Dead and Berried (The Early Bird Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) Page 8

  Without a real clue of where Dan and the killer had come from, Kori headed into the woods and Nora started walking in circles around where the body had been found. Ibis followed Kori and acted as if they were playing some kind of game.

  Eventually, Ibis put her nose to the ground like she’d picked up a scent and she started going in a different direction. Kori followed, knowing Ibis could be leading her on a wild goose chase or simply following the scent of a squirrel.

  They’d been walking for several minutes when a flash of light caught Kori’s eye. She knelt down to see what it was. One lens was completely covered with leaves and the other was what she had seen, the sun hitting it at just the right angle to catch her attention.

  Since Kori had stopped to investigate something, Ibis stopped following the trail she was on and came back. “Good girl,” Kori praised her, rubbing behind her ears. When she picked up the glasses, she could see that they were the same ones Dan had been wearing Friday afternoon. The right arm had several buttons on it that made Kori think of a smart phone. She didn’t want to do anything with it before Nora—and probably even Zach—saw it. She picked it up carefully with as little of her fingertips touching it as possible. She didn’t want to tamper with evidence—or become a suspect because her fingerprints showed up on the glasses.

  Kori ran back to the barn where Nora was still walking circles and looking frustrated. Milo and Otis were following her and it was clear they were getting in her way. When Kori approached, Nora looked up. “Any luck?” Nora asked.

  Kori was beaming. She didn’t say anything but just held the glasses up.

  “You found them! I thought we were wasting our time. And then realized that finding glasses might not even help us. I was ready to quit.”

  “I think these will help us more than we realize. But I don’t know how to work them. Look at all these buttons on the arm. That’s why they looked so funny on his face and we even remembered that he was wearing glasses.”

  “Oh my God. Those are Google GlassTM! I don’t know how to work them either. And they’re probably password protected. And I think they have to be connected to a smart phone for some things to work. Let’s call Zach. Maybe he knows more about them.”

  Kori was on her phone immediately. She knew Zach had been busy—she’d barely seen him in days—but hoped that he’d pick up his phone when he saw that she was calling.

  “Hey Kori,” he said, sounding rushed.

  “Hi Zach. Are you busy?” Kori asked.

  There was a pause. She knew she was kind of asking a trick question so she didn’t give him a chance to answer.

  “I’m at Nora’s. We just found something in the woods that I think you need to see. Can you come over?”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Kori and Nora headed back to the patio to wait and study the glasses some more. Nora even brought out her laptop where they started Googling Google Glass to see how they worked. Even with the information online they weren’t able to figure it out with the glasses sitting right in front of them.

  Before Zach showed up—Kori didn’t know what was taking so long—there was a noise from the barn that had both Nora and Kori look up in panic. “Where are the dogs?” Nora asked, looking around.

  Kori realized she hadn’t seen them since they sat down with the computer. “Maybe that’s just them making noise in the barn.”

  “I keep the doors closed. They wouldn’t have been able to get in there.” As if on cue, the dogs ran out of the woods and toward the barn, barking like crazy.

  At the same time, Zach’s police car drove in and parked next to Kori’s Subaru and the two women walked out to the front of the house. The dogs didn’t even notice that a new car was there and continued barking at the barn door. Kori thought something serious must be going on in there if the dogs couldn’t be distracted.

  As soon as Zach got out of the car he must have noticed the noise too. “What’s going on in there?” he asked.

  “We don’t know. There was a loud noise and then the dogs went crazy just before you got here. I didn’t want to go in there,” Kori admitted.

  “Me neither,” Nora agreed, and Kori was slightly relieved that she wasn’t the only one with reservations.

  “Let’s go check it out and then you can show me what you found,” Zach said, leading the way to the back of the barn where the dogs were still going ballistic.

  Kori and Nora hung back behind Zach as he opened the door. They held the dogs back. Nora’d had porcupines on her farm in the past and if that was all the noise had been she didn’t want three dogs with noses full of quills to deal with.

