Elementary in Teaberry Read online

  Megan reached for it. Erica was right. The alphabet blocks were sitting on top of what looked like an old trunk. The trunk was the antique wooden kind with a flat top. It reminded her of something someone would bring over when they first immigrated to the states pre-nineteen hundreds. It looked old. Very old. Leah would probably love to have it at Vintage Teaberry. She shifted her focus to the alphabet blocks.

  “Yeah, these are the same kind. Made by Elementary in Teaberry.” She ran her fingertips lightly over the image of them. “Too bad they had to be involved in something like murder.”

  “Tell that to the murderer,” Erica mumbled. “Hey, you never did tell us who you suspect for the murder.”

  Megan raised one finger as she began to explain then her face scrunched up. She looked back down at the photo. “Does that say what I think it says?”

  Erica wheeled her chair over and looked.

  Megan pointed at the alphabet blocks. Although there were about two dozen of them on the top of the trunk, four stood out from the rest.

  Erica read them out loud. “It’s letters and numbers. The letter s, o, then a two, and an h.”

  “Exactly,” Megan said.

  Jerry groaned. “Tell me you did not just say that.”

  Erica lifted her hands. “What?”

  Megan pointed at Jerry. “Flip the photo on your computer so it reverses it.”

  Jerry had one hand over his mouth as he did what Megan asked. He was muttering to himself that he should have caught it.

  “How did we not see that?” Erica pointed at the image. “H two oh s. The victim’s body was right next to the letters. He must have spelled it out. That spells Waters. Grady Waters killed Gregg Eastman.”

  Megan took a breath. “Have you looked at Rhonda Waters?”

  “Seriously? Her husband is the one with the bloody jacket in his truck,” Erica pointed out.

  “How often have you used Brad’s jacket when you were just running outside for a minute?” Megan asked. “I do it with Dan’s all the time at the farm.”

  Erica stared at Megan for a moment before responding. “Why Rhonda?”

  Megan shook her head. “I don’t know. Just a bunch of little things. I know most people think she’s a nice lady. And she probably is,” Megan said quickly.

  “But?” Erica prompted.

  “The twins are fairly sure she’s having an affair,” Megan said. “And then there’s something Caitlyn said. About killing two birds with one stone.”

  Erica’s brows went up. “You lost me.”

  Jerry swiveled around in his chair. “I requested a warrant for the computer from Waters Food. I want to see what was edited out of the security video before she saved them onto the portable drive.”

  Erica nodded her understanding at Jerry’s comment.

  “And that video Megan wanted is here.” Jerry turned back toward his computer as the others crowded behind him to watch.

  Megan kept talking as they watched Jerry speed through the video. “If Rhonda wanted to have an affair, she’d have to do it away from both home and work.”

  “Agreed on that much,” Erica said. “But I still don’t get the thing with the birds.”

  “What if she wanted to get rid of both Gregg and Grady?” Megan asked as they watched Gregg go in and out of the activity building in superfast speeds.

  “Wait!” Erica said as another vehicle pulled into view. “The building isn’t open for the season yet. There shouldn’t be anyone else there.”

  Jerry slowed the video to normal speed. They watched as Rhonda Waters got out. Gregg came out with a smile on his face to greet her. He leaned in for a kiss. She turned away at the last moment. All he got was cheek. An argument ensued. After Rhonda said one parting comment, she tried to return to her vehicle. Gregg appeared to beg her to stay. His words fell on deaf ears. Rhonda climbed into her vehicle and left.

  “Looks like we need to talk to Rhonda Waters,” Jerry said.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It was the kind of morning where she seemed to take three steps back for every small task she managed to accomplish. She knew the dryer had shut off. She knew she needed to get the laundry out. But there was no way she could deal with the laundry and a very fussy Aaron at the same time.

  She thought about her plans for the afternoon and wondered if her mother would be able to cope. The sound of Aaron howling at some new unknown upset tipped the scales. She switched the slow cooker on then crossed the kitchen to lift him up.

  “You are just not a happy guy today.” Megan used the towel slung over her shoulder to wipe his drool. “Uh, oh. Are we getting more teeth? Is that your problem today?”

  Miserable blue eyes filled with tears that spilled over just as the kitchen door opened.

  “Someone doesn’t sound happy.” Sharon closed the door behind her and slipped her jacket off.

  “I think I should probably cancel my lunch plans.” Megan tried bouncing Aaron gently on her hip. “I think he’s teething.”

  Sharon crossed over to the freezer. “I put a wet washcloth in the freezer before I left last night.”

  “You did?” Megan watched her mother remove the washcloth from a zippered bag.

  “I wet part of it and freeze it. It gives him something cold to chew on.” Sharon held the washrag out for Aaron.

  He reached for it immediately.

  “Huh. Nice trick.” Megan passed him over to her mother.

  “He likes anything cold. Fruit slushies are good. Cold applesauce. Even cold vegetables.” Sharon took the towel from Megan’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”

  “You’re sure?” Megan checked the time. “I’m going to get the laundry from the dryer first.”

  A short time later, she found a parking space about two blocks down from the diner. She knew she was the last one to arrive as soon as she stepped inside the diner. She slid into the empty seat between Lauren and Caitlyn.

  “You okay today?” Erica eyed Megan with concern.

  Megan’s hands went up to smooth her hair into a tail. “We’re teething.”

  “Ah.” Erica nodded knowingly.

  “It’ll pass,” Lauren said in a soothing voice.

  “Only to be replaced by the next thing to keep you awake at night,” Erica added with a grin.

  “You wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Caitlyn said.

  “I would not,” Erica agreed.

