Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) (8 page)

Kelly recognized Amber’s
best friend, Lindsay Williams, as she walked up to the microphone. She began
the service by singing the 23
^rd
Psalm, “The Lord’s My Shepherd I’ll
Not Want” hymn. Kelly wiped away the tears that started sliding down her cheeks
with a tissue she’d brought just for that purpose. From the sounds of sniffles
and quiet crying that filled the church, she wasn’t the only one with a tear in
her eye.

Father Brown walked to the
podium of the Catholic Church dressed in his usual white alb. A large bay
window overlooking the ocean was behind him, creating a peaceful scene. He was
a rather short man and could barely see over the podium. His substantial girth
made it hard for him to get close enough to the podium to read his written
notes. A brown fringed short beard and shaggy bangs gave him a perennial
hangdog look which only made him seem all the more accessible to helping people
with their real and perceived sins. He was a priest who passionately cared
about his flock and they loved him for it.

One of the things that
most endeared him to his parishioners was his willingness to skirt the edges of
church conformity when he felt it was necessary or appropriate. Ginger and Bob
had asked him if he would make the service a little more personal given the
nature of the crime and the age of their daughter. He agreed with the
stipulation that the traditional funeral Mass be offered. The three of them
decided to have a very simple service consisting of songs, the Lord’s Prayer,
Mass, and a few people speaking about their remembrances of Amber.

He began, “We gather
together today to support the family of Amber Cook and to pray for her and
celebrate her ascension into heaven. She was taken from us at far too young an
age. I don’t think we need to dwell on the tragedy of her death. I hope we can
all find forgiveness in our hearts for whoever took her from us. It is not us
he or she will have to answer to, it is God. We can take refuge in knowing that
Amber believed in God and has entered the Kingdom of Heaven, a bright shining
new angel who is probably smiling down at us this very moment.

“Dealing with death is
never easy for those of us who are left behind, but today we must be joyful
knowing that Amber has gone home to be with her Lord. I’ve known Amber since
she was born and I know of her deep faith. She would be the first to tell us to
rejoice, that she is safe in the loving arms of the Lord. We all knew that
someday she would be with the Lord, it’s just that she’s there a little sooner
than we thought she would be.”

“Ginger, Bob, we know
you’re in pain, but please call on us to help you get through this. We are all
part of God’s family and families help each other during tragedies and sad
times. When you feel you can’t go on, lean on our shoulders. Tell us what you
need and what we can do for you. You are loved by every person in this church.”

He went on to talk about
his involvement with Amber from the time he had baptized her, given her First
Communion, her involvement with the church youth group, and her activities in
school and the community. Whenever Kelly attended a funeral service, she had
the thought that these words, these accolades, should be said before people
died, so they could hear the wonderful things people had to say about them.
Then again maybe they could hear them.

Father Brown ended his
informal remarks by asking everyone to stand, take the hand of the person next
to them, and recite the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, who art in heaven…” The
words, spoken in unison, filled the church and could be heard as far out as the
parking lot.

“Please be seated,” Father
Brown said, holding up his hands. “In accordance with the prescribed rites of
the Catholic Church’s funeral service, I will offer Mass this morning. When you
come forward, if you are not Catholic or choose not to celebrate Mass, please
cross your arms over your chest and I will give you a blessing. Following the completion
of Mass, several people have been asked to speak about Amber. To conclude the
service, we will sing Amazing Grace. You are all welcome to attend the
Celebration of Life for Amber which is being held at Kelly’s Koffee Shop
immediately after the service is completed. There are flyers with directions at
the rear of the church.” After the Mass was completed Father Brown announced
that the first speaker would be Brandon Black.

Kelly would have liked to
hear what Brandon had to say, but knew she couldn’t stay any longer. She stood
up and walked out the door. In a moment she heard Madison’s voice beside her.
“Hi, Kelly. Wasn’t that beautiful? I don’t go to church, but after today, I
think I will.”

