Tea-Totally Dead Read Free Page A

took a closer look and saw that he was more of a boy than a young man. It was his height that had fooled me. But the face on top of that tall body was soft and round with youth. The boy’s blue eyes blinked anxiously through his thick wire-rimmed glasses.
    “That’s totally bogus,” he went on. “You only say ‘trick or treat’ if you’re the visitor—”
    “This is my grandson, Eric Skeritt,” Ace said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. The hand didn’t seem to restrain the boy any.
    “And anyhow, it isn’t Halloween yet, you know,” he went on. “And you know what else…”
    “Eric is thirteen,” Ace whispered over his grandson’s lecture on Halloween. Then he rolled his eyes. A quick snort of laughter escaped me before I could cover my mouth.
    I averted my eyes, glancing around the living room as Vesta snapped back at Eric. Her condo was efficiently arranged, with a large living room and kitchen downstairs and the bedroom area upstairs. The beige-and-white living room was filled with black leather chairs and sofas and glass-topped black-lacquered tables. But I was more interested in the members of the Skeritt clan, who stood around talking in small groups. I felt like I’d wandered into the land of the giants. Everyone in the room looked taller than me, including the other child present. But then, I am shorter than most, not to mention dark and A-line in figure. I turned back to Eric.
    “So it’s really totally bogus, you know—” he was saying.
    “I heard a joke on the radio the other day,” Vesta cut in. “Hire a high-school kid quick… before they forget they know everything.” She let out a loud hoot of laughter.
    Ace laughed with her. It was really pretty funny. Too bad the joke was at Eric’s expense.
    Eric drew himself up to stand on his tiptoes. “I am not in high school,” he corrected her. “I’m in middle school.”
    It was nice to see Vesta with a friend in her own mental age group. Thirteen-year-old Eric was a good sparring partner for her.
    “It’s just like Christmas trees, you know,” he plowed on. “They’re totally bogus. They don’t have anything to do with Christianity….”
    “Wanna meet some of the other inmates?” Ace whispered in my ear.
    I nodded gratefully.
    Ace put a meaty hand on my shoulder and guided me away from Vesta and Eric. I snuck a backward glance at Wayne, left behind with them, and saw with relief that his stricken expression had completely disappeared. He actually looked amused now as he listened to Eric lecture.
    “My big brother, Trent Skeritt,” Ace announced.
    I swiveled my head back around in time to smile at the man Ace was introducing. Trent Skeritt returned my smile. At least I thought his was a smile. His teeth were showing. But somehow he didn’t radiate the warmth that usually goes with the expression. Suddenly, my own smile felt stiff on my face.
    “So glad to meet you, Mrs. Jasper,” he said in a deep, sonorous voice. He stuck out his hand to shake mine.
    His hand was cool, his grip firm but not too tight. I would have bet that Trent Skeritt did a lot of professional handshaking. He was a distinguished-looking man, as tall as the rest of the Skeritts but slimmer than Ace and Wayne, and less muscular. He had the heavy Skeritt brow too, over cool brown eyes, but the brow looked noble on him, aristocratic. Maybe it was his styled, silver hair. Or possibly the way he held his trim body erect.
    “Please, call me Kate,” I said, a beat too late to sound natural.
    He nodded. “And please, call me Trent,” he replied smoothly. He turned to the large white-haired woman, who stood behind him. “This is my wife, Ingrid,” he said.
    “So happy to meet Wayne’s fiancée.” Ingrid’s greeting came out in a surprisingly resonant whisper.
    She took my left hand in both of her moist ones and squeezed.
    “Great to meet you too,” I claimed inadequately, squeezing back as well as I could with one hand.
    I smiled inanely and