“Do you think she knew Jeff was growing marijuana?”
“I don’t know how she could not know. The smell alone would have alerted her that something was going on. If Brandon knew, I find it hard to believe that Marcy didn’t, but it really doesn’t make any difference. The ranch is solely in his name. The only thing she’s done is live on a property where marijuana was being grown and that’s not a crime. If she did know, I imagine she’s going to spend a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damage the crop that was grown on her husband’s ranch might have done to a lot of people. Brandon remembered a dinner conversation one evening between his mother and Amber. They were talking about the fact that marijuana was being legalized in so many states and they both were very opposed to marijuana becoming legal.”
“Well, if she said that, you wouldn’t think she knew about what was being grown on the property.”
“Aah, Kelly. One of the reasons I love you is that you like to believe people are basically good. Think about it. Money buys a lot of nice things and Marcy likes nice things, particularly jewelry. Just because she said that to Amber doesn’t mean she didn’t know about it. It may have been a lot easier to look the other way and take the things the money from the crops could get her. Anyway, that’s what’s happening out at the ranch. I have one more troubling thing to tell you.”
“Swell. I’m not sure I can take much more. Okay, tell me what it is.”
“I got a call from Seth Morrison, the computer guy. Chris took his computer into the shop Saturday, before the funeral. He told Chris it was frozen and he couldn’t get it to work. Seth told him he couldn’t look at it right then because he had several others he had to fix first. He finally was able to get to it yesterday afternoon. He decided to see if the problem was on the hard drive. When he opened the hard drive he found a number of child pornography sites on it. He pulled up a couple and given Amber’s death, thought I should know. This, coupled with what I’d already found out about his previous activities makes Chris a suspect in my book.”
“Great. The list just keeps growing. Can you arrest him for something like having child pornography on his computer?”
“Technically I could since Seth told me he found some child pornography on it, but I’ve decided not to arrest him. I’d rather hold off and see if he’s Amber’s killer. So that makes three suspects, Jeff, Doc and Chris. And I’d have to add Brandon to that list. We don’t know for sure that he didn’t kill her. That makes four suspects. To change the subject, have you ever been on Chris’s boat?”
“No, why?”
“If Chris killed Amber, he’d have to get her body in the water without being seen. I can’t believe someone wouldn’t have seen him if he just dropped her overboard from his boat. The autopsy showed she was murdered early in the morning. I wonder if he has a rowboat.”
“If he did it, do you think he used a rowboat to dispose of Amber’s body? I remember talking to him a few months ago, kidding him about how he stayed in such good shape because his boat was too small to have much exercise equipment on board. He mentioned something about rowing every morning when he got up. Said it was the best exercise he’d ever found, plus he liked the peace and quiet on the water early in the morning.”
“Hmm. That would certainly be one way to dispose of a body. Think I need to pay him a visit and take a look at his boating set up.”
“Mike, I know you didn’t say it, but are you thinking that if Chris is the killer, he’s also Amber’s mystery man? I guess I can answer my own question. If he’s the mystery man and the father of her child, can you imagine what the townspeople would have thought? If Amber had lived they probably would have rallied around Brandon if it turned out Brandon was the father. But Chris? I think they’d have his head on a platter. Having Amber’s English teacher and the football coach father her child when everyone knows that she and Brandon were very serious about each other? Tongues would wag for months over that one.
“And if that’s true, Chris would have a powerful motive for killing Amber,” Kelly said. “He’s already been fired from one school district for putting pictures of himself and an underage girl on a child pornography site. If nothing else, he would have been fired by our school district for having sex with a minor. Good grief, what a mess. And we’re still no closer to finding out who did it. I wonder who else has a motive? Got anyone in mind?”
“No. I think it will all come to a head in the next few days. Meanwhile, how about fixing me some dinner? The county fire chief called me as soon as the fire broke out at three this morning and I’m whipped. Hate to eat and run, but don’t think I’d be much company tonight.”
“Kelly,” Mike said when he finished eating, “I don’t know how you work your magic, but I always feel so much better when I’m with you, to say nothing of how great my stomach feels. Who else can make a stuffed pork loin on a moment’s notice with fresh green beans and a strawberry tart? Ummm. At the moment, this happy man is going home and sleep. I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Thanks for being here for me.”
“Mike, please believe me when I say I love making your life easier. And when you’re a cook and someone loves your food, you just keep wanting to do more for them. Go now, or I might ask you to stay and as relaxed as you are at the moment, you might just do it.”
CHAPTER 17
“Rebel, we’ve got some work to do. I’ve got to deliver some breakfast goodies to the yacht club for the meeting tomorrow morning. As long as I’m going to be at the marina, I’m going to wrap up the last of the strawberry tart and we’re going to pay someone a visit.”
Ten minutes later she parked her minivan in the parking lot next to the pier. Adjacent to the pier was a small marina owned by the county. The marina consisted of a floating dock and boat slips for approximately thirty boats. Private boat owners leased the boat slips from the county for a nominal sum. Kelly walked down the gangway that led to the dock and started looking for Chris’s boat.
