Laura Childs - Shades of Earl Grey

With a sickening realization, Theodosia knew her cover was blown. Frantically, she grappled for her cell phone, punched the numbers for the Heritage Society, frantically flailed to hit the send button. But even as her fingers finally found the button, the closet door was jerked open.

Aerin Linley, eyes hard as ice, peered into the darkness.

Theodosia raised a hand, palm out. Her signal to Earl Grey to stay put, to remain exactly where he was.

Aerin Linley took it as a gesture of surrender and smiled.

Reaching in, she snatched Theodosia’s cell phone from her and threw it to the floor. The little black Star Tac smashed into a dozen pieces.

Theodosia stared up into a grim, determined face. Aerin Linley, she thought. The trusted associate of Brooke Carter Crockett at Heart’s Desire. The same woman who’d carefully planted nasty innuendoes against Claire Kitridge. Aerin Linley, who had once made mention of secret drawers and panels in the old homes of Savannah. Aerin Linley, who would have known all the details about the Buchanan family’s heirloom ring!

“Get up,” Aerin snarled at Theodosia. Her eyes blazed with a slightly deranged look.

Theodosia rose to her feet. And as she did, a glint of light caught her eye. Aerin Linley had grabbed the letter opener from Drayton’s desk and now clutched it menacingly in her hand. Honed from silver, the metal instrument looked extremely sharp.

Can it inflict a serious wound? Theodosia wondered. Of course it can. No doubt about it.

“Did you think I was so stupid?” Aerin hissed. “I could smell your pathetic trap a mile away.”

Even as Aerin jabbed the letter opener toward Theodosia’s throat, she pawed frantically with her other hand, trying to gather up the stamps that lay scattered atop Dray-ton’s desk.

“You goody goody,” Aerin sneered at Theodosia. “With your proper little friends and your proper little tea shop.” She stuffed the Z grill stamp into the pocket of her black fleece vest, then her hand went back and swooped up the pile of first-day covers. “You really thought you were investigating, didn’t you? Hah,” she barked sharply. “Little Miss Detective. Looks like the joke’s on you. ”

Theodosia stared at her evenly, praying that Earl Grey would continue to obey her command and remain in the closet. In the distance she could hear the shrill of a police siren. Her call had gone through. Drayton had known it was her and immediately phoned the police. Thank goodness.

Aerin saw Theodosia register the sound of the siren and sneered at her. “You think that police car will get here in time? I think not. No one’s come close to me yet, no one ever will. I’ll be out of here and out of this town so fast it’ll make your head swim. And you’ll look like a fool.” She gave Theodosia the flat, slow-eyed blink of a reptile. A snake about to swallow its prey.

“You were on the roof of the Lady Goodwood Inn...” stuttered Theodosia.

“Piece of cake,” Aerin sneered at her. “I grew up scaling rocks in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Only gear I needed for that job was an aluminum descender.”

Theodosia suddenly recalled the metal ring she’d seen hanging from the strut of the Garden Room’s roof. Aerin must have employed the same gear that sport rappellers and police and fire rescue units used.

“Pity the roof gave way,” said Aerin in a cold, offhand manner. “And trapped that poor fellow underneath.” She shrugged. “You never can tell about those old structures.”

“I have to know,” said Theodosia. That’s it, keep her talking. “Did you snatch Delaine’s watch and plant it in Claire’s desk?”

“Oh please,” snapped Aerin, “that was child’s play. Delaine’s house is a cat burglar’s dream and the Heritage Society kindly invited me in on a jewelry appraisal. Convenient, no?” Smug and cold, Aerin’s grin was hideous.

She turned suddenly and ripped five rows of plastic-encased stamps from Drayton’s album. Still keeping an eye on Theodosia, Aerin backed slowly across the room until her hips connected with the window ledge. Then she sat down and swung one leg over the ledge with ease.

“I’d really love to stay and gab,” she said. “But I’ve got far better things to do. My car’s just down the block and the trunk’s filled with loot . . . including that antique ring you’ve been so hot and bothered about.”

Theodosia waited until Aerin had completely swung around and was about to drop to the ground.

“Earl Grey, attack!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Earl Grey came hurtling out of the closet like a silver streak. He rocketed across the room, his front paws barely skimming the windowsill as he sailed through the window frame. As Aerin Linley dropped to her feet, Earl Grey smashed into the back of her like a freight train. Eighty pounds of well-muscled canine heeding the command of his beloved mistress.

Aerin Linley screamed sharply even as she went down like a rock. The letter opener flew from her hand and made a dull clink on one of the patio stones.

As Theodosia ran toward the window, her hand instinctively reached out and grabbed the bottle of superglue from Drayton’s desk. Then she had one foot on the window ledge and was clambering out herself.

On the ground below, Aerin was struggling mightily with Earl Grey, batting at him furiously, her hands balled into fists.

“Get off, you horrible mutt!” she screamed. “Get off!”

Theodosia dropped to the ground, stumbled forward, felt the sting of gravel cut into her palms and knees. She rolled, scooped up the letter opener that lay gleaming on the patio stones, found the bottle of superglue that she’d dropped, and scrambled over to the struggling mass of dog and woman. Now she pointed her finger at Aerin’s neck.

“Hold tight!” she commanded the dog.

Earl Grey promptly clamped his wide jaws around Aerin Linley’s neck. He didn’t sink his teeth into her flesh, but he held her very, very firmly, just as Theodosia had commanded.

“Get this mangy creature off me!” Aerin Linley was screaming and carrying on like a banshee. Her face was beet red, her words a garbled cry. Her heels beat furiously against the pavement as her body squirmed and thrashed, struggling to throw the dog off.

Popping the top off the tube of superglue, Theodosia aimed the tip at Aerin’s hair. She squeezed, watched as a huge dollop of clear glue came squirting out.

Aerin’s eyes rolled wildly. “What are you doing, you idiot!” she cried as she continued to battle. “You’ll be sorry you . . .” Aerin Linley’s head suddenly stopped straining from side to side.

“My hair!” she screamed. “What’s wrong with my hair!”

“Ease off,” Theodosia commanded Earl Grey.

Panting heavily, pink tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, Earl Grey gazed at Theodosia, hungry for approval.

She reached down, patted him on the head. “Good dog. Verrry good dog.”

“What’d you do?” wailed Aerin Linley. “I can’t move my head! Help me, oh please, you’ve got to help me!”

The whoop whoop of the police siren was much closer now. It sounded a block away. Now it was directly in front of Drayton’s house.

“Help!” Theodosia yelled. She ran to the side fence, boosted herself up as best she could, and waved frantically, trying to capture their attention. “We’re in back!” she hollered. “Come quickly!”

“Any injuries?” detective Burt Tidwell cocked an eye at the paramedic in his navy jumpsuit.

The paramedic, whose name tag read BENTLEY, shook his head, but the corners of his mouth kept twitching upward. It was obvious he was trying to remain professional. In other words, not burst out laughing completely.