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The Harmony Inn feels like a ghost town when I tiptoe through it the next morning. After a sleepless night, I eventually decide to get up early and go to work. I don’t suppose anybody will feel like sitting around the dining table eating breakfast this morning, and I know an extra hour to myself in the sanctuary of the Jitterbug Junction will help soothe my frazzled nerves.
I’m just waking up the coffee machine for my first cup when I get a text from Rob asking how I am and whether I want to meet him for breakfast. I hit reply so fast that I’m fairly sure autocorrect makes most of my answer unreadable. He figures it out, though, sending me back a coffee cup emoji and a question mark. I send him a thumbs-up and get out another clean mug. I’m just pouring his coffee out when I see his shadowy figure approach the cafe’s locked front door and I dart out to let him inside.
“Hi.” My smile dims when I notice how tired he looks. “Did you sleep at all last night?”
“Did you?” He runs his thumb over the bags under my eyes and presses his forehead against mine. “How was it?”
“Quiet.” We walk back up to the counter and I pass him one of the lattes I’ve made us. “Although I hope you won’t think any less of me if I admit to barricading myself into my room all night. Those single-traveler hotel safety influencers have nothing on my set-up.”
“Good.” Rob pulls out a stool and sits down. “And did you eat anything?”
“Why do you think I came into work so early?” I disappear into the kitchen and emerge with a sealed tupperware box. “How do stale croissants sound?”
“Like the perfect breakfast.”
I put the box down between the two of us and we each take one, talking as we eat.
“So what do you think?” Rob glances at me.
“About?” I take a dainty bite of my croissant and still manage to shower myself with crumbs. Rolling my eyes, I brush away the worst of them and reach for my coffee. “I think I’m going to need to sweep the floor again before we open up.”
“I’ll help you.” Rob adds his crumbs to the mix. “But I was asking about last night. The murder. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a tragedy.” I eye him. “Are we sure it’s a murder?”
“Are we sure it isn’t?” He finishes his croissant and turns in his seat to meet my gaze. “Come on, Merry. I know you. You must have some idea who’s behind this. Either that or you’re itching to find out. So...”
“I’m leaving it to the police,” I say, sweetly, which is apparently unconvincing because my boyfriend laughs and reaches for another pastry. “Oh, alright. I have no idea yet, but...” I finger my earrings and decide it’s a strange enough detail that I might as well share it. “Hannah said she found my earrings in her room.”
“Those earrings?”
I nod.
“But I’ve never been in her room. I left them on my bedside table the other night and when I woke up they were gone.”
Rob’s eyebrows lift, and his interest spurs me on.
“There’s something else, too. Delphine and Jean were rowing a lot last night. About silly stuff. She was taking too long to serve the dinner, that sort of thing. But Hannah made some comment the other day about how Delphine was threatening her.”
“Sounds like it’s the other way around. Hannah takes business at the Harmony Inn pretty seriously. If Delphine isn’t doing her job - and if she’s helping herself to other people’s belongings...” He nods at my earrings. “Maybe Delphine’s death will solve a problem or two for the Kincaid-Montroses.” Rob jokes, but it doesn’t seem so funny after everything that’s happened.
“You don’t think Hannah could be responsible, do you? It was her tea Delphine drank, after all.” I think back over how tightly she held my hand last night, and how often she pressed her lace handkerchief to her eyes. For someone usually so strict and aloof, she did seem very emotional. Yes, I tell myself. Because she just saw somebody die. Another thought occurs to me and I voice it. “Maybe someone was trying to poison Hannah.”
“Or maybe Hannah wanted it to look like that.” Rob and I hold each other’s gaze for a moment before shaking our heads and turning back to our breakfasts.
“Anything’s possible,” he says, after a long moment’s pause. “But I think you should be careful if you’re going to stay at the inn. You don’t actually know any of the people there.”
“Neither do you,” I point out. I’m grateful that he cares, but I’m still stubbornly clinging to my independence. “Apart from Chris.”
“Chris can take care of herself.”
“And I can’t?” My voice is a little sharper than I mean it to be and Rob looks hurt. I ought to backtrack, but something keeps me moving forward. “I’ve witnessed more than my fair share of murders recently, you know, and lived to tell the tale.”
