A Cup of Murder (5 page)

Forty-five more minutes elapsed and the crowd in
the coffee house thinned out. I started cleaning up the kitchen when
I heard Jacob’s voice. Obviously, he was agitated. I quickly closed
the door into the outer service area a little more securely. Voices
and noise rarely escaped through to the area reserved for customers.

“I did not murder Michael Simms,” said Jacob.
“I disliked the man and resented him taking customers away from
Roasted Love, but that doesn’t mean I killed him.”

His tone was measured but loud enough for me to
hear from the closed door. I heard a chair shuffle on the tiled floor
and concentrated on placing dishes in the dishwasher rack. No one
came through the office door. Low tones from one of the cops floated
out. It was as if he talked with a child. Squeezing the dishcloth, I
clinched my teeth. How dare they talk down to Jacob that way? An
irate tone escaped my boss when he spoke next.

“I worked on books late that night. I left at
ten or so. I went straight home. I fell asleep in my chair watching
television. I woke up enough to get to bed around one in the morning.
I overslept. I came straight to work.”

Apparently Jacob was repeating in a nutshell all
the answers he had already given them.

“Surely you can understand our concerns, Mr.
Weaver,” said one. “You did spend time in prison for assault so
that tells us you could very well have hurt someone again.”

“I didn’t talk with, nor did I go near him at
all since a week ago. I did spend three years in prison for assault
but that was eleven years ago. My record is clean ever since then. I
learned my lesson and have no intention of putting myself in a
position that means jail time ever again.”

I hoped Jacob wouldn’t lose his temper. Chairs
scraped against the floor again. A minimal amount of shuffling ensued
and both officers left out the back door knowing they had nothing on
Jacob to arrest him. The door to the office was ajar. Jacob sat at
his desk with his face in his hands. I knocked gently on the oak
frame. He looked up and commented about the ordeal in brief terms. He
fumed and I realized that his anger was the last emotion the cops
observed in him.

“Why don’t you go on home and recoup?” I
said. “We can handle it from here.”

“I want to remain visible. I think it will help
keep down some of the gossip.” His head returned to hands and his
body slumped.

Janie appeared. “A man who said he was here
yesterday has a couple of paintings he wants you to look at, Jacob.”

Her face relaxed when she saw Jacob as he emerged
from his office. His anger a minute ago was in check. He knew how to
put on a good front. I followed Jacob to where the artist stood
shifting from one foot to the other. The paintings were interesting
to say the least but I personally didn’t see much quality in either
of them. I thought they should be something more eclectic than stiff
still life scenes. I knew Jacob would give Pierre a chance anyway and
find a spot for them once price and information were provided.

Chapter Six

My eyes diverted to a car across the street. The
politician, who was in Roasted Love the day before, got out of a blue
BMW and approached one of the officers looking around the front door.
He was slim and fit with blond hair that was cropped close. There was
something familiar about him that I couldn’t put my finger on. They
spoke for several minutes and one cop accompanied the man into
Sunrise. Lily wiped a table down near me and I asked her if she knew
who that man was.

“I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he was an
insurance representative or someone like that.”

I told her I was sure he was a politician who had
run for office in the last election. She shrugged her shoulders which
told me she most likely had not voted or she held no interest in
politics. I was curious about him and why he was allowed to go into
Sunrise unless he was someone with close ties to the police, as well
as people in politics. Though he seemed very familiar to me, I
decided the stress we were all under kept me from placing him. He had
not returned to Roasted Love, to my knowledge.

I thought about asking Jacob ,but from what I
could hear, he was dropping things right and left in the kitchen.
Pierre had left, minus two paintings that leaned against the back of
the counter, again ordering nothing. When I went back to see what was
going on, Jacob threw his hands in the air and stalked to his office.
I took him a cup of his favorite coffee drink, a simple black
espresso with no flavors, or as he put it ‘no fanfare.’ He
mumbled thanks and told me he needed to be alone and then he looked
up at me.

“You do believe I had nothing to do with Michael
Simms’ murder, don’t you, Laila?”

My split second hesitation caused a renewed fury
in him. This time he ordered me out of the office. I pulled the door
closed. Foreboding crept through me once again. I found I was on a
seesaw with him. There was no honest answer I could possibly have
given him. It was simply a question that once again had no definitive
answer in my mind. His mood changes didn’t help the situation. It
was at that moment that I decided, one way or another, I had to prove
Jacob was innocent or guilty. Either way, the outcome would have to
be accepted.

Getting back to work helped somewhat, but by now
Lily and Janie were both on edge. The unrest in Roasted Love began
taking its toll on all of us. Customers drifted in and out until the
busy time sank into a lull. Janie was ready to clock out and I didn’t
miss her looking at the clock to make sure her time was up and she
could escape. I didn’t blame her. Right now, I wanted to be far
away from Roasted Love, too. Lily gave me a half smile. I believe she
tried to reassure me. So far, I had not heard her voice an opinion of
the whole situation at all. The phone rang and she took the
opportunity to answer it. Then she handed the receiver to me.

“It’s Jen Perry from across the street,” she
said.

It was hard to understand Jen. The Sunrise Barista
talked in a muffled tone and I heard what sounded like sobs in her
throat that tried to reach a voice she meant to be normal.

“I have to see you again,” she said. “I’m
two blocks from you.”

We agreed to meet in the alley once more behind
Roasted Love. Jacob didn’t need to know she was on the premises
again or I would have invited her in to join me at a back table. In
less than five minutes, she stood waiting outside the door. Thor
stood by watching and waiting. I opened the back door just as I heard
a soft growl escape his lips. I was ready in case he was still there
and fed him two cinnamon muffins and made a mental note to buy dog
food. Jen didn’t seem to have noticed the fact he was appraising
her and trying to decide whether or not to attack. Once he gobbled
the muffins and saw she was no threat he plopped on the short patch
of grass and waited. Naturally, the fact they were already acquainted
may have had something to do with it.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Jen. Puffy
red eyes told me she either missed Michael or she was in fear of
imminent arrest for his murder. “Do you think I should reopen the
Sunrise? The police told me they will be taking the tape down in the
next day or two.”

