Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) (4 page)

“Yeah, poor old Dave’s had
to be both a mother and a father to her. I’m sure you remember when her mother
left. Decided one day she didn’t want to be the wife of a fisherman who was
going nowhere. I heard she was a barmaid at some sleazy place outside of
Portland. Don’t think she gained much by leavin’ the two of them,” Roxie said,
wiping the counter. She continued, “Well, I’m sure Dave’s done the best he can
do. I always felt that girl needed a mother. Maybe you can take over the job
and give her some motherly advice now that your daughter’s livin’ in San Francisco,
and I think Madison could definitely use some motherly advice.”

“Uh-uh,” Kelly said,
straightening up the last of the tables. “I’ve done my time raising two
children as a single mom after Mark died. Don't need to do that again.
Hey, maybe you’ll be the one. You’ve got a stepson. He could probably use a big
sister. What do you think?” Kelly said, laughing, remembering all the times
Roxie had told her that raising a stepson was the most difficult thing she’d
ever done.

“Kelly, don’t even think
about it. I’ve got my hands full with Wade. He’s been with Joe and me now for
five years, ever since his mother told Joe he could have custody and raise him.
I want to tell you, I could go the rest of my life and never raise another
thirteen year old boy who hates his stepmother. If I didn’t love Joe so much, I
would have left long ago. No way would I take on anyone else. I’m gonna be
doing real good to get this one raised. See you in the morning.” She walked out
and Kelly heard her say, “Hi, Mike. Kelly’s still here. She’s about ready to
leave. Find out anything more?”

Kelly strained to hear his
answer.

“Not much,” Mike said.
“Anything going on here?”

“Not that I know of, but I
know Kelly talked to a lot of people. Maybe she knows something. See you
later.”

“Mike, I’m glad you’re
here. What have you found out?” Kelly said as he walked through the door.

“Not that much. Spent some
time out at the Black’s ranch and just like you said, Brandon’s taking it
pretty hard. I still can’t shake the feeling that something is going on out
there. Asked Jeff and Marcy all the usual questions about when they’d last seen
Amber, if they’d noticed any changes in her, etc. You know, the usual stuff.
Couldn’t get anything from them and no one else had any information for me.
Maybe the autopsy will show something. And you?”

“It was a zoo. I don’t
think I ever sat down from the time I got here. One thing did happen that I
thought was strange, well actually two things. You know the football coach,
Chris? Well, ever since he’s come to town, he’s come in every morning for a cup
of coffee and something to eat on his way to school. He didn’t come in today. I
know Amber was in his English class and he probably was around her a lot
because of her being head cheerleader. I imagine he was upset when he found
out. Maybe that’s why he was a no-show today.”

“That doesn’t seem too
strange. I know he was close to Brandon because of football and Amber was
probably a natural extension of that. I’m not particularly surprised. People
deal with grief in various different ways. Some want the company of people,
others prefer to be alone. Living on a boat by himself, I’d put him in the
loner category, plus I’ve never heard of him doing anything social with anyone
in town. Never even heard about him and a woman. Have you?”

“No, now that you bring it
up, I’ve never heard of him going to anyone’s house or doing anything social.
Guess he is a loner and that would explain it. Here’s the other thing. You know
Doc, the grizzled off the grid guy? Well, he was pretty upset when he heard
about Amber. It was really unlike him. And what was more unlike him was that he
gave me his telephone number and asked me to call him if I heard anything. Said
he’d talked to Amber several times. He left me with the impression they were friends.
Sounded funny, coming from him. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“Yes. Let me do a little
checking on him. No one knows anything about him, although I’ve always liked
him. I don’t even know his last name. I could probably get it off of the legal
records when he bought that little ranch where he lives.”

“Yeah, I’ve always liked
him, too. Got time to come by for dinner tonight?”

“Better take a rain check.
It’s not even twenty-four hours since Amber’s body was discovered and every
hour that goes by lessens the chances of finding out who killed her. Hear
anything from Ginger?”

