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

  “Maybe she thinks he’s interested in you. But really, I wouldn’t worry about that right now. What else about this body? You don’t know who it was?”

  “All I know is it was a guy, mid forties, balding. And the delivery came from Seeds ‘n More. But I don’t know who he was. I’d never seen him before.”

  “What do you know about Seeds ‘n More?” Kori asked, mentally scrolling through paths they could take to figure out who he was.

  “You think we can solve a death without even knowing who he was? I mean, I know we tracked down Tessa’s killer, and Dan’s, but we knew those people. We don’t even have a starting point.”

  Kori pulled out her phone, ready to start investigating Seeds ‘n More. She didn’t have any paper, so she also pulled up a note taking program to write down anything that seemed even remotely important. “Sure we do. Start with the delivery driver.”

  “Peter? No way.”

  Kori looked up to gauge Nora’s expression. She was shaking her head and looking down. “Why not? How many times have you met him?”

  “Only once. But I was with him the whole time he was here.”

  “And you didn’t notice anything that seemed off?”

  Nora hesitated. “I mean . . . maybe. But I was there. I watched him dump the wheat from his truck into the bin I had. I would have seen a body fall out.”

  “Maybe he didn’t dump the body right then. He knew where a big pile of wheat was sitting and could have come back.”

  Nora seemed to be considering this possibility. “Maybe,” she finally said hesitantly.

  “How was this guy killed?” Kori asked, pressing further down the path toward finding something useful to follow.

  “He was shot.”

  Kori made a note on her phone. “Did Zach know when he was killed?”

  “He said before he was dumped here. He guessed Tuesday afternoon and then he was probably dumped last night.”

  “When was your delivery?”

  “Yesterday morning,” Nora said, taking another sip from her drink but not appearing nearly as relaxed as earlier.

  “So he could have had plenty of time to leave, kill this guy and then dump his body. I think we have to start by talking to, what’d you say his name was?”

  “Peter Jones.”

  Kori wrote that down too. “Peter Jones,” she repeated so she’d remember it later. “Can you get in touch with him?”

  Nora nodded. “But I was told not to investigate this.”

  “Of course you were. But I think you need some more wheat delivered, don’t you? You can’t very well grind wheat that had a dead body in it. Or plant it for that matter.”

  Nora nodded. “I’ll go get my phone.”

  While Nora was inside, Kori checked her messages. She hadn’t heard from Zach all day and that was unlike him. She wondered if Lani was treating him any differently too.

  Before long, Nora was walking back out to the patio, phone pressed to her ear. Kori looked up and waited for her to get someone on the other end of the line. Nora sat down and pulled her chair closer to Kori’s and Kori could hear the phone ringing at the other end.

  “Seeds ‘n More, this is Peter,” a man’s voice finally said.

  “Hi Peter, this is Nora Farmer. You were at Red Clover Farm yesterday delivering wheat in Hermit Cove—”

  “Yes,” he cut her off suddenly. Kori could even hear a chair squeak and she imagined him leaning back at a desk. “Is everything okay with the wheat?”

  “It’s fine. I was just wondering if I could get another delivery. Can you set that up or do I have to talk to Ria for that?”

  Kori looked to Nora with a question in her eyes. Who was Ria?

  Nora seemed to understand her confusion and mouthed, “Ria Mayfield. Owner.”

  Kori nodded her understanding and Peter continued talking. “Ria takes care of all that. Do you want me to transfer you now? Do you know exactly what you’re gonna want?”

  “I’m not quite ready to place the order but just wanted to check on how to proceed. Thanks Peter. I’ll be in touch in the next few days. You can let her know to expect my call.”

  “No problem. See you when you’re ready for more wheat.”

  “Bye.” Nora hung up and looked to Kori. “At least now I have a reason to start talking to Ria.”

  “You think she could have been involved in this?”

  Nora shook her head. “If it was anyone from Seeds ‘n More, it was Peter. Ria is pretty far removed from the deliveries. And she just seems super trustworthy. It’s her own business. Why would she put that at risk? You know?”

  Kori understood. “Either way, I think we need to learn something about this body.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Kori knew that they weren’t going to learn the name of their victim today and she had work to get done so when Nora offered her a second drink, she did the responsible thing and declined. She had two more interviews this week, both with individuals she didn’t know so she had to do a little more due diligence than she’d done with Kiera.

  On her way out, she and Nora headed to the barn where boxes of veggies and eggs were waiting for Kori. Nora handed her a box of potatoes and put two crates on a dolly that she started wheeling toward Kori’s car.

  “So, you have another overnight planned with Zach?” Nora asked from behind Kori but she could still hear the smile in her voice.

  Despite Nora not even being able to see her face, Kori blushed. “Nope. I haven’t heard from him all day either. I hope that wasn’t the last time he spends the night.”

  Nora laughed. “Are you kidding me? He’s been waiting fifteen years to sleep at your house. I’m sure he’s just busy with the murder. Maybe stop by the station on your way back and surprise him.”

  “With what?” Kori asked. She didn’t have any flowers or chocolate or anything sweet and she didn’t want to make another stop. “Potatoes?”

