Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 02 - Deadly Surprise

by Ginny Gold

  Ibis immediately stood on the back seat, tail wagging, excitement in her eyes. Kori got out and greeted Milo and Otis, letting them smell her hands that were covered in Ibis’ scent.

  With all of the commotion, Nora came out of the same greenhouse the dogs had exited. “You got the dog?” she called with excitement.

  “Yeah. I brought her over to meet Milo and Otis. And you of course!” Kori opened the back door and Ibis jumped out.

  Nora walked over to Kori where the three dogs were sniffing each other before beginning a dog game of tag.

  “Looks like they’re already best friends,” Kori said when Nora had reached her. The dogs were tearing circles around the yard.

  “She’ll sleep well tonight.”

  “Good. I need a good night’s sleep too. I’m helping Jay find a murderer so he’s not on a suspect list.”

  Nora turned to Kori and gave her a serious look. “I thought that was a onetime event when you investigated Tessa’s murder.”

  “Yeah, so did I. But I can’t just let Jay suffer through an investigation alone. He doesn’t even seem interested in clearing his name.”

  Kori got Nora caught up on the last couple days’ events, including Gale having Jay’s gun in Scoter Circle at the time of Heidi’s murder, Jay’s possible DNA found at the crime scene and their conversation with Brett that afternoon.

  “Actually, speaking of Jay’s gun, I don’t think he took it out of the car when I dropped him off,” Kori said, walking back toward her car to check the glove box where he’d left it. She opened it and saw that it was empty. “Well, it’s not here so he must have.” She changed the subject, needing something else to think about for a while. “Are you ready for the potluck on Wednesday?”

  “Getting there. The farm stand is setup—did you see it at the bottom of the driveway?”

  “I did. It looks great. Did you re-stain it this year?”

  Nora nodded. “It was looking pretty worn out. And the RSVPs are coming in. It should be a good turnout. You’re coming right?”

  Kori blushed at the thought of Zach accompanying her and nodded.

  “You’re bringing Zach, aren’t you?” Nora teased. “I can see it in your eyes. You’re totally in love with him.”

  “Whoa whoa whoa. Don’t go overboard! I think it’d be fun to call him my boyfriend, but let’s not rush into love.”

  “Okay, whatever. I’ve gotta get back to work. I still have way too much to do before calling it a day.”

  Kori glanced at her watch and saw that it was already past six. “I should get Ibis home so we can both eat. We’ve each had a long day. See you Wednesday!” Kori turned back to the car and opened the back door for Ibis. Without even being called, she came running and flew into the back seat. “She must be hungry. Bye, Nora!”

  “See ya. Good dog you got. I’m glad you finally caved.”

  “Me too.” Kori waved, got in her car and drove home.

  By the time she got home, she was already exhausted so didn’t want to make anything fresh, but pulled out an already made bean burrito she’d wrapped in foil sometime in the past and frozen for just such an occasion.

  Kori settled herself on the couch with her computer and burrito, ready to look into some more of the men Jay had put on his list of suspects. Ibis sat in front of her and looked up questioningly. Kori quickly invited her onto the couch and she knew she’d never be able to kick her off of it in the future. But she was fine with that. Ibis curled up at her feet and Kori got to work.

  She pulled up Google and typed in Wesley Sanders, Wall Street. She was rewarded with plenty of hits and she began sifting through them.

  She learned that Wesley had grown up in Scoter Circle with a single mom. There was no mention of his father. He went on to study at Yale University and fell in love with New York City on his weekends spent there.

  He was ten years older than Kori and had lived in New York since he’d graduated from college. He’d been working in the New York Stock Exchange for sixteen years and had worked his way up the ladder. She easily found his photo and contact information listed on his company website. He looked completely harmless, but so did most criminals until she knew the truth about them.

  She couldn’t find anything that would have linked him to Heidi other than being from Scoter Circle. Did Wesley have an account at the same bank where Heidi worked? Was he a suspect who had already been cleared by now?

