Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 05 - Smashed Potatoes and Gravy (5 page)

Kori parked and let herself sit in her car alone for a few moments. She tried to understand why Jenna wanted her here. Was it only because she and Kyle had caught Nora’s kidnapper in August?

She sure hoped so.

Once she was inside, Zach quickly found her—there must have been surveillance cameras everywhere, had he even watched her sit in her car?—and brought her to the room where Jenna was sitting alone.

There had been only one other time that Kori had been in this same room. When she’d been accused of killing her ex-rival from her previous life in New York City, Tessa Doyle. And Zach hadn’t been the policeman to question her. Detective Gunn, Lani Silver’s predecessor, had. And he’d tried to frame her for that murder.

Now Kori took one look at Jenna and rushed to her side. She embraced her very pregnant friend and whispered in her ear, “It’ll be okay.”

But her words seemed to do nothing to reassure Jenna. Her already red and swollen eyes somehow managed to produce more tears and they quickly soaked through Kori’s shirt.

“How am I supposed to stay in her
e overnight? I can’t do this to my baby,” she sobbed. “And with my entire family in town for the week? What are they going to think?”

Kori didn’t have the answers to her questions but was spared from having to try to come up with something because Zach—Lieutenant Gulch, she thought, given the setting—entered and interrupted Jenna’s cryfest.

Kori sat in the chair next to Jenna and Zach sat across from them. The room felt cold and airless with only the table and three chairs.

“Kori, thanks for coming in,” Zach said. He opened the folder he’d carried in and set on the table between them. “Jenna asked that you join us for this
.” Kori still wasn’t sure what
this
was. “We recovered this folder from Mr. McKay’s house today.”

Zach slid a paper toward Jenna and Kori could feel her body tighten. What was on that paper that had Jenna worrying?

Before she could learn what was happening, Jenna said, “I want a lawyer.”

Zach nodded. “I thought that time might come.”
He got up and left without a word. Kori knew that he couldn’t talk to Jenna until her lawyer was present. This could be her chance to get information from Jenna, even if there was a microphone allowing everyone outside the room to hear them. She knew whatever Jenna said couldn’t be used after requesting a lawyer.

“What is this, Jenna?” Kori asked
quietly.

Jenna hung her head before answering, looking completely dejected. “Years ago, before I had bought out my sister, she had created some kind of deal with Lou. That’s why it’s been so hard for us to get the land into a conservation trust. I hadn’t told the police about this contract that I still haven’t been able to get out of—even though I bought the land so long ago—so now it’s going to look like the only way I could get out of it was to kill Lou.”

Kori had to agree that this did look bad, hopeless almost. But she had some other questions for Jenna that she needed answers to before leaving, so she pressed on. “What shoes were you wearing yesterday when you went out to your property?” Kori asked.

Jenna looked up finally. Kori had to admit, it was an obscure question out of context. “Why?”

Kori lowered her voice even more. “I went out there with Kyle today to look for clues and we found a black high heel. It didn’t really make sense to find a heel there. Kyle thought you’d lost it the last time you were there together. So I wondered if it was yours and when you’d lost it.”

“I can’t believe he finally found it. It’s been missing since the summer. Yeah, it’s mine. We went out to dinner in July and stopped there on the way home. I must have dropped it when we were walking back to the car because it wasn’t until I got home that I even noticed it was missing. We looked there so many times.” Jenna even managed to laugh at the memory.

“What about Lou? What else do you know about him?” Kori asked, glad that the shoe was easily explained away. Though it would have been nice to have been able to use it as a clue to find the killer.

Jenna shrugged and shook her head. “Not much. I know where he lives. He’s originally from Michigan.”
That explains the car,
Kori thought. But she still didn’t know if it belonged to his parents or his brother. “But that’s about it. Kyle must have told you that we used to go to his house sometimes? When he still thought we’d cave and sell him the land.” Jenna’s voice seemed to become angrier with each word.

“He did,” Kori admitted. “I’ve also heard that he has a brother. Do you know anything about that?”

Jenna shook her head. “If he did, I don’t think he ever visited.”

“That’s what Kyle thought too.”

Zach walked back into the room, interrupting their conversation. “Jenna, we’re going to have to process you. Your lawyer will be here tomorrow.”

Jenna’s face visibly blanched, if that was even possible
given how pale it already was. The overhead fluorescent lights didn’t help. “What are you holding me on?” she asked, panic raising her voice to nearly a squeak.

Zach paused before answering. “Murder.”

***

Kori was quickly ushered out of the room and she saw Jenna being led in the opposite direction when she turned to look back. She knew Zach would take as good care of her as he could, but she also knew that his hands were tied by the law.

Kori knew she wouldn’t be of anymore use at the station, so she drove back to Nora’s, caught her up on the situation and then headed home. Once there, with a defrosted serving of homemade lasagna on a plate, she called Kyle. She knew he’d want to know what had just happened.

