Death by Coffee (21 page)

26

What I really wanted to do the moment the sun rose and the birds started singing was to rush straight to Heidi’s workplace and confront her about her cheating ways. I’d get her to confess that she’d cheated on her husband with his father—who I was now pretty sure was the culprit in this because nothing else really made sense. When I passed the information over to the police, they’d arrest the old man, who’d confess to killing his own son. I mean, the guy had the motive
and
the opportunity. He owned the building. It would have been easy enough to slip the peanut dust into the vent before anyone else came to work.

Instead of rushing off to save the day, I got up, showered, put on my morning coffee, and prepared to head to work.

No one else had died since Brendon, telling me it was unlikely anyone else was going to. I needed to at least make an appearance at Death by Coffee, help get the store open, and then I could head on down to where Heidi worked, in the hope she was there.

I headed out, coffee and cookie ready, mind full of plans. I gave Jules Phan a quick wave as he got into his own car, and then I gave one to Eleanor Winthrow, for good measure. The curtain didn’t twitch, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t there, watching.

What I should have done was call Paul Dalton the moment I’d woken up. He could have gone to talk to Heidi for me. I could tell him everything I’d learned, as well as everything I’d suspected. I had a feeling she would give in if confronted directly. The girl was a mess.

But then again, Paul had yet to accept my Facebook friend request. I’d fully expected to receive a notification when I woke up, but there was nothing. I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk to him yet.

What bothered me most about the whole situation was that I was pretty sure Heidi knew who killed her husband, or at least suspected. There was something in her eye that told me she knew, a glint of misery that could mean only one thing: the person she’d slept with had done it.

But if her lover had killed Brendon, why was she protecting him? It was clear she loved her husband, no matter how much of an ass he might have been. So, why not go to the police and tell them everything she knew?

The answer was, of course, she was still close to the killer, maybe even still sleeping with him. While I suppose it could have been Regina who did the deed, I really did believe it was someone who had more to gain by Brendon’s death. If Heidi was going to go back to her husband, then that meant she would be leaving the new guy. He couldn’t have liked that, especially if that meant she was going back to her lover’s son.

I parked down the street from Death by Coffee, got out, and headed straight into work. I’d actually beaten Vicki in, which was surprising. She was always the first through the door in the morning, but I suppose I did have a little bit more motivation propelling me.

I went about setting up for the day, mind elsewhere. I mixed up the cookie batter, threw a few dozen into the small oven in the back, and then went about getting the coffee machines started. Pleasant aromas of all sorts lifted my spirits. This was going to be a good day. I just knew it.

“Oh!” Vicki said as she entered. She held Trouble’s carrier in one hand, her own travel mug of coffee in the other. “You’re here.”

“Where else would I be?”

A smirk creased the side of her mouth. “It’s going to be a good day,” she said, echoing my own thoughts.

She sauntered past and released the terrible feline into the wild. He darted across the room, black tail fluffed, and vanished somewhere into the stacks of books.

“Do you think keeping him here is such a good idea after our little incident the other day?” I asked. Morning prep was nearly done. All I had to do was wait on the cookies and we’d be good to go.

Vicki grimaced and somehow still made it look lovely. “Do you really think I should leave him at home? The little guy loves it here.”

I caught a glimpse of Trouble as he leapt onto a bookshelf. There was nothing little about him. Well, I suppose that wasn’t entirely true. If you were to soak him with water, he’d look like a giant rat with huge paws. The cat, like Misfit, was more fur than anything.

“You know,” I said, watching him as he began the morning cleansing of his private parts, “I think I’d miss him. We definitely could use a mascot around here.”

The timer on the oven dinged and I left to get the cookies, while Vicki started work on the registers. She handled all of the money because, quite frankly, I was terrible with it. If I was forced to manage the books, we’d be in quite a lot of trouble with the banks, and probably the government as well.

The morning went as anticipated. A few customers came in and then vanished like smoke after they received their coffee. I cleaned the tables a few times, and started a new pot of coffee whenever one grew low or too old. Then, finally, after about an hour of work, I decided it was time to go.

“Do you think it would be okay if I took a quick break?” I asked Vicki, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

She glanced at me, sighed dramatically, and then laughed. “It’s okay,” she said. “I can’t stop you from being you.”

“Thanks.”

I tossed her my apron and rushed for the door.

I dialed Paul’s number as I went, figuring I best give him a heads-up. I might be irritated about the Facebook thing, but he still was a cop. He’d need to arrest Raymond when this thing was all said and done.

