Murder on Wheels (8 page)

“We love having you.” I sipped my coffee and glanced around the shop. Typical Friday night customers, a few kids with their tablets and earphones at a table and a couple of women who appeared to be here as a first stop on a Mommies Night Out. The rest of the evening would consist of random walk-ins and a few who'd had dinner at Lille's but wanted coffee and a dessert before they called it a night. I figured I'd have a lot of reading time. “You never said what happened to Toby working with you today.”

“Oh, he was here.” Sasha started restocking cups near the coffee machine. “He needed to leave early. Elisa and him had a date night planned.”

She didn't meet my eyes when she told me the answer, but something in her tone made me look up from my coffee. “Are you all right?”

This time I saw her shoulders rise and her eyes widen, putting on a good show for me, I assumed. “Of course, I'm perfect. Just thinking about the things I need to get done tonight with Olivia. Dinner, bed, bath, and story. It's a ritual.”

“Sounds like a busy Friday night.” I had a lot of respect for Sasha and her ability to juggle being a good parent along with going to school and working.

“Add in studying for an accounting test next week, and you've got my entire weekend.” She looked at the clock. “Better get moving. I've got a lot to get done before I'm back here tomorrow.”

I stepped around the counter and blocked her way. “You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?”

She froze and I could see the debate going on in her head. Now I was really worried. “Sasha?”

The bell over the door rang, and a tourist couple walked into the shop. The woman paused at the local history and travel display table I had set up near the front. The man power-walked to the counter. He waved his hand to get my attention. “We need two large coffees to go, please.”

Sasha nodded to the counter. “Go. I'm fine.”

When I didn't move, she let her lips curve into a warm smile. “Look, it's man trouble. Nothing that I can't handle. I'm just being a little sensitive right now.”

“Hello?” The man tapped his wallet on the counter. “Can I get some help here?”

“Two coffees. I heard you.” I turned back toward Sasha. “You're not in danger, right?”

The girl laughed. Not just a chuckle. She let out a belly laugh and went to pour the two coffees. When she put lids on the cups, she set them in front of the customer. “Four-fifty.” She nodded to the woman still looking through the books. “Unless the lady is buying something?”

“She can shop tomorrow. We're on our way to The Castle for the night tour and we're late.” The man threw a five and two ones on the counter in front of Sasha and tucked his wallet back in the front pocket of his pants. “Keep the change.”

I watched him hand over the coffee and take his wife by the elbow, leading her out.
A man with a plan.
I saw movement from the corner of my eye. Sasha was trying to sneak by me and out the back door. I put my hand on her arm, slowing her movements. “Hold on, I'm worried now.”

Sasha sighed and stopped. “Look, I'm okay. I just got my emotions in a nicker about someone I have no reason to be thinking about. I appreciate the concern, but can we just drop it?”

“If you're sure you're safe.” I didn't want her to go flying off into some relationship that would be bad for her. So kill me if I'm a big mother hen.

Sasha held her hand up in a mini Scout salute. “I swear, I'm all right.”

“Then what are you still doing here.” I let her arm go and made swooshing movements with my arms. “Fly, little bird, go explore the world.”

“You're a nut.” Sasha rushed toward me and gave me a tight hug. “Thanks for caring.”

 

By eight, the shop was dead. I stood by the window, gazing out on empty Main Street. Even though it was a warm Friday evening, it was late February, and the tourist season hadn't really taken off yet. The streetlights were slowly brightening as the dusk fell on the town. I saw a couple walking down the sidewalk arm in arm, and as they approached, I realized it was Amy and Justin. They waved at me through the glass, then entered the shop. “Hey, guys, what's got you still in town on a Friday night? I figured you'd be chasing a wave somewhere?”

“We decided to stay tonight since the memorial's tomorrow.” Amy explained as she gave me a quick hug.

“Here for coffee or something decadent from Sadie's stash?” I scurried toward the counter.

Justin followed me. “Neither.”

“Speak for yourself.” Amy slapped his shoulder. “I'll have a frozen latte. I'll probably be up for hours, but I don't care.”

“You want me to make it decaf?” I paused over the espresso machine, waiting for her answer.

Amy's brow wrinkled. “Heck, no. What's the fun in that? Give me the real stuff.”

I started brewing her drink and looked at Justin. “You sure you don't want anything?”

“I do want something, just not coffee.” He slipped a sheet of paper toward me. “Can you order these books for me?”

I glanced at the list. “Probably. I mean, as long as they aren't out of print.” I read the titles. “Are these all about geocaching?”

