Murder at Jade Cove (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 2) (11 page)

“Night, sweetheart. Sleep
well. I’ll join you as soon as this movie I’m watching is over. I have to find
out who did it. Probably the sheriff in me.”

*****

She rolled over the next morning and
saw Mike looking at her. She put her arms around him and kissed him. “Mike, I’m
so glad we found each other. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. I can’t wait
until I’m your wife, although to tell you a secret, after nights like last
night, I’d probably let you live with me anyway!”

“Kelly,” he said, his arms
tightening around her. “You are absolutely the best thing that’s ever happened
to me. You know, we never talked about a honeymoon. Is there some place special
you’d like to go?”

“No. I just want to be
your wife. We can go somewhere in the spring. I’d rather not get involved in
making plans for the wedding and a honeymoon all at the same time, and to be
honest, after last night, I’m not sure we even need a honeymoon. Let’s face it;
I think we’re already living and enjoying it!”         

“Stay in bed,” Mike said.
“I know Sunday is your favorite day of the week. Tell you what. I’ll bring you
the newspaper and some coffee. I’ll even give you the crossword puzzle and you
can do it while I read the rest of the paper. Deal?”

“Perfect, but I need to
spend some time at the coffee shop this afternoon. When I left Friday I noticed
we were pretty low on a few things. I need to place an order with Lucy at the
market and do some prep for the coming week. What are your plans?”

“I want to spend some time
working on the Jeff Black case. There are still so many loose ends. For one
thing, there are too many people who have a motive to kill Jeff. I’d like to
eliminate some of them. I’m just not sure how to do it. Maybe I’ll construct
some kind of a pyramid chart. Like putting the ones who have the best reason
for killing him at the top and working down from there, but right now I’m going
to bring us bagels with all the trimmings. That gravlax is about the best thing
I’ve ever had. I don’t remember you ever serving it at the coffee shop. Did I
miss it?”

“No. I was afraid the name
‘gravlax’ would scare people off and they wouldn’t order it. It shouldn’t
because it’s nothing more than salmon that’s cured in the refrigerator with
some herbs, salt and sugar. The problem is that gravlax doesn’t really sound
like a coffee shop kind of thing. I mean everyone knows what caramel rolls are
or sausage and gravy, but gravlax, don’t know if it would sell.”

“Tell you what. Try it and
if it doesn’t sell, I’ll be happy to eat whatever’s left over,” he said,
grinning at her as he left the room.

Two hours later after
gorging themselves on gravlax on toasted bagels and working the crossword
puzzle, Kelly said, “Mike, I’m going to 11:00 mass. Stay where you are. I’ll be
back after that. I haven’t been able to reach Julia and Cash about the wedding,
so I need to call them and make sure they can attend the wedding in February.
Cash will probably have to put in his request for leave as soon as possible. I
sure hope he can come home for it. It seems like every week some new form of
violence erupts in the Middle East. I wish he was stationed a little closer to
home.”

“Yeah, I know you’re
worried about him being stationed in such an unstable part of the world, but
he’s got a lot going for him. He’s street smart and that’s often more important
than having some degree from an Ivy League school. He’s going to get out of
there and be fine.”

“Hope you’re right. See
you later.”

*****

Kelly called Lucy with her grocery
order and picked it up on the way to the coffee shop.
Wish there was a
Costco or another discount store in Cedar Bay. I know Lucy has to pay to have
everything delivered to her, but it sure would make my profit margin larger if
I could buy directly from one of them. I appreciate the discount she gives me,
but I guess I just don’t have the volume to have it delivered directly to me.
Oh well, cost of living in a small town. At least most everything else is
cheaper than if I lived in San Francisco or Portland.

Three hours later she’d
prepared everything she could for the coming week, caught up on some bookwork,
and got the coffee ready for the following morning.
Wonder if Marcy’s back
from Portland. Never did get a chance to talk to her the other day. I know,
I’ll get some of my bacon chocolate chip cookies out of the freezer and take
them to her. They defrost in minutes and if she doesn’t want them, she can
always put them in her freezer.