The phone rang seemingly forever before it went to voice mail. I frowned, but waited, anyway. I wanted him and him alone. There was no way I was going to risk having Officer Buchannan show up if I called the station. He’d probably arrest me before I could even tell him why I’d called.

“Hey, Paul,” I said at the beep. “I think I have things figured out. You need to look into Raymond Lawyer. I think he was sleeping with his son’s wife. When he found out they weren’t getting a divorce, he decided to end their relationship prematurely. Gotta go.”

I clicked off and headed down the walk.

This was it. I was going to break the case wide open. I’d be the talk of the town. Officer Buchannan would be humiliated that he’d interfered with me; he’d possibly be deported to Iowa or some other far, out-of-the-way place for his trouble.

And Paul Dalton would sweep me up in his arms, tell me how brilliant I was, and then we’d ride off into the sunset to get married and have a half-dozen babies who would all have dimples to die for. . . .

I was so lost in my fantasies, I very nearly walked past Too Le Fit to Quit—Heidi’s workplace. I stopped outside the squat building and shook my head. I really,
really
didn’t understand why every store in this town had to be named something totally off-the-wall. It was embarrassing to think Death by Coffee fit the bill as well.

I pushed open the door to the fitness shop. I could worry about naming later. No bell tolled my coming, which, in a way, was a disappointment. I felt I needed the sound effects to make the moment perfect.

Heidi turned to face me with a smile, but the look froze on her face when she saw who had entered. She was wearing something that was a cross between exercise wear and casual dress. The pants were tight and stretchy, but they didn’t have that “expose everything” look to them that yoga pants had. Her shirt was just as tight and showed exactly why Brendon had chosen her. Her “assets” were pressed perkily against the thin fabric. Despite that, however, the tennis shoes on her feet looked somehow out of place, like the clothes she was wearing were solely for show, not exercise. Maybe that was the point.

“Can I help you?” Heidi asked as I approached. She glanced around the store nervously, like she was afraid someone shopping for supplements might see us together.

“Is your mother around?” I asked. I wouldn’t put it past that woman to be lurking around every corner, waiting to leap out at anyone who so much as looked at her daughter funny.

Heidi actually smiled. “No, she’s not. This is the one place I can be sure she won’t come.”

“Good,” I said with a sigh of relief. I took her by the arm and led her deeper into the store. I didn’t want her to stop talking if someone came in. This very well might be my last chance to get anything out of her.

“Is there something you need?” she asked, sounding nervous. I had a feeling she already knew what I was going to ask her.

“Remember when I was at your house?” She nodded. “I asked you a question, but you didn’t get to answer.”

She bit her lip and nodded again.

“Can you tell me now?” I asked, almost pleadingly. “It could be vitally important. Who were you cheating on Brendon with?”

Heidi paled. “I . . . I can’t,” she said in a whisper. She glanced toward an office at the back of the store. “Please. I just can’t. If someone were to overhear . . .”

“He was your husband,” I said, knowing how my words would sting, but having no other choice. I
knew
she held the answer.

It did the trick. A tear slid down Heidi’s cheek. She wiped it quickly away and sniffed. One more look to the back of the store, and then she led me to the side where a rack of insoles cut us off from view.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone,” she said. “It’s just so . . . so embarrassing. I don’t know if I could take it if word got around.”

“I’ll only tell the police if I think it is important to the case,” I said. “That’s as good as I can do.”

She appeared to think about it and then shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered. I realized I was going to have to take the initiative. She was too nervous about someone else overhearing; she would never talk on her own.

“Was it Raymond Lawyer?”

Heidi’s face did something I can’t describe, let alone interpret. Disgust was mixed with shock, which was mixed with fear. It was like her cheeks and mouth were trying to do gymnastics on her face, while her eyes had decided it was time to pop on out for a quick drink.

Finally she seemed to gain some control over her features. She took a step away from me and her nose crinkled. “Oh, God! No,” she said. “I’d never . . . How could you even think . . . Just . . .
Ew!
”

“Ew”
was right. It was both something of a relief and a disappointment that I’d been so wrong. I felt the need to apologize almost immediately. It was like accusing her of running off with somebody’s demented grandpa.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Tessa said cheating ran in the family, and when you revealed you’d cheated yourself, I’d just assumed . . .”

I trailed off as I realized the look on Heidi’s face had changed. Color ran from the depths of her too-tight shirt and up her neck. She was soon so flushed, I was worried she might need help.

That was when the lightbulb in my head flashed to life. Who was the one person who’d dropped hints about Raymond Lawyer? Who had been the one person who had come to Heidi’s defense when I mentioned the two might have gotten together?

