The Diva Serves High Tea (18 page)

Roses are blood red

Now I bid you adieu.

Rosie is dead

And so are you.

“I think it's significant that this Rosie is spelled differently.” He said it almost triumphantly. “And it says that Rosie is dead.”

“A dead Rosie, spelled any way you like, could not have stabbed Elise.”

“First of all, we don't know that Rosie with an
ie
is really dead. And second, they didn't tell you Rosey with an
ey
killed them. They just said
Rosie
. Right?”

“Right. But I don't know how you're going to connect Robert and Elise.”

Alex groaned. “There's something you don't know.”

Dear Natasha,

I have always served jasmine tea with Chinese food. But now someone has suggested to me that jasmine tea isn't real tea at all but an herbal tea. I'm mortified! Which is it?

—Always Proper in Jasmine, Arkansas

Dear Always Proper,

You are a hostess after my own heart. True tea comes from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis tree. Fortunately, you have not committed a gaffe. Jasmine is usually added to real tea, green or black, as a flavoring to create jasmine tea.

—Natasha

“Elise had an affair with Robert.”

I nearly choked on a bite of chicken. Alex patted me on the back and held out my wineglass to me.

“I'm having a lot of trouble imagining that. How do you know?”

“Rosey found out. He was suspicious and followed Elise one day.”

“Let me guess. That's what broke up their marriage?”

“I gather that started the downward spiral,” Alex said.

“So Elise was the one who broke up the marriage? Not the evil girlfriend?” I coughed and drank some wine. “Oh! Maybe that's where she went her first night here. She couldn't exactly take Kevin to see her former lover.”

“Possibly. I wish I had a witness. If only someone had seen her there.”

“How would that help?” I asked.

“It would confirm the connection between them and that their deaths might have something to do with the other Rosie.”

“You don't suppose Elise brought Robert something that was contaminated by botulism?”

“What?” Alex said. “I thought Bernie's place was the source of that.”

“Probably not. Elise was acting strange if you ask me. If she wasn't dating you, then she was spouting a lot of lies. I heard her talking about you.”

“I've given that some thought. I think she wanted to make Rosey jealous, and I happened to be handy.”

“I guess that's not totally implausible,” I said. “But Rosey wasn't around to hear her. Why tell other people who didn't know or care?”

“I think that might have been for your benefit.”

“Or for Robert's! He was watching her like a hawk.”

“Soph, were you serious about helping Kevin?”

Uh-oh
. Here came the real reason for his visit. “Yes. It breaks my heart to imagine that he'll lose both his parents. His mother's death is a tragedy but to have his dad in prison, too? That's horrible. No kid should have to go through that.”

“You know Velma and some of her crowd. Plus you're kind of nosy.”

“Thank you. I'm so flattered,” I said drolly.

“Would you snoop around? See if you can dig up anything about this Rosie?” he asked.

“How am I supposed to do that? It's not like I can ask Robert, and Velma says she doesn't know anything about a Rosie. Hey, is Rosey going to be charged with
Robert's
murder, too?”

“I don't know yet. Word is that unless the prosecutor can find some decent evidence, the only thing they have is his last word.”

“If Rosey was jealous of Robert, I guess they have a motive,” I said.

“You think a jury is going to buy that Rosey brought Robert some tainted soup or something? There's no evidence of that.”

I saw his point. Wolf had said all along that botulism was an accident. Even if they knew what he had eaten, convincing a jury that it was intentional might be tough. “All right. I'll be my usual nosy self. If finding out about Rosie is the only way to prove that Kevin's dad is innocent, I'll do my best to help you.”

“Thanks, Soph. More lo mein?”

Alex left early. I wasn't surprised. It had been nice of him to stop by with dinner, even if he did have an ulterior motive. I just didn't know quite where to start my search for the elusive Rosie. I checked out Hunter Landon and Edward Landon on the Internet but found nothing of interest.

When I rose the next morning, a clatter outside drew my attention. I threw on warm sweats and stumbled downstairs. Daisy waited at the front door, eager to go out. I snapped on her leash and stepped outside.

A green pickup truck that had seen better days was parked in front of Natasha's house. Daisy tugged me in that direction.

She sniffed her way through Natasha's service passage, where Wanda and an unfamiliar man were trying to catch chickens.

“Good mornin', Sophie! Do you know Harvey Gooch?” asked Wanda.

“I don't believe I do.”

“Mornin'!” the man said. “That looks like a mighty fine hunting dog—let her drive these chickens over my way.”

Even on the leash, Daisy's curiosity about the chickens was enough to send them toward Harvey. It didn't take long for all the chickens to be in cages.

“Where's Natasha?” I asked.

Wanda stretched. “That girl! I don't know what to do with her. Shush now. Here she comes.”

Natasha carried a tray of coffee mugs so hot that they steamed in the chilly fall morning. “Thank you, Daisy. I saw how you helped. You're better at dealing with chickens than I am.”

I couldn't help noticing that Natasha had returned to her usual style of dressing. Her sleeveless asymmetrical dress wasn't made for rounding up chickens, or collecting eggs for that matter. Burnt red, it followed her figure nicely without being tight. She was a knockout in it. “That's a great color on you,” I said.

“It's new to me. I much prefer blues and browns.”

We stood on her patio to drink our coffee. I guessed she didn't want us to bring the chicken mess into her house.