Kelly stood at the front door of the
Black’s ranch house and knocked on the door. While she waited for someone to
respond, she once again admired the beauty of Jade Cove. When Jeff’s parents
had originally built the house, they designed it so the front of the house
overlooked the cove. A circular driveway surrounded it. The view was simply
spectacular. In a few moments Marcy opened the door and said, “Kelly, how nice
to see you. I wasn’t expecting you. I spent a couple of days in Portland at my
sister’s home and just got back. I’m forgetting my manners. Please come in.
Would you like a cup of coffee?”

Sure you were staying at
your sister’s
, Kelly thought.
Probably better not tell her I saw her with Gabe. I’m
sure she’d lie and tell me it was someone who looked like her. Well, I’ll see
what I can find out.

“No thanks. Marcy, I want
to express my condolences. I came by the other day, but you weren’t here. I
feel so badly for you and Brandon. I know nothing helps at a sad time like
this, but I brought you some cookies.”

“Thanks, Kelly. You’re
right, nothing really helps. I was in Portland when my sister called me about
Jeff’s death and I drove straight home. Brandon came in from Corvallis and
spent the night here at the ranch. He returned to school the next day after we
made the funeral arrangements. Since Amber’s death was so recent, he didn’t
feel like he could go through another funeral and I agreed with him. That’s why
we decided not to have a funeral, but instead, simply had Jeff’s remains
cremated. I think it’s probably better for him to concentrate on football and
his studies and I’m hoping that will help take his mind off the tragedy.”

“That’s a good plan for
Brandon, but how are you doing? This had to be a shock. I know Jeff had started
divorce proceedings, but even so, his murder had to come as a huge shock to
you.”

“Him filing for divorce
and his murder – yes, they both came as a shock. I never thought Jeff and I
would be divorced. I loved him dearly and I was always faithful to him. I
understand from several people that Jeff thought I was having an affair with
Gabe Lewis. He’s the lumber guy who lives up in Sunset Bay. Jeff had always
been jealous of him because Gabe and I were once engaged to be married. That
was before I met Jeff. Jeff never forgot about it. He became obsessed with the
idea I was having an affair with Gabe. Really, it was just a figment of Jeff’s
imagination.”

Sure it was, just like you
and Gabe were a figment of my imagination yesterday when the two of you came
out of the Hilton with overnight bags,
Kelly thought.

“I’ve seen Gabe a few
times over the years. He came to see me the other day when he heard that Jeff
had died. He offered to give me some money if I needed any. You know he’s very
wealthy. I told him I was fine, but I’d keep it in mind and if I did run short
I’d let him know. Nice to have friends like that, don’t you think?”

“Yes. That was a very nice
thing for him to do.”
Particularly when according to what I read, the guy is
having serious financial problems of his own.

“From what I recall, he’s
in the lumber business, isn’t he?”

“Well, that’s putting it
mildly,” Marcy said, smiling. “In this area of the state, he is the lumber
business. He owns a huge lumber mill and thousands of acres of timber so, yes,
I guess you could say he’s in the lumber business.”

“I’ve been reading there’s
been a drop in lumber prices the past few years and the industry is in a
mini-recession. I understand buyers are importing lumber from Canada because
it’s much cheaper to buy lumber there, even though it has to be transported a
greater distance. Has his business been affected by those developments?”

