Tea Room Toxin: Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mystery #5 (Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries) Read online

  Tea Room Toxin is the fifth story in the Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mystery Series, but these books can be enjoyed in any order. However, if you absolutely must begin with the first book in a series, please check out Flea Market Fatal.

  Missy DeMeanor is so happy for her best friend, Noreen. Today is the grand opening of Noreen’s new tea room, Do Re Tea.

  Hundreds of people have shown up to celebrate. The tea is flowing. Everyone is having a good time. Things are going great for Noreen.

  Things for Missy, on the other hand, have been up and down. While her and Tyler’s rekindled romance is growing more serious, the bookstore is closer than ever to closing. And things are about to get even crazier…when Noreen's business partner, Tonya, dies during the grand opening of the tea room!

  The rumor going around is that poison killed Tonya. And everyone—including the police—suspects Missy. Not just because she and Tonya never got along, but also because Missy gave Tonya the cup of tea that contained the poison!

  With the net closing in, Missy has no choice but to once again don her amateur sleuth hat. But can she solve the murder before the police arrest her?

  Tea Room Toxin is a cozy mystery with plenty of twists, turns, humor, and a little bit of romance.

  Tea Room Toxin

  Brianna Bates

  Chapter One

  Melissa, a.k.a. Missy, DeMeanor said, “Yes, I’ve lost a little weight.”

  Ellen Stein looked her up and down again, as if she’d been expecting a different answer. “Oh. OH. Congratulations.”

  Ellen pretended like she’d just seen someone else she knew across the room and excused herself. Missy got a kick out of watching her try to butt in on a conversation in order to keep up with the lie.

  Missy smiled.

  She was happy.

  It had taken a reunion with her high school crush, now Chief of Police in Grove City, Tyler Brock, to make her realize just how blah the last few years had been. Sure, she’d helped the police solve a few murders. And sure, she had her own home and pursued her many hobbies and had some great friends. But something had been missing.

  Missy wasn’t the type of woman that needed to be with a man. She’d always gotten by fine on her own. Being with Tyler, though, was a dream come true. He made everything better. He was so level-headed, and funny, and sweet. The man made life sweeter and more interesting.

  As if he’d read her mind, Tyler Brock stepped into the tea room. Off-duty today, he wore a pair of old jeans and a nice button-down shirt. He smiled when he saw her, just like he was seeing her for the first time.

  “Hey there,” she said.

  Tyler’s powerful arms hugged her, and when they kissed her insides felt like liquid.

  “You look nice,” he said, like always.

  “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  He took the tea room in. It had a country style to it, with lots of comfy armchairs and small tables.

  “Interesting,” he said.

  “Bet you never thought you’d find yourself in a tea room.”

  “To have thought that, I would have had to know there was such a thing as tea rooms in the first place.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  He shook his head.

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” He smirked. “That’d be like me expecting you to know what a murder book is.”

  Missy put her hand on his side, feeling the solid muscle under the skin. “Detective Brock, you forget one important thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I read a lot.”

  “Authors never get details about police work right.”

  Missy pinched his side, and Tyler batted her hand playfully. Arms around each other, they walked around the spacious room together. The lace curtains were backlit brightly by the morning sun. Noreen ran from one room to the other, still wearing her apron, still trying to finalize the last minute preparations.

  Missy smiled at seeing her friend hurrying around and nodded at the many other women she recognized. So many she’d grown up with, or seen at work…it made her feel so connected.

  The study had more tables and chairs, but was darker and had bookshelves built into the walls. Missy recognized more than a few of the paperbacks in here. Most of them she’d read and most of them had been purchased from Books and Crannies, where she had worked since graduating from college.

  “Pretty nice,” Tyler said.

  “You are the world’s worst actor.”

  “I’m a cop.” He looked at her sideways. “I’m a great actor.”

  Finding themselves alone, Missy couldn’t help but stare deeply into those hypnotic eyes of his. Part of her was waiting to wake up at any moment from this dream that had been going on for months now…

  Before he could kiss her, though, she heard Tonya coming from the other room. The woman’s voice boomed throughout.

  “Oh no. I would never work with her. Thank God she still works in that bookstore.” Tonya was tall and blonde and perfectly put together, and as usual she was proudly wearing her sorority pin on her collar.

  Tonya stopped when she saw Missy and Tyler embracing in the middle of the room. A group of women had followed her on the tour of the tea room.

  Missy glared at the woman. Tonya had been talking about Missy with her friends. The tone of her voice had been disapproving and incredulous, like she couldn’t believe anyone would work in a bookstore. Tonya’s friends put two and two together, realizing Missy was the woman Tonya had been bad-mouthing.

  “And this is the study.” Tonya pretended like nothing had happened. “As you can see, it’s very romantic.”

  Missy felt Tyler stiffen.

  “It’s a real classy place you’ve got here,” Tyler said.

  Tonya smiled, like she hadn’t picked up on his irony. “Thank you, Detective Brock.”

