Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 03 - Dead and Berried (6 page)

Back at the fairgrounds, Kori flashed her vendor badge at the gate and rushed to the back of the festival. She would let Gale do all the serving for a few more minutes. Right now she had to talk to Holly, hopefully before the police had.

Kori found her sitting off to the side of the pony ride and petting zoo fences, drinking something that looked cold. Kori sat on the bale of hay next to her.

“Hey Kori. How’s it going today?” Holly sounded relaxed and no
t worried about her shovel having shown up at a crime scene. Maybe that meant she didn’t know.

“Better than yesterday, actually. I have help today! Jay and my mom have both put in some time and it’s been a relief.”
Because I’ve been looking into a murder
, she thought to herself.

“That’s great to hear. I don’t know how you did it yesterday. If I didn’t have help I wouldn’t have been able to be here.”

Kori got straight to the point of why she was there. “Did you ever find your shovel?” she asked.

“The one I was looking for yesterday?
No.” Holly shook her head. “But we managed without it. I just swear that I had put three of them next to the trailer Friday night when I was getting ready so I wouldn’t have to think in the morning. But now I can only find two. I’m sure it will show up.”

“
Well, I’m glad you’re not worried about it anymore. You looked panicked yesterday when you couldn’t find it.”

“Yeah. I think I was just overly busy. But it’s only a shovel.”

“Well, I’m glad things are working out. I’ve gotta get back to my tent and relieve my mom. See you later.”

Holly waved, finished her cold drink and stood, heading back into the pony ride area. Kori let Holly’s words cycle around in her head as she walked back out to the front of the festival:
I had put three of them next to the trailer Friday night.
Had she made it that easy for the killer to walk off with one?

“Oh thank God, you’re back,” Gale sighed in relief when Kori arrived and stood next to her.

“Was it really busy?” Kori asked.

“No. But I want to check out the end of the pie eating contest. See you later.” Without giving Kori a chance to ask any
more questions about the last hour, Gale was gone and nearly running to the pie eating contest.

Kori let her mind wander back to Holly again. What could Holly have had against Dan? Were they somehow related? Had he been involved in a lawsuit against her farm? Was there some other kind of bad blood between them?

Kori knew she had to find out.

As Kori worked that afternoon, Vera Joy, the owner of Furry Friends, stopped by for a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie. Kori was working alone, having told Jay that the afternoon was slower yesterday and she could handle serving pie and the few waffles and crepes that might be ordered.

“I see that Ibis is still loving her home with you,” Vera said, squatting to pat Ibis who responded with a dog smile.

“I think we both love each others’ company,” Kori told her.

Vera stood and walked to the front of the tables. “I have another perfect dog for you. Maybe Ibis wants some company.”

Kori handed her a piece of pie and laughed. “I don’t think I have space for another dog. Maybe my mom wants one.” She knew Gale didn’t but she just couldn’t take a second dog into her small apartment
and wanted to help Vera find a home for a quality dog. Besides space, Kori still had the good citizen class to complete with Ibis, never mind that a second dog was another huge gamble if she wanted to keep it in the café around customers all day.

After Vera’s visit, Kori’s afternoon was once again jam packed with customers. Pie slices flew off the table almost faster than she could refill them.
From a distance she saw Lani and Jay walking from vendor to vendor, stopping to check out crafts, foods for sale and free samples. She had to admit that she’d never seen her brother happier.

Finally, the person she’d been waiting to talk to all day stopped by for some pie.

“How’s the ant problem?” AJ asked before Kori had spotted him. She was busy serving other visitors and was a little annoyed that he’d ask that in front of paying customers.

She smiled, trying to hide her annoyance, focusing on the fact that AJ was in front of her and willing to chat. “Still all under control.”

“Glad to hear it. I always start with natural remedies and avoid chemicals whenever I can.”

“The cinnamon and lemon juice seemed to do just the trick. I’m glad I know about them now.”

