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

  “Coffee?” Kori asked Zach, walking to the coffee urns with two empty mugs before waiting for a response.

  Zach nodded and Kori filled them, then took a seat next to him at the counter so they could both admire the purple asters and white lisianthus with a few sprigs of eucalyptus.

  “Your day must have been busy yesterday. I thought I’d at least hear from you,” Kori said.

  “What do you mean? You didn’t get my flowers last night?” A look of hurt crossed Zach’s face, quickly being replaced by a smile.

  Kori laughed at her mistake. “Of course I got them. Thanks.”

  “But yes, yesterday was busy. I imagine you talked to Nora at some point?” he asked.

  Kori nodded. “I spent some time there yesterday afternoon. Did you figure out who the victim was? She said you hadn’t identified him yet.”

  Zach took a sip of his coffee, probably pausing to decide if he would give away this information to Kori. “Yeah. His name’s Marty Rivers. He used to work for Seeds ‘n More until about six months ago.”

  Kori’s mouth fell open. She’d thought a past employee could have been involved as the murderer, but to find out that he was the victim instead sent her head spinning.

  “I take it that you were doing some digging into who he might be, then,” Zach said, studying Kori’s face.

  She hated and loved that he could read her that well already. “Yeah. I was looking up Seeds ‘n More last night but I hadn’t figured anything out yet. Do you think Ria or Peter killed him?”

  Zach shrugged. “Not sure yet. But we’ve talked to his wife and it turns out he had a mistress on the side. So there are plenty of suspects to look into.”

  Just then, a family of four walked in and Kori couldn’t ask Zach any more questions. She and Nora were on their own to get to the bottom of why someone would dump a body in Nora’s delivery of grain.

  CHAPTER 6

  Kori was completely distracted all morning. She did her best to keep her mind on each task and conversation but all she could think about was who Marty was and why someone would want him dead.

  “Morning Kori,” Jenna Rhodes called as she walked through the front door with Anita Price. Kori was in the kitchen cooking, but she managed to smile and wave to the two women. She watched them take a seat at the only open table and as soon as she got a chance she went to take their orders.

  “How’s it going?” she asked them, trying her best to make conversation. “You’re starting to show,” she said to Jenna. She’d promised to host Jenna’s baby shower but she thought she had plenty of time still.

  “I know. Everyone wants to touch my stomach. It’s kind of weird. At least when strangers ask.” Jenna laughed and put her hands on her stomach protectively.

  “I wouldn’t like that,” Anita added.

  “No classes to teach this morning?” Kori asked. Anita taught spin and yoga classes at the rec center and Kori’s mom was always trying to get her to go with her.

  “Already finished for the day. We had early morning yoga today. I still haven’t seen you there with Gale.”

  Kori shook her head. “Maybe once I hire an employee I’ll be able to come once in a while. Can I start you with some coffee?”

  “None for me. I’ll take some tea though,” Jenna said.

  “Oh right. I’m still used to getting you black coffee and it’s been over a month now.”

  “I’ll have coffee,” Anita requested.

  Kori left the table and headed back to the kitchen to get coffee and tea for her two friends. As she headed back out to the dining area, she overheard a customer say to his wife, “Are you sure these are gluten free? They’re better than any gluten free pancakes I’ve ever had.”

  Kori considered their order for a moment and was 100% confident that she’d given them the right pancake batter. One of them had ordered gluten free blueberry pancakes, the other had ordered gluten free banana pancakes. She knew there was a slight chance she could have given them the non-gluten free mix, especially given how distracted she was, but she also knew her gluten free mix was one of the best she’d ever tried.

  Back at Anita and Jenna’s table, she placed the coffee in front of Jenna. Before she could even realize her mistake, Jenna had handed it to Anita and accepted the offered tea from Kori.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. You just told me you aren’t drinking coffee.” Maybe I did make the wrong pancakes for that couple. I have to start paying more attention, Kori thought to herself, her stomach flip flopping at the thought of making customers sick. “Do you know what you want for breakfast? I promise not to screw that part up.”

  Anita and Jenna laughed, calming Kori slightly. She knew they would still be regulars even if she made a mistake with their orders, but strangers were always a little more challenging to keep from spreading bad publicity. Maybe it was good she didn’t have her logo on everything in sight yet.

  Kori took their orders and headed back to the kitchen, determined to keep her head on straighter this time. She had to pay closer attention to everything and stop letting Marty Rivers’ death enter her thoughts.

  She didn’t succeed at staying focused on her work and the first chance she got, she sent Nora a text to let her know the name of the victim.

  She got an immediate response: Looking him up now.

  That gave Kori a little peace of mind to focus on the job. Which was good, because at one thirty, Doug Waters showed up for his interview, a half hour before Kori was expecting him.

  “Ms. Cooke,” he said, opening the door that wasn’t locked but said closed very clearly.

  Kori came out from the kitchen where she was still cleaning up the day’s leftovers and mess. “Yes?” she asked, not sure who was coming in when she was closed.

  He approached her, hand extended. “Doug Waters. Nice to meet you.”

