Croaked Wheat (The Early Bird Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) Read online

  Croaked Wheat

  The Early Bird Café Cozy Mystery Series

  by Ginny Gold

  Copyright © 2014 Ginny Gold

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and/or publisher. No part of this publication may be sold or hired, without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination and/or have been used fictitiously in such a fashion it is not meant to serve the reader as actual fact and should not be considered as actual fact. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  IN THE KITCHEN WITH GINNY GOLD

  CHAPTER 1

  Kori’s eyelids fluttered and she slowly regained consciousness. It was Wednesday morning and she had a delivery to meet this morning, making it an even earlier morning than usual. The partnership with Hermit Cove Market was going smoothly and this was her week to meet the truck, then Teddi, the owner of the market, would come pickup his items a little later.

  But the real bonus was the savings. Because of Teddi’s insistence that he could get her a better deal by teaming up, Kori was ready to start interviewing. Teddi had been able to save her café over one thousand dollars every month by ordering in bulk together and Kori had decided to put that money toward an employee. Her first ever. And this afternoon she was meeting with her first candidate—Kiera Bell.

  Kori had known Kiera since she was in diapers. Everyday starting sophomore year of high school, Kori had spent her afternoons with Kiera as her babysitter. So Kori was confident that Kiera would be her first choice in hiring. But to be fair, she was interviewing three candidates, one each day for the rest of the week.

  As Kori’s eyes slowly opened, she became aware of the body beside her and smiled. She’d given up after the first night of having Ibis, her white shepherd-pitt best friend of a dog, of trying to get her to sleep on her dog bed on the floor. Instead, they’d shared Kori’s bed every night and they both seemed to enjoy it.

  So when Kori let her hand fall on what she thought was Ibis’ back, she quickly jerked her hand away at the feel of human skin.

  She had to laugh at herself. Zach had spent the night and was still beside Kori, Ibis finally demoted to her own bed on the floor next to Kori’s side of the bed. In the still morning quiet, Kori could hear Ibis snoring away.

  Fully awake now, Kori got up and headed to the bathroom. When she emerged, Ibis was sitting up and ready to go out for a walk but Zach was still sleeping soundly. She didn’t want to wake him so she quietly slipped on jeans and a black t-shirt, promising herself that whoever she hired would first be tasked with getting shirts and aprons—maybe even mugs and napkins—made with The Early Bird Café’s logo of two birds sitting on a branch. Nothing fancy, but something that would be easy brand recognition for customers.

  In the kitchen, Kori scrawled a quick note to Zach, not wanting him to think that she’d abandoned him after the first night they spent together under the same roof. Had an early morning. Come down for coffee whenever you’re ready.

  She’d warned him about the earlier-than-usual alarm she was going to need this morning before four, but nothing was going to get in the way of a night together in the middle of the week. Kori smiled again at the memory of his insistence that he could sleep through anything—including an alarm clock.

  With the note in an impossible-to-miss location on the counter, Kori grabbed Ibis’ leash and they headed downstairs together, around the block slowly and back to the café where Kori had to meet the delivery driver, Donnie Reynolds, from Aunt Addie’s Red Barn Foods.

  The truck wasn’t there when they returned, so Kori got Ibis settled in the back office on the one dog bed she actually regularly used and wet a towel to wipe off yesterday’s menus from the chalkboards on the walls. As she passed by the coffee pots, she flipped the switches to on, knowing she’d gotten everything setup yesterday and she’d have fresh coffee for Zach whenever he crawled out of bed upstairs. Last, she turned the ovens on high to preheat so she could bake bread and took the dough she’d made yesterday out of the fridge. She placed her Dutch ovens in the warming industrial ovens to get them preheated as well.

  When Kori heard the truck pull in front of the café, all of the menus were clear and she left her damp towel on the counter to help Donnie unload.

  “Morning Kori,” he greeted, a smile on his face. She hadn’t known Donnie long, but he was perpetually happy. Every other week that he dropped off supplies at the café, he seemed genuinely thrilled to see her and she couldn’t help but wonder if he had a little crush on her.

  “Hi Donnie. Pull around back to the parking lot and I’ll help you unload. Teddi should be by before I open at five thirty so let’s put his stuff in the crates I used last time. That worked better than boxes since some of them are so heavy they break.”

  “Perfect. I’ll meet you back there.”

  Donnie hauled his huge body back into the truck and slowly drove to the back parking lot. Kori hoped he’d remember in two weeks when he was back again so they wouldn’t have to waste time with this silly exchange on the front sidewalk when they could already be stocking her pantry and fridge and setting Teddi’s goods aside.

  As Kori walked back through the café, she stopped in her office and invited Ibis to come outside. She really couldn’t have asked for a better dog. Ibis never begged to go out, never barked with all of the unknown traffic through the café and was happy to stay in the small office all day. But Kori knew that given the opportunity, Ibis would love to spend more time outside and this morning she got just that.

