Rise and Die (The Early Bird Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Read online

  Kori heard those last words as if it were a game to Tessa, like she was only here for fun, not because she truly wanted her café in Hermit Cove.

  Without another word or look at Tessa, Kori walked past her quickly to the front door. She let herself out without a glance back and walked back up Main Street to The Early Bird Café, her pride and joy and most of all, her home. Without it, she would be lost.

  Kori glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly five thirty. She reached the front door, unlocked it and turned the sign to open. Then she poured herself another cup of coffee, even though adrenaline from the confrontation with Tessa was enough to wake her up. She knew she’d come down from that eventually and would need another boost.

  With her mug full, she headed back to the kitchen, pulled the quiche out of the oven and turned it back on. She got the griddle going for the steaks, checked the oatmeal, got the French toast and pancake batters out of the fridge and placed her eggs and veggies on the counter within reach for the first orders.

  Then she sat down on the one stool she had back there and thought about what to do next. How could she diffuse this situation before it got even further out of hand? She hadn’t even brought up the topic of her tire slashing and after Tessa’s reaction she wasn’t sure she could without endangering herself and her business.

  Kori was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she heard the door open. She got up from her stool and saw that her first customer was Betsy Scoop, the owner of the summer ice cream shop, Scoop’s Scoops.

  “Morning Betsy,” Kori greeted her before Betsy had even looked up. Her gaze was stuck on the floor. Even with Kori’s words, Betsy didn’t look up, like she was lost in thoughts even deeper than Kori had just been. “Hi Betsy, everything okay?” she tried again.

  This time, Betsy looked up and Kori could see exhaustion written all over her face. Her hair looked like it needed a good wash and combing and her clothes were wrinkled like she’d slept in them. But she didn’t look happy to be awake, so Kori suspected she hadn’t had a night out. Something was clearly wrong.

  “Oh. Hi. Morning Kori. Yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine.” Betsy walked slowly to the counter in front of the serving window and took a seat.

  “Can I get you something to drink to get started? Coffee? Tea?” Kori offered while Betsy studied the menu on the nearest chalkboard.

  “Coffee. Thanks.” She seemed to be waking up slowly.

  Kori let her be and filled a mug with coffee. “Cream? Sugar?”

  “Black,” Betsy said without looking away from the menu.

  Kori placed the mug in front of her and turned to check on the quiche in the oven. She took it out and turned the oven down to just warm enough to heat up the stuffed French toast and keep the quiches tasting oven fresh.

  “I’ll have the egg sandwich with arugula,” Betsy finally decided and Kori got to work frying an egg and toasting an English muffin.

  “You getting ready to open Scoop’s Scoops?” Kori asked as she cooked. With only one customer, it was easy to catch up on the town’s happenings.

  “Not sure yet,” Betsy said, starting to open up and relax as she sipped her coffee. “I’d hoped to move into a bigger building. But I was outbid so I don’t know what I’m going to do. We could barely handle the crowd last year.”

  “Where were you hoping to move?” Kori asked.

  “Into Sunrise and Shine. We finally had enough profit to buy it after all those years being empty and then some out of towner came along and snatched it up a week before I was ready to make a move.”

  “Tessa Doyle,” Kori said.

  “You know her?” Betsy asked, genuinely interested now.

  Kori nodded. “We went to culinary school together and then we both worked in New York City.”

  “So you’re the one who brought her up here?” Betsy’s tone suddenly changed from friendly to sinister.

  “Nope. Nothing like that.” Kori chuckled at the thought, hoping it would calm Betsy down. “We hadn’t been in touch in the two years I’ve been back here—you knew I grew up here?” Betsy nodded. She was a new resident since Kori had moved back. “And even in school and New York we weren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination.”

  “I can’t see why. I’ve got nothing but negative vibes from her since she moved in next door.”

  “Here you go,” Kori said as she placed a plate with an egg sandwich in front of her. “And a side of bacon wrapped leeks. On the house.”

