Mocha and Murder

by Christy Murphy

  Mom and Wenling had done a pretty impressive show for the San Fernando Valley group, but now all eyes had turned to me.

  "So this is the memory thing that she does?" one of the ladies asked.

  "Yes," Mom said.

  "Go ahead," Wenling said.

  "Do I have to stand?" I asked.

  "Were you standing when you found the body?" one of the readers asked.

  "Yes," I said.

  "Stop stalling," Mom said. "Just close your eyes."

  I closed my eyes and tried to block out all the people staring at me.

  "Talk as you go," Mom said. "You always talk as you go."

  I took a deep breath and thought back to when I'd left the coffeehouse. "Okay, I stepped out of the coffeehouse. It was raining harder than it was when we came in. It was dark out. I debated whether or not to go back inside and get an umbrella, and I decided not to. I walked down the sidewalk, away from the mountain, toward where our van was parked on Main Street."

  "Is that north or south?" one of the people asked.

  "I don't know those kind of things," I said. "But I was walking with my back to the mountain, away from the coffeehouse. I was on the left side of the street. Our van was parked on that side of the street."

  "On your left or the van's right, because otherwise you'd be illegally parked?" someone asked.

  "Stop interrupting her," someone said. "You'll mess up the weird memory thing."

  "I took a few steps, and I thought I saw something that looked like a lump of garbage in the gutter. As I got closer I realized that it was too large to be a trash bag," I said. "When I got closer I realized the color wasn't black, it was burgundy, and it was a coat. I rushed over and a man, who later we found out was Burt, Darwin's boss, was dressed as Bilbo Baggins. His scarf was tied around his neck, and I had a hard time pulling him from the gutter and turning him over. The scarf was caught." I pictured the exact moment.

  "Yes, there was a drain right near where he was, and the scarf was caught in it. I pulled on it to try to get it off, and I finally got it to release and then I rolled him over and I saw that he was wearing furry hands, and had elf-like ears. And that's when I realized he was Bilbo Baggins. He looked yellowish from the light, but his skin was cold. I checked his pulse and his breathing. I dialed 911 I told them that there were police officers in the café, and I left it on speaker phone and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. That's when DC came out—"

  "That's Detective DC Cooper," Wenling interrupted.

  "Yes, that's when DC came out with the two officers, and they proceeded to try and help Burt. But when the ambulance came, they pronounced him dead at the scene. "

  "Can we see where you found the dead body?" one of the people asked.

  I opened my eyes, surprised to find that the group of people didn't seem at all dissatisfied with the fact that Mom and I hadn't come up with a killer.

  "You could almost see it from this window here," I said, pointing out the front of the restaurant. Everyone walked close to the window and looked down the street.

  "Can you take us there?" the leader of the group said.

  "Sure! Let's all go," Mom said.

  "Maybe all of you can help us get clues by looking at the crime scene," Wenling said.

  I doubted that anything could help us. We walked by the crime scene a million times. I don't even think of it as a crime scene. There's nothing there. The rain washed away anything that could have been there, and the man was strangled. The scarf on the body was with the police. But nevertheless, they’d bought over two dozen Chinese specials and were likely to go and pick up a coffee since it would be closer to the Mocha Muse.

  "Either way," I said, deciding to help out Darwin. "You still get a discount at the Mocha Muse if anyone should want a coffee. We'll be right by there when we look at the crime scene."

  We all walked out onto the street, and it was about the same time of night as it was the time I found the dead body.

  "It was about this time that I found the body," I said to the crowd. I was starting to enjoy speaking in front of people.

  "So the street lamps were on just like they are now?" Mom asked.

  "Yes," I said.

  Mom smiled. "Does anybody notice anything interesting about the streetlamps?" she asked the crowd.

  I looked up and didn't notice anything different at all.

  "Who would you say has a complexion the most like Burt?" Mom said.

  "Well, he's sort of a white guy," I said.

  The leader of the group stepped up and said, "Was he white like me?" The man seemed eager to participate.

  "Yes," I said. "I guess."