“I have to admit that it’s probably not the best business practice to teach clients about repellents that they own, but if I’m going to be eating at The Early Bird Café, I’d rather know that you’re using natural remedies rather than toxic poisons in your kitchen.”

Kori nodded. She couldn’t agree more. She tried to avoid using anything that had the poison control number on it. If it wasn’t on the container, it meant that she wouldn’t need to call them if she accidentally spilled or ingested whatever she was using.

“What do you use for rat control?” she asked once the other customers had walked away with their pie slices.

“Do you have a rat problem now?”

Kori shook her head. “No. I was just wondering. Ants were easy enough to get rid of naturally, but what about rats?” She hoped that AJ didn’t pick up on why she was asking.

“Unfortunately I haven’t found a natural repellent for them. Other than cats, of course. I always have to resort to rat poison for that.”

Kori pushed ahead. “Have you had any rat infestations to deal with lately?”

“A couple, actually. One at the home of Stanley Roche and one at the law firm Edwards and Greene.”

Kori had to look down at her pies to hide her surprise. Stanley had a rat problem? Had he used the poison to kill his brother? And who worked at this law firm? Were they involved in the case against Dan Roche? “I hope they don’t spread!”

AJ chuckled. “I don’
t think you have to worry.” Then he turned and left with his pie.

Kori typed a quick message to Nora:
Stanley Roche had a rat problem. And law firm Edwards and Greene too. Know them?

Could Edwards and Greene be the
same law firm she was hoping to find after learning that Dan Roche had defended the manufacturing company’s chemical spill? Was one of them the prosecutor and had gotten their hands on rat poison for a use other than rat control?

There was only one way to find out.

But Kori was too busy right now to be able to investigate. And she knew Nora was too. She didn’t hear back from her—even though they were right across the path from each other—until it was nearly five o’clock and the closing ceremonies were starting.

Before Kori packed up she headed over to Nora’s tent. “Did you get my text?” she asked.

“Yeah. But I didn’t have the ten seconds I needed to respond. I don’t know that law firm, but I bet we might know either Edwards or Greene if we look them up. There aren’t many people we don’t know between the two of us.”

“That’s what I was thinking too.”

Kori and Nora both pulled out their phones and started looking up the Edwards and Greene law firm. At the same instant, they looked at each other and they both knew they’d found the same thing. Arnold Greene was another classmate of theirs. And he’d been the prosecutor against the manufacturer’s spill.

“What do you know about Arnold?” Nora asked, fear in her eyes. “Do you think he would have killed Dan over losing the case?”

Kori shrugged. “Seems like a loose motive. Why not target the owner of the company? Sure, Dan might have questionable morals if he’s defending the manufacturer. But is he really the cause of the pollution? Would Arnold kill him over that?”

This time Nora shrugged. Then her phone buzzed and she looked down at the screen and her faced turned white as the flour Kori used in her baking.

“You’re not going to believe who it is.” Nora looked up at Kori. “Stanley wants to come over and see where Dan’s body was found.”

Kori was just as shocked as Nora was. “Well, let’s not stop him. I think we could ask him some more questions. We know he had access to rat poison. Would he have wanted to kill his brother? Where was he at the time of the murder? We need answers to those questions before we can really rule him out and focus just on
Holly Barton, AJ Long and Arnold Greene.”

Nora nodded and started typing out her reply. “I told him we’ll meet him in an hour. You wanna drop stuff off at the café first?” Kori nodded. “Bring Ibis if you want. I’m sure Milo and Otis can tire her out more.”

Kori agreed to bring Ibis and headed back to her tent to pack up all of her coolers and cookware now that the festival was coming to a close. There were still events tonight but she wouldn’t be a part of them. She had to start getting back into the mode of serving at the café since tomorrow would be an early morning. And likely a busy day with plenty of tourists spending the week in town.

At the café, Kori brought all of the coolers into the walk-in fridge and just left them there, open
to stay cool. There was leftover batter, fillings and toppings that she would use tomorrow. She hoped no one was sick of waffles and crepes with strawberries!

