Page 20

20

Theodosia glanced up to find Riley standing there, a smile lighting his face. She touched a hand to her heart and said, “You surprised me. Caught me completely off guard.”

“Good. That’s the way I like it,” Riley said. “Keeps you on your toes.”

“I thought you were tied up tonight. Something about meeting with local politicians about crime in their neighborhoods?”

“I was, and I am still doing that. But I took a break so I could swing by here and say hello.”

“What do you think?” Theodosia asked, sweeping a hand to indicate their tea table set among flaming torches and flickering candles.

“I’d say the whole setup looks pretty cool. A bit of spookiness tempered by a smidge of history.”

“Lots of history here. Signers of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are buried here, along with a vice president of the United States and several local fat cats.”

“I stand corrected,” Riley said. “So…I take it you’ve been busy?”

“Getting there. The larger crowds are just starting to make their way down Gateway Walk.” Theodosia came out from behind her table, hooked Riley’s arm, and led him a few steps away. In a quiet voice, she said, “Did you by any chance follow up with Sabrina like I asked?”

“I spoke to Sabrina by phone and quizzed her briefly. She was reticent, as would be expected, and, boy, is she ever mad at you .”

“I can’t help that I uncovered a possible motive for killing her sister.”

“No, you can’t. And it’s a decent motive at that. Probably seventy-five percent of crimes in America have money as the root cause.”

“What did Sabrina have to say for herself?”

“That she was embarrassed at overreacting to the tarot card reading. That she would never, ever think about harming her sister. And thank you for calling and would I please try to solve Celeste’s murder?”

“And she acted fairly calm and rational?”

“I’d say so,” Riley said.

“So maybe Sabrina’s completely innocent.”

“Maybe.”

“Did you call Sheriff Ambourn and mention Sabrina’s inheritance?”

“I called the good sheriff, and he intends to question Sabrina in person. But she’s off to Chicago first thing tomorrow with her parents. They’re doing a proper funeral and then a cemetery service.”

“What if we find evidence against her?”

“If we uncover actual hard evidence, then we take it to a judge and get an arrest warrant,” Riley said. “Next step would be calling Chicago PD and having her extradited.”

“That sounds kind of extreme.”

“Because it is,” Riley said. “Look, we still have to play it by the book, okay? And chances are good that Sabrina’s completely innocent. I mean, the money was always there, always coming to the sisters. I think you just got a little hyped up because of what that fortune teller said about you possibly knowing the killer and Sabrina profiting from a great tragedy.”

“You’re probably right. And Madame Aurora might have been laying it on a little thick as well. Okay. What about that box of chocolates I gave you? Or is it too soon to know anything?”

“Tell me who brought you those chocolates again?” Riley said.

Theodosia shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. They were dropped off at the back door this morning. Haley thought by one of her suppliers. Why? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because your hunch proved correct. That candy contained small traces of strychnine.”

“What!” Theodosia cried. “Then it’s no wonder Miss Dimple went home sick.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t go home sick. Sweetheart, somebody is targeting you.”

Theodosia sighed. “Because I’ve been asking questions.”

“Asking the wrong questions,” Riley said. “Questions that are making someone very nervous. Which means I need to issue yet another stern warning.”

“I know, you’re going to tell me to drop this investigation because I’m getting too close for my own good. That I pinged a trip wire somewhere and now I’m the one who’s in danger.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“But you know I can’t stop,” Theodosia said.

“Sure you can. You just say to yourself, ‘Theodosia, that’s it. I gave it a good shot, now it’s up to the police and sheriff’s department.’?”

“But I’m the one who uncovered most of the clues,” Theodosia said.

“Which means you’re the one who’s going to pay the biggest price.”

“I’m sorry,” Theodosia said. “I just don’t see it that way.”

“Try harder.”

Theodosia knew that Riley would continue to harangue her unless she shut him down. Luckily, a large contingent of cemetery crawlers was heading in their direction…

“Can we talk about this later?” Theodosia said. “Right now I need to get back to my table and help Drayton pour tea. Because he’s, um…” Theodosia fumbled her words, suddenly losing her train of thought. Because she’d just seen someone she recognized. It was the elusive curly-haired guy that had been at Celeste’s visitation last night. The one who’d been talking to Jamie. “Um,” Theodosia said again.

Riley frowned at seeing Theodosia’s unease, then followed her gaze. When he saw who’d caught her eye, he said, “Please tell me you don’t know that guy?” Drawing closer to her, he looked both anxious and concerned.

“I don’t know him, but I recognize him. He showed up at Celeste’s visitation last night. Why are you asking? Do you know him?”

“Yes, but not in a good way. That’s Jimmy Simonton, one of Charleston’s big-time drug dealers. His street name is Slide and he deals mostly in high-end cocaine and hashish with maybe a little meth thrown in for up-and-coming tweakers.”

“If you know so much about him, why isn’t he in jail?” Theodosia asked.

“Long story short, because his old man’s a hotshot criminal attorney over in Goose Creek. So anytime Slide has a brush with the law, he manages to slither off the hook.”

“You’re saying he’s a professional criminal?”

“Of the worst kind,” Riley said, giving Theodosia a peck on the cheek. “So please…stay away from him.”

“I intend to,” Theodosia said as she waved goodbye and hurried back to her tea table.

“What was Riley doing here?” Drayton asked as he poured cups of tea.

“Just taking a break. Checking out the cemetery crawl.”

“I’d say it’s a smashing success. I mean, look at these crowds, they just keep coming.”

“I wonder if the other cemeteries are this crowded.”

“Probably are,” Drayton said. “But we see it more here because Gateway Walk serves as a perfect funnel. No matter where you step onto the walk, it brings you out right here.” He looked up, smiled at three women who’d just come to the table with curious looks on their faces, and said, “Let me pour you a cup of Indian spice, you’ll like it, a mild black tea with hints of cardamom and clove.”

