A Sip of Murder (Japanese Tea Garden Mysteries Book 1) Read online

  When the clock finally said the workday was over, I marched out of the door with determination. A loud caw made me jump. Was the crow still there? I quickly spun around and looked. An uneasy knot coiled in my stomach. Now there were three crows on the roof.

  “Oh, great. It’s got friends.”

  I quickened my pace to get away from the birds. An unwelcome piece of trivia popped into my head reminding me that a group of crows was called a murder. Kelly was talking to a man in a brown outfit by the gate. Her hand clutched a pen as she signed her name. My brows furrowed suspiciously. Suspicion was becoming my default.

  The man looked past her towards me. Kelly noticed the shift in his attention and glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, hey!” She called out joyfully as the man silently took his leave.

  “What was that all about?” I poked my head out of the gate just in time to see a delivery truck drive away around the corner.

  “Apparently when the souvenirs were shipped, two of the boxes ended up misplaced. We got so many other ones, we didn’t notice. He just dropped off the last two boxes.”

  “Shoot. I thought we had everything put away.”

  “Me, too. On the bright side, at least there are only two more we have to unpack.”

  “Might as well stash them in the giftshop.” Remembering the crows, I realized I didn’t really want to go back up the hill alone. “Um, would…would you like to grab one of the boxes and help me carry them up the hill?”

  Kelly glowed at the chance to be helpful. “Of course!”

  The two of us chugged up the hill with boxes full of merchandise in our arms. The three black birds weren’t perched in their previous spot. My eyes scanned the area for the crows, but they seemed to have flown away. Somehow, not knowing where they were put me even more on edge.

  “Thank you for helping me.”

  “No problem. I’m always here to help.” Kelly put her box in the middle of the floor and dusted off her hands.

  I stood there looking at the two unpacked boxes in the middle of the otherwise pristine shop. My need to unpack and organize the items tugged at me. If I stayed to unpack, I wouldn’t be able to make it to the library on time. I tried to convince myself that it would be fine if I left it alone for just one night. Researching the ordinances needed to be my first priority. The best defense was a good offense, and I had no intention of letting Daniel Walker have any sort of advantage over me.

  “I have to go take care of a family thing, but I can help you unpack in the morning.” Kelly glanced at her watch. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that needed to be somewhere else.

  “Okay. Yeah. Thanks.” I smiled and held the door open for her.

  Locking the giftshop, I glanced around one more time for the crows. Maybe they had finally gotten bored. Even as I turned the key to lock up, I felt the incompleteness of those unpacked boxes taunting me. The more stressed I was, the more OCD I felt. I had been under enough stress lately to fuel a full week of cleaning.

  I followed Kelly down the hill to the parking lot. She snapped the padlock shut on the front gate once we were both on the outside. My watch told me if I sped quickly enough, I should still have time to stop by the library before it was after hours.

  Slipping into my car, I pushed down the gas pedal and streaked out of the parking lot. The roads were studded with cars just trying to get home from work. I tapped my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. Come on. Come on! I’m running out of time. Traffic seemed to crawl. The slowness was exaggerated by my agitation.

  Eventually, I pulled into the library parking lot. There was only one other car in the lot. I jumped out of my vehicle and bolted inside. The air was cold in the building. The smell of old books was draped around the shelves. I could hear someone rustling pages in the office behind the front desk.

  “Hi!” I called out nervously.

  The librarian with the pixie cut poked her head out. “Can I help you?”

  “Uh, I hope so. I know you’re about to go home, but I’m looking for a book on city ordinances related to tourist attractions. Do you think you could help me?” I tried to make my eyes as big as I could. Pity was the only weapon I had at the moment.

  The girl sighed and looked at the stack of papers she had been working on. “Yeah. Sure. I’ll show you where it is.”

  “Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. You have no idea.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just follow me. I’m ready to get off work.” Her pace was quick and deliberate.