After telling him everything she knew he said, “I think we have to start focusing on who could be guilty rather than trying to prove Jenna’s innocence.”

Kori had to agree. “Let’s start with Vera. Something was going on yesterday morning and it could have been something to do with Lou. She usually comes in at some point during the week for breakfast and I haven’t seen her all week other than the baby shower, so hopefully she’ll come in tomorrow.”

“Great. And I’ll try to find out who this brother is.”

Kori hung up feeling positive that they’d be getting Jenna out of jail before Thanksgiving. They had one day.

It was still dark out when Kori opened her eyes to an awful sound. It had
shocked her awake from a deep sleep, and for the second night in a row she wasn’t sure where she was. Then the noise sounded again.

“My phone?” Kori said out loud, trying to wake herself up and make sense of everything. She knew she wasn’t in her bed.

“Hello?” she said into the phone, finally realizing she’d fallen asleep on the couch.

“Hey sleepy head. I thought you’d wait for me after I took Jenna away.”

Kori put all the pieces together and relaxed back onto the couch. “Sorry Zach. I thought you’d be a while and I had to get Ibis and eat. I was starving.”

“I’m just teasing. Did I wake you up?”

Kori considered lying but then thought better of it. “Yeah. What time is it anyway?”

She heard Zach laugh on the other end of the line. “Not even ten. You must have had a busy day.”

“Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Now I have to sleep.”

“Good night sweetie.”

“G’night.”

Kori hung up and made her way into the bedroom, still groggy and not quite stable on her feet in her half asleep mode. She brushed her teeth and found Ibis asleep on the bed. “You could have told me you were going to bed,” Kori said and Ibis barely looked up.

Six hours later, Kori’s alarm woke her at four and she was much more rested than when her phone had woken her the night before. Ibis also seemed much more lively. Kori was thankful for the holiday week, or she would have been up a half hour earlier to meet the delivery truck. To compensate, she’d ordered extra last week.

“You’re ready to go out, aren’t you?” she asked her dog, wondering what others would think if she kept this up and got caught talking to Ibis in public. “Maybe it
is
time to think about living with Zach.”

Ibis barked her agreement and went to the front door to wait as patiently as any dog can. Kori dressed and brushed her teeth, then grabbed a jacket knowing it would be cold and headed down the stairs into the café. They made their way outside and started walking along the crusty sidewalk of Main Street.

“Winter’s coming,” she told Ibis and hugged her jacket tighter around her body. She knew that if she wasn’t such a skinny chef she’d probably be warmer. But between all of the other activities she undertook, she could hardly find any time to eat, keeping her weight under control against her will. It had been hard to convince some locals that the saying, ‘Never trust a skinny chef’ wasn’t true in this case.

Her feet crunched on the frosted sidewalk and she listened for any sounds of Hermit Cove waking up. But there were
none. It was a silent and peaceful morning before Thanksgiving.

They made their way along their usual path and then ended back in the café. To Kori’s surprise, Ibis lay down next to the front door instead of heading back to Kori’s office. “You want your bed out here today?” Kori asked and Ibis looked up, a deep V between her eyes like she wondered what Kori had asked. Sometimes Kori thought her dog understood every word she said and other times, like now, they didn’t seem to speak the same language.

Kori brought the bed out and Ibis gratefully stood up, let Kori lay the bed near the door and then lay down on it. “We’ll see how this goes,” she said, knowing that at the first sign of trouble—which she didn’t expect—the bed, and the dog, would have to be returned to the office.

Then Kori was finally ready to start working. She wiped the three chalkboard menus clean and started over. The first item, which she hadn’t offered in far too long, was eggs
Benedict. Before deciding on the specifics she had to check what she had on hand.

In the pantry and in the walk-in fridge she found smoked salmon and Canadian bacon so decided on three options, veggie being the third. She’d make them on either a bagel, English muffin or cornbread, which she set to work right away making.

Her favorite cornbread recipe was made with either buttermilk or yogurt and she made two batches of each. If they weren’t finished today, tomorrow—Thanksgiving—would be the perfect time to get rid of the rest in one of her stuffing recipes. Or, leftover cornbread, cut in half, fried in butter and drizzled with maple syrup was a delicious snack or dessert.

Kori was just putting the
first two cornbreads into the oven when the door opened and she was accosted with conversation. “I just can’t believe you’re working for Kori now. I remember the first day she worked for your parents,” Kori heard her mother say to Kiera.

Kiera chuckled uncomfortably.
Then she listened for any sounds of Ibis getting up to greet new company. No clinking tags meant she was still lying down, undisturbed by customers coming in and walking right by her.

“One time I even had to bring Kori a change of clothes because you peed on her when you were potty training.” Gale exploded in laughter and a red faced Kiera walked into the kitchen.