The
pies were gone but she still had plenty of strawberries that she would use in something, maybe muffins or smoothies or toppings on oatmeal and granola. She didn’t want to spend long thinking about it, knowing she could do that tomorrow morning.

When things were put away enough—mostly in the sink waiting to be washed—she loaded Ibis back into the car and headed out to Red Clover Farm. She didn’t find any extra cars in the driveway, just Nora’s beat up truck near the barn. Stanley wasn’t there yet.

Milo and Otis ran out the back door of the house and found Ibis and they took off on their second game of chase today. Kori found Nora inside, rinsing strawberries.

“You’re not sick of strawberries yet?” Kori asked.

“Never. I can’t believe you’d say such a thing,” Nora said between laughs.

Kori took a seat in the kitchen. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” Nora paused but looked like she had something else to say. “I have to tell you something about Stanley.” She turned around and looked Kori in the eye. “We dated a few years back. Before I went on that date with Derek. He was the last almost serious relationship I was in.”

“What? And you never told me?” Kori was shocked. She thought she knew everything about Nora.

Nora hurried to explain, leaving Kori chuckling. She wasn’t really hurt. “It was a few years before you moved back to Hermit Cove. You were still in New York City. I knew you were so busy. And we took things so slow that just about as soon as we were really a couple, we were breaking up.”

“I was just giving you a hard time.” Kori continued laughing.

Nora relaxed. “I thought you were really upset.”

“Of course not. How’d it end?”

Nora turned back to the sink and her strawberries. “On good terms. We’ve actually kind of kept things open if we both want to get back together at some point. Things with my farm were in a tough spot. And he was struggling with a new job. So it just wasn’t the right time.”

“So what if it looks like he killed Dan? Are you going to see things differently because of your past?” What Kori really wanted to ask was,
So you’ll be determined to see whatever his alibi is as innocence?
But she knew she wasn’t justified in saying anything like that.

Nora shrugged, her back still to Kori. “I mean, if he’s guilty, he’s guilty. We just need to know if there was any reason he would have wanted Dan dead. Or if he could have been at the scene of the crime. What’s his alibi? You know?”

Kori did know but she didn’t have a chance to tell Nora because the dogs started barking and they both knew Stanley Roche had arrived.

Kori followed Nora when she went to the front door to make sure Stanley wasn’t like his brother and had a problem with barking dogs. Kori knew
she and Nora would interpret anything he said differently because of their relationship—or lack thereof in Kori’s case—so she wanted to make sure she saw and heard every interaction.

Much to Kori’s surprise, Stanley was down on the ground letting all three dogs lick his face while he patted them each in turn. If there were ever polar opposites when it came to brothers, these two seemed to be just that. Kori couldn’t imagine Dan liking any dog after the way he’d acted on the trail on Friday afternoon.

“Hi Stanley,” Nora said. Kori could hear the smile in her voice and she wondered if there were more lingering feelings on Nora’s side than Stanley’s.

Stanley got up and Kori saw the sadness on his face. Of course she would see sadness there. He’d just lost his brother yesterday.
But it quickly disappeared and he looked relieved to see Nora. “Nora. It’s been a long time.”

Kori could see Nora hesitate in how she greeted him—was hugging appropriate in this instance? She finally followed his lead and they embraced, for longer than Kori had expected. Then Nora introduced Kori while she pulled at the hem of her shirt to straighten it out. “This is my friend Kori. I hope
it’s okay that she’s here. Her dog is Ibis,” Nora pointed her out, “and the dogs always sleep better if they get plenty of time running around together.”

Stanley gave Kori a warm smile.
Was that initial look of sadness just an act? Was he really happy that Dan was dead? She supposed that was what they were here to find out.

Stanley offered his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Kori shook it and said, “Likewise. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

At that, Stanley did look at the ground, but was it to hide his lack of remorse? “It certainly came as a sudden blow. My parents are still trying to fly in. They were overseas on vacation—their fortieth wedding anniversary. They should be getting in tomorrow morning.”