  "Would you mind being part of the demonstration?" Mom said.

  "Am I going to be the dead body?" the leader asked.

  "Yes," Mom said. The group became excited. "Christy, show us where he was lying in the gutter."

  "Would you like us to get you a towel or something?" I asked the leader. I couldn't imagine somebody would want to get their clothes dirty.

  "No, I'll sacrifice a little dirt in the name of the investigation," the leader said.

  "Okay," I said, looking for the exact spot. "Yes, here it is, right near this opening, where the water would funnel down."

  "Does anybody have a scarf?" one of the readers asked.

  "I have a tie," the man said. "Will that work?"

  I wasn't sure it was even necessary, but before I could say anything, Mom said. "It doesn't look long enough." She turned to me. "Was it longer, kid?"

  "Yeah, it wrapped around a once and hung low," I said.

  "Use my tie, too," another man in the group said. The two men tied their ties together.

  "Won't it ruin them?" I asked.

  "It's a small price to pay in the name of solving a mystery," the leader said again.

  "Kid," Mom said, "show him how the scarf was tied around his neck."

  I arranged the two ties around the man's neck to resemble the way Burt's scarf had been when he died.

  "Now show me how the body was laying in the gutter," the leader said.

  "He was a lot bigger than you," I said to the man.

  The leader puffed his arms up to mimic being of a larger mass and kneeled down in the gutter. I felt bad for him. He was wearing a light blue shirt, but if he wanted to sacrifice it. I'd better get it right.

  "He was faced down when I found him, and his head was really close to this drain opening," I said. The man got down on all fours. One of the ends of the ties got caught under his hand and tightened the substitute scarf around his neck. The man coughed. "I almost choked myself this thing is so long."

  "Oooh," Mom and a few of the other readers said.

  "What?" the leader asked, sitting up and readjusting the ties.

  "You almost strangled yourself," one of his fellow readers said.

  "Exactly," Mom said.

  Remembering how hard it was to turn him over, part of me wondered if his scarf had been trapped under his considerable bulk. "But why wouldn't Burt simply get up like like he," I pointed to the leader, "did just now."

  "I'm getting to that," Mom said. "Let's proceed with the reenactment."

  The leader got down on his knees and carefully kept himself from being strangled by the ties and he laid facedown in the gutter.

  "So I see him," I said. "I ask if he's okay. But he doesn't answer. Then I come over shake him. Nothing happens. So I try to turn him over,"

  The man coughs again. "It's pulling a bit."

  "Sorry," I said and adjusted the ties.” And then, I rolled him onto his back.

  The leader fiddled with the ties some more.

  "The ties do sort of choke him," one of the readers said.

  "That's true," I said. "But I don't think I strangled him to death."

  "There's an important detail we're missing," Mom said.

  I turned to her with a questioning look.

  "You said that he was the same complexion as Burt," Mom said. "Look at the man's skin
tone," mom said. "Does it match Burt's?"

  I look down at the leader in the gutter, and the lights didn't make him look yellow. "No, he doesn't look yellow at all."

  I looked up to the lights and realized that the street lamps on Main Street didn't shine yellow. The lights were white. There was no way that Burt's skin would have been yellowed by the light.

  "And what makes someone's skin yellow?" Mom asked.

  "Yellow fever?" I asked.

  "Think, kid. Remember Madonna told us that Burt had been sick for two weeks."

  I paused to think, but nothing came to mind.

  "Your Pioneer Pal days," Mom said.

  "Mom, why can't you just tell me?"

  "That takes the fun out of it," one of the readers said.

  "But I don't have any ideas." I said.

  "Does anybody here have any ideas?" Mom said.

  "Some kind of poison," one of the readers said.

  "Oh my goodness!" I said remembering all of the things that could kill you when you're camping. "Death cap mushrooms will make you sick for a couple of weeks, you'll turn yellow, and your liver will fail."

  "Somebody poisoned him!" one of the reader's said.

