A Cold Brew Killing

by Lena Gregory

  “Yeah, well, you probably should have paid closer attention,” Savannah said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Maybelle sits on the council.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Great. Just what she needed, an enemy on the council. “How could someone that lazy—”

  The front door opened, and an older couple walked in.

  Gia plastered on a smile and went to greet them. She’d have to try to sort everything out later. “Good morning.”

  “Hello,” the man answered and glanced at Earl. “Hey there, Earl.”

  Earl stood and extended a hand. “Harry. How are you?”

  “Good, good.” He shook Earl’s hand, then stepped back and gestured toward the woman Gia assumed was his wife. “Theresa and I figured we’d check out the breakfast you’re always raving about.”

  “Well, you won’t be disappointed.” Earl winked at Gia. “This here’s Gia, and she makes a mean breakfast.”

  “Nice to meet you, Gia.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you.” She grabbed two menus. “Can I show you to a table?”

  After settling them with coffee and their menus, Gia retreated to the kitchen. She grabbed tongs and moved a few slices of bacon and sausage from the warming trays to the grill, then started scrambling three eggs.

  Maybelle Sanford. It figured. That woman was destined to be a thorn in her side. She’d only worked—to use the term loosely—at the café for a day, and yet she kept coming back to haunt her. Since Maybelle had accused Gia of murder last time she’d seen her, it was hard not to jump to the conclusion she had something to do with the zoning fiasco. And yet…

  Gia had been ready to fire Maybelle for being so lazy. Useless as a steering wheel on a mule according to Savannah. That being the case, it was hard to believe Maybelle had found the ambition to search for a way to close the café.

  Gia dismissed any thought of Maybelle. Nothing she could do about it right now anyway, and all it was doing was aggravating her. She’d have to wait until Tommy called Savannah back. If not for his wife having their first baby last month, he’d have been at the latest council meeting, and she might have had a head’s up. As it was, she’d have to wait for him to get caught up.

  She drizzled a small amount of oil onto the grill, let it heat until it sizzled, then poured the eggs onto the hot oil. While they cooked, she spooned out a serving of grits and one of home fries, which Earl had added to his usual breakfast after the first time he’d tried hers. She filled a bowl with gravy, dropped two biscuits onto a small plate, and set the dish on the cutout counter between the kitchen and dining room.

  Earl ate an unbelievable amount of food for breakfast every day while still managing to stay rail thin. The man was in remarkably good shape for almost eighty years old, despite consuming a week’s work of fat each morning.

  She’d miss this if she had to give up the café. She enjoyed cooking, and she’d enjoyed making friends in Boggy Creek. In addition to Earl, there was Trevor, who owned the ice cream parlor down the street, Savannah, who’d been a good friend for years, and Hunt, who she held out hope would become more than just a friend. She dismissed the thought. Detective Tall, Dark and Gorgeous was the last thing she needed to concern herself with at the moment.

  She’d even gotten used to the solitude of living in her small house at the edge of the Ocala National Forest. Sort of. Thor helped. It was hard to believe Savannah had to talk her into getting the big Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. Now, she had no clue what she’d do without him. He made her life complete.

  “Here you go.” Willow rushed in, ripped the top page off her order pad, and stuck it above the grill, then frowned. “Are you all right?”

  “I’ll be okay.” She smiled. “As soon as I get past being blindsided and figure out what my options are.”

  “If I can do anything to help, just let me know.”

  “Thanks.”

  She grabbed Earl’s breakfast order and headed back to the dining room. Willow was a good kid and a hard worker. She’d also become a friend.

  Another plus in the stay-and-fight-for-her-café column.

  She started the next order. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had much luck finding a cook after Maybelle and her replacement both hadn’t worked out—or in Maybelle’s case, just hadn’t worked—which left Gia stuck in the kitchen all day. As much as she loved cooking, she really wanted to get out from in front of the grill and get to know her customers a little better. If she was going to make this work, she might have to give in and hire a cook. Third time’s the charm? She certainly hoped so.

  Truth be told, Boggy Creek was growing on her. At least, the people were. The critters, not so much.

  The sound of raised voices right outside the kitchen pulled her attention.

  Gia set the finished order on the cutout for Willow, pulled off her apron, and draped it over a stool. She strode through the doorway but stopped short when she ran into Savannah and a woman she didn’t know in the hallway outside her office door. “Everything okay?”

  Savannah peeked into Gia’s office, then glanced at the other woman and pulled the door shut. She tucked her hair behind her ear, a nervous habit Gia had become familiar with when they’d lived together in New York. “Gia, this is Marcia Steers.”

