CHAPTER 10
“Can you come down? I need to talk to you.” I called my aunt the next morning after an evening spent alone. Greg had some sort of meeting with the Bakerstown police. I’d been asleep when he’d come in and when I got up for work, he looked at the clock and rolled over. He didn’t have to go into the station before eight. I on the other hand, had to open the shop at six. I had one commuter who was on the early shift at her job but she didn’t want to leave town without a hazelnut coffee. I’d told her that I’d sell her a batch of coffee to make at home, but apparently Julia didn’t own a coffeepot. She was one of the reasons I’d fought with Aunt Jackie for keeping the early opening times.
I knew catering to one customer probably wasn’t the best business practice but for now, I wanted to be available when we were needed. Today, after Julie left, I had a full hour of steady traffic to keep me busy. I go by the motto, if we’re open, they will come.
Aunt Jackie broke into my thoughts. “I’m sure we could just talk about this over the phone.”
I looked at the clock. The meeting started in less than an hour. I needed her down here and invested in the committee before Darla showed up with the rest of the team and I was stuck as part of the committee. “Please? I really need a favor.”
A pause at the end of the line let me know she was actually considering my request. “Okay, but I hope that this won’t take too long. Harrold and I are having a quick lunch at Diamond Lille’s before my shift starts.”
“What time?” Darla had said the committee meeting would be over in an hour.
“We’re meeting at noon.” A sliver of hesitation went through the line. “Don’t tell me Deek called in sick already. That boy feels a little unreliable.”
“He hasn’t missed a day yet.” I opened a box of books that had delivered yesterday from last week’s order. “Just come down. I’ve got an assignment for you.”
I hung up the phone, not letting her ask more questions. If Sasha had still been here, I would have thrown her to the planning wolves. But she was off in the city, learning all about marketing for a big computer search company. Even as an intern, she was making more money working part time than I could have paid her on a full time shift. I felt proud of her accomplishment, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a hole in the Coffee, Books, and More work family.
I’d already finished my morning prep and had settled onto the couch with a recent thriller release when I heard her voice over my shoulder. “I hope you’re ready to talk about setting different hours for your morning shift. I don’t see why we should pay you for your reading time.”
“One, you aren’t paying me for my shifts. As the owner, I get a salary, no matter how many hours I work in the shop. And two, no, we aren’t changing the open time. The commuters would riot and set fire to the building.” I set the book down and patted the couch next to me. “Come sit down. I’d like you to take on a new assignment.”
Gingerly, she sat next to me, turning her body to match my own in posture. “What is this new assignment?”
“Are you okay? Your arthritis isn’t flaring again, is it?” I’d been really worried about her health all last summer. But with the fall’s arrival, Aunt Jackie had seemed to bounce back. I was also sure that her increased mobility was due to the new drug her doctor had prescribed for her to try.
“We’re not talking about my health,” Jackie snapped at me. “Tell me what you need or I’m going back upstairs. My game shows are on.”
“Coffee, Books, and More needs a representative on Darla’s holiday planning committee. This is more up your alley than any of the other staff members and I’m starting school next week. Can you be our representative?” I looked up at her, hope filling my eyes. She looked at me, a little suspicious at my request.
“That’s it? You want me to be on some city committee?” When I nodded, she went on. “Fine, I can do that, I guess. When’s the first meeting?”
“Today at ten.” I grinned at her. “I appreciate this so much.”
Aunt Jackie consulted her watch. “I guess I can make it. It’s really short notice though.”
“I know, I’m so sorry. I just found out that we needed a rep.” I shrugged. I didn’t want to throw Darla under the bus, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s got to do.
“Well, I guess I better go get ready. I’ll be back down a few minutes before ten.” Aunt Jackie stood and looked down at me. “How is your investigation going?”
“What investigation?” I decided to play dumb but I didn’t raise my gaze to meet her eyes.
“The one where you figure out who killed the dead guy. What do you think I’m talking about?” She sighed. “No matter, I get better rumors outside my own family.”
“Fine, I am trying to find some stuff out, but I don’t know much.” I leaned back against the couch. “Except Greg’s friends are all psychos.”
“Could be true, but that’s not a very nice thing for you to say. Especially since you might be joining him in his future, which includes his friends.”
