Caffeine & Killers (A Roasted Love Cozy Mystery Book 3) (15 page)

"Did you have a long night?" asked
Jacob. It mystified me how he could be so alert so early in the day.
His laugh at my appearance irritated me.

"Very funny, Jacob," I said. "Just
pour me some coffee and I’ll be fine."

Putting myself into action, I woke up enough to
greet customers in a friendly way. I managed to get their orders
right and for the time being, I didn’t think about the calls that
had gone on all night long.

Later on, when I did think about them, I hoped
that is was just my lucky night to be pranked by some teenagers.
Hopefully they move on to someone else tomorrow.

I couldn't think of any customers from Roasted
Love that would have anything against me. Most had known me for quite
a while and were always friendly.

"Maybe it was just an old-fashioned wrong
number," I said aloud.

"What are you saying, Laila?" asked
Lily.

I laughed. She'd caught me again talking to
myself. "Aw, I had a couple of prank calls last night and was
just trying to figure out who it could have been."

Lily’s face showed real concern. "I hope
they don’t keep that up," she said, and then tried to reassure
me. "It was probably someone who had nothing better to do than
to keep somebody awake. They probably don't even know you."

I agreed with her and dismissed it all from my
mind. Instead, I filled my head with thoughts of Daniel, a much more
pleasant subject.

I got off at mid-afternoon and started for home.
My mind had wandered back to thinking about who could have caused
John’s death when my cell rang.

I felt a twinge of concern, but the caller turned
out to be Jacob.

"Laila, I just thought you should know that
someone asked me for your cell number. I didn’t give it to her. I
told her I'd have to clear it with you first."

"Who was it? Anyone you know?"

"Yeah. It was Linda Henson."

Linda Henson?
"Well, I don't know why
she'd want my number... but I'd sure like to find out. Shoot."

Jacob gave me Linda’s number and I quickly wrote
it down. "Thanks, Jacob. I’ll think about calling her back."

I hung up, and tried to think. Why would Linda
Henson want to talk to me? She hadn’t been back in Roasted Love
since the one time I'd seen her with Larch. I realized she may have
come back when I wasn’t there.

I got home and spent a little time playing with
Thor, still thinking about why Linda would call me. Maybe she knew
something about John’s death – but if she did, why would she call
me?

My curiosity was more than I could take. I walked
back inside my apartment and dialed Linda's number.

The voice sounded the same way she looked: silky
and smooth. I imagined her shaking long blonde hair away from her
eyes as she said hello.

"This is Laila," I said. "Jacob
said you called and wanted to talk to me."

"Do you think we could meet someplace and
talk?" she asked.

"Um – sure," I said. "What do you
want to talk about?" Last night’s hang-up calls weren’t far
from my mind, but I listened closely to her.

"I've heard that you think John was murdered.
I may have some information that would help you."

"Okay," I said, "but why call me?
Why not take it to the police?"

I could almost see that long blonde hair falling
around her face as she shook her head. "Too risky for me,"
she said. "We have to meet in secret."

She paused. I didn’t respond immediately. "I
have to tell you what I know," she continued. "Then you can
do with it what you want. I don’t want to be involved any more, not
once I talk with you."

"Okay," I finally agreed. "Okay. We
can meet at the West River Mall. There will be people around and
security cameras everywhere. It'll be safe."

"Yeah. All right."

"I’ll meet you at the west entrance – at
the Little Italy Pizza. Can you meet in half an hour?"

"Half an hour." She hung up, leaving me
to wonder just how much stranger all this could get.

# # #

Linda Henson and I both walked up to the west
entrance to the mall at the same time. She looked behind her and then
scanned the area in front of us. At the door to the Little Italy
Pizza, she continued to scope out the place like she was Secret
Service or something.

We picked a table in the back after ordering and
sodas.

As soon as we sat down, the first thing she said
was, "I was once married to John Wilkins."

I nodded slowly, and waited.