  She only recognized the name because she’d recently received the letter from the council with Marcia Steers’s name scrawled across the bottom and her title, Council President, typed in bold print beneath it. Gia eyed the woman standing in front of her, then swallowed her anger and extended a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Steers.”

  A hot pink sundress clung to Marcia’s ample curves, and bleach blond hair framed her round face in a mane of over-teased frizz. High-heeled, leopard print sandals laced up her calves. She sneered and folded her arms across her chest. “Ms. Morelli.”

  Okay. Gia lowered her hand. “What can I help you with?”

  “I want to discuss something with you.” She raked her gaze over Savannah. “In private.”

  Savannah offered her sweetest smile. “As I already told you, Ms. Morelli is working. She will be happy to meet with you after the café closes.”

  Marcia ignored her, instead honing in on Gia. “And as I already told Ms. Mills, I need to speak with you.”

  “Actually, I’d like to speak with you as well.” She forced a smile. “I’m hoping we can clear up the zoning mistake so I can keep the café open.”

  “There’s no mistake, Ms. Morelli.” Though Marcia’s expression remained hard, her gaze darted repeatedly between the closed back door to the parking lot and the swinging door to the dining room. She stood stiff, like a cornered animal. “The café will close. The matter I must discuss with you is of a more personal nature.”

  Savannah eyed Gia and gave a discreet head shake behind Marcia’s back.

  Great. Now she had to either irritate Marcia, the woman who quite possibly held Gia’s fate in her hands, or go against Savannah, which she couldn’t do. She cracked the swinging door to the dining room open and peeked in. Willow had already seated several more tables and was taking an order. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Steers, but I’m the only cook, and I can’t leave the kitchen just now. Can we meet later on?”

  Marcia eyed her for a moment, then relented. “Fine. I want to look into something anyway. The café is closed on Mondays, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll meet you here tomorrow around noon.”

  “Sounds good. I—”

  Before Gia could finish speaking, Marcia shot Savannah a dirty look, whirled away from Gia, then shoved through the swinging doors into the dining room.

  Gia stared after her. “Maybe I should have just talked to her.”

  Savannah blew out a breath. “And what about your customers? Are you going to make them sit and wait while you two have it out in the middle o
f the café?”

  The fact that she was right did nothing to lessen Gia’s apprehension.

  “She’s clearly agitated about something. A public confrontation is the last thing you need right now.” Savannah shook her head, then opened the door and walked into Gia’s office. “Besides, I was helping Willow out, pouring coffee while people waited to order their breakfast. When I looked up, I caught sight of someone heading through the doors toward the kitchen. I couldn’t tell who it was, so I came back to see what was going on, and I found Marcia coming out of your office.”

  Savannah shuffled through a small stack of papers on the desk. “You should really go through these and see if anything’s missing before you meet with her.”

  “I guess—”

  “Gia?” Willow stuck her head in the doorway. “Is everything all right?” she asked for the third time since arriving.

  Gia needed to get her act together. “Umm…yeah.”

  Willow frowned but let it drop. “I just put three orders up, and one of them is a group of seven.”

  “Got it.” She quickly scanned the papers on the desk. There was nothing of importance that she could see, but she’d have to look more carefully later. “Thanks, Savannah.”

  “No problem. But I think I’ll give my brother another call.” She looked up and caught Gia’s gaze. “And maybe you’d better think about calling a lawyer.”

  Meet the Author

  Lena Gregory lives in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island with her husband and three children. When she was growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons on the beach, in the yard, anywhere she could find to curl up with a good book. She loves reading as much now as she did then, but she now enjoys the added pleasure of creating her own stories. She is also the author of the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series, published by Berkley. Please visit her website at www.lenagregory.com.

  For Florida diner owner Gia Morelli, there’s no such thing as too much breakfast—unless it kills you…

  When Gia Morelli’s marriage falls apart, she knows it’s time to get out of New York. Her husband was a scam artist who swindled half the millionaires in town, and she doesn’t want to be there when they decide to take revenge. On the spur of the moment, she follows her best friend to a small town in Central Florida, where she braves snakes, bears, and giant spiders to open a cheery little diner called the All-Day Breakfast Café. Owning a restaurant has been her lifelong dream, but it turns into a nightmare the morning she opens her dumpster and finds her ex-husband crammed inside. As the suspect du jour, Gia will have to scramble fast to prove her innocence before a killer orders another cup of murder…

  “Hold on to your plates for this fast-paced mystery that will leave you hungering for more!”

  —J.C. Eaton, author of the Sophie Kimball Mysteries