Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) (6 page)

When he returned from the
kitchen, he sat down across from her. “Mike, what’s wrong? What did you find
out?”

Mike held the glass with
one hand while he made swirling motions on the moisture on the outside of the
glass with the other, then he took a deep breath, looked up at her, and began.
“Kelly, did you know that Amber was pregnant?”

She half-stood then sat
back down and stared at him, speechless. After a moment she said, “No. I had no
idea. Does Brandon know?”

“I don’t know. I can’t
tell him. This is a criminal investigation and I’ve sealed the autopsy report
until the case is solved. Do you know if she was seeing someone else? I wonder
if her being pregnant was the reason she was murdered and by the way, it was
murder. She was hit on the head with a blunt object and a burlap bag containing
three twenty pound free weights was tied to her body. Someone dumped the body
in the bay, knowing she would drown, and hoped it would sink. It was a fluke
that Dave happened to snag her while he was fishing and pulled her out of the
water. I’m sure the murderer didn’t count on that happening. The only good news
is that the coroner says she was hit hard enough that she probably never came
to, even when she was drowning.”

In a quiet and stunned
tone of voice, Kelly replied, “If she was seeing someone else, she never told
me. Her best friend was Lindsay Williams, maybe she knows something. Are you
going to tell Ginger and Bob?”

“No, as I told you before,
this is a criminal investigation and the report is sealed. I shouldn’t even be
telling you, but I know you won’t tell anyone and I thought you might be able
to help me. You’ve been here longer than I have. You’ve grown up in this town
and know everyone in it. If you come up with anything, don’t hold back. Even if
it’s just a thought, I’d like to know.”

“How far along was she?”
Kelly asked.

“According to the coroner,
about two months.”

Kelly sat quietly looking
at her hands for a moment before she spoke. “Mike, what if she was pregnant by
someone other than Brandon? What if that person found out and decided to kill
her. Maybe the person was married. I don’t know, I’m searching here, kind of
following up on when you asked me to help you, but I don’t recall any married
men hanging around her when she was working here.”

“I don’t know either, but
I intend to find out. This is a small town and whoever did this can’t hide
forever. You mentioned you had some things to tell me. What have you found
out?”

She told him about the
trip she and Rebel had taken the prior night to the Black’s ranch. When she
finished telling him what had happened, he held up his hand. “I wasn’t happy
when I listened to your message. Kelly, we decided we’d do that together.
Promise me you won’t fly off half-cocked like that again. You’re just lucky the
guard didn’t shoot both you and Rebel.”

“Yeah, there was a moment
when I realized I was in way over my head. I’m just glad it turned out okay.”

He took a long drink from
his iced tea. “So am I. Kelly, you mentioned Rebel jumped back from the fence.
Do you think it could have been electrified?”

“Well, I hadn’t thought of
that, but yes, it could have been. It actually knocked him back several feet. I
heard a gunshot at almost the same moment and my first thought was he’d been
shot. I ran over to him and he was shaking, but there was no blood. That’s when
Jeff came out, and as I told you, he was not happy that I hadn’t left. As a
matter of fact, he made a veiled threat about Rebel, something like it would be
a shame if something happened to Rebel. I think that was a threat, don’t you?”

“Yes. I know Rebel’s
always with you, but you might want to keep an eye on him when you let him
outside for the next few days. You said something about having a strange
conversation with Chris. Tell me about it.”

“Mike, he looked terrible.
He didn’t come in yesterday like he always does and even though he came in
today he didn’t have his usual coffee and ham omelet. He said he was really
shaken up over Amber. He wanted to know if you’d found out anything about her.
I mentioned you had a meeting with the county coroner last night, but I hadn’t
heard from you. He gave me his cell phone number and asked me to text him as
soon as I found out what the county coroner had told you. Don’t you think
that’s strange?”

“Yes, but as we discussed
yesterday, he probably got to know Amber pretty well between the cheerleading
and her being one of his brightest students. Who knows? Maybe there’s something
in his past, like somebody close to him was murdered or whatever. If I’ve
learned one thing over the years as county sheriff, it’s that you never know
the whole story about anyone.”

“Mike, do you have a gut
feeling for who did it?”

“No. I guess my prime
suspect at this time is Jeff Black, but I may be prejudiced. I just don’t trust
the guy. I think he’s up to some type of illegal activity out at his ranch and
maybe committing murder wouldn’t be that big of a step for him to take from
what he’s already doing. I was thinking on the way over here that maybe Brandon
had told him Amber was pregnant and he was going to marry her. Jeff probably
figured that would ruin his son’s football career and the kid would be saddled
with a baby and a wife when he went to college. That’s not an ideal situation
for a young man when he’s away from home for the first time.”

He continued, “I could see
him doing it except for one thing. I remember someone telling me that Jeff
didn’t have a boat even though he lived near the ocean. Think they said as a
kid he’d fallen overboard on his dad’s boat and he’d never been on one since.
I’m pretty sure Amber had to be dropped in the bay, probably a couple of
hundred yards out from shore. There was a strong incoming tide that morning and
it probably pushed her body closer to shore which allowed Dave to snag her body
while he was fishing from shore that evening. Someone would have had to drop
her into the ocean from a boat and I don’t think Jeff could do that. I even
heard he spent years going to a psychiatrist because he had such a fear of
water. Believe it or not, the person told me Jeff was so afraid of water when
he was younger, his parents had trouble getting him to take a shower.”

“Yes, I’ve heard similar
stories. Well, if you eliminate Jeff, what about Brandon?”

“I haven’t eliminated him,
but from everything I know,” Mike said, “Brandon was in love with Amber. I
don’t see him killing her just because she’d gotten pregnant. He may not have
been very happy about the situation, but I can’t see him murdering her. What if
Amber found out that Jeff had a marijuana farm that he covered up with his
cattle operation? She was over there enough she could have discovered it. Maybe
he was afraid she’d tell someone about it.”