  "And remember," Mom said, "there were mushrooms in his spaghetti, but Madonna said she didn't usually make the spaghetti with mushrooms."

  "What's going on here?" Officer Keller asked.

  "Nothing," I said.

  "Then why is that guy laying in the gutter?" Officer Reed asked pointing at the leader still acting like a dead body.

  "You can get up now," I said to him.

  "Are you all doing a little amateur sleuthing?" Reed asked.

  "You would know," Mom said. "You two have been watching us for a few minutes."

  Officer Reed laughed and nodded. His partner didn't say anything.

  "It's for entertainment purposes only," Wenling said.

  "Well I doubt anyone poisoned anyone," Officer Reed said, "but if they did we'll take care of it."

  "The dead man was yellow! Surely the coroner noticed that!" one of the reader's yelled.

  "I'm sure the coroner did, but let's not go crazy here," Officer Reed said.

  "Who do you all think did it?" Officer Keller asked. Reed glared at his partner. Keller shrugged.

  "Madonna!" several of the readers called out.

  "We'll relay your theory to the detective working the case," Officer Reed said.

  "What will you refer to me?" DC Cooper asked. The crowd parted so he could join the officers.

  At that moment, I realized that all of us running into the street as group wasn't the cleverest way to keep our little crime tour under wraps.

  "They think the Madonna woman poisoned her husband with some sort of mushroom," Officer Reed said.

  "Death cap mushrooms," Mom said. "In his spaghetti."

  "He was yellow," I added.

  "And everyone he knew said he was sick for weeks," one of the readers added.

  Detective Cooper sighed. "I don't want you two involved. And that goes for whoever all of you are, too," DC said to the crowd. He turned back to Mom and me. "No talking to Madonna or anyone else about the case, all right?"

  "Sorry, DC, but Madonna is coming to the Lucky Dragon for lunch at noon tomorrow," Mom lied.

  "Now, Jo," DC said.

  "Don't 'now Jo', me," Mom said. "She's having a hard time dealing with everything. She's a young widow and needs my support. And there's nothing illegal about it."

  The detective sighed.

  "And this is my new book group. We buy books at Fletcher Books and talk mysteries in general at the local restaurants, and there's nothing you can do about that. We're going to the Mocha Muse right now after our dinner for our group discount," Mom said.

  DC shook his head. "So you just happened upon the crime scene."

  "The crime scene is on the way from the Lucky Dragon to the Mocha Muse," I said. "And it's not like it's taped off or anything."

  "Don't you start," he said to me.

  "Coffee time!" Wenling said, always ready for a mocha.

  I headed with the group toward the coffeehouse wondering why Mom lied about meeting Madonna tomorrow.

  "Christy!" Officer Reed called out to me.

  I turned around. "Yes?"

  "Don't forget to think about dinner," he said smiling.

  DC stood next to him with a scowl on his face. Look who's paying attention to me now! "I'll give it some thought," I said with a smile. He smiled at me, and DC scowled some more. I rushed to catch up with the group going into the coffeehouse. I needed to find out from Mom what she was thinking.

  10

  Stakeouts and Suspense

  I sat in the back booth of the Lucky Dragon and waited for Mom to tell us all what was going on. She'd stayed up late talking to Darwin and had given me a few clues, but she promised to explain everything this afternoon. She said she wanted to have a big reveal. The usually closed half of the restaurant was packed with mystery readers, Wenling, Lisa and her son.

  "Why are we here?" Lisa asked.

  "Not just yet, we’re waiting on a few more," Wenling said. She stood near the glass at the front of the section next to Mom.

  "So exciting," one of the readers said.

  Darwin rushed into the restaurant, the bell clanging as he hurried through the door. "I only have a half hour for my break, did I miss anything?"

  "Not yet," Mom said. "We’re just waiting for Detective Cooper."

  Darwin nodded and took a seat at one of the available chairs.

  Through the window I saw Detective Cooper's white pickup truck park at a meter across the street and headed our way. Jenna was right. He did have a George Clooney thing going on. For a moment, he was out of view, but then the bell above the restaurant door dinged.