“Only just,” Rob reminds me. “And what is so wrong about me wanting to keep you safe?”
“Nothing,” I concede at last. “But it’s not necessary. I’m fine.” I hope my words sound more convincing to him than they do to me. “I’m going to be fine.” I hop off my stool and start gathering up the last of the leftover pastries and our empty coffee mugs. “But I’m never going to get this place open on time if I don’t start now. I gave Phoebe the morning off, so it’s all on me today.”
Rob watches me work, meditatively chewing on the last bite of his croissant. He seems to come to a decision because he gets slowly to his feet and follows me into the kitchen.
“I’m not due into work for a few hours yet. I could stick around and give you a hand if you want.” He seems to pre-empt my protest because he’s already reaching for an apron when I turn around. “Just to keep the cafe ticking over. When it comes to dealing with murderers, I know, you can handle yourself.”
He’s teasing me, and I deserve worse, but I can’t help but feel a tiny shudder of nerves. If there really is a murderer on the loose at the Harmony Inn, I’m not the only one who might be in danger. Which is all the more reason to figure out who they are quickly, before anyone else gets hurt.
***
“I’VE BEEN WANTING AN excuse to play with this coffee machine.” Rob grins at me, wiggling his fingers in feigned excitement. “Where do we start? Double-shot, extra foam, cappuccino?”
“You can run the register,” I say, pointing him toward the Jitterbug Junction’s old-school manual cash register. “Key in the prices, hit the button, and give people their change.” I locate my one nod to modernity, a nondescript silver tablet. “Or get them to point their card, phone, smartwatch, whatever they want to use at this little piece of black magic.”
“Not a fan of technology, are you, babe?”
“I am when it works.” I eye the coffee machine, which is temperamental at the best of times. “Right. We’ve restocked the pastries and cakes, you know how to take payments, and I can handle drinks. I think we’re ready to open and it’s still only...” I glance at my watch, then let out a yelp. “Time we got down to business.” I dash across the cafe, straightening tables and chairs as I go and wrench open the door, turning the sign to a cheerful we-are-open. To my relief, there isn’t a crowd of eager customers waiting for their first coffee of the day. There are two, and my heart sinks as I recognize them.
“Meredith! Good morning! See, darling, I told you we were just early!”
“You did, darling, you did.” Dan leans past me to peer into the cafe. “Gosh, it looks a lot bigger when you have no customers, doesn’t it?”
“You’ve timed it just right,” I say, through a pained smile. “You’re my first two of the day.”
“Unless you count me!” Rob calls from his spot behind the cash register. “What can we get for you two lovebirds?”
“Takes one to know one!” Sally coos, letting go of her husband and tottering towards the counter with her wide eyes fixed on the pastry case. “Oh, those cakes look divine! We haven’t had breakfast yet.” Her gaze meets mine as I come to join Rob, ready to make whatever drinks they request. “It didn’t feel right to stay and eat at the inn. Not after -” Her voice drops to a stage whisper. “What happened.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever want to eat there again,” Dan says, in an incongruously chipper tone. “Knowing there’s a poisoner on the loose does tend to do a number on one’s appetite. Ooh! Caramel slices!”
I exchange a look with Rob, who’s trying hard not to laugh, and I begin to think that maybe today won’t be so bad after all.
“You find us a table, darling,” Sally says, reaching into her purse for some money. “I’ll order. Two coffees, a caramel slice, and a banana-nut muffin, please.” She beams as Rob carefully jabs at the cash register and I hurry to make up their drinks. “It’s so lovely to see you two working here together! I didn’t know you were co-owners.”
“We’re not!” I say, hurriedly.
“I’m just making up the numbers for an hour or two.” Rob frowns at the cash register, which seems to have frozen, and I lean over him to thump the button that releases the cash drawer. “Helping out, you know.” Rob grins and hands Sally her change.
“Well, I think that’s wonderful!” Sally sighs, then looks mischievously around the empty cafe. “And as long as you don’t have any other customers to focus on, maybe you’ll join Dan and me for breakfast. You can tell us all about how you two met!”
I glance at Rob, who clearly finds Dan and Sally’s schtick more amusing and endearing than I do.
“We’d love to,” he says, sliding an arm around my shoulders and steering me towards their table with a grin.