  Kori did a double take, trying to hide her surprise while not being uninviting. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you for another half hour.” She shook his hand anyway.

  “I know. I was hoping that I could help you with anything that needed to get done. I’m great at on the job learning and wouldn’t get in your way at all.”

  Kori was immediately not excited about working with him. He might be older and have more work experience than the other candidates, but this was her café and she got to set the rules.

  “Actually, why don’t you take a seat at that booth,” she pointed toward the window furthest from the kitchen, “and I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”

  Thankfully Doug did as requested and she didn’t have to give him a tour of the entire place when she was pretty confident she wasn’t going to hire him after that introduction. After pausing in her office to pat Ibis and apologize for not taking her outside yet, Kori sat opposite Doug with his résumé in front of her.

  “So, Doug, tell me about yourself,” she started, thinking back to the interviews she’d been in on the other side of the table.

  Doug seemed prepared for the question and sat back in the booth, a slight smirk on his face. “Well, as you know from my résumé, I used to work in telemarketing. I think that experience has given me great people skills that would be very applicable in this environment.” Kori had to disagree based on what she’d already seen but she started making notes anyway.

  Doug paused and Kori used that opportunity to ask him to elaborate. “What kind of experience do you have working face to face with people?”

  “I worked in hospitality for a while,” he said, keeping his answer short.

  Kori looked up at him to gauge his reaction. “Did you enjoy that?”

  “Yes and no.” He nodded, the smirk having disappeared. “My boss at the time was tough to work with—Ria Mayfield.”

  Kori looked up, shocked. Maybe he would prove more important than she’d initially thought. But right now she had to regain her composure and use that bit of information to her advantage. “How did you deal with that—having a boss you didn�
��t necessarily agree with or work well with?”

  “I quit.” Doug leaned forward, hands clasped on the booth in front of him. “Look, I love all things food related. And I have plenty of experience with all of the classes I’ve taken around the world. You’d be hard pressed to find a better employee than I’ll be.” Kori couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you going to offer me the job or not?”

  Kori looked back down at the papers in front of her and considered how to answer the question without turning him off of her as a person. He might come in handy in the next few days if she wanted to know more about Ria. “Well, I appreciate your excitement and passion for the position. But your confidence comes off as arrogance and I’d like to interview at least one more candidate before making that decision.”

  Doug sat back and let the air out from his lungs. “Well, I look forward to hearing from you early next week.”

  Kori sat there, stunned. What just happened? How did he just take over his own interview? She knew he wouldn’t be hired, but he might be contacted for a different reason.

  She shook her head, finished cleaning up the kitchen and finally told Ibis, “Let’s go.” Ibis didn’t have to be invited twice. She happily followed Kori out back to the car and together they drove over to Nora’s.

  To Kori’s surprise, Nora’s truck wasn’t parked in its normal spot. And no dogs came running from any direction. She didn’t have long to consider where they might have gone because as soon as Kori had shut her door and Ibis was sniffing the grass around the car, Nora’s truck pulled into the driveway and parked next to Kori’s Subaru. Milo and Otis jumped out of the back while it was still slowing to a stop.

  “You’re early,” Nora said, grabbing a bag of food and closing the door to her truck with her hip.

  “Am I? I didn’t know I had an appointment.”

  Kori walked ahead to open the front door to the house. “I thought you had an interview at two. It’s barely after two now. What happened?” Nora asked as she set the bag on the counter.

  “He got there early, tried to insert himself into my routine and then basically told me he’s the best option I have, was I going to hire him or not?”

  Nora turned around, anger in her eyes. “Men.”

  Kori laughed. “Yeah. Men. Or just Doug Waters. But I did find out something interesting from him that we could use later: he used to work for Ria Mayfield. And he said she was a terrible boss to work for.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Nora put the last of her groceries away and then focused her attention on Kori. “What do you mean he used to work for Ria Mayfield? What did she used to do?”

  “According to Doug, she was his boss when he was working in hospitality.”

  Nora nodded slowly, taking in this new information. “She is very personable. At least on the phone. I’ve never met her in person.”

  “Not according to Doug. But before we go down that path, what did you find out about Marty Rivers online? Zach told me he had a wife and a mistress, so there’s plenty of motive for either one of them to be pissed enough to kill him. Where do you want to start?”

  “I found out where he lived. With said wife, Karin Rivers. I thought we could go visit her. Could pretend to be, oh, I don’t know, representing Seeds ‘n More. See if she can give us any details about Marty, the mistress or his previous employer.”

  Kori picked up her keys. “Works for me. What about the dogs?”

  “They’ll be fine here. The doggie door’s open in the back. Ibis wouldn’t even think of leaving if Milo and Otis are here. And they aren’t going anywhere.”

  Nora grabbed her handbag and followed Kori out to her car. Her Subaru would be much less memorable than Nora’s clunker of a truck that would turn everyone’s heads on the way. They didn’t need to be remembered by anyone. Least of all, Karin.

  Kori pulled out to the end of Nora’s driveway and waited for directions. Nora finally figured out why they weren’t going anywhere and said, “Oh yeah. Left.”