“No. I’m going to call her
as soon as I get home and find out the plans for the funeral. I can’t imagine
planning your daughter’s funeral. Thought there was some unwritten law that
children were supposed to outlive their parents. Unfortunately, that family
must not have gotten the message.”

“Yeah. Everyone I talk to
feels bad for the family. I’ll give you a call later. The coroner was supposed
to do the autopsy this afternoon. Maybe that will tell us something. Right now
I sure can’t find a motive. You’re always good with people. Am I missing
something? Got any ideas?”

“Not that I can think of.
Only other thing would be if Amber was leading some sort of a secret life, but
I sure never had a hint of that. She was every mother’s dream, a beautiful
young girl, straight ‘A’s’ in school, and in love with a guy who’s going to
Oregon State on a football scholarship. And we can’t forget she was also going
to Oregon State on an academic scholarship. Sounds like a fairy tale gone bad.
I remember her saying she wanted to help people and was planning on becoming a
psychologist. It’s such a waste!” The tears Kelly had been holding back all
morning began sliding down her cheeks.

“I know, Kelly, I know.
Take care of yourself. You might think about trying to take a nap this
afternoon. Don’t kid yourself. Telling Ginger and Brandon and then working so
hard has to take its toll on you.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek as he
walked her to her minivan.

“Talk to you later, Babe.”

Kelly slept restlessly for several
hours that afternoon, trying to make sense of what was happening in the small
town she loved so much. She couldn’t remember ever hearing about any crimes in
the town other than someone stealing a pie that was cooling on a windowsill.
She and Mark had felt it was the perfect place to raise their family because it
was so peaceful. Now that illusion was shattered. She tossed and turned
wondering why someone would kill Amber. She couldn’t imagine anyone in her town
doing something like that and wondered if Amber had been killed by some
drifter, someone whose identity they would never know, and who’d left town
immediately after committing the murder. As she lay there, she thought about
Doc and Amber and wondered about their relationship. Of all the things that had
happened, the fact that Doc and Amber were apparently friends seemed to be the
strangest.

Her reverie was broken by
the ringing of her telephone. She looked at the screen. “Hi, Mike. I took your
advice and slept on and off for a few hours. Wish I could say it was the sleep
of the innocent, but it wasn’t. My mind is whirling. I hope you’ve found out
something.”

“Not much. Spent the
afternoon talking to a lot of people who don’t seem to know anything. The
county coroner’s report is going to take a couple more hours. Any chance I can
collect on that rain check for dinner in an hour or so?”

“I’d like that. I’ll call
Ginger and find out what they’ve decided to do about a funeral service. See you
soon.”

She got out of bed, stood
up and stretched, feeling the tension in her upper shoulders and neck.
Probably
should check out that new day spa that opened a few weeks ago and have a
massage. I don’t just have knots in my shoulders, at the moment they feel like
boulders.

As soon as
she got
out of bed,
Rebel stood up from his usual sentry post at the foot of her
bed and walked over to the back door. He looked at her expectantly. Kelly had
heard of dogs that could open doors and beer bottles. Rebel wasn’t one of them.
She let him out, walked into the kitchen, and took the roast, potatoes, and a
biscuit can out of the refrigerator. The cheesecake could stay there until
they’d finished dinner. She covered the roast and potatoes with tin foil for reheating.
She figured those would be great reheated, the monkey bread not so much. She
melted some butter and put grated parmesan cheese and spices into a plastic
bag. She cut the biscuits into quarters, made them into balls, dipped them into
the butter, and dropped them into the bag, shaking it to coat each one. She put
the buttered, herb encrusted balls into an angel food cake pan and set them on
the counter to rise while she turned on her upper and lower ovens. When she
stood up she caught a glimpse of herself in the glass door of the microwave.