“Tessa?” I asked, shocked. “You cheated on your husband with the woman he cheated on you with?”

It took all my self-control not to shout it.

Heidi nodded and then buried her face in her hands. “It was stupid,” she said, “but it made so much sense at the time. I wanted to know what it was like, why she was so much better than me. I mean, why would he spend time with her when I was waiting for him at home, you know?”

My jaw unhinged and flapped in the breeze a few moments before I could manage to get it to work right. “Are you . . . I mean . . .” I took a deep breath. What did I mean? I finally settled on: “Are you still seeing her?”

Heidi lowered her gaze. “No,” she said. “We had a fight yesterday.”

Yesterday, as in when Tessa had looked rumpled and her lips looked as if she’d been making out with someone. Could she have tried to kiss Heidi and had her advances rebuffed?

It was like getting hit upside the head with a brick. It all made sense now. Too Le Fit to Quit was just down the street from Phantastic Candies, which was a few blocks down from Tessa’s Dresses. If they’d had the fight here, it explained why she’d walked right past me without a second glance. And then when I started asking questions, it would explain why she’d gotten so nervous and wanted to get inside before someone could overhear our conversation.

Tessa had been misleading me this entire time. She’d wanted to throw me off, get me thinking about the other men in the family. She had to hate Brendon for what he’d done to her. How could I have been so blind?

“Heidi,” I said, grabbing her by the arms. She gave me a startled look, but she didn’t pull away. “Do you think Tessa could have killed Brendon?”

She started to shake her head and then broke down and nodded. “I don’t want to believe it, but she’d been so angry with him.” She started shaking with sobs and I let her go so she could wipe away her tears.

My mind was racing. I still couldn’t figure out how Tessa could have done it. She wasn’t on the list of people who’d arrived that day to see Brendon. Had she had someone else kill him? Or was I barking up the proverbial wrong tree?

“Don’t tell anyone,” Heidi begged. “
Please.
My mom doesn’t know. No one does, not even the police. If this were to get out, people would start talking about me, about my . . . preferences.”

I wished I could have told her I would keep her secret. However, if Tessa really was the killer, then the truth needed to come out.

“I’ll do my best” was all I could promise before I spun away. I needed to confront Tessa. I couldn’t let her get away with this.

I bolted out the door and ran straight for Tessa’s Dresses. I dialed Paul’s number as I went, but it went to voice mail once again.

I didn’t bother leaving a message this time. I didn’t have time.

I had to catch a murderer.

27

A
CLOSED
sign hung in the window of Tessa’s Dresses. I frowned at it and checked my watch. It was far too early for a lunch break and late enough that she should already have been there to open up. Had Tessa seen me coming and hurriedly closed up shop to avoid me?

I tried the door and found it to be locked. All of the lights inside were off, casting everything in shadows. The mannequins looked almost like real people in the gloom. Any one of them could be Tessa, hiding in plain sight.

“Tessa?” I called. I pressed my face against the glass and cupped my hands to block out the sun. There was no movement inside the store. If she was in there, she was holding extremely still or she was hiding in the back somewhere.

For an insane moment I considered breaking the glass and going in search of her. If Tessa was inside, hiding from me, I was even more positive she was the killer. Why go to all of this trouble if you are innocent?

Thoughts of the disappointed look Chief Dalton would give me if I were to end up in her interrogation room yet again kept me from doing it. Even if there were packs of dusted peanuts in the back room, I’d still get into trouble for forcing my way inside. There had to be a better way to do this.

“Damn it,” I said, kicking the door’s frame. There’d be no confronting Tessa today unless I figured out where she lived. I really didn’t want to have to explain to Vicki why I kept leaving work so I could check to see if Tessa was in.

I started back to Death by Coffee, defeated. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing she wasn’t at work today. If she
had
killed Brendon Lawyer, she might come after me the moment I confronted her with what paltry evidence I had. I should leave the accusations to the police.

But a stubborn part of me wanted to break the case myself. If I brought the killer to them bound and gagged and ready to confess, they’d have to take me seriously. I wouldn’t be the girl who convinced an officer to take me into a crime scene illegally, but rather the girl who caught a killer. It had a nice ring to it.

“I’d need handcuffs,” I muttered, drawing a few eyes. I used to own a pair of handcuffs, but they weren’t the sort you’d use to apprehend criminals.

My face flushed at the thought. Boy, were those days I’d like to forget. I’m pretty sure Robert still had the cuffs, which meant I never wanted to see them again, no matter how much fun they might have been.

