Free Tea-Totally Dead by Jaqueline Girdner

except Officer Zappetini. Zappetini stood with his back to the front door and his arms crossed over his chest as if daring someone to try and leave.
    Wayne, Ace and Eric were on one black leather couch, all staring straight ahead. And for once, Eric was quiet. But then, so was everyone. Dru, Bill, Ingrid and Trent were crowded onto the other couch. Each of them held their elbows pointing inwards and their hands clasped together as if to avoid touching any more than was necessary. Lori and Mandy sat cross-legged on the floor a few yards away from Gail, who had stretched her legs out and was staring at the ceiling. And Harmony was sitting in Vesta’s big black easy chair with Clara perched beside her on the armrest. Harmony’s face looked oddly content as she leaned back in the big chair, maybe even triumphant. I subdued an incipient shiver and walked over to Wayne’s couch.
    Ace moved over without speaking and I squeezed in between him and Wayne. I touched Wayne’s arm lightly, wishing I could talk to him, alone and at length.
    “Harmony Fitch,” Officer Yoder called out. “Please come with me.”
    The look of contentment on Harmony’s face was instantly transformed into panic.
    “No!” she cried. “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong. I just made her the tea like always, right?”
    “We just want to talk to you,” Yoder told her gently. He bent over Harmony and held his arm out for her to take. Suddenly, he looked like a human being instead of a Nazi.
    “It’ll be fine,” whispered Clara.
    Harmony took his arm and allowed herself to be guided up the stairs, all the while protesting in a shrill voice.
    “Vesta was my friend. She told me stuff, right? I wouldn’t do nothin’ to hurt her. She didn’t even like these guys. They’ll tell you lies. They always tell lies. Vesta said—” And then her voice was gone as a door closed.
    I took one last look at Wayne’s stiff profile, then leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes.
    A picture of Vesta bloomed in my mind’s eye, not as she had been when I found her body but as she had been when she was alive, her intense, bony face alert and smiling. And I realized I would miss her. The thought was so astounding, it popped my eyes open. I would miss Vesta.
    For all the abuse the woman had heaped on Wayne, even on me, I realized that I had learned to… not to like her exactly… but maybe to enjoy her company occasionally. Vesta hadn’t followed the rules. If the emperor wore no clothes, she was the first to point it out. And every now and again, her nasty comments were the very ones I would have liked to make myself if I hadn’t been so damned polite.
    I turned to Wayne, wanting to share the realization, and then remembered Officer Zappetini. I sighed loudly. They couldn’t arrest me for that. Then I closed my eyes once more and sank back against the cushions of the couch, urging my mind to contemplate future gag gifts instead of suspicions of murder. It didn’t work.
    Harmony’s shrill voice sounded on the stairs some minutes later. Officer Yoder escorted her back to her chair, then turned toward our couch.
    “Wayne Caruso,” he called out. “Please come with me.”
    Panic grabbed my heart and twisted. I couldn’t breathe. Was Wayne ready to be interviewed? He turned to me for a second, and I saw intelligence in his eyes. Then he rose to his feet, bending over at the last moment to give me a kiss on the forehead before he followed Yoder up the stairs.
    By the time Wayne returned, I had imagined everything from his arrest to his execution. Not to mention my own. And that was in between telling myself everything would be all right and berating myself for having raised the issue of poison in the first place. But Wayne’s color looked good as he returned to sit beside me. And his steps were sure. He wasn’t shuffling anymore.
    He clasped my hand gently as he sat down, and even looked into my eyes for one blissful instant. Then he turned his gaze straight