Chapter 20

A thin line of steam rose from the coffee mug, wispy in the chilly morning air. Blake wrapped her hand around the mug for warmth as she stood in the alley behind the café and watched Derek unload her monthly order. The coffee mug had been a gift from Rachel, given to her the day after Molly’s arrest. It had the Bat symbol on it and read, “Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Then, always be Batman.”

“Does this all look right, Blake?” he asked with a smile.

Blake smiled back, wondering if he had any idea how his delivery mistake had set off such a devastating turn of events. One good thing out of it was that they’d caught Molly. If she hadn’t been caught, who knew how long she would have gone on smuggling cocaine in coffee shipments? Four days had passed since her arrest. It would be a long time before Blake would be able to feel comfortable again by herself in the café, but for the moment, she was happy to have some sense of normalcy back in place.

Blake double-checked the shipping labels on every bag and box Derek had loaded onto his dolly. “It looks perfect, Derek.” She grinned at the young man. “Looks like you’re finally getting this delivery thing down.”

His cheeks reddened as he gave her an aw-shucks grin.

Blake opened the back door for him as he entered with the dolly, then she followed him inside. After he’d unloaded everything and she’d signed the delivery order, she closed the door behind him and poured herself one more cup of coffee before heading back out into the main café.

Giselle was steaming milk for a spicy mocha as Rachel reached for an espresso brownie in the pastry case.

“You know, make it two,” Mr. Hamilton said. “I owe it to myself, right?” He patted his rotund belly as he looked at Blake. “Blake! I’m so glad you’re here! Did you hear the big news?”

“What news is that?” She set her coffee down and handed Rachel another plate for his second brownie.

“The vote passed!” He pointed up. “Construction will start on the second floors of the downtown buildings next month. Not only that, but each building will have a roof patio. That will be particularly great in your case. People can take their drinks and go upstairs to lounge on the patio when the weather’s nice.”

A thrill of excitement coursed through her. Each of the old buildings in downtown Wilton had stairways outside, leading up to the second stories and rooftops, but most shop owners kept them blocked off. It always seemed silly to her that the upper space in the older buildings wasn’t being put to good use. Her mind whirled with all the possibilities.

Rachel bounced up and down, mirroring Blake’s excitement. “Blake! That’s going to double the seating we have here. That’s amazing. I mean, I know it’s not like having our very own upstairs coffeeshop, but just think, if it’s crowded down here, people can go upstairs and hang out on the patio. It’s so perfect!”

“It is exciting! Oh, Mr. Hamilton, that’s the best news I’ve heard all week! Thank you!” She couldn’t help herself from bouncing up and down in time with her sister-in-law.

Giselle laughed at them both as she handed Mr. Hamilton his coffee. “Well, then, you had really better hire some extra help. I’m telling you right now, if you plan to serve people on the roof, I’m not volunteering to drag my behind up and down those stairs a hundred times a day. Maybe you can get the tenants who move in upstairs to carry up coffee to the rooftop,” she joked.

“Tenants?” Rachel’s eyes widened. “There’s going to be tenants upstairs. Is that a ‘yikes’ or a ‘yay’?”

Blake laughed. “Well, I voted for it, so let’s hope for a ‘yay.’ Anyway, it’s way too soon to worry about that. At least I know I can mark exercise down as a huge check in the plus column. Walking up and down stairs will give me a chance to work off some of my daily brownies.” She reached down and patted her thigh.

“You don’t need to exercise, Coffee Goddess. I like you just the way you are.”

With a gasp, she swung around at the smoldering voice. She hadn’t even heard Sean enter, but there he stood. He wore his usual worn denims and dark Henley shirt, but the sleeves of his shirt were pushed up, revealing the intricate ink designs on his right arm. The lines swirled together, and she was almost mesmerized as she studied them. It wasn’t until Rachel nudged her that she realized she was staring.

“Sorry,” she chirped immediately.

But the way Sean’s eyes heated and his nostrils flared told her he didn’t mind that she was staring. “You think I can steal you for a second?”

