Spell It Out, page 8
“Is that the only reason you’re asking?”
I nodded. “She seemed so certain, and he denied it. She also said he was in danger over something to do with the child.”
“I don’t believe in astrology or any of that hocus-pocus,” James said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He strode away.
Thyme grabbed my arm. “Did you see the look on his face?”
I nodded. “Yes, he knows something, that’s for sure, Look, Thyme, that’s Lucy Love over there. Is that champagne she’s drinking? She can’t be pregnant.”
“Maybe she’s an irresponsible pregnant person,” Thyme said. “Or maybe it’s lemonade or something.”
“Let’s go and see.”
Lucy Love looked shocked to see us approaching. “What are you two doing here?” she asked, although her tone was not accusatory.
“Thyme and I are visiting friends in Tamworth overnight,” I said, “and we heard about the function so we thought we’d come.” It sounded lame, but it was all I had.
Lucy continued to look at us.
“Is that champagne?” Thyme asked her. “Where did you get it?”
“Yes, champagne,” she said. “The waiters are taking it around.”
Thyme and I exchanged glances. “Did Aurelius have any children?” I asked her.
“Not as far as I know,” she said. “Then again, he did keep his personal life very private. He never mentioned children, though.”
And I’ll bet he never mentioned his wife, either, I said silently. Aloud I said, “Mystical Maria seemed certain that Aurelius was going to be in danger over a child. Do you remember she insisted he had a child?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes, but that was just made up, wasn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“The tea leaf readings aren’t real,” she said. “Surely you don’t believe in such things?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” I told her. “However, the point is that Aurelius looked shocked when she mentioned a child.”
She shrugged, her manner indifferent. “Perhaps it struck a nerve. Perhaps he wasn’t able to have any, or something like that. Excuse me, won’t you.” She turned away to speak to an attractive man.
“She was much friendlier than that at the tea leaf reading and in the hospital,” I told Thyme. “Do you think she knows something we don’t know about this child?”
“I don’t know if she does,” Thyme said, “but I bet James Collins does. What do we do now?”
“I think we should check in with Camino. She might have overheard something.”
Thyme laughed. “Don’t encourage her. She really does think she’ll be able to sell those tree onesies as camouflage items.”
I laughed too, and we hurried over to Camino. “Camino, can you hear me?”
The branches rustled.
“See that man over there, the tall one? He’s James Collins. That tall blonde over there is Lucy Love. The short man talking to a very tall man is Bruce Gordon, and the blonde heading our way is Sabrina Sanders. Could you please keep your eye on them and see if you can overhear anything useful?” The branches rustled again.
Sabrina had now reached us. “Amelia, and Thyme, isn’t it?” Thyme nodded. “What are you guys doing here?”
As I was confident that Sabrina wasn’t the murderer, I decided to tell her the truth. “I’ve told the others that Thyme and I happened to be in town overnight, but I’m a little nervous because the police questioned me again. I told the head detective on the case about Aurelius’s reaction when Mystical Maria said he had a child. He completely dismissed it out of hand, so I thought I should follow up that line of questioning.”
Sabrina bit her lip. “The police questioned me in depth, and I was quite concerned. I even rang my lawyer to see if I needed to call her in when I was questioned again.”
“Surely they don’t think you did it?” I asked her. “You were the first one to drink the tea. As the sleeping tablets were in everyone’s tea, there’s no way you could have committed the murder.”
She held up both hands, palms upwards. “You’re preaching to the choir, Amelia! I told the police that, but they didn’t believe me. One of the detectives seemed particularly obnoxious. I mean, I know they’re only doing their jobs, but he seemed a little above and beyond.”
“I bet that was Detective Barrett,” I said.
She nodded. “Yes, that sounds like the name. He said I’ll have to drive up to the Bayberry Creek police station for questioning.”
I was shocked at that. “You’re kidding! When?”
“Tomorrow morning,” she said. “I can’t see why they couldn’t come down here. After all, it’s an hour’s drive.”
“Why don’t we have lunch afterwards?” I said, jumping on the opportunity.
She looked doubtful, but then said, “Sure.”
“Why don’t you text me as soon as you get out, and we’ll meet at the White Rose. It’s in the main street of town, diagonally opposite the police station.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
I scrawled my phone number on the back of an old receipt I retrieved from my handbag and handed it to her. “And Sabrina, please don’t tell anyone else why we’re really here.”
She made a zipping motion across her mouth. “My lips are sealed.”
After she walked away, Thyme and I accepted a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “I hope this champagne isn’t drugged,” I said to Thyme.
She laughed. “Luckily, this building is on one level. Nobody can throw anyone out a window.”
“We can question Sabrina tomorrow, but how are we going to find out more about Bruce Gordon? Oh, that’s him now, talking to Camino.”
Thyme and I had walked slowly with Sabrina while we were talking with her, and now we returned to Camino.
Bruce Gordon was engaged in a conversation with Camino. She had taken off her hood, and her face was red and flushed.
“You should speak to Sabrina or Lucy,” he said to her.
