Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 02 - Deadly Surprise (3 page)

“Let me get a leash and you guys can meet outside.”

Kori was unable to deny her this request. She wouldn’t admit it but the dog had already won her over.

Vera led Kori to a small enclosed area outside and then left her alone to collect the dog. When she returned, the dog walked directly next to Vera, not pulling on the leash at all, and trotted straight to Kori.

“She came in with the name Bella but she doesn’t seem to respond to it specifically,” Vera explained.

Bella sat at Kori’s side and looked up at her face. Kori couldn’t keep her hand from stroking her head. “What kind is she?”

“A good old fashioned mutt. We think some shepherd. Maybe some
pitt. But don’t let that scare you off. Like I said, she used to regularly visit a retirement home.”

“Why was she given up?” Kori asked, thinking there must be a dark spot in her past.

“No idea. Could have been an elderly person’s pet and the kids didn’t want to keep her. Or someone moved. Or they just didn’t commit long term. Hard to say. But she’s going to go fast. So I knew I had to get you in today to see her.”

As Vera spoke, Kori squatted down to Bella’s level and pett
ed her more vigorously. Bella responded by nearly smiling.

“You guys are right—it’s time I quit putting it off and adopt the dog I’ve been wanting.”

“That’s great. You’ll take her home right now then?”

Kori looked up from Bella’s face and nodded. “But I’m changing her name. She has the markings of a
n Ibis. That’s what I’m going to call her.”

“No problem. I can get you registered with the dog officer and everything right now. She’s up to date on shots. I’ll get all the paperwork for you.”

Vera walked out of the kennel and back inside, leaving Kori with Ibis to bond. “What do you think?” Kori asked her new pet. “You think you’ll be a good welcoming dog at The Early Bird? I had to give you a bird name if that’s where you’re going to work.”

Ibis wagged her tail in response.

***

Kori brought Ibis home and then walked down Main Street to Hermit Market. This was the only place in town that she could think of where she’d be able to buy a dog bed and some food. As soon as she walked in the owner greeted her.

“Kori, it’s been so long since you came in here,” Teddi West said, a huge smile across his face. He was her mother’s age and had been Kori’s neighbor growing up. He’d always been a better male role model for her than her father had been. “Have you been shopping somewhere else?”

Kori gave
Teddi a quick hug. “I’ve been getting all my produce from Nora now that the growing season is in full swing. And I’ve been buying in bulk direct from suppliers for the nonperishables I need.” She was slightly embarrassed to have to admit that to Teddi, whose business she’d love to support more.

“We’ll have to talk about that,” he teased, mock betrayal in his voice. “I could try to get you deals too.”

“Sure. We can do that.” Kori was happy about the prospect of working with him. “But today I’m here for a dog bed and some dog food.”

“You f
inally adopted a dog from Vera!” Apparently the whole town had been rooting for this day.

“I did.” Kori nodded and smiled. She really was happy to be adding this dog to her family.

“Well, let’s go see what I have.”

Kori followed
Teddi to the pet supply area and she picked out two beds—one for The Early Bird Café and one for her house above the café. She knew Ibis would likely be sleeping on the couch or her bed, but she’d try her best to confine her to her own dog bed.

Kori walked back up Main Street and was surprised to find Zach waiting at the café’s front door, his back to her.

“Hi,” she greeted him, excitement filling her at the sight of him—alone this time.

“Hey. Let me help you with those.” Zach took the beds from Kori so she was left with just the bag of dog food. She placed it on the ground and unlocked the door. “You got a dog,” he stated.

“Yup. Vera and Nora finally talked me into it. Come inside and meet her—Ibis.”

They both maneuvered themselves upstairs and Kori found Ibis making herself at home on the couch. Kori and Zach laughed.

“These beds might be overkill. It looks like she already found where she wants to sleep,” Zach said.

“Yup. I knew that was a possibility. I’m planning to bring her to The Early Bird with me. Don’t worry, she’ll stay in my office until she passes a good citizen class,” Kori added quickly when Zach opened his mouth in what she could only assume was protest. He closed it again and nodded.

At the sound and sight of people, Ibis jumped off the couch and ran to greet them and receive some petting. Kori dug out a couple of bowls and filled one up with food and the other with water and placed them on the kitchen floor while Zach received kisses from Ibis.

“What a friendly dog,” he said.

Kori gave him a quick history of her past—the little that she knew—and then they endured a brief silence that was only mildly awkward.

“I had a really good—” Kori started.

“Last night was—” Zach said at exactly the same time.

They both paused and laughed, Kori’s shoulders relaxing a little.

“Go ahead,” Zach said.

“I had a really good time last night. Thank you for that.” She smiled shyly.

“Last night was perfect. I wouldn’t have wanted to change anything.”

Kori looked back up at Zach’s face and saw that he was smiling from ear to ear. She was relieved that they were completely on the same page.
Maybe Nora was right about Lani Silver being no threat to their relationship.

“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I’m actually here on unofficial business.” He paused and Kori’s heart leapt into her throat. The last time he came to her on unofficial business she’d been a suspect—the main suspect—in a murder case. “Remember when we were working through Tessa’s murder?”

She nodded. This was sounding worse and worse.

“We had to take a sample of your DNA as evidence so it’s now in the database. Scoter Circle’s police department contacted us this afternoon to let us know that they had a family hit with your DNA. We’ll be working with them on a murder case.”

Kori could feel the blood drain from her face. “What do you mean you had a family hit?”

“It means that there was DNA at the crime scene that we know was a relative of yours. We know it’s not yours,” he quickly added. “But we’re looking for someone who’s your relative. A male relative.”

Kori sat in the nearest chair, mouth hanging open. She
quickly realized that and closed it without saying anything. Finally she asked, “Who was the victim?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“If I guessed could you tell me yes or no?”

“Off the record,” he said slowly. She knew she was putting him in a tough spot.

“Was it Heidi Fischer?”

Zach didn’t say anything or give any indication that she was wrong. She couldn’t imagine that there were two murders in the last few days in Scoter Circle. It was as small as Hermit Cove.

“If it was Heidi Fischer, blink twice,” she said. She needed it to be confirmed.

Zach blinked twice and looked her in the eye. “This doesn’t look good if you know who it was.”

“You know I wasn’t there. I was with you last night and working all morning!”

“
I need to ask you this then, off the record: what do you know about Heidi Fischer and how do you know she was killed yesterday morning?”

Kori knew she’d put herself in a tough spot now. If there was male DNA from someone in her family, the only person she could think of was Jay. But he couldn’t—he wouldn’t—have killed her, killed anyone.

“Kori, this is all off the record,” Zach said, putting his hand on her knee.

“Jay told me. He knew she was killed
yesterday morning.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

Kori looked up in horror. “What do you mean you were afraid of that?” Had Jay already become a suspect? Was he the
main
suspect?

“He’s the only male relative of yours I know. So what other conclusion could I come to?”

Kori nodded. She’d gone there herself. “What happened? How was she killed?”

“Gunshot wound to the head.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t suicide?” she asked hopefully.

“It was ruled out immediately. Gunshot was to the left temple but she was right handed which immediately meant that there was only a slight chance it would have been suicide. And there was no gunshot residue on her hands which completely ruled that out.”

Kori nodded again. She’d known they would have ruled it out if it was clear but had needed to ask.

“Kori, where is Jay now?”

She shook her head, looking down. “I don’t know. I saw him at lunch. He was freaking out about Heidi’s murder. But I haven’t heard from him since.”

“Can you call him?” Zach asked, both hands on her knees now, standing directly in front of her.

Kori looked up, tears threatening to spill over her eyes. “Please don’t make me do that.”

Zach nodded. “I won’t. But I can’t promise anything once Scoter Circle police talk to you. Or him.”

“I know. I just can’t be the one to lead you to him. I know he’s innocent. I can’t put him through an interrogation like I went through. It was awful.”

Zach nodded and Kori leaned forward, resting her head against his
broad chest. She needed to get strength from somewhere and it wasn’t going to be from herself right now.

Ibis must have sensed her need because she came into the kitchen and calmly sat next to her. Kori reached down and stroked her head, thankful that she’d finally caved today and adopted a dog.

“Would it have to be Jay? Could it be a cousin? An uncle?” Kori asked, suddenly sitting straight up again.

Zach shook his head. “
It’s possible. Let’s make a list of all your male relatives. And it doesn’t mean he’s guilty, just that his DNA is there. We’ll have to question him.”

Kori got up from the stool she’d been sitting on and got herself a glass of water
, a pad of paper and a pen. “I’ll start with Jay. We both know him. And my dad’s dead so unless there’s something really weird going on, it’s not him.”

“What about cousins?” Zach asked, standing next to Kori as she wrote.

“My mom was an only child so I didn’t have any cousins on her side. Dad had a sister. I don’t even know the last time I thought about her, never mind saw her. They didn’t have a close relationship and I guess that was passed on to us. But she had two kids, older than Jay and me. They were Tyler and Janie, a boy and a girl. I’ll have to dig to find out where Tyler is now. This might sound crazy, but I hope it’s him and not Jay.”

“Obviously,” Zach said, laughing. “No one wants their brother to be a murderer.”

“No one wants their cousin to be a murderer either.”

Zach nodded his agreement.

Kori paused, thinking about the best way to approach this situation with Jay. Finally she said, “Okay. I’ll call him.”

“Really? You will?” She could hear the surprise in Zach’s voice.
Apparently he’d stopped hoping.

“But I have to be there when he’s questioned. I’ll ask him to come here. For a beer.”

Zach agreed and Kori made the call. They waited anxiously for the half hour it took for Jay to finish whatever he was doing and get to her house. When he finally arrived, Kori breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t stood her up and made himself look guilty.

“Hey Jay. Thanks for coming over. Beer?” Kori asked, holding a bottle out to him without waiting for a response.

“Thanks. What’s up?” he asked, suspicion on his face.

“I told Zach the only way I’d call you was if I was here when he talked to you—”

“Is this about Heidi?” he asked accusingly.

Kori nodded and Zach came into the kitchen.

“I thought you knew I was innocent?” He sounded betrayed.

“I
do
know you’re innocent—” Kori protested but was interrupted.

“Jay, I wanted to talk to you before anything goes on the record,” Zach started. “I told Kori that our office was contacted by the Scoter Circle police because there was a hit on a DNA match
for Heidi Fischer’s murder. A familial DNA match for someone in the system. That someone was Kori. We had her DNA because of Tessa’s murder. And we know that the DNA they found was from a male relative. And, well—”

“So you’re telling me that
my
DNA was at the scene of Heidi Fischer’s murder?” Jay asked, his voice rising with each word.

“No. I’m saying that there was a familial match for a male related to Kori. And you’re our
first option. So you can willingly give me a sample now and I’ll get it processed, or you can wait until Scoter Circle arrests you.”

“Wow. Really leaving me a lot of options. What do you need for a DNA sample?
And what about our cousin, Tyler?” Jay asked, turning to look at Kori.

“We just talked about that. Do you know where he is, what he’s been doing? Kori said she hasn’t kept in touch with him.”

Jay shook his head. “I haven’t either. He was older. We never really got to know his family.”

Zach
nodded and took a long Q-tip from his pocket. “Open up. This will only take a second and I’ll get it processed right away.” Zach glanced at the clock. “I have a half hour to get it back to the station.”

Jay did as he was told and Zach had his sample in thirty seconds.

“Okay. I’ll give you a call when I know,” he said and headed for the door.

Kori followed him downstairs and out of ear shot of
Jay. “Zach, you don’t really think it’s Jay, do you? What else do you have on him?”

“No, I don’t really think it’s him. But this doesn’t look good. I’ll be honest with you about that. But the fact that he willingly gave his DNA is a good sign. We’ll either confirm that he was there or that he wasn’t. The only other thing we have is his online relationship with Heidi from a couple years ago. We don’t have a motive. We’ll know which direction to go when we get these results.”

“And then you’ll find Tyler?”

“I’ll start looking. You’ll do the same?” Zach asked.

Kori nodded. “Will you get the results tonight?”

“I’ll put a rush on them, but I make no promises.”

“And if it’s not his DNA—?”

Zach shrugged. “
Then we move on to Tyler and whatever other leads come up.”

Kori gave Zach a quick kiss on the cheek and he turned to leave. Kori walked back upstairs and found Jay with his head in his hands on the same stool she’d sat on less than an hour earlier.

“Tell me more about your relationship with Heidi—everything you know about her,” Kori requested and flipped to the next page on the pad of paper she’d been using. She picked up her pen and was ready to take notes. If she was going to solve this mystery and clear her brother’s name like she’d cleared her own she was going to need to know every last detail.

Jay looked up. “Get me another beer. Then I’ll tell you everything I know about her.”

Kori grabbed two more from the fridge, popped the tops off of them and sat on the stool next to Jay.

“Heidi Fischer. What caught me first was her looks. You know I’m a sucker for red hair. She had long red hair. I couldn’t
not
check out her profile. And what I read was too good not to contact her.”

“What caught your attention?” Kori asked before he could overlook those details.

“She had two dogs. She’d grown up in Scoter Circle. She loved music—
loved
it. So I messaged her through the dating site. I learned that she was divorced. No kids. She played the piano. That was her true passion. But she was also a teller at a bank. She was trying to move up in the bank so she could make enough money to save and then be able to retire early so she could focus on her music.”

“How long did you guys message back and forth?”

“Only about a week. Then we started calling each other. I hate talking on the phone but it was easy with her. We’d talk everyday almost. And for at least an hour.”

“What’d you talk about?”

Jay got a faraway look in his eyes like he was remembering good times. “Everything. And nothing. Her work. Mine. Our families. Where she’d traveled. How I never did. Music. Books. Hermit Cove. Scoter Circle. Nothing that really sticks out. But there wasn’t anything we couldn’t talk about. You know?”

Kori did. She felt that way with Zach. Their conversations were always easy and any silences weren’t awkward. “It sounds like you have only good memories of her. What made you stop talking to her?”

“She got back together with her ex. She was pregnant I learned after a few months and they were going to give it another shot. She’d gotten pregnant after they divorced but he was the father.”

“Do you know anything about him? Could he have wanted her dead?”

“I don’t know. I only know his name—Brett Carr.”

Kori snapped into action, grabbing her laptop from the coffee table and bringing it back to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Jay asked.

“Looking up Brett Carr. We need to know everything about him
. Did he own a gun that he used to kill Heidi? Does he have past criminal charges? Was he still with Heidi? If he had a motive, he would be on the suspect list.”

“Wouldn’t the police already have questioned him?”

“Who knows? I think Zach is great. But I don’t know that the police can really do their work well with all the bureaucracy that goes on behind the scenes.”

Even with Jay barely interested in clearing his own name, Kori pulled up Google and typed in
Brett Carr
. She got hits from all over the country so narrowed it down to
Brett Carr Scoter Circle
.

She was rewarded with plenty of information and she started opening web pages to sift through
it all. Jay finally came out of his depressed daze and stood behind her reading over her shoulder.

“Here’s an article from six months ago about him getting into a fight at a bar.” Kori kept skimming. “It doesn’t say what it was about or who started it, but he could be associated with shady people.”

“Or he could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t know what really happened,” Jay protested.

Kori turned around and looked at her brother.
“Do you want to find out who really killed Heidi or do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison for a crime you didn’t commit?”

“You’re right,” he said with more passion. “Let’s see what else he has a history of.”

Kori returned to the newspaper articles she had opened and moved on to the next one.

“Nine months ago he was arrested but not convicted of a hit and run. Maybe he knows someone in law enforcement to
have gotten that charge dropped.” Kori moved on to the next article. “And here, just over a year ago, he was accused of attempted robbery but was again released without a conviction. This guy looks like bad news.”

“What about a gun? Does he own one?” Jay asked.

“I don’t know how to look that up. We’ll let Zach know to look into that. Do
you
even have a gun?”

Zach looked down at the floor and nodded.

“Since when?” Kori asked, shocked.