Caffeine & Killers (A Roasted Love Cozy Mystery Book 3) (20 page)

From the expression on her face, she didn't seem
to be too accustomed to frank discussion. "You're right. We have
to focus on John, don’t we?" she said.

"Well, that's all I'm focused on. Now – you
said you had some new information about John Wilkins?" I raised
my arms in a stretch and turned my head back to the shop where I'd
seen Daniel in earlier. I noticed then that he stood just inside the
west door entrance, pretending to look at the menu posted above the
counter.

"Look, Linda," I went on, "if you
have anything to say, just say it. I have plans for this evening and
can’t spend a lot of time here."

"I’m sorry. Yes, I’ll get to the point.
Ronald and I have been back together again – at least, more than
we've been for a while. I brought up John’s death and how there are
doubts he died of a self-inflicted overdose of heroin.

"And he told me – " She paused, and
glanced around the restaurant. "He told me the cops should be
looking at one of their own."

I let that piece of information drop between us.
"What made him say that?" I asked.

"Well – he said that there's someone on the
inside who wants to get rid of the druggies down there even more than
he and Calvin Carpenter do. I’m sure you know that Carpenter’s
strongest campaign slogan has to do with ridding the city of the
homeless. They mean to rid it of drug users and pushers once and for
all.

"There's a dedicated group of West River
police working towards that goal. They were even able to get the Drug
Enforcement Agency to send agents to this small town. They must have
convinced the DEA that it really was that serious out here."

Once again, my mind was racing. "Did Larch
give you any names?"

Linda shook her head.

"Then maybe you should talk to Chief Hayes,"
I suggested. "If you expect me to take this to him, once again –
it's hearsay. Plus the fact I'm getting it all second hand."

I sighed. "The best thing you could do would
be to get real proof and then go to the chief. Better yet, convince
Ronald to take solid information to the Chief. He's someone Chief
Hayes would listen to."

Just then, Linda raised her head. She was staring
at someone outside the café. When I looked around, trying to follow
her gaze, I saw no one I recognized except for Daniel. He still
sauntered along in the mall as if window shopping.

"What is it?" I asked Linda.

She sighed, and looked down again. "I’m
sorry. I guess I’m just jittery. It’s nothing. " She looked
up at me again. "All I know is that Ronald said something about
a dirty cop."

Then Linda fumbled for her purse and got ready to
stand up. Her hands shook when she reached for her Diet Coke, and
instead of drinking it she set it back down on the table. She looked
at me, and started to say something, but then turned and left Little
Italy Pizza as fast as she could walk.

Well, something had happened to make her extremely
nervous. I looked again through the store's doorway into the mall. A
few people were going out through the mall's main exit, and a couple
more walked inside the same way. But I saw no one who was familiar to
me.

I quickly dialed Daniel. I watched him as he
answered. "Do you see anyone out there you know?"

"The only person I recognized was Ronald
Larch. He looked into the pizza place, but didn't go in."

Larch was here?
"Do you see Linda? She
just bolted like a scared rabbit."

Daniel looked towards me, and then up and down the
wing of the mall where he stood. "She must have gotten out fast.
Wait! Yeah, I see her now. She's with Larch. Aw, but they just turned
onto the main part of the mall. I can't see them."

I walked out of the restaurant and joined him,
quickly filling him in on what Linda had told me. "I wonder if
Larch knew she was meeting with me. She got very nervous and left
right away."

"Maybe he didn't know. Maybe he thought she
was shopping. Maybe they had a designated time to meet and that’s
why she left so fast."

I had to agree with him. I also knew I had to see
Chief Hayes again very soon. Daniel said he would come with me and
called the chief to tell him we were on our way.

# # #

When Daniel and I got to the precinct house,
things were quiet in the reception area. And once back in Chief
Hayes's office, I noticed that his desk had fewer folders on it than
the last time.

