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

  Nora did as instructed and Kori navigated her way back through the maze of streets from memory. She prided herself on her directional skills. Once she’d driven somewhere once, she could almost always find it without a single problem the next time.

  Finally Nora told Kori, “That’s funny. Karin said she was going to struggle without Marty’s income. But I just found something that says he was unemployed.”

  “In his obituary?” Kori asked, surprised that information would be written about the deceased.

  “No. In an editorial he wrote two weeks ago.”

  “Well, he could have gotten a job since then,” Kori reasoned.

  “Maybe. But he’d been out of work almost six months. Isn’t that how long ago he’d left Seeds ‘n More?”

  “Yeah,” Kori confirmed, the wheels turning in her mind about where this might be going.

  “So even if he just got another job, they’d been struggling for six months with no income. Could he have been lying to Karin about that?” Nora asked.

  “Maybe. And he only told her that he’d found a new job. Or she knew he’d been out of work and that was the reason she upped the insurance. And then killed him.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Kori knew they were on to something. Karin was looking more and more guilty every second. Marty’s life insurance had just been increased; Karin was the sole beneficiary; Marty had a girlfriend on the side; and now they knew that Marty hadn’t been working for six months. If Karin was in desperate need of money, killing a cheating husband could have been the easy out.

  But they certainly didn’t have a confession, just plenty of suspicion. So instead of calling Zach to check out Karin’s alibi, they went back to Nora’s to see what kind of trouble the dogs had created.

  Surprisingly, the dogs were all passed out on the cool wood floor inside instead of still chasing one another around the house and barn.

  “Want to stay for dinner?” Nora asked, waking up the dogs who barely lifted their heads at the sound of her voice.

  Kori glanced at the clock. “I’d love to but I have some work to get done before I call it a day. How are you already finished with everything on the farm?”

  “I’m not. It’s just too hot right now to be out there in the sun or in the greenhouses. I’ll get some more work done after it cools down.”

  Kori nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Maybe we can find out who Marty’s girlfriend on the side was and talk to her. Karin certainly didn’t seem too distraught over losing her husband. Maybe the girlfriend is more upset.”

  “Sounds good. Have a good night.”

  Nora walked Kori to the front door and Ibis charged past her to the car. She was clearly ready for her own bed—or Kori’s couch.

  Back at the café, Ibis made a beeline for Kori’s office and immediately curled up on her bed on the floor. “Too much playing today?” Kori asked her. She would have liked nothing more than to lie down too, but she had some bills to pay, a menu to create for Friday, and a résumé to look over.

  She started with the bills—her least favorite part of the month. There was the mortgage, water, heating—which was nothing this time of year—gas, sewer; the list went on.

  Next was the menu. Kori decided that she’d be ambitious and really mix things up. She knew her customers didn’t get tired of her rotating menu, but sometimes it was fun to challenge herself and throw a curveball to the crowd.

  She started with an egg option. Instead of her normal eggs and home fries, popovers or omelets, she settled on a frittata. She had plenty of potatoes for the base, onions and mushrooms for the veggies, cheddar for the cheese layer and cream cheese to make the custard extra creamy. She had plenty of cast iron pans in various sizes, and baking them in those was the perfect fit.

  Next, she picked a new sweet item. No pancakes, waffles or French toast tomorrow. Instead, she’d make her own version of a Dutch baby—not quite as fluffy and plenty of almond extract to give it a unique flavor. On top, she’d offer strawberries and whipped cream, strawberries and powdered sugar or strawberries and maple syrup. There was nothing better than strawberries with something sweet.

  Then Kori added a familiar item that she hadn’t offered in a while—overnight oats. She started getting them ready right away: oats, apples, maple syrup, and milk into the crock pot. As toppings tomorrow, she’d serve each order with a small side of sliced, toasted almonds and shredded coconut. Her mouth started watering at the thought of her own breakfast.

  Finally, she decided to make bread and offer green smoothies again. On hot summer mornings, a cool, creamy, fruity drink was the perfect way to start the day.