Besides, I wasn’t even sure the police still used handcuffs anymore, so maybe all I needed to do was hit up the hardware store and pick me up some zip strips. I knew firsthand how well they worked.

There were five people in Death by Coffee when I returned. They glanced at me as I entered and then went back to their coffees, clearly bored. Maybe we needed to add some entertainment to the place? Setting up a Wi-Fi hub wouldn’t be such a bad idea. People could get their work done while they enjoyed some coffee or maybe read a book.

I glanced at my phone and sighed. There’d be no criminal catching for me. I needed to focus on making this place a success first.

I dialed Officer Dalton, ready to tell him everything I knew. It rang a few times and then voice mail picked up. I growled in frustration and hung up without a message. If he wasn’t going to answer his phone when I called—or add me as a Facebook friend—I wanted nothing to do with him, anyway. I thrust my phone angrily into my pocket.

Vicki was leaning against the wall behind the counter, watching me with a grin. The smell of fresh coffee was too much for me and I had to make myself a cup. I grabbed a cookie, plopped it in, and leaned beside her.

“Have a good break?” she asked, still grinning. She knew what I’d been doing and I had a feeling she could tell I hadn’t accomplished everything I’d wanted.

“It was okay. You know, revelations and stuff.”

“Ah.”

“Have much trouble here?”

Vicki shrugged. “Nothing like yesterday.”

“Good.”

I chugged the coffee and instantly regretted it. I’d been so anxious to get to work today, I hadn’t bothered to do much more than shower before coming in. The coffee was running through me in a bad way.

“Be right back,” I said, setting the mug and soggy cookie aside.

Thankfully, the restroom was clean, probably because no one had come in all day. I suppose that’s one good thing about not having a ton of customers; you don’t have to clean the restrooms as regularly. Both stalls were empty, meaning I had my choice of thrones. I chose the farthest from the door because, well, why not?

I sat down, did my business, and then left to wash my hands. My cell was still in my pocket and I considered calling Paul again, but banished the idea before I could act on it. If he couldn’t be bothered to pick up the first three times, then I wasn’t going to give him a fourth. If he wanted to talk to me, well, he could just call.

I used the dryer on my dripping hands, checked to make sure my hair wasn’t too disheveled, and then left the restroom, mind on Officer Paul Dalton and his inability to keep a girl happy. I was halfway across the room when I saw her.

Tessa was standing at the counter, waiting for her order. Her foot tapped impatiently and she kept looking out the window like she expected someone to come rushing in after her. Did nervous behavior like that prove her guilt?

Vicki was busy mixing what looked to be cappuccino of some sort, completely oblivious to the fact that the woman she was serving very well might be a killer. I wanted to scream at her to be careful. Who knew what kind of weapon Tessa might be packing?

But I simply stood there, uncertain what to do. Tessa was right here, in my territory, where I could do what I pleased. I could approach her, accuse her, and then hope she gave herself up easily rather than attack me. Or I could follow her, see where she went, and make plans accordingly. Maybe she’d lead me directly to a barrel of peanuts she was in the process of dusting so she could kill someone else. Maybe she was looking to become the Peanut Killer. She’d strike fear into each and every person with a severe allergy.

Okay, maybe the last was a little far-fetched. Tessa wasn’t a serial killer—if she was a killer at all. She’d been rejected by a man who she thought had loved her and then proceeded to sleep with his wife as a form of revenge.

My mind boggled a little at the last, but that didn’t change the fact that it had happened.

Vicki finished with the cappuccino and handed it to Tessa, who paid and then turned toward the door.

I couldn’t let her go.

“Tessa! Wait!” I shouted, running toward her.

She turned, saw me, and frowned. She glanced toward the door as if considering just walking out. She had no reason to talk to me.

“I know,” I said, being purposefully vague. “I know all about it.”

That caught her attention. She turned, one hand on her hip, the other holding the cappuccino.

“You have no idea,” she said. “Just leave me alone.”

I moved closer. I knew what I was doing was stupid. Didn’t this sort of thing always end badly for the good guy? I really should have just called the police station and let whoever answered handle it, even if it was that jerk Buchannan.

But I didn’t know for sure Tessa had anything to do with Brendon’s death. For all I knew, Heidi had put me onto her trail because she realized I was getting too close. Maybe I’d been right when I’d thought Mason and Heidi had conspired together. Just because Tessa had slept with both of the Lawyers didn’t mean she was a murderer.

“I know,” I said again, stopping just outside of her reach, just in case.

“And what do you think you know?”

“I know about you and Heidi.”

There was a collective gasp from the five customers scattered around the room. I could feel them pressing in on me, getting a better view. This was probably the most entertainment they’d had since, well, since the cat went on a rampage upstairs.