From the conversations she’d had with Chris over the last few months, she had a pretty good idea of where his boat slip was located. He’d told her he had a 35’ sailboat and that it had a teak deck which required a lot of upkeep. He’d also mentioned it was located on the end of the dock. She looked at the row of boats and there, at the end of the dock, she saw it.
“C’mon Rebel. Let’s deliver this strawberry tart to Chris.”
She stepped on the boat’s gunwale, walked around to the rear of the boat, and knocked on the sliding glass door to let Chris know someone was aboard. She saw him sitting on a leather couch, reading, and waved to him when he looked up. He walked over to the sliding door and opened it for them. “Kelly, Rebel, this is a surprise. Please, come in. What’s the occasion for the visit?”
“Well,” she said. “I had to deliver a coffee cake and a French toast casserole to the yacht club for their monthly business meeting tomorrow morning. Since I was coming down here and I had a leftover piece of one of your favorites in my refrigerator, I thought I’d drop it off. Here.” She handed him the tart. “Enjoy!”
“Thanks. I’ll have it as a late dessert. Funny you should mention the yacht club. Every time I walk up the gangway and see that dilapidated old building they call a yacht club, I have to laugh to myself. I’m surprised they have enough money to pay you to fix something for them.”
“Chris, that club has been around longer than I have. The members pay just enough to keep it open. I’ve been preparing breakfast snacks for their monthly business meetings for years. I can’t believe they have much business to discuss. I think it’s more a matter of having a reason to get together.”
“Well, from the bar business they do in the evening, I don’t think having a reason to get together is a problem. Probably a good thing they don’t have a restaurant in there or I’d hear them all night. As it is, it’s pretty lively around the cocktail hour.”
“So I hear. By the way, I have a view of the bay from my house and from the few lights I see on the boats at night
, there must not be many people living on them.”
“That’s true. The marina holds thirty boats and out of those there are only three or four of us who live aboard. I love everything about the ocean. I love the smell, the water lapping against the sides of the boat, and the way the ocean rocks me to sleep at night. It never fails to work for me. Let me show her to you.”
She followed him while he showed her how he could convert the kitchen counter into a dining table and the compactness of the bathroom and his bedroom. It was one of the most tastefully done interiors she had ever seen. She marveled at how efficient everything was on the boat.
“Chris, this is beautiful. You’d mentioned that the teak deck required a lot of upkeep. Looks like the interior does as well.”
“Yes. This is an old boat. I don’t think they make them like this anymore. It’s my home and my hobby. Everything I need is here. I never wanted to be tied to mowing the lawn and all the other stuff that goes with having a traditional home. I wish I had time to take her out more. Teaching and coaching as well as all the other obligations I have at school don’t allow me to have much free time, but occasionally I make time to take her out for a sail.”
“Chris, your boat is one of the most inviting homes I’ve ever seen. The dark wood paneling, the leather couch and chair, everything. Not only is the exterior of the boat beautiful, the interior is just as beautiful. I couldn’t see the name on the boat when I walked up. What do you call her?”
“I named her Avalon. Being an English teacher, I’m a big King Arthur fan. According to Arthurian legend, it was the island where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged. In the more modern context, it means a one-of-a-kind woman. Since boats are always referred to as ‘she,’ I thought the name was perfect for a one-of-a-kind boat.”
“Beautiful. I love it. Thanks for sharing her story with me. I remember you telling me once that you rowed every morning. I assume you do it in the dinghy I saw tied to the side of the boat. Do you go to the same place every morning?”
“Pretty much. I don’t like to go too far out in the dinghy. It doesn’t have a motor and while I’m pretty good at rowing, I don’t want to be out in the open ocean in a storm, so I’m usually within a couple of hundred yards from shore. I go south one day and north the next to break it up, but with Mother Nature being like she is, no two days are alike. I’ve seen incredible sights – whales, seals, eagles – and those are just a few!”
“Well, from the exercise weights I see over in the corner, it looks like rowing isn’t your only form of exercise,” Kelly said, a worried look appearing on her face. She started to walk over to them, remembering that the burlap bag found with Amber’s body had free weights in it.
Chris picked up on the change in her attitude, stepped in front of her and said, “Kelly, thanks for bringing the tart to me. I’d love you to stay and talk, but we both have to get up early. I’ll see you at the usual time tomorrow,” he said opening the sliding glass door for her. She and Rebel had no choice but to walk through it.
Well now, that’s interesting. He’s certainly moved to the top of my suspect list. Free weights, a dinghy, and a man who could easily row a boat out several hundred yards and drop a body over the side. Hmmm. Think I better call Mike when I get home.
*****
“Mike, I’m glad you answered. Chris has just gone to the top of my suspect list.”
“Your suspect list?” he asked, emphasizing the word “your.” “In case you’ve forgotten, and you seem to have, I’m the county sheriff and you are the owner of Kelly’s Koffee Shop. What have you done now?”