“Yep. And I bet you could sell a lot of these if you stocked them in the store.” Justin climbed onto a stool. “Taylor said it took him a year to find all of those on the list. You could be the preferred bookseller for the club. I bet they'd frequent your store a lot. Taylor says he's always on the lookout for a new book or magazine article.”

I tucked the list into my desk calendar I kept on the counter. A small sheet of paper fell out and I peeked at it. It was Kacey's cookbook request list. I'd never gotten the chance to fill it. I went to throw it away, but something nudged me and instead I put it with Justin's list. “I don't really have room for a lot of nonfiction books. The young adult and mystery section keeps growing to feed the book club groups.”

Justin looked around the bookstore section like he'd never even considered my lack of space before. “I guess you're right. But you could order the books for people, like you're doing for me, right?”

“I'll order books for anyone. I love the business.” I finished up Amy's iced coffee and put a lid over the top. “Sounds like you've been talking to Taylor a lot.”

Justin handed me a ten for the coffee and I rang it up, giving him back his change with the receipt. As I did, he continued to gush about the former VP of the geo club. I wondered if a president dies in office, did the club run like the country and the VP stepped in?

“He's so experienced and smart about this. He even showed me what machine I should buy. Saved me a bundle since I was looking at the top-of-the-line GPS device.”

Amy unwrapped her straw and poked it into the cup. “Man crush. And a pretty serious one, as far as I can tell.”

Justin pulled her closer and gave her a quick kiss. “You're the only one I have a crush on, man or woman.”

“Good to know.” Amy brushed his hair out of his eyes, then she turned to me. “We're doing a
Star Trek
marathon tonight. Want to come over? We have pizza and popcorn.”

“Tempting, but I think I'm cuddling on the couch with Emma and clearing some shows off of my DVR. I'm approaching its max limit, so I need to clean out some things before the machine does it for me.”

With Justin and Amy gone, I started the closing chores, knowing I'd be the one opening in the morning, I didn't worry about stocking the dessert case or sweeping the back room. I figured I'd have lots of time tomorrow after the locals left with their morning coffee fix. I'd just set up the starter pot for the morning and was turning off lights when the bell rang over the door. Crap, I hadn't locked the door. “We're closed,” I called out, not turning around.

That's when I heard the front door lock engage.

I
froze, my hand shaking as I dropped the dishrag I'd been using to wipe up spilled water. Maybe I hadn't heard the lock. I thought about the pepper spray Aunt Jackie insisted on keeping on a shelf under the cash register. I turned my head and calculated how many steps it would take to reach it. Maybe we should keep several canisters spread out in different places in the shop. Typically, my elderly aunt worked this shift. If I couldn't reach it, how would she?

I took a deep breath and ran the few steps to the cash register. I kept my head down, swept up the pepper spray, took off the safety, and swung my arm up in a defensive move. Only then did I recognize the man standing in front of me.

Josh Thomas.

“Hey.” He dodged and threw his arms up to cover his face. “What the heck are you doing? Are you insane?”

I kept my arm outstretched. “What am
I
doing? Why did you lock the shop door?” My voice sounded a little loud and stressed. Okay, so I sounded like a screech owl. The man had scared the crap out of me. “What are you doing here?”

“I always come by after dinner and help Jackie close up.” He pointed at the pepper spray. “Put that thing away, Miss Gardner. If I planned on doing you harm, I wouldn't have left the lights burning so anyone passing by could see my misdoings.”

I thought about his logic and dropped my arm. Adrenaline surged through my body, and I sank against the counter, hoping it would hold me upright. “Okay. So maybe I overreacted.”

“I blame the obscene amount of coffee you drink on a daily basis. I'm sure you have caffeine poisoning.” He looked around the coffee shop. “Why are you working tonight?”

My heart rate had slowed and I took several deep breaths before I spoke. “There's no such thing as caffeine poisoning.” I picked up the rag I'd been using and threw it into the laundry bin we kept just inside the back office door. The promise I'd made my aunt was weighing heavy on my mind. I couldn't tell anyone where she was, especially not Josh. “Can I get you a drink or maybe a slice of cheesecake?”

“I just had my dinner, and I'm not thirsty. So, where is your aunt?” Josh peered at me through the layers of fat around his dark brown eyes. “She's okay, right? She's not in the hospital or ill, is she?”

A little white lie formed and was out before I could stop it. “Aunt Jackie wasn't feeling well so she decided to turn in early. She's probably already asleep. I'm sure a good night's sleep will fix her up.”

He considered my words, and for some reason, I felt like he could feel the falseness in the statement. Or maybe it was my inability to look him in the eye. No matter, he finally nodded and headed to the front door. “You should follow me and lock up when I leave. It's not safe for a woman to work alone this late at night.”

