Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 05 - Smashed Potatoes and Gravy (4 page)

Kori had to take a few seconds so she didn’t panic as much as Kyle was.
Jenna was in jail?
Zach had said she couldn’t tell him why she was at the property. But had there been some new discovery that had ended in her arrest?

“Tell me what happened,” Kori said, taking a seat next to Kyle on a bench just outside her front door.

Kyle shook his head and looked at the ground. “It wasn’t even six o’clock yet and Lieutenant Gulch came with Detective Silver and they arrested her. Jenna told me to come to you. And after we found Nora last summer being held hostage, I knew she was right. We have to figure out how to prove her innocence.”

Kori nodded as he spoke.
But was she innocent?
she wondered. Of course she was. How could Jenna be guilty of killing someone? She took care of kids for a living, there wasn’t a mean bone in her body.

And she was about to burst she was so pregnant. Staying in jail would do nothing good for her baby.

“Why was she out on the property yesterday morning?” Kori asked as gently as possible.

“Why does everyone keep asking that?” Kyle lashed out. “It’s ours, is she not allowed to go out there?”

Kori put her hand on his arm, hoping he would see it as a friendly gesture.

“Sorry,” he said. “I know you’re only trying to help. I just don’t know why she was out there. She never goes out there so it doesn’t even make sense to me. Unless we’re there together. But we ha
ven’t been there since the summer.”

“Okay. What do you know about Lou’s death? What did Jenna tell you yesterday about what she saw?” Kori asked, taking a different tact.

“I just can’t believe after what she saw yesterday they’ve arrested her. Finding a body isn’t enough? Now they think she killed him?”

Kyle paused and Kori waited for him to continue.

“He was hit over the head with something. Part of his skull was bashed in.” Kyle looked down at the ground again and his voice grew fainter with each word, like uttering the truth of what Jenna saw was conviction enough.

“Did she see what had been used?” Kori asked, hoping to get as many details as possible.

Kyle shook his head. “Or at least she didn’t tell me.”

“I think finding whatever was used to kill Lou will be the first step in finding out who really killed him. Can you take me to the place he was killed this afternoon?”

“I can take you there right now.”

Kori looked down at her lap and smiled. She knew Kyle would drop everything to free his wife, but Kori was a business owner and couldn’t abandon Kiera. She had to wait until she’d closed for the day.

“Oh right,” Kyle said, realizing what he’d asked of her. “I guess you already closed early yesterday for us. I’ll meet you here at one?”

Kori nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

Kyle stood and walked away, back toward the market where Kori thought he must have an early morning shift before going to the auto body for his second job. Kori turned and walked back inside and started making rounds with each table, offering refills on coffee and taking any additional orders.

Once back in the kitchen Kiera asked her, “Is everything okay? Kyle seemed really upset.”

Kori gave her a quick rundown of the arrest but left out details about the murder. She only mentioned Lou’s name and Kiera’s face seemed to light up.

“I know him. He’s like as old as my grandparents,” Kiera said, making Kori laugh. She hadn’t meant to and quickly stopped herself.

“Sorry, it’s really not funny.” What
was
funny was that Kiera had such a different perspective on age. Kori considered Lou an equal even though he was older than herself, but they were both working professionals. Kiera just saw him as an old man.

“What about his brother?”Kiera asked, drenching two slices of bread in French toast batter and placing them gently on the griddle.

Kori looked at her curiously and waited for her to explain.

“I don’t know where he lives, but Lou had a brother. I’m not sure if they had a good relationship or not, but the brother—I can’t remember his name—didn’t have a good relationship with their parents.”

Kori considered this information. “So there were family tensions that we need to figure out,” she said, thinking out loud.

“I don’t know if it’ll lead you anywhere, but if you don’t think Jenna’s guilty, you have to find the person who is.”

Kori knew she was right, and she had no other leads. Maybe Kyle knew more about Lou’s family. Or Kiera’s parents could help. She hadn’t been to their house since she was in high school and babysitting Kiera, but she knew she’d be welcome. Now she just had the rest of the work day to get through.

Kori
headed back out to the dining area and started doling out bills and collecting credit cards and cash. Everyone who was still eating seemed to have come in at the same time and they were finishing together as well, creating a mass exodus. But the turnaround was quick and large families took their places, sliding tables together to create enough seats for everyone in their groups.