“Harvey, do you remember that girl Rosie?” asked Wanda. “I was telling Natasha and Sophie about her the other day.”

“Rosie Barnes! There's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Poor kid. I was young and new on the volunteer fire department when she went missing.” He shook his head. “A sad, sad business. That fellow got away with murder. You know a couple of us spotted Rosie's daddy on his way to pay that guy a visit. Had his rifle with him, and it sure wasn't hunting season. It was just a good thing we stopped him when we did or he would have spent his life in the slammer for killing the man who murdered his daughter.”

“Murder? I thought she disappeared.”

“You got it part right. At the time, everybody thought her boyfriend did her in and hid the body.”

How I wished that were our Rosie. “Do you recall the boyfriend's name?” I asked.

“Aw, honey, that was years ago. It will come to me in the middle of the night. Well, I best get these chickens packed in the truck. It's awful nice of you to give them to me, Natasha.”

“I know you'll provide them with a good home, Harvey. And you can bring 'round some fresh eggs sometime,” said Wanda.

“Sounds fair.”

I went home, showered, and dressed. The phone rang at the exact same time as Bernie and Mars showed up at my kitchen door.

I opened the door as I said
hello
into the phone. It was the conference organizer.

“Sophie, honey, I hate to do this so last minute but we're canceling the banquet tonight. Over half our attendees are checking out this morning. Elise's murder and the rampant rumors about botulism poisoning put a damper on everything. They don't want to eat anything here and way too many of them are concerned about being outdoors after dark. I've looked at the cancelation clauses in our contracts. Please assure the restaurant that we'll uphold our end. And you'll be paid, too. There's just no point in fighting it.”

And that was that. I couldn't blame them. They were from out of town and who knew what kinds of gossip had flown around the conference? Elise was one of
them
. No wonder they were scared.

I phoned the restaurant. They weren't nearly as upset as I feared. Turned out they thought they'd have a good crowd anyway because Bernie's place was closed.

When I hung up, Mars was brewing Yorkshire Gold tea, and Bernie was in the middle of poaching eggs.

“Okay if I use up the ham, Soph?”

“That's fine!”

I felt thoroughly spoiled. I flung a fresh gold-and-blue country French tablecloth over the table and set it with square lapis Fiesta ware plates. Mars handed me a mug of tea and whisked a platter on the table that made me yelp—chocolate-iced Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

I turned to look at them. “Okay. What's up? I know when I'm being buttered up for something.”

They laughed at me. It wasn't until we sat down to eat that Mars pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen.

“We don't know where to start,” he said.

“Neither of us knew Robert very well,” explained Bernie. “Finding the source of the poisoning may be the only way to restore The Laughing Hound's reputation.”

“We have to begin with the facts,” I sipped my tea. “The things we know for sure.”

Mars held his pen poised over the paper. “And what exactly would that be?”

I saw his point but was savoring the hollandaise sauce Bernie had made. Bernie certainly knew how to make perfect eggs Benedict.

“Let's begin with Robert eating at The Parlour,” said Bernie.

“I think you have to go back farther than that. Velma said Robert had an upset stomach at the auction. So he had probably already eaten the tainted food.”

Bernie placed his fork on the side of his plate. “That's just aggravating. There was no need to close me down.”

I didn't remind him that Mars might have been poisoned by something from his restaurant.

“But he's dead,” Mars said. “How will we ever know where he went that day or the day before?”

“Velma and Francie might know,” I said. “Let's stick to what we know for sure. Elise was at the auction, making a big fuss about dating Alex. Then Robert appeared to be quite taken by Wanda.”

Mars wrote that down. “That's just weird. I like Wanda, but those two look like opposites. I don't get it.”

“Maybe she reminded him of someone he liked?” suggested Bernie.

“Then Natasha refused to go to dinner with Wanda and Robert because she had eyes for Robert.”

Mars shook his head. “As long as I live I will never understand Natasha. What did she see in him?”

I wasn't going
there
. “Wanda walked Robert home. And then I found him in the morning.”

“Sorry, Sophie. I don't mean to criticize, but this isn't helping at all.” Bernie looked so glum that I wanted to hug him.

“We do know that Elise left the hotel at night before Robert died, and she had had an affair with Robert in the past. I think she might have paid him a visit,” I said.

“Elise had an affair with Robert? What was it about that guy?” said Bernie.

“Unbelievable. Wanda, Natasha, Elise. He was a chick magnet.” Mars shook his head. “Maybe Elise poisoned him? And that's why someone killed her?”

“Velma,” I said softly. “She adored Robert. She thought the world of him and was crushed by his death. All along she's been upset because the police aren't treating Robert's death as a crime. Maybe she took justice into her own hands.”

“Are you joking?” Bernie licked hollandaise off his fork. “Elise was young and strong. She could have pushed Velma over with one finger.”

I nodded my agreement and sank my teeth into an impossibly soft doughnut.
Heaven!

“We didn't go back far enough.” Mars picked up a doughnut. “What about the person who attacked Natasha?”

“So much has happened that I keep forgetting about that,” I said. “There's only one thing I'm sure of. Well, sort of sure—Rosie seems to be the key.”

After the guys left, I headed to Robert's house with Rosie on my mind. As I had hoped, Velma and Francie were there, hard at work packing china and crystal.

“Would you mind if I poked around upstairs a bit?” I asked.

Francie almost dropped a glass. “Really? You mean you've come to your senses? You think Robert was murdered?”