  Before she could move on to reviewing her final candidate’s résumé, Allen Murphy, she made enough dough for four loaves of bread. She combined the flour and water after measuring on her kitchen scale, and set the yeast and salt next to the bowls to add in a half hour.

  Then she sat at her desk again and printed off Allen’s résumé. Of all three interviewees, Allen probably had the most impressive list of skills, though Kori was biased toward Kiera. Since Allen had started working, it seemed he’d been only in the restaurant industry. He’d been a dishwasher, a host, a busser, a waiter and most recently a cook. He’d worked in pizza joints, fast food chains, upscale restaurants and breakfast cafés. He certainly had the background, but as Kori had learned this afternoon with Doug, he may not have the people skills or personality to mesh with what she’d created in Hermit Cove.

  Finally, she was ready to go home—after mixing in the salt and yeast. As soon as that was done, she called Ibis and they started heading to the stairs that led to her upstairs apartment. But before she made it there, a pounding on the front door made her stop in her tracks.

  “Kori? I see lights on. I know you’re in there!”

  Kori relaxed at the sound of the voice. Her mother was still banging on the door so Kori went out front to open it. “Hi Mom. I was just heading upstairs. Come on up.”

  “Thanks. I’m starving,” Gale said, heading up the stairs without waiting for Kori who stayed behind to lock the door.

  Kori wasn’t thrilled about having her mom stop by unannounced for dinner, but she’d figure something out. She never had a plan for her own meals so Gale would have to deal.

  Upstairs, Gale had the fridge opened when Kori found her in the kitchen. “What’s your plan for dinner?” she asked.

  “No plan. Whatever you can find enough of for two people.”

  “I don’t get it; you plan meals everyday at the café but your own meal schedule is always left to the last minute.”

  Kori sat down on a stool and let her mom do the hard work of putting together a coherent dinner. “Yup. I just spent the afternoon planning breakfast so I never have it in me to plan another meal when I get home. Oh, that reminds me, I have to go do one more thing to the bread. Figure out dinner. I’ll be right back.”

  Kori rushed downstairs to fold the bread and stick it in the fridge to rise overnight. She looked forward to the morning when she would find it fully risen, full of air bubbles and ready to be baked into beautiful crusty bread.

  “What’d you find?” Kori asked, closing the door behind her and hoping her mom had been successful with dinner preparations. She really didn’t feel like cooking anything else today.

  “Spaghetti with garlic butter sauce and sautéed veggies,” Gale said, standing in front of the stove, staring into a pot.

  “Thanks. You do know that a watched pot never boils, right?” Kori asked, chuckling.

  “Yes. I think you learned that from me—my one skill in the kitchen, boiling water. Why don’t you get to work on the sauce and I’ll get the noodles made?”

  Kori was ready to sit and let someone else do the cooking, but her mom was right; Gale was a disaster in the kitchen. There had been plenty of family dinners growing up, but most of them had either been frozen or delivery after a failed attempt at something homemade.

  Kori got out a saucepan, butter, garlic
, zucchini, arugula and onions. She would stick to simple sautéed veggies to keep her cooking tonight to a minimum.

  When she’d gotten into a routine at the stove, she turned to Gale who was now staring into a pot full of boiling water and cooking spaghetti, and asked, “So what brought you by tonight? I usually only see you Monday and Wednesday morning.”

  Gale paused, like she was trying to figure out which words to carefully choose to share with Kori. “I’ll be going away for a little while.”

  The way she said it, Kori could only imagine bad news following that. But she waited for Gale to continue and didn’t jump to conclusion. Out loud anyway. In her mind, she asked, Like, to jail?

  “I’ve signed up for an art retreat.”

  Now Kori had to laugh. She held up one hand and apologized. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. But I thought your cooking was a good representation of your artistic skills. And enjoyment of it.”

  “I know. That’s why I waited until the last minute to tell you. I didn’t want to hear about my complete lack of talent for weeks. But I leave tomorrow for two weeks.”