“Morning,” Kori said cheerily, pretending she hadn’t heard their conversation.

“Oh Kori, I was just telling Kiera—”

“I don’t think she wants to be reminded of wetting herself,” Kori interrupted her mom.

“Right. Right.” Gale paused, trying to figure out what she was supposed to talk about instead. “All ready for tomorrow?” she finally asked.

“Yup. The turkeys are thawing and I have everything else all ready to make tomorrow morning,” Kori said, handing Gale the glass of orange juice she knew her mother would soon request.

“I’m excited for you to meet Lucas. You’ll be joining us at our table?”

Kori looked behind her and saw Kiera pick up where she’d left off, starting the pancake batters. “No. I’ll be serving. But Jay will be there. And I’ll chat as much as I can. Maybe we can all go to your house after. I’ll bring Zach.”

Gale clapped her hands together. “
Not tomorrow, sorry. Lucas and I have plans. Saturday will have to do. I’ve gotta run. Anita has an extra intense class planned this morning for all the extra calories we’re all planning to eat.” Gale winked and handed her glass back to Kori before she left. On her way out, Kori saw her mother pat Ibis on the head, something she didn’t normally do. She was not a dog person. Nor a cat person. She didn’t like the messes they made and fur she had to constantly clean up.

Kori turned her attention back to Kiera and was happy to see that there were two bowls of pancake batter and plenty of frozen blueberries between them. “What else can I do?” Kiera asked.

Kori looked around, taking stock of what else had to get done—the cornbread was cooking, the pancakes were ready to be made on an as ordered basis. “Get some bagels and English muffins. I’ll get the toppings for the eggs ready and preheat the griddle. Oh, and the yogurt. I’ll grab the granola.”

Both of them got to work right away. Kori glanced at the clock and saw that they were only ten minutes away from opening. Not enough time for her to eat anything that she had on the menu, but she could at least toast a bagel and add cream cheese and smoked salmon.

By the time she’d eaten, Kiera had already turned the sign on the front door to open and they patiently waited for the rush to begin. Kori didn’t really know what to expect today. The day before a holiday could go either way. So she decided to use her downtime to get ready for tomorrow.

“Let me know if it gets busy, but I’m going to make a few pies and get the cranberry sauce going for tomorrow,” Kori told Kiera who was sitting on a stool.

Kiera nodded. “Are you sure you don’t need me to work tomorrow? I can, it’s no problem.”

Kori stopped and turned so Kiera could see her face and know she was serious. “I’m sure
you can, and I’m even more sure that you aren’t going to. I used to do this every day alone. I want you to enjoy your holiday fully. And you can’t do that if you’re working. So come in here with your parents and just enjoy the meal.”

“But you’ll be working,” Kiera protested.

“But it’s my business.” Kori smiled and walked into the fridge to get out her ingredients for cranberry sauce, effectively ending the conversation.

Kori had a thing about canned goods. She believed that if she could make it, she wouldn’t buy a can. So the cranberry sauce that came as a mass of gelatin and could stand up on its own was out. Instead, she threw three bags of cranberries into the
crock-pot with plenty of water, honey, orange peel and spices and turned it to high. Later in the morning she’d turn it down and let it simmer for hours until it created its own bit of gelatinous deliciousness.

Once that was all done
and there were only a few customers for Kiera to wait on, Kori started on the pumpkin pies. She made a few with crusts and just as many without. The filling was all the same, but to make sure she had gluten free options of everything, she simply skipped the crust.

She didn’t put anything in the oven, knowing she’d have plenty of time to do that tomorrow—Zach had promised to help her, which was another reason she didn’t need Kiera to work.
Their one day of working together in the café in August had gone so well that Kori was willing to give it another try.

Before Kori could move on to the apple pies, Kiera came into the kitchen after taking more orders and said
breathlessly, “Kyle’s asking for you. Then, I could really use your help.”

“Thanks. I’ll be quick. I hope,” Kori added under her breath, hoping Kiera hadn’t heard.

In the dining area, she found Kyle squatting next to Ibis and stroking her ears. It suddenly dawned on Kori how perfect that pair was right now. Ibis had been an unofficial therapy dog in the past, spending the first few years of her life visiting retirement homes. Now she was offering Kyle the kind of support Kori couldn’t.

When Kori got close, Kyle stood and
she could see the exhaustion on his face. The bags under his eyes had at least doubled since yesterday and she suspected he hadn’t slept. She wasn’t sure Jenna would have either.

“What’s up?” Kori asked as lightheartedly as she could manage.

“I can’t find anyone who knows about Lou’s brother. Do you think he really existed?” Kyle asked, pain lacing every word.

Kori wasn’t sure he
did
exist. But she really wanted him to. “Let’s visit Kiera’s parents this afternoon. Kiera was the one who first told me about him. They might have answers.”