Croaked Wheat (The Early Bird Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 4)

by Ginny Gold

  Oh boy, Kori thought to herself. What else did Jay do that he’s not telling me about?

  “I’ll have the frittata. And a coffee,” Zach ordered. Then they both turned to look at Lani. Kori waited patiently, an easy task since no one else was in the café yet.

  Finally, Lani ordered, still looking at the menu. “I’ll have toast and a smoothie with mango, Swiss chard and blueberries. And soy milk. No coffee.”

  “No coffee?” Kori could hear the teasing in Zach’s voice and she cringed. She should have been on the receiving end of that. “I can’t imagine you without caffeine.”

  Lani’s only response was a facetious smirk.

  Kori hightailed it back to the kitchen, hoping their conversation wouldn’t turn into a lover’s quarrel. She put the smoothie ingredients into a jar, screwed it onto the blender and turned it on high. It took only seconds to smooth out all of the frozen chunks.

  Then she headed to the oven where she pulled out the bread and frittata. She had to wait a few minutes before slicing the bread for toast, so she brought the smoothie and a French press with Zach’s favorite—Ethiopian coffee—to their table.

  As she approached, she heard Zach reprimanding Lani. “I don’t care what her brother did to you. You don’t want to share the details? Fine. But you may not take out your frustrations with him on my girlfriend. At least not when we’re working together. When you’re alone, do whatever you want. But this is a business breakfast and you will act professional.”

  Kori slowed so they wouldn’t know she’d overheard them and watched Lani look at her hands. Clearly, something else was going on that no one knew about but Lani and Jay.

  When it was clear that Zach was finished, Kori approached and placed the drinks on the table. “The frittata and toast will be ready in a few minutes. Sorry for the wait.” Then she left to get everything else ready.

  Just then there were more voices coming through the front door and Kori was spared any future opportunity of being the target of Lani’s anger. Vera Joy, owner of Furry Friends, entered with Mel Styles, owner of The Treasure Chest consignment shop. They were followed by a curious looking elderly couple, likely in town for the weekend. Maybe they’d spent summers in Hermit cove when they were younger, hiking and boating on and around Thrush Lake, and they were making a pilgrimage back. Or maybe they were just passing through. Kori always wondered what the stories were of those she didn’t know. But she rarely got a chance to ask.

  Doug never did come in to try the food he’d never be making or serving. Kori was thankful about that. She mentally scratched him off the potential new employee list. She didn’t want to have to get him to back off in front of other customers.

  With just minutes to go until one o’clock and closing time, Nora walked through the door and straight back into the kitchen where Kori was starting to clean up. There were only a few customers left who were finishing their late brunches, though today’s menu could easily pass for a lunch, and Kori had already turned the sign to closed but left the door open. She was sure no one else would come in, so she was surprised to see Nora when she turned around.

  Kori jumped in surprise. “Sorry to scare you. But we have to take another look at Peter Jones, the driver. I think he might be closer to this than we originally thought.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Kori handed Nora a stack of clean plates to put away. If she was going to interrupt Kori’s work, she was going to be put to work.

  “What makes you say that?” Kori asked, bending down to pull out more clean dishes from the dishwasher. Nora had come in with a whirlwind of energy, but Kori hadn’t caught up yet and was still calm.

  Nora placed the plates on a shelf above the counter. Not where Kori would have put them but they’d do for now. “He came by today, saying he was in the area and just wanted to stop in to make sure everything had been okay with the delivery since I’d called him the other day about more. And he was poking his head everywhere. Like, into the greenhouses and around the barn, into every crevice. Like he thought I was hiding something. It just gave me a bad feeling. Like he knew there’d been a body in my barn. But he hadn’t been contacted by the police so thought I was covering it up or something.”

  Kori thought Nora was digging for reasons to check people out. “We can definitely talk to him, but I thought you were sure it wasn’t him.”

  “I was sure, but now I’m not.”

