A Cup of Murder (19 page)

Authors: Cam Larson

BOOK: A Cup of Murder

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She didn’t have time to answer. My cell phone
rang. It was Officer David Singer. "Come on down and get your
boss. He needs a ride home. He wants to make a stop at the bank for
someone’s bail money first."

I hung up and announced "I’m going to pick
up Jacob from jail and get him back here where he belongs." I
raced out the back door and then came back to get my purse and car
keys. Just as I got in the car, my cell rang again.

"I’ll meet you at the precinct," said
Daniel. "Someone will have to hold you up. It may as well be me,
Sherlock." I laughed with him as tears ran down my cheeks again.

When we burst into the lobby, the receptionist
smiled widely. "He’s more than ready for you," she said.

I saw a man with a spring in his step coming
toward the locked gate. David quickly opened it for him and I ran
into Jacob’s arms. He hugged me tight.

"Thank you, Laila, for not giving up on me.
Now let’s go," he said. "I’ve had more than enough weak
and day-old coffee around here."

He was clean-shaven and dressed in pressed
clothes. He looked like he was ready to get back to work as usual.

"Let’s celebrate at Roasted Love," I
said. "I hear they brew a mean cup of espresso, no frills."

Jacob walked proudly through the front door of his
coffee house to loud cheers from staff and patrons. He and Janie
hugged and then he reached for Lily. I introduced him to Claire. He
shook her hand firmly. Then he said, "What the heck," and
gave her a bear hug, too.

At closing time, customers left reluctantly. Many
shook Jacob’s hand and told him how glad they were that he was
back. Once things quieted down, everyone pitched in and cleaned up
for the day. The three servers clocked out. Jacob pulled me aside. He
repeated more than once his thanks to me.

"If it hadn’t been for you, Laila, I
wouldn’t be free. Let’s go sit down and enjoy the peace of
Roasted Love," said Jacob. "Then I’m going home for a
decent night’s sleep in a real bed."

Daniel and I pulled chairs up and sat across from
Jacob. Steaming cups of coffee were set in front of each of us. Our
eyes were drawn across the street to Sunrise, now dark. The neon sign
was gone. The caricatures had disappeared and in place of them were
shiny glass windows. The streetlight reflected a new look to the
place.

"What exactly did James and Sarah Simms have
to do with Michael’s murder?" asked Daniel. "I hear they
will be arrested."

Jacob shrugged his shoulders. "I just know
they are accumulating evidence against James and he will be arrested,
I’m sure. If it hadn’t been for Janie telling how she planted the
evidence against me, I would still be in jail. She was scared to
death of the Senator. He had quite an angry side to him."

"I do know that the trash I found had James’
DNA on it. The syringe had his fingerprints on it and the empty
bottle did too," I said. "If Janie hadn’t missed the
trash bin Thor would never have found the bagel. Thor was the real
detective."

"I guess that is why you took that monster of
a dog, Laila," said Jacob. "Otherwise, no one would have
noticed that trash bag as anything of importance."

"Now it all makes sense when James Simms
caught Janie in here. He was so angry. He knew she had messed up his
plans. I’m sure Janie’s nervousness at what she had done made her
careless. I feel sorry for her." I took a sip of my espresso.
"He used her by bribing her with a big payoff. She said he paid
her a thousand dollars. Best of all, she was too scared to do
anything with the check. She still had it. That adds to evidence
against the Senator."

"That must have been hard for her not to run
to the bank with that much money," said Daniel.

"I’m surprised he gave her a check. Why not
cash?" said Jacob.

"He probably has so many checks in and out of
his accounts that he figured a way to explain his way out of it, if
it came to that," I said. I remembered his sinister ways toward
me. Nothing surprised me about Senator James Simms.

We heard a tap on the window and looked up to see
David Singer. I let him in and offered him a cup of coffee which he
accepted. I knew he had some news.

"Well, the Senator is now behind bars. We
searched his condo. There were three containers in his wife’s home
office of raw belladonna. She had a small test lab there. James’
lawyer was right by his side when we got him. Against his lawyer’s
advice, he spilled everything when we got him down to the
interrogation room."

"What about Sarah Simms?" I asked.

"She is in custody, too. She is playing it
smart and letting her lawyer do the talking. I have to say, she was
more than surprised when we searched the apartment. In fact, she
didn’t believe her husband could have murdered his own brother. At
first we thought it was all an act on her part."

When David said that, no one spoke for a few
seconds. "How did she explain the belladonna in her home lab?"
I asked.