  "You said Christy wanted to talk to me?"DC said as he approached Mom.

  I shot Mom a look, but she wasn't paying attention. I didn't want to talk to DC.

  "You two can talk about that later when you go to Madonna's house," Mom said.

  "Jo, I don't know what you're thinking, but it's not a good idea to meddle in police business."

  "Humor me," Mom said. “Why don't you join Christy in the booth in the back."

  DC opted to stand where he was with his arms folded.

  "Okay," Mom said not at all bothered. Then she turned to the group. "You are all probably wondering why I gathered here you here today," she said." The readers laughed. "I've always wanted to say that."

  "Do you know who the murderer is?" one of the readers asked.

  "I have a theory."

  "Jo—" DC interrupted.

  Mom held up her hand and he stopped talking. She turned to Dar-dar. "Darwin, is it true that you were secretly dating Officer Keller."

  A hush ran through the readers.

  "I was. We met when he came to the motel I worked at on police business."

  DC's eyes went wide. Mom smiled.

  "Lisa and Adam. You were there the very last time the police raided the Moonlight Motel?"

  "Yeah," Lisa said, uncertain.

  "How many police officers raided it that day?" Mom asked.

  "Just that one guy. Is that guy’s name Officer Keller?" Lisa said catching on.

  "He's been there the last few times," Darwin said. "The shorter one with the short, dark hair."

  "Yeah the short one. He was there that last time," Lisa chimed in.

  "Yes, but on all the other raids, did he come with more police?" Mom asked.

  "Yeah," Adam said. "This time he was just by himself. I thought it was just because they were less busy, but now that I think of it. That's pretty weird."

  Mom turned to DC Cooper. "You'd be able to check to see if there was a real police raid scheduled for that day, wouldn't you?"

  "I can look into it," DC said.

  "Did you see Officer Keller going into Burt's office?" Mom asked.

  Lisa nodded no.

  "I did," Adam said. "I work in the office,
and he was there poking his nose into everything."

  "Burt told us that he even checked the refrigerator," Mom said.

  Everyone knew what Mom was talking about, and I remember Burt saying that the day he came to the Mocha Muse.

  "He did," Adam said. "I wanted to know what he was doing in there. I thought he was going to steal some beers, but he said he was checking for contraband."

  "And, Detective Cooper," Mom said turning to DC. "Do you remember at the party when he was talking to us about having gone hiking in Northern California?"

  "I'm not to be a part of this, Jo," DC said. He was being so stubborn.

  "I heard him say it," I said. "And I saw on the news it has been raining more here and in Northern California. A perfect time for mushrooms including death cap mushrooms to grow."

  "I see where you're going," DC said, "and I'll look into it, but you don't have any proof."

  "But the coroner did say that he died of poisoning. The coroner found liver damage, didn't he?" Mom said.

  Everyone turned to stare at DC, and the readers and I all could tell from his expression that Mom's guess was true.

  "Yesterday, I was watching Officer Keller when he heard about us talking about the poisonous mushrooms. And he looked guilty. I deliberately told you in front of him that Madonna would be here to meet me for lunch.

  "My bet is he's going to try and plant some evidence at Madonna's house when she comes here. She'll probably leave to head over here in the next hour. Christy's going to drive the van over to Madonna's house, and she's going video with her phone what happens on Facebook Live. And if it just so happens that Officer Keller shows up, well…"

  "Christy," DC said, “isn't going anywhere."

  I didn't like him telling me what to do. He flirted with me for months, even mentioned dating me, and now he's been ignoring me. "I'm going. It's a free world," I said grabbing my keys.

  "Oh no you don't," DC said walking toward me.

  "Lover's quarrel," one reader said.

  "Abuse of police power," another said snatching up his phone.

  "It's none of that," DC said turning to the crowd. "I just don't think she should go. Turn that off," he said to one of the women recording him on her phone.

  While he argued with the readers, my phone dinged with a text from Mom. Madonna's address. I smiled and headed to the kitchen to sneak out the back.