“Hey,” Haley said to Theodosia as she was plating more brownie bites. “Jamie and Bettina were just here, did you see them?”

Theodosia shook her head. “No. But I’m surprised Jamie’s out and about tonight. You’d think with this crowd of people he’d be worried about getting jostled. And with his injured hand…”

“Jamie’s taking it slow and easy. In fact, he’s sitting right over there, chilling out on one of the gravestones.” Haley waved a hand in his general direction. “That old gravestone with the lamb on top?”

“Oh sure. Did Jamie get a cup of tea or a scone? Should I take something over to him?”

“That’d be nice,” Haley said. “Since Bettina is flitting around like the little social butterfly she is.”

“Probably telling everyone when her wedding will be rescheduled,” Theodosia said. She glanced over, saw Jamie sitting on a tomb in the dark and looking a little glum. So she grabbed a cup of tea and two brownie bites and hurried over to him. Just as she got there, Jamie ducked his head forward and sniffed something off the back of his good hand. Then he straightened up, a loopy smile on his face.

“Jamie!” Theodosia shouted. “What are you doing?”

Jamie’s head whipped left, then right, and spotted Theodosia bearing down upon him. He still wore a stupid grin and had a faint trace of white powder under his left nostril. “What?” he said. He sounded dumb; he sounded stoned.

“You know what. You’re doing cocaine! Are you crazy? You just got out of the hospital!”

Jamie thrust his hands out in a placating gesture. “You have no idea how much pain I’m in. I feel so rotten I gotta do something to take the edge off.”

“Not cocaine!”

“Look, I hardly ever do this, okay? This is like a total one-off for me.”

“Oh my gosh, Jamie.” Theodosia didn’t know what to say. She was dumbfounded. This wasn’t the sweet-natured, clean-cut, Southern-mannered Jamie she thought she knew. Or had that all been a sham?

“Please don’t be mad at me,” Jamie begged. “And for gosh sakes please don’t tell Bettina about this. Or Delaine. Jeez, if Delaine found out I did a line, she’d probably give herself a spontaneous aneurysm.”

“Where’d you get the coke?” Theodosia asked.

“A guy I know,” Jamie said.

“A guy named Slide?”

Jamie looked shocked when Theodosia tossed out that name. “Maybe,” he stammered.

“You have to promise not to do this again. Or I will tell Bettina.”

“Like I said, it was a one-off. Something to help me deal with the pain,” Jamie said hurriedly. He held up his bandaged hand and winced again, as if to reinforce his words.

“I’ll drop it for now,” Theodosia said. “If you promise not to…”

“I won’t ,” Jamie protested. “I promise. I’ll stay clean, okay?”

“Okay,” Theodosia said. She exhaled slowly, then looked around. The cemetery was thronged with people now, many of them stepping off the walkway to examine the ancient graves. One man was down on his hands and knees with charcoal and some tissue paper, making a rubbing of an old inscription.

“You drew a good crowd here tonight,” Jamie said, as he accepted the tea and brownie bites from Theodosia.

“Adam Lynch walked by earlier,” Theodosia said. “Did you happen to see him?”

“Nope. And I hope Bettina didn’t, either,” Jamie said. “You know, she really despises that guy.”

“She told you that?”

“Oh sure, Bettina and I are completely open with each other. We’ve promised to never keep secrets,” Jamie said.

Except your secret about snorting coke , Theodosia thought to herself.

“But that was a bad relationship,” Jamie said. “Toxic. She was lucky to break up when she did.”

“What else do you know about Adam Lynch?”

“Just that he’s a dangerous guy. A hothead.”

“Is Lynch crazy enough to kill?” Theodosia asked.

Jamie screwed up his face as if he was deep in thought. Finally, he said, “I think so. I didn’t before, but now I do.”

* * *

Theodosia, Drayton, and Haley served tea and scones until nine thirty, at which point the crowds had pretty much dwindled down to nothing. Then Drayton and Haley packed up the leftovers while Theodosia backed her Jeep into the St. Philips parking lot. Once they’d loaded up their tables and baskets, Theodosia drove back to the Indigo Tea Shop, where they opened the back door and shoved everything inside.

“We’ll sort it out tomorrow,” Theodosia said. Haley nodded tiredly, then climbed the back stairs to her apartment. Theodosia drove Drayton home, bid him good night, and drove home to her own cottage.

Parking her Jeep in the back alley, Theodosia glanced over at the enormous house next door to her, a turn-of-the-century pile of stone known as the Granville Mansion. All the windows were dark, nobody living there as yet. Maybe the owner had it up for sale, she thought as she walked into her backyard, though there wasn’t a For Sale sign out front. As she passed the small fishpond, where tiny goldfish swam lazily, a bright spark of orange suddenly caught her eye.

What?

But Theodosia knew what it was before she even got to her back door. Sitting on her doorstep was a squat orange candle, its single flame writhing and dancing in the wind. Next to it sat a white skull. The same kind of skull that had been gifted to Jamie.

What is this, a warning? Somebody’s sending me a warning?

She walked back to the alley, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickling like crazy. She scanned one way, then the other; the alley seemed deserted. Nothing moving, nobody there. She walked back to her back door, looking over her shoulder a few times.

The notion that someone had come to her house, where she lived, where her dog was probably sleeping, made her blood boil.

Well, to hell with them.

Theodosia licked her thumb and forefinger, leaned down, and snuffed out the candle. She ignored the prickle of heat between her fingertips and the momentary sizzling sound. Then, with a disdainful glance downward, she kicked the skull out of her way and went inside.