“Sure you can,” Rachel answered, shoving her forward. “Go on, Blake, take a break.”

She tossed a not-so-subtle glare over her shoulder before she walked out from behind the counter.

“Oh, wait there!” Rachel snatched the cup out of Giselle’s hand just as she was sealing the to-go lid on it.

“Hey!” Giselle scowled as she planted a hand on her hip.

“Sean has to try this. It’s my famous spicy mocha.” The megawatt smile on Rachel’s face was almost blinding. “Blake’s incorporated it into her normal menu. Try it. Try it now. Try it.” She vibrated with energy as she thrust the cup into Sean’s hand.

Blake chuckled at her sister-in-law’s enthusiasm. Her grin stretched wider when Sean closed his eyes in a look of pure pleasure as he took a sip. “Wow, this is amazing.” He arched a brow at Blake. “Don’t tell me there’s a new coffee goddess in town.”

“Not likely,” Rachel answered before Blake could respond with mock indignation. “If I’m lucky, I’ll work up to coffee princess.” She gave the two of them a light shove. “Now go, take a break. Shoo, shoo, shoo.”

Blake let Sean lead her to a couch in the back of the café, trying not to focus on how nice his hand felt on the small of her back. She sank into the couch, her favorite place to sit because she could see the whole shop from there. The morning crowd milling around the café filled her with a sense of satisfaction.

“How are you feeling?” Sean asked, interrupting her thoughts. He reached over, and his fingers toyed with the blue scarf she wore loosely around her neck.

The scarf was on loan from Rachel because Blake needed something to cover up the black-and-purple bruises on her neck. Only four days after Molly’s arrest, Blake was still healing, in more ways than one. “I’m okay.”

When Sean didn’t look convinced, she added, “Really. I am.” She’d been such an emotional mess that night, but Sean had been her strength. He’d held her until the ambulance had come, and even then was reluctant to let her go. He’d checked on her every day to make sure she was all right. She thought about telling him he didn’t need to check on her so much, but the truth was that she really liked seeing him every day.

“Well, I wanted to talk to you about a few things. I know Kyle finally got a hold of my records from the campus police in Lawrence, but I wanted you to hear everything from me first.”

She shook her head. “Sean, I know you didn’t have anything to do with killing anyone. Your past is none of my business.” But dang it, she was curious. She just couldn’t help it.

“Blake, after all this, I more than owe you an explanation. Please.”

Nodding slowly, she wondered if his story was something she really wanted to hear. “Does this have to do with Nikki?”

His nostrils flared briefly as he nodded.

“Okay.” She blew out a breath and took a sip of her coffee, really wishing she had a shot of Irish cream to go with it.

He looked down and rubbed his hands up and down the thighs of his jeans as he took a deep breath. “Well, you’d already guessed that I knew her. I was never good at hiding that.”

She just nodded, waiting for him to continue.

He took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. Then the words tumbled out. “I was her professor at KU. You know that much. What you don’t know is that she had a crush on me. A big crush. I told her I didn’t date students, but if anything, that just seemed to egg her on. It was almost as if she took it as a challenge.” His green eyes rose to catch her gaze before he looked back down at his hands. “It seemed like the more I told her I wasn’t interested, the harder she pursued me. I thought once I wasn’t her teacher anymore, she would lose interest and stop.” His face looked ashen as he shook his head. “It just picked up. She would call me, text me, show up at my office. When she showed up at my house, I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Blake’s eyes widened. “She showed up at your house?”

His lips thinned as he pressed them together in a tight line. “I came home from work, ready to veg out, have a beer.” His eyes glazed over as he remembered. “When I drove up, her car was in the driveway, but I didn’t see her anywhere. I went in and started to look around the house, and she was…” His fists clenched and unclenched in his lap. “She was in my bed, naked. After that, I got a restraining order. I thought that would be it. I thought…” He dragged a hand over his face.

