Murder at Jade Cove (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 2) (2 page)

“So
your fingerprints would be on both of those. Is there anything else you can
think of?”

“No,
I went into the shack, but I didn’t touch anything. Oh, Mike, I just remembered
that I left the cake next to the front door of the shack.”

“That’s
not a problem. Imagine some of these people investigating the crime wouldn’t
mind having a piece of that cake. I need to fingerprint you so we can eliminate
your prints. Once that’s done you and Rebel can go home. I don’t know when I’ll
be there so don’t wait up for me. Go to bed. You need to get some rest so
you’ll be fresh in the morning. When people find out what’s happened out here
at Jade Cove, they’ll be going to the coffee shop to gossip and see if anyone
knows more than they do. Jeff’s wife, Marcy, and his son, Brandon, need to be
notified. Do you know where they are?”

“When
I talked to him about delivering the cake, Jeff said something about Marcy
going to Portland and spending a few days with her sister. I don’t know her
sister’s name, but I would think it would be on the contact list on Jeff’s
computer or his cell phone. There might even be an address book in the ranch
house. As for Brandon, I haven’t seen him since he started classes at Oregon
State.”

“All
right. I’ll make some calls and see if I can find out where both of them are.
You know as well as I do that word of Jeff’s death will be all over the county
in a matter of hours. The rumor mill in these parts is about as fast as the
Internet.”

“Are
you going to have someone here in the morning?” Kelly asked. “I’m thinking all
of those construction people are going to show up to start bulldozing the house
and getting ready to build the hotel and spa project. With Jeff’s death, I
wouldn’t think it could be started.”

“I’ll
go through the files I saw on his desk in the shack. From a quick glance at the
papers, it looked like they dealt with the project. I’m sure the name of the
general contractor will be in the files. I’ll call him and you’re right, the
project can’t be started since the house and all the surrounding area is now
involved in an active crime scene investigation and off limits to everyone,
including the contractors. I don’t know what’s going to happen. This is a real
mess.”

“I
was thinking the same thing, Mike. I wonder if Marcy will continue with the
hotel and spa project. I remember you found out that Jeff was the sole owner of
the property when you were doing research about the property before you
arrested him for growing marijuana. You and I were both sort of surprised that Marcy’s
name wasn’t on the title to the property. I wonder what’s in his will. She may
not even be the new owner of the property. This is going to be very
interesting.”

“I
have no idea. If everything hadn’t burned down in the fire at the back of the
property, he’d probably still be alive, but of course he’d be in prison.”

Kelly
looked up at him. “You know, it’s kind of ironic that after the fire, the
District Attorney wouldn’t prosecute him. He said he couldn’t prove that Jeff
was growing marijuana because it all burned up. Instead, several months later,
Jeff’s murdered on the property where he was going to build a hotel and spa
that was opposed by many people in the community. In prison or dead? I’m not
sure that’s much of a choice, but it looks like it wasn’t his choice to make.”

Mike
kissed Kelly on the cheek and opened the door of her van for her. As she and
Rebel drove back to town one question after another came to her mind.
Who
did it? Why did they do it? Why now? Wonder if Marcy will get the property?
What about Brandon? Wonder if the hotel and spa will ever be built?
Her
mind felt like it was permanently on fast forward and wouldn’t stop.

Kelly
had a hard time going to sleep that night and when she finally did, it was a
fitful and restless sleep. When her alarm buzzed the next morning, she reached
her hand out for Mike. His side of the bed was empty. Her night had been long,
but his must have been much longer.

Roxie, the long-time waitress at
Kelly’s Koffee Shop, and Madison, who worked there when she wasn’t attending
classes at the cosmetology school in Sunset Bay, were waiting by the front door
of Kelly’s Koffee Shop when Kelly parked her minivan in her usual spot.

