A Cup of Murder (Roasted Love Cozy 1)

With Thor at my heels, my reaction of fear mimicked the day the dog tried to attack me, only this fear ran much deeper and the source was no animal. My hands shook violently when I put the key in the ignition. Thor sat upright, straight as a board in the back seat. I counted on him hanging on as I spun away.

Chapter Ten

When I walked into my living room I felt renewed peace around familiar surroundings. After I fed Thor and let him outside for a while, I relaxed in my easy chair and picked up the remote control for the TV. I needed a good distraction right now. Thoughts of Jacob’s reactions during the evening were something I wanted to push to the back of mind until I calmed down. I began to search for a good movie when there was a knock on my door. My immediate reaction was one of tenseness and I wondered who it could be. Looking through the peephole I saw that it was Jacob. I debated the idea of letting him in. After a few seconds, I opened the door.

Neither of us spoke and he hesitated before coming on in. "I’m sorry, Laila for interrupting your evening but I want to explain some things."

I stepped back and he came in. I gestured to the chair and he lowered his frame easily. We looked at each other and finally I asked him to explain whatever it was he felt he needed to explain to me. Still on my guard, I was ready to hit 911 on my cell phone if needed.

"I know you saw the note I wrote to Michael. I was caught up in the rivalry and it was to be a response to his written threats to me. Two of his notes were worded exactly the same in black and red letters except he printed Roasted Love instead of Sunrise, of course."

It was hard to wrap my head around the juvenile actions of two grown men. I couldn’t find any words to answer Jacob and he picked up again on his explanation.

"I was sucked into his drama and made the mistake of playing things his way. I have no idea why I did that. The police are well aware of the problems between us."

Looking at the beaten man in front of me caused me to soften my attitude a little. There was no doubt that Jacob would be more likely to lash out in anger toward Michael Simms with a direct confrontation rather than passing notes back and forth like school boys. Any response to written threats like that by Jacob seemed out of character for the man I thought I knew. He didn’t mince words of strong dislike for Michael. He never cared who witnessed him. His spurts of anger came suddenly and there was no control over his emotions at times like that.

Above all, I was sure he wouldn’t step foot into Sunrise and I doubt Michael would have wanted to meet him in his own coffee shop that late, or at all. I sat down across from my boss.

"Was the note I saw the only one y

ou have?"

"It’s the only one I have at my house. I wrote it at home and planned to put it at his door in the next day or so. I have no idea if Michael kept any. I sent him one other one about a week ago."

There were no words when he said that. If any notes were found by police then it would only prove another strike against Jacob. Evidence like that was a sure cause for arrest. The sick feeling that crept around in my stomach didn’t let up. At this point I found it hard to listen to more incrimination. I opted to go for practical observations in the whole matter.

"Jacob, whoever killed Michael is a methodical person. It is someone who is particular about details and gets his or her way in an underhanded manner. The person had to have patience and wait for his chance. Somehow you just don’t fit that profile when it comes to the way he was murdered."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the way your anger rises up with no warning signs tells me you wouldn’t have planned every little detail. You just would not have had the patience to wait for the right moment."

I threw a winning smile in his direction. For once, I thought his trait of spontaneous irritation might serve him well in this case.

"You mentioned a couple days ago that there was suspicion that he was poisoned. Is that confirmed? Do you know what kind of poison was used?" he asked.

There was no way I was going to reveal what Daniel Jenkins had told me and so I feigned ignorance of details like that.

"That brings another point to make. Unless you have access to poisonous chemicals we have to conclude someone else did. I just don’t know who at this point."

"Laila," Jacob said, his voice deep and almost guttural."I know you've been investigating as a favor to me, but you need to stop. Whoever killed Michael isn't messing around. Don't get yourself killed over this."

"Jacob," I say, clapping my hand on his big shoulder. "Follow me."

I led him into my bedroom. I had put up a corkboard and pinned notes of information I had so far in order of discovery. His name, comments and actions were set apart from the chronological order of the main part of the board which now resembled lodgepole pines with perfectly straight branches. There was a name at the top of each ‘branch.’

"We should think of other business owners who had a vendetta with Michael Simms," I said. "He brushed against more people than you."

"That’s true, Laila. Enough business owners down the street have had problems with him in the past...but, I bet they weren't hotheaded enough to respond to Michael's threats."

"Do you still have the ones he wrote to you?"

"I think I tore them up but I may have them around my desk someplace."

"Let’s hope you can find them before the police decide to search Roasted Love and find only your written threats. You don't have any other threats in your house, do you? The police will probably search that too if they find any more evidence against you."

"I practiced writing more notes than you found tonight," he said. "I wanted to duplicate the way he threatened me. I did that at work."