"I loved him, but I cheated on him anyway,"
she went on. "Ronald Larch had had a thing for me for a long
time and was intent on taking me away from John. I ended up falling
hard for Ronald and demanded a divorce from John." She sighed.
"I was the one who caused him to end up on the streets."

I managed to take sip of my diet Coke and wait for
her to go on.

"But John didn't give up so easy. He kept
trying to get me back. And to Ronald, that meant war."

She paused. "See – Ronald has a good friend
who's in the DEA – the Drug Enforcement Agency. After John refused
to go away, it wasn’t enough for Ronald to harass only him. He had
to go after his brother, too.

"At that time, Steven had finally gotten off
drugs. He was clean. I think Ronald somehow got some cocaine through
his DEA buddy – something that had been confiscated – and planted
them in Steven's apartment. And now Steven’s in prison for being in
possession of drugs and trying to sell to an undercover cop."

My mind was racing at a million miles an hour. I
was in shock. "Do you have proof of any of this?"

She shrugged. "I’m mainly telling you what
I
think
happened. Ronald hinted at it without coming right out
and telling me details."

"And here's another question," I said.
"How did Larch persuade an officer to give him drugs to plant in
an innocent man's apartment? That doesn’t make sense to me."

Linda shook her head. "I can only tell you
that Ronald has always been jealous of the Wilkins brothers. There
are times when I wonder if that’s really why he went for me – to
get back at John for some reason."

"Then – well, why do you stay with him? It
sounds like you don’t really care all that much about him."

She looked down. "I see him less and less all
the time. I guess I’m finally growing up." Her eyes met mine
again. "I think the police should be looking at Ronald Larch –
if not for causing John’s death, then at least for setting Steven
up."

Wow! "Are you telling me that you think Larch
killed John?"

Linda’s hands shook when she picked up her
drink. "I certainly don’t want to accuse Ronald of that,"
she said. "Please don’t take that part to the police. I don’t
know what I was thinking. I meant that – he implied he planted
drugs on Steven somehow."

She went for her drink again. I waited as
patiently as I could. This woman was getting herself in deep and I
was curious about how she was going to dig out again.

"Ronald never said he had anything to do with
John’s death. I do have to say though, that he was way too happy
when he heard the news."

I shook my head. "I don’t know what I can
do about any of this. You've told me some very serious stuff. If I
take it all to the Chief of Police, it'll be just speculation on my
part with no real evidence. But if you can prove what you're saying,
we could go to Chief Hayes with it."

Turquoise eyes bored into me. "I don’t
think John overdosed by his own hand. And you don’t either. I
regret I missed out on a life with him. I want to find out exactly
who caused his death. That's why I’m telling you what I picked up
from Ronald."

I stared back at her, and tried to think. "It
sounds like either you have good reason to suspect Larch of framing
Steven, or you know for sure that he actually did it." I let
that sink in for a few seconds. "And I have to ask – do you
have a personal reason to point the finger at Larch?"

A shaking hand brushed luxurious blonde hair from
the right side of her face. Once again, her eyes darted around as if
clearing the shop of anyone she didn’t want to be there. I glanced
into the mall corridor outside the pizza shop. I didn’t recognize
anyone there.

"I only know what I told you," said
Linda. "Ronald didn’t come right out and tell me he planted
drugs in Steven's apartment. But he did imply it in a way to make me
draw my own conclusions."

"I understand. But it's really just hearsay
and speculation," I said. I knew Donald Hayes would think I was
wasting his time if I went to him with this. "When you've got
more, I’ll think about it."

I wasn’t ready to give Linda any leeway at this
point. If she had viable information that could stick, then she
should be the one to take it to the Chief. But if she had her own
reasons for pointing the finger at Larch, that was another matter.

Chapter Twenty

Linda Henson did leave me with something that I
knew was true: Larch did indeed hang out with a DEA agent. But I
couldn't imagine why an agent who fought to clear the streets of
illegal drugs would casually give a buddy some cocaine so he could
frame an innocent man.

