Marriage and Murder (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 4) (4 page)

            “I really need to go
now,” Kelly said. “Would you like me to call Dr. Burkhart for you, Mrs. Allen?
He could probably give you something to help you get through the next couple of
days.”

            “No, Kelly. At my age,
one becomes familiar with death. It’s just that no mother should outlive her
son. Somethin’s not right about that. Goes against God’s laws. I’ll be okay.
Don’t you worry none. I’ve got Celia here, and with her love and support I’ll
get along.”

            “Here’s my phone number
if you need anything. I imagine Sheriff Mike will want to talk to both of you
in a day or so. Again, I’m sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but I
didn’t want you to hear it from someone else.”

            “Thank you,” Celia said.
“I think Momma needs to lie down for a little while, but mark my words, the
sheriff needs to talk to Sophie Marchant before he wastes his time with anyone
else. You tell him I said that.”

            “I will,” Kelly said,
opening the door and walking out to the waiting patrol car where Lady was
standing in the front seat watching for Kelly’s safe return. While she waved
goodbye to Celia, she made a decision to try and find out if Sophie Marchant
was staying at her big house on the cliff this weekend.

            A few minutes later she
said to the young deputy, “Thanks for the ride. You can just drop me off and go
on back. I need to run a couple of errands anyway.”

Almost immediately after the deputy sheriff dropped
Kelly off at her home, she and Lady got in her minivan and headed south from
town. Five minutes later Kelly spotted a road that led off the highway and up to
a large glass and wood house on the cliff overlooking Cedar Bay. She’d never
met the owner of the house, Sophie Marchant, but she remembered a few years
earlier how the town was buzzing about the large home that was being built
overlooking the bay. She also vaguely remembered that there had been talk that
it was too much house for a single woman, and the modern architectural style wasn’t
compatible with the majority of the homes in Cedar Bay, most of which had been
built in the early years of the 20
^th
century.

            Kelly pulled into the circular driveway
and parked. She walked up to the front door, noticing that she could easily see
the bay and the ocean by looking through the expanse of glass on the front of
the house which was repeated on the back side of the house. A red tile roof
gave the house a distinct Mediterranean look which seemed out of place to Kelly,
as the Oregon coast was almost always rainy and overcast. She rang the doorbell
and the door was immediately opened by a beautiful 40ish looking woman dressed
elegantly in a grey cashmere slack set with a maroon scarf casually thrown over
her shoulder. Small pearl earrings and a matching necklace gleamed against her
olive complexion and auburn ringlets.

            “May I help you?” the woman asked.

            “My name is Kelly Conner, oops, Kelly
Reynolds, now. I was just married yesterday, and I’m not used to my new married
name. My husband is the county sheriff.”

            “Yes, I’ve heard of you. You’re the owner
of Kelly’s Koffee Shop, aren’t you? I’m Sophie Marchant,” she said, holding out
her hand.

            “Yes, that’s who I am. May I come in? I’d
like to talk to you for a few moments.”

            “Please. I see a dog in the front seat of
your van that seems to be watching everything you do. Would you like to bring
him with you?”

            “If you don’t mind, yes, and it’s a her.”

            She returned to her minivan to get Lady,
and the two of them walked into the house.

            “What a beautiful little girl,” Sophie said,
holding out her hand so Lady could sniff it. “Would you mind if I give her a
treat? I have a dog of my own, so I always keep treats on hand. Unfortunately I
had to leave Amelie in Portland this weekend.”

            “Of course. I’m sure Lady would love it.
Thank you very much. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. I understand that
you were acquainted with Jesse Allen, the owner of The Crush.”

            Sophie jerked her head up from where she’d
been giving a treat to Lady. “Has something happened to Jesse?” she asked in a
soft voice with a heavy French accent.

            “Yes. My husband and I discovered his body
earlier today. He’d been killed, apparently the victim of a vicious murder.”

            “
Mon Dieu. Non.
I don’t believe
it.” Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “What monster could possibly do
this? Why would someone do this? Did you know we were thinking of getting
married?
Mon Dieu
.”

            “I am so sorry. I’m a friend of Mrs. Allen’s,
and I didn’t want her to hear about her son’s death from the town gossips, so I
went to her home a little while ago and told her. That’s when she mentioned
that you and Jesse were quite close. I thought it might be better for you if I
came to your home and told you personally rather than getting a call from some
stranger or seeing it on television.”

            Sophie sat down on one of the
cream-colored couches in the large room that overlooked the bay and the late
afternoon incoming fog which soon would reach land. She struggled to keep her
composure and began to speak in her accented soft voice, “I met Jesse when I first
came to Cedar Bay. I usually brought my own wine with me when I drove down from
Portland, but the weekend I met him I had forgotten to pack it, and I do enjoy
a good wine, so I stopped at The Crush to buy a nice bottle. There was an
immediate attraction between the two of us, and from then on, whenever I came
down for the weekend we would get together. We began to really care for one
another. I’m divorced, and he’s divorced. Neither of us has children. The only
problem we had was his ex-wife. I never met her, but from what Jesse told me
she wanted them to reconcile, and she was extremely jealous of anyone she
thought might be interested in him. Evidently she said a lot of bad things
about me, although I’ve never met her.”