  From the moment Missy had met Tonya, the two women had never liked each other. They shared a mutual friend—Noreen—who had been Missy’s BFF since middle school. But these days, Noreen spent most of her free time with Tonya as opposed to Missy and now that they were running this tea room, Missy barely saw her long-time friend.

  “Everyone, this is Melissa DeMeanor. This is Noreen’s friend from high school.”

  For a moment Missy and Tonya just stared at one another. Their mutual dislike was palpable. Normally that would have made Missy uncomfortable, especially as there were other people watching. But ever since Missy had started dating Tyler, she’d felt differently. Changed would have been too strong a word, but Missy definitely acted more boldly. Dating her high school sweetheart hadn’t given her confidence. It wasn’t like she just needed a man to make her life meaningful. But what it did was to bring into focus what was really important.

  And important did not include being nice to Tonya, a woman who had never given her a chance.

  “Actually, I’m Noreen’s best friend. But why split hairs?”

  Tonya’s eyes bulged. She hadn’t expected such a reaction from Missy, especially not in front of others.

  “As I was saying…” Tonya turned to her group and ushered them out of the study.

  Surprise registered on Tyler’s face. “Nice one, Miss.”

  “What?” she asked innocently.

  “You went warp seven on her.”

  “She’s had it coming for a long time.”

  He pulled her close. “I know. Now, should we—”

  His phone buzzed. Missy groaned.

  Tyler checked the caller ID. “Yeah, it’s Vinnie.
Gotta take this.”

  He pecked her cheek and left the room in a hurry. Vinnie was Tyler’s only other detective on the Grove City police force, and the two men had been busy investigating a recent string of home invasions.

  Missy left the study and wandered. The main room was filling up fast now, plenty of people there to celebrate the grand opening of Noreen and Tonya’s tea room, Do Re Tea. Ellen Stein had opened the upright piano but wasn’t playing it.

  “Hey, Miss.”

  Her friend from WiredFit, Marie, waved from the middle of the crowd and worked her way over. All the seats were taken, and the standing room was mostly taken.

  The two women hugged.

  Missy gave her the once-over. “You look great, Marie!”

  “I know, but still got a ways to go.” She patted her tummy. Marie had started at WiredFit about six months before Missy. In her time at the gym, she’d been able to lose sixty pounds. Missy was really proud of her friend, and seeing Marie’s success was a great motivator.

  Though in that regard, Missy had a long way to go. Over the past couple years, she’d managed to lose twenty pounds. But the weight always had a way of creeping back…

  “So I’ve got some dirt.” Marie leaned in and lowered her voice. “Wanna hear it?”

  Missy laughed. No matter where she went, Marie made friends instantly and people immediately confided in her. There was just something about her open and friendly face that made people feel comfortable.

  “Oh yeah. What do you have?”

  Marie looked over Missy’s shoulder, like she was checking for someone. The place was really crowded now. A tall man with what looked like a perpetual frown bumped into her. She chuckled nervously when their eyes met. But the man just looked at her, offering nothing by way of apology.

  “Excuse me,” Missy said.

  He looked back at her, his eyes intense. The man’s two-day stubble was mostly grey, and his eyes were grey, and his hair was greying. He looked like he hadn’t smiled in years.

  She waited for some kind of response, but he just turned and pushed his way through the crowd.

  “Whoa, close one,” Marie said.

  “Who was that?” Missy asked.

  “Actually, he’s the one I heard about.” Marie almost stood on her toes, that was how close she got. “John Grim.”

  “Grim? That’s perfect.”

  Marie smiled. “He’s Tonya’s cousin. His sister died of an overdose when they were younger. For awhile, everybody thought he’d given it to her and made it look like an accident.”

  Missy stared at her friend with disbelief. “Who tells you these things?”

  “Come on, Miss, you know I can’t reveal my sources.”

  “I heard you and Tonya already had a blowout too.” Marie smirked.

  “That happened literally thirty seconds ago, how did you…”

  Marie just winked.

  Missy laughed. It didn’t really matter. What did she care if everyone here knew she didn’t like Tonya?

  “What else have your unparalleled powers of gossip managed to soak up?” Missy asked.

  Marie mock-frowned. “Gossip is such an ugly word. I can’t help if people decide to overshare.”

  “Hey, you two.” Noreen, still aproned, bounced through the crowd. “Thanks for coming!”

  Missy and Noreen hugged. “The tea room is great, Nor!”

  “Yes.” Marie smiled. “I’m sure you and Tonya will do great.”

  Noreen smiled back. “What do you think, Miss? We made a great team before, why don’t we work together again?”

  Missy smiled nostalgically. She and Noreen had worked at the used book shop, Books and Crannies, for fifteen years together. Due to the recent downward trend of sales in physical books the owner had been forced to downsize his staff. Good friend that she was, Noreen had volunteered to be let go so Missy could stay on. Missy had tried to argue, but Noreen had already made the decision before Missy knew.

