Sean assessed her and realized how worked up she was getting over this. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. It takes a lot to upset me. This wasn’t quite enough.” She dropped the key ring into his open palm.
He was curious, though. If this wasn’t upset, what was?
“All right, well, keep on. Don’t let me stop you from mopping the rest of the place.” She gestured up and down the hallway and then took off in one direction.
Sean squeezed the mop head in the bucket and watched after her. Casey Park seemed to have motive for poisoning the beans, but Sean had to wonder why the HR lady appeared so unhappy with her employment. On top of that, why the quality control department was kept under such tight wraps. Was it just to protect the recipes from the competition or something more?
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Chapter 33
LOGISTICS
JIMMY HEARD THE BEEPING OF a forklift backing up. When he turned to see where it was coming from, it performed a tight spin and headed straight for him. He didn’t think it was slowing down either.
“Watch out,” Jimmy cried out, even though it shouldn’t have been necessary. The forks were empty and the driver would have a clear line of sight.
Jimmy stepped out of the way, but the driver torqued the wheel at the last minute to change course and miss him. The machine stopped and the man jumped down. He might have even left his seat before the thing came to a complete stop.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Gavin. This is my first day. Are you Luke?”
“I am.”
As soon as he got within sniffing range, Jimmy’s eyes watered. He wondered when Luke might have showered last and guessed it was probably days ago unless he had a medical condition that had him sweating excessively.
Luke snatched the clipboard Jimmy held. “Now, you and I will be local late afternoon deliveries and then loading up the trucks for the next day. We also prepare waybills for Hasty Parcel Service. That will start around eight o’clock.”
Jimmy stifled his amusement over the fact that Tasty used Hasty. Where did people come up with their business names?
“We don’t deliver all the coffee?”
His question met with derisive laughter. “We only do deliveries within a two-hour driving radius of the plant. Otherwise, we hire Hasty to deliver the coffee.”
“So, for out of state customers, such as those in New York State?”
“Yes, since that would be outside of the two-hour driving radius, wouldn’t it.”
“You’re right.”
“Uh-huh.” Luke stopped all movement and stared at Jimmy. “Where are you from anyway?”
“The agency.”
He waved a hand. “No, I mean you didn’t grow up in Virginia, did you?”
“New York State.”
“I thought so. I could tell by the accent.”
Jimmy didn’t know how to respond. It was strange being confronted with the thought that he had an accent.
“And speaking of the agency, you’re only going to be here a brief time. They did tell you that?”
“Yes.” This was the second time it was emphasized to him that this job was temporary.
“You’re just here because we’ve got a heavy load right now and you’re to help with the possible transition.”
“The transition?”
“Yeah. Oh, man, they didn’t tell you, did they?” Luke shook his head. “We might not have any drivers soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everything is probably getting moved over to Hasty. It has something to do with the company’s costs involved with running its own trucks and full-time drivers. If you ask me, they take the trucks and drivers away, there goes our personal touch.”
“Personal touch?”
“Yeah, we’re the only coffee company who offers such a service. Our biggest competitor, Java Worldwide, only delivers via hired couriers, even in their own city.”
Jimmy nodded as his mind ruminated on what he was being told. Everywhere he seemed to turn at Tasty Beans, despite the cheery shirts, no one was happy. Most wore scowls and responded with clipped remarks. There was more going on inside this company than poison. And that was saying a lot.
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Chapter 34
COFFEE AND CHIT CHAT
SARA SENT JIMMY TO PICK up coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. As for food, they had that at the hotel as it seemed like a waste not to take part in the breakfast buffet when likely so much food was thrown out already. She just wanted to make sure her hot, steaming beverage wasn’t poisoned, and the chain was the best way to go. Even still, she used the test strips on everyone’s coffee. They all came back clear.
Sean was smiling at her as she took her first sip, but he didn’t say anything. Based on the implication that he thought she was being paranoid, she glanced at Jimmy and then back to Sean. “How did the toilet scrubbing go, darling?”
“So wonderful that I think I’m going to quit.”
She laughed. “You’ve never been a quitter.”
“I don’t know about that,” Jimmy chimed in.
“Leaving my job as a cop doesn’t count. Besides, I’m technically still doing the job, just without all the red tape.”
“And using a mop.” Jimmy chuckled and Sean balled up a napkin and threw it across the room. Jimmy caught it. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
“Uh-huh.” Sean took a draw on his coffee. “You go first, Sara. Tell us about Casey.”
“As you know, we’re still waiting for Adam to get back to us on the money transfers. Hopefully, we find out something more there before we go in today.” Sean had told her he tried Adam on his break last night.
“Do you think you’re in danger?”