I did follow him and lock the door after he left. However, I didn't tell him that five minutes after nine wasn't late for most adults. I stood, watching his retreating figure disappear into the dark. Aunt Jackie owed me big after this. She could have warned me about Josh's nightly ritual. The man would do anything for my aunt. And if she chose Harrold over Josh, the loss of her would break his heart.

I turned off the last of the lights and checked the locks one more time. Then I walked toward the light coming from the back room, hoping for the first time that my aunt wouldn't break up with the portly antique dealer.

 

The next morning came too quickly, and as I dressed for my shift, I remembered the exhaustion I'd felt when I'd run the shop all by myself. All I did was work the first few years after I'd opened Coffee, Books, and More. Work, read, and a weekly lunch date with Amy, that had been my life. And even though it had been hard, grueling work, it was ten times better than the hours I'd spent as a corporate family law attorney.

I let Emma out and filled my travel mug with coffee. I had twenty minutes before I opened the shop. Time enough to throw a load of jeans into the washer and make sure Emma had food and water on the porch. I'd kept her in the house last night during my shift because of the coyotes Greg had seen while he reviewed security tapes of Main Street. Apparently at least one pack of wild dogs was making itself at home late at night in South Cove. A fact that explained my often overturned trash cans behind the shop.

I stifled a yawn as I gave Emma a hug and locked up the house. Maybe I'd wake up on the walk into town. The fog was still heavy and it made the road look as if I was out in the middle of a field covered with snow, instead of on a city street. The street lamps glowed in the fog like the old-fashioned gaslights they'd been constructed to resemble.

When I reached town, the sidewalks were still eerily void of people. I hadn't even heard a bird chirp or the sound of a passing car down on the highway. In the middle of tourist season, these streets would be filled from sunrise to way past sundown. People liked to wander through South Cove. They'd leave their room at the bed-and-breakfast where they were staying, pick up an iced coffee from my shop, or an ice cream cone from Diamond Lille's. Then they would walk down past my house and enjoy some time on the beach. I understood the attraction.

Today looked like it was going to be slow in the shop. I should have time to order Justin's books and maybe make a flyer to send to the geo club. I'd been thinking about his promotion idea, and it just might pull in a few visitors, like the train books I stocked for Harrold.

Thinking of Harrold made me think of my aunt and her date. I hurried the final feet toward the shop and quickly unlocked the front door, turning the sign to O
PEN
. I started the first pot of coffee, then dialed my aunt's number using the shop phone. Leaving it on speaker, I started working on brewing the hazelnut coffee.

“Hello?” Aunt Jackie sounded sleepy, and for a second, I wondered if she was alone.

I stepped closer to the phone and began stacking more sleeves of cups near the register. “How'd your date go last night?”

I heard rustling and I knew I'd woken her. “It wasn't a date,” she snapped. “Why are you calling so early? Is there a fire? Do I need to evacuate the apartment due to a swarm of tarantulas?”

“Ewww.No. Nothing's wrong, I was just checking in.” I decided not to push her further. She sounded a little grumpy.

“Then I'll talk to you at a more suitable time.” And she hung up. Miss Emily, my friend who'd left me the house, had always ended her conversations the same way. If she was done talking, the phone got hung up. No
good-bye
or
have a nice day
, just dead air.

The morning went slow. Dense fog was a walk-in-traffic killer. The locals stayed home, choosing to brew their own and stay in their jammies on days like this. Hopefully the fog would burn off by midday and we'd get a few customers. So after I finished last night's list of chores and this morning's, I still hadn't had a customer. I made myself a mocha with extra whipped cream, grabbed a Western off the shelf that I'd been meaning to read anyway, and got lost in the wild, wild Old West. The author was funny, but the description kept me deep into the story. I almost didn't hear the bell over the door go off.

I pulled myself back to reality and looked up at the clock. Ten twenty and my first Saturday customers had arrived. Aunt Jackie and I really needed to talk about “winter hours.” I stuck in a bookmark to keep my place and walked back to the counter, my book and cup in hand.

“What a charming little store,” the redheaded woman gushed to her friend. “I'm so glad you made me come early for the event.”

The women were dressed in jeans and black T-shirts. I guess that was their memorial attire. And, to their credit, it wasn't a funeral, so the dress code could run a little more casual. I stepped up to the counter. “What can I get for you?”

“Two large black coffees.” The woman leaned toward the dessert case. “You got anything gluten-free in there? I'm really craving a treat.”

I glanced at the Black Forest, New York, and Wild Berry cheesecake in the display. I knew cookies were off the agenda, but maybe cheesecake qualified. “I'm not sure. I have a nice fruit cup that you might like.”

