Chapter 4

Two hours later, Blake sank into the overstuffed couch in her living room with a bowl of popcorn and her TV remote. The bubble bath had relaxed her, and it felt good to put on sweats and a T-shirt and just veg out for a while before bed. That was one reason she needed to hire more help at the café. The long days she put in really didn’t leave much “me” time.

Her black cat, Ninja, jumped up and nuzzled his head against her arm, signaling his agreement that she should be home more often. Still, as Blake stroked Ninja’s fur and scrolled through the programs on her DVR, looking for the most recent episode of The Bachelor, she couldn’t get her mind off Nikki.

Something was going on with that girl. Blake had never seen her act like she had earlier that day. She’d gone from distracted to angry to weepy in a heartbeat. She’d seemed downright alarmed when Sean Larson walked in. And his reaction to Nikki had been odd, as well. People didn’t just have that kind of reaction to a stranger. They had to know each other. But how? Nikki had an on-and-off boyfriend that she liked to talk about, so Blake knew she and Sean weren’t seeing each other. Besides, Sean had just arrived in town. Whatever the problem was between the two of them, it had been important enough to really freak Nikki out. Blake had never seen the girl so upset.

On top of that, Kyle had seen her arguing with Todd Lang.

Her hand froze with the popcorn halfway to her mouth. Of course! Nikki had argued with Todd and freaked out over Sean. Then those two men were fighting with each other. It only made sense that Nikki was the “she” they were talking about. What did they say? “You know what she’s like. What she’s done.”

The more Blake thought about Nikki’s emotional state, the more she thought that something serious was wrong, and it had something to do with Sean and Todd. She wondered if leaving her alone to do inventory had been such a bright idea.

“What do you think, Ninja?” Her fingers ran through her cat’s soft black fur as Ninja purred loudly and cast her a bored look. “Well, I’m trying to trust her, but it’s not easy.”

Ninja gave her a tail flick as a reply.

After thirty minutes of munching on her popcorn and not paying any attention to The Bachelor group-date episode, Blake let out a sigh and looked at the clock on her DVR. Ten o’clock. Nikki should have already finished and gone home. “Well, I’m not going to be able to go to sleep until I make sure she got the inventory done. I might as well go check now so I can get a good night’s rest.”

Besides, it would only take her a few minutes to run down to the café and run back. She set aside her bowl of popcorn and reached for her sneakers. Ninja jumped off the couch in annoyance since he was no longer the focus of her attention. Blake reached for the remote and switched off the TV. She decided to drive rather than walk to the coffee shop in the dark, so she grabbed her purse and keys before heading out the door.

In five minutes, she was driving her blue Honda Civic down Main Street. When a streetlight went out overhead, she startled behind the wheel of her car. Every time a streetlight blinked off by itself when she drove by, it set her nerves dancing, especially when it was pitch-black outside. She’d Googled why that sometimes happened and read something about how when a car’s headlights hit the light sensor on a streetlight just right, it will go out. Still, she’d had so many discussions about ghosts in this town that it still gave her the heebie-jeebies.

When she pulled up in front of Mystery Cup, she was surprised to see that the lights in Macabre Reads were still on. Large sheets covered the windows, so she couldn’t see in. For a moment, she thought maybe Sean had forgotten to shut them off. Then a silhouette crossed the front window, but it was gone so quickly, she wondered if her mind was playing tricks on her. “I guess he’s working late,” she mumbled.

Oh well, she didn’t have time to worry about Sean Larson or about how incredibly hot he was, all sculpted lines and dimples. No, she just wanted to do a quick inventory check and go home.

Pulling her keys from the ignition, she stepped out of her car and looked around. The night seemed eerily silent. Usually there was some sort of noise, whether it was from people on the street, music coming from the high school a few blocks away, or even crickets chirping. But there was just… emptiness.

With a shiver, she unlocked the front door of the coffeehouse and slipped inside. When she turned to disarm the security system, her ire rose. It hadn’t even been set. Not only that, but the kitchen lights had not been turned off, either. The small round window in the kitchen door was brightly illuminated, and she heard her mother’s voice in her head. “Someday, when you have to pay the electric bill, you’ll understand why I’m always telling you to turn off the lights.” She cast her eyes skyward. “I get it, Mom. No need to haunt me.”

The sound of a cup shattering in the kitchen caused Blake to nearly jump out of her skin. What on earth? What is Nikki still doing here?

“Nikki? Nikki, is that you?” She walked around the front counter and headed toward the kitchen door. The air seemed to still for a moment before she heard heavy footsteps and the back door slam shut.

Her brow furrowed as she reached the kitchen door. “Nikki?” She pushed open the door. When she walked in, she noticed immediately that the big latch that normally secured the back door was unlocked—and the place was a mess. A few mugs were broken on the floor, and several bags of coffee beans that Derek had delivered that afternoon were ripped open and dumped out, coffee beans strewn everywhere.

“Oh my God,” she breathed, stifling a harsher curse. The industrial kitchen island that took up most of the space in the center of the room separated her from the shelves holding the numerous bags of coffee beans. She slowly walked around the island, surveying the damage. Why would someone break in and just start dumping out coffee beans?

Halfway around the island, all of Blake’s thoughts stopped. Everything stopped. On the floor, half-buried in coffee beans, lay Nikki. Her body was contorted at a weird angle. Her glazed brown eyes stared at the ceiling, unseeing, and the skin on her neck was an angry red.

Blake didn’t have to check the girl’s pulse to know that Nikki was dead.