  Kori closed the now empty dishwasher and glanced out to the dining area. She saw that no one was eating anymore so she motioned for Nora to stay in the kitchen and then walked around to the last few diners bringing their bills and accepting their credit cards. She made sure she rang up the correct bill on the correct card and returned them to their owners, then unpropped the front door to be sure no one else came in and finally returned to Nora.

  “What about Marty’s girlfriend. Did you find out who that was?” Kori asked, trying to get back onto the track they’d planned to go down this afternoon.

  “Actually yes. Joline Richards.” Nora looked pleased with herself, arms crossed in front of her chest.

  Kori started walking back out to the dining area. “Come help me clean up and tell me how you figured out who she was.”

  Nora did as instructed and they both headed to different tables covered with cutlery and dirty plates. “I called Karin. We know she knew about the girlfriend. So I told her I was Julie Fellows, calling about the life insurance, and saw that there was a second beneficiary, another woman. I didn’t even have to tell her the name or ask if she was related. Karin told me everything I had to know. It was too easy. Joline Richards. But she corrected me and told me she wasn’t a beneficiary. Oops, my mistake, I told her.”

  Kori had to admit that she was impressed. She hadn’t had time to come up with a plan to get in touch with the girlfriend and had considered simply asking Zach. She hated going behind his back to find out who killed Marty Rivers, but with the murder so close to her best friend, she couldn’t help but follow a trail laid out in front of her.

  “Great. Know where she lives?”

  “She’s Karin’s neighbor,” Nora said over her shoulder as she headed back into the kitchen with a heaping pile of plates. “I’ll drive so Karin won’t see your car and wonder if something’s up.”

  “Sounds good, but first I have to interview my last potential employee.”

  “Shoot. I forgot about that. Why don’t I take Ibis back to my house to get her outside and then you can meet me there when you’re done.”

  Kori joined Nora in the kitchen and they filled another load of dishes into the dishwasher. “Perfect. Thanks.”

  Nora headed for the front door and called Ibis, who had no qualms about leaving the confines of Kori’s office for a romp at Nora’s house.

  And that left Kori alone for a few minutes before Allen was scheduled to arrive at one thirty. She took that time to eat some toast with fresh jam and drink a liter of water. It had been another one of those days where she didn’t even realize how hungry, thirsty or tired she was until she sat down with lunch.

  At exactly one thirty, a knock came on the front door and Kori had forgotten she’d even locked it after Nora had left. Without Ibis around to protect her if she had an unexpected visitor—which had never happened—she’d felt safer with a locked door. She’d been warned off a murder investigation once by the killer, she didn’t want to take any chances this time.

  But it was only Allen Murphy arriving promptly for his interview. Kori opened the door and welcomed him into the café. He immediately gave off the complete opposite air than Doug had yesterday. Where Doug was abrasive and overpowering, Allen was submissive and passive. She liked him right away.

  Kori stuck her hand out and he eagerly shook it. “Allen, thanks for coming in this afternoon.”

  “Thanks for having me, Ms. Cooke.” He offered a hesitant smile.

  Kori moved aside so he could enter where he paused to await further instructions. She led him to the same booth wher
e she’d interviewed both Kiera and Doug. She wanted to keep the interviews as controlled as possible so she could see them in similar settings.

  They sat opposite each other in the booth and Allen opened a binder containing at least one copy of his résumé and a notebook. He pulled a pen from his pocket and placed it on the notebook. Kori could tell that he was professional and taking this interview very seriously.

  “Your experience in the food industry is very impressive,” Kori started, looking over her own copy of his résumé.

  Allen looked down. “Thank you.”

  “Most recently you were a line cook for a diner?”

  Allen nodded.

  “How did you like it?” Kori asked. The Early Bird Café didn’t require the same fast pace that he had previously worked, but it could still demand a lot from the cook. Kori knew too well.