  “I think you being there would be surprise enough.”

  Kori knew Nora was right but she really wanted to get some work done first. She’d give him a call when she got home. Maybe he’d have more information about the victim by then too.

  When Kori’s car was loaded full of plenty of veggies and eggs, she called Ibis who came running with a doggy grin on her face. Milo and Otis were on her heels but she outran them and leapt into the back seat.

  “I think she’s lost weight,” Nora said, eyeing Ibis as she ran by.

  “I think so too. She wasn’t fat when I got her, but running around with your dogs certainly turned what she had into solid muscle.”

  “I told you Milo and Otis would act even younger than her.”

  “But I think she finally caught up. She easily outran them today.”

  Nora nodded. “Well, they do have almost a decade on her.”

  Kori climbed into the driver’s seat and started her car. “Maybe it’s time for a puppy then.”

  They both laughed and Kori drove down the short driveway, waving to Nora as she left.

  Back at the café, Kori unloaded her fresh produce, got things washed and put away and then sat down at her computer. Ibis curled up on her bed at Kori’s feet. It wasn’t often that Kori relished the time she spent sitting down, but today she was exhausted. The late night, the early morning, the longer work day and a body to think about had taken it out of her. But she wasn’t ready to call it a day yet.

  She pulled up her next candidate’s résumé, Doug Waters. He was the oldest of the three people she was interviewing and had quite an eclectic past employment record. He’d spent much of the last couple years traveling the world, taking cooking classes wherever he could: Thailand, France, Portugal and Mexico. Prior to that, he’d been in a completely different field for several years; telemarketing. She suspected he had either really good or really bad people skills because of that.

  His résumé also listed stints at a fast food restaurant, a hotel concierge and even a valet parking attendant for a town she didn’t recognize
. Her biggest concern was that he seemed to move around a lot. Kori didn’t want to have to go through the hiring process again in a year and she wasn’t sure he’d stay in Hermit Cove that long.

  She figured she’d get a better feel for him tomorrow and instead started planning her menu for Thursday. First on the chalkboards went eggs and home fries. She now had plenty of potatoes even if everyone in town came in and ordered some. Green smoothies were fast becoming a favorite so she’d offer them for a second day in a row. Instead of gluten free waffles she’d make gluten free pancakes. And breaking from her rule of no gluten free and gluten full of the same item, she added plain and banana pancakes to the menu as well. Finally, because she wanted to eat this for breakfast, she put popovers on the menu. With more homemade jam, they were another crowd favorite.

  Finally, Kori was ready to go home and Ibis happily followed her up the stairs to their small apartment. Before she even had a chance to open the fridge to see what she could put together for dinner, the doorbell rang and she had to go back down through the café to the front door.

  “Jay,” she exclaimed when she opened the door. “I didn’t expect it to be you. And with flowers? What’s the occasion?”

  Jay walked into the café and Kori closed and locked the door behind him. “Were you expecting someone else?” he asked, handing her the flowers. “And these aren’t from me.”

  Kori took the offered flowers but was confused. “Who are they from?”

  Jay shrugged and they both turned to walk upstairs, Kori inspecting the small envelope for any clues as to who had sent her flowers.

  Once upstairs, Ibis leapt off the couch where she’d been resting and jumped all over Jay who got down on the floor and accepted the dog love coming his way. Kori put the flowers on the counter and opened the envelope.

  Kori’s heartbeat sped up as she read the message: Had a great time last night. Would love to see you again tonight but stuck at work. See you in the morning for the coffee I didn’t get today. Love, Zach.

  Kori read it again, unable to believe what she was reading. Love? They hadn’t even said that to each other and now he was putting it in a note with flowers.

  “Kori?” Jay asked, breaking Kori away from her daydreaming.

  She looked up and saw him staring at her, eyebrows drawn together. “Yeah?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said again, unable to form a coherent thought.

  “I asked if you saw Mom this morning.”

  “Yeah.” Kori was starting to feel like an idiot with a vocabulary of a single word.

  Jay nodded, seemingly unsure if he wanted to ask her another question. Probably because he kept getting the same one word answer. “I broke up with Lani,” he finally said.

  Kori nodded.

  “You already knew didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.” What is wrong with me?

  “Did Mom tell you?” Jay asked, getting up from the floor and coming to join Kori in the kitchen.

  Kori nodded so she didn’t sound like a broken record with another yeah slipping out of her mouth. Jay nodded back but didn’t offer any further details so Kori decided to gently press for information. “What happened?”

  Jay waved his hand like it was nothing. “She said she loved me.”

  Kori couldn’t help but chuckle. “And that’s a bad thing?” Kori didn’t think her brother was that commitment phobic.

  He shook his head. “It’s not a bad thing. But I couldn’t say it back and I saw the disappointment on her face. She needed me to say it back. So things started going not as smoothly. And she was nagging me to do things almost every day. And I didn’t want to be around that.”

  “Well, as long as you’re happy with your decision,” Kori said, trying to be supportive.

  “I’m happy with it. But she’s not.”

