Tea Twist

“This is all my fault, Sandy.” Elanie poured steaming hot chai tea into a cup and handed it to Sandra Suriff. “If I wouldn’t have...Thad would have never…”
“Please Elaine, don’t go off on a self-blame spiel. I don’t think I could handle the only stable person in my life going crazy.” Sandra took a slight sip of the steaming tea, and quickly put the cup down on the saucer before she’d burn her tongue. “None of this is your fault.”
Elaine narrowed her eyes, “Now I suppose you’re going to say it’s your fault, aren’t you?” Elaine swallowed and shook her head: “Don’t even go there, Sandra.”
“I won’t. I know it’s not my fault. No matter what Detective Vivans and the police think, I saw the killer. I will find him—before all the other investigators do—and I’ll turn him in to Mr. “super-sleuth” Vivans myself.”
“Wait—I’m lost. You didn’t mention before that you actually saw him! That would turn the whole case around; Detective Vivans would have nothing on you.”
“Well, I didn’t see his face. He was dressed in all black with a mask on. But somehow, I have a feeling that I’d knew him if I saw him.”
Elaine threw Sandra a dubious look and narrowed her eyes again.
“Look, how about I tell you the whole story?”

Elaine looked into Sandra eyes with care and caution. “Are you sure? Are you ready?”
Sandra nodded, “If I can’t tell my best friend, then who can I tell? Besides, you know the best way for me to cope is to confess all. You’re always the one I confess to.”
Sandra swallowed tea, cleared her throat, and began:
“I already told you about the dinner I planned so Thad could finally meet my dad, Movea, and Novea. I had called all the servants off that day so that Thad wouldn’t be intimidated, since I figured he’d already be uncomfortable enough meeting my deranged stepmother and stepsister, Movea and Novea.”
“So Thad and I were sitting in his car, on our way to my family’s house, and this is the first time I saw the new scary side to him. I talked excitedly about Thad finally meeting my father. Thad quietly listened awhile. Then, out of nowhere, he freaked out and started in with this creepy, angry voice saying how he thought I was too much of “daddy’s little girl” and that I was going to have to choose between him and my father sometime. He acted controlling and possessive. Can you imagine that from Thad of all people?! I tried to control myself, but I just couldn’t keep from crying. I was so shocked at his sudden anger, and my excitement for the ‘meet the parents’ dinner was all gone. He heard my hushed sobs; turned back from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde, and apologized soothingly to me. In fact, he did it so well that I actually did forgive his little incident. We even kissed after he parked into the driveway of my family’s house.”
“Awww—how sweet of him.” Elaine remarked, rubbing her fingers on her mug’s handle.

“But right from the start, I noticed that my father was acting strange. He wasn’t as easygoing as he usually is. He ate so slow, savoring each bite as though it were his last. Oh—and it was!”
Sandra breathed and took another sip of her tea to keep back too much emotion in her voice.
Elaine soothingly suggested that Sandra go on. “Let it all out—you’ll feel better once you talk it out.”
Sandra nodded. Elaine knew her so well.
“I was really worried about my father, so I wanted to talk to him alone to figure it out. When I got Dad alone, he dismissed his stress as ‘just business’, but I knew it had to be something bigger than that. I got him to talk, and he said really odd things—almost to himself instead of me. He wondered what Movea and Novea’s hidden agendas were-- if they had any ambitions that didn’t involve reputation and money.”
“Ironically enough, in the middle of our conversation about Movea and Novea’s true motives—that was when the black figure came in, shot my father, and ran down the hall before I could take a moment to react.”
“I got up and ran down the hallway but the killer had miraculously disappeared. The first people I saw were Movea and Novea—they came running toward me acting terrified and panic-stricken. Thad came next—cool as ever—he saw that I was shaking so he hugged me tightly to console me. Then Mr. Smooth called the police and Detective Vivans.

“I was still registering the shock that Dad was gone, so I didn’t even think about who the killer was at that point. After Vivan’s questioning, I started to think about it. I had called the servants off that night to make Thad comfortable. So, the only people in the house were my stepmother, Movea, my stepsister Novea, Thad, and me. Any one of them could have easily changed into all black clothes, shot my father, changed back, and then pretend to react to the whole thing. All of them have the motive and the means; I just don’t have any solid proof to condemn them All I have are suspicious conversations.”
“Detective Vivans is convinced that I’m the murderer, even after I told him everything. All he got out of our interrogation was that a) I was the last one to see Dad alive. b) I would inherit the most money. c) I called off all the servants that night. He then has it all pointed at ME!”
“Then every time Thad would put his arm around me to “comfort” me, I thought it seemed so condescending. Movea and Novea’s little tirades and crying bothered me too. Did these people really care about me or my father? Every time I looked at them, I found more and more motives connecting them to the murder. I couldn’t handle being in the same room—same house—with them anymore. I had to get away, so I came to the one person left who I know I can trust.” Sandra concluded her story, and looked at Elaine expectedly.
“Sandy, I’m the last person you’d want to trust.”
Had Elaine not said it with such conviction, with such finality, Sandra would have thought she was joking. Sandra felt that same sinking, helpless feeling in her stomach as she had felt when he father was shot. She didn’t respond, just waited for Elaine to continue.