The coffee shop was
located on the pier that jutted out into Cedar Bay. Kelly’s grandparents had
originally built it and Kelly and her husband took over when her parents
retired. After her husband, Mark, had died at an early age of cancer, Kelly had
run it by herself. It had supported Kelly and her children through the years
and she still felt as attached to it as she had when her grandmother had
lovingly and with a great deal of patience, taught her how to cook at the
coffee shop. She let Rebel out and he bounded along the pier to where the two employees
were standing, hoping for an ear scratch. They both bent down and obliged.

“So, is it true Jeff Black
was murdered last night?” Roxie asked as Kelly opened the door of the coffee
shop.

“Good grief! How did you
find out? It hasn’t even been twelve hours,” Kelly said.

“Kelly, you know the drums
start beating in this town the minute something really good or really bad
happens. Someone told someone and it went from there. Do you know what
happened? Any truth to the rumor that you were the one who found him?”

“I don’t know anything
other than yes, I found him when I went out there to deliver a chocolate cake
he’d ordered. Beyond that, you’ll have to ask Mike. He never came home last
night, so I’m hoping he found out something. Come on, this will probably be a
busy morning. I’ll bet half the town will stop by to gossip about what happened
to Jeff.”

A few minutes later,
Charlie, the fry cook and son of Chief Many Trees, opened the coffee shop door
and hurried over to her. Charlie still resented the United States government
for taking away his tribe’s ancient land. Sullen and angry as always, he was
dressed in jeans and a blue denim shirt and wore a large green turquoise
cluster bracelet with a matching pendant. The lines around his mouth were deeply
etched from constantly scowling. “Kelly, we heard that Jeff Black was murdered
last night and that you were the one who found him. Everyone on the reservation
hopes it’s true. Now maybe that land our tribe fought so hard to keep from
being developed will stay as it is. You know we consider that land to be sacred
because our ancient burial grounds are on it. Is it true? Is Jeff Black really
dead?”

“Yes, Charlie, it’s true
and I don’t know what’s going to happen to that land. We can talk later, but
right now I expect we’ll have a big crowd this morning, so I need you to get in
the kitchen and set up for the onslaught. We open in thirty minutes and I want
everyone to be ready.”

Several hours later she
was filling up a small coffee pot from the large commercial coffee urn in the
kitchen when Roxie stuck her head in the kitchen. “Kelly, Mike’s here. He asked
if you could come out and talk to him for a minute and you better take a cup of
coffee with you. From the looks of him, he could use a lot of coffee and some food
as well.”

Kelly walked over to the
booth where Mike was sitting and put a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of
him with two cubes of sugar and a little cream, just the way he liked it.
“Mike, I was worried when I woke up this morning and you weren’t there. What
have you found out?”

“It was a long night,
Kelly. Marcy’s sister’s telephone number was in Jeff’s contacts list on his
computer. I called her and she told me she had the number of the hotel where
Marcy was staying in Portland and would call her. That surprised me because I
thought Jeff had told you she was going to stay with her sister. Anyway, I
would have preferred to tell Marcy in person, but I was afraid she’d hear it on
the news before I could get there. Her sister called me back a little later and
told me Marcy had taken it well and would be coming back today to Cedar Bay to
make the necessary funeral arrangements.

“I also found Brandon’s
contact information. He’s living in a dormitory at Oregon State. I called the
resident adviser at the dormitory and told him I was on my way to Corvallis to
tell Brandon about his father. Fortunately traffic was light and I was able to
get there in an hour and a half. Telling a young man his father has been
murdered when only a few months ago the woman he loved was also murdered is
pretty high on my list of things I never want to do again.”

“Oh Mike, that must have
been horrible for you, but there’s no question you did the right thing,” she
said, putting her hand on his arm and patting it.

“May have been, but it
sure didn’t make it any easier. I called Marcy’s sister back this morning and
she told me Brandon was going to drive home to help Marcy make the funeral
arrangements. Her sister is also going to drive here and stay with Marcy for a
couple of days.”

The swinging doors of the
kitchen opened and Charlie came through them and walked over to where Mike was
sitting. “So, is it true that the man who tried to defile our sacred tribal
land is dead? Sure hope so. He was an evil man. Serves him right. The tribe’s
thinking about having a smoke dance ceremony out at the reservation to
celebrate his death.”