  Donnie parked the truck and started unloading boxes. Kori brought out a dolly and crates to load the boxes into for even easier transportation. She kept one eye on Ibis at all times but knew her dog would come running back to her as soon as she was called.

  “You sure do order a lot of flour and sugar,” Donnie joked as he loaded the fourth and fifth boxes of sugar into a crate.

  “I do,” Kori agreed. “You’ve never stayed for breakfast. You have a lot of Wednesday deliveries?”

  Donnie lifted the full crate onto the dolly and started loading the next one. “Yup. It seems like it never stops. Sometimes it’s even six days a week. The owners of these trucking companies don’t seem to get what we do.” Even with this small complaint, Donnie was still humming, clearly enjoying himself.

  “Try seven,” Kori teased.

  This made Donnie stop in his tracks. “You work every day?” he asked, doing a double take.

  “Yup. I’m up every morning at four. Except the mornings I meet
you. Those are earlier. And I keep the café open until one. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m around food all day and I couldn’t be happier.”

  “I guess food is kind of important.”

  “It’s life, really.” Kori tilted the dolly toward her and started pushing it toward the back door and into her oversized pantry. She had enough flour and sugar for two weeks, until the next time Donnie came with a delivery. There were only a few more boxes that were hers and were full of spices and smaller amounts of nonperishables that didn’t get used every day but were still vital to the café’s survival. Everything else was for Teddi, but to save money on deliveries they got dropped off at Kori’s every other week. And this was one of those weeks.

  She took a few minutes inside to check the ovens—which were preheated—and to get the dough into the Dutch ovens to start baking them.

  When the truck was nearly empty and all of Kori’s and Teddi’s boxes of goods were stowed inside the café, Donnie gave a casual wave, kept the every-present smile on his face and climbed into the driver’s seat. Kori called Ibis to come back inside and they were ready to start their normal Wednesday morning.

  Just in time for Gale to come swinging through the unlocked front door. “Good morning,” she sing-songed on her way to the walk-in fridge where Kori knew she would help herself to a glass of orange juice.

  “Hi Mom,” Kori greeted her, placing bags of sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla extract in their proper places above her working space. The extras stayed in the pantry until she needed them.

  “Have you heard?” Gale asked between gulps of juice.

  Kori paused in her work and turned to look at her mom. She took in her bulging eyes, her hand out in front of her, palm up, waiting for an answer. Kori knew she was about to drop any type of bombshell on her from a tiny firecracker to an atomic bomb but it would likely be way overhyped. “Nope,” Kori said, shaking her head.

  “Jay broke up with Lani.”

  This was bigger than Kori had expected and her mouth fell open but no words came out. The last couple months had been going so well for her brother who had been online dating for years and then had found someone in person. A local detective, who might have moved to Hermit Cove to be closer to him, but Kori hadn’t seen Jay happier. So what had happened to make him want to end things suddenly?

  “I don’t know anything else. Just heard it through the grapevine,” Gale told Kori, putting the juice container away and her glass in the sink.

  “So Jay is the source of town gossip?” Kori asked. “You didn’t even get this information from him? I’m not sure you should be spreading it.” Kori knew Jay was a very private person, something he’d probably developed to spite their parents who didn’t know the meaning of the word privacy. Kori fell somewhere between their two extremes.

  “I wouldn’t say I’m spreading it. I’m only telling you,” Gale justified. A weak argument in Kori’s mind.

  “Well, either way, I wouldn’t tell anyone else. It’s his story and he gets to choose who he tells,” Kori defended her brother.

  “Maybe you should tell Lani that then.”

  Gale didn’t give Kori a chance to ask what that meant as she was out the front door and on her way to the rec center where she attended nearly every class Anita Price taught—spin on Monday and Wednesday mornings, yoga on Tuesday afternoons and Kori wasn’t even sure what else.

  Kori couldn’t let herself dwell on what was going on with Jay and how Gale was going to upset him by telling people about his relationship status. It was already after five, nearly time to turn the sign around to open, and the chalkboard menus were still blank.

  Before deciding what to put on them, she checked her breads in the oven and saw that they were ready to come out. She tilted the pots onto their sides and let the bread slide out onto cooling racks. The crusts were perfectly browned and she knew the inside would be soft and fluffy, just how she liked it. Now she got to listen to the bread crackle as it continued cooking from the inside out.

  She put the Dutch ovens back in the hot oven to preheat them again before the next batches of dough went in and got back to her menu planning. Definitely fresh bread or toast with homemade jam. She still had plenty of strawberry jam that she and Nora had made in June. Now, over six weeks later in the middle of August, it was still a crowd favorite and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it last until next summer’s strawberry harvest. They’d soon be making raspberry, blueberry and blackberry jams as well, but strawberry seemed to be a comfort food for the entire town of Hermit Cove.

