Spell It Out, page 6
“So do you think someone from your office murdered Aurelius?”
Sabrina bit her lip. “It seems obvious to me,” she whispered, “although I’ve been going over and over it, and I can’t think who it could be.”
“Did he have any enemies, apart from possibly his wife?” I asked her.
She nodded. “Everyone who was touched by his affairs hated him, but the job paid well. That’s why everyone stayed, I’m sure. I didn’t know about him when I first joined this company a few months ago. I didn’t know he was married. He asked me out to dinner in front of the receptionist, so I thought he was on the level. When I found out he was married, I was horrified and broke it off. Actually, the same time I found out he was married, I discovered he was also having an affair with Lucy Love.”
“Do you think Lucy murdered him?” I asked her.
“No, of course not!” she said, followed by, “Well, I don’t have a clue, to be honest. It could be anyone.”
“What about James Collins and Bruce Gordon? Are they married? Was he having an affair with their wives?”
Sabrina shrugged. “James joined the company just after I did. He doesn’t have a wife.”
“Thanks for all that. You’ve been ever so helpful, Sabrina,” I said. “Stay safe, won’t you, since there’s a murderer on the loose.”
She nodded, and then said, “It must be someone who had a grudge against Aurelius, obviously.”
“Sure, sure,” I said. “There’s just one more thing. The Gum Leaf Tea Company said they did not send those tickets here for the five of you to have a session with Mystical Maria, and they also flatly denied sending the tea leaves to Mystical Maria for the session.”
She was genuinely shocked at my disclosure—either that, or she was a talented actress.
“Then who could it have been?”
“The murderer, of course,” I said. “Sabrina, is there any way I could find out about those tickets?”
“What do you mean?” She raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow.
“I mean, were the tickets posted to the company?”
She nodded. “I believe so. I know where you’re going with this. You want to know what the postmark was, but that envelope would have been thrown out long ago.”
I rubbed my forehead. “It seems that’s a dead end.”
Just then, Bruce Gordon walked into the room. He stopped stock still when he saw us.
Chapter 8
After his initial shock, Bruce barely acknowledged our presence. He hurried past us, nodding to Sabrina on his way.
When he was out of earshot, I asked her, “What you know about him?”
“Not much,” she said. “He arrived about the same time as James Collins, only a few weeks ago. They both work on the financial side of things, whereas Lucy and I work on the creative side of things.”
“Did Bruce get on well with Aurelius?” Thyme asked her.
Sabrina chuckled. “Aurelius only got on well with women, until they found out what he was like. He didn’t have much time for men.”
“What was he like as a boss?” I asked her. “Was he difficult?”
“That depends on whether you’re a man or a woman,” she said. “Like I said, the job pays well. That’s why I’m still here. This is the only big marketing firm in Tamworth. I’ve thought about moving somewhere like Sydney, but I’m not quite brave enough to make the move. Right now I’m a big fish in a little pond.”
I nodded. “So you don’t know any reason Bruce Gordon would have to murder Aurelius?”
She shook her head. “Believe me, I’ve been up half the night wondering who could have done it. I surely think it was either a woman, or a man whose wife was having an affair with Aurelius.”
“You said James doesn’t have a wife. What about Bruce? He doesn’t have a wife, either?”
“That’s right. There can’t be any motive there. And both Bruce and James haven’t been at the company long enough to get really annoyed with Aurelius. I work in marketing and I don’t have any detective skills, but the way Aurelius was, I think he had to have been murdered over a woman.”
She pointedly looked at her watch, so I thanked her for her time and we said our goodbyes.
“That wasn’t much help, was it?” Thyme said as we walked towards my car. “It took us longer to drive here than it did to speak to her.”
“We found out some facts, such as that Bruce Gordon and James Collins haven’t been at the company long and are unmarried, and Lucy Love had an affair with Aurelius and also that Sabrina did too. We also found out that Aurelius’s wife was having a fling with a pool boy.”
Thyme nodded. “I suppose that helps. Perhaps it will make more sense when we gather more information. Let’s go and have that coffee and cake now.”
I didn’t need telling twice. We took a detour to a café which seemed to be popular, given the number of patrons. I spied a couple leaving a back table and made a beeline for it. Thyme was right on my heels. “My treat,” I said. “What would you like?”
“It seems to be table service here,” she said.
I looked at the menu. “Is it too early for lunch?”
Thyme shook her head. “It’s never too early for lunch.”
As I looked over the menu, something occurred to me. “Thyme, the police haven’t called me in for questioning. That surprises me, given the way Barrett was speaking to me.”
She shrugged. “I told you that Dawson was going to text me if he got wind that they were about to move on you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You didn’t tell me that.”
She pulled a face.” No? Sorry about that. I meant to. Dawson said if he has any hint that they’re going to call you in for questioning or at least question you at your home or shop, then he’s going to text me at once.”
I nodded my approval. “That’s good of him. Please thank him for me. Now what do you think about Mint and Detective Bowes?”
Thyme pretended to bang her head on the table. “I’m sure they like each other, but they’re both too shy to do anything about it.”
“Exactly!” I exclaimed. “That’s precisely what I’ve been thinking.”