            “I’m surprised he told his ex-wife about
you,” Kelly said.

            “I don’t think he did. I understand his
ex-wife and his sister, Celia, remained good friends after the divorce, and I
believe Celia was the one who told her about me.”

            “Knowing Celia, that doesn’t surprise me.
I’m sure my husband will want to talk to you about where you were around noon
today. He’ll probably be here tomorrow.”

            “I’m leaving for Portland tomorrow morning,
so if he wants to talk to me he’ll have to do it before I leave. Now that this
has happened, I’m not sure I even want to come here anymore. Jesse was
everything I ever hoped to find. Without him…” she stopped speaking in
mid-sentence, sobbing uncontrollably.

            Kelly got up from the couch and walked
down the hall, trying to find a bathroom and some tissues.
Good grief. This
has to be the most beautiful home I’ve ever been in. I don’t know anything
about art, but these paintings look like the real deal to me. And those glass
sculptures in that display case next to the front door are stunning. I remember
seeing some French art glass pieces in a magazine that were beautiful, and these
are every bit as beautiful. Everywhere I look there’s an incredible painting or
art object. Wonder where all her money comes from. Ex-husband? Probably need to
look her up on the Internet.

           
She returned from the
bathroom with several tissues and handed them to Sophie. “Again, Sophie, I’m so
sorry to be the one to bring you this sad news. Is there anything I can do for
you?”

            “All I want to do is get out of here.
Everywhere I look I see something that reminds me of him. I don’t know if
you’re aware that Jesse had a master’s degree in art history. He was torn
between working in the world of art or in the world of wine. His father insisted
he pursue a career in wine sales since so many new vineyards were being opened
here in Oregon. He told me his father had been a very good father to him, and I
think that’s why he decided to open The Crush rather than go into art as a
career.”

            “Well, you just never know about people.
And you, what is your background, if you don’t mind me asking?”

            “I worked in a fashion house in Paris and
met my ex-husband through friends. He was the managing partner of an international
banking company that sent him to the United States, actually to Portland, to
head up the growing office there. His family owned the largest perfume company
in France, but he chose to work in banking instead of going into the family
business. We were married for ten years when he decided that women who worked
in the movie industry were more interesting than I was. He’d been traveling
back and forth between Los Angeles and Portland. He met a starlet, divorced me,
and married her. He managed to immediately get transferred to the Los Angeles
headquarters of the banking company. It may have been guilt money, but I received
a very large settlement from him, as you can see,” Sophie said, gesturing
broadly at the surrounding house and its contents.

            “Yes, this house and everything in it is
simply beautiful. You have excellent taste.”

            “
Non.
Many of the things were
chosen by Jesse. We used to spend a lot of our time together looking at auction
catalogs. He was very knowledgeable about French art glass. The Daum and
Lalique works in the cabinet near the front door were chosen by him.
Mon
Dieu
, I’m going to miss him so much,” she said, starting again to softly
cry.

            “I’m so sorry. Would you like me to call
someone for you?”

            “
Non
. Thank you. I want to be
alone. I’ll leave tomorrow morning, and I don’t think I’ll be back. I can have
someone come and pack up the things in the house. Thank you, Kelly, for coming
and telling me. I know it must have been hard,” she said, standing up and
walking to the front door with Kelly.

            “Not as hard as it is for you. Here’s my
business card if you need anything and oh, would you write your telephone
number on this one, so I can give it to Mike? As I said, I’m sure he’s going to
want to talk to you. Again, I’m sorry.”

            Kelly took the card from Sophie and then
spontaneously put her arms around her and hugged her gently. “I’m sorry we
didn’t meet before. I would have liked to have gotten to know you. Please feel
free to call me. I hope we meet again.”

            “You are very kind,
mon amie,
thank
you.”

            Kelly and Lady got in her minivan and
drove back down the road to the highway.
Poor thing. How hard it must be to
find love, to have a second chance, and then, in the blink of an eye, lose it.
I really feel for her, and I meant it when I said I wished we’d met earlier. I
like her. I don’t know why Celia hates her so much. Maybe Jesse’s ex-wife
poisoned the well and made Sophie out as a bad person.

            “Lady, time to go home. It’s been quite a
weekend and tomorrow we have to get back to work.”

The next morning it was still dark
when Kelly woke up. She looked over at Mike, her husband of two days and still
couldn’t believe they were married. Even more, she couldn’t believe that less
than a day after their marriage they’d discovered Jesse Allen’s body in his
wine shop.

I remember an old saying
that went something like, “from the sublime to the ridiculous,” but yesterday
was more like, “from being ecstatic to being devastated.” I can’t imagine who
would want Jesse dead. Wonder if Mike found out anything, but I don’t want to
wake him. I looked at the clock when he came to bed last night, and it was after
midnight. It’s only 5:30 now, and he needs more sleep than that. I’ll have to
wait to find out.

She gestured to Rebel and
Lady to follow her to the kitchen. She let them out into the back yard while
she made a cup of coffee. After she was dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, she
looked over at Mike, silently saying goodbye, and that she’d see him later in
the day. While she was looking at him, she noticed Rebel had gotten up on the king-size
bed and was lying next to Mike, sound asleep.