  Kori straightened up and got more serious, stemming the oncoming tide of more giggles. “Where are you going?”

  “Well, I’ll be meeting someone in Italy and we’re going to the retreat together. I’m leaving tomorrow.”

  “Meeting someone, like a guy?” Kori asked, the ammo only growing. The last date her mom had gone on was with Mayor Devlin. That relationship had lasted one night because he had “too many girlfriends,” Gale had told her. And Kori had seen that it was true the following morning when he’d shown up in The Early Bird Café with a blonde bimbo for brunch.

  Gale returned to staring into the pot. “Actually yes.”

  Kori nodded. “That’s . . . great.” It was, wasn’t it? Her mom was entitled to meet men. Kori could be happy for her. She just didn’t want to hear details.

  “I met him online.”

  But that got Kori going again. To the best of Kori’s knowledge, her mother barely knew how to send an email, so the thought of her meeting a guy online was way beyond what she could comprehend. “Online?” she asked between hiccupping laughs.

  “Yes. He was a friend in high school and—”

  Kori interrupted. “Okay, so not really online. You knew him in the past from the non-cyber world.”

  “Yes. But we just reconnected. Through—what’s that virtual yearbook thing? Facebook?”

  “Yeah, Facebook. That’s great, Mom.” But the most surprising thing to Kori was that her mom was meeting a guy—any guy. She had convinced Kori years ago that women were better off independent, ever since Kori’s dad had died and Gale had been left alone. Though in that case, Gale was better off alone. Kori’s dad had been anything but a positive addition to their lives.

  Kori grabbed a wooden spoon and placed it over the pot of boiling spaghetti before it boiled over. She didn’t know why, but a wooden spoon prevented any pot from boiling over. It was one of her favorite kitchen hacks.

  “Well, then let’s celebrate,” Kori suggested. “Wine?”

  Gale nodded and grabbed two wine glasses from the cupboard and Kori got a bottle of wine—her last she noticed—from the pantry. It wasn’t the best place to keep it, but she had limited space in her above-the-café apartment and made do with what she had.

  ***

  It was after ten when Kori was finally alone with a cleaned kitchen. That was one of her pet peeves—going to bed with a mess in the kitchen. She would have loved to get to bed fifteen minutes earlier, but facing a disaster either first thing in the morning or right after working all day in the café was something she tried to avoid.

  She was disappointed she had barely seen Zach since their night together, so before going to bed she sent him an invitation to spend tomorrow night at her place: Friday night date? My place?

  It wasn’t the most romantic, but it was clear what she wanted. Her heart skipped a beat a few minutes later when she was brushing her teeth and her phone buzzed with a message. Love to. I’ll bring dinner.

  Could she get any luckier? She didn’t think so.

  CHAPTER 9

  Kori woke up smiling the next morning. Her alarm was going off, but she kept her eyes closed, relishing in the last few moments of the dream she was enjoying about Zach. Once reality hit, her smile didn’t disappear because she remembered he was coming over tonight. And bringing dinner.

  But she had a whole day to get through before then. Starting with making sure Ibis got a walk before Kori had to start cooking breakfast.

  The street was its normal early morning quiet, but when they reached the café to start their day, Kori was surprised to see a man standing outside like he was waiting for something. Maybe for Kori. He wasn’t facing them and she took a moment to study his back to see if she could place him from anywhere.

  “Can I help you?” she finally asked once she decided she didn’t know who he was.

  The man turned around and Kori was dumbstruck. “Hi Kori. I wanted to stop by to see if you needed any help this morning,” Doug Waters said, a smile on his face.

  Kori took a moment before responding, composing the shock she felt at the audacity of his intrusion. “Actually, I’m good, thanks.”

  Before she could continue, he interrupted, “I mean, you’re looking to hire someone, so there must be enough work for two people. I’d just like to show you that I’m serious about working for you and that I’d make a great partner to work with.”

  Partner? Who said anything about a partner? Kori certainly wasn’t willing to bring on a partner for the café she’d started from scratch.