  “This smells great. Thanks so much. I needed a good breakfast after the last few days.”

  Kori wanted to gently ask about those days but wasn’t given the chance. Her morning rush started with Jenna and her husband Kyle coming through the door, followed by Gale’s spin instructor, Anita Price. Kori greeted them by name and got their regular morning coffees going while they picked out what they’d have.

  With that first influx of customers, Kori was swamped the rest of the morning. She assumed that Tessa hadn’t opened again since business was so good. She felt for Tessa’s business but couldn’t take the time to dwell on it. And in all honesty, her life would be much simpler without her in town.

  Just as the last customer left and Kori was about to turn the sign to closed and lock the front door, she saw Detective Gunn walking toward The Early Bird Café. This time he was alone.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Good afternoon, Detective Gunn,” Kori said when it was clear that she was his final destination.

  “Ms. Cooke, you’re under arrest for the murder of Tessa Doyle. You have the right to remain silent—”

  Kori didn’t hear the rest of her rights. She was too shocked to do anything but allow herself to be handcuffed and led back to the police car parked just down the street. She silently kicked herself for not reporting yesterday’s tire slashing, wondering if that could have changed her fate at all.

  And Tessa was dead? It took longer than it should have for that fact to sink in. She’d just spoken to her that morning. Well, been yelled at by her. What had happened since then? Clearly something big.

  Once at the police station—for the second time in less than twenty four hours—Kori was processed and brought into the same room for questioning that she’d visited last night. She was disappointed that she didn’t see Zach anywhere and was stuck with Detective Gunn again. She didn’t trust him.

  Kori knew she was innocent. She’d asked for a lawyer last night and had suddenly been released. Today, she was skeptical that would work. Instead, she decided to answer his questions as truthfully as possible until things got out of hand. She suspected that asking for a lawyer would confirm for him that she was guilty.

  “Ms. Cooke,” he started. “You visited Tessa Doyle this morning?”

  That seemed innocent enough. And she had, so she told the truth. “Yes. I—”

  “What was the nature of the visit?” he interrupted her.

  “She had accused me of vandalism, so I wanted to ask her about that since I know I didn’t harm her store.”

  “So you knew about the vandalism to Sunrise and Shine, then?”

  “Yes, you—”

  “What did you discuss with Tessa this morning?” he interrupted again before she could remind him that he had questioned her yesterday for the vandalism and that had been the first she’d heard of it.

  “I tried to tell her that I had nothing to do with it.”

  “You tried to tell her. Because you knew it would be a lie, you couldn’t actually tell her?”

  “No.” Kori started wondering if she should ask for a lawyer. She knew he wouldn’t be able to keep questioning her then. “I couldn’t tell her because she kept yelling at me.”

  “Because you threw a rock through her café’s window. A café that is hurting your own business. A café that is pulling customers away from yours.”

  “No, I didn’t throw a rock through her window. And I didn’t kill her,” Kori said adamantly.

  Just then, Zach walked through the
door and showed more authority than he had last night.

  “Detective Gunn, a word please.” Zach gave Kori a look that she read as reassuring but she really had no idea if that’s what he meant by it. It could have been a warning. A way to tell her to stop talking until she had a lawyer.

  But who was she kidding? She couldn’t afford a lawyer. She’d get some public defender.

  She was relieved to see Zach again when the door opened, Detective Gunn nowhere in sight.

  “Kori, this is on the record this time. I had to pull some strings but you’re free to go. I called your brother to come get you. I don’t know what your involvement in this was but it doesn’t look good. You’ll be watched closely. So be careful,” he warned.

  “Thanks Zach. I owe you. Free breakfast? For a week?”

  “I could use that. For a start.” Zach winked at her and she felt herself blush. She hadn’t had time in the past two years to even think about a romantic relationship but she felt her heart do her thinking for her in that moment. She didn’t want to look down. She wanted to keep looking into his electric blue eyes but her embarrassment wouldn’t let her gaze remain there.