  Allen seemed to relax, like he was comfortable with the question and knew exactly how to answer it. “It took some getting used to, but once I figured out the pace it was a lot of fun. But my favorite thing about that position was the creativity we were allowed.”

  Kori made a note. Creativity and confidence in cooking were key skills she needed. Ideally, Kori would be able to split her time between the kitchen and interacting with customers, so she had to hire someone who could fit into any area at any time, depending on the needs in each moment. “Tell me more about that,” she pressed.

  “Well, there were set menu items, but I was eventually allowed to tweak and improve them.”

  “Can you give me an example?”

  “Sure. Pancakes, for example. We used a mix that we bought in bulk. It was good enough. But I eventually created a mix from scratch that we used, and they still do.”

  Kori made some more notes. She was liking Allen more and more with each of his answers and she was going to find it hard to hire Kiera over him if he kept this up.

  “Why did you leave?” Kori asked. According to his résumé, he’d been out of work for at least a month.

  “There was no room for growth. What I really like about this position is that the café is small and growing, which would give me plenty of opportunity to prove myself to you.”

  Kori didn’t want to break his spirits, but she didn’t really see a whole lot of growth potential for whoever she hired. The position she had would be perfect for someone with less experience than Allen, someone like Kiera.

  Kori continued asking him questions until just after two and never once felt that he was trying to step on toes like Doug had. His answers and experiences were impressive, but by the end of the interview, she wasn’t quite as excited about him as at the start. He was definitely over qualified.

  When Kori was finished, and Allen had no more questions, they both stood and shook hands again. “Thanks again for coming in today. I’ll get in touch with you early next week once I’ve made my decision. Have a great weekend.”

  “Thanks. You too.”

  Kori closed the door behind him and headed upstairs to change before going to Nora’s.

  CHAPTER 11

  Less than a half hour later, Kori was getting into Nora’s truck and they were retracing their route from yesterday. “How could he have cheated on his wife with the neighbor?” Kori asked. “Wouldn’t he want a bigger buffer between those two women?”

  Nora chuckled. “It sounds like you’ve given cheating a lot of thought.”

  Kori mock glared at Nora. “Yeah right. I barely see Zach as it is. I wouldn’t want to add something else to my life that would keep me away from him.”

  “I know. I was just busting on you.”

  Nora drove past Karin’s driveway and turned into the next one. Richards was written on the mailbox so Kori knew they were in the right place.

  “What’s your story today?” Nora asked.

  Kori gave it some thought. “Reporters. For the Maple Daily.”

  “And our names? I don’t want to be caught off guard again.”

  “We can stick with the same ones. I’m Linda Smith and you’re Julie Fellows.” Kori smiled at her cunning ways. She was having too much fun at it too.

  “Do you have a pad of paper to take notes with?” Nora asked, parking behind a car near the house.

  “Who uses paper anymore? I’ll record our conversation with my phone.”

  Nora shook her head. “You’re too much, you know that?”

  They both got out of the truck and made their way to the front door. Kori looked around at the small yard and noticed plenty of abandoned kids’ toys that looked like they hadn’t been touched in years. There was a plastic slide on its side, a rusted bike and a wagon with broken panels. She’d assumed Joline was younger than Marty—and Karin—but maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she had her own family with grown kids and she hadn’t bothered to get rid of their childhood toys. Or keep them in good shape for grandkids.

  Kori led the way up two steps to the front door. She rang the doorbell and they waited. When no one answered in what she considered a reasonable amount of time, she knocked. She hadn’t heard the doorbell echo through the house, so it was either a quieter bell or was disconnected or not functional.

  This time, it was only a few moments before a young woman came to the door, hair up in a messy bun, like she either didn’t care what she looked like or was intentionally going for a just-got-out-of-bed style. She opened one door so that there was still a screen between her and Kori and Nora.

  “Ms. Richards?” Kori asked.