"I'd offer you both some coffee," the
chief said, "but it wouldn’t be anything like what you're used
to at Roasted Love." He grinned. "Tell me – what is so
important that both of you show up as a team?"

I told him about my meeting with Linda. "She
admitted that Larch never told her he planted drugs in Steven
Wilkins’ apartment, down on Skid Row. But – "

"Yes?"

"She did say something about a dirty cop."

The chief frowned. "Did she name the cop?"

"No. When I asked her, she said Larch hadn't
mentioned any names. According to Linda, he did say that your
department should be looking at someone on the inside. And he
referred to the deaths of two homeless men."

Daniel spoke up. "Maybe you should talk to
Ronald Larch so you can get it all first-hand from him," he
said. "I don’t like it that Laila is the go-between here."

The chief nodded. "My thoughts exactly. And
Laila, I read the report on your stalker the other night and I have
an extra patrol in your area. Obviously, someone has targeted you. I
want you to be careful."

"As for the subject of a bad cop, I take that
charge very seriously and I don't appreciate people spewing
accusations around like that. It's also not something that is likely
to be true. But I will have a talk with Mr. Larch and see what he has
to say."

He didn't seem thrilled, but I wanted to clarify.
"We just wanted to make sure you heard about it. I don't know
anymore than that, but no one wants that to be true. Thank you for
your time, Chief".

"Thank you guys. I'll get to the bottom of
this. You did the right thing."

Chapter Twenty Seven

"Laila, do you mind closing this evening?"
asked Jacob.

"Sure. I’ll be happy to," I answered.
"I don’t have anything planned for tonight." I grinned at
my boss. "Why, what's up? Do you have a hot date?"

Jacob laughed and shook his head. "If you
want to call a meeting with my accountant a hot date, then I guess I
do. But that's all. He’s coming to my house, so I’m leaving early
to pick up something for us to chew on while we do battle with the
figures."

"I don’t envy you that," I said. "Go
ahead. I'll take care of things here."

I joined Lily in the front of Roasted Love. Almost
every table was taken. I helped Lily take orders, and we took care of
our own drinks at the espresso machine while Eddie brought more
bagels out along with fruit scones.

When we finally got caught up, I spent my time
between the register and the espresso machine. Rain started falling
and some customers began lingering longer than usual. It was more
comfortable to sit in Roasted Love and enjoy a second cup or a cookie
instead of running outside and getting wet.

I looked up when the door jangled and saw Ronald
Larch and the Councilman walk in. As usual, the candidate was
politicking his way to a table in the center of the room. Larch
avoided my eyes, as usual.

Carpenter walked over and greeted me like an old
friend. Possibly it was a greeting hoping to get another vote, but
either way it was hard to tell the difference. If you didn't know any
better, it was easy to like the man. He asked for an espresso to go
and then took his drink and left again. Larch stayed behind and sat
down at a table.

Soon only six customers remained at the tables.
One of them was Larch. He had a folder in front of him that he
thumbed through. Several times I was sure he glanced in my direction.

"I’m going to grab an espresso, Lily. Do
you want to join me?" I said.

"I’m not quite ready but you go ahead,"
she said.

I made my way to the back employee table. My eyes
were on the steaming espresso when I felt a presence standing there.
I looked up to see Larch.

"Do you mind if I join you for a few
minutes?" he said. "I know you're on break, but I won’t
take up much of your time."

For once, I was speechless. He was the last person
I expected to have a conversation with. I waved him to the chair
across from me, and he sat down.

"I know you think that homeless man who used
to sit outside here was murdered," he began.

I cocked my head and studied him. "Are you
talking about John Wilkins? Your friend from the past? You certainly
know that was his name."

His face started to turn red, and he raised his
hands a little as if in surrender. "You're right. John and I had
problems between us. But that’s not what I want to say to you."

I took a sip of my espresso.

"Linda came clean last night about meeting
with you."

I held up my hand to stop him. I remembered what
Daniel had said to the chief about me being in the middle of this.
"Don’t tell me anything. Chief Hayes is the one to talk to."

