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“Don’t know. But what you just said—that sounds like a smart idea.”
As Miss Dimple was leaving with a stack of invoices and the tea shop’s checkbook, Delaine Dish came striding in wearing a fire-engine red skirt suit and black leather stilettos. She nodded brusquely at Miss Dimple, then looked around for Theodosia. When she finally spotted her with a stack of plates, Delaine said, in a near hysterical voice, “Theo, we have to get to the bottom of this!”
Theodosia glanced her way. “Excuse me?”
“I’m talking about the murder. Yesterday.” Delaine’s heart-shaped face was pulled into an unhappy frown and her size-two frame fairly shook with indignation.
“The police are already on it,” Theodosia assured her, setting down the plates. “I’m positive they’re doing their absolute best.”
“You don’t seem to understand,” Delaine said, wringing her hands. “I’m kind of involved.”
“Of course you are,” Drayton piped in. “You’re a member of the Charleston Film Board. I’m sure this is a terrible shock to you—to all the members.”
Delaine half squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a breath. “I’m a teensy bit more involved than that.”
Theodosia stared at Delaine. There was something brewing and it surely wasn’t a pot of tea. “How teensy?” she asked.
Delaine gave an anguished look. “The thing is, Josh Morro and I…well, we were…you know…”
“No, I don’t know,” Theodosia said. “Come on, Delaine, spit it out. Give it to me straight. What’s going on?”
Delaine stomped a foot. “If you must know, Morro and I were seeing each other.”
Theodosia blinked. “You mean like dating?”
“Um…more like friends with benefits?”
“Is that a question or an answer?” Theodosia asked.
“Answer,” Delaine whispered, hunching her shoulders up to her ears.
“Oh.” Theodosia stared at Delaine, digesting what her friend had just told her. Then her face softened and she said, “I had no idea you two were close. Delaine, I’m so sorry.”
Drayton, who was still listening in on the conversation, favored Delaine with an appropriately sober look and said, “You poor thing.”
Theodosia nodded in agreement. “You must be heartsick.”
Delaine grimaced. “Not exactly.”
Drayton frowned. “You’re not?”
“Why not?” Theodosia asked. She realized that she needed to sort through Delaine’s answer, figure out why she was hemming and hawing so much. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
“Josh and I were dating,” Delaine said. “During the scant few weeks he was here in Charleston for preproduction meetings. And even though he was wrapped up a lot of the time, we managed to steal a few nights together.”
“So you’re saying…you two were an item.” Well, why not? Theodosia thought. He was a fairly attractive man.
But Delaine was squirming mightily, fidgeting with her diamond rings. “We were an item until we weren’t.”
“I’m having trouble following this,” Drayton said.
“No kidding,” Theodosia said.
Delaine heaved a huge sigh. “Last week Josh and I had a horrible fight.”
“You broke up?” Theodosia said.
“You might say that,” Delaine said. “But the really unfortunate thing is we did it in front of at least a hundred people.”