“Here, D—Dad,” Kori heard a familiar voice say. She couldn’t place it until she turned around and saw Jenna’s cousin, Dani, pulling a chair out for an older man. Kori walked over to their table and introduced herself to the members she didn’t know yet.

“Hi Dani. I’m glad you came in for breakfast,” she said, causing Dani to look in her direction in surprise.

“Oh h—h—hi, K—Kori. I l—loved this s—sp—space yesterday and brought my f—family today. This is my d—dad, M—Michael, and husband, J—Jeff.”

“Hi. Nice to meet you,” Kori said, ignoring the stutter that seemed to be worse today than yesterday.

Michael nodded and Jeff said, “Likewise.”

“Can I get you started with something to drink?” Kori asked and everyone looked around for a menu. “They’re on the chalkboards on the walls,” Kori explained, pointing to the three menus she’d written out earlier that morning.

Everyone ordered coffee and Kori headed into the kitchen to get two French presses filled for their table.
When she returned, Dani and Michael were in a heated, albeit quiet, argument and Kori left the coffee on the table as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t get roped into a family feud.

The other recently abandoned tables filled up with familiar and unfamiliar faces and Kori traded places with Kiera, letting her make the rounds for the next couple hours while Kori cooked up a storm. By ten, she realized she hadn’t eaten yet and cut a cranberry muffin in half, buttered the griddle and placed it in the hot butter to fry it before eating it. The first bite only made her want more, the crunchy exterior mixing perfectly with the sweet-sour of the muffin and cranberries.

She could only let herself get lost in the delicious flavors for a few moments before another order came in and she was frying mashed potatoes and eggs, making French toast and cutting up more muffins.

The next few hours seemed to fly by, as they always did when Kori was in the kitchen, and at one, the café had emptied out. Kori sent Kiera home, took Ibis for a quick walk and returned to find Kyle waiting on the same bench where they’d sat together earlier.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Kori said. “I had to take Ibis for a quick walk. Can I drop her off at Nora’s before we go? She needs to get some energy out.”

Kyle hesitated before agreeing to give Kori the luxury of offloading her dog before going to a crime scene. “She’ll only mess up the evidence,” Kori said, hoping this would convince him.

And it seemed to work. Kyle followed her out to Red Clover Farm where Milo and Otis alerted Nora to their presence. But Kori didn’t take the time to explain much, she just yelled to Nora when she came out of one of the greenhouses, “I’m dropping off Ibis for a doggy play date. Be back later.”

Nora waved and Kori took that to mean she was fine with the arrangement. Then she and Kyle drove separately over to his property on the lake. They parked on the side of the road, having no driveway to park in, and Kori followed Kyle to a spot where the grass had all been flattened.

“This is where I found Jenna yesterday. Lou was here too.”

Kori looked around and saw a few drops of blood, she assumed from Lou. If he’d been hit over the head, there would have been plenty of opportunity to leave traces of his murder. But there wasn’t as much as she’d expected. Had he been moved after he was killed?
Or were the wounds inflicted only after he’d been killed?

“The police didn’t find the weapon?” Kori asked.

“Not that I know of. I overheard them say that it had to be wooden because there were splinters in Lou’s head. But they couldn’t tell if it was a branch or a bat or something else completely.”

Kori started walking small circles around the crime scene, making sure to leave the main area undisturbed. The police tape was still up and she knew she’d be unwelcome leaving her own footprints in it.

“Did you look for a weapon?” she asked Kyle.

He shook his head. “I just stayed with Jenna the whole time. Why, do you think they might have missed it?”

Kori shrugged. “Doubtful. But it’s possible.”

“What else do you know about Lou?” Kori asked as she continued to make larger and larger circles around the taped off area. She’d made sure not to set one foot inside. Zach would forgive her but she wasn’t so sure about Lani Silver.

Kyle shrugged. “As much as anyone else who barely knew him, I guess.”

Kori decided to test the waters and share what Kiera had told her earlier. Without disclosing her source. “Did you know he had a brother?”

Kyle narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to his left. “Are you sure? The only people I’ve ever seen him around town with was an older couple. I assumed they were his parents.”

This information seemed to back up Kiera’s knowledge of family drama. “Maybe the brother was estranged?”

Kyle nodded and got back to searching in the grass for anything that might be helpful. “Could be. Hey, come over here.”

Kori looked up and saw that Kyle was stooped over an area she hadn’t yet reached. She made a note of where she was in relation to the crime scene so she could continue her searching and then joined Kyle. “What’d you find?”