  “I heard. She was at Nora’s today and she thought she was acting extra cold toward her.”

  Jay looked up with the most animation on his face since he’d come inside. “Why was she at Nora’s?”

  “She found another body on her farm.”

  Jay’s eyes bugged out. “You’re kidding. That’s gotta be the worst luck of anyone in Hermit Cove.”

  Kori nodded. She couldn’t help but agree with that.

  Jay continued, “And now you two are gonna go after the killer?”

  “I mean, we kind of have to don’t we?”

  Jay laughed. “You only have to because you think it’s your job.”

  Kori shrugged. “We do have a better track record than the police department. But we don’t even know who the victim was so I’m not sure we’ll get much of a head start.” Kori changed the subject to something more simple. “Want some dinner?”

  Jay nodded and Kori got back to digging around in the fridge. She had leftover spaghetti and two kinds of pesto—basil and arugula—frozen veggie burgers and plenty of vegetables for a salad. She settled on spaghetti and a salad, hard boiling a couple eggs to add some protein and putting Jay to work chopping veggies.

  Over an hour later, when the dishes were in the dishwasher, Ibis had been walked and Jay had headed for his house, Kori sat back on the couch with her laptop on her lap. She wanted to start looking into Seeds ‘n More, their business practices and employees. If Nora was sure that neither Peter nor Ria had it in them to kill someone and dump the body in an easy load of wheat that could be blamed on someone else, she was sure there was an employee who could pull it off.

  But she was immediately stuck at a dead end. The only two employees who currently worked there were Ria Mayfield—the owner—and Peter Jones. He didn’t have a title, but Kori already knew he was a delivery driver. The only one, apparently.

  If it was only a two person company—at least online—it had to be either very young or very small. Or both.

  With some more searching, she found that the company was less than two years old and served most of its customers through mail. Delivering large quantities of seeds and grain was a newer practice that they’d just started. And Peter had only been around a couple months.

  Could he be Ria’s first employee? It certainly seemed plausible that it had been a one person company until Peter came on board.

  Kori eventually gave up on the company’s website. She was getting nowhere fast at figuring out any information about Ria or Peter. And she still didn’t know who the victim was.

  Instead of more research, she smelled the flowers from Zach one more time, relishing in the knowledge that he wished he was there, and then went to bed early so she could recover from her extra long day. When she closed her eyes, she could easily pretend that the weight next to her was Zach, not Ibis.

  CHAPTER 5

  Kori was thankful Thursday morning that she could sleep until her normal time of four o’clock. She rolled over at the sound of her alarm and turned it off with her eyes still closed. She already had the menu planned so let herself have another fifteen minutes of shut eye until her backup alarm sounded. She didn’t have to use that one very often, but today called for extreme measures.

  At four fifteen, Ibis wouldn’t let Kori stay in bed any longer and was antsy to go outside—much more effective than the second alarm clock that was going off. Kori had no choice but to get out of bed, brush her teeth and put on her make shift uniform. By the time the early morning air—still more humid than she had anticipated—hit her face, she was fully awake and ready for the day.

  They walked their usual few blocks up and down Main Street in the quiet and then Ibis happily curled up in the back office and Kori got to work. She had to be extra careful today to keep the gluten free and gluten full pancake batters separate. To help her remember which was which, for the gluten full batter she used her brown mixing bowl with a picture of wheat on the side that she hardly ever used. It was smaller than what she preferred but today it would have to do.

  She sliced plenty of bananas, and at the last second decided she would offer blueberry pancakes as well. She took
those out of the freezer and placed them next to her cutting board covered in bananas and bowls full of batters.

  Next were the popovers. She made a quadruple batch and stuck two pans in the oven to preheat them before the café opened and moved on to cutting potatoes into chunks. The home fries had to cook for a while to make sure they were soft all the way through and then she could just keep them warm.

  Finally, she got out her blender and Mason jars and surrounded them with all of her frozen fruits, yogurt, milks, juices and greens for the smoothies.

  When she was ready for the onslaught of Thursday morning customers, she headed out to the seating area and got the coffee urns going, hoping that Zach would stop by soon. It had only been twenty-four hours since she’d seen him, but she was missing him more than she cared to admit.

  And to her relief, just before five thirty when they risked being interrupted by paying customers, he walked through the front door, another bouquet in his hands.

  Kori’s heart melted. “More flowers?” she asked him, unable to keep the growing smile off her face.

  “Why not?” he asked, handing over the colorful flowers and wrapping his arms around her. She loved the feel of being in his arms. It made her feel safe and cared for. “I have to pamper the woman I love.”

  Love. There was that word again. Why had it made Jay run away from Lani when all Kori wanted to do was stay wrapped in Zach’s arms?

  She couldn’t bring herself to use the word in return, but in her defense he hadn’t said those three magical words all together: I love you. She wasn’t there yet and would have been surprised if he was.

  Kori finally disentangled herself from Zach and took the flowers from him. She got a jar—in lieu of a vase—and placed them on the ledge between her cooking area and counter where customers would soon be sitting and enjoying her food. This way she could see them whenever she needed a pick me up throughout the morning.