It was a question Sean had asked her more times than she could count and she had a superb memory. She appreciated his concern, even understood it, but she wondered when he would realize his worrying about her was unnecessary. She could take care of herself, but she didn’t want to get involved with that topic of conversation in front of Jimmy right now.
“I’m safe, Sean.” She wondered if her response was premature. Some of the machines at Tasty Beans would be capable of inflicting great harm, potentially even death. She’d leave the ribbon blender out of the discussion. “Casey seemed very defensive when it came to the flavoring aspect of the business. He said that the formula is determined and prepared by the lab.”
“So no one else has access to modify them?” Sean asked.
“I’m not sure yet. Casey is very conservative. He only says what he needs to and nothing more.”
“That’s what one would expect of a corporate spy and potential murderer,” Jimmy added.
Sara let her gaze wander to him. His hand dangled past the length of the chair arm and the way he swayed the cup he held, it appeared empty.
“What about you, Jimmy?”
“Everyone in the shipping department is miserable. The man who is training me is named Luke. He stinks like you wouldn’t believe. If we were around next Christmas, I’d buy him a bar of soap. Scratch that, I might gift it now just because.”
“You said everyone was miserable?” Sean prompted.
Sara’s eyes went to her husband. She loved the man for what he was sacrificing for this case. She loved the fact that, despite his periodic complaining, he followed through on taking care of his undercover job.
“Oh yeah. Both the manager, a man named Bruce, and Luke emphasized that my job is temporary.”
Sara leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Did they say why?”
“Apparently Tasty Beans is considering Hasty Parcel Service for all their del—”
“Wait a minute, Tasty hires Hasty.” Sean turned to her with a smirk on his face.
Jimmy hitched his shou
lders. “I thought the same thing when I first heard, but hey, I didn’t name the businesses.”
“Go ahead.”
“Anyway, as I was saying, rumor has it that the drivers may lose their jobs to the courier company.”
Sara sat back. “That could be motive. Poison the beans and take the company down with you.”
“But over a rumor?” Sean stressed.
“They are pretty sure of it, Sean. They might be rumors, but the people in the shipping department are taking them as gospel.” Jimmy set the cup on the table next to him.
“And how would someone in the shipping department poison the beans when they’re already packaged and sealed by the time…” Sean stopped talking. “That’s one area we overlooked. I know we have to clear Casey first, but no one is beyond suspicion.”
“That’s right,” Sara agreed.
“What’s to say that the cyanide isn’t being added at the point of packaging?”
Sara studied both men and replied. “Nothing, I suppose. As I said, Casey seemed pretty adamant that the flavoring aspect is not to be questioned.”
“Does he have access to the packaging department?”
“That’s the next step from flavoring.”
“What about quality control?” Sean asked.
“Quality control? What about it? Although it would make sense.”
“When I was cleaning yesterday I came across a door labeled as that department.”
“It’s not even something that Adam mentioned,” Jimmy said.
“That’s strange, he’s normally so thorough,” Sara added.
“When we left Albany our sole focus was on Casey. He’s assigned to the flavoring department. The human resources lady mentioned they check the coffee as the last step, but it’s possible that quality checks are conducted at different points along the process.”
“So you’re thinking maybe Casey has access to the coffee after that and is adding the cyanide then—somewhere between quality control and shipping?” Sara summarized.
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
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Chapter 35
PUT THROUGH THE WRINGER
SEAN DIALED ADAM ON his cell phone. When he answered, Sean announced, “You’re on speaker. The three of us are here.”
“Hi, everyone.”
Jimmy and Sara spoke at the same time to greet Adam.
Sean preferred to ignore the deflated tone in Adam’s voice. “We’re after an update on Casey.”
“I was afraid of that when I saw your name on caller ID.”
“No success so far?”
“Not much anyhow. Whoever is responsible for that money going into Casey’s account each month is hard to pin down.”
Sean caught something in the way Adam worded his reply. “You tracked it down to some point, didn’t you?”
“There’s nothing that eludes you is there?”
“Except for our killer right now, and the longer we take to put everything together the more people might die.”
“I am working as fast as I can.”
Sean noticed the defensiveness in Adam’s voice. At the same time, Sara placed her hand on the back of Sean’s. It was her gentle reminder to take it easy on him.
“We know you are, Adam,” Sara reassured him. “You do have something, though, don’t you?”
“I do and I don’t. The money traced back to a law office in Austin, Texas. Trying to find out why they are sending Casey money, that is harder to figure out.”
Sara tugged Sean’s arm for his attention. “It could be that Java Worldwide is routing the payments through the law office to cover their tracks.”
“I thought of the same thing, Sara. Just before you called I had started researching firms that Java Worldwide work with, and they don’t have any connection to this particular one.”
“It doesn’t mean that Java isn’t behind this,” Sara said.