  Kori decided to sleep on finding the answers to those questions. She had no idea how she was going to find out about a possible bank account but was confident that she’d have a better idea in the morning. Now, she was drained from her morning at work and afternoon of sleuthing with Jay.

  “Come on, Ibis. You can sleep on the bed again.” The second dog bed was maybe a waste of money for now, but she’d find a use for it she was sure.

  Kori brushed her teeth, changed into pajamas and crawled between the sheets. Ibis curled up next to her and they were both asleep in minutes.

  CHAPTER 7

  At four in the morning, Kori’s alarm sounded and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She’d slept hard and wasn’t quite done yet. Her hand moved unconsciously to the other side of the bed and she found Ibis’ warm body still curled next to her.

  Ibis started at the feel of Kori’s hand and jumped off the bed, instantly full of energy.

  “I guess you’re going to be my motivation this morning. You have to go out?” she asked her dog before she could stop herself from talking to her like she understood.

  And maybe she did understand because she headed toward the door to the café. Kori found a clean pair of jeans and a fresh black t-shirt, quickly brushed her teeth and then followed Ibis downstairs. They walked to the front door and made a loop around the block, letting Ibis relieve herself before spending the morning in the office.

  Once inside, Kori set to work. She got coffee brewing and could barely wait for it to be ready to pour herself a mug. She still felt tired.

  Then she got started on the few things she had to get ready, starting with pancake batter. She made a double batch to start the morning, knowing she’d need more later on.

  She checked the oatmeal she’d put in the crock pot last night and spooned herself a small bowl. She wasn’t hungry yet but knew her stomach would start rumbling at exactly the wrong moment if she waited too long to eat something.

  The baked French toast was all ready to be put in the oven so she turned on the heat and waited for it to reach the desired temperature, meanwhile making the popover batter.

  Finally, she laid out all of the smoothie ingredients on the counter and got her blender out. She’d recently invested in plenty of Mason jars that fit onto her blender so she didn’t have to keep pouring and washing the blender between orders. This way, she could blend straight into a Mason jar that became the serving container. She used this handy trick for crushing nuts, making vegetable purees and even to grind her own fresh cinnamon.

  When she stuck the French toast in the oven, coffee was ready for drinking and she turned the closed sign to open and waited for her first customer.

  In the quiet, Kori’s mind wandered back to her research last night about Wesley Sanders. She needed to know if he had a bank account at Heidi’s bank and if he’d been on the suspect list. Would the Scoter Circle Police Department keep that information from Zach if they were only worried about him finding information out about Jay?

  Probably. She didn’t have much faith in government departments working together. And that included different offices within the same department.

  She glanced at the clock from the booth where she was sitting and saw that it was almost six, the time when she normally got busy. She stood up to refill her coffee mug and the door opened with her first customers.

  “Zach. And Detective Silver. Good morning. What can I get you?” she asked, finding herself wishing that Zach had shown up alone.

  “Hi Kori,” Zach said with a smile. She couldn’t help but match it. �
��I’ll have a coffee and …” She saw him reading the menu. “Some oatmeal,” he finally decided.

  “I’ll have coffee and banana pancakes,” Detective Silver ordered.

  “Let’s talk while you cook,” Zach said, heading to the counter in front of the window to the kitchen where Kori headed. She filled a bowl with oatmeal and gave them each an empty mug that they happily filled themselves.

  “What’s up?” Kori asked. She didn’t know if Detective Silver knew about her past sleuthing and she was dying to ask Zach all the questions she wanted answered.

  “We have something we wanted to talk to you about,” Zach said, sitting down with his coffee.

  “Is it about Jay? Because I’m not going to incriminate my own brother.”

  “It’s about the case, but not necessarily about Jay.”

  “Well, since you brought up the case, I actually have something I wanted to talk to you about first, if that’s okay,” Kori said. She looked at Zach and Lani to gauge their reactions. “Do you know any of the other suspects?”

