Queen Bee (Lowcountry Tales #12)(66)

Ted followed me to the kitchen where Momma sat, waiting. She looked at him suspiciously.

“It sure was,” I said. “Global warming’s here. Almost a hundred degrees in the shade.”

“Hey, Miss Katherine. How are you doing?” he said politely.

“Hey, yourself, Ted Meyers. Sit down. It’s too hot to stand.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and took a seat at the table.

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air like something sweet and sour.

“So? What brings you to our door, Ted?” I said, placing a glass in front of him on a paper napkin. “Would you like a slice of the remains of Tyler’s birthday cake?”

“Sure, thank you. Who says no to cake?” he said and then cleared his throat. “It seems we had an incident with your bees this afternoon.”

“They were bearding from the heat,” I said. I sliced a piece of cake and put it on a plate, handing it to him with a napkin and, of course, a fork.

“Sorry?” he said.

“When the temperature in the hives goes over ninety-three and a half, some of the bees go hang out somewhere else to let the hives cool down. Then they go home and some others leave.”

“And it’s called bearding?”

“Yeah, kind of a funny term, isn’t it? Sugar?”

I pushed the sugar bowl toward him and watched him load four spoons of sugar into his glass. I gave him an iced tea spoon. He’d be stirring that much sugar until next week if he wanted it all to dissolve.

“Mrs. MacLean told me she was swarmed.”

I sighed as wearily as I could muster.

“Mrs. MacLean is as crazy as a low-flying loon,” Momma said under her breath, just loud enough for us to hear her.

“Momma!” I said in mock horror. “Ted, I’m not surprised. But of course, she’s dead wrong. Lots of people don’t know the difference between swarming and bearding.”

“Can you enlighten me? I’m just a police officer, you know, keeper of the peace. You’re the beekeeper.”

I laughed a little, trying to keep it light.

“Sure. When bees swarm they make a loud roar. My bees were quiet. That’s a sign. Also, swarming occurs in the spring. Not the summer. I just changed the bottom of the hive to a screen to give them more ventilation. They’re happier now.”

“She claims that the bees swarmed her car, causing her to become hysterical.”

“That she got hysterical is her own mental problem. For the most part, honey bees are harmless.”

“She had to take something and lie down.”

“She lies down a lot,” Momma said. “That’s how she hooked Archie.”

“Momma!”

“Sorry,” she said.

Ted smiled and I blushed.

“She says you caused the bees to swarm her in retaliation for her putting Tyler on restriction and refusing to allow him to attend his birthday party because he called her a bad name.”

“Good Lord, Ted! Did you hear what you just said?”

“I know.” Ted smiled at me. “And I said it with a straight face. Good, right?”

“You always were the best actor in the whole dang school. I think I’ll never forget you singing “Maria” in West Side Story.”

“Somebody call Hollywood,” Momma mumbled.

I kicked her under the table and cut my eye at her.

“Well, thanks, Holly.” He ate the last of his cake.

“Anyway, she called me a bad name, and did I get to put her on restriction?”

“She did?” Momma said. “What did that Jezebel call my daughter?”

“She said I was a freak, a menace to society, and that she was going to sue me for a million dollars.”

“She said that? I ought to go over there and slap her face!” Momma said.

“Oh, Momma, she was just being crazy,” I said. But I did love it that Momma defended me.

“Where in the world did Mr. MacLean find this new wife of his?”

“An online Transylvanian dating app,” I said. “Listen, she’s not from here, you know? She doesn’t understand the first thing about nature or children. It’s pitiful.”

“No, she’s not a Lowcountry girl. That’s for sure. Still, I have to ask, is there a way to keep the bees away from her? Apparently, she’s terrified of them.”

“That’s her mental problem, not mine, but I’ll mention it to them when I check the hives in the morning,” I said.

“Tell all the palmetto bugs to get off the island while you’re at it, okay?” Momma said. “And to take the coyotes with them.”

“You bet,” I said.

Ted laughed at that and stood to leave. I walked him to the door.

“Thanks for the cake and the tea,” he said. “Did you know they made me the interim chief?”

Our chief of police on the island had retired at the end of last year.

“No! I had not heard that. Congratulations!”

“Yeah, they got a search going, but my hat’s in the ring, too. You never know.”

“That’s right, you never know. Wow, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Ted had always been a dignified guy, very smart and not impetuous. I thought then that he would make an excellent chief of police. There was nothing bubba about him.