  The young woman led me down a row between several aisles of books. The endcaps were marked with codes on laminated paper. Dewey Decimal numbers were typed underneath the section codes of the books to help people find what they were looking for faster. The girl skimmed her finger along a shelf of books and then tapped a hardbacked copy with the tip of her pointer finger.

  “This should be what you need.” The book came away from the shelf with a zing of leather on wood.

  “Thanks.”

  I followed her back to the front desk where she scanned the barcode on the book and held out her hand expectantly. It took me a second to realize she was wanting my library card. Feeling foolish, I scavenged my purse for the plastic card. My hand came up victoriously. Her bored eyes examined the card. Pulling out a date stamp, she smacked a piece of cardstock inside the book with a check out date.

  “Late fees are ten cents a day.”

  “Okay. Thanks again.” I stuffed the book under my arm and power walked to the door.

  On my way out, I wondered if the chill in the air was from the air conditioner or her attitude. At least she had helped me, even if she wasn’t too happy about it. I clutched the book like it was a life raft. Researching would give me something to do so that I wouldn’t feel so vulnerable when it came to Mr. Walker. The lights on my car flashed as I unlocked it and clambered back inside. That hadn’t taken as long as I thought it would. The librarian came outside and locked the door behind her before I was completely pulled out of the parking lot. I must have just barely squeaked by. It was a good thing I had gotten there when I did.

  The drive to my grandmother’s house was ingrained in me now. My body slipped into autopilot. When I pulled into the driveway, I could see yellow light spilling out of the gap between the curtains. Mamma Jackie had a bad habit of leaving all of the lights in the house on. Since she wasn’t paying the electricity bill, she didn’t think about turning them off. Aggravation boiled in my gut, giving me heartburn. The lights weren’t the only things pushing my buttons. The thought of the unpacked boxes at the giftshop was still making me restless and easily agitated. I took a deep breath before I shut off the engine. Please just let the rest of the night run smoothly.

  I could hear the television even before I opened the door. It sounded like a game show was on. I groaned inwardly as I crossed the threshold. Television sound effects and canned laughter came from the living room. The house smelled like alcohol and microwaved dinners.

  “Mamma Jackie, I’m home!”

  Ice clinked in the other room. “Dinner’s on the kitchen table,” was the only welcome I got. Still, some warm food sounded nice.

  I sighed and lugged myself into the kitchen. My heart sank a little as I saw the microwaved dinner for one. It still had the plastic film on it, and the black tray it was in was already cold from sitting out so long. Frowning, I shoved it back in the microwave to reheat it. I closed my eyes and massaged my temples while my dinner spun around on the glass turntable. The beep of the timer sounded more like a siren when it went off. I grabbed a plastic fork and carried my food into the living room.

  Mamma Jackie was sprawled out on the couch. She had moved Moonshine’s cage so that he could see the television, too. “Long day?” she asked me, her eyes never leaving the screen.

  “Oh, it was alright.” I lifted a bite of enchilada to my mouth. The exterior was scalding hot, but somehow the center was still ice cold. With the way my day had gone, I didn’t know why I expected anything mo
re.

  “A young man came by earlier.”

  “Huh?” My eyes widened as I turned to look at her.

  “He was a handsome one.”

  “Who was he? What did he want?” The bite of food got in the way of my words.

  Mamma Jackie sighed. “I don’t remember his name. I was too enamored with his eyes. His muscles bulged in just the right places. His hair was—”

  “I get it. You think he looks like one of the guys in your romance novels. Did Mr. Fabulous tell you what he wanted?”

  “He said he had your credit card. Said you left it at the pharmacy. You’re not sick are you? You’ve been looking a bit pasty lately.”

  “Rawk! Pasty!”

  I ground my teeth together, but somehow managed to maintain some civility in my voice. “No. I’m not sick. I was there for the photo center.”

  “Well, I told him you had gone to work but that he could come back anytime.”