“Look on the bright side, Amelia. You being a suspect in a murder case should bring Detective Bowes and Mint closer together.”
“Great,” I said sarcastically. “They do say every cloud has a silver lining.”
Thyme laughed. A flustered waitress came over to take our orders, and repeated them back to us wrongly.
“I think we should look into Mystical Maria,” Thyme said after the waitress left. “She could easily have set it all up. In fact, she was in the perfect position.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Mystical Maria could have lured them to her office. She was the one who brought out the tea cups, so hers might not have been drugged. Of course, she would have had some of the drugged tea later so that she would test positive for it.”
“I like her more and more as a suspect, now I think about it,” Thyme said. “My money is certainly on her.”
“We have to find out any connection she had with the victim,” I said. “I wonder if she had an affair with him and was jilted? Thyme, are you listening?”
Thyme was tapping away at her phone. After an interval, she looked up. “I’m googling her,” she said.
“Did you find anything?”
“I might if you give me half a chance,” she said with a wave of one hand. I sat for a few more moments, waiting. Finally, she spoke. “Not much, I’m afraid. It just says she’s a piano teacher at the local school. Actually, it says she’s a music teacher, and she gives private piano lessons as well.”
“She’s a very busy lady,” I said. “She does tea leaf readings as well, after hours.”
Thyme nodded. “Hang on a moment. I’ve just found her Facebook page. Have a look at this.” She shoved the phone under my nose, but before I even had a chance to look at the screen, Thyme took the phone back. “Okay, now I’ve found her timeline. Oh, she’s very popular. Lots of kids have posted on her timeline thanking her for her help.”
“See if you can find Aurelius Matters on Facebook,” I told her, “and see if they have any mutual friends.”
Thyme was still tapping away on her phone when the food arrived. “I almost feel guilty sitting here eating while Ruprecht and Mint are slaving away in the cupcake store,” I said to Thyme.
“We’re investigating,” Thyme said. “Okay, I’ve found Aurelius Matters on Facebook, but he hasn’t posted anything for at least a year. He doesn’t have any friends in common with Mystical Maria. What could the connection between them be?”
“You’re assuming she’s the murderer,” I pointed out. “There might not be any connection between them.”
She shrugged. “How did they relate to each other? You were there. You saw them together.”
I held one hand over my eyes and tried to recall. “It’s still a bit hazy, but she treated him just like she treated anyone else. I didn’t notice anything unspoken passing between them, if that’s what you mean.”
“I think we need to question her,” Thyme said.
“What, now?”
Thyme nodded.
“But she’ll be teaching at the school,” I said.
Thyme’s face fell. “I know! Let’s go to her tea leaf reading room this afternoon. Hang on a moment, I’ll check the opening hours.” She bent over her phone once more and then looked up. “Between five and six tonight.”
“That’s hours away,” I said. “And what are we going to do, just turn up there and give her the third degree?”
“No, we’d better have a better strategy than the one we just had with Sabrina,” Thyme said. “Still, I suppose you could use the same excuse, saying that the detective suspects you. You can ask her if she noticed anything.”
I pointed my finger at Thyme. “You know, that’s actually a very good idea. Are you doing anything with Dawson at five?”
Thyme shook her head. “No, he’s in court all day. He’ll be too tired after that. What about you and Alder?”
I shook my head. “He’s in court all day too, with some of his clients.”
Thyme set down her fork. “That’s all settled. We will question Mystical Maria this afternoon. You know, Amelia, I bet she did it.”
Chapter 9
It was five past five that afternoon before Mystical Maria turned up at her office. “I’m terribly sorry I’m late,” she said. “Were you waiting long?”
We assured her that we weren’t, although, truth be told, we had arrived five minutes before her listed opening time.
Maria opened the door and let us inside. “A terrible business the other day, wasn’t it?” she said, dabbing at her forehead with a tissue. “Have you had any after-effects?”
I shook my head. “No, thank goodness. What about you?”
“I think so. Only mild symptoms, although it could just be the stress,” she said. “I’ve had to deal with the police, and it hasn’t been easy. I work full-time as a music teacher too, so it’s all been time-consuming. Oh, and of course that poor man died, so that’s the worst part of all.”
“Yes, it’s an awful situation,” I said. “Had you met him before?”
She shook her head. “No, I hadn’t even heard of him or his company. It’s an unusual name, isn’t it?”
I agreed. “This is my friend, Thyme. I’d like to buy some tarot cards.”
Her face lit up. “I do have quite a nice selection. Were you after any in particular, or did you just want to browse?”
“I noticed those Celtic shaman ones the other day,” I said, pointing to a beautiful gold-edged box, on top of which was an illustration of a magnificent crow.
“Good choice. Feel free to take them out of the box and look at them.”
I took the cards out of the box and flipped through them, while Thyme looked at the other items for sale. “I’ll take these,” I said. I paid her, and she popped them into a gift bag. She seemed quite pleasant, so I felt comfortable pushing her for answers.
“Did you know that the police found sleeping tablets in my handbag afterwards?”
She looked shocked. “No, I didn’t.”