“Here are my friends now,” Camino said.
Bruce spun around and shot us an accusatory look. “You two again! What are you doing here?”
“We’re staying in Tamworth for the night, and we heard about this function,” I told him. “Camino makes onesies commercially, and she wanted us to bring her to see if the tea leaf company might be interested in buying onesies from her.” I hoped against hope that Camino had not just told him something contradictory, but to my relief, she nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, I already told this nice gentleman that. He told me he worked on the financial side of things with the contract with the tea leaf company, and told me the names of the two ladies who work on the marketing side.”
“Did Aurelius have any children?” I asked him without any preamble.
He was visibly shocked. “What did you say?”
I repeated my question.
“How should I know?” he said. “I’m not a nosy busybody.” He shot me a dark look and then scurried away.
“Such a nice man,” Camino said before putting her hood back on.
Ruprecht and Mint walked over to us, both sipping champagne. “I wonder why they are serving champagne instead of tea at such an event,” Ruprecht said. “It seems a rather strange thing for a marketing company to do.”
“Perhaps they’re hoping to get everyone drunk before they ply them with their marketing talk,” I offered. “Did you find out anything?”
“I found out plenty, and I hope it’s useful,” Ruprecht said. “I found out that people wanted to cancel tonight’s event given Aurelius’s murder, but others insisted it go ahead because everything was already organised, and it would be hard to postpone it. I also found out that Aurelius and his wife didn’t have any children. His wife had been married previously, and didn’t have any children from that marriage. Aurelius was not married previously.”
“That’s a lot of information,” I said, impressed. “How did you find out all that?”
“Grandfather has a way with the ladies,” Mint said with a wink.
Ruprecht appeared flustered. Camino’s branches shook.
Chapter 12
The following morning, I arrived at the shop late. I had slept in, tossing and turning and stressing about Alder. He had been conspicuous by his absence lately, and what’s more, he was acting secretive.
I arrived at the shop just before opening time. “Sorry I’m late. I slept in,” I said as I barged through the door.
To my shock, Alder and Thyme were speaking, their heads together. They both gave a start when they saw me.
“Alder, I haven’t seen much of you lately,” I said pointedly.
He shot me a sheepish look. “I’ve had a lot on. We’ll catch up soon, I promise.” He kissed me briefly on my cheek and swept out of the shop.
I watched his retreating back for a moment and then turned to Thyme. “What was that about?”
“He was just wondering when you would be in,” she said.
“But he didn’t say anything,” I told her. “Did he seem all right to you?”
“He didn’t seem his normal self,” she admitted, “but there’s nothing to worry about, Amelia. You’re not suspicious of him again, are you? It’s not Halloween.” She chuckled.
The past two Halloweens, I had been concerned that Alder was seeing someone else. My fears had proved groundless. “Very funny,” I said to Thyme. “You know, I’m worried that Sabrina won’t call me. I wish I had her number.”
Thyme looked up from arranging cupcakes in the display cabinet. “These Black Forest cupcakes should sell well. Yes, I was thinking that too. Maybe you should have asked her to text you from her phone so you’d have her number.”
I shrugged. “Too late now. There’s nothing we can do about it except hope she calls us.”
“What time are Ruprecht and Mint coming to mind the shop?”
“I asked them to come at eleven. Sabrina said she was being questioned at ten, so it will probably take an hour.”
“It didn’t take that long with you,” Thyme said.
“Don’t worry. I can mind the shop if the detectives are through with Sabrina quickly,” Camino said.
I thanked her and then said, “I’m sure she won’t actually be questioned at ten. They will leave her sitting in the waiting room for a while, like they usually do.”
Thyme nodded. “That is so true! I hope she’s forthcoming with information.”
“I hope so too, but at this point, I just hope she shows.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Thyme said. “What if she’s the murderer?”
I was surprised. “Why would you think that?”
“Because I’ve been watching a lot of episodes of Murder She Wrote lately, and it’s always the person you least suspect. Who do you least suspect out of the four suspects?”
“Sabrina, I suppose,” I said. I bit my lip. “But what about the tea? She drank it too.”
“Perhaps she took the antidote.”
I shook my head. “No, we’ve been over that already. Remember that the police tested for the antidote?”
Thyme wiped her hand across her forehead. “Oh yes, I forgot. Well, just because we don’t know how she did it, doesn’t mean she didn’t do it.”
I had to concede the point. “True. And she could have been in it with someone else.”
“Good thinking,” Thyme said. “You mean someone in that room, but who?”
I shook my head. “This is doing my head in.”
“Let’s just be a little suspicious of her at lunch today,” Thyme said.
I pulled a face. “If she turns up for lunch.”
I was surprised when Sabrina’s text came shortly after eleven. Ruprecht and Mint were already in the shop. “That’s good timing,” Ruprecht said. “I knew she would contact you, Amelia.”
“I didn’t share your confidence,” I admitted, as I texted Sabrina back to say we were on our way to the White Rose.
“Be careful of her,” Thyme hissed in my ear as we made our way out of the shop.