Good grief. If Mike sees
me looking like this, it will probably be the last time he’ll ever want to come
to the house for dinner or anything else. And yeah, I’m really beginning to
enjoy the anything else
. She smiled to herself as she opened the door for Rebel and
then walked into to the bathroom to try and minimize the effects of stress.
Cold water, mascara, and lip gloss helped a lot.

A few minutes later Mike
knocked and let himself in. “Kelly, I’m here and I’m hungry. What’s for dinner
tonight?

“Glad you’re here. The
Conner menu tonight features roast, potatoes, mini monkey bread, and the
caramel and hot fudge topped cheesecake from last night. You must be exhausted
by now. Sit down and I’ll get you that glass of wine I promised you last night.
Back in a minute,” Kelly said.

It was early evening, the
time when the color of the sky melted into the color of the ocean. When Kelly’s
parents built the house overlooking the bay, they took advantage of the view by
having one large room on the ocean side rather than a separate kitchen, dining
room, and living room. The two hundred seventy degree view of the bay and ocean
was magnificent. When Kelly and Mark had moved into the house, she’d insisted
on furniture that invited bodies to lounge in them rather than the
uncomfortable wooden furniture that had been popular during the time her
parents had lived in the house. Paintings by local artists were prominently
displayed on the walls and even though it was late spring, she always had a
fire blazing in the river rock fireplace. It was a simple warm, inviting home
with an incredible view.

Kelly opened the wine and
turned back toward Mike. Rebel had his paw on Mike’s leg, inviting his ears to
be scratched. As soon as Mike stopped, the paw went back on his leg. “Kelly, I
swear this dog would let me scratch his ears the rest of his life, my life, or
until my hand atrophied. Rebel, that’s all. Off,” he said. Rebel lay next to
him, looking up at him with big brown eyes, hoping that the word “off” meant
there would just be a momentary pause in the ear scratching.

She laughed and handed
Mike his glass of wine. “I’d like to propose a toast, but don’t think there’s
anything that great to toast right now. How about to finding out what happened?”

“Works for me. Believe me,
I sure would like to. What did Ginger say about the service for Amber?”

“I talked to her sister
just before you got here. Evidently Ginger’s still too shaken up to talk to
anyone. I understand. The service is going to be held at the church Saturday
morning. Father Brown thinks a lot of people from the outskirts and surrounding
towns will want to drive in for it. It’s getting a lot of publicity from the
local news programs as well as from as far away as Portland and San Francisco.
He thought it would be better to do it on a non-week day. The family has asked
some people to say a few words about her. I volunteered to have people come to
the coffee shop after the service for some refreshments. Seems like people need
closure at a time like this and it was the least I could do for Amber and the
family.”

“Awfully good of you,
Kelly. I’m sure Ginger and Bob appreciate it. I did a little poking around this
afternoon. Jeff Black’s ranch is a lot bigger than I thought. According to the
county records, he’s got over two thousand acres. I thought the land he uses
for his cattle operation was owned by the Bureau of Land Management, but not
so. It’s part of his ranch. His cattle herd sure doesn’t look like it needs
that many acres. Wish there was some way I could get in there.”

“Mike, a thought just
occurred to me. Remember I told you once that I got Rebel from the family of a
narcotics drug officer who had been killed in a drug shootout? I took one look
at that dog and fell in love with him. It never occurred to me to ask if Rebel
ever worked with the officer as a drug dog. Maybe he’d know if there was
marijuana on the ranch. I remember coming back from Phoenix once and every car
had to stop at an immigration and drug check point.

“There was a helicopter,
about forty officers, and even police on bridges checking out the cars before
they got to the mandatory stop. The thing I’ll never forget is that there was a
big German shepherd dog standing between the lines of cars. It turned its head toward
each car and sniffed it as the cars waited in line. Evidently he’d picked up
the smell of drugs coming from one of the cars in the line because the officers
were completely dismantling it and everything loaded in it. I always wondered
what they’d found, if anything. Anyway, maybe Rebel could help.” Rebel raised
his head, acknowledging that he knew Kelly was talking about him.