  Tyler stopped next to Megan and set a pot of water and tea bags next to her coffee cup. “We have a new special today, ladies.” Tyler motioned toward the board on the wall with a flourish.

  Caitlyn pointed. “Hey! It’s named after Megan.”

  “It’s a modified version of a recipe she gave to Holly,” Tyler explained. “We believe in giving credit where credit is due.”

  Megan grinned at the board. “He told me they were going to do that. I’ll have that.”

  “That’s what I’ll have too,” Caitlyn said.

  Erica nodded her agreement.

  Lauren asked for a salad with a sigh as Tyler moved off to put in their orders.

  “You know you’re going to eat part of ours,” Erica said to Lauren.

  “Food doesn’t have as many calories when it comes from someone else’s plate,” Lauren said with a smile.

  “Speaking of using recipes,” Caitlyn said. “What happened with Rosie Godsey’s eggplant parmigiana that Waters Food is selling?”

  “I heard that Grady Waters said he didn’t know anything about Rhonda stealing recipes from other people in town,” Lauren said.

  “According to Rosie, Grady has asked his lawyers to figure out a fair settlement.” Megan poured hot water over a teabag in her cup.

  “Speaking of settlements,” Caitlyn said. “Ward Beecham stopped and gave me a photo of the original owners of Elementary in Teaberry. I hung it up in my shop next to the alphabet letters. It has the three generations of Wieland men standing in front of the toy shop.”

  “He’s probably pretty hap
py about the money he was given to expand his scale model of the town,” Erica said.

  “He’s thrilled,” Caitlyn agreed. “He said he’s already talking to model railroad organizations all over the country to start a chapter here. They’re giving him all kinds of advice on setting up his first layout.”

  “My kids are going to love seeing that,” Erica said.

  Lauren nodded agreement. “I have a question. Why was Rhonda Waters cheating on her husband? The woman had everything going for her.”

  Erica shook her head. “That I can’t tell you. She did argue that her husband started it.”

  “Apparently Grady had an affair early on in their marriage,” Megan explained.

  “According to Rhonda, she was so upset at the time that she swore she’d never have children with him,” Erica said.

  “That is so sad that they couldn’t work through it,” Lauren murmured.

  “Is that why Rhonda killed Gregg? Just to frame her husband?” Caitlyn asked.

  “She wanted to kill two birds with one stone,” Erica said with a frown. “She admits to having an affair with Gregg but claims she wanted to break it off. He was the one who didn’t want to let her go. He told her he wanted her to leave her husband and marry him.”

  “So Kirk Moody didn’t have anything to do with it?” Lauren asked.

  “No, even though it threw us off at first because there were so many reports of Kirk Moody in arguments with Gregg Eastman prior to his death.” Erica’s eyes went to the entrance as a couple stepped into the diner. “We did discover that Kirk’s wife, Salina, previously had an affair with Gregg. That’s who was feeding the numbers to Gregg.”

  “For the bids he was making?” Caitlyn asked. “Salina was telling Gregg what her husband was going to bid?”

  Erica nodded. “So that Gregg was always the low bidder whenever the two of them competed for jobs.”

  “What about the neighbor?” Megan asked. “The one in the video tampering with a Waters Food truck.”

  “Ralph Stanko. He’s in some hot water for that. He’s telling anyone who will listen that he was just trying to reduce the traffic on his road,” Erica explained. “As near as we can tell, he didn’t have anything to do with Gregg Eastman’s murder.” She pointed at Megan. “But we did get the unedited video from Waters Food. It shows Rhonda stuffing the bloody jacket under the seat of Grady’s truck. The same truck that she knew was scheduled to be serviced.”

  “She wanted it to be found,” Lauren said.

  “Yep.” Erica reached for her iced tea. “We also discovered the other phone the victim used for his personal calls. Rhonda Waters shows up in his call list on a regular basis. I think the police department did a good job finding evidence. It’s up to the courts to take it from here.”

  “You’re planning a staycation, I hear.” Lauren shifted back in her seat when Tyler approached carrying a tray of food.

  “Several mini staycations,” Erica agreed. “We decided it would be easier to stay home for now instead of trying to travel with two toddlers.”

  “Ha! No doubt.” Tyler set a plate of food in front of Erica. “You should try it with a food truck traveling all over the states like my parents did.” He paused after setting all the meals down. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “We’re good for now, I think.” Erica looked around the table as the others nodded. Tyler headed back to the kitchen.

  “What has your mom decided, Megan?” Lauren frowned at her salad.

  “She and LeAnn have been spending a lot of time together. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them came up with something together.” Megan lifted her plate and shifted some of her meat onto Lauren’s salad. “Speaking of LeAnn, she’s been drinking a lot of teaberry tea lately.”

  Lauren’s brows went up. “Really?”

  “Does this mean she and Gabe are getting back together?” Erica asked.

  Megan gave half a shrug. “I know they’ve been looking at houses together.”

  “True,” Erica agreed. “That’s how they ended up finding Gregg Eastman.”

  “And the alphabet blocks,” Caitlyn added with a grin.

  Erica shook her head. “Blocks that spelled out the killer’s name.”

  “I guess an old toy design can still prove useful in the future,” Megan said.

  Megan’s Recipe

  Rainbow Cake

  1 standard cake recipe or boxed cake, yellow or white

  1 package gelatin such as strawberry

  1 cup boiling water

  1/2 cup cold water

  2 cups whipped topping, thawed

  Bake cake in 13x9 pan following directions. Cool cake in the pan for 15 minutes. Prick with fork at 1/2 inch intervals.

  Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add cold water. Stir. Pour over warm cake then chill 3 to 4 hours.

  Top cake with whipped topping. Add sliced fruit as garnish just before serving, if desired.

  Books by R. A. Wallace

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