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  GREEN TEA

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, businesses and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any real person is intended or implied.

  GREEN TEA Copyright 2011 by Sheila Horgan. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, or distributed without the written permission of the author, with the exception of short quotes for purposes of review.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “You want to go on Liam’s honeymoon with me?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Cara, that seemed like a perfectly clear question.”

  “Teagan, you’re anything but clear these days.”

  “If that’s an attempt at humor because of my rash…”

  “Why would Liam and Morgan want us to go on their honeymoon? I’m not even sure they’re taking Jordan, and Liam adores him, and he’s Morgan’s one and only child. We aren’t that high on either one’s list.”

  “Not with them, with me.”

  “Start at the beginning.”

  “I won a cruise.”

  “You did? That’s amazing. Congratulations.”

  “Yeah, it was great till I called Jessie and found out that he can’t go. Then I called Liam and Morgan and asked if they wanted to use the trip as a honeymoon and they declined. Now I’m calling you. You want to go?”

  “I feel so special. When everyone else turned you down, you came to me.”

  “I haven’t asked everyone else. The advantage of coming from a large family is that I still have a long list of people I could invite, so if you don’t want to come, say so and I’ll ring the next person on my list.”

  “Where?”

  “Alaska.”

  “When?”

  “Well, that’s the thing. Originally, the tickets were good for a year.”

  “Well, then take Jessie when he gets back or gets unbusy or whatever.”

  “I said, originally. Turns out they’ve been sitting around for a while and we’re down to the last few weeks. My boss bought them at some charity thing thinking that he would bring his new wife, but she said there’s no way that she’s going toward cold. She’s a Floridian for a reason. If they’re going to cruise, they’re going to the islands.”

  “Why didn’t he just trade them in?”

  “Well, turns out that the cruise line normally lets you do that, but something about these tickets makes them not turn-in-able.”

  “Then how do you know they’re transferable?”

  “Okay, you know what? I didn’t call so that you could beat me up about the tickets. Do you want to go or not?”

  “I’d love to go. I’ve never seen Alaska.”

  “Me either. I’m not sure exactly when we’re going to go, but since you’re unemployed, I figured you’d be open.”

  “Not my fault that unemployment runs high in this state right now, and besides, I’m not completely unemployed, I am alternately employed.”

  “You’re the one that quit your job.”

  “I’ve been doing just fine thank you very much. I’m making just as much money doing odd jobs here and there as I was working full time before.”

  “Good. I really am glad. We’re gonna need long johns I bet. Where do we even find those in Florida?”

  “I’m sure they’re available for the snow birds if nothing else or we can always buy them online.”

  “True. You’re in charge of finding out what we need and finding out where we can get it.”

  “Why me?”

  “I have the tickets, a job, and I’m in a piss-poor mood because Jessie is off with some woman I don’t know instead of coming on the cruise with me.”

  “Woman? What woman?”

  “I’ll tell you about it when I’m not at work. I’m not sure if I’m pissed or hurt or just, I don’t know.”

  “You want to come over tonight? I’ll cook.”

  “I can’t. Jessie and I are going to go out tonight. I want him to leave here with really good, bonding, know-I’ll-track-your-ass-down thoughts of me.”

  “That sounds really healthy. You don’t need to visit with a mental health professional at all.”

  “That’s what I’m sayin’. I’ll call you tomorrow. Get busy with all things Alaska, figure out if we want to do any shore excursions, they’re not included with the tickets, price wise, but I have a gift card thingy that will pay for at least part.”

  “Excursions? Anything you’re particularly enamored of?”

  “We could look for whales.”

  “Teagan, I would love to see a whale in the wild.”

  “They have boats that get really close.”

  “Yeah, I saw that on the Internet, the big ol’ whale came crashing out of the water and hit the boat. I think it broke the mast. Poor whale.”

  “Yeah, well, had I been on that boat I’d have had a heart attack and died, then who would you be feeling sorry for?”

  “The whale.”

  “I should have known. Anyway, you can get close enough for the spray to hit you if you get on the right excursion.”

  “Teagan, you do realize that’s the whale blowing his nose on you. You get that right?”

  “It is not.”

  “You’d probably just think of that as one more skin treatment anyway.”

  “Don’t go there, I’m still sensitive.”

  “How is the rash from hell?”