“That's the first thing everyone offers, a fruit cup. You know there are ways to make desserts gluten-free. Like a flourless chocolate cake.” The other woman looked out the window. “This is why we were so excited for Kacey's new business to open up. She totally understood dietary restrictions. I've lost so much weight by just watching my diet closer.”

“Me too. Kacey was a treasure trove of information about the subject.” The redhead nodded. “Once I heard her tell a story about how one day she had to be rushed to the hospital because she ate an apple that she sliced with a knife that husband of hers had used to make himself a sandwich. She took way too many risks living with that jerk.”

“He probably did something stupid this time and his thoughtlessness killed her.” The other woman sniffed. “You know he never took her health into consideration.”

“I told her to stay away from him, but no. She was so happy when he started sniffing around her again,” the other woman added.

I assumed they'd forgotten I was even here, as I finished pouring the coffee and put lids and sleeves on the cups. “So, about that fruit cup?”

The redhead looked at me. “Whatever. That will work if you don't have anything else.”

“I'll ask my supplier if she can provide a better alternative. She makes a lot of desserts for not only me, but for the diner down the street.” I grabbed two of the fruit cups and keyed in their purchases. The other woman handed me a card and I ran the charge. Glancing at the name, I handed her the receipt and a pen. “Thanks, Gloria, I guess I'll see you at the memorial later today.”

“Oh, you're going?” Gloria signed her name, then pushed the paper back toward me. “I didn't realize Kacey knew many people here in South Cove.”

“I didn't know her well, but I thought I'd pay my respects. My friend's boyfriend is going crazy over the geocaching thing and keeps taking us out on new adventures. I met her at one a few weeks ago.” I leaned on the counter, not willing to end the only conversation I'd had with anyone but my grumpy aunt that morning. And the one-sided conversation I had with Emma every morning.

“I guess we'll see you then.” The women collected their coffees and fruit cups and headed over to a table near the window. I'd been dismissed.

I watched the fog start to swirl and disappear out the window for a while, then I returned to my spot on the couch. “Let me know if you want a refill,” I called out before putting my feet up and returning to the fictional world.

By the time Toby had arrived to relieve me, I'd almost finished the novel. I joined him at the counter, stuffing the book in my tote. “Hey, how are things with you and Elisa?”

“Fine.” Toby didn't look at me as he restocked the counter. There wasn't much to do since Kacey's friends had been my only customers all shift. “You must have had a great reading day.”

Okay, then.
I guess Toby didn't want to talk about his concerns about Elisa. Not wanting to push, I pointed to the still foggy street. “The weather killed us this morning. Kacey's memorial is at one today, and I'm not sure the sun will be shining by then.” When he didn't comment, I continued.

“Maybe the weather is appropriate, though. The two customers I had seemed very close to Kacey, and the gloom seems to match their emotions for the day.” I waited until Toby had finished the few chores and had paused for a minute, watching out the window. “Are you okay?”

He transferred his gaze from the window to me. “Fine.” He looked at the clock. “If you're going to the memorial, you'd better get going. Did you drive this morning or walk in this crap?”

“Walked. I couldn't see town until I hit The Train Station and then I went from lamppost to lamppost. Kind of reminded me of
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
when Lucy finds the way into Narnia. It made the walk kind of magical.”

“I would have thought about Stephen King's short story ‘The Mist' and wondered if there were monsters in the mix.” He smiled.

“That's why you're the police officer and I'm the bookseller. We think differently.” I glanced at the display case. “Have you had people ask about special diet items, like gluten-free desserts? I get the feeling that there were a lot of people interested in Kacey's new food truck. Do you think we'd sell enough to make it worth Sadie's time to make something special?”

“Definitely. The girls from the cosmetology school are always on some diet. I've heard a lot of them talk about the fact they might have a wheat allergy and that's why they can't lose weight. Of course, I think it's more an issue of eating dessert every morning with their coffee, rather than a real medical thing.” Toby looked past me at the door. “And here they come. You should be paying for an advertisement in the college's newsletter. You get a lot of their business.”

“Yeah, but word of mouth is always a better sales tool. Especially when they're all talking about Barista Babe.” I threw my tote over my shoulder. “I'll see you on Tuesday. Have a nice weekend.”

“Sure.”

His tone made me turn back around. The boy was keeping something from me, and from the responses I'd gotten when I asked about Elisa, I knew it had to be something there. Of course, I'd already dug into Sasha's personal life yesterday and got shut down. Then the conversation with Aunt Jackie had basically been a mind-your-own-business answer. Maybe I should give Toby a little leeway. I'd reevaluate on Tuesday and make him tell me if there was something wrong. I called out a good-bye and held the door open for the first wave of Toby's girls.