“Not from what he’s told
me. In fact, when Gabe first came to see me after Jeff’s death, he wondered
what I was going to do about building the hotel and spa. I told him I’d received
calls from several people who were going to help Jeff finance the construction,
but they’ve decided to pull out because of Jeff’s death. Gabe told me he’d like
to finance it. Later, after I learned from reading Jeff’s will that Jeff had
left everything to Brandon since he was going to divorce me, I told Gabe I
didn’t have the authority to make a decision about developing the property
because it was going to become Brandon’s. When Gabe learned I wasn’t going to
inherit the property, he told me he’d like to talk to Brandon about developing
the property and becoming his financial partner. So, based on the things Gabe
said to me, I didn’t think for a moment that Gabe was having financial
difficulties. How could he and at the same time offer to become Brandon’s
financial partner?”

“Marcy, I’m so sorry. That
must have been so hard for you when you learned that Jeff had left everything
to Brandon.”

“Yes, it was. Brandon had
an important football game yesterday and he has a couple of exams early this
week. I told Gabe it would have to wait until the end of next week. He has
really been helpful to me. He even spent an afternoon in Jeff’s office, going
over his accounts to see if there was anything I needed to know.”

“Did he find anything?”

“No, he said everything looked
like it was in order. Oh, speak of the devil, here he comes.”

She walked over to the
door and opened it for him. “Come in, Gabe. I want you to meet someone. Kelly,
this is Gabe Lewis. Gabe, Kelly Conner. Kelly owns the coffee shop on the pier.
She came out here to give me her condolences.”

“Nice to meet you, Kelly.
You look familiar. Have we met before?” Gabe asked.

Well,
you almost knocked me
down when you were hurrying out of the bank and I saw you with Marcy at the
Hilton in Portland yesterday.

“No, I don’t believe we
have. Marcy, I have to be going. I have a large order from the Cedar Bay Market
in my minivan and I need to take it to the coffee shop. Gabe, it was nice
meeting you.”

She walked out and passed
what she assumed was Gabe’s car in the driveway. On the rear bumper was a
bumper sticker that read “Oregon Needs Lumber.” Rebel was waiting in the van,
standing in his usual guard position on the front passenger seat. When he saw
her coming, he jumped in the back.

I know people would
probably think I’m crazy for talking to a dog, but I know he understands
everything I’m saying
.

“Well, Rebel, that was
interesting. It seems that Marcy doesn’t know Gabe is having financial problems
or if she does, she sure didn’t act like it. Wonder if what I read is true.
Maybe the article about him was wrong although I’ve heard talk from some of the
lumbermen who come to the coffee shop that the lumber business is really down.
Several of them have mentioned they’re worried they’ll lose their jobs.”

Rebel looked at her with
his head cocked. She was sure he understood every word she was saying.

“I wonder if Gabe can
convince Brandon to go ahead with the hotel and spa project, but if more
money’s needed, where does Gabe intend to get it? And from what Mike told me,
Lem would probably be against it and he’s the one advising Brandon. This is
getting more and more curious! I’ll see what Mike has to say about it.”

She dropped the items
she’d gotten from the market off at the coffee shop and drove home. “Mike,” she
called out, “we’re home. Did you solve the case?”

“Fraid not, sweetheart. I
just got home a few minutes ago. I was so frustrated at how many suspects there
are and the lack of clues leading to any of them that I threw up my hands and
left. How was your afternoon?”

“Well, the good news is I
was able to reach Julia and Cash and they’ll both be here for the wedding. I
talked to Father Brown and confirmed the date with him. He and I had kind of
discussed that date when I talked to him a few days ago. I told him what we’d
found out about Denise. He was sorry for you, but glad we could now be married
in the church without objections from any of the church members. I called
Ginger and asked her if she would take care of the guest book signing when
people arrive at the church. She and I have been best friends for as long as I
can remember and I didn’t want her feelings to be hurt because Julia will be
standing up with me.”

“Kelly, I think you
worried needlessly and underestimated Ginger. I’m sure she’s just happy that
you’re happy, but I think it’s nice you’re making her part of the wedding. It
will give her something positive to look forward to after the death of her
daughter, Amber.”

“I took some cookies to
Marcy. I haven’t seen her since Jeff was killed and I wanted to express my
condolences.”