I thought about Steven Wilkins. If Linda was
telling the truth, maybe he was innocent, just as he said.

My mind swirled with all the things going on. Very
little made sense. Maybe, if I don't mention anything about Skid Row,
I could get Daniel to help me think through some of it again.

I called him and he answered right away. "What’s
up, Laila?"

"Nothing in particular," I said. "I
just wanted to throw a few things out there for you. I’ve learned
some things about people who knew John." I held my breath.

He was silent for a moment. "OK, I take it
you want a sounding board," he said. I thought I detected a hint
of resignation in his voice.

"Yes. I do. And you're the best one I know.
Do you have time to meet me at the pavilion in the park?" I
asked.

"For you, I can make time. How about we meet
in a half hour?"

Relief rushed over me when he agreed. I hoped he
wouldn’t bring up any possible drives down to the forbidden area on
my part. I vowed to not mention anything about downtown West River.

# # #

We met at the empty pavilion in the city park. I
brought Subway sandwiches and two diet Cokes with me. A few families
with children were near the small lake feeding the ducks. We could
hear voices from the tennis court. It was the perfect neutral setting
for us.

I was relieved to see he looked calm and happy. I
hoped nothing I would say changed that.

"Hey you," I teased when we met at a
bench. "Thanks for meeting me. I brought sandwiches, I hope
you're hungry."

"Hey yourself. I can always eat. Thanks. I
presume this is some sort of bribe to get my help?" Daniel
grinned at me.

"No bribe, just a thank you. I haven't been
to the park in forever. Maybe we can take a walk and feed the ducks
a bit after we talk and eat. How's you're day so far?"

"Great. Better now that I get to see you.."

I blushed and handed a sandwich to him. While he
took a bite, I dove into my story. "I talked to Linda Henson.
She told me she thinks Ronald Larch may have had something to do with
framing John's brother Steven. I don’t know exactly what her agenda
is, but she seemed sincere. She also thinks that someone killed John
and that it might be related in some way. Do you think Larch could
actually get access to seized drugs and plant them in Steven’s
apartment?"

He sighed. "Laila – surely you know by now
that anybody who really wants to get hold of drugs of any kind can
get them. They don't need a crooked DEA man for that."

"Yeah, I guess not."

"So – what makes you think John's brother
was framed?"

I looked up at him. It was confession time. "I
– I went to see him. I mean, I went to see Steven in the prison."

Daniel sat up. "You mean – you went to
visit John's brother in Maxfield Prison?"

"Um – yeah. I did."

He let out his breath. "All right," he
said. "What did you find out?"

"I went there twice to talk to him. Steven
swears cocaine was planted in his apartment. He also told me that the
charges against him of trying to sell to an undercover cop are
completely false. According to him, that never happened."

"Well, yeah, but Laila, surely you realize
that there isn't one guilty man in prison anywhere. They're all
innocent. Just ask them." He looked steadily at me. "I'm
just saying – you have to take things like that with a grain of
salt."

"Yeah, I know, but – but he was really
convincing. He's a lot like John. And I believed him."

"Okay. But you did say John was worried about
his brother using," Daniel pointed out.

"He was worried about that. But even though
Steven was an addict, he wasn't using at the time his brother died."
I sipped my Coke. "But what do you get from my visit with Linda
Henson? She verified Steven’s innocence, if she's telling the
truth."

He shook his head, and took another bite of his
sub sandwich. "I don't know," he said, around a mouthful of
bread and cheese and roast beef.

"I'm just wondering why a woman as gorgeous
as Linda would hang around with Ronald Larch – much less throw away
her marriage for him. I don't see where she and Larch have much in
common."

Daniel shrugged. "Hard to say. But I guess
nobody knows about stuff like that for sure except the ones who are
in it."

"Would Larch actually tell Linda about
planting drugs in Steven’s apartment? I mean, if they're just
on-again, off-again, it doesn’t make sense that he'd tell her
something like that."

"Yeah. That's a good point. And when you
think about it, she may have her own reasons to point the finger at
him."