Kyle held up a shoe. Not a sneaker or sandal like she would expect to find in a field next to a lake. But a black high heel. “Is that Jenna’s?” Kori asked.

Rage flashed through Kyle’s eyes and Kori immediately wished she’d
clarified why she was asking, this being her property and all. “What, you think she’s guilty so this must be what she was wearing when she killed Lou?”

Kori held her hands up in front of her, chest high, showing she meant no harm. “I only thought it might be hers because this property belongs to you guys. Who else would have come out here wearing heel
s?”

“Oh. Right. Sorry,” Kyle said quietly, realizing he’d jumped to a conclusion that Kori hadn’t intended. “Actually, it might be hers. We stopped by here a while ago on the way back from dinner and watched the sun set. I’ll have to check and see if the other one’s at home. That wouldn’t look good, would it?”

Kori shook her head. “No. But at least you found it, not the police.”

Kori returned to where she thought she’d been circling and Kyle went back to sifting through the tall grass. As she got further and further from the crime scene tape, the grass got thicker and taller. She was soon up to her chest in tall grasses and knew she wouldn’t find what she was looking for, whatever that may be. So she gave up and joined Kyle who had recently walked down to the beach.

“I just don’t know how to help her,” Kyle said, his gaze seeming to search for answers out in the water. The black heel still dangled from his hand as if he’d completely forgotten it was there.

Kori put her hand on his shoulder. “You’ll get through this. And so will Jenna.”

“I want to know in my heart that you’re right, but I’m just not sure. If they don’t have any other suspects, how will she be able to be let go?” Kyle turned to look at Kori and she was surprised that a lone tear had escaped and was drawing a straight path down his cheek.

“We’ll find who did this. If the police stop looking, we’ll have to figure it out. What else do you know about Lou? Jenna told me he’s been hounding you guys for years to buy this land from you to build on. How aggressive was he? Could Jenna have come out here and had to defend herself from him?”

Kyle continued to stare at Kori. She could see that the gears were turning in his mind. If Jenna’d had to use self defense, would she be let off?

“She would have told me she was coming out here to meet with him,” he finally said, sounding completely dejected.

“Where did Lou live? Was he married?” Kori was grasping at straws but she needed a starting point. A black heel that might actually be Jenna’s and a dysfunctional family were barely enough of a lead to follow to get Jenna off the hook.

“He lived alone on Cardinal Drive. He used to have us over for dinner once in a while. Like he was trying to bribe us with lobsters and caviar
. You know, soften us up so we’d sell him the land.”

“Can you take me to his house?” Kori asked, hoping this might lead to something more solid.

Without saying a word, Kyle turned and walked back to his truck, Kori following him silently. She didn’t want to interrupt whatever he was thinking about, whether it was who might have killed Lou or how he was going to make sure Jenna was released sooner rather than later.

S
he followed him to Cardinal Drive where he parked in front of a small house set back from the road. Parked in the driveway was an SUV with out of state plates that looked shockingly similar to the one she’d seen speeding down Main Street yesterday morning. If Lou’s brother was estranged, Kori thought his parents would be the ones to come and deal with his belongings. But could the car actually belong to his brother? Was he in town to kill Lou?

Kori got out of her Subaru, walked across the street and got into Kyle’s truck so they could talk. “Do you know whos
e truck that is?” she asked him, keeping her ideas to herself.

He shook his head. “With Michigan plates? No idea.”

“But this is definitely his house?”

He nodded. “We haven’t been here forever, but his name is still on the mailbox.”

Kori turned in her seat to see what he was indicating and saw that ‘Lou McKay’ was indeed written right there on the mailbox. “His parents aren’t from Michigan?”

Kyle shrugged. “I thought they had to live close by because they were here so often. But I guess this could be their car.”

Kori took out her phone and snapped a photo of the license plate. She wasn’t sure that would be any help to her but it certainly wouldn’t hurt in any way. Maybe she could even come up with a reason to have Zach look it up for her.

“I don’t think we’ll get any answers today unless we knock on that door, but I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Kori said, ready to go pick up Ibis and maybe even spend some down time at Nora’s Red Clover Farm.

“You’re probably right. But if you think of anything, will you tell me?” Kyle asked, a sadness creeping into his voice that pulled at Kori’s heart.

“Of course.” Then she opened her door, walked back to her car and drove off, leaving Kyle still sitting in front of Lou’s house.

“What’s going on?” Nora asked after Kori let herself into her house.