  “You can’t do that, Mamma Jackie! This isn’t your house. Do you not understand that someone was murdered at the garden? What if that man had been the murderer!”

  “Well, I never! After everything I’ve done for you, how can you talk to me that way? I was just being neighborly. If I’m that big of a burden to you, then I’ll leave.” She stood up. Her feet wobbled under her almost making her spill her drink. “I was just trying to be nice.”

  “Mamma Jackie, wait.” I couldn’t let her leave like this. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Just…please don’t invite people over or open the door for strangers. At least until this murder is solved.”

  Mamma Jackie was still pouting, but she seemed to accept my apology. “I think that can be accommodated. Did he ever find you, by the way?”

  “Yes. He didn’t mention that he had gone to the house first, though.” Why would Detective Sullivan leave that out? The discrepancy in the two stories made me uneasy. Mamma Jackie had no reason to lie about it, plus she knew that he had my credit card. The question was, why did the detective leave that part out of his story?

  “Well, as long as everything turned out okay, there’s no sense in worrying about it.” She plopped back down on the couch as if nothing had ever happened.

  “Worry!” echoed Moonshine from his cage.

  Suddenly, I had lost my appetite. “I think I’m going to go do some reading.”

  “Oh? Do you want to borrow one of my novels?”

  “No. Not that kind of reading. I picked up a book at the library. I figured if I was going to be running a business, then I needed to be familiar with any ordinances that might apply.”

  “If you say so.” She shrugged and tilted her glass to her lips.

  Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed the book I had gotten from the library and sat down to read. My foot tapped the floor absentmindedly. The words in the book were a muttering mess of legal jargon. My head ached. It was clear that I wasn’t going to get very far on my own. I knew somebody who would understand the legalese better but I wasn’t about to break down and call Drake. Maybe if I waited until morning and looked at it with fresh eyes, then it would make sense.

  I felt utterly helpless. Everything was spinning out of control. I couldn’t even do the research that I needed to do. There had to be something that I could do to make myself feel less incompetent. My fingers itched for a job. Any job. The thought of the boxes still sitting in the giftshop came back to me again. I could unpack. That would be something productive and easily manageable. I grabbed my keys and headed to the front door.

  “I’m heading out for a bit. There’s something at the garden I need to take care of. I’ll be back later.” I called out, but the only response came in the form of a dragon roar snore. Mamma Jackie had fallen asleep on the couch. Maybe that was for the best.

  Darkness had fallen since I had gotten home earlier. Stars peeked out between gaps in the rolling clouds. The moon was barely more than a hangnail. I crunched my way over to the driver’s side door of my car. The wind rattled the leaves overhead. I could hear the river running behind the row of houses. A few porchlights pierced the night, but their light barely illuminated anything beyond the few steps they hung over.

  There were no other cars on the road. The short bit of street that stretched from my grandmother’s house to the Japanese tea garden entrance seemed to roll up its sidewalks after seven. No cars. No people. No stray dogs. It was like driving through a ghost town. I turned up the radio for the brief drive so that I wouldn’t feel so alone.

  My headlights skimmed the front gate as I pulled into the parking lot. The padlock hung heavily from the iron bars. I took a moment to appreciate the dark beauty of the garden. When it was behind the gate and the stone walls, the garden seemed so secretive and seductive. It was like another world. I climbed out of my car and walked softly to the gate. My key slipped in smoothly. The gate opened without a peep. It was as if it was inviting me in, welcoming me into a warm embrace.

  Frogs croaked from tufts of grass. Crickets strummed their violin legs together. A whisper of wind licked the nape of my neck. I shivered. My feet carried me to the threshold of the giftshop. Suddenly, something dove at my head. I screamed and fumbled with my keys.

  A loud caw echoed off of the stone walls. Claws snatched at my hair. Jabbing the key into the doorknob, I jumped inside and slammed the door shut behind me. The crow was back. Yay. I rolled my eyes and flipped on the light. The two boxes were where we had left them. Two happy little jobs just waiting to be done.