As Kelly opened the door
of her minivan for Madison, she patted Rebel on the head. He always stood
looking out the car window in the direction he’d last seen her go until she
returned. “Father Brown is a wonderful man. I’ve been attending his services
for a long time and I always feel better afterwards. Are you ready for a busy
day?”

“Yeah. People found out
that I’m workin’ at the coffee shop and it seems everywhere I went yesterday
afternoon, people asked if I was going to be workin’ for you today. I know you
can estimate how much food to prepare so you don’t waste any, but I just hope
there’s enough to go around.”

“I’ll let you in on a
secret. I didn’t sleep much last night worrying about the same thing, but I’m
pretty sure we’ll be all right. I stayed at the coffee shop several hours after
you and Roxie left yesterday, making extra casseroles, just in case. If we
don’t use them today, we can always freeze them for next week. Believe me, with
everything that needed to be refrigerated, I’m really glad I invested in a
walk-in refrigerator. There’s no way all of that food could fit into a regular
one! Here we are and I see Roxie pulling in behind us. I’d like you to plug in
the big coffee pot and start the ovens at 350 degrees. Also turn on the warming
ovens. Oh, by the way, I cleaned out Amber’s locker for you so you can put your
purse in it. It’s the large drawer to the left as you walk into the storeroom.”

I’ve got to remember to
tell Mike about the diary after the Celebration is over. I put it in my purse
when I left the house. When he hears what’s in it, it’s definitely going to be
part of his investigation.

Kelly and Roxie arranged
the fruit platters and put them in the walk-in refrigerator. They took large
serving dishes out of the cabinets and arranged the casserole slices on them.

“Roxie, do me a favor.
Would you take a couple of batches of the bacon chocolate chip cookies out of
the freezer and arrange them on platters? It won’t take long for them to
defrost. I can’t be trusted. I’d probably eat them all if I tried to do it.”

“Sure. I like them, but I
can at least resist them, unlike some people I know,” she said, grinning at
Kelly. “My green thumb has begun to sprout all kinds of flowers in my yard. I
brought several bouquets with me. They’re in the car. Thought they might
brighten the tables. Okay with you if I arrange them?”

“Oh, Roxie, I never even
thought about flowers. Thank you so much! Flowers always cheer people up. You
know where the vases are in the storage room.”

A few minutes later the
door opened and the first guests arrived. For the next three hours, Kelly’s was
a kaleidoscope of people, food, conversations, tears, and laughter. It seemed
like everyone who had known Amber, had heard of Amber, or had read about the
murder, had come to the funeral, and then on to Kelly’s.

Although Mike’s name had
not been listed on the card as a speaker at the funeral, when the last speaker
had finished, Father Brown asked if anyone else wanted to say a few words.
Several people told her that Mike went to the podium and spoke to everyone
about how wonderful Amber was and reassuring them that a massive investigation
for the killer was under way. He said he was not at liberty to share any facts
about the investigation because of its criminal nature, but his office had been
given information that he was certain would lead to the arrest and conviction
of the killer. It was a heartfelt speech, and even though no one in the church
wanted to hear the word “killer,” everyone was glad that Mike was confident the
guilty person would soon be brought to justice.

After the last guest had
left the coffee shop, Mike sat in the corner, looking at his email on his phone
while Kelly profusely thanked Roxie and Madison for their help. “Ladies, I
can’t thank you enough. I know you both must be exhausted. I know I am. Get out
of here and I’ll see you Monday. I don’t know if it’s proper to call a
Celebration of Life successful, but if the amount of food eaten is any
indication, it was a huge success. I thought I’d prepared enough food to last
us through next week, but I was wrong. From the limited number of leftovers you
two put away, I think I’ll have to spend tomorrow afternoon cooking for next
week. Again, many thanks!”

Kelly closed the door behind Roxie
and Madison, locked it, and then turned to Mike. “I hear you gave a wonderful
speech at the service. Several people told me they felt much safer after
listening to you. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you, but it probably had to be
done.”