Kori looked at the clock and saw that it was already after four.
Where did the day go?
“I was helping Kyle look for clues to prove Jenna’s innocence.”

“What do you mean? Her innocence? Everyone knows she couldn’t have killed Lou,” Nora objected, handing Kori a mug of tea.

Kori gladly accepted it and followed Nora to the living room where they sat on either end of the couch. “She was arrested this morning and hasn’t been released. Apparently she doesn’t have an alibi that can be verified. Kyle doesn’t know why she was out at their land yesterday. So we went there looking for clues, and get this … He found her shoe.” Nora’s eyes widened. “At least he was pretty sure it was hers.”

“That’s not good.”

“No,” Kori agreed. “But it was a high heel. Why would she have been there yesterday in heels? So he doesn’t think it’s from yesterday, and I’m inclined to believe him.”

“Of course. We both know Jenna, and Kyle, and that they weren’t involved in this.”

Kori sipped her still too-hot tea and burned her tongue. “But then who is?”

“You don’t have any leads?” Nora asked.

“Well, there’s this brother of Lou’s that no one seems to know. And Kyle took me to Lou’s house and a black SUV was parked in the driveway and it looked a lot like one I saw speeding through town yesterday morning. And another weird thing from yesterday morning was that Vera was at the shelter earlier than usual, and had blood on her hands when I knocked on the front door to see if everything was okay. She looked worried and didn’t come let me in so Ibis and I went back to the café. By the way, where are the dogs?”

Nora waved her hand in the air toward the stairs. “Milo and Otis went upstairs to pass out and Ibis followed them. I’ve never seen them get tired out so quickly. Maybe it’s the weather.”

Kori felt a cool air blow through the room and she shivered at the thought of snow just around the corner. She took another sip of tea, being more careful this time.

“So, do you think Vera is involved somehow?” Nora asked, bringing Kori’s thought back to Kyle and Jenna.

Kori shook her head. “No. She’s gotta be as innocent as Jenna. I mean, I guess I want her to be. But there could always be that possibility of something we don’t know about.” Kori looked up at Nora. “We’ve known her our whole lives. How could she go and kill someone?”

“I know. But honestly, if it’s between Vera and Jenna, I’d put my money on Vera.”

Kori considered this idea. Finally she said, “I guess I’d have to agree.”

Just then, Ibis came charging down the stairs, Milo and Otis right behind her, and jumped on to the couch and crawled into Kori’s lap. “Oh hi, I missed you too,” Kori said between dog kisses on her cheek.

Kori’s phone started ringing in her pocket, only adding to the confusion. Somehow she managed not to spill any of her tea as she placed it on the windowsill behind her, pushed Ibis off and dug her phone out of her pocket. She just missed the call but saw that it was the police station. Likely Zach calling from work, but something at the back of her mind made her question that theory.

“I’ve gotta return this call,” Kori said and walked toward the kitchen. If it was just Zach calling to say hi, she preferred privacy
rather than sitting right next to Nora.

She touched the green callback button and listened to it ring twice before she heard Zach’s voice. “Hey Kori. We just missed you.”

“Hi Zach. What do you mean, we?” she asked, scrunching her forehead.

“I have Jenna with me. We found some evidence we were going to go through with her to have her explain to us and she asked
for you to join us. Is that okay?” Zach asked.

Kori was confused. Wouldn’t Jenna want a lawyer? How was she getting roped into this case?

“Sure,” she said hesitantly. “I can be right over.”

“Great. We’ll wait for you.”

Kori hung up and walked back to the living room. “I’ve gotta go. Zach called from the police station and Jenna asked that I come sit in on some conversation about some evidence he has or something. It all seems really weird.”

“Do you think you’re being setup?” Nora asked. “Why would she want you there instead of Kyle or a lawyer?”

Kori shook her head, concentrating hard. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. Maybe just because they think I can find clues better than the police?”

“Yeah maybe
. You did find the murderers to both the dead bodies that showed up on my farm,” Nora agreed, but Kori could tell from her voice that she wasn’t completely convinced. “I’ll keep Ibis for you. Stop by after you’re done.”

Kori thanked her and waved goodbye, then let herself out the front door. Ibis tried to follow but was easily persuaded to stay and play with Milo and Otis some more. Kori couldn’t be sure but she suspected that their age was finally catching up with them and that was why they were sleeping when she’d arrived.

Kori drove away from Nora’s farm and toward the police station, a knot only tightening in her stomach.