Kelly ran her index finger
around the rim of her glass. “I think that’s a stretch. Not many people are
going to take a young woman’s word over a highly respected businessman. I also
seem to remember hearing that Jeff is a big political donor. Maybe people
suspect what he’s doing, but because of his political ties, they don’t want to
do anything about it. Anyway, we still don’t really have a solid suspect in the
case and a killer is loose in our town. That’s just great, particularly with
the summer tourist season about to start and don’t forget, a lot of the
citizens in this town make most of their money during the tourist season.”

“I heard from Jimmy over
at the hardware store that he had to order more door locks because people are
so afraid,” Mike said. “And to think this has always been a community where we
all felt so safe we often left our doors unlocked.”

“Yeah, I always used to
leave my door unlocked,” Kelly said. “The only reason I check now to see who’s
on the other side of the door before I unlock it and open it is because of the
time the guy robbed me here at the coffee shop. Scares me even now to even
think about it. He got away with one day’s profits. Glad it wasn’t a month’s
worth or I would have had to close up permanently. Believe me, the profit
margin in this little old coffee shop isn’t that great!”

“I know. Everywhere I go
people shake their heads and can’t believe something like this has happened
right here in sleepy little Cedar Bay. I’ve got to find the murderer, if for no
other reason than to make people in the town feel safe again. Kelly, I’ve got
some resources that most people don’t have. I’ve been working on Jeff Black all
morning and when I get back to the office I should have some information on
where he got the money to buy the extra acreage out at his ranch. I’m looking
for offshore bank accounts and whatever else my sources can come up with. Think
I’ll also run a check on Chris. He’s not from around here. Maybe there’s
something in his past that I ought to know about. Got any other ideas?”

“Yes. I told you about the
strange conversation I had with Doc yesterday about Amber and him talking
several times, maybe there’s something in his past. Why don’t you see what you
can find out about him?”

“Good idea. You know, I
always feel better just seeing and talking to you. Thought any more about
letting me move in with you? Then I’d feel better all the time.”

She laughed. “I think
we’ve had this conversation a few times before. Love to have you visit whenever
you can. It makes me happy every time I see your toothbrush in the bathroom,
but if you moved in, I don’t think I could ever explain it satisfactorily to
Cash and Julia. They want to keep their father’s memory pure and that might
taint it a bit.”

“Well,” he said, standing
up, “Let me know if you change your mind. My offer’s still on the table.” He
pulled her to him and gently kissed her.

“Get out of here. You’ve
got a murder to solve and if you do that much longer, I may make a decision I’d
regret, and one that I know my children wouldn’t like. I love you, Mike, and
don’t worry, you’re going to solve this.”

“Sweetheart, you’ve got
more faith in me than I do,” he said as he put on his Stetson and walked out to
his county sheriff’s car.

When Kelly arrived at the coffee shop
early on Friday morning, Madison was already standing by the door. Roxie pulled
up a minute later and the three of them entered Kelly’s.

“Madison,” Roxie said,
“I’m going to train you today. Kelly’s got enough to do getting ready for
everyone coming here after the funeral tomorrow. First thing you do every
morning is plug in the big coffeepot. We get it ready to go the day before.
Folks will wait for anything else, but not their coffee. Here’s an apron. Come
with me.”

The early arrivals soon
began to trickle in at 7:00, thirsty for coffee and hungry for the specials.
Although it was busy, the townspeople seemed to be moving on to the next most
important thing in their lives. Kelly knew most of them would be back tomorrow.
Even with the tragedy, no one would pass up the chance to talk to their friends
and eat Kelly’s food for free.

After an hour, Kelly
looked at her watch and said, “Roxie, would you and Madison take over the front
for me? I need to get some things ready for tomorrow or else I’ll be here all night.”

“No problem. Madison, fill
a smaller coffeepot and whenever you see a cup that’s half full, ask if they
want a refill. When you finish doin’ that, follow me around and I’ll show you
how to take an order, fill it, and run the cash register. Ready?”

Madison carried a pot of
coffee into the front room. Roxie looked back at Kelly and winked. “Think we
got a winner here. She’s catchin’ on real fast,” she said as she hurried
through the swinging kitchen doors and into the front room. A few minutes later
Madison stuck her head into the kitchen.

“Sorry to bother you,
Kelly, but Coach Chris is here and wants to talk to you. Whaddya want me to
tell him?”

“Tell him I’ll be there in
a few minutes. I need to finish measuring the ingredients for these breakfast casseroles.
If I stop now, I’ll never remember where I was. Actually, when you start
preparing the food, remember, if you’re doing measurements, don’t stop halfway
through. Trust me, that’s something I learned from experience. One other thing.
I know I hired you to work weekdays, since that’s when we’re open, but is there
any chance you could help me out after the funeral tomorrow? Even though we
won’t be serving people because it’s a buffet, there’s going to be so many of
them here that there will be a lot of work to do like clearing plates and cups,
starting the dishwasher, and replenishing the serving trays as the food gets
eaten.”

“Sure. When do ya’ want me
here?”

“I’m going to skip out of
the service when the people start speaking about Amber. If you don’t mind, you
could come with me. I need to start the coffee and get things in the ovens.
I’ll cut up the fruit this afternoon and arrange it when I come in tomorrow.
Sound okay?”

“I like it here. Yeah,
when I see you get up during the service, I’ll do the same. Oh, one other
thing. I put my purse and school books in the kitchen. Is there somewhere else
you’d like to me to put ‘em?”

“Gosh, I’d completely
forgotten that Amber had a locker here. You can use hers. I’ll clean it out for
you this afternoon. Just leave your things where they are for today.”