I thought about what Jackie had said long after she’d left the dining room to return to her apartment. Apparently the dressy kakis weren’t dressy enough for a meeting with other South Cove businesses.
Deek showed up thirty minutes early and I asked him to get a couple of carafes filled. I explained that these sub committees could get free coffee while they were meeting there. However, no free treats, no exceptions.
As I watched Deek set up for the committee, Butch came into the shop. He had a backpack and headed toward me and the counter. “Can I get a large coffee to go?”
“Sure, how are you and Lois doing? She came in a few days ago for some reading material. Did you get released to leave the area? Or are you still stuck here?” I poured the coffee as I peppered him with questions.
He handed me a five. “No such luck there. I thought I’d come in and check in with my boss. You have Wi-Fi, right? Lois gets all bent out of shape if she thinks I’m working off the clock. So let’s just say I came in for coffee.”
I gave him his change and watched as he set up near the door. He took out a pile of papers, groaned, and wadded them into a ball, making a rim shot into a nearby trash can. I’d planned to leave as soon as Deek got here, but now I was curious. What had Butch thrown away? In a few minutes, he closed up his laptop and shoved it into his back pack. He waved at me and disappeared out the door. When I saw him walk out of view, I causally walked toward the trash can and scooped up the wad of papers. I could see Butch’s back as he made his way back toward The Castle.
Turning around, I found Deek’s gaze on me. He waited until I returned to the counter to ask: “Something interesting?”
I did a noncommittal, I hoped, shrug. “Nothing really. We should be recycling paper, not just throwing it away.”
Deek seemed to accept my response or he knew when to stop asking questions. The bell over the door rang and pointed toward the new arrivals. “These ladies love to visit with Toby. Maybe you can win them over to your side as well.”
He shook his head. “Girls like that don’t go for guys like me.”
I laughed as I made my way to the back office. “Don’t sell yourself short. Girls like bad boys just as much as too-hot guys.”
“You think I’m a bad boy?” Joy filled Deek’s voice. I guess I’d hit the look he was comfortable with.
I decided to bring him down a notch. “A bad boy that still lives with his mother. At least you have one thing going for you.”
As I closed the door, I heard the first of Toby’s girls order a double shot, soy latte, no whip. Then she said in a voice loud enough to carry to the back room. “You’re no Toby, but you’ll do in a pinch.”
I sat down at the desk and smoothed out the pages.
“What are you doing?”
Aunt Jackie stood in front of me. She’d made her way down the stairs without hitting even one of the squeaky stairs that typically warned me of her approach.
“Just following a hunch.” I sat a folder on top of the pages, hoping to keep her from reading them.
Just then Deek poked his head inside the office. “Hey, glad you’re down. Your committee chair is here.”
“Darla? How did you know she was committee chair?”
Deek shrugged. “You can tell with those types. Their aura’s scream power. And anyway, that’s what she told me.”
“I guess you better get out there.” I smiled sweetly and sat my arms down on the table, trying to hide the pages. After the room was empty, I read over them. It was an outline of what the new corporation intended to do to The Castle to make it more commercial. “Holy crap.”
Greg needed to see these and now. Butch might not have been included in the deal, he knew all about it and what Levi’s plans had been. I shoved them into my purse and looked out the back office door. I waved Deek toward me.
“Hey, I’m calling it a day. If anyone’s looking for me, tell them I had to make a run into Bakerstown. I can be reached on my cell.” I glanced around the dining room. Only Darla and Aunt Jackie sat at the committee table. The other table was filled with students from the cosmetology school. “You okay now?”
“If I can’t handle six customers by now, you need to fire me.” Deek waved me toward the back door. “Fly little bird, the nest will be fine without you
As I headed out to my car, I turned over his words. The kid had sayings as good, or better, than the ancient truth-tellers. I needed to learn from my new part-timer. His mother, Rory, was one of the leading fortune-tellers in the central California area.
I took the small walkway between my building and the one housing Antiques by Thomas. Josh lived in one of the apartments over the building and rented the second one out to his assistant, Kyle. As I came back out onto Main Street, I was almost flattened by a rushing Josh. “Hold your horses, big guy.”
