A Cup of Murder (11 page)

For some reason, thoughts of Janie came to my mind
from nowhere. I couldn’t figure out why her personality seemed to
change since the cops came to get Jacob. Then I had a sudden
remembrance of the figure of the man I glimpsed at the edge of my
yard. I shuddered. Is it related in any way?

Chapter Fourteen

At the jail, I hardly recognized Jacob. Shoulders
curved inward and lines dug deeper into his face. The person who came
into the visitor’s room was a broken man.

"How’s it going, Jacob?"

How lame is that, I thought? He looked at me and
pasted a slight smile on his lips. It didn’t go any deeper than
that. My heart went out to him. He swung his legs over the bench
across the table from me.

"Not so good, Laila. They tell me they have
evidence against me."

"What kind of evidence, Jacob?" I knew
he was a suspect, but actual evidence?

"One of the practice notes I wrote to Michael
was found in the file cabinet behind my desk at Roasted Love. Not
only that, they found traces of a poisonous substance on the note.
They tell me it was belladonna and that that was what poisoned
Michael. I don’t even know what belladonna is. There is no way I
could have gotten my hands on poison, but they don’t care about
that."

Thoughts slammed my head. Could someone who works
at Roasted Love have planted it all? Of course that presumes Jacob
really didn’t kill his rival. The other question would be who at
his coffee house would do such a thing?

"They found a similar threatening note at my
house in the nightstand by my bed. I explained the notes to you,
Laila."

Eyes pled with me in desperation.

"Why didn’t you destroy those notes at your
house after you left me the other night?"

His hands opened up as if he was as baffled as I
was.

"You have to find out who knew where to get
this belladonna stuff, Laila," said Jacob. "You have to for
my sake."

"I’m no detective, Jacob."

His facial expression was one that said his last
lifeline slipped away. I felt bad about speaking so quickly. I
reached for his hand. The nearby guard frowned. I pulled my hand
away.

"Look, Jacob, I’ll do all I can. You do
have a good lawyer, don’t you?"

He nodded yes and spoke in low tones.

"Laila, if I am found guilty and sent to
prison for life, I want you to take over Roasted Love. You know what
you are doing and you are the best person for it."

That was when I knew for sure Jacob had given up
all hope. The shattered man stood and thanked me for coming to visit
him.

###

That day someone left the daily newspaper on the
counter of Roasted Love next to the register. The headlines read:
Jacob Weaver Arrested for the Murder of Michael Simms.

Roasted Love filled to capacity from early
afternoon through closing. No one held back on expressing opinions of
belief or disbelief of the owner of the coffee house. Janie had gone
home at the end of her shift. Once again I asked Lily to bring Eddie
in to help out.

"You may want to think about hiring more
workers, Laila," said Lily at closing time. "Until Jacob’s
trial, I know the crowds will continue. It’s all big news around
here. His trial may not happen for a while."

"Let’s give it through the rest of the
week. I’ll have to clear it with Jacob about hiring more people."

Lily looked at me intently as if to say: why
should I ask a convicted man about running the business. The thought
of how much, or how little, I knew about Lily ran through my mind.
For that matter, what did I really know about Janie or Eddie?

"He still owns the place," I said. "I
have to run things by him like I’ve always done."

I locked the back door, last to leave and worried
about Thor left at home. He probably needed to be let out by now. The
day had been much longer than he was used to waiting. Driving from
the parking lot I glanced at Sunrise. It remained dark and it struck
me as strange not to see any movement over there. A few businesses
near it were closing for the night. The scene gave an eerie feeling
to the Piazza. I was glad I had my car with me. There was security in
it as I drove toward home.

My worries about Jacob escalated. What did I miss?
If, as Jacob told me, the police found evidence at Roasted Love that
did not belong to him, then someone who had access to Roasted Love
planted it there.

"It may have been a customer who slipped in
the back door when everyone was busy upfront," I said aloud.

