THE WITCH AND THE TEA PARTY (A Rachael Penzra Mystery) (24 page)

“He’s a creep,” Patsy agreed. “But like you, I don’t see how the motive is enough.”

“I think a woman did it,” Aunt Myrtle offered her opinion. “I think Rita Jasper did it. She is bound to get some sort of inheritance. She seems to be about the closest relative.”

“If she was a
blood
relative,” Patsy said. “A lot of people are really weird about blood. We should be able to find that out without too much trouble. But if she gets money when she asks for it, would she throw that away? Keeping her cousin alive would probably pay off a lot better in the long run.”

“I wouldn’t be able to handle asking for
money, especially over and over,” I protested.

“But would you think murder was a better way?” David asked.

“No, probably not, but I don’t know how those people’s minds work. I would go get a job. It would be easier.”

“It isn’t that,” Patsy explained. “It’s a problem of envy. They get to hate the person who has more than they do. They feel they should be entitled for some reason, but you can bet that they wouldn’t give anything of their own away.”
All those psychology courses were paying off.

             
“Greed and envy,” David shook his head. “Two of the stupidest sins. At least murder might have a good reason behind it, and coveting your neighbor’s wife might pay off if you get lucky. Even gluttony has a reward, temporary or not.”

“I’d hardly call gluttony temporary,” I said, disgustedly, thinking of my waistline –
what remains of it. “It tends to stick with some of us for a long, long time.”

      
“I think we all need to go over the list carefully, and listen to the tapes we made again,” Patsy said. “There’s got to be something we’re missing.”

“Moondance thinks…” Aunt Myrtle choked. “Dora and I think it was that brother, the lazy one. Moondance would agree with us, I’m sure, if only she had the chance.”

None of us challenged her. Even gullible David had to have caught the blunder. Patsy and I exchanged sly glances. Sometime soon we were going to have to take a break from murder and find out what the three sweet old ladies were up to. They were definitely in touch. Aunt Myrtle was taking the separation far too well for it to be otherwise. The question was whether or not their continuing to have contact despite Jimbo’s ruling would end up causing a permanent break.

“I wish,” my aunt said, trying to sound pathetic. “That we could share what we’ve learned with Moondance. I find myself missing her so much that I pretend she’s around.”

David looked upset. Patsy and I weren’t buying it. Maybe it’s a gender thing, or maybe it was genetic.

Tea leaves
are great fun to read and as long as nobody gets too engrossed in the game, any amateur can do it.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a serious form of divination. It goes back many centuries. It’s simple enough to be done for fun – if you aren’t too worried about the actual accuracy of the reading. Just looking for the symbols can be intriguing. There are numerous books about meanings and symbols, often varying from book to book, but the simplest way is to have someone drink a cup of tea to the last few drops, tea with leaves in it. The leaves are then swirled around the edges and the remaining liquid carefully drained off. What do the separated leaves look like? Are they right side-up or upside down? Boats, trains, planes, etc. are usually related to trips. Is there a gun, a knife, a hatchet? Hmm. Heavenly symbols such as stars or moon or sun have meaning, too. You’ll be amazed at how many you can find. If you want to read tea leaves seriously or just for fun among friends, look up some of the more prevalent symbols and enjoy your tea break.

Chapter Eleven

The store was busy the next day and we didn’t have time to discuss anything we’d found out on our own. That was fine with me, since I hadn’t done any thinking. A good book had claimed my attention before I fell asleep, and morning had come much too soon for practical things like reasoned thought. I survived on instinct to find coffee and sustenance. By the time they kicked in, it was time to man the store.

The
deepest thinking I indulged in was to figure out how many more people I had to interview before we ran out of suspects and had to start figuring out what we’d learned. Nicholas stopped in early, leaving me a sealed envelope, which I assumed contained the list of people who should, in time, get legacies—always depending on whether or not he wanted to honor his wife’s wishes.

“I’m sending
Quentin over tonight,” he announced. “Then we need to have a good long review of what you’ve learned. And maybe it’s time you put that psychic ability of yours to work.”

The last comment was so snide that I didn’t bother answering it. Sensing that he’d gone too far (and he didn’t have to be psychic to figure that out) he quickly flashed a smile to show he was chuckle, chuckle, chuckle, just kidding. “I know you can’t make it work just by wanting it
to, but it would be nice if you could.”

David, who’d been hovering
, joined the conversation, if you could call it that. “Rachael needs to talk with everybody before she can draw conclusions,” he said, sounding like my psychic coach. “If she hasn’t had close contact with every one of them, she won’t be able to distinguish who is whom when her psychic side starts working.” He managed to add a touch of an accent to his speech. He really sounded as though he was making sense—which he wasn’t.

Nicholas thought
it sounded pretty convincing, too, and didn’t have my inside knowledge that although it sounded good, it didn’t really mean anything. “That’s fair,” he decided. “I can handle three more interviews, three more days. Then we have to seriously come up with some sort of information.”

We left it at that, fortunately being interrupted by the presence of customers, most of whom
had seemed perfectly willing to wait and listen to our interesting conversation. Ralph, who was really starting to develop a sense of the theater, chose the moment Nicholas left to mingle amongst them, spreading his coldest aura. Several shuddered and gasped. One poor woman quickly placed the towel she’d picked out to buy on the counter—then turned and almost ran out the door. That just made the others more fascinated, and no doubt they felt a little superior in not running away from a true psychic experience.

David smiled benignly and started waiting on them. I turned and left for my break. It wasn’t really time
for it yet, but it made for a great exit, stage left. Or would it be right? I was becoming a little hammy myself.

