Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 04 - Croaked Wheat (10 page)

“What’s going on?” Kyle asked Kori as she turned the key in her Subaru’s ignition and the car came to life. “I really should go home and talk to Jenna about all of this sneaking around.”

“Jenna will be fine but I don’t know if the same will be true for Nora. You need to help me find her,” Kori explained vaguely as she pulled out onto the street.

Kyle looked at her with fear in his eyes. “What?”

“You know about Marty Rivers?” she asked and he nodded. “He turned up dead on Wednesday in Nora’s grain delivery. Now she’s missing and I think I might know where she is.”

“How do I fit into this?” he asked.

Kori went on to explain about her visits to Karin Rivers, Joline Richards and what little she knew about Peter Jones and Ria Mayfield.

“But shouldn’t we call the police?” Kyle asked.

Kori smacked her forehead. “But there’s really no reason for me to know any of this.”

“We could just have them show up at Peter’s house,” Kyle offered as Kori continued to speed toward Chickadee Circle where she suspected Nora was being held captive. Captive for what, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t want to consider the alternative reality that she could already be dead for getting too close to the killer’s trail.

“Okay, you can call him. Here,” Kori handed him her phone again, “use my phone. Zach’s personal number is in there. Call him and put it on speakerphone so I can talk to him.”

Kyle did as instructed and Zach quickly picked up. “Hey Kori.”

“Zach, I’m with Kyle Rhodes right now,” Kori blurted out by way of greeting.

“Okay … I’m at the office working on the Marty Rivers case with
Lani,” he said slowly. Usually she put a little more effort into the small talk, but not when Nora’s life was on the line.

“Nora’s been missing all afternoon and I think I might know where she is. Meet me at Peter Jones’ house on Chickadee Circle.”

“On my way.”

That was one thing about Zach that Kori loved—he at least took her investigating seriously enough to go to an address when she thought she might be on to something.
Maybe he was about to put all the pieces together with who killed Marty and she’d just barely beat him to it.

Either way, she was confident
Ria was holding Nora at Peter’s house and she had to get there soon or she didn’t want to know what she might find.

Kyle turned to look a Kori, his eyes squinty and questioning. “Do you … work for the police?”

Kori laughed despite herself. “No. I’ve just been finding myself in some compromising situations that are better solved by civilians who don’t necessarily have to follow all the rules,” she said.

With only one turn left until she was on Peter’s street, three police cars came screaming around the corner and cut her off, stopping behind
Ria and Peter’s cars parked in his driveway.

Kori really hoped she was right about where Nora was or she’d be at a complete loss. She didn’t think Joline had it in her to abduct someone. Never mind that she didn’t exactly have the body to be able to do it.

Kori parked in front of all the police cars, their lights still flashing, and she got out at a run. Kyle didn’t seem like he quite knew what to do so he stayed in the car.

Kori surveyed the house as she approached it, always scanning for Zach. He found her before she spotted him and he had her in an embrace, but not the sexy kind. “Sorry, but you can
’t go in there,” he whispered in her ear. She wished it hadn’t had the effect on her that he was probably going for. Now she was completely thrown off her game and he knew it.

“But Nora’s in there. I know it,” she said, almost whining. She mentally kicked herself for that terrible voice.

“I’ll make sure she gets out safe. Stay in your car with Kyle. Please,” he added for good measure.

Kori had no choice but to obey. She walked slowly back to her car, never taking her eyes off of Peter’s house, hoping to catch a glimpse of any movement inside. The sun had finally set and it was dark enough outside to be able to see into any lit room. The only problem was that there were no lights on. Was anyone even home? Had they used the cars as a way to head off the chase in the wrong direction? Should she go check
Joline’s house while the police were here?

No, she was sure Nora was inside with Peter and
Ria.

Peter and Ria
had to know that the police were here by now but they’d made no move to exit or give up Nora. Kori’s eyes were glued to the front door, which was smashed in when no one answered the knock. That seemed to set the other cops in motion and five more uniforms entered the house through various doors and windows.