"That’s what I’m trying to say. I met
with the chief this morning. I told him I knew that both of those
homeless men were murdered. And I',m sure I know who it was."

I shut my eyes. My heart was pounding out of my
chest. "Mr. Larch – I don’t want to know. I’m just glad
Chief Hayes has the information. That's who should be handling this."

Though at the same time, I had no idea of what had
come over me. This was exactly what I'd wanted to know from the
start. Why was I trying to shut him down?

"All right," said Larch. "Suit
yourself. I just don’t want you thinking I had anything to do with
it."

He got up from the table and walked to the
register, where Lily took his money. I watched him hurry to his car.
The rain came down harder and he wasn’t someone who would
appreciate getting his good suit all spotted with rain.

Of course, I sure wanted to know who had murdered
John and Ricky, but the relief that Chief Hayes now knew was enough
for the moment. That fact should stop whoever continued to harass me
– at least, I sure hoped it would.

Before going back out to the counter, I called
Daniel and told him what Larch had said to me.

"But he didn't give you a name?" Daniel
asked. "Did he say it was a bad cop?"

"I didn’t let him tell me much of anything.
I have to close tonight, but maybe you can get some information from
Chief Hayes. You're good friends and I think he might tell you what's
going on."

"Are you using me again?" asked Daniel,
teasing me.

I smiled, even though he couldn't see me. "Well,
you have to admit that you're good at getting the info any time you
want to." It was true. "And if Donald won’t tell you
anything, then ask your cop friend Leo Swenson."

"Okay, okay. I’ll do my best. I’ll call
you later this evening, Sherlock," said Daniel, and he hung up.

# # #

A little while later, I had just taken a couple of
sandwich orders when Lily came over to me. "I need the keys to
the register," she said. "I accidentally overcharged
somebody and I need to make a correction."

"Oh. Okay." I'd done that myself more
than once. "Hang on and I'll get the keys."

I was in charge tonight since Jacob was out
working with his accountant, so I walked into his office, pulled open
his lower desk drawer, and reached into the little compartment inside
to get the keys.

That's when I noticed something.

Stuffed into that same drawer was a large,
smudged, dirty manila envelope. It was torn along one edge and looked
as if it had been lying in the mud at one time. The crease in the
middle told me it had been folded for a while, too.

This was pretty unusual. I did have to open that
drawer to get the keys every now and then, but I didn't remember
seeing this big filthy-looking envelope before.

I ran back to the floor, gave the keys to Lily,
and then ran back into Jacob's office.

Without hesitation, I picked up the mysterious
envelope. It was heavy and lumpy. I dumped out the contents onto the
desk, and took a good look.

I saw a man’s silver bracelet and a ring. The
bracelet was nicely engraved:
To John, my love. Happy Valentine’s
Day. Linda.
A date was etched below that, in smaller characters.

The other piece looked like a class ring. It had
the name of a high school that I didn't recognize, along with the
year.

A shock ran through me.

John?

Linda?

A Valentine's Day gift?

Trying to think, I turned the envelope over. And
there on the front was a sticky note with Jacob's familiar messy
handwriting on it: Found Near Dumpster, it said.

So – Jacob must have found this stuff outside in
the alley, and kept it until he could try to find the owners.

But how many other loving couples could there be
around here with the names John and Linda – with the one named John
found dead in an alley?

# # #

The minutes had never passed so slowly. All I
could think about was getting back outside to see if there was
anything else out there next to the dumpster. Jacob might have
noticed something as large as this envelope, sure, but there might
well be something else.

I had to know for sure.

Finally, the customers were gone. Lily and Eddie
helped me clean up and then they left. I clocked out and locked the
front door behind me.

The sun had gone down. There was still some
activity on the Piazza, but most of it consisted of the other
shopkeepers closing up.

My car looked very forlorn and lonely, sitting by
itself in the little parking lot.

Chapter Twenty Eight