That was the last thing I expected from her mouth.
It was hard to believe she thought it would matter if I thought so or
not. She apparently forgot I was her competition.

“You’ll have to make that decision on your
own,” I told her. “But what else is bothering you?”

“All right,” she said. “I’ve seen
Michael’s brother, the Senator around. The police even let him come
in with them when they searched the place. They haven’t let anyone
else in. I’ve been sitting in my car watching off and on. He caught
my eye when he came out and I’m sure he suspects me, too. His eyes
bored right into me.” She sniffed again.

I hadn’t gotten past what she said about the
Senator and the fact he was Michael’s brother. It finally hit me
that the man I'd seen recently was Senator James Simms. I couldn’t
believe I hadn’t made the connection. The familiarity I experienced
had to do with how much he resembled Michael. The day James Simms
came into Roasted Love was the first time I had seen him there. For
that matter it was the first time I had seen him anywhere in the
neighborhood. I asked her how long she had known the Senator.

“I met him once when Michael and I were out for
dinner together. We were in what we thought was a secluded place
where no one would know us and in walked James. Michael took it in
stride as if he didn’t care that his brother saw us together and
introduced us. James looked more at me than at his brother, and at
the time it gave me the creeps wondering what he was thinking about
me. A few days later I heard Michael arguing loudly with someone on
the phone. He told me it was his brother James and that they didn’t
always see eye to eye.”

I added these facts up in my head. So James Simms
and Michael Simms may be related but apparently there was animosity
between them for whatever reason. I redirected my attention to Jen.

“Have the police talked with you again?”

She told me they had come to her apartment and
interviewed her briefly. She then had to go down to the police
station and make a statement regarding her whereabouts from the time
she closed the Sunrise late until back at work the next morning.
Though Jen appeared rather superficial at times in the way she
flaunted herself in front of customers, especially the men, I didn't
get the feeling she was capable of the crime.

“One cop picked up on the fact that Michael
broke off the affair and then made me keep Sunrise open an extra two
hours. They took that as suspicious when I told them I was sure he
had gone home. At least, he wasn’t at Sunrise. I told them if
Michael came back to the shop that night it would have been after I
left around ten. They knew we had an argument that night but they let
me go. I’m sure they think I had something to do with poisoning
him.”

“Have they determined it was poison that killed
him?” I said.

“They didn’t tell me that but I overheard two
cops talking before I gave my statement and they were talking about
Michael. One said he thought it was interesting that the victim was
poisoned while drinking his own coffee. So I guess that was the
cause; I have no idea what kind of poison or where it came from.”

“All I can tell you is to stick to the truth in
what you know. Unless they have some evidence, they won’t arrest
you.”

By this time I was more than a little weary of
Jen, Jacob and the whole incident. The information regarding James
Simms piqued my resolve though and I glanced at my watch. We had a
few hours before closing. We had a busy evening ahead since most of
the shops on the Piazza opened until eight or later for people
leaving their day jobs for a night on the town. The variety of shops
to full-scale restaurants drew them. Shoppers came in one after
another to Roasted Love.

Jacob left before closing time. Lily and I could
have used his help that night but neither of us commented when he
walked out the back door. Her teenage son cleaned the kitchen. Lily
brought him in at my request. Bits and pieces of conversation about
the murder were heard throughout the coffee house. When closing time
finally arrived we locked up and readied Roasted Love for the next
day. Lily and I said goodnight and I thanked her for her hard work
performed under stressful circumstances.

Before I got into my car, I went around the shop
to look for Thor. He waited as if he knew I was going to take him
home with me which I did. He stayed in the car while I dashed into a
small neighborhood grocery store for dog food. I didn’t take time
to read the ingredient label but bought a sack that said for large
dogs. That fit the orphan I took upon myself to adopt.

Thor readily followed me into my kitchen as if he
was used to finding his way around my house. I pulled a plastic bowl
from the cabinet and poured food for him and filled another with
water. My mind was on a plan to find the real murderer of the owner
of Sunrise when I heard Thor whine. He stood by the back door and I
let him out for his needed break. I sat on the patio and thought.

I had to come up with some kind of ruse to get to
New York City where I remembered James Simms and his wife, Sarah
occupied a plush condo. I wanted to talk to him about Michael but
wasn’t sure how to accomplish that. The Senator was accustomed to
talking with people of the state, especially voters or potential
ones. I didn’t doubt I could set up an interview with him if I
pretended to be a reporter for the West River Daily News. I decided
not to call ahead for an appointment so he would have no time to
check my fake references if he wanted to. The day he was in Roasted
Love he spent his time looking across the street at Sunrise. He never
really saw me, so I can't imagine he would recognize me.

I knew I was jumping ahead of myself. There was
much more to do before I interviewed James Simms. I needed more
information on Michael Simms for one thing. The other goal was to
find someone to take care of my new dog when I decided it was time to
go to New York City. The idea of having a dog around may be a good
thing for Jacob. I planned how to approach him and whether or not to
tell him if and why I was going into the city. In regard to Thor,
maybe one growl from him toward Jacob would be enough to calm him
down if he decided to display his anger again.

If I told Jacob my intentions of finding the
murderer of Michael Simms I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be.
He was a proud man and a fighter. He may not like the idea I planned
to interfere on his behalf. But the way I looked at it, I was his
main ally or at least the one person he could trust whether he
realized it or not.