  Zach escorted her back to the front door and Jay was already waiting outside. She was thankful her mother hadn’t been the one Zach had called. She would have gossiped about this for days—or weeks, depending on whatever other drama crept up in the near future—even though she was her only daughter.

  Kori climbed into the passenger seat and avoided looking at Jay. He gave her a few moments of peace but then asked as gently as he could, “So . . . everything okay?”

  She didn’t mean to unload on him but it came spewing out before she could stop it. “Tessa’s café was vandalized and I was questioned about it last night. Now she’s been murdered and they think I did it!”

  Kori turned in her seat to look at Jay, who showed no reaction and whose silence was deafening.

  “That’s it? You’re just going to sit there and drive me home when I told you that your sister has been accused of being a murderer? I need you to react.” Kori was beside herself with panic and needed to know that Jay was on her side.

  Jay turned his head to face her while they were stopped at a stop sign. “Kori, I know you didn’t do it.”

  That was a relief. At least her brother knew she was innocent. Or did he know she was innocent because he knew who did it? Or had he done it? He’d always been a protective older brother but would he have taken it a step too far in driving out her competition?

  No, of course not. Kori knew she was overreacting. She just needed time and space from the murder and her arrest—arrests—to process a rational chain of events.

  Maybe Jenna had seen something. She lived next to Tessa’s café. And even if she hadn’t seen anything, maybe she’d at least heard something. She hadn’t shared any details yesterday when she’d brought it up. Was she hiding something because she was guilty?

  Stop it, Kori! She had to intentionally focus on the road in front of them instead of on her reeling thoughts.

  “Thanks for the ride, Jay. You’re not going to tell Mom, are you?” Kori asked once he had parked in front of The Early Bird Café.

  “Hah. Of course not. Your secret’s safe with me. The secret of getting arrested,” he added quickly, only after Kori gave him a look of shock and terror. “I know she’d talk about it all over town and no one needs that.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I just know you’ll repay the favor if I ever need it.”

  Kori opened to door and gave her brother a scowl. “I’ve already bailed you out multiple times and kept my mouth shut. This is your turn to return the favor. See you later.”

  Kori slammed the door and Jay drove off, turning around to head back to the Auto Body.

  Alone, Kori wasn’t sure what to do. She let herself into the café and found it just as she’d left it—a mess after being rushed out at closing time. She got to work cleaning up and then headed upstairs to shower and change. She needed to go to Nora’s and talk about what had happened. If anyone could help, it would be Nora.

  ***

  “Well, let’s make a list of possible murderers and see what we can figure out about each of them,” Nora said, pen in hand, poised over the piece of paper in front of her on the table.

  As soon as Kori had walked into the greenhouse where Nora was transplanting seedlings, she’d broken down. Nora had abandoned her task and they went into the house to have a cup of tea and figure out a solution to Kori’s problem. She was proactive about every bad situation on her farm, so this was just another challenge she had to overcome.

  “We can’t solve this on our own,” Kori protested.

  “Maybe not. But from what you’ve told me, it sounds like Zach is on your side. Like he’s always been. Why not use that to our advantage?”

  Kori was immediately thankful that she was no longer in this alone. “I can’t use Zach.”

  “Well, maybe there’s something you can give him in return,” Nora suggested, eyebrows raised.

  “I’m not pimping myself out.”

  “Come on. I can hear it in your voice when you talk about him. I’ve always been able to hear it. He’s not the only one interested in a relationship. You are too; you’re just afraid of admitting that.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Kori said, feeling her face blush and knowing Nora had hit the nail on the head.

  “No?”

  “Okay. Fine. I’ll see if I can get any information from him. But only as a last resort. We’ll find out what we can on our own first.”

  “Fine. Just remember that you were the one who said we can’t solve this on our own.”

  “Yeah. Right. Well, put my name on the top of your list.”