  Once the news of the tea room’s opening spread, of course Tyler had suspected that Noreen’s move wasn’t as selfless as it seemed. He figured she and Tonya had had these plans to open the tea room already in place, so Noreen was hardly making a sacrifice. Missy dismissed the cynical attitude—which was uncharacteristic of Tyler—thinking her friend had done a good thing. Besides, even if the tea room was in the works, there was no guarantee of the business’s success. Noreen, in other words, had given up an income while she was in the midst of beginning a new venture. Missy had never owned her own business but knew from speaking with others that most new companies failed, and those that failed did so within the first year.

  “Sorry, Nor. You and I make a great team, but there’s no way I could answer to Tonya.” She smiled sweetly. “She and I are oil and water.”

  Noreen nodded sadly, a surprising reaction. Missy thought she’d just been asking to be polite, but based on the disappointment creeping into Noreen’s eyes, Missy could tell she’d been asking in earnest.

  Missy briefly—very briefly—considered the idea. It would have been great to work with Noreen again. But there was just no way she could work with Tonya.

  “Come on, Nor. It’s nice of you to ask, but you know Tonya wouldn’t go for it either.” Rather than cast a pall over the day by revealing what Tonya had said in the study, Missy decided to keep things vague.

  Noreen sighed, and slowly her smile came back. “Yeah, I know. Doesn’t hurt to dream, though.” She looked around the crowded shop, pride filling her eyes. “The last few months have been crazy. You wouldn’t believe how much we had to spend on renovations and inspections and…” She shook her head. “I’m amazed we actually made it to this point.”

  Marie leaned in. “I never doubted you girls. You were both so motivated to make it work. Though I don’t know how you afforded it…if I asked a bank for a small business loan they’d laugh me out of the building!”

  Missy smiled. This was Marie’s sly way of asking Noreen how they got the cash together to open the tea room. Missy knew without knowing how much Noreen had earned at the used bookstore—if she was earning more than Missy, it couldn’t have been significantly more. And Missy was in no position to stop working for months and start a new business like this with plenty of overhead.

  Noreen nodded. “It was difficult. I moved back home, in part to help my mother because she’s not getting around so well anymore. Selling my house went a long way, but it was Tonya that really got us what we needed. Without her resources we would have never gotten off the ground.”

  Missy watched Marie as the other woman filed this tidbit away. She smiled to herself. Noreen had already shared the details of the business arrangement with her because they’d been friends forever. Leave it to Marie to find a way to get these details out of Noreen innocently.

  Marie smiled and touched Noreen’s shoulder. “This place is going to be great. I’m so happy for you.”

  Tonya called Noreen’s name from the kitchen. Noreen smiled and grew almost jittery.

  “I think we’re almost ready. Be right back!”

  Noreen hurried into the kitchen.

  After she’d gone, Marie leaned in and spoke in a low tone. “Tonya is sixty-five percent owner. Noreen owns fifteen percent.”

  Missy was never good at math, but knew that didn’t add up to one hundred. “What about the other twenty percent?”

  “Tonya’s ex-husband.”

  Missy’s eyes bulged. “What?”

  Marie nodded, her eyes drifting toward the front of the room by the entrance. “Angel investor, is what I think they call him.”

  “Angel investor?” Missy frowned. She’d always managed her money well and had taken care of herself since college, but she knew the bare minimum about finances. For the last ten years she’d put a little bit of money away in a mutual fund, which she literally never checked. She had no idea what an angel investor was. “Which one he is?”

  Marie was still looking toward the door. “Tall, dark, and handsome,
in the polo shirt and shorts.”

  Missy’s eyes drifted to that corner of the room. “I see five men fitting that description.”

  “You are not picky, are you?” Marie bobbed her head. “He’s got a stubble-beard and a strong jaw.”

  Missy spotted him. The man put one phone away, only to take out another. She immediately didn’t like him.

  “Who has two phones?” Missy asked. “That’s just ridiculous.”

  Marie shrugged. “He’s a high-powered vice-president of some healthcare insurer, so he can afford the two phones.”

  “I’ll bet the company pays for both. What’s his name?”

  “Roger.”

  “Yep. Sounds like a vice-president.”

  The women laughed, though Missy had to admit Roger was easy on the eyes. The door at the entrance to Do Re Tea kept opening as more people filed in for the grand opening. Missy was so happy for Noreen. Her friend had been drifting her last few months at the book shop, decidedly unhappy in what she was doing and looking to change her life. Well, she certainly had. Even if the tea room failed, at least Noreen would be able to look back and say she’d tried something that few other people did.

  Missy was so proud of her. She wondered if she’d ever find something like that for herself. She knew her days were numbered at the bookstore. Her boss, Brett, was slower to restock their inventory and they sold fewer books almost every day.

  It got so crowded in Do Re Tea that people were forced into the study. Missy and Marie were nudged backward till they were basically smooshed against the people behind them. Missy had never felt claustrophobic before, but it was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in. Marie seemed not to notice.

  “Are you joining us tonight?” Marie asked. “I hear this is Anastasia’s toughest workout of the day ever at WiredFit.”

  “I’m starting to think I’m a masochiist,” Missy said. “By going there.”

  “We’re all part masochist, part sadist,” Marie said. “I read that somewhere.”

  “Probably the internet.”

  Marie poked her side playfully.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.”