  “Mostly gone. I still have patches where my skin stays warm.”

  “Eww, that doesn’t sound good.”

  “It’s not.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  “What?”

  “The whale, it’s snot.”

  “Are you in 3rd grade or what?”

  “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

  “Oh, and Cara, I got a call from Steph, she’s moving forward with the memory cards, she uploaded them and there’s some pretty disturbing stuff, most of which is self-explanatory, but a few of the things are just weird. She works with an investigator and he’s going to look into it a bit.”

  “That sounds expensive.”

  “Pro bono.”

  “Why?”

  “The investigator’s trying to get his new business off the ground and thinks that if he comes up with something really important it’ll be covered by all the media and that it’ll pay for itself with free advertising.”

  “Great, my goal was to keep it quiet, not spread it around for free advertising.”

  “According to Steph, there’s no way this is going to stay quiet, she used words like ‘salacious’ and ‘degenerate’ and ‘nefarious’.”

  “Crap.”

  “Nothing we can do now, now it’s in the hands of karma and the universe.”

  “Don’t go all new age on me, it doesn’t suit you. Great, now I’m nervous all over again.”

  “I would be too Cara. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I need the details for the cruise so I’ll know where we stop and everything.”

  “I’ll email all the stuff I have within the hour.”

  “Did you think maybe Mom and Daddy might want to join you?”

  “Well, it’s just for two, and I thought about just giving the tickets to Mom and Dad, but they said they’re all about Ireland.”

  “So, I was closer to the bottom of the list than I thought?”

  “Cara, you know how it works, we’re a big family, we’re all loved just the same.”

  “Yeah, right. But still, there is a pecking order.”

  “I wouldn’t say that, I’d say t
hat due to circumstances, you are blessed to be accompanying your favorite sister on an adventure to Alaska.”

  “That’s why they pay you the big bucks, you can make anything sound good.”

  “True, you should hear how I describe you.”

  “Shut up. Thanks. And good bye.”

  So, with Steph, Teagan’s lawyer friend looking into the memory cards that we found at Louis’s, Louis being the ex-cop maybe turned bad guy or maybe killed for being a good guy, does that mean that I officially have one less thing on my plate or with the call from Teagan about going to Alaska, do I have one more thing on my plate?

  Either way, it’s time to start clearing some of that stuff off.

  I texted AJ to see if he needed me at the photography studio. I’m not convinced that working for your boyfriend is a good idea, even if it’s only part time and I need the money. Truth be told, I’m not even sure I can justifiably call him my boyfriend, but calling him the guy I live with and have sex with is too many words and besides, my mother would kill me. We haven’t defined our relationship yet, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have one, after all, he has accidentally, or maybe it was on purpose, told me he loves me, and that means something.

  That means a lot.

  So, as of this moment, there are more things up in the air than I can possibly manage and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about most of them.

  I need to address them one at a time.

  There’s Louis’s condo, it may be that I was legitimately hired to clean and organize it for resale after his death, by his brother who I can no longer get ahold of, or it may be part of a huge criminal thing that I don’t know the details of, and am prayerful that I won’t end up in jail because I stepped in the middle of something I don’t understand.

  AJ still hadn’t responded to my text. I’m rapidly becoming one of those people I despise. People who wait about 12 seconds for a response to their phone call, or their email, and get all pissy when they don’t get an answer. Another personality flaw. Great.

  I called Teagan back. “Hey, sorry to interrupt you at work, but next time you talk to Steph, could you please ask her if I’m supposed to be doing anything with Louis’s condo.”

  “Oh, that was the other thing I was supposed to tell you, you’re supposed to stay the hell away from there.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Cara, you know you were supposed to stay away from there if I wasn’t with you, so when you called to make arrangements to have me come with you, I would have remembered that you aren’t supposed to go there. If you were too stupid to ask me to go with you, then I can’t help it. As any O’Flynn will attest, try as I might, I cannot keep you from doing really stupid things.”

  “Don’t start. You just forgot. You. Miss Organization. You’re losing it Teagan.”

  “I am, and we need to talk about that, but not right now.”

  “Any time, day or night, you know that.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow. Thanks Cara.”

  One thing off my plate. Well, not cleanly off my plate, more like it sploshed over the side of the plate and is now a mess all over the table.

