Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) (9 page)

“I can’t see how that ties
in to Amber. Sure, he was her teacher, but we don’t know of anything else. Oh
Mike, I just thought of something. He was in here yesterday, as frazzled
looking as he’d been the day before. He made light of it and claimed he’d been
up most of the night trying to fix his computer which seemed to be frozen. He
asked if I knew any repairman. I gave him Seth Morrison’s name. You don’t think
he and Amber…?”

“I don’t know what to
think, but several pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place. I
also found out something else that disturbs me. Evidently Madison told a few
people she wished Amber was dead because she’d stolen Brandon from her, was
homecoming queen, and head cheerleader. When I heard that, I became a little
concerned for your safety.”

“Mike, Madison has been a
huge help. She couldn’t have done it.”

“Who knows? Just because
she’s young doesn’t mean much. Some of the worst murders in history have been
committed by young people. Plus, maybe she somehow found out that Amber was
pregnant and she was sure Brandon would marry her. Jealousy is always a
powerful motive.”

“If my head is reeling,
yours must be doing flip-flops, going from one suspect to another. Why don’t
you take the rest of the day off?”

“Yeah, I feel like I have
all these voices inside my head screaming at me. I’m tired and when I’m tired,
there’s a good chance I’ll overlook something. I’m not going to do anything
about the case this afternoon. People need a little time to recover from the
funeral and spend time with their families.”

“Well, my good sheriff,
how about spending the rest of this beautiful day relaxing on my deck, doing
nothing more important than looking at the bay? I’ll make us a nice dinner and
you might even think about making use of that toothbrush I keep on hand for
occasions like this.”

“Lady, I like the way you
think. Meet you at your house.”

He took his Stetson from
the coat rack and they walked out the door hand in hand, looking forward to
what the night would bring.

*****

“Mike, I hope you feel as
good as I do this morning,” Kelly said as she got out of bed Sunday morning.
“Stay here and rest. I’ll treat you to breakfast in bed in a few minutes. I
know you’re probably anxious to get home or to the office and sift through
everything, but if you can, hang around and I’ll wrangle up a great breakfast
for you. Besides, I like having you here and it gives me an opportunity to be
close to you.”

“Breakfast in bed? Lady,
you know how to start a man’s day out right. Trust me, I’m not moving.”

Kelly brushed her teeth,
threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and was in the kitchen in minutes.
Okay,
after last night he’s got to be hungry,
she thought.
I know I am. She
smiled,
remembering their lovemaking
. Okay, back to this morning. Let’s
see. Sourdough buttered toast, a mushroom omelet, and a thick slice from the
ham we had for dinner last night. That should do it. Oh, and I brought home
some of that leftover fresh fruit from the coffee shop. Perfect.

“Sit up, lazybones. Your
private chef and waitress is providing you with morning sustenance. Enjoy,” she
said, handing him the tray of food. “I’ll be back in a minute with today’s
paper and coffee.”

Kelly loved to begin
Sunday mornings by reading the San Francisco Chronicle. She subscribed to the
local paper, but the problem with it was she already knew about almost
everything that was printed in it. She usually read it in five minutes, but the
Chronicle was her weekly indulgence. She stayed up to date on books, movies,
and the news of the day, both domestic and international. When she finished
reading the paper, she spent an hour doing the crossword puzzle, or attempting
to do it. Long ago she made a promise to herself that if she ever finished a
Sunday crossword, she’d sell the coffee shop and travel to Italy. She knew
there wasn’t much danger of that happening and that’s why she only subscribed
on Sundays. She could justify not finishing the Sunday puzzle, but if she
wasn’t able to finish the ones during the week, it might seriously depress her.
She’d rather not know.

“Kelly, I’ve got a lot to
do today, but last night and this morning were just what I needed. Keep this up
and I might have to make an honest woman out of you.”

“A few more nights like
last night and I won’t care whether or not you make an honest woman out of me,”
she said smiling and ruffling his hair. “I’ve got to spend the afternoon at the
coffee shop and get ready for the week. After yesterday, I don’t know how much
I have of anything. I can certainly use the exposure the Celebration gave the
coffee shop, but my regular customers expect their favorites and I need to keep
them happy.”

“Rebel, you take care of
this wonderful lady. Kelly, I’ll talk to you later,” Mike said as he left the
house and headed for his car. Rebel whined as he and Kelly stood at the door,
watching Mike back out of the driveway.

Well, it will probably be
all over town that I didn’t go to church this morning and that Mike obviously
spent the night. Oh, what the heck. We’re two consenting adults and I know the
only thing Father Brown will do the next time he sees me is smile.

As soon as Kelly and Rebel walked
into the coffee shop, she picked up Rebel’s bed and carried it to the kitchen.
“You can stay here this afternoon. I’ve got a lot of baking to do.” She checked
her supplies, called Lucy at the Cedar Bay Market and gave her a list of what
she needed. “I’ll come by later and pick the order up. I need to spend some
time cooking here at the coffee shop and then I need to run an errand,” she
told Lucy.

Several hours had gone by
when she turned to Rebel and said, “Rebel, I can’t get this out of my mind. I
know Mike wouldn’t approve, but you and I are going to pay a little visit to
Doc. I just can’t believe he has any involvement in this, but I need to find
out.”

Although she’d never been
to Doc’s she had a good idea where he lived. He’d made occasional references to
his ranch when they’d talked at the coffee shop and she remembered him saying
he’d painted the front door of his house red because it was supposed to bring
good luck. She also remembered him saying he liked the name of the lane the
ranch was on, Serenity Summit Lane. She took out her iPhone and silently
blessed Google Maps as it showed her exactly where Serenity Summit Lane was
located.