Ideas about all of it were a jumbled heap in my
mind. There were so many possibilities but nothing clear came to
mind. Hidden clues had to be there. How to uncover them was just as
much a mystery as the fact that evidence against Jacob had been
found.

"Like I said, Jacob, I’m no detective as
much as I want to be now," I mumbled to myself as I parked the
car.

I unlocked my door and an excited large monster of
a dog almost knocked me from my feet. Thor then ran to the back door
and I hurried to let him out. My compliments to him for waiting were
lost on him. He raced around the yard after taking care of business
and was happy to run in circles. I watched him from my kitchen window
and then turned to make a salad for starters.

Opening my freezer door on top of refrigerator I
stood looking as if something would magically leap out at me. I was
in no mood to cook anything from scratch.

"A veggie pizza will do it tonight," I
said. I added mozzarella and turned the oven on. "You need to
get a life, Laila. You wouldn’t talk to yourself so much."

Thor had run long enough to remember it was his
dinner time. He ate as if starved and we both went out to the small
patio where I finished the last of the pizza. I thought about Jacob
and his story about the belladonna. I believed him when he said he
had no way of knowing what that was, much less getting it.

"What do you think, Thor?" I ruffled his
neck and his voice sounded like a purr. "What are we missing,
boy?"

Tomorrow would be another busy day at Roasted
Love. I turned in early, still mad at myself for not coming up with
anything to help Jacob. Just before drifting off to sleep I
considered enlisting the help of Daniel. The way he looked at me
sometimes, I knew I had only to ask for a lending hand.

The next morning Thor focused on me at breakfast.
It was as if he accused me of intentions to leave him behind again.
When I picked up his leash, he literally danced to the door. With him
at my side I didn’t mind walking.

"Just be there when I need you, Thor," I
reminded him.

The walk was brisk and we turned the corner at
Roasted Love. I glanced at the trash bin that I once escaped to
safety from the ferocious monster by my side.

"Remember how you attacked me on this spot,
Thor? You’re lucky I took you in."

Thor tugged at the leash. Trash was spread out
around the bin as if someone threw some in and missed the large
container. I made a mental note to remind everyone to be sure trash
got in under the lid. Thor was relentless while he yanked me toward
the garbage. He went for some leftover food in a plastic bag.

"Get away from that, Thor," I commanded,
to no avail.

He tore open the sack and quickly gobbled a
half-eaten bagel with cream cheese on it. My eyes riveted on the
other contents that included several envelopes. Michael Simms’ name
was printed on the outside of all three of them.

I wondered how trash from Sunrise landed on this
side of the street. I bent to pick it all up as I pushed Thor aside
with a bite of bagel hanging from his mouth. Picking up the
envelopes, I saw there was more. A picture of Michael and his brother
James lay beneath the scattered stack. It was exactly like the one I
saw in the Senator’s foyer except this one showed a third person in
the same photo. On the back side of the photo was written: Mike,
James, John. Under the names was the word ‘redemption.’

Questions flooded me again. Why did James Simms
cut out John from his framed picture? I was sure John was John
Andrews. Sifting through the rest of the contents were a few notes
that had numbers on them and a blurred photo of a woman who resembled
Michael and James. I presumed this was their mother. Glancing around
me I gathered the papers and took them inside Roasted Love with me.

Janie was there alone and busy getting scones to
the front of the shop. Since Jacob was no longer coming in she opened
every morning and was there before me.

"Janie, I’ll start coming in at Jacob’s
usual time to help you out."

She nodded agreement and headed to the front. I
locked the finds in my locker and clocked in. Until Jacob was
released from jail, my days would prove to be long ones.

Janie had little to say throughout the morning,
even when she had the chance.

"What’s up, Janie?" I asked her when
she handed me the order for a couple of Frappes.

"What do you mean? I’m just busy," she
said.

For the first time since I had known her, her
manner toward me appeared cool.