He waved me off as he opened the door to Coffee, Books, and More, and disappeared inside. Josh and I had a love-hate relationship. He loved to hate me. I loved making him crazy. He was always coming up with the most stupid ideas to present to the Business-to-Business council. Last year, he’d wanted to cancel our summer festival because it brought in the wrong types. Luckily, everyone else voted him down due to the fact the festival was our biggest money making week of the season. Josh liked his customers rich and old, unlike most of the festival attendees. Mostly because then he already had an in when the estate came up for bid after his customer had gone to the great antique sale in the sky.
I turned right and headed down the street to the police station. I hadn’t been lying to Deek when I said I needed to visit Bakerstown. However, I really wanted to check in with Greg and see if we could combine our information and make an investigation plan for the information I’d gathered so far. I felt like, as usual, Greg was out of the process. I knew he was busy, but he’d asked for my help, and I wanted to share this new piece of information.
Esmeralda was knitting when I came into the lobby area. She shook her head. “Sorry, doll. Your man is out on a breaking and entry call down the highway. Do you want to leave him a message?”
I glanced at his open office door and then at my watch. “I guess we can talk at dinner.”
“Disappointment doesn’t wear well on you. You should be more optimistic. Good things are right around the corner.”
I studied her face for any sign of a trance, but Esmeralda appeared to be totally awake and knowledgeable about what she’d just said. Sometimes, the spirits spoke through her and she either pretended not to have heard them, or acted as if her eyes were open but there was no one home.
Today wasn’t one of those days.
She sighed. “Seriously, when are you going to start trusting me? You know I have gifts.”
“And you know, I don’t believe in them.” I held up a hand. “Let’s agree to disagree on this. I need to head into town. Let Greg know I stopped by, okay?”
“Sure thing.” She smiled at me. “You are doing a good thing by the deceased. He’s very appreciative of your help in solving his murder.”
“Then why doesn’t he just tell you what happened and then you can tell Terrance and this will all be over?”
“You know it doesn’t work that way. The spirits are all confused when they first travel. They need time to understand what happened. And a lot of the time, they don’t want to know what or who did such a horrible thing to them.”
It didn’t seem as if that was the way communication from the other side should work. If this whole talking to the dead thing was effective, Esmeralda could make her spiritual call, find out who had choked the life out of Levi, and Terrance could go arrest him. But I guess there was that whole thing about looking through a glass darkly. We weren’t supposed to be talking to the dead, and they, in turn, weren’t supposed to be telling us what they knew.
“You don’t have to believe in order for the spirits to communicate, Jill.” Esmeralda’s comment jarred me out of my circulating thought pattern. “It’s enough that they believe in you.”
I nodded, not sure how to take that piece of wisdom and promptly changed the subject. “I really have to go. See you later.”
Living in South Cove made that statement true, no matter who you were talking to. I probably saw every town resident at least once a month, even the elderly women like Mrs. Davis. She was part of Sadie Michael’s woman’s group at the church. The group came in to the coffee shop every second Saturday, just for coffee and treats. Most of the women also bought a book after their short meeting. I’d been trying to talk Aunt Jackie into starting a book club at that time that they could join, but our youth book clubs met just after the women came in. We couldn’t change the time of that long-running group to add a new one. And the women’s group wasn’t willing to adjust their coffee meeting to a later time that day. So we were at an impasse.
Not all great ideas worked out. But when they didn’t, the failure seemed to be just a matter of certain people being stubborn.
As I drove into Bakerstown, my list of classes and required texts in my purse, I questioned once again why I didn’t just order them through my book guy rather than running into the college bookstore on campus. I could say it was because I didn’t want to take business away from another store. But to be honest, it was probably more that it gave me an excuse to wander the campus. I loved the way it felt, walking through the courtyard circled by buildings filled with classrooms and offices.
The only thing better than visiting the college bookstore was spending time in the library. Today, I was going to try to find information on The Castle. The Introduction to Business class I’d taken last year had taught us how to look up corporations and nonprofit paperwork in the law library so that was where I was heading first. It was a computer database, so accessing information such as who was on the board and any change in corporation status would show up. The only problem was there was a one-to two-month lag time, so the paperwork would have had to been filed in June or earlier to show up on the search.
If I found what I thought I might, Greg could have a suspect to bring to Terrance’s attention by the end of the night.