“They were all excited after you left,” David told me later, when things were fairly quiet. “I wish we could pull something like that every day. Ralph’s timing was perfect.”

A single knock on the counter showed us that he agreed. David might be able to tell whenever he’s around, but I have to hear raps or see something move to know.

“You really were great,” I told the air near where David’s glance had gone.

“Excuse me?” A little voice made me jump. Nobody. David leaned over the counter.

“Hello, how may we help you?”

I leaned over, too. A little girl stood there, the top of her head even with the counter.

“Do you know there’s a funny-
looking ghost sitting on your counter?” she asked, quite solemnly. “Now he’s frowning at me.” She frowned back at the spot I assumed Ralph was occupying.”

“Is he frightening you?” I asked, curious.

“No, of course not,” she looked disgusted at such a foolish question. “He’s just a ghost, but he was scaring people away from the books earlier, and people should read.”

She scarcely looked old enough to read
Dick and Jane books, but I had a feeling she was way beyond that already. “That’s something I didn’t think of,” I told her. “We’ll talk to him about it later. I imagine they sense his presence.”

David was enchanted. “How nice to meet a young lady who can see ghosts,” he said. “So few people can. Does it upset your family?”

“No, they think it’s precocious,” she told us. “I’m a genius, so whatever I do is okay with them. When I was younger, they thought I had imaginary friends. Truthfully, although I’ve tried to explain, I think they still believe that.”

“It’s no doubt easier for them,” he agreed. “And thankfully your intelligence is also good at understanding human nature.”

“Yes, I’ve tried to develop empathy. When I turned six and they finally let me into high school, I could feel all the sense of inadequacy in students around me. Adolescence is apparently an extremely difficult time. I haven’t decided yet whether or not to indulge in it, simply as a learning experience, of course.”

I didn’t know we’d had a choice.

“Gerry? Oh there you are,” a tired-looking woman joined us. “I hope she hasn’t been bothering you,” she half asked, half stated.

“Not at all,” I said quickly. “It’s been a pleasure.”

She sighed. “She’s so clever that sometimes people don’t feel comfortable around her.”

David slipped from behind the counter and walked off with Gerry while I checked out the items her mother was buying. The two of them were deep in conversation as David bent over a bit to listen to the little girl. “She’s obviously brilliant,” I told her mother. “And she seems to be polite. She’s certainly interesting.”

“It’s just that we can’t keep up with her mentally,” she said.

“You don’t have to, do you?” I asked. “I can’t imagine even trying to. You’re probably best off treating her just like any other child. Of course you’ll have to make
some
allowances for her intelligence, but she’s still a child. Does she play with children her age?”

“Sometimes she plays with her little sister, but I always have the feelin
g that it’s more a form of babysitting on her part.”

“It probably is,” I laughed. “Just look at it that way. You get a free babysitter.”

Surprisingly, she laughed, too. “You know, you have a point. We get all sorts of advice on how to raise her, but nobody mentions just letting
us
be who
we
are. It’s always what we should be doing for her. I think I’ll try out your advice.”

I hadn’t realized I’d given any, but that was okay.
Sometimes the same things we’ve heard a number of times suddenly stick. David and Gerry returned as her mother finished paying. “Please visit anytime you like,” he told her.

They made their good-byes. As they left I heard Gerry telling her mother, “This was a good store to come to. It’s nice to meet someone I can connect with mentally.”

I raised my eyebrows at David. “Obviously she isn’t talking about me,” I complained. “I didn’t realize you were a genius.”

He laughed. “I don’t carry that burden,” he assured me. “But I think it’s a relief, despite her
very mature outlook, to be able to talk to someone who also sees ghosts. It can’t be easy being considered a freak because she’s so smart. She doesn’t need the added burden of being considered odd because she sees through to the other side.”

It was one of those unusual encounters that make life interesting, and it gave me a complete break from thinking continuously about the murder.

Even when we read the list of names Nicholas had given me, the good mood persisted. The list itself didn’t help a great deal. One way or another, it seemed that everybody under suspicion stood to gain. Since he hadn’t included any figures, we had no idea whether the amounts were substantial or not. Her three cousins were acknowledged, as was Brandon Mandrell. She must have thought a lot of his ability to leave him money. The captain was left out, as were Karen and Quentin, but they were all apt to gain from her death through their relationships with Nicholas.

That evening, I wasn’t too upset about interrupting my time with David. It had almost become routine. Everybody except h
im scattered once the meal was over and things cleaned up. Then he and I would sit and chat about this and that until it was time for the next suspect to arrive. I certainly wasn’t thinking much about it being an actual murder case, that a woman was dead and peoples’ lives around her terribly disrupted. I blame my attitude on the theatricality of the whole thing. The fortune telling, the unlikeable victim, the limited choice of suspects. It was too much like one of my beloved cozy mysteries. I needed a reality check.

Quentin
, when he came, quickly leaped to the top of my list of suspects, strictly from dislike. I’m not always as scientific as I might be.

“Nothing stronger than coffee being offered?” was his first complaint. His fingers tapped the table restlessly as he sat at the table.

“Sorry,” I lied. I wasn’t at all sorry to deprive him of anything he wanted. “It wouldn’t really be fair to ply you with liquor and then question you, would it?”

“I’d handle it. But let’s get this over with. I’m doing my dutiful stint at the psychic
’s, quivering with fear that she’ll read my mind and decipher my deepest secrets.”

I swallowed the comments I would have liked to say, and se
ttled for something more discreet. “I really want to hear everybody’s opinions of the victim and the other suspects. Everybody has such different viewpoints.”