"You just seem a little cold toward me. Is it
something I’ve done to upset you?" I could be as persistant as
my server.

She gave a half smile attempt to be genuine, but
failed. "I’m all right. Just a lot of stress with my kids.
They need so much and it’s all just ordinary stuff. I may need to
get a second job. Can you give me extra hours here by any chance?"

"I’ll see what I can do but I’ll have to
talk to Jacob first to make sure it is o.k. with him."

She nodded and hurried to the couple who wanted
the Frappes. The nagging impression her behavior had more to do with
something other than her kids stayed with me.

Chapter Fifteen

Around eleven I took an espresso into Jacob’s
office for a break. Lily and Janie sat at the back table in the front
of the coffee house in case customers came in. The office appeared
empty without the computers. I gathered receipts from the day before
and took them to my locker. Not only would my days at Roasted Love be
long ones, but they wouldn’t end when I got home. I decided it made
more sense to bring my laptop to work and make the entries there.

Thor didn’t seem to mind the retractable leash I
set up for him behind Roasted Love. I made sure it was long enough to
give him a little exercise until I could let him off it later in the
day. He eagerly accepted a dog treat when I went out to check on him.
I pet him and left him happy.

"Looks like some action across the street,"
Janie said when I came back to the front.

A man and woman stood outside Sunrise. The man
gestured to the windows and overall appearance of the place. The SUV
in front read West River Realty in bold print on the side of it.

"They must be selling the place," said
Lily.

Customers were coming in. Once again they chose to
stand and look out the window.

"Lily, you and Janie start taking orders."

"Yeah," said Lily. "Those tables
and chairs aren’t bleachers for the arena."

Patrons found ringside tables and placed orders
while I started my position at the espresso machine. The stress of
the situation was taking a toll on me early in the day.

"I wish they would just talk about usual
stuff," I said. "They all act like they know everything."

The subject at hand would feed more gossip. On the
flip side, maybe it would take away from what they thought about
Jacob for a while.

"How can they talk about anything else?"
said Janie. "Aren’t you the least bit interested in what’s
going to happen over there?"

"Sure, as long as it’s not turning into
another coffee house," I said.

Janie laughed. "That would add to the drama.
It would make a good movie."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It would make a good serial movie on TV. A
second owner to a second coffee house murdered over rivalry?"

I hoped my look was one of searing. "Does it
bother you that Jacob is in jail for something he didn’t do?"

This time she looked in disbelief at me and walked
away. Lily chatted with someone very familiar to me. She handed a
menu to Senator James Simms who took the last place with a good view
of Sunrise.

"Senator," a voice boomed. "Good to
see you in our neck of the woods again."

A man a few inches shorter than James sat down
across from him. I edged a little closer, but behind the Senator. It
wasn’t beneath me to eavesdrop.

"So you are selling Michael’s place over
there?" he asked.

"Michael left it to John’s mother,
Marianne." I made a mental note of the name. "She asked me
to get a realtor on it. Shouldn’t be hard to sell on this street.
I’m surprised these small businesses are doing so well."

"This area gets busier by the day. In spite
of Michael’s personality, he did bring in customers. It helped all
of us."

I recognized the speaker as owner of a small
bookstore down the street. So, Sunrise now belonged to a Marianne
Andrews. Just before I turned back to fill another order I felt
James’ eyes on me. He looked surprised and it was then I knew I had
blown my cover. Neither of us spoke and I was once again filling
orders.

When things settled a little I returned to the
kitchen and started the clean-up, getting ready for the next crowd to
come.

"Laila," said Lily. "That Senator
wants to see you. I hear he is Michael Simms brother."

"Maybe he wants you to buy Sunrise,"
said Janie who came up behind her.

"I sure don’t need a coffee house," I
said.

My smile told Janie I still had a sense of humor,
or at least I hoped it said that. I took off my apron and approached
James Simms.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked him.

"I’m surprised a reporter works in a coffee
house."