“Let’s go, Rebel. I mean,
how difficult can it be to find a house that has a red door and is on Serenity
Summit Lane?”

Ten minutes later she
turned onto the lane from the main road. Doc’s ranch was at the end of the lane
along with several other small ranches. His old pickup was in the driveway. She
pulled into it and turned off the engine.

She was just opening the
minivan door when Doc walked around from the side of the house. She waved to
him and got out.

“Kelly, to what do I owe
the pleasure of a visit from you and Rebel?” he asked, opening the door so
Rebel could get out. Rebel liked Doc and immediately rubbed his head against
Doc’s leg, indicating he wanted his ears scratched, while at the same time
earnestly wagging his tail. “Come in. I just made some lemonade from the lemons
on the tree I have on the back patio. Rebel, you too.” He opened the front door
for them.

“Doc,” she said, looking
around the living room. “You never mentioned you were an antique collector,
although I certainly can see why you wouldn’t want people to know what you have
out here. I don’t know much about antiques, but this furniture looks a lot like
some Arts and Crafts pieces I recently saw on television. And these paintings!
They’re incredible. I remember the host on that show talking about California
Impressionist paintings. Is that what these are?”

“Yes. All of this comes
from my grandparents. I don’t talk much about my personal life, but I’m
divorced. My wife wanted these pieces and some others I’ll show you, but I had
a very good attorney who made the case that this was my separate property since
I’d inherited it. They make me happy and remind me of my family.”

“Oh, Doc, here, this is
for you. I had an extra crumble coffee cake and I know how much you like it.
Thought I’d bring you some. It was just taking up space in the walk-in. Enjoy,”
she said handing him the cake.

“How thoughtful of you!
Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour.”

She followed him, amazed
at the quality of the antiques and artwork he had in the old ranch house. A
Tiffany lamp and brightly colored pottery were only a few of the beautiful
decorative pieces.

“Doc, I had no idea. I
feel like I’m in a museum. I think I should put Rebel in the car. As big as he
is, if he bumped into anything and broke it, I’d never forgive myself. It’s a
good thing I don’t have any young children with me! Rebel, lie down,” she said
in an assertive voice. She turned back to Doc. “It will make me feel better if
he’s at least lying down.”

“Let’s go into the kitchen
and sit down. Rebel, come,” Doc said, taking the lemonade out of the
refrigerator. He turned towards Kelly. “I really appreciate the coffee cake,
but I have a feeling you have some other reason for being here.”

Kelly was quiet for a few
moments, taking several sips of her lemonade. “Doc, this is delicious. You’re
right. I do have an ulterior motive for being here. A couple of weeks ago a
tourist was in the coffee shop and after you left, asked to speak to me,” she
said, silently apologizing to the gods of truth for what she was about to say.
She knew she couldn’t tell him Mike had been the source of what she knew about
him.

“He asked your name and
said you looked familiar. I told him your name was Doc. He said, ‘That’s it. I
knew I’d seen him before, but I just couldn’t place him. I live in Southern
California and his name and picture were in the newspapers and on television
for several weeks a couple of years ago. He was accused of performing an
illegal abortion on a young woman and she died. Even though he was arrested and
stood trial, he was acquitted. The State Medical Board took away his license to
practice medicine. I always wondered what happened to him.’ I told him I didn’t
know anything about it and that was all he said. With everything that’s
happened recently, I forgot about it. This morning I woke up, worried that
someone might have overheard him and that you could become a person of interest
in the investigation of Amber’s death. I guess I’m here to warn you, but I’d
also like to know what you and Amber talked about.”

Doc stood up, walked over
to the window and stood there for several minutes. Finally he turned to Kelly
and said in a low, faltering voice, “Kelly, thank you for coming and having the
courage to tell me about your conversation with the customer. Let me tell you
what happened. This won’t be easy because it was a very painful time for me. I
saw no reason to tell anyone here in Cedar Bay about my past. As a matter of
fact, other than having lunch at your coffee shop, I haven’t had much
interaction with anyone in the community. A little over three years ago a
patient of mine, I was a general practitioner for a large HMO in Southern
California, came to my office and told me she thought she was pregnant. She was
a young girl who had just turned seventeen. Her parents were very strict and
had no idea that she and her boyfriend were having sex.

“The HMO I worked for was
very opposed to underage women obtaining birth control pills, even though
legally in California a minor could obtain them without the parent’s consent. I
wasn’t allowed to prescribe them. I examined her and confirmed that she was
pregnant.

“To say she was panicked
would be the understatement of the year. She was a senior in high school and
had been accepted to a prestigious Eastern college. Her boyfriend was the star
quarterback on the football team and they seemed to be very much in love. After
my first consultation with her, I had several more appointments with her. She
begged me to abort the baby. I told her that when I was hired by the HMO, I had
signed a sworn statement that I would never perform an abortion while I was
working there. She told me if I didn’t help her, she didn’t know what she was
going to do. She said a friend of hers was willing to take her to Mexico and
have it done there, even though she easily could have gotten one through a
number of agencies in California. She was afraid if she had it done anywhere in
California, her parents would find out about it. Her father was a very
well-known politician and she knew his opponents would pounce on this kind of
information and use it against him.”

“Doc, I don’t know what I
would have done in that situation. I can’t imagine how you must have felt.”

“I struggled with that
decision more than anything I’ve ever struggled with in my life and ultimately,
I made the wrong decision. I knew she was going to have it done no matter what
and there was a good chance a botched abortion would mean she would never be
able to have children or even worse, she might die. I told her I would do it. I
had a friend who was a doctor in private practice. I called him and asked if I
could use his office. I performed the abortion and it went very well. There
were no complications whatsoever. She had a friend take her home and I thought
that was the end of it. I was wrong.”