  “I’ve planned to work alone for at least another week. So thanks for your offer, but really, I’ll be fine. You’re welcome to come back anytime after five thirty to have breakfast. I don’t think I’ve ever served you food, so that would be your best opportunity to see what kind of things I serve.” She stressed the I, making it clear that this was her pride and joy.

  Doug nodded. “I see.” Without any other explanation, he walked past her, nearly bumping her with his shoulder.

  Maybe I won’t even contact him to find out about Ria Mayfield. He seems crazy, she thought as she unlocked the door and ushered Ibis inside. So his description of Ria being tough to work for can’t be too reliable.

  Kori got straight to work, starting with the bread. She took the dough out of the fridge and shaped them into tight balls that she would then bake. She immediately got the ovens preheated and placed the Dutch ovens inside to preheat.

  Then she set to work on the frittatas. Potatoes were first. She sliced them thin and placed them on a baking sheet to roast with oil, salt and fresh garlic. Then she sliced plenty of onions and mushrooms and placed them on a second baking sheet with more oil and garlic. Those went into the oven for twenty minutes, just long enough to get the Dutch ovens preheated and then she could stick the bread in to bake.

  Next she moved on to the Dutch babies. She decided to make two: one gluten free and one gluten full. She’d have to be extra careful again today to not mix up the two.

  Finally, she spooned out some overnight oats into a bowl, added some toppings of coconut and almonds and got some coffee going so it’d be ready as soon as she opened—in fifteen minutes. Every morning she was surprised how quickly the time flew by between getting into the café and having to open for business. She sat down at a table facing the front door and ate her breakfast slowly.

  As she ate, she thought about the little she knew about Marty Rivers. Karin certainly seemed to have the most motive. But she was still the only person she and Nora had spoken to. And there were still two unanswered questions she had about Karin. Was she able to move a body? And did she even have access to a gun? Never mind the third question that popped into her daydreaming: How would she have known to dump his body in Nora’s grain delivery?

  Kori didn’t have a chance to come up with any possible answers, as she noticed the clock said f
ive thirty-one. She propped the door open to get a breeze going before it got too hot from the summer heat and headed to the kitchen to place her bowl in the dishwasher. She checked the bread, Dutch babies and frittatas and saw that they were all close to being done but not quite there yet. If her first customers came in right now, the food would be perfectly steaming hot and fresh from the oven for them by the time they decided what to order.

  Kori did one last check around her kitchen to make sure everything was in place and realized she’d completely forgotten the smoothies! She headed to the walk-in fridge and brought out milk, juice, yogurt and greens. Today’s were kale and swiss chard. She was running low on spinach. Then she headed to the freezer and brought out a variety of berries. She placed these around the blender and jars she pulled down from shelves and added bananas to the mix.

  And it was perfect timing. She heard the first voices chattering away as they entered the café and Kori left the kitchen to greet them. She was surprised to see Zach and Lani laughing together and heading toward a booth. Kori couldn’t figure how to react—she was happy to see Zach, but her initial insecurities of him being possibly interested in Lani came rushing back knowing she was once again single and was the same beautiful bombshell she’d been since Kori had met her. And this was the first time Kori had seen Lani since Jay had broken up with her. From what she’d heard, Lani had taken it pretty hard.

  Kori took a deep breath and came out the rest of the way from the kitchen and headed toward their table. “Hi Zach, Detective Silver,” Kori said, choosing a more formal greeting for Lani now that they probably weren’t on such familiar terms.

  “Hi Kori. How’s it going?” Zach asked, his words coming out between his smile that did nothing to calm Kori’s questioning heart. Was that smile because he was eating with Lani or was it because Kori was there?

  “Great. What can I get you both started with?” Kori asked, risking a glance in Lani’s direction. She saw that Lani was intently studying the menu on the wall, careful to not look in Kori’s direction. And her expression was the complete opposite of Zach’s—cold, hard and uninviting. Her lips were a barely visible line on her face, pressed together so tightly Kori wondered when her age lines would start showing up.