Expresso Messo: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 6)

by Constance Barker

  “You need to keep him in line. I don’t want to call the police on him but I will if I have to. Do you realize how dangerous that is? That moonshine could have reacted with medications. You should be thankful nothing has happened yet.”

  “I know. I can’t believe he did that. I was a little hard on him last week when something went wrong with a main dish for one of our regulars but I never suspected he would resort to this to keep people happy. Cooking amazing dishes would keep them happy.”

  I took a deep breath feeling almost sorry for Derek. I can imagine the desperation that forced him to find a solution to a bunch of angry customers and an upset boss. But dosing the unsuspecting people of Sweet Home wasn’t the solution. How he could do that every day and not have an increase in his anxiety level was beyond me. I’d be worried something would happen to someone. Luckily most people in town drove around on golf carts. Not usually a dangerous vehicle because they didn’t go all that fast, they could still kill someone. And one had killed Carl Jefferies. Of course it had help that had nothing to do with driving under the influence of alcohol though.

  “We’re going to leave and I’ll keep this to myself for now but please get him under control.”

  “I will. Thank you Lily. I promise it won’t happen again.”

  I helped Jules up and we left. I liked Derek and hoped Reva didn’t fire him. He made the best meatloaf in town. And the man needed to work. I wondered again what else was going on in his life that made him resort to putting alcohol in the syrup. Something must be going on. There was no telling what went on in someone’s private life as evidenced from the submissions to Jules’ secret admirer column. You never really knew someone’s secrets.

  We stopped on the way out to pay the bill, leaving a generous tip for our waitress. I got the feeling the wait staff would need something to lift them up. A flurry of them rushed out of the kitchen and hurried to the tables. They snatched up the syrup from all the tables to the sounds of loud complaints from the customers. They rushed back to the kitchen and returned with the non-spiked syrup.

  We pushed through the Coffee Cabana doors a few minutes later. Jules jerked to attention at the jingle of the bell. She was still leaning on me with that silly grin on her face.

  “I didn’t get my syrup to go.” Jules pouted.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Hildie asked rushing over. “Is she sick?”

  I poured Jules into the first seat. “We found out the secret to the “starry-eyed” pancakes at Reva’s,” I said.

  Essie hurried over. “And what was it?”

  “Moonshine.”

  “Moonshine!” Hildie and Essie said in unison.

  If Jules wasn’t so tipsy the shrill sound of their voices would have been funny. Jules wasn’t a big drinker so it didn’t surprise me that such a small amount of a high concentrate alcohol would affect her. I hoped she didn’t have a hangover later.

  I walked behind the counter and poured her a large coffee in a to go cup. I prepared it the way she liked it and rushed back to Jules. I put the drink in her hands, making sure she took a few sips before taking the cup away from her.

  “I’m going to take her back to her newspaper. She has a couch in the back where she can sleep it off.”

  “Okay, we’ve got things under control here.”

  I looked around at the empty place and nodded. Not that I liked when the shop was empty but I was glad no one else had heard me reveal the secret of Reva’s syrup. I didn’t want anything else to go wrong with the cafe that would push Derek over the edge again especially now that I’d seen the tampered syrup replaced with regular syrup. I got the feeling the pancakes wouldn’t be as popular now.

  “Come on Jules.”

  I reached out to help her up.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back to the newspaper,” I said.

  She shrugged, giggled, and raised her arms so I could help her stand. Once on her feet again I maneuvered her to the door.

  “I don’t think I can work on the newspaper right now,” Jules said. “My head feels spinny.”

  “You’re not going to work,” I told her. I looked at my aunts. “I’ll be right back,” I said.”

  “Take your time,” Hildie said. “We’ve got this.”

  I walked with Jules to her place next to my shop. She was a little steadier on her feet but still giggled every once in a while for no apparent reason. At the door I leaned her against the wall to try the door handle. It turned in my hand. Surprised that she hadn’t locked it gave way to thankfulness. It would have been difficult dealing with a tipsy Jules and finding her keys.

  Inside the newspaper office was empty. None of her helpers were there yet, presumably on their lunch breaks. Of course Moira would still be in school now so wouldn’t be showing up until later. The few others might come back in an hour.

  I guided Jules to the back of the place to her office. I settled her down on the sofa.

  “I’m going to take your keys so I can lock the door, okay?”

  “Whatever you think is best.” She waved the air.

  “I’ll put a sign on the door to come back in an hour. Your staff can come by the Cabana.”

  Jules merely nodded as she stretched out on the sofa and settled in. She yawned loudly and closed her eyes. I should have brought her coffee with us but when she was feeling livelier she could come over and get more.

  I found a piece of paper and wrote a quick note and taped it to the door. Satisfied she would nap the alcohol away I left, locking the door behind me.