Roxie walked out from the
kitchen and put a plate in front of Mike with a big slice of the daily special,
the breakfast tart, and the coffee shop’s famous caramel coffee rolls.

“Thanks, Roxie. I was
thinking about that tart on the way over here. It’s one of my favorites. I
mean, who can resist a tart with cheese, eggs, and bacon in it? And caramel
rolls. This man is going to leave here a lot happier than when he came in,
believe me.”

He turned back to Charlie.
“Charlie, the decision to allow the hotel and spa to be built was made by the
County Supervisors. Jeff had the right to build it on his land, even if it had
been the tribe’s a long time ago.”

“Just because some
politicians say it’s okay, doesn’t make it right. In fact, the Great Spirit
knows it’s wrong. That’s probably why Jeff Black is dead. The Great Spirit took
care of something the politicians screwed up.”

“Do you know anything
about who might have killed him?” Mike asked.

A snide smile replaced his
customary scowl and he said, “Nope, but I’d like to shake the hand of the man
or woman who did it.”

“Charlie, think I better
come out to the reservation and talk to you and your dad. The two of you might
know something that could help me in the investigation.”

“Sure. I’ll tell Dad. Look
forward to it. Might even get Lisa Many Horses to make you some of her famous
fry bread. People drive for miles to get it. Kelly won’t let me make it here.”
He turned and walked back into the kitchen. Kelly and Mike exchanged knowing
looks and Mike shook his head.

“Kelly, I don’t know where
to begin. There are probably more people who wanted to see Jeff dead than
people who wanted to see him alive. I have an appointment with Lem Bates at
1:00 this afternoon. He was Jeff’s attorney and maybe Jeff told him something
that might help me with the investigation. Anyway, it’s a place to start. Right
now I’m going home and try to get a little sleep. See you tonight.” He walked
over to the door and retrieved his signature white Stetson hat from the coat
rack. He bent down for a moment to scratch Rebel’s ears, and then he stood up,
opened the door, and walked down the pier to his sheriff’s car.

“Kelly, you don’t think
the tribe had anything to do with the murder do you?” Roxie asked.

“I have no idea. Oh swell,
here comes Chief Many Trees right now, your favorite customer.”

“You saw him first. You
get him,” Roxie said. “Some days I just can’t deal with him and today’s one of
those days.

The chief stood just
inside the door and motioned to Kelly. She walked over to him. He was wearing a
silver wrist cuff with a large piece of jade inlaid in it, a jade and silver
ring, as well as jade points on his bolo tie. “Chief, you can take any of the
empty tables. I’ll be with you in a minute to get your order.”

“Not here to eat,” the
chief said in a gruff angry voice. “We’re having a special tribal council
meeting tonight. Tribe’s pretty nervous about what’s going to happen to the
Black property now that Jeff Black is dead. Some people want to have a
celebration, but I thought I better call a meeting before somebody goes and
does something stupid. Was wondering if you could bring us some of those
special bacon chocolate chip cookies you make.”           

“Sure. I have some in the
freezer. How many do you want?”

“Well, we’ve got nine
members on the tribal council, so a couple of dozen should do it.” He looked at
the sweet roll dripping with caramel sauce that Roxie was serving to a
customer. “If you’ve got any of those sweet rolls left over, bring those too.”

“Okay. I’ll probably be
there about three this afternoon. I’ve never been on the reservation. Where
should I go when I get there?”

“You’ll see some buildings
at the end of the road. I’ll be watching for you. See you then.”

About fifteen miles north of Cedar
Bay, Kelly turned onto the dirt road leading to the reservation. In the
distance she saw a ramshackle cluster of mobile homes, old cars, and a couple
of dilapidated buildings. Chief Many Trees had told her that once there were
nearly four hundred members of the tribe living in the surrounding area, but
now there were less than sixty. He’d explained to her that the tribe was losing
most of the younger members to jobs in the cities. Several of them had received
scholarships to universities and once they had their degree, they had no desire
to return to the reservation with its very limited opportunities.