  Sploshed is another one of those words. Plogged is plugged and clogged. Sploshed is sloshed and splashed. I have to wonder, if SMOG is smoke and fog, and SMAZE is smoke and haze, is snow and fog called SNOG? Will we get the chance to see some SNOG on our trip? I have a lot of research to do before we go to Alaska.

  Add it to the list.

  Also on the list, since I won’t really be able to get the picnic table that they’d rigged for physical therapy out of the locked room in Louis’s condo, I really owe the physical therapist a call. I told her I would see if I could get it for her and that I would keep her updated about my progress, then I didn’t call her again. Rude to say the least.

  I went over to the desk to find her card. Sitting right there were Louis’s journals. Yet another sploshy mess on my table.

  I called Teagan back. “Sorry. Quick question. Should I bring Louis’s journals over to Steph? If they stay here, someone might show up all of a sudden and take them. I’m still not sure if they’re fiction, evidence, or hopefully something completely benign. With finding those memory cards, they might be more important than we thought.”

  “Good point. I’ll call her and ask.”

  “Thanks.”

  Two minutes later the phone rang. “Steph said that if you’re going to be anywhere near Old Town today she’d meet you and take custody of the journals. She also has some paperwork for you to sign.”

  “Great. Then it’s official. A lawyer is representing me. I just don’t know why, or what, or how it’s all going to turn out. Crap. I’ll call her when I get to Old Town. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll let her know.”

  “Thanks. Could you text me her number? Kind of stupid for you to play intermediary all the time.”

  “Sure, give me two seconds.”

  I hung up. Teagan always says to give her two seconds when she’s running out of patience, so I knew not to call back, no matter what.

  Back to searching for the name of the physical therapist who helped Louis try to get back to work, or at least that’s how the story went; I’m questioning everything now. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. So far, I haven’t come up with any answers and I’m not sure the questions are about the right stuff. Who knows what I’ve missed while I was busy asking inane questions, and thinking about words like inane.

  Darn it, I was this-close to getting my confidence back. I refuse to lose that again. I’m going to stay confident. I’ve got what it takes to figure all this out, I just need to get off my rear-end and do it.

  All I need is more pieces to the puzzle.

  I found Gina’s number, gave her a call and got her voicemail. She must be physical therapy-ing someone. I left a message saying I’d be in the area we met last time, or in Old Town, as well as all the way on the other side of town today and if she’d like to meet I have information about the table.

  I sounded a little desperate, even to my ear, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And clichés.

  Once I got off the phone I felt kind of guilty. The only information I have about the table is that I have no information about the table.

  The call was more than a little manipulative and manipulating people is a bad thing. I wouldn’t want someone to manipulate me.

  I called Gina back and left a more coherent message saying that there was really no new information about the table because I’d been having trouble getting ahold of Louis’s next of kin. I told her that the table hadn’t been moved and she was still in the running as far as the table’s ultimate destination and that I’d still like to meet if she was willing.

  I hung up and wondered, not for the first time, if I really am a blood relative of Teagan’s since she can leave the most eloquent messages and mine sound more like a confused crack head that has been drinking too much. Not that I’ve ever actually known a confused crack head, but I’ve seen a couple on TV and I’m pretty sure that confused and crack head go together like Irish and Catholic, but in a completely different way.

  I’ve got it back. My way of thinking a little sideways. Who in their right mind would compare a Catholic and a crack head?

  With my confidence returning, probably unreasonably, I jumped in the shower for one of my famous five-minute quickies. If you’re going to be heralded for a quickie, best it should be a shower, not, well, moving on; out of the shower I put on some jeans and a t-shirt, braided my hair.

  I need to call Jovana, the lovely woman who started out simply sharing studio space with AJ and has quickly become a part of the family. It’s handy that she just happens to own a bar and a ballroom and is doing a barter thing with Morgan so that the wedding is only expensive, not exorbitant.

  Anyway, I needed to let Jovana know that I would be at Adeline’s today. Adeline is Jovana’s neighbor and friend, and because she is living alon
e, and everyone thinks that maybe she is showing signs of some level of dementia, I’ve been hired to be her companion and report back if I see anything her daughter needs to know. I slowed down only long enough to have a quick cup of tea, and make another for my travel mug.

  For some reason, known only to God, when I was about to leave I walked over and looked out the window into my parking lot.