  Back in Coffee Cabana I joined my aunt Hildie behind the counter to help her clear the suddenly long line of customers. In the five minutes I’d been gone we had a rush of people wanting coffee. There would be no time to chat with my aunts until we had coffee in everyone’s hands.

  While Hildie served I rang in purchases. Essie filled the bags with the chocolate truffles and cookies for the people who bought our new Valentine’s Day beverages. I took a peek at the display case to make sure we had enough baked goods to get us through the rest of the day. I didn’t want to send my aunts home to bake if we didn’t need them.

  When the line was finally cleared with most customers taking their coffee to go I poured myself a decaf and went to the back room. Hildie and Essie followed me. We left the door ajar so we could hear the bell over the front door.

  “So spill about Reva’s.” Essie said.

  I leaned against the counter still reeling from Derek’s behavior. “Not a lot more to tell really. Reva’s chef was yelled at I guess and he didn’t like it so he decided to spike the syrup with moonshine.”

  Hildie tutted. “That’s dangerous.”

  “I told Reva I would call the police if she didn’t do something about it.”

  “Do you think she’ll fire him?” Essie asked.

  “I hope not. It was ill advised but I’m sure he’ll never do it again. And no one got hurt. We stopped it in time.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Hildie said. “Derek is a good man but I think he’s been a little stressed lately.”

  “What did you find out about Mildred?” Essie asked.

  “Nothing. Reva didn’t remember seeing her in the cafe the last week. And definitely not with a man.”

  “So that leaves us nowhere,” Hildie said.

  “Maybe she didn’t write the note after all,” I said.

  If she didn’t write the note we were back to square one.

  “Did Toe say anything else after I left?”

  Essie shook her head. “He was going to stop by Mildred’s again and check to see if she was there. He said he’d call if she was, but that’s been over an hour ago so evidently she isn’t.

  “Great. We have nothing to go on now. Mildred is still missing and we have nothing to indicate what happened.”

  I itched to pull the cell phone out of my pocket and call Eli but I knew it would go right to voice mail. I didn’t want to worry him unnecessarily. By the time he was within dis
tance of a cell phone tower again we’d probably have the Mildred mystery solved. At least I hoped so. I worried that she was hurt or frightened with no one to help her. When Jules was back from her moonshine induced fog we would have to brainstorm leads. I would talk to as many as people as necessary to find a time line leading to Mildred’s disappearance.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A few hours later I was waiting for the afternoon mini rush to start. I’d sent Hildie and Essie home about an hour before since the cafe was still empty. I hated when the place was so bare the slightest sound would echo off the walls, bouncing around for a moment before dying suddenly. I thought of all the things I could be doing right now but I didn’t want to close early just in case someone wanted to pop by before going home.

  I wiped down the counter then went out to the floor and wiped down the tables. I pushed in the chairs so there were none hanging out to trip anyone. I picked up a discarded magazine and tossed it in the recycle. Satisfied with the neatness of the place I returned to my spot behind the counter. I ignored the truffles and cookies calling my name. With the aunts gone Essie couldn’t reprimand me for eating them. As much as I wanted to have one I left them for now just in case customers came in and ordered the new drinks. If there were any left when I closed I would take them home. I wouldn’t serve them tomorrow. I always wanted to have fresh goods available.

  It was too bad I didn’t have a book with me. I pulled out a piece of paper and pen and wrote down Mildred’s name at the top. Underneath I wrote what I knew so far about where she was last seen which wasn’t much. I still needed to talk to more people in town to find out who had seen her last and where. But I had no idea where to start with that either. For the hundredth time today I wanted to call Eli to ask him what he thought. He might be able to calm my suspicions.

  Could Mildred have just decided to leave town for a few days? If so she would have had to rented a car because her little SUV was still in the driveway. If she was kidnapped, who would take her and why? It’s not like Mildred was steeped in cash. She had a nice nest egg, but that was it. And besides, Sweet Home was a friendly place to live. Well, most of the time.

  With no leads to go on I abandoned the Mildred time line for now and thought about my Valentine’s Day celebration with Eli. I still had no idea what to do. My piece of paper had a big fat nothing on it except Valentine’s Day at the top underlined three times. As if that would help me magically think of something to do with my guy.

  The bell over the door finally jingled a little after four thirty. Trevor and Moira walked in. They were huddled together talking softly and not paying attention to their surroundings. Trevor looked up and pointed to a table near the door. Moira nodded and took a seat. She dropped her back pack on the floor and Trevor put his beside hers before walking up to the counter to order.

  “Hey, Trevor. What can I get you two?”

  “Two large red velvet hot chocolates.”

  “Whipped cream and sprinkles?”

  “Yes for one. No sprinkles on the other.”

  “No problem. For here or to go?”

  “We’ll have them here.”

  Surprised they were staying I smiled. “Great. Take a seat and I’ll bring them over when they’re done.”