  I jammed the tip of my key into the tape running along the top of one of the boxes. The metal teeth gnawed through the adhesive and cardboard. Flipping back the flaps, I saw more bubble wrapped merchandise nestled safely inside. I had ordered some necklaces with different charms. Some sported Japanese coins. Others had koi or metal pendants shaped like paper fans. I thought they would go well with the rest of the items I had already purchased.

  My fingers carefully unwrapped the necklaces and the display cases. I positioned them near the register for the impulse buyers. I might not know all about the ordinances, but I wasn’t a complete failure when it came to running the tea garden. Once I was satisfied with the arrangement, I moved to open the second box.

  A sudden noise from the back room made my blood run cold. I wasn’t alone.

  Chapter 17

  My mind flashed back to the last time I was in this position. That time it had just been Kelly. No, this time was different. Every fiber of my being was telling me that this was the real killer. I fought my desire to run. This was my place now. They were on my turf, and I would not just sit back and watch while they tainted my grandmother’s legacy. My eyes scanned the room for something to use as a weapon. That’s when I saw it.

  The picture from opening day was missing from the wall. Someone had snatched the picture and was trying to escape with it. What was so important about a printed canvas that someone would risk stealing it and yet take nothing else? I quickly searched my memories, trying to envision the painting in my mind. The picture was a little blurry. I tried to focus on small details that I remembered. The color of the sky. The clothes the engaged couple were wearing. With each detail, I could remember it more vividly.

  Suddenly, there it was. I could see it. All of it. In the corner, almost lost in the background was one detail that made everything else seem insignificant. The picture was the key to everything. How had I not noticed it before? Now someone, surely the killer, was about to get away with the only real substantial piece of evidence that had surfaced. I had to do something.

  A musty smell swirled up to meet me. Was that smoke? Milky, grey tendrils curled into the room I was in from the back office. The giftshop was on fire! I couldn’t see the flames yet, but the smoke was quickly filling the room. I pulled the collar of my shirt over my mouth and nose. My eyes frantically searched for the bright red fire extinguisher. I had moved it when we were fixing up the shop before the reopenin
g. Where had I put it?

  Coughing fits wracked my body. My eyes watered. Smoke stung my throat. I felt around underneath the front counter and located the extinguisher. I jerked the pin free and ran towards the source of the smoke. Some papers were flaming brightly on top of the desk which was now catching on fire, too. A tapestry blazed in the corner. I had to squint to see. The room was full of dark fingers of smoke that reached out to strangle me. I dropped to my knees. Aiming the extinguisher at the largest clump of flames, I squeezed the handle and swept the nozzle from side to side. As the foam coated the smoldering furniture, I remembered the gun I had discovered the other day.

  My shaking hands spun the combination on the safe. It may not have been loaded, but the thief wouldn’t know that. I snatched the ancient pistol and spied the open window. They were not going to get away that easily! I jumped onto the office chair and bolstered myself up high enough to slip through the opening. Not knowing who I was up against, I managed to grab my phone from my pocket as I ran in the direction of the receding silhouette.

  “Come on, come on!” The line kept ringing before it finally went to voicemail. “Detective, this is Maddie Morgan. I hope you get this message. Someone broke into the garden again. They set the giftshop on fire. I’m going after them. Get here as soon as you can!”

  I ended the call, but my phone slipped out of my hand. I don’t have time to pick it up. I have to keep going! I couldn’t risk my one chance to catch the thief. My phone would have to wait.

  The night grass was slick with dew drops. The gun in my hand felt out of place. I clutched it tighter as I ran. In the dim lighting, it was hard to see very far ahead. The sliver of the moon kept disappearing behind clouds. I was following the sound of feet snapping twigs as much as I was following my brief glimpses of the intruder. I was gaining on them. Their panting breaths stuttered in raspy echoes along the stone wall.