Now Kori was really beside herself with panic. What if she’d been wrong about where Nora was? Would they have still stormed into Peter’s house? She didn’t think so. They probably weren’t allowed to do that without a warrant.

Unless, of course, they had one. Maybe Kori underestimated Zach and his department.

It felt like an eternity before she saw any signs of life coming from the house, but finally a light turned on and she could see Nora. Only, she was bound and gagged with a gun to her head. Kyle must have seen her at the same moment because he grabbed Kori’s arm to stay put before she even had a chance to open her door.

“You got them here, let them do their job now,” he said, trying to calm Kori as best he could.

She nodded, and for the millionth time today took deep bre
aths to slow her speeding pulse. She watched without sound what was going on inside, but didn’t see Lani come from behind and grab Ria’s gun that had been trained on Nora’s head. With a sigh of relief, she watched Ria get cuffed, followed by Peter, and both of them led out of the house while Nora was untied and released into police protection. She was led to the third car and Kori ran to meet her on her way.

“Are you okay?” Kori asked, wrapping her arms around her as
Lani let go. She took one look in Nora’s eyes and saw that she was still in shock but would be fine.

Nora slowly nodded, but Kori knew it was more of a reaction to the trauma than a yes to her question. Nora slowly asked, recognition dawning on her face, “How did you know where I was?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. For now, just go with Lani.”

Lani
smiled at Kori and she knew that they had resolved whatever difference had been created with Jay’s breakup. She released Nora and let Lani lead her away to the waiting cop car. Then she got in her car, dropped Kyle back at his truck and went to the police station. She had a feeling she was going to have to give a statement. And take Nora home later.

“This sure beats last night,” Kori said, clinking her glass against Nora’s and Zach’s. They were sitting on Nora’s patio a mere twenty-four hours after catching Marty’s killer,
Ria. “I still can’t believe Kyle was working for them and didn’t see how it all connected.”

Zach took a sip of his beer before explaining. “Marty had been removed from the books so
Kyle never tied his murder to Seeds ‘n More. But there had been plenty of other things going on that were below the belt, and based on both Ria’s confession and Peter’s excuses, Marty was about to go public with what he knew about the company. Apparently they were sourcing seeds from China and claiming they were American grown and organic when they were anything but. And then the financial backhanding would have really done them in.”

Nora chuckled. “I think they ended up doing that well enough themselves with murder and kidnapping on top of everything else.”

Kori turned to Nora, worried about how she was doing. “Are you okay? I can stay again tonight if you want.” Kori had spent last night with Nora, three dogs around for protection, and had only reluctantly gone to work in the morning at Nora’s insistence that she had to get her own work done and that would be her therapy.

“You can stay. I think it’ll help
you
,” Nora said, laughing. “Zach, why don’t you stay too? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a cop around after all this. And the guest bed hardly ever gets slept in. You guys can have that room.”

Kori saw Zach blush and knew he assumed no one knew about their overnight adventures. Well, some things were always shared between best girl friends, and that was one of them.

“Hey, did you decide who you’re going to hire?” Zach asked, clearly changing the subject.

Kori almost choked on her wine and nodded while coughing. “Yeah. Kiera Bell. It was a tight race, but I know her and she has the skills I’m looking for outside of the kitchen too.”

“What do you mean? What else is she going to be doing?” Nora asked.

“First, getting a logo on all sorts of things; mugs, shirts, napkins—”

“You’ve gotta get them on birdhouses!” Nora nearly shouted.

They all laughed. “Oh yeah? You know someone who’ll make them for me? I’m not so good with tools.”

“I’ll get you started,” Zach offered. “I’ll teach you how to use a screwdriver.”

This sent them all into another round of hysterics and Kori was happy things were back to normal. And even moving forward.

FINDING THE PERFECT GLUTEN FREE FLOUR

If you’ve ever had one of those cardboard-like crackers that are called gluten free, you know that all gluten free flours are not made the same. I started doing research on different flour options for gluten free baking because my mother-in-law eats gluten free for medical reasons and I love being able to feed everyone good, real food.

What I’ve learned so far: