Caffeine & Killers (A Roasted Love Cozy Mystery Book 3) (13 page)

"You can have the folder if you promise to
take this pepper spray with you on your little investigative treks."

"I will take it with me. I promise."

Then I saw that the tab on the folder read
Steven
Wilkins.
"Oh! Is this about John’s brother?"
Instantly I remembered how Ricky Thomas and Licorice Billy had
laughed at me when I mentioned John Collins. "Does this mean
that John and Steven have different last names?"

"I don’t know about that. I thought you
told me you knew John’s last name."

"Well, I thought I did, but now I'm not so
sure. I thought it was Collins, but maybe they were actually
half-brothers and had two different fathers."

"Or one of them may have changed his last
name at some point," said Daniel.

I opened the folder. It contained the arrest
report on Steven. It stated that he'd been suspected of dealing
cocaine, and when an undercover cop offered to buy from him he'd
tried to hide a pretty big stash – plenty big enough to get nailed
for distributing – and he remained in Maxfield Prison.

I jumped up and kissed Daniel. "Does that
kiss mean you're going to Maxfield Prison?" he asked.

"That kiss means that I love you. The
information in the folder means I want to see Steven Wilkins as soon
as possible."

Then I turned to him. "But that will have to
wait. Right now, I want to spend this evening with you. I need you in
my life, Daniel."

He gave me a bear hug and held me close. Things
were right between us again.

Chapter Seventeen

When I arrived at Maxfield Correctional Facility,
I didn’t know what to expect. I signed in and soon found myself
facing Steven Wilkins, who sat behind the thick glass staring at me.

There was no doubt he was John’s brother. The
resemblance couldn’t be missed. He picked up his telephone receiver
and I picked up mine.

"I saw you at John’s funeral," he
said. "I take it you were a friend of his?"

I told him how I came to know his brother. "He
was quite a storyteller. And once, he talked to me about you. I know
he was worried about you."

Steven glanced down, and then met my eyes again.
"Yeah, I know he worried about me. It was because of John that I
finally got off drugs. Once I made it through the withdrawal, I felt
better. I actually started making plans for some kind of future."

"Okay," I said. "But if that’s
the case – how did you end up in here?"

"I know I sound like a liar – or like
someone who will say anything to get out of this place – but I
swear, the drugs they found weren’t mine." Steven shook his
head. "I lived in a small apartment at the edge of downtown.
Someone must have planted the cocaine there. I definitely was not
using, or selling, at that time."

I thought about his words before I responded. I
trusted what John had told me about his brother. ""Do you
have enemies? I mean, is there somebody who could have planted it
there without you knowing it?"

The look on his face was one of confusion, as if
he continued to search for the answer to that. "I got no enemies
– at least not that I know of. I lived on the streets like John
did, for a long time."

But the next thing he said really threw me off.
"John talked me into helping him in get people off drugs. He
wanted to clean up the drug dealers and teach the homeless people
downtown how to have better lives.

"I walked around with him all day long,
talking to people. I used myself as an example of how it could be
done. I even had a part-time job at the shelter, fixing things and
cleaning up after everybody got kicked out in the morning.

"I didn’t get a lot of money for it, but
they let me eat there. The one in charge, William, found a cheap
apartment for me and after a few months of working at the shelter I
had enough to pay the rent. It was pretty shabby, but at least I was
off the streets. And John was proud of me."

His voice trembled just a little, and he took a
deep breath. "I miss him more than anyone. He was the only
family who cared about me."

I tried to smile. "He was a good guy. And I'm
sorry he's gone, too." Then I got to the real reason why I was
here. "Do you know of a guy named Calvin Carpenter? The city
councilman?"

Steven looked up. "Yeah. Well, I've heard of
him. John hated him, because he was sure this guy would stop at
nothing to get rid of all the homeless in West River."

"What about Licorice Billy? Do you know him?"

"Yeah. I know him. He used to argue with John
a lot over my brother’s favorite spot at night. You already know he
liked staying in front of that coffee house you work at.

"But Billy liked to argue about everything.
Everything was about him and what he wanted." Steven looked
closely at me. "I tried to get John to move in with me once I
had that apartment, but he wouldn't. He said he was fine where he was
and didn't need to take up my space." He shook his head. "But
I guess he would have been on the streets again anyway, once I was in
here."

I frowned. "If John wanted the homeless to
have better lives, it seems like he would have set the example by
moving in with you when he had the chance."

Steven just shook his head again. "Yeah,
that's what I thought, too. But John said he wanted to stay on the
streets to show the homeless guys that he was with them – that he
understood what they were going through. Those were his words."

He shrugged. "Billy's an okay guy once you
get to know him. Sometimes he'd try to help us on the streets when we
met people who were strung out. He eats that black licorice to
distract himself from using. And yeah, he can be rude when he wants
to be." He laughed a little. "To be honest, he’s rude
most of the time."

"What about that dealer, Ricky Thomas?"
I asked. "Do you know him?"

Steven's mouth twisted. "Ricky’s another
subject all together. He sells for a living. He was the one who got
me hooked to begin with and I was glad to see the last of him, even
if it meant I had to be in here.

"Of course, Ricky didn’t like it that I was
clean. He threatened me once that if I didn’t leave his customers
alone, I'd be sorry."

"Do you think he was the one who planted the
drugs in your apartment?"

"No. I don’t think that at all. He didn't
like it that we tried to get some of his customers to stop using, but
the truth was he had plenty of business. And John and I usually met
people outside the shelter and talked to them there anyway."

I thought for a moment. "Tell me – what was
John really like? I’m thinking that maybe I only saw his best
side."

"Well... " He hesitated, and I could see
that he didn't want to say anything bad about his brother. "He
could be pretty tough when he was on a mission. He didn’t mind
laying it all out for the people he tried to save."

"Can you think of anyone who would want to
hurt John?"

He sighed. "I don't really know. He upset
some people when he talked to them about a better life and started
pushing them about it. On the other hand, I don’t think John died
by shooting up heroin. He absolutely was not on drugs. I've seen
enough people who are to know the difference."

Steven’s jaw set in a tight line. "I don’t
know who did that to him. I wish I did."

He started to speak again, but clamped his mouth
shut.

"What do you want to say?" I asked.

He looked at me closely, as if trying to decide
how much he could trust me. Then he made his decision.

"John told me once that he felt like someone
was on his tail. He didn’t know who or why. He talked to me about
it, but I never picked up on anyone doing that."

"Was he able to help many of these people get
clean?"

"Well... some. But to be honest, most of the
ones John thought he saved eventually went back to using sooner or
later. He motivated a handful to find odd jobs, like I did. But that
was about all."

I rifled through my notes. My time was limited
with Steven and I'd better think fast. But at least I'd found out
that we did agree on one thing: Someone did kill his brother.

Then I remembered something. "Why did you and
John have different last names?"

Steven looked bewildered, and shook his head
slightly. "We didn't. John’s last name was Wilkins, same as
mine."

Now it was my turn to look confused. "I
thought his last name was Collins."

"No. He – " Steven was forced to stop
when the guard tapped his shoulder and indicated his time was up.

We both hung up the phone receivers and got to our
feet. "I'm sorry you lost your brother, Steven," I said,
even though he couldn't hear me, but he nodded once and seemed to
understand. Then he was led back towards the cellblock and was gone.

I drove away from Maxfield Correctional Facility
with more questions than answers. Steven Wilkins appeared to be on
the up-and-up, though I reminded myself that he was in prison for
stashing enough cocaine to be a dealer himself.

And I couldn’t figure out how there could be a
cocaine stash in his apartment without him knowing about it. Maybe
he'd started using again without John knowing about it.

I wished I'd had more time with him. I wanted to
ask him who else could have gotten into his apartment and planted
cocaine there. I wanted to see his reaction when I asked him about
the name "Collins." And I sure wanted to know about the
subject of Linda Henson.