“Well, after you left, I got to thinking.”
He interrupted her. “That’s dangerous. Whenever you say that, I get nervous.”
She was glad she was talking to him on the phone because he probably wouldn’t have appreciated the dirty look she gave him via the phone. “Anyway, I remembered that Chris told me he got his exercise every morning from rowing his dinghy in the ocean. I had to deliver a couple of things to the yacht club for their monthly business meeting tomorrow morning, so I thought I’d take him a leftover piece of strawberry tart. I know it’s one of his favorites. You know, the one you like so much.”
“Kelly,” he interrupted, “I’m not interested in the strawberry tart right now. What did you find out?”
“I’m going to overlook the tone of your voice and chalk it up to your being tired.”
“I’m sorry I snapped and I am tired. So what did you find out?”
“His boat is beautiful and I saw the dinghy he owns. He rows it every morning a few hundred yards from shore. He also had some free weights in a corner of the boat.”
“Free weights? Are you sure? That’s really interesting. You do remember, don’t you, that Amber’s body was weighted down with them. And someone who rows every morning probably wouldn’t attract any attention when they took their boat out. He’s strong enough he could easily lift her body into his dinghy and then drop it overboard when he was out of sight. Do you think he had any idea why you were there?”
“Not at first, but when I tried to look at the weights he quickly ushered me off the boat. I don’t know if he suspects anything, but his attitude changed from being very friendly to almost icy.”
“Kelly, Kelly, what am I going to do with you? I know Rebel is protective, but I’m getting really worried about you. Now it looks like there are four suspects, all of whom might like to see you deep-sixed. Actually, I’ve just made an executive decision. I’m going to be spending the nights at your house until this thing is solved. I know Rebel is a great guard dog, but I’d feel better if I was there. Maybe between both of us, we can keep you safe, because you certainly seem incapable of doing it yourself. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He ended the call before she could say anything.
A few minutes later she opened the door for him. “Mike, I’m sorry for worrying you, but if it means you’re going to spend more time here, then it’s worth it. Come in, it’s getting late and we both need some sleep, but that doesn’t mean we have to go to sleep immediately once we get in bed,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her face.
CHAPTER 18
Kelly swung her long legs over the side of the bed and got out as quietly as possible so she wouldn’t wake Mike up. She let Rebel out, fed him, and got dressed. Minutes later they left for the coffee shop.
It was another busy morning at Kelly’s. Everyone wanted to talk about what had happened at the Black’s ranch and what was going to happen to Jeff Black. The gossipmongers were more than happy to share their tidbits, the biggest of which seemed to be that Marcy and Brandon had left Cedar Bay yesterday afternoon.
Someone claimed that Marcy had called the principal and told him Brandon would be able to deliver the valedictorian speech, but that he would not be attending classes during this last week of school. The principal said he understood and it wouldn’t affect Brandon’s class standing or grade average, because the last week of school for seniors was more or less a time for saying goodbye to each other, signing yearbooks, and taking pictures, rather than furthering their education. Everyone felt sorry for Brandon.
Speculation at the coffee shop was also high on whether or not Marcy would actually leave Jeff permanently. Some hinted that Marcy probably had several male friends in surrounding towns and that the only reason she had stayed with Jeff was for the money. No one knew if Jeff had other assets or hidden money, but there was talk that if he did, Marcy would probably return.
When Kelly walked into the storage room to get more napkins and silverware during the lunch hour she noticed she had a message on her phone from Amber’s best friend, Lindsay Williams, asking her to call. Even though there were a number of customers who were ready to order, she decided to return the call.
“Thanks for getting back to me, Mrs. Conner. If you have some time after the coffee shop closes today, I was wondering if I could stop by. I’d like to talk to you.”
“Why don’
t you come here about three this afternoon? I should be finished with everything by then. Want to tell me what this is about?”
“No, I don’t know if it’s important, but it’s been bothering me ever since Amber died.”
“Okay. See you then.”
Promptly at three there was a timid knock on the front door of the coffee shop. Kelly walked over to it and saw Lindsay standing outside. “Come in. Would you like some iced tea or a soft drink?”
“No thanks,” she said in a shaky voice as she stood in front of Kelly.
“Why don’t we sit in a booth? I think they’re a little more comfortable. I’ll be with you in a minute. I need a refill for my iced tea.” She knew she’d probably had enough caffeine for the day, but she wanted to give Lindsay a moment or two to compose herself.
When she returned to the booth she said, “I can see this is difficult for you, Lindsay. What can I do to help?”
Lindsay began to cry softly. “I don’t know where to start. It just hurts so much, knowing I’ll never see Amber again.” Tears slid down her face. Kelly stepped behind the counter, got a box of Kleenex, and set it on the table in front of Lindsay. Lindsay took several out and tried to wipe away her tears.
“Mrs. Conner, I know Amber really liked you. I know you and the county sheriff are close. I’ve been debating whether I should tell him this, but I was afraid he might think it was just silly girl stuff.”
Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) Page 9