"She said she often brought small samples
home. Belladonna was something she and her researchers were working
on. They wanted to get it safer. Belladonna is used for a pain
killer. She told us that. To prevent over-dosing in patients they
were trying to develop it into a tamer substance. At least that’s
the way I understood it."

I started piecing together everything I had
discovered. It all made sense except for one vital part of the whole
puzzle.

"I still don’t get why James would poison
his brother. He must have known Michael was dying of cancer," I
said. "It doesn’t make sense."

"There’s more to the story," said
David. "John Andrews, Michael’s best friend, died in the
Senator’s office. Sarah Simms was having an affair with John. They
both thought James was out campaigning on the other side of the
state. They were alone in the office when suddenly James came in. He
was livid and ordered Sarah to leave. He told her he wanted to talk
to John."

"I get it. Let me finish," I said.

David smiled and said, "Go ahead, Detective.
We all want to hear your conclusions."

"Okay. James beat John up. That brought on an
asthma attack and John died as a result of that. But how did Sarah
find John if she had already left?"

"You have it right. She didn’t go far. She
hid until James stormed out of the office and then she went in to
check on John. He was still alive but in serious condition,"
said David. "She called 911. She never told anyone about James
coming in and finding her and John there. James had a grip on her
that held all these years."

"How did James know what belladonna was all
about?" asked Daniel.

"Sarah told him what she was working on. He
pumped her and got information from her. She told him how belladonna
was a lethal poison in its raw form."

"That still doesn’t explain why James
decided to kill his brother," I reminded David.

"After John’s death, James told Michael
that he and John had gotten into a scuffle. He didn’t tell Michael
it was about the affair his best friend was having with Sarah. He
told his brother that the fight had something to do with the campaign
that they didn’t agree on. The fight caused John’s asthma to act
up. He told Michael he was in a panic and just ran off and left him.
He had sworn Michael to secrecy like he had done with Sarah. Once
Michael knew what had happened he tried to cover up everything for
his brother. That is, he did that until he discovered James was
seeing his own wife, Leticia on the side."

I grew impatient watching the cop sip his coffee
as if he had all the time in the world. Daniel glanced at me. He knew
I wanted David to get on with the story.

"So is that what made Michael so angry all
these years?" asked Daniel.

"Yes, it was the turning point for Michael.
He became bitter and his resentment with his brother escalated. John
had been his best friend. His brother appeared calloused about it
all. To make matters worse, Michael found out he had terminal cancer.
The family doctor told his father. Forget about all that
confidentiality stuff the medical people talk about. His father told
James and Sarah."

"I still don’t get why James killed
Michael. Siblings fight all the time over things, or so I hear they
do," I said.

"I’m saving the best for last," said
David. Obviously, he was thoroughly enjoying his storytelling
expertise. "Michael threatened to tell the authorities the truth
about James causing the death of John Andrews. He let James know that
on more than one occasion after he found out about James and his wife
Leticia. James was very angry with Michael. Then Michael started
bringing his big dog to work for protection. He never went any place
without that dog with him."

"Where was Thor the night Michael was
killed?" I asked.

"Is that the dog’s name?" asked David.
"Well, the dog was outside. Michael had come back to Sunrise to
pick up some paperwork. When he went out the back door to go home,
James was there. He convinced Michael he wanted to mend the
relationship. He told him he just wanted to talk. James closed the
door before Michael thought to bring the dog inside with him. At
first James was friendly and asked Michael for some coffee while they
talked. When Michael got up from the table to add a couple of scones
to the meeting, James slipped the belladonna into his coffee."

"And the rest is history," said Jacob.
"What is his wife charged with?"

"I doubt anything. She was a victim of James
Simms, too. She had no idea he had taken the raw belladonna and used
it against his brother. She and her lawyer have been upfront with
everything. Sarah Simms has an upright reputation. She is no
murderess."

The coffee was cold. The room was silent. I heard
Thor scratching at the inside kitchen door.

"I have to take care of my dog, Thor," I
said.

I brought Thor in with the group sitting at the
table. He didn’t growl. That was a good sign and I knew I could
trust his instincts from now on.

"You had better spoil that monster good,
Laila," said Jacob. "He solved the mystery that got me out
of jail."

"Yes, he did," I said. Thor waited
expectantly for me to ruffle the short hairs on his shoulders.

The monster that once belonged to Michael Simms
now held high prestige in Roasted Love. Thor and I became friends for
life. Almond eyes and clear blue ones locked in understanding of one
another. No one missed our looks of pride in what we had
accomplished.

The adventure continues...

Cam
Larson's Other Books:
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