A Cup of Murder (Roasted Love Cozy 1)

How lame is that, I thought? He looked at me and pasted a slight smile on his lips. It didn’t go any deeper than that. My heart went out to him. He swung his legs over the bench across the table from me.

"Not so good, Laila. They tell me they have evidence against me."

"What kind of evidence, Jacob?" I knew he was a suspect, but actual evidence?

"One of the practice notes I wrote to Michael was found in the file cabinet behind my desk at Roasted Love. Not only that, they found traces of a poisonous substance on the note. They tell me it was belladonna and that that was what poisoned Michael. I don’t even know what belladonna is. There is no way I could have gotten my hands on poison, but they don’t care about that."

Thoughts slammed my head. Could someone who works at Roasted Love have planted it all? Of course that presumes Jacob really didn’t kill his rival. The other question would be who at his coffee house would do such a thing?

"They found a similar threatening note at my house in the nightstand by my bed. I explained the notes to you, Laila."

Eyes pled with me in desperation.

"Why didn’t you destroy those notes at your house after you left me the other night?"

His hands opened up as if he was as baffled as I was.

"You have to find out who knew where to get this belladonna stuff, Laila," said Jacob. "You have to for my sake."

"I’m no detective, Jacob."

His facial expression was one that said his last lifeline slipped away. I felt bad about speaking so quickly. I reached for his hand. The nearby guard frowned. I pulled my hand away.

"Look, Jacob, I’ll do all I can. You do have a good lawyer, don’t you?"

He nodded yes and spoke in low tones.

"Laila, if I am found guilty and sent to prison for life, I want you to take over Roasted Love. You know what you are doing and you are the best person for it."

That was when I knew for sure Jacob had given up all hope. The shattered man stood and thanked me for coming to visit him.

###

That day someone left the daily newspaper on the counter of Roasted Love next to the register. The headlines read: Jacob Weaver Arrested for the Murder of Michael Simms.

Roasted Love filled to capacity from early afternoon through closing. No one held back on expressing opinions of belief or disbelief of the owner of the coffee house. Janie had gone home at the end of her shift. Once again I asked Lily to bring Eddie in to help out.

"You may want to think about hiring more workers, Laila," said Lily at closing time. "Until Jacob’s trial, I know the crowds will continue. It’s all big news around here. His trial may not happen for a while."

"Let’s give it through the rest of the week. I’ll have to clear it with Jacob about hiring more people."

Lily looked at me intently as if to say: why should I ask a convicted man about running the business. The thought of how much, or how little, I knew about Lily ran through my mind. For that matter, what did I really know about Janie or Eddie?

"He still owns the place," I said. "I have to run things by him like I’ve always done."

I locked the back door, last to leave and worried about Thor left at home. He probably needed to be let out by now. The day had been much longer than he was used to waiting. Driving from the parking lot I glanced at Sunrise. It remained dark and it struck me as strange not to see any movement over there. A few businesses near it were closing for the night. The scene gave an eerie feeling to the Piazza. I was glad I had my car with me. There was security in it as I drove toward home.

My worries about Jacob escalated. What did I miss? If, as Jacob told me, the police found evidence at Roasted Love that did not belong to him, then someone who had access to Roasted Love planted it there.

"It may have been a customer who slipped in the back door when everyone was busy upfront," I said aloud.

Ideas about all of it were a jumbled heap in my mind. There were so many possibilities but nothing clear came to mind. Hidden clues had to be there. How to uncover them was jus

t as much a mystery as the fact that evidence against Jacob had been found.

"Like I said, Jacob, I’m no detective as much as I want to be now," I mumbled to myself as I parked the car.

I unlocked my door and an excited large monster of a dog almost knocked me from my feet. Thor then ran to the back door and I hurried to let him out. My compliments to him for waiting were lost on him. He raced around the yard after taking care of business and was happy to run in circles. I watched him from my kitchen window and then turned to make a salad for starters.