“Well, when I heard how
many door locks Jimmy had sold and how afraid people were, I didn’t really have
a choice. The memorial prayer cards were printed yesterday afternoon and by the
time I contacted Father Brown and told him I’d like to say a few words, it was
too late. Gracious as always, he gave me an entry. The man not only looks like
a saint, he is! Now, tell me about the diary.”

“Let me get it. I think
you’re definitely going to want to keep it.” She went into the storeroom to get
her purse and returned a moment later. “Here it is. Before you open it, I have
to tell you that I read it.”

“You know I would have
preferred it if you hadn’t, but as curious as you are, I never that doubted
you’d read it. And…”

“Mike, she knew she was
pregnant. According to the diary, she’d been having an affair with a man, but
she never said who it was. She wasn’t sure whether Brandon or this mysterious
lover was the father. She was torn as to whether she should tell Brandon the
baby was his, knowing he would marry her right away. Amber felt it was her
fault she’d gotten pregnant because she’d lost her birth control pills. She
didn’t want to tell Ginger she’d been taking them and the doctor she’d
originally gotten them from had left the area. She didn’t know what to do. She
was afraid Oregon State would revoke Brandon’s scholarship if he was married
and had a baby and she also made a reference to some serious tension between
Brandon and his father. She was afraid his dad would be furious. She also said
if his dad got really mad at Brandon, then Brandon might tell the authorities
and it would ruin the family, whatever that means.”

“Whoa, Amber said that
there was tension between Brandon and his father? That might explain why Jeff
wanted to know if Amber had ever said anything about the ranch. What else?”

“She referred to Doc. Said
she’d talked to him a couple of times about ‘it.’ Don’t know what she meant by
that.”

“I think I might. When
you’re finished I’ll tell you.”

“Well, the other thing
that was interesting is that she mentioned she gave her mysterious lover half
of her blue cheerleading ribbon. She said in her diary that he’d wanted a
memento of her. You know, the cheerleaders all get them at the beginning of the
season and the head cheerleader gets a special one. It’s a real status symbol
of ‘being somebody’ in high school. I remember years ago when Julia would talk
about a cheerleader wearing the blue ribbon. It was a really big deal. The
other thing that’s scary is she mentioned she decided to tell her mysterious
lover about her pregnancy, figuring he’d know about it in another month or so
anyway. Evidently she was also torn about having an abortion, probably because
of being raised in the Catholic Church. That’s about it.”

Mike sat quietly for
several moments, absorbing what she’d said. “Kelly, I ran a check on Doc. I
found out his last name is Burkhart. He came here from a small town in Southern
California. Evidently he performed an illegal abortion on a young girl and she
died. Her parents didn’t know she was pregnant and he wanted to help her. The
circumstances are pretty similar to those involving Amber. It was the girl’s
senior year in high school and she’d been accepted at a top college. He was
charged in criminal court with manslaughter, but he was acquitted, however, the
State Medical Board felt there was enough evidence to revoke his license. His wife
left him and he moved here. No wonder he wants to be off the grid.”

“Mike, you don’t seriously
think Doc had something to do with Amber’s murder do you? Why, he seems like
one of the gentlest men I’ve ever met.”

“At this point I can’t
rule out anyone. Oh, one other thing. The hero of the high school, Coach
Chris,” he said sarcastically, “was arrested in Utah on child pornography
charges. He was fired from his job at the high school and came to Cedar Bay for
a new start. The mother of a young girl who was a student of his happened to be
looking in her daughter’s purse for some lipstick she thought her daughter had
borrowed from her. She found photographs of her nude daughter and the coach
which had been taken off the Internet from one of those porn sites. Talk is he
paid off the mother, who was very poor. After that the mother and the girl
refused to testify against him and the charges were dropped. He must have used
some phony references to get the job here in Cedar Bay, although I have to say
he’s done a darn good job for the school.”