  Once the door was fully opened, there was another crashing sound coming from an area where Nora kept tools.

  “Hello?” Zach called out.

  More crashing followed and Zach led the way inside. Kori and Nora managed to keep the dogs outside when they closed the door and followed Zach toward the noise.

  “Do you think it’s a person?” Kori whispered.

  Zach responded by holding up his hand for silence and pointing his gun toward the commotion.

  Before they reached where the sounds were coming from, two huge raccoons came charging out of the tool closet and headed up the stairs.

  “Shoot,” Nora said, then thought better of her word choice. “I mean, don’t shoot. But, dang. I have a raccoon problem. I’m going to have to get AJ over here to get rid of them.”

  Zach lowered his gun and they all laughed at how scared they’d been. The dogs still wanted to get in the barn, so Nora led the way back outside.

  When they made it back to the patio, Nora asked Zach, “Want some tea?”

  He nodded and Nora headed inside to get more hot water.

  “Why don’t you tell me what you found?” Zach asked before Nora came back.

  Kori picked up the glasses carefully and handed them to Zach. “We think they’re Google Glass. I’m hoping that either Arnold or Holly shows up on them in a video. Those are our two suspects. But Arnold moved a lot higher after you told Nora that his phone GPS led you to the law office.”

  Nora walked back outside before Zach could make any comment and asked him, “You said Dan wasn’t poisoned. How was he killed?”

  Without missing a beat, he answered, “Suffocated. There were no external marks and he didn’t have any defensive wounds. It looks like Holly’s shovel was used to knock him out and then he was . . . well . . . you can figure it out from there.”

  The women both grimaced.

  “But back to the glasses,” Zach started, breaking the silence and bringing everyone back to the present.

  “Oh yeah. And what did you think of our two suspects?” Kori asked.

  “Your two suspects,” Zach said, reminding them that the police were also conducting their own investigation.

  “Well, do you have any others?” Kori asked.

  “You didn’t have Stanley Roche on your list?”

  “We did. But Nora got out of him where he was Saturday night. So we crossed him off our list.”

  Zach nodded. “Breaking into the high school?” Kori nodded. “We checked surveillance he never went there.”

  Kori glanced at Nora and saw that she had paled. Kori wanted Stanley to be innocent even if just for Nora’s sake. But Nora had been lied to—about something pretty big. Could she still be interested in him after that?

  “Well let’s see what’s on these glasses. I’m going to have to get Lani over here. She has a pair and will know how to see what’s stored on them.”

  Zach made the call and they all waited impatiently to learn if the glasses would solve this mystery.

  CHAPTER 12

  “I didn’t think anyone else in Hermit Cove would have a pair of these,” Lani said, excitement lacing her voice. Kori couldn’t figure out why anyone would have them in the first place. She knew the price tag was well over $1,000, but she couldn’t think of a single use for them.

  Everyone waited while Lani looked the glasse
s over and then put them on. She started fiddling with the buttons but Kori couldn’t tell if she was seeing anything. This was too weird for her.

  “I can’t believe the battery isn’t dead.” She kept pressing more buttons and it was clear now that she was seeing something on the screen. Her eyes weren’t focusing on anything far away. “I can’t believe it. There’s actually a video on here.” She kept watching whatever was streaming across her eyes without anyone else having a clue as to what was going on.

  “Is Arnold Greene guilty?” Kori finally asked, knowing him the least and wanting Holly and Stanley to be innocent for personal reasons.

  Lani paused before answering. She glanced at Zach, who gave her a slight nod, and said, “He is. There’s no sound so we’re going to have some serious interviewing to do. But I don’t see how he can talk his way out of this one.”

  Zach sprang into action, Lani close behind. She took the glasses off and put them in her shirt pocket. “Don’t do anything stupid,” Zach said, looking pointedly at Kori. “We’re going to pick up Arnold. Thanks for solving this for us. The glasses really sealed the case.”

