. The pillow was soft as could be.”

“Callie's telling the truth,” I said. “I picked up the pillow. It was in the upstairs hallway. Natasha passed out and must have gotten bruised when she fell.”

Nina slapped her thigh. “That's the funniest story I've ever heard. Natasha acted like someone tried to kill her—with a pillow!”

“Then that was you I saw in The Parlour the night of the auction,” I said. “You went to retrieve the rock.”

“I have a key for The Parlour. I had every right to be there.”

“Did you find the rock?”

“I did! The movers must have wondered what was shifting around inside the sideboard.”

I sat back and studied the two of them. “Callie, the day of the auction, you were late and so coy about it when Velma
asked if you were out on a date with Hunter the night before. What was that about?”

“Obviously, I didn't handle that as well as I hoped,” Callie said. “I overslept because I was out half the night sneaking into Natasha's house. I couldn't say I had a date with Hunter because I was afraid someone might ask him about it, and I would be caught in a lie.”

Nina looked at me. “So Callie was Natasha's attacker, and Elise was the one who chased Callie the night she ran into you and Mars. So Max wasn't running around attacking women.”

“Except for me,” I said.

Hunter frowned. “I think it's best that we keep this amongst ourselves. You're right, Callie, it might go away on its own.”

He seemed glum while Nina and I were amused. I thought I knew why.

“You have a little problem of your own, don't you?”

“Oh, Hunter!” Callie cried. “Maybe we can help?”

He shook his head.

“A typical man,” said Nina. “He'll keep it inside, and it will fester until he's reduced to a quivering mess like Martha.”

“Allow me to take a stab.” I thought back to our conversation at the grocery store. “You wrote those awful poems and slipped them to Robert.”

Nina gazed at me. “I thought Robert wrote them intending to torture Martha.”

I stared at Hunter. “They were meant to torture, all right. The poems, the paper rose, and all the rose items were intended to make sure Robert, in his comfortable life, did not forget what he did to Rosie. That must be why Robert said
Rosie
to me when he was dying. Those poems were threats, and he knew it. Martha simply misinterpreted the situation and thought they were meant for her.”