“No, it doesn’t. They might be using it because it’s not one of their regular ones.” Adam paused a few seconds. “So, as you can see, I am making some progress, but not getting far. Maybe I can hack into the firm’s records and figure it out that way.”
“Just keep on it.” Sean realized it probably wasn’t necessary to verbalize the request in so many words, but the enormity of this case kept hitting him in waves. There really wasn’t any time to waste.
“Will do.”
Sean hung up and turned to Jimmy and Sara. “Thoughts?”
Sara spoke first. “I still think that Casey is involved. Everything we know about him is suspicious. A move across the country for a pay cut. Money from a mysterious law office.”
“I’m with Sara,” Jimmy said.
“See if you can confirm Casey’s access to shipping and quality control.”
“I will, Sean.”
“I’m going to see if I can get into that office.” Sean turned to Jimmy. “How did your deliveries go yesterday, by the way? Did you meet any customers?”
“I did, and none of them seemed to be ill, but I noticed the labels on the boxes. Surprising that for their trademark flavor, none that I delivered were dark cherry almond.”
“There’s a connection to that specific flavor.”
“Sean, we know it’s their signature flavor. That could be enough right there.”
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Chapter 36
BEANS FOR TWO
SARA LET HERSELF INTO THE flavoring area and tucked her wig into the white cap. The first time she’d put it on she had worried about it coming off her head, along with the fake locks, but today she was confident everything would stay in place.
Casey came through the swinging door. “What are you doing in here?”
“What do you mean? I thought this is where I’m supposed to be.”
“You always wait for me.”
His statement sparked something else. Yesterday they had passed other flavoring rooms. Each of them had a panel of windows so that people could see inside. Maybe it was another quality control process? Sara wasn’t sure, but she remembered that there were teams of two in each room. No one worked alone. It must have something to do with preventing tampering, or maybe safety around those large blenders? But if she was Casey’s partner, then how long had he worked by himself?
He kept his eyes on her as he put his cap in place.
“I apologize for getting ahead of myself.”
“Just don’t let it happen again.”
“I was hoping you’d be able to take me on a bit of a tour.”
“On a tour? No way, we don’t have time for something like that.”
“I know we didn’t do this yesterday, but do we ever get involved with quality control or packaging?” She didn’t like the way his eyes glazed over when she asked the question. Was he on to her? It was time to put on the girlie innocence routine. “I just figured that someone must taste the coffee to make sure the blends come out the way they should. You know, for company reputation and all.”
“We do have people who do that all along the way.”
“Do we?”
“We do.”
Sara’s heart thumped. “We do? As in us specifically?”
“Yes. I just did it after you left shift yesterday. We were moving slower so I put in some overtime.”
Apparently training a new hire was a real inconvenience.
“You did which exactly—taste testing or something to do with packaging?” She just wanted to be certain.
“Taste testing. Then it goes to packaging.”
“I assume we’ll sample the product together on this shift?” She swallowed roughly, the thought of cyanide rolling in her mind, but she realized the stupidity of that. Casey wouldn’t poison the coffee before tasting it. When they drank it, it would be perfectly safe—assuming Casey was the one
behind the poisoning. Was she willing to take the risk that a small dose wouldn’t hurt her?
“If we get on with things, there’s that possibility.” He huffed past her and went into the first room and stopped short of the controller. “You go ahead and I’ll watch you today. You do remember what I taught you yesterday?”
“Yes.” She went over to the controller that dangled from the wire and held it in her hand. “I noticed that everyone works in pairs. Why is that?”
“You just push the green button to start the ribbons turning.”
“Before me, who worked with you?”
“Listen, if you want to talk all shift, I’ll have to go to HR.”
Whoa. This guy really didn’t like conversation, and he particularly didn’t care for it when it revolved around Tasty Beans and procedure. For a man in the position of training a new employee, it didn’t sit well with Sara.
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Chapter 37
AFTERTASTE
SEAN WAS DETERMINED TO GET into the quality control office with or without the key, but he had to wait until the employees from that part of the building went home. After quick assessment it seemed that time had finally come.
Before leaving Sara, he had gotten one of her bobby pins. Armed with nothing more than this to get him inside, he hoped it was enough to pick the lock. To think, yesterday he was cursing the dated hardware and today it could be what made everything easier. He preferred the old locks over the modern keycard contraptions. Where he was out of luck was with a cover story. He couldn’t come up with one for the life of him and hoped that, if faced with the need to conjure one, it would miraculously come to him.
After another scan down the hallway—in both directions—Sean slipped the pin in and got to work. Seconds later, he turned the handle and stepped inside.
He took his mop and bucket with him, deciding that if anyone was in there, he’d say he was cleaning. If he ran into someone who was aware of the cleaning schedule, he’d use the excuse of being a new person. Hopefully, that would be all it took.
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