  Kori nodded and smiled at Zach. She wanted to take his warning to heart but she couldn’t help thinking that she’d be able to find Arnold first.

  When she heard the cars start up out front, Nora leaned over and said, “I know what you’re thinking. But they’ve got this one. I’ll go get us some drinks instead of tea.”

  Kori gave in to Zach and Nora’s advice and sat back, completely relaxed knowing that she’d helped put another killer away.

  ***

  “I really meant it when I said we couldn’t have solved this without you,” Zach said, hours later. He’d come over to Kori’s after the arrest and brought dinner. Kori was happy to have him all to herself again now that they were both less busy.

  “Thanks. But you don’t have to sweet talk your way into staying,” she teased. She placed two strawberry shortcakes on the coffee table in front of them and they enjoyed their dessert together.

  After a few bites of fresh strawberries, homemade shortcake and whipped cream, Zach said, “You know, I’ve been thinking—”

  Kori didn’t say anything but he seemed to be considering what he’d been thinking about.

  “Maybe we can take a vacation together.”

  Kori almost choked on her dessert when she started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, hurt coming through with each word.

  “I’m sorry,” she finally stuttered, still laughing. “Nora told me she’d been thinking that.”

  Zach blushed. “Okay. So maybe I wasn’t the first one to come up with the idea. But with all these cases I’ve been working—and you’ve been helping with,” he quickly added, “I thought it was a good idea she had. We could spend some time together without all this other stuff getting in the way.”

  “I’d like that,” Kori whispered and leaned into him. “But let me hire some help first.”

  “Deal.” Zach turned Kori’s face toward his and kissed her. Kori couldn’t help wondering if he’d spend the night at her place.

  IN THE KITCHEN WITH GINNY GOLD

  ALL NATURAL CLEANER

  I try to keep my kitchen as natural and organic as I can while still sticking to my budget. Sometimes that’s hard. Like when gelato is on sale and I feel like I just have to stock up. But when it comes to cleaning the counters, there’s nothing cheaper than making my own.

  Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, and distilled white vinegar—the same kind I use for canning—is super cheap. But that vinegar smell isn’t something I particularly want to have everywhere. So I soak orange peels—another natural disinfectant because of their acidity—in vinegar for a couple weeks, and violà! Orange scented cleaner that isn’t toxic!

  INGREDIENTS

  Peels from one to two oranges

  White vinegar

  Eat an orange and save the peels. Put them in a jar—any size will do. Cover with vinegar and let sit for about two weeks. If you eat another orange in that time, add the peels and more vinegar to cover.

  After two weeks, discard the peels and pour the liquid into a spray bottle. Use on counter tops, stove top and even as a quick disinfectant for fruits and veggies (just remember to rinse them after so they don’t taste like vinegar!).

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ginny Gold lives in the high Rockies and wouldn’t trade it for the world. She loves anything outdoors—especially skiing, cycling, and gardening, though living at over 9,000 feet does make for a short growing season. You can also find her volunteering with local nonprofits and schools when she’s not cooking up her next cozy mystery for her loyal readers.

  BEFORE YOU GO . . .

  If you enjoyed this installment of The Early Bird Café Cozy Mystery Series, be sure to join my FREE COZY MYSTERY BOOK CLUB! Be the first to know about new releases, promotions, sales, new recipes, and even be entered to receive advanced reader copies. Join the club here—http://www.ginnygoldbooks.com

  OTHER BOOKS BY GINNY GOLD

  Rise and Die

  Deadly Surprise

  Croaked Wheat

  Smashed Potatoes and Gravy

  Gingerdead Man

  If you enjoyed Dead and Berried, the third of The Early Bird Café Series, check out Roses are Dead, the third of the Lily Bloom Cozy Mystery Series —written by my mother!

  Business is popping for Lily as wedding season is in full swing. The brides are all over the place from easy-to-please to last-minute-panics. But one in particular stands out—a leggy brunette who is looking for plenty of red roses for her wedding to Police Chief Ryan Steele.