  “Yes. Can I help you?” She wrinkled her eyebrows and stared down at them from inside, one step above.

  “I hope so. We’re here with the Daily Maple. We’re running a story on Marty Rivers and we understand that you knew him.”

  Joline nodded slowly. “He was my neighbor. It’s terrible what happened. I can’t believe it still.”

  Kori thought Joline might thrive on the attention of giving her side of the story so she pressed on. “Could we come in to ask you a few questions? We’d love to have a quote from you if possible.”

  Joline pushed the screen door open and held both doors so Kori and Nora could enter the house. “Have a seat on the couch. Do you want some water?”

  “Sure,” Kori said and Nora nodded.

  Now that there was no screen blocking Kori’s view of Joline, she could see that Joline was much younger even than Kori had expected. Maybe just out of college. How had she been able to buy a house so young? And what did she do to make a living? If she was home in the middle of the afternoon, she didn’t work a regular houred office job.

  Joline took a few minutes in the kitchen, but it was immediately clear why when she came back to the living room. It looked like she’d reapplied makeup—to the point that it was overdone—and smoothed down the loose hairs that had been flying all over the place. With the skinny jeans and snug fitting shirt across an ample chest, she looked like she could pass for a Hooters waitress.

  Kori knew there was no Hooters in Hermit Cove, but there could easily be a similar kind of restaurant where she could work nearby. Kori decided not to let her mind dwell on what other kind of professions would suit Joline’s look, but an escort service quickly wandered into her consciousness.

  Even Joline’s voice changed. She hadn’t been unfriendly at the front door, but Kori’s intuition had been correct about her wanting to be the center of attention. Suddenly she was babbling in a high pitched, ultra girly voice that Kori loved to avoid. She’d have to suck it up this afternoon.

  “We’ve only lived next door for a little while. I just moved here less than a year ago. I met him through his wife, Karin, actually. Are you talking to her too? But she and I ended up not really hitting it off. She’s older, you know? So we’re just looking for different things in life right now. But Marty and I . . .”

  Joline’s eyes got a faraway look and Kori waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, Kori asked, “Would it be okay if I record our conversation? It’s easier than taking notes.”

  Joline sat on a ch
air facing Nora and Kori on the couch, a low coffee table between them. “Oh, of course. And what about a photo to go with the quote I give you?”

  Kori was surprised she wanted to be associated with this when she was the other woman. She turned the voice recorder on and then answered, “Sure. At the end I’ll take one.”

  “Great. So, where did you want to start?” Joline asked, way too excited for what this conversation was about.

  “Well, let’s start with your story. You said you just moved here. Where did you come from? What brought you to Hermit Cove?” Kori hoped her answer wasn’t ‘To be an escort.’

  “Well, I’m from a town even smaller than Hermit Cove. Can you even believe that?” She waved her hand to emphasize her point. “And with my work, I can live anywhere. I didn’t want to jump right into a city, so I came out here to Hermit Cove.”

  “What exactly is the work you do?” Kori asked, mentally crossing her fingers.

  “I’m an editor for an online publication.”

  Kori had to do a double take and she felt Nora shift beside her. How did someone smart enough to be an editor come off as such a bimbo? “What’s the publication?” Kori pressed.

  “It’s called Growing Green. It’s for urban gardeners to get information,” Joline explained.

  Kori wondered if she could be connected to Seeds ‘n More. Could that have been further motive than just her relationship with Marty? Kori nodded and waited for Joline to decide where she wanted to take the conversation.

  “That’s actually how I met Karin.” Kori tilted her head to one side. Was Karin even connected to Seeds ‘n More? She hadn’t said anything about that yesterday. “She was a regular contributor to the publication until about a year ago. I don’t know why, but she stopped adding anything to the magazine. She’d been freelancing, so maybe they just moved on without her. I’m not sure. But I met her at a conference the company put on. She told me about Hermit Cove, and well, here I am!”