Tessa swallowed hard. She sucked in her cheeks and bit down, as if trying to keep from saying something she’d regret. From her wince I could tell it hurt.

“What of it?” she finally asked. “I don’t see how it is any of your business what I do in my private time.”

“Both of them?” I asked. The small crowd gave me strength to go on. She wouldn’t do anything with the witnesses here. If I could get her to confess in front of these people, there was no way she could snake her way out of it later. “How could you?”

She snorted. “They were both . . .” She looked as if she was searching for the right word. “Lovely people,” she concluded. “They were terrible for each other.”

“But right for you?”

She shrugged. “It was their choice. I didn’t force them into anything.”

“At least until things started to fall apart for you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And what do you mean by that?”

I took a deep breath and looked around the room for support. All eyes were on me, including Vicki’s. Word of the encounter would surely spread throughout Pine Hills within an hour. If I was wrong about her, I was going to be the laughingstock of the town. But if I was right . . . Visions of parades and maybe a medal or two swam through my head.

“You thought Brendon was going to leave his wife for you, but he cheated on you with Beth, instead.” I nodded toward Lawyer’s Insurance.

The thought that he might be close helped strengthen my resolve. If anything went wrong, I could scream for help and he’d burst in and rescue me.

“When that happened and Heidi came to confront you about it, you somehow convinced her to sleep with you, too. Maybe it was her idea. Maybe it was yours. I don’t know. I have a feeling that you both thought it would be a good way to get back at Brendon, so you went through with it. Maybe in the end you actually cared about her. Maybe you still do.”

Tessa glared at me, but she didn’t speak. The hand on her hip kept tightening. It was a wonder her nails didn’t pop right through the fabric of her dress and spear her.

“But when you learned Heidi and Brendon had called off the divorce and were getting back together, you realized you’d been dumped again. That had to infuriate you.”

“What of it?” Tessa said, voice tight. “It sucks. I’m sure you’ve been dumped before.”

“I have,” I admitted. “But not like this, not by two people who were so close. It had to eat you up inside to see them together when you’d thought that they both loved you, instead.”

Chairs scraped forward as our little crowd moved to get a better view. Even Vicki had come around the counter to watch.

Tessa ignored them all. She only had eyes for me.

“Everyone knew Brendon was allergic to peanuts. You somehow managed to steal his EpiPen, get into the office unseen, and plant the dust in the vent so that when the air kicked on, he’d breathe it in. Without his EpiPen, Brendon would stand no chance.”

Tessa paled. “And how was I supposed to do that?” she asked, still trying to put on a strong front. She stuck out her chin and glared at me defiantly.

It was then I knew I had her. This woman had killed Brendon Lawyer, all because she felt humiliated by being dumped. I still wasn’t positive how she’d pulled it off, but I figured the police could figure that part out. They had to be good for something, right?

“I don’t know,” I said. “But I’ll find out.” I took a chance and moved closer, like you’d see in a movie, crowding her space and lowering my voice. “Maybe you broke in. Maybe you entered his office while wearing a disguise or paid someone to do it for you.”

She laughed, but it was strained. “You’re insane.”

“Am I?” I gave her my best “I’ve got you now” smile. “Am I really?”

Tessa looked around the room, seemingly noticing our audience for the first time. She licked her lips and then glanced back at Vicki, who had her hand over her mouth as she watched us. I could almost see the calculation in Tessa’s eyes as she scanned the room, looking for a way to escape.

Finally she turned back to me and smiled. There was so much hate in that smile, I took an involuntary step back. So much for my tough-girl persona.

Tessa took a deep breath, looked to the ceiling as if hoping for rescue from Above, and then made her move.

I should have seen it coming. I mean, I’d seen enough TV and read enough novels to know the killer wouldn’t simply turn herself in when confronted with her crimes.

No, the killers always tried to run and often used whatever they were holding as a weapon.

Tessa screeched at me and threw her coffee directly into my face. The lid popped off as I lifted my arm defensively to protect myself. Hot cappuccino splashed across my arm and face, but it didn’t get into my eyes.

I yelped in pain and surprise and someone else screamed. There was a moment of confusion where I couldn’t see, but I could hear the startled sounds of people getting to their feet and Vicki asking me frantically if I was all right.

And then my vision cleared. I caught a glimpse of Tessa as she bolted out of Death by Coffee and turned to run down the sidewalk, toward Tessa’s Dresses.

“I’m going after her!” I called, wiping coffee from my stinging face. “Call the police!”

I took off at a run.

The chase was on.