  Lily is beside herself with betrayal that Ryan would lead her on like that, all the while engaged to this beauty. It’s almost too much to take until the bride is found dead, surrounded by none other than the very roses she’d been admiring.

  Lily shoots to the top of the suspect list, a place she’s been all too often lately. And as she starts to uncover more about the woman’s past, she’s thrown into another game of cat and mouse. Only she’s not sure if she’s the cat or the mouse. Will she be able to follow the clues to the real killer in time? Or is everyone connected to Ryan Steele in danger and Lily could be next?

  Chapter 1

  Lily opened her eyes, stretched and smiled at the warm body leaning against her back. The memory of sitting outside under the stars the night before with Ryan Steele was still fresh and wonderful until the memory of him getting called into work jerked her wide awake. Who is this in bed with me? She wondered in a bit of a shock. A wet snout and two black eyes looked at her as if to say, do we really have to get up already?

  Lily relaxed and looped her arm around her best friend. “I should have known it would be you, Rosie. When did you sneak up on the bed?”

  Rosie’s tail thumped the mattress in reply.

  “Well, don’t make a habit of it,” Lily pretended to scold as she patted the white terrier who had saved Lily’s life twice now. “I guess you know I could never actually be mad at you.”

  Lily stretched her arms up, twisted left then right as her spine made a series of cracks and she felt limbered up to start the day. Looking out the window, she gazed at the bright blue sky and thought to herself, This looks like it’s gonna be a beauty. Her phone brought her back to earth and to her responsibilities.

  “Hi Mom . . . You what? . . . A puppy? . . . Bring her to the shop . . . Sounds like a great idea.”

  Lily looked at Rosie. “Looks like you’ll be having some competition for cutest canine in the family.”

  Shower. Jeans and t-shirt. Coffee. Good to go. Lily grabbed her quilted tote, put the leash on Rosie and headed to her minivan. She felt energized and was eager to get to her flower shop, Beautiful Blooms. Business was booming and she and Ryan seemed to be falling into a comfortable friendship.

  Ryan Steele, or as Lily’s sister Daisy liked to refer to him, Your Handsome Cop, was just pulling in to his driveway next door. Lil
y waited for him to get out, noticing his rumpled uniform and sagging shoulders.

  Ryan perked up when he saw Lily. “You’re the best thing I’ve seen since, well, since I left you staring at the stars last night. Sorry I had to run off. How about a real date tonight at the Victorian House Restaurant?”

  Lily was nodding and smiling. “I like that idea. Sevenish?”

  “I’ll pick you up. Nothing is going to spoil this night. I’ll leave my pager home. Deputy Quinn is on duty tonight and I know I can count on him to take care of business. Don’t forget to put on something nicer than jeans,” he teased.

  “I’ll think about it.” Lily and Rosie hopped into her minivan and headed to Beautiful Blooms. She watched Ryan in her rear view mirror. Ever since he got the permanent job as Police Chief in Misty Valley, it had been hard for the two of them to find much time to spend together.

  Lily’s business had grown over the year since she bought the rundown building at 25 Lupine Lane and turned it into the Beautiful Blooms Flower Shop. She was even thinking about helping her sister Daisy get started with her own business idea of making specialty cakes. Flowers and cakes seemed like the perfect combination and it was time for Daisy to have something she could call her own. All in all, Lily was feeling quite happy with how everything was moving forward—business life and love life.

  Lily’s mom, Iris, was already at the shop. Her yellow convertible VW bug was parked in front of Beautiful Blooms. She was an early riser and now that she had something to share, of course, she would be at the shop extra bright and early.

  Lily walked through the small garden into her shop to the sound of her door bell jingling. A rush of scents enveloped her nose and she breathed deeply to get a nice lavender rush. Before she could even say hello to Iris, a small black fur ball was chewing on her ankles. Lily crouched down to pick up the squirmy chubby pup.