I nodded. “It seems that someone was trying to frame me, even though the tea leaves that were sent to you were clearly drugged.”
“I’ve been worried the police would take me in for questioning,” she said to me. “Have they questioned you?”
“Only at the hospital.” My mind went blank, and I didn’t know what to say next. I shot Thyme a look, hoping she would say something, but she was engrossed with looking at amethysts and various other crystals.
“The Gum Leaf Tea Company didn’t actually send you the tea, and didn’t send the tickets to the Influenza Marketing Company for a reading with you.”
Her hand flew to her throat. “Who told you that?”
I did not like to admit that we had done some snooping, so I avoided the question. The murderer obviously set it all up. The Influenza Marketing Company has no idea how they arrived there. I don’t suppose you still have the package that the Gum Leaf Tea arrived in?”
“No, sadly,” she said. “It arrived a couple of weeks ago, so I would have thrown it out in last week’s garbage.”
Thyme looked up from the crystals and raised her eyebrows. It was clear she still regarded Mystical Maria as a suspect.
“You can call me Barb,” she said.
“Barb, did you notice who didn’t drink their tea?”
She bit her lip. “You drank yours quickly, I remember, and then the tall blonde woman, and that poor man who died. You were the ones who drank it quickly. I only noticed the people who drank their tea fast. I didn’t remember the ones who took some time drinking.”
“Surely someone in the room with us that day was the murderer,” I said.
Maria was fast to agree with me. “I’ve come to the same conclusion. That’s why I’m surprised the police haven’t called us in for questioning.”
“I’m surprised about that too,” I said. “I expect they will, unless they think they know who did it, and they’re now looking for evidence.”
“I wonder about the tall blonde woman, what was her name again? Lucy Love. Yes, that’s right, Lucy Love. Such an unusual name. I remember she was quick to shut the window. That meant she had a legitimate reason for her fingerprints to be on it. The police dusted the whole window for fingerprints.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s interesting. Of course, the murderer could have worn gloves. The police didn’t search us, remember? They just took our handbags and wallets. The police wouldn’t have found any gloves.”
Barb narrowed her eyes. “Yes, that does make sense. Still, it did strike me as strange the way she was so keen to shut the window, and the victim lied about having a child. I found that strange, too.”
I tapped my head. “You know, I do think I’m having side effects. I hadn’t considered that until now. I’d pretty much forgotten all about it.”
Thyme raised her eyebrows. “What was this about a child? You didn’t tell me that, Amelia!”
I shrugged. “The doctor did say that one of the side-effects was slight memory loss. Mind you, I do remember it now, but I had forgotten until Barb mentioned it.”
Barb turned to Thyme. “Yes, it was all very strange. I definitely saw something terrible about to happen to him in his tea leaves, so I warned him to take care, but it was all tied up with a family relationship. I was sure it was something to do with a child. You know, I would bet you anything that the reason that man was killed was over a child.”
“And I thought it was because he was a philanderer,” I told her. “I heard he had affairs with all and sundry, and he’s married.”
Barb waved one finger at me. “That still fits,” she said. “Maybe he had an illegitimate child. Maybe one of the women he had an affair with was pregnant.”
“That certainly does fit,” Thyme said, joining in the conversation enthusiastically. “Aurelius had an affair with both Lucy Love and Sabrina Sanders. What if one of them is pregnant right now, or maybe has an illegitimate child? Or maybe his wife killed him because they couldn’t have children, and he got one of his mistresses pregnant.”
“Didn’t Aurelius and his wife have any children?” Barb asked Thyme.
“No idea, but that’s something I’m certainly going to find out,” Thyme said.
I was pleased. The questioning was going so well. Barb had an analytical mind, and was proving to be quite a good sleuth. I was annoyed with myself that I had been so befuddled. Barb had been drugged with the same drug that had been used on me, yet she had drawn some quite clever conclusions.
“And you’re absolutely positive the tea leaves showed that?” Thyme asked her.
Barb shrugged one shoulder. “The tea leaves are always accurate, but the way that someone interprets them might not be. It’s all open to interpretation. It’s just like scrying. Have you ever heard of scrying?”
“Yes, both Thyme and I do scrying,” I told her.
She shot me a shrewd look, and I figured she suspected we were witches. “Reading the tea leaves is just like scrying,” she said. “The thing is, sometimes I’m not sure about some things, and sometimes I’m fairly certain, but other times I just get a knowing. That’s the term I’ve given it myself, knowing. It means I know absolutely for sure. I knew something terrible was about to happen to that man, and I knew it was linked to his child.”
Thyme looked doubtful, so I said, “It’s true. Barb made it quite clear to him that he was pretty much in immediate danger, and she did insist that he had a child, even though he flatly denied it.”
“Did you have any idea if it was a girl or a boy, or whether it was unborn or born, or young or old?” Thyme asked her.
Barb shook her head. “No, unfortunately not. The focus wasn’t on the child so such as just the danger. The focus was on the man himself, if that makes sense.”
I nodded. “It does make sense. Still, what was he? In his fifties? He could easy have a thirty year old child, or a much younger child. Of course, it could be an unborn baby.” I sighed. “Such an age range.”