“You know what you and Detective Vivans didn’t consider when you analyzed your father’s murder?” Elaine narrowed her eyes as if zooming in on her with a camera lens. “How do you know that your father was the one meant to be killed? How do you know that the murderer didn’t intend on killing you?” This time, it was Sandra who put her tea cup down with a clang sound.
“I happen to know for a fact that the murderer did intend on killing you. Your father just got in the way of the shot. I happen to know that Vivans was right about you. You were responsible for your father’s death. The gunshot was supposed to be for you; your father would still be alive today had that bullet struck where it was supposed to.”
Elaine’s face remained neutral. “I also happened to know—you told me—that you called off all the servants that day. So, I dressed up as a servant—but changed into all black later on. No one noticed me, and if they did they didn’t have any suspicions—after all, you were the only one who knew the servants were gone, so I only had to hide from you.”
“I didn’t have a thought-out plan; I didn’t know when I would do it. I figured an opportunity would eventually present itself. When it did, I was so flustered that my shot was off and I ended up shooting your father.”
Sandra didn’t know how to react; Elaine talked about killing her as if it were as if she were discussing the weather. She had no emotion in her voice, no remorse, no hate, or no jealousy—anything that you’d expect from a murderer. The lack of feeling made Elaine’s words more unbelievable. Sandra wondered she had fallen asleep after telling her story, and was in the middle of a bizarre nightmare.
Elaine watched Sandra closely-- her eyes narrowing again. After the icy silence, Sandra spoke up in the steadiest voice she could manage: “But—why?”
Elaine continued to speak indifferently, “Thad doesn’t like sharing you with your father, and I don’t like sharing Thad with you.”
“Thad was supposed to be with me in the first place. I didn’t want to set him up with you in playing matchmaker; I wanted him to ask me out—not you.”
“You’re kidding. You acted so happy when I told you we were dating.”
“Key word there is ‘acted’.”
“You said that you were trying to set him up with me.”
“Of course I told you that. That had been the original plan until I got to know Thad better in the process. Then, I decided that you guys weren’t right for each other; Thad fit better with ME.”
“Right. That’s why he ended up asking me out instead of you, huh?”
“Wrong, that’s because he misread my initial intentions. He didn’t realize how much I loved him.”
“He wouldn’t date me if he was ‘helplessly in love’ with you Elaine.” Sandra took a step closer and really looked at Elaine this time, “That’s why you tried to kill me. ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.”
Elaine opened a cabinet drawer and showed off a shiny loaded pistol.


“Go ahead Sandy—let’s see how good you are at patronizing me with a gun in my hands. Let’s hear another cutesy saying.”
Elaine smirked, “How about ‘All’s fair in love and war’ isn’t that fitting?”
“Obviously your life motto.”
“Wanna know my other motto?”
“Not really.” Sandra replied, becoming uneasy again.
“All’s fair in murder and death.”
Sandra suppressed her elevating fear. “Even more fitting to the current situation I’d say.”
“I agree.”
Stalling, Sandra remarked, “You know, I think you are right, Thad and I don’t click. You and Thad would go better together.”
Elaine smiled, “I agree again. When a girl immediately accuses her boyfriend as a murderer, I’d say there’s not much trust in that relationship is there?”
“Not much trust in a relationship in which someone tries to kill their so-called best friend either.”
“Sorry Sandy, but it looks like Thad and I both don’t really love you. In fact, the only person who really loved you is now dead.”
Sandra wouldn’t let herself break down at these cutting words she knew now that she had to avenge her father’s death.

She let out a dramatic sob, and hugged herself theatrically. Elaine started closing in—a diabolical grin on her face. Just at the right moment, Sandra drew her hands away from her body and snatched Elaine’s pistol from her grasp.
Sandra knew she wouldn’t have time to call the police or get out the door to yell, so she did the only action she could at this point. She held up the gun, and shot her former best friend and father’s murderer in one immediate action.
Walking over to the spot where the body lay, Sandra saw the broken cup of chai tea lying beside Elaine, tea dripping out of it slowly just as the blood from the bullet dripped from Elaine’s lifeless body. Sandra took one last look at Elaine and the mug, knowing at that moment that she would never be able to drink chai tea again.