  Kori did as instructed and went straight until any other directions were offered. As she drove, she told Nora, “I asked Jay about Lani.”

  “What happened?” Nora asked with what Kori thought was way more curiosity than needed.

  “She used the L word.”

  Nora laughed out loud. “Of course Jay would run the other way. He’s such a guy.”

  “What does that mean?” Kori asked, feeling the need to defend her brother.

  “Every guy is afraid of that word. Women almost always say it first and scare their boyfriend away. They can’t hold their tongues.”

  Kori considered what Nora was saying and thought that it was usually true. Just not in her relationship with Zach.

  “Turn here,” Nora pointed as Kori sped by the right hand turn they wanted.

  Kori pulled over and checked for oncoming traffic before making a U-turn. “A little more notice would be nice.”

  “Sorry.”

  They followed some back roads to a remote home neither of them had visited before on the outskirts of Hermit Cove, as far from Thrush Lake as they could get. “You’re sure this is Karin Rivers?” Kori asked, skeptical that they were somewhere they shouldn’t be.

  “Positive.”

  “How’d you even get her address?”

  Nora gave her a look like she was asking too many questions. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Kori parked and they got out of the car. Kori led the way to the front door, Nora following her. She wasn’t sure bringing up Seeds ‘n More would be the best move to get information so she turned back to Nora and said, “Let me do the talking.” She had a better plan in her head. She just hoped it went smoothly.

  Kori noticed that they couldn’t see a single house from the front porch. It was absolutely silent—no noise from traffic, lawn work or neighbors. She considered that they probably should have told someone where they were going. Just in case.

  But before she let fear take hold, Kori knocked on the front door and there was no more option of turning back.

  Moments later, the door opened and a nondescript woman in her forties greeted them. “Can I help you?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  Kori was surprised she didn’t recognize the woman. “Mrs. Rivers?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  It was now or never for Kori to test her lying skills. “We’re here about your husband’s life insurance policy—”

  Karin’s face relaxed and she moved aside to let them in. “Thank you for coming out so quickly. I just got off the phone with your office not even ten minutes ago.”

  Kori breathed a sigh of relief as she spoke so Karin wouldn’t hear it. “Well, we were already in the area. The office called and let us know we should come straight over here. Actually, I don’t even have your paperwork with me. But I’d like to just verify some information with the electronic copy they sent me on our drive over.”

  Karin led the way into a comfortably furnished living room and pointed toward the couch for Nora and Kori to take a seat. “Let me go print you a copy. I’ll be right back.”

  Karin left the room and Kori turned toward Nora whose face had gone completely white. “What are you doing?” Nora asked, clearly concerned that they were going to get caught.

  “Well, I think another motive would be life insurance inheritance. We’ve gotta find out how much the policy was for and who the beneficiary was,” Kori quietly explained.

  Nora nodded, the color returning to her cheeks.

  Karin walked back into the room and handed Kori a folder full of all of the information she needed to know. She opened it up and pretended to know what she was looking at. “Thanks Mrs. Rivers.” She rifled through a few more pages. “Just to verify, you were the sole beneficiary on this policy?”

  “That’s correct. We made that change just six months ago.”

  “And before then—”

  “His sister was also a beneficiary,” Karin helpfully interrupted and finished Kori’s thought
for her.

  “Okay. And when you called the office—”

  Karin again didn’t leave Kori hanging but gave her all of the information she needed. “They told me that pending the police investigation they wouldn’t be able to give me anything. I was really hoping the police would get everything wrapped up quickly. Without Marty’s income, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Kori said conspiratorially. “And did you have any other questions?” Kori asked.

  “No. But thank you for stopping by. It means a lot to have a face to put with a name. Actually, I didn’t get your names.”

  Kori felt Nora tighten next to her. “Linda. Linda Smith,” Kori said. “And Julie Fellows.”

  “Linda and Julie. I’ll ask for you when I call next,” Karin said, standing up and offering her hand. “This is a terrible time. It means so much to know who’s going to help me through it financially.”

  Kori smiled, feeling only slightly guilty about what they’d done. She and Nora both shook Karin’s hand and followed her to the front door.

  “We’ll be in touch as we move forward,” Kori said in the most sympathetic tone she could muster.

  As soon as the door had closed behind them, Kori wanted to run to the car and get out of there as quickly as possible. Once safely backing out of the driveway she asked Nora, “Did you recognize her?”

  Nora shook her head. “No. Which is surprising. I thought between the two of us, we knew everyone in town. And that everyone knew us.”

  “She must really keep to herself.”

  “I guess so. I feel kind of bad for her that we just duped her like that,” Nora admitted.

  “Well, glancing through the papers, I don’t. They may have removed Marty’s sister six months ago, but she just increased the amount a couple weeks ago.”

  “What?” Nora exclaimed, turning in her seat to face Kori.

  Kori kept her eyes on the road ahead but could feel Nora staring at her. “Yeah. I knew we had a reason to talk to her. Now, pull up Marty’s obituary. It’s gotta be printed by now. See if it tells you where he was working.”