Wanting to comfort him, Blake reached over and covered his hand with hers. Her touch seemed to startle him, and he jerked in response. Then he turned his hand over and twined his fingers with hers.

“After that, she went after Todd.”

“Todd Lang?”

He nodded, squeezing her hand. “I’ve known him for a long time. We’ve been buddies since college. He would sometimes guest lecture for me. Nikki… I guess she thought she could get to me through him. So she went after him. But he didn’t care. He just enjoyed fu—” He shot her a glance, his face reddening. “Sorry. He just enjoyed… you know. Anyway, things finally started to lessen over time. The restraining order expired, and she stopped bugging me. Eventually, Nikki dropped out of school and moved away. But by then—I don’t know—it just wasn’t the same. Every girl that took my class, I was just… afraid if I showed too much attention… I just didn’t want a repeat. So then, my aunt died, and she left me the bookstore. It was like kismet, you know. Perfect timing.

“I had no idea Nikki lived in Wilton. I sure as hell didn’t expect her to be working next door to the bookstore. But it was obvious when I saw her, she wasn’t interested in me. She literally turned and ran when she saw me. I guess she moved back here to be near Todd. I thought that was way over. I had no idea they were still… when I found out, we had a fight about it. I couldn’t believe he was dumb enough to think being with Nikki was a good idea. Then when she died…” He gave his head a rueful shake. “I should have told the whole truth up front. I was just afraid that anything I said could implicate Todd. He may not make the best decisions when it comes to his love life, but he’s no murderer.”

Todd Lang had made an appearance back in Wilton the day after Molly’s arrest. The coward had left town under the guise of going on a business trip, but he’d mainly skipped town to avoid a possible arrest. He may not have been a murderer, but he was a really big jerk. For the first time in Blake’s life, she felt sorry for Sabrina. She’d always acted as though she had a perfect life, but her husband was evidence that she very obviously didn’t.

Sean sat up in his chair, his face drawn as his jaw clenched and unclenched. “Todd wasn’t… isn’t… the man I thought he was. I thought he was….” He leaned back and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Todd was the only one who stuck up for me back when Nikki was making all her accusations. He was the only one that defended me. Maybe I have some really screwed-up sense of the ‘bro code,’” he said, making air quotes with his fingers, “but I felt that I needed to defend Todd. I felt I owed him that.”

The distressed look on his face made Blake’s heart go out to him. She’d painted him as such a bad guy early on, and now she wished they could just start all over again. “There’s nothing I can say to make Todd a better man, but maybe I can do something to make things better between us.”

She smiled up at him as he turned to look at her. The distress left his face, and he squeezed her hand as the corner of his mouth tipped up in a smile. “And what’s that, Coffee Goddess?”

“A do-over.”

He arched a naturally sculpted brow. “A do-over?”

She slid her hand from his and cleared her throat, straightening up in her chair. Then she offered him her hand to shake. “Hi. I’m Blake Harper. I own The Mystery Cup Café. I have an attack cat and a major obsession with coffee. I’ve also found myself recently preoccupied with Batman, and some would say I have delusions of grandeur.”

Sean smiled, revealing perfect teeth, and his chest rumbled with laughter as he reached out to shake her hand. “Hello, Blake Harper. I’m Sean Larson. I own Macabre Reads next door. Some would say I’m dark and brooding, but really, I’m just misunderstood. I love cats, I can make a mean lasagna, and I love girls who love coffee.”

Her face heated a bit as she shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Sean Larson.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Rather than letting go of her hand, Sean reached up with his other hand and held hers in both of his big ones. “It may be a little rushed, considering we just met and all, but do you think you might want to go out on a date with me? Maybe dinner and a movie? I’d like to get to know you, Blake Harper.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “I think that sounds… really nice.”

His smile broadened, and he opened his mouth to say more when someone from across the café called Blake’s name.

Rachel was walking toward them, her eyes wide. “Blake, there’s someone here to see you.” She stepped aside to reveal Micah standing right behind her.