I would have to see him again – the sooner, the
better.

# # #

My shift at Roasted Love did't start until eleven
the next morning, so I went to Maxfield Correctional Facility very
early and waited until visiting hours started.

Once again, Steven Wilkins sat facing me behind
the glass. The guard stood nearby. I was allowed a much shorter time
with him today, so I knew I'd have to hurry.

"I've still got some questions that we didn't
have time for yesterday," I began. He looked me in the eye and
nodded for me to go on. "I’m wondering about Linda Henson. I
understand she was once married to John. Maybe you already know that
she and Ronald Larch come into Roasted Love sometimes."

Steven leaned forward and folded his hands in
front of him. "Yeah, that was a real sore spot with John. He and
Linda got married while John was in his second year of college.

"Ronald Larch was a year behind John in
school. About six months after his marriage to Linda, John found out
that she was seeing Larch behind his back. It wasn’t long
afterwards that Linda left him and filed for divorce."

He shrugged. "The last I heard, Larch was
still involved with Linda. Of course, that was maybe four years ago.
I didn’t know they were still together now."

I nodded, glancing down at my notes. "Yeah,
it looks that way. I guess that whole thing must have upset John
pretty bad."

"Oh, it did. He was crushed. He fell into
such a slump that I wasn’t sure he'd ever get over it. He had it
out more than once with Larch, but ended up sinking into a real bad
depression.

"That whole thing caused him to quit college.
It got to the point where he couldn’t hold down a job because of
his anger issues. Then he couldn’t pay rent, and that’s how he
ended up on the streets."

"That’s quite a story. When I knew John, he
always had a positive attitude. He must have been depressed at times,
but I didn’t see that in him."

"He worked on a positive attitude. Some time
after, I guess what he was going through sort of affected me and I
started using. I think that’s what triggered him to switch his
mindset to me. Once he got into helping others, he started coming out
of his depression."

I nodded, trying to think. All of this could
explain why I hadn't seen Linda Henson come in by herself to Roasted
Love. She probably couldn’t handle seeing John sitting outside on
the sidewalk, or inside the shop. As for Larch, I was sure he only
came in to lord it over his rival.

"Have you thought any more about who could
have planted the drugs in your apartment?" I asked.

Steven shook his head. "No, I have no idea. I
wish I'd paid closer attention to John when he told me he thought
someone was tailing him. He never said anything more about it to me,
but now I sure wish I'd pushed a little harder."

Once again, we were interrupted by the guard and
Steven had to go. I'd missed my chance to ask about the last name of
Collins.

Chapter Eighteen

When I pulled into my parking space in the lot
beside Roasted Love, I noticed more cars there than usual for eleven
in the morning. I clocked in and then went to find Jacob. "Hey,
what's bringing in this crowd?"

He glanced up from shoveling big scoops of coffee
into the machines. "Some of the merchants on the Piazza are
running sales, but mostly it's from Carpenter campaigning over here.
Do you have any ideas on how we can be as generous as the other shops
are, and get some of that business in here?"

"I guess we should have advertised something
special. How about giving a cookie or two to everyone, along with
their coffee?"

"Sure. That’s good. Tell Lily, will you?"

Lily breathed a sigh of relief when I got to the
front. "Glad you're here! All of a sudden, I’m swamped!"

I pitched in and saved some running for her. Then,
just a few minutes after I'd started work, I saw Ronald Larch come
in.

I did a double-take when I noticed that same DEA
man with him. Ronald caught my eye briefly, as did the DEA man, and
then they both made their way to a table.

I returned to the espresso machine. Lily took
their orders for two espressos and fruit scones. I handed her four
cookies.

We were plenty busy for the next hour. I didn’t
see Larch or the DEA man leave. Obviously they were good friends,
since I'd also seen them out together at the Bistro when I'd gone to
dinner with Anna.