  “Your name?” Nora asked, looking confused.

  “I mean, I’m a suspect. We both know I’m innocent. But as far as I know, I’m the only one who’s been arrested for Tessa’s murder.”

  “Good point. Kori Cooke,” Nora wrote as she began her list with her best friend’s name. “Anyone else? Or do we have to assume the whole town is guilty until we can cross them off?”

  “That would take too long. I think I can narrow it down a little. At least to get started. They’re long shots but let’s check out Betsy Scoop and Derek Spears.”

  Nora added the names to the list. “What evidence can I add to their names so we can keep everything straight?”

  “Well, it’s not really evidence. It’s more of suspicions. Betsy was totally out of it this morning when she showed up for breakfast at The Early Bird—”

  “I don’t know if being out of it in the early morning counts as suspicious,” Nora objected.

  “I know. It’s probably nothing. She was talking about a difficult last few days. And she didn’t sleep much. And Tessa was killed this morning. So if it was between when I was at Sunrise and Shine and when Betsy showed up at The Early Bird, she would have had enough time to kill her. And look disheveled about it.”

  “You really think she’d kill Tessa and then go straight to breakfast? And besides, what’s her motive?”

  “She wanted the building Tessa bought for Scoop’s Scoops. She told me that this morning. Tessa bought it just days before she was going to make an offer. She’d had her eye on it since the end of last summer and finally was in a position to make an offer.”

  “Okay. Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. Hey, do you even know how Tessa was killed?” Nora asked.

  Kori shook her head. “It would help I guess if I knew more details about the actual murder. Would it be too suspicious if I invited Zach out to drinks to try to get more information?”

  “Now you’re thinking. But yes. I think that would be too suspicious. And I’m not one to try to stop you from going out with Zach. But, you could have him over and I could be there too. Just a friendly get together. With old school friends.”

  “Great. Tonight?”

  “Maybe tomorrow. Let’s not rush into something that gets us both
in more trouble.”

  Kori laughed. “I’m so glad to have you on my team.”

  “I’m always on your team, honey.” Nora patted Kori on the shoulder as she walked by to get more tea. “What about Derek? Why do you think he’s a suspect?”

  “Yesterday morning, after Tessa stopped by and was so pissed at me, Derek got a call from Tessa. He was having breakfast with Spencer and Tessa was yelling at him so loudly that I could tell it was her. I don’t know what it was about but what if he did some of the work on her café and it wasn’t up to par? Or if she needed the broken window fixed and he wasn’t able to do it soon enough for her? Then she railed on him over the phone. What if it ticked him off to the point of killing her?”

  Nora turned and looked at Kori. “That’s not even a long shot. That’s to the moon and back. Have you ever known Derek to do a shoddy job on anything? And even if she was screaming at him, he’s so even tempered, I can’t see a phone call pushing him over any edge. He’s not near an edge.”

  “You’re right. But on another note, my mom thinks Jay’s a dad,” Kori said, needing to get that off of her chest too. She hadn’t had time to think about it but having just seen Jay, it was another mystery that needed solving.

  “What? Jay? Yeah right.” Nora was laughing out loud.

  “That’s what I thought. But then my mom was even trying to get information out of Jay about it without telling him why. He asked if I knew what was going on. I told him no. But maybe I should just get it out in the open and ask him. You know my mom. She’s not going to let this go until she gets the answer she wants or has hard evidence that she’s wrong.”

  “Sure. Because if I had a brother and I accused him of hiding a niece or nephew from me, that’d go over really well,” Nora reasoned sarcastically.

  “Well, whatever. I’ll figure something out. I’m sure my mom will ask me about it again if she hasn’t solved it on her own yet.”

  “And what about your tire? Did you figure out who did that? If we’re going to solve mysteries, we may as well get them all out of the way at once.”

  “No. But I assume it was Tessa. She thought that I threw a rock through her window so she was getting revenge. But I don’t know for sure, and now I guess I won’t know for sure.”