The fact that he didn’t talk about his own shock did not go overlooked by Kori. She glanced at Nora but saw that she was just giving him a sympathetic look. Kori wasn’t sure she was even internalizing what he was saying.

“If you need anything, let me know. I can’t even imagine how hard all of this must be for you,” Nora finally said. She was definitely still mooning over Stanley.

Stanley paused before getting to the reason for his visit. “Well, actually, I’m here now because—”

“Right, of course!” Nora exclaimed. “Did you want to go there alone? The police tape has been taken down and everything is gone. But I can show you where I … found Dan.”

“Alone would be appreciated.”

Of course it would,
Kori thought cynically to herself.

Nora silently led the way to the spot behind the barn where Dan’s body had been found with the poisoned strawberries. Kori hung back and watched the two of them interact, trying to decide if Stanley could be guilty. Though she still didn’t know why he’d want to kill his brother.

She watched Nora point out where the body was found and then tell him something that seemed to truly capture his attention. He glanced back at Kori and she looked away. She didn’t want to intrude on his possibly real mourning, or their possibly real relationship, or give away that she was secretly trying to figure out if Stanley was guilty.

But before she had a chance to turn away completely, Nora and Stanley were walking back in her direction. “We’re going to look at the few photos I took on my cell phone of the crime scene,” Nora told her quietly. Kori didn’t think Stanley had heard. And she was happy about that because she had to hide her surprise. She didn’t know there were photos. Why had Nora hid those from her?

Granted, they’d both been incredibly busy since the murder, but even yesterday during lunch at Nora’s house she hadn’t said anything about it.

Again, Kori followed the two of them who walked in silence. But their body language gave the impression that being around each other was a relief. Their shoulders were relaxed, and Stanley stayed close to Nora. Like she might protect him if Kori decided to dig deeper into his alibi and relationship with Dan.

In the house, Nora found her phone on the kitchen counter and quickly found the photos she’d taken. Now Kori sidled up to Nora with Stanley on Nora’s other side. All three of them looked at the photos.

Nora slowly scanned through the photos before anyone said anything. Stanley was the first to break the silence. “Dan was allergic to strawberries. Those had to be placed next to him because he never would have gotten them on his own. He could have died from just eating one.”

Kori was floored. Would the killer have put them there on purpose to throw off the investigators? Or did the murderer have no idea about the allergy? But it seemed suddenly clear that the strawberries had been placed there intentionally. She just didn’t know their intention.

One more question crossed
Kori’s mind: How many people—especially of those on their suspect list—knew of Dan’s allergy?

Nora and Kori didn’t say anything for several moments. Finally, Stanley asked Nora, “Were they from your farm?”

She slowly nodded, like she didn’t want to give away that information. “Someone must have broken into the barn—I don’t ever lock it so it wouldn’t have been hard. I had so many pints picked to sell at the festival and they were all just sitting around.”

“Did the detectives find fingerprints?” Stanley asked. He actually sounded worried.

“Not that I’ve heard yet,” Nora told him. “I don’t think we’ll hear anything until tomorrow now. It’s Sunday night. No one’s going to be working.”

Nora suddenly looked embarrassed. Kori suspected it was at the lack of compassion in the previous comment. Though it was likely true, this was Stanley’s brother they were talking about and he wasn’t resting.

Kori caught Nora’s attention and gave her a meaningful look, trying to silently let her know that she needed to start asking more detailed questions. There was a lot of information they wanted to get from Stanley and this could be their only non-obvious opportunity.

Nora seemed to get the hint. “Where were you
Friday night when Dan was killed?” she asked him gently.

Stanley looked like a deer caught in headlights. The color had drained from his face and he started twisting his hands together. Something wasn’t right.

“I—I’ve gotta get going,” he finally stammered, glancing at his watch like he had a pressing timeline.

He quickly dashed out the front door, the dogs picking up their barking at the sight of him again, and drove off like a bat out of hell.

Kori and Nora recovered and looked at each other. “That was strange,” Kori said. “I think he knows more than he’s letting on.”

“He certainly didn’t like my last question.”