  Zach remained silent. She knew he’d heard her but he was looking around to make sure no one else had come in yet.

  “I do,” he finally said.

  “Is Brett Carr on the list?”

  “How do you know about him?” he asked, Lani patiently observing the entire conversation.

  “Jay knew he was Heidi’s ex-husband,” Kori explained.

  “Right. Then, yes. He is.”

  “And Larry Downing?”

  Kori was met with more silence.

  “What do you know about him?” Zach finally asked.

  “Nothing really. Just that he had been in touch with Heidi recently and lives in Scoter Circle.”

  “He’s actually the reason we stopped by this morning.”

  Kori gave him her best questioning look.

  “Do you know how he got his money?” Zach asked, clearly not ready to tell her why they were there to talk about Larry yet.

  Kori shook her head and looked at him. She could tell it wasn’t going to be good whatever came out of his mouth.

  “We looked into him. Really anyone who had an account with recent activity at Heidi’s bank in Scoter Circle was put on their radar. But they had nothing on Larry. He … he’s not someone you want to associate with.”

  Kori raised her eyebrows in question. She was happy to hear that Zach was giving information about account holders. She now needed to find out if Wesley had one.

  “He was suspected of drug trafficking years ago. Rumor has it that he bought his way out of a conviction and gave up his co-conspirators in the process. In exchange, he was given his freedom and was allowed to keep his cash, which would have been confiscated with a conviction.”

  “Wow. In Scoter Circle? I thought that place was as safe as Hermit Cove.”

  “Yeah. Well. We did have a murder not long ago, you might remember.”

  They both laughed. Of course she remembered. She’d basically solved it. With Zach’s and Nora’s help of course. Now she was hoping to do the same with Zach’s and Jay’s help.

  “Okay, so Larry is worth staying away from even if he is guilty because he’s dangerous and will get away with it. Point taken. What about Wesley Sanders?” Kori asked, mentally moving down the list.

  “Who? I haven’t heard that name. In Scoter Circle?”

  “No. He’s a Wall Street Broker in New York.”

  “Why is he even on your list?”

  Kori poured batter for two large pancakes on the hot griddle and sliced bananas on top of them. “Jay was able to hack into Heidi’s online dating profile and they’d recently talked. I don’t know the details of their conversation but Jay thought he was worth looking into. And my mom overheard this weekend in Scoter Circle that any recent online boyfriends were suspects.”

  “Well, I can’t help you there.”

  “And Oscar Baer?” He was the last one on Kori’s list.

  “Brett’s cousin,” Zach said. “Heidi talked to him through the dating site?”

  Kori nodded. “According to Jay anyway.”

  “Hmm. I know Scoter Circle Police talked to him but I don’t know the outcome of the discussion.”

  “But you’ll find out?” Kori asked hopefully.

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Hey, and do you know if Brett has a girlfriend?” Kori thought back to the Barbie in his front yard.

  “Yeah. He does. What made you think that?”

  “Well … I told you I was helping Jay with something yesterday?” Zach nodded and gave her an encouraging look to continue. “We went to Scoter Circle to talk to Brett. And I followed him home—don’t worry, he didn’t see me—and I saw a real life Barbie greet him. I just thought that maybe Heidi was getting in the middle of that relationship and that was his motive for killing her.”

  In a very serious tone, Zach warned her, “Kori, I don’t want you getting in the middle of this investigation and giving someone a reason to kill you. I can’t believe that’s what you were helping Jay with.”

  “I know. I should have told you. But don’t worry. I’m just helping Jay clear his name.”

  “You know I can do that, right?”

  Kori nodded, suddenly feeling guilty for maybe overstepping her ground with this relationship. She didn’t want Zach to think that she was using him for information. Because that was anything but the case. “I know. And you will. I’ll just—”

  “You’ll just not be connected to this at all. I gave you the information I could, but please don’t do anything … stupid.”