The White Rose café had been owned by several different people in the short time I had lived in Bayberry Creek. Each owner had redecorated it. The owner before last had painted it in pretty pale yellow colours with big paintings of flowers on the walls and white cane furniture. The latest owner, however, painted it in deep shades of red, and changed the tables to metal. One wall was black. It wasn’t a look I liked, but then again, the food was good, and they served the best pizzas in town.
As I walked in, I noticed that the side of the drink refrigerator had wallpaper on it that was meant to imitate a wooden wall. “Has this place changed hands again?” I asked Thyme.
She shook her head. “Not as far as I know. I think they just redecorated it a little.”
Instead of the metal front on the counter that ran across the front of the café, there was now fake wood. “I don’t know if I like this look more than the last one,” I told her with a frown.
We found Sabrina in a booth against the wall. She looked up and gave a small wave when she saw us. “I’ve already ordered coffee,” she said. “That was a gruelling experience."
Thyme and I sat opposite her. “Were you in there for the whole hour?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No, I think it was only about thirty minutes. They kept me waiting for a long time, and I had to drive like a bat out of hell to get here on time, as well.” She looked rather put out.
“What did they ask you?” I said.
She answered readily enough. “They asked me in great depth about my affair with Aurelius.” She rubbed one eye. “I was mighty embarrassed, I can tell you. It was just too awful.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.
“They asked me about James, Lucy, and Bruce, whether any of them have had arguments with Aurelius. Of course, they asked me if I had too.”
“Did they ask if he had a child?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No.”
I was frustrated. I was sure that was the clue to everything, yet Detective Barrett couldn’t get past his belief that tea leaf reading was a bunch of nonsense. Even if it was, the fact remained that Aurelius did react when Mystical Maria said he had a child.
“Is Bruce Gordon married?” I asked her. “What about James Collins?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“How sure are you?” I asked her.
She looked doubtful. “Well, I can’t say for sure, it’s just that they said they weren’t.”
“Do you think they were lying?” Thyme asked her.
Sabrina set down her coffee cup. “They could be, but why would they? I mean, it’s not as if either of them were dreadful flirts like Aurelius was. What other reason would someone have to lie about not having a wife?”
“Good point,” I said. The waitress who came over to take our orders interrupted me. Sabrina had already decided what she was having, and Thyme and I had our usual. “I found out last night that Aurelius and his wife didn’t have children,” I told her.
“You’re really set on his children idea, aren’t you?” Sabrina said.
“Yes. I wondered if perhaps Aurelius got one of his mistresses pregnant, or perhaps he had a child when he was younger and the child has just tracked him down.”
She nodded. “Look, the way he was, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a dozen illegitimate children all over the country. Plus he was a millionaire, so an illegitimate child would be very annoyed if Aurelius didn’t want to know anything about them.”
“Yes, that’s a good point,” I said, “but if the illegitimate child had Aurelius’s name on the birth certificate, and the child could claim the inheritance.”
“But if the child was anywhere near Bayberry Creek at the time of the murder, then they would be the number one murder suspect,” Thyme said.
I inhaled the heavenly scent of coffee. “I didn’t realise he was a millionaire. Did he make all his money through the Influenza Marketing Company?”
“He had real estate investments in Sydney,” Sabrina said. “He bragged about them all the time. Apparently, he grew up in Sydney, and inherited his parents’ old house. He said it wasn’t worth much when his parents bought it, but it was worth a couple of million when he inherited it. He was already making good money in a Sydney marketing firm at the time, and then he made some wise investments, and as they say, the rest is history.”
“I wonder if that’s got anything to do with him being murdered,” I said.
“How could it?” Thyme asked me.
I shrugged. “Just a weird feeling.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just pop to the bathroom,” Sabrina said. “I’ve had too much coffee.” She chuckled.
As soon as she was out of sight, Thyme said, “Her phone is on the table!”
I looked at the phone. “Yes, it is.”
“Amelia, look through her emails.”
I shrank back in my seat. “I couldn’t!”
Thyme snatched the phone. “Honestly, Amelia, sometimes I wonder about you.” She bent over the phone, her fingers moving over it.
I was shocked. “What are you doing?”
“I’m forwarding her latest emails to myself so we can read them later,” she said. “Keep a lookout for her. She won’t take long.”
“Then hurry up,” I said. “And don’t forget to delete the emails in the Sent items folder. Hurry, Thyme. It will be really bad if she catches you.”
Thyme merely grunted.
I broke out into a cold sweat. I tried to think up a plan, and decided I would jump up and pretend I was going to the bathroom while blocking Sabrina’s view of Thyme.
“I’m looking through her messages now,” Thyme said.
“Well, for goodness’ sake don’t send those to yourself,” I said. “You won’t have time to delete them.”
To my relief, Thyme set down the phone just as Sabrina emerged. I hoped I didn’t have a look of guilt plastered all over my face. Fortunately, the waitress brought our meals at that point, and Sabrina automatically moved her phone out of the way. If it wasn’t in the place she had left, she apparently didn’t notice.