Good grief. Rebel’s never
done that before. Mike must let him get in bed with him after I’ve left for the
coffee shop. So much for training the dogs to stay off the furniture. Oh well,
a wise woman I know once told me to choose my battles wisely. Guess this is one
I’ll let go.

She and Lady walked out to
her minivan, and once they were inside, she turned to the growing puppy that
was sitting in the back seat and said, “Lady, don’t even think about it. You
are not to get on the bed. We’ll pretend we didn’t see that. Deal?” She could
swear that Lady nodded her head in agreement.

In just a few minutes they
arrived at the parking lot next to the pier where Kelly’s Koffee Shop was
located. She and her late husband had taken it over from her parents when they
retired and moved to the Phoenix area. She got out of the van and stood for a
moment looking at the coffee shop. Memories of her grandmother teaching her to
cook when Kelly was a little girl, her husband, Mark, who had died at an early
age from a rare form of cancer, the lumbermen who used to patronize the coffee
shop when the lumber business was good, were just a few of the fleeting
thoughts that swept through her mind as she gazed at it.

She knew a lot of people wouldn’t
be able to understand how someone could love a coffee shop, but she did. It had
been a lifesaver for her when Mark died, and provided her with the means to
support herself and her two children. She particularly loved the people she’d
hired and considered to be an extended family. There was Roxie, who had been
with her for over ten years, and was everyone’s favorite waitress. Charlie, the
son of Chief Many Trees, was the best short order cook who had ever worked in
the coffee shop. Although he could be short-tempered when it came to issues
regarding Native Americans and how he thought the government had ruined them,
he never let it interfere with his work at the coffee shop. Madison was a
relatively new addition to the staff and would soon be leaving to work at
Wanda’s Beauty Salon in town. She’d be sorry to see Madison leave, but she was
glad Madison was staying in Cedar Bay.

Roxie, who had just
arrived and parked her car nearby, walked up to Kelly and said, “Woolgathering?
Isn’t it a little early in the morning for that?”

“Probably is, but this
coffee shop and I go way back. I was reminiscing more than woolgathering. You
know my grandparents started it with just a couple of tables and a tiny
kitchen. I think Nana would be proud as punch that what she started so many
years ago has lasted and grown. Anyway, enough of that, we better get started.
Good, here come Charlie and Madison,” she said, as she unlocked the door of the
coffee shop.

“Understood from Mike that
you and he were going to have a one day stay-at-home honeymoon, but from what I
hear, it didn’t even last half a day,” Roxie said, hanging up her coat.

“Yeah, probably has to be
one of the shortest honeymoons on record. I assume you’re talking about Jesse’s
death,” Kelly answered.

“I am, and it makes me so
sad to think we were with him just the day before he was killed. Does Mike have
any idea who did it?”

She started to answer when
Charlie walked in. “Mornin’ boss. Hear you discovered another body. Know who
did it?”

“Hi, Charlie, and to
answer both of your questions, the answer is no. Mike didn’t get home until
late last night, and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it. And
Charlie, as far as me discovering another body, I don’t know what’s happening
in this town. I sure hope this doesn’t happen again. I’m absolutely certain
we’re going to be just as busy as we were the day after Amber, Jeff, and Scott
were murdered. People seem to need a place where they can go and talk about a
tragedy and see what everyone else knows about it. Looks like Kelly’s Koffee
Shop is the place to go when a resident wants to find out what’s happening in
our sleepy little town.”

“Since we’re going to be
busy this morning, is there something special you want me to do?” Madison
asked.

“I’m going to make some bacon
and cheese quiches. They’re always a hit whether they’re warm or cold. We’ll
serve them for breakfast while they’re warm, and the ones that are left we can
serve to the lunch crowd. Who can resist those? Plus I got in an order of
oranges, so Madison, I’d like you to start squeezing oranges for the juice.
Yumm, just thinking about fresh orange juice and warm cheesy bacony quiche makes
my mouth water.

“I was planning on coming
in yesterday afternoon, since I haven’t been in here for a week because of the
wedding, but with Jesse’s death, it didn’t work out. I need to get started on
the quiches right away. Roxie, you take care of the coffee, and make sure the
tables are set and ready for the customers. Charlie, I need you to set up for a
busy morning. You’re probably going to have a lot of omelets and short orders.
I’d use the term
mise en place
, but I well remember how you told me the
one time I used that phrase that you weren’t French, so I should just speak plain
old English. I think you told me to tell you to just get your stuff ready and
forget the French words for ‘put in place.’ So, consider yourself told!”

At 11:00, when the breakfast
crowd had thinned, Kelly walked over to Roxie and said, “Mind if I step out for
about half an hour? I want to personally thank Amanda for the beautiful flower
arrangements and the bouquets she did for the wedding. I’ll be back in time for
the lunch crowd. Okay?”

“Absolutely, Madison told
me her school’s on break this week, so she’ll be here and we’ll be fine. Take
your time. Tell Amanda I agree, the flowers were absolutely beautiful.”