  In addition to the fresh bread, she added goat cheese omelets with plenty of choices for greens—Swiss chard, arugula or spinach, all grown at Nora’s Red Clover Farm. She didn’t often have goat cheese for Kori—that usually came from Holly’s Meadowlark Dairy—but when Nora had a little extra, Kori always took it. And her customers thanked her.

  Kori took a quick glance into her huge walk-in freezer and found plenty of muffins—lemon poppy seed, strawberry, apple cinnamon and banana nut. She took out a small bag of each and would defrost them in her second oven. She set that temperature to low and waited for it to preheat while she finished her menu.

  Because she had plenty of greens and frozen berries, Kori added green smoothies to her menu and knew she’d have to make herself one. She still hadn’t eaten breakfast and her stomach wasn’t completely thrilled about it.

  Finally, she decided on gluten free waffles. Lately, with all of the out of town tourists, there had been more and more requests for sweet gluten free options. She didn’t like to make two kinds of waffles or pancakes and risk mixing up the batter or contaminating her gluten free area with gluten filled goodies, so she usually stuck to only one option for gluten free. Gluten free customers could also easily order eggs to avoid the gluten choices.

  Just as she finished writing the menu on the third chalkboard she heard a door open and she looked up toward the front. There was no one there. For a moment she thought she was either hearing things or about to be horribly surprised, but then she remembered who she’d left upstairs and she turned just in time to see Zach close the door behind him coming from the stairs to her apartment.

  Zach rubbed the sleep from his eyes and smiled. Kori walked toward him before he could say anything and let him wrap his arms around her. She loved how her head fit just below his chin, a perfect resting place for her.

  He kissed the top of her head and said, “Good morning. I never even heard you get up.”

  “I did that on purpose.” Kori backed away from him. “Coffee?”

  “Actually I’ve gotta run into the office. I just got a call. Then I’m going to Nora’s.”

  “Nora’s? Is she okay?” Kori asked, suddenly feeling panicked. It had only been weeks since Nora had found a body behind her barn and they’d worked with the police to figure out what had happened.

  “She’s fine. But there’s another body. I don’t know anything else right now but I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  Zach kissed her again and walked out the front door. Kori couldn’t figure out how he could remain so calm in the face of murders. And she was assuming this was a murder.

  CHAPTER 2

  Kori was completely distracted when Zach walked out the front door. All she’d done so far was bake bread, get coffee ready and plan what else would be on the menu. But she hadn’t made any waffle batter, arranged her cooking space or even gotten ingredients out. She’d only put them away.

  She glanced at the clock and saw that she had five minutes before she had to officially open. And where was Teddi? They’d agreed that he’d pickup his crates of food and supplies before she opened at five thirty.

  Just as she finished that thought, the front door opened and in walked Teddi. “Sorry I’m almost late, Kori. Things were hectic this morning.”

  Kori pasted on the most convincing smile she could manage and thought to herself, Tell me about it. To Teddi she said, “Let’s head to the back. I
have everything set aside for you. Did you bring your truck to load it?”

  “Yup. Dan is driving it out back. He’s going to be the one to come pick stuff up from now on. Will that work?”

  “Of course.” Kori was actually relieved. She loved seeing Teddi, but he was getting unreliable as he aged and she worried that he was overworked. Having Dan take on more responsibility would help them both in the long run. “I’ve gotta get to work but I’ll make sure Dan is all set if he has any questions. Are you going to help him?”

  “Not today. But let me know if there are any issues.”

  Kori nodded and they parted ways, Teddi back out the front door and Kori to the kitchen. She had to go out back to make sure Dan was all set but she really had to get everything ready for customers. How had today already gotten to be so overwhelming?

  “Hey Kori,” Dan said from the back of the pickup truck he’d driven over. He had already laid down boards from the bed of the truck to the ground to use as a ramp to load all of the crates.

  “Hi Dan. I just wanted to make sure you were all set. You okay to do this alone?”

  “Yup. I’ll holler if I need you.”

  Kori wasn’t sure she’d be able to offer any help but she waved her consent and walked back out front to turn the sign to open and then get her kitchen ready. Maybe every other Wednesday needed to be a three o’clock kind of morning with her alarm. She sighed at the thought.

  On her way to the kitchen, Kori filled up the biggest mug she had with coffee. With all of the activity this morning she was already feeling a little drained, and she had a longer day than usual with Kiera coming in at two for her interview. Kori had wanted to give herself an hour after closing—assuming everything went as planned, which wasn’t looking promising today—to make sure she’d reviewed Kiera’s résumé and knew what questions she wanted to ask.

  Kori took her first sip of coffee and felt it go straight to her head, waking her up a little bit more. She placed the mug next to her stove top and turned all of the burners to low to preheat as she got everything out—eggs, greens, yogurt, milk, the gluten free flour mixture she swore by, jams, syrup and so much more. She set her frozen muffins on baking sheets and stuck them in the oven to thaw slowly. She was always impressed with how fresh they tasted even after being frozen, sometimes for months.