  He walked back over to Moira and sat beside her. She pulled out a notebook from her bag. They hunched over it talking animatedly giggling every once in a while. She wrote something then Trevor pulled the notebook toward him and wrote something. Moira scribbled something out and wrote again. Then it was Trevor’s turn. I wondered what they were writing about but it was none of my business.

  I pulled out large mugs and made their beverages. Then I found a tray and balanced the drinks, the cookies and the truffles on it being careful as I carried it over. Every time I offered to bring a table their drinks I envisioned me tripping over something and the drinks going everywhere. Or worse yet tripping over nothing. One of the reasons I was never a waitress.

  I literally held my breath as I walked over with the tray cursing myself for not just carrying two mugs in one hand. I put the tray on the table to serve them, too nervous to attempt to balance it on one arm. I got a glance at what they were writing in the notebook but I couldn’t make out any words though I did see a lot of scribbles where they’d crossed something out and written something underneath. I didn’t want to linger so I hurried back behind the counter to my Valentine’s Day conundrum.

  Back behind the counter I willed another customer to come in. I much preferred being busy than having too much time on my hands. The list I’d started had nothing new on it. Moira’s chuckle grabbed my attention. They were huddled even closer. Moira held a pen now and was writing something on the paper. Trevor was shaking his head. She wrote something else and he nodded, a grin spreading across his face.

  It was nice to see they were becoming great friends. I was happy to see him settling into a friendship with someone and staying out of trouble. I watched them carefully wondering if there was a budding romance there.

  Moira was a pretty girl. Trevor a handsome young man. They enjoyed each other’s company. Relationships had started on less. However, young love can be fleeting, and I hoped Moira took what our gypsy friend told her to heart and not let herself get hurt. Although it might be Trevor with the broken heart someday. I missed Eli. This was the longest we’d been out of touch since we got engaged. I had to admit I didn’t like it. But I would never begrudge him the guy time with his dad.

  Bonding time made me wonder about Mildred again. Did she just go off with a friend? She had wandered off without her phone before. Not everyone was glued to the devices. And she even had gone off to gamble in another city without telling anyone. What were the chances she’d just done that again? I wanted to believe there was a logical reason for her absence in her own home when she was expecting Toe. I wanted to talk to Eli to be reassured that nothing was wrong. But with everything that had gone on in our small town I knew anything was possible.

  The only way I would feel better was to investigate. To do that I needed to go to Mildred’s house and check it out for myself. Toe’s descriptions, while vivid and most likely thorough, probably left some things out that might give me something to go on. I would go check on Jules first and then head over to Mildred’s.. Even the smallest detail could provide a clue for her disappearance. Maybe her phone would tell me something about where she went.

  I couldn’t just leave the shop with customers here so I would have to wait for Trevor and Moira to finish their drinks. They usually didn’t linger long after they were done eating and drinking. Though the Coffee Cabana was nice, the kids didn’t consider it all that hip. It wasn’t a hangout for the teenagers which I was thankful for. They tended to buy their drinks and take them to go. Or sit at a table for some conversation but left shortly after finishing. Not that I could complain really. The teenagers in town were a pretty good lot.

  I wiped down the counter, cleaned the coffee machines, put the used mugs in the dishwasher and started it. I took the leftover baked goods and put them in boxes. I could give some to Jules and take the rest home. If I went to Mildred’s I wouldn’t come back here. We didn’t get many customers after four during this time of the year.

  With the place clean I went to the door and locked it. Not that I thought I’d get a rush of people but just in case I flipped the sign from Open to Closed. If my aunts were still here they could have held the fort for a half an hour while I checked things out but I already felt bad for leaving them at lunch.

  I took a look at the place from the front. Usually I’m too busy serving customers, making coffee or doing inventory in the back to pay attention to how the place looks from the other side. My aunts had done a nice job with the decorations. Pink and red streamers adorned the walls with hearts positioned at equal intervals. If I’d put more thought into it I would have picked up some discount vases with pink and red flowers in them for all the tables. Maybe next year.

  “Did you want us to leav
e?” Moira asked.

  Her cup was still half full and I didn’t want to rush them. “Take your time. There’s no rush. I’m just not open for new customers.”

  She smiled and I saw Trevor looking at her without her noticing he was looking. He looked up and noticed me watching him. He blushed. I smiled.

  “When is Eli getting back?” Trevor asked.

  “Hopefully soon Trevor,” I answered. “I miss him more than I thought I would.”

  They were still writing on notebook paper, sipping their drinks and eating their cookies when I went to the back room to make sure everything was put away there. Some decorations were left over from this morning. The Cabana walls were only so big. I didn’t want the place to look garish just romantic. I pulled out a plastic storage box and put the decorations in there. When I took the rest of the decorations down out front they could go here too and wait for next year.