  “You keep saying that,” Kori teased. “You think I’ll do something stupid, don’t you.”

  “No. I don’t. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Kori flipped the pancakes. “I’ll keep you posted on my sleuthing.”

  “I guess I’m not going to be able to stop you?” he asked.

  “Nope. But I’ll let you know if I find anything good.”

  Zach paused to take a sip of coffee. Kori put Lani’s pancakes on a plate and placed it in front of her. Finally, Zach said, “There’s been a development since yesterday.”

  “What kind of development?” Kori asked.

  “You said you were in Scoter Circle yesterday?” Kori nodded in answer to his question. “There was another murder. At the conference center.”

  Kori stopped working and looked up to meet Zach’s eyes. She was afraid of what he might say next.

  “There was no DNA but the receptionist at the conference center where the murder took place identified Jay’s photo as having been there right after it happened.”

  Kori felt the blood leave her face. How could she have been so stupid? Of course they should have stayed away from any crime scene, even if they hadn’t known it was a murder. Jay was already a person of interest, if not a full blown suspect. And there she was, putting her older brother in harm’s way by bringing him straight to the town where Heidi had been killed. Of course someone would have recognized him.

  And Meri hadn’t been very friendly, especially once Kori brought Ibis inside. She felt even worse remembering that mistake. She’d brought attention to them when she should have tried to stay under everyone’s radar.

  “Okay. But we didn’t even know what the crime scene was. All the receptionist told us was that there was a crime scene in the conference center. Why were they even letting people inside?” Kori asked.

  “They only blocked off half of the building. And you happened to show up right after it happened.”

  “You don’t think we went there to kill someone, do you? Who was the victim?”

  “Larry Downing.”

  “Oh my God.” If Kori had been concerned over where they’d been, she was terrified now. “Do you think Jay’s in danger? Do you think I am?”

  “I would suggest neither of you goes back to Scoter Circle any time soon if that’s what you’re asking.”

  In the lull in conversation as Kori absorbed this n
ew turn of events, the front door opened and Jay walked in with Spencer Graff. They were laughing about something so Kori assumed everything had been smoothed over with Jay suddenly taking yesterday afternoon off. She had no idea what Jay had used as an excuse. She also suddenly remembered his gun. Had he taken it from the glove box when he got out of the car and she just hadn’t noticed?

  Both men waved and smiled at Kori and took a seat in a window booth. They looked relaxed and Kori decided to keep the new information to herself. Jay was always trying to protect her. Not it was her turn to repay the favor.

  Before she could even walk over to take their order, Vera Joy and Betsy Scoop entered the café, followed by two families of out of town visitors. Not only could Kori spot tourists because she didn’t recognize them, but also because they looked lost and hesitant to seat themselves. These families followed Vera’s and Betsy’s lead and found two empty booths.

  With the café nearly full to capacity, Zach and Detective Silver finished their breakfast, left cash and waved goodbye to Kori as she made the rounds for orders.

  “How’s Bella doing in her new home?” Vera asked.

  “Bella?” Kori asked, confused.

  “The dog. You didn’t give her away did you?” Vera’s face showed more concern than necessary.

  “Oh right! No, of course not. I just changed her name and already forgot that she used to be called Bella. I named her Ibis. After a bird with similar coloring.”

  “A bird, of course,” Betsy joked. “She wouldn’t be a Cooke without a bird name.”

  Kori smiled and took their orders, then moved on to the next booth, slowly working her way to Jay and Spencer.

  When she finally made it there, she decided she had to be blunt about Jay’s gun without it seeming out of the ordinary to Spencer. She gave it her best shot. “Jay, did you leave anything in my car last night when I dropped you off?” she asked in her best innocent voice.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Ignorance truly was bliss. Jay was still plenty relaxed.

  “Good. I just didn’t see you take anything but I must have just missed it.”