A Cup of Murder (Roasted Love Cozy 1)

"I want you to know that I can see how a mother would want to avenge her son’s death. If Michael caused John’s asthma attack, I can see how you may have met him that night in his coffee house and put poison in his coffee."

The stunned look on the woman’s face said maybe I had been too blunt. I couldn’t tell if it was one that told me she was found out, or one that told me the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

She looked me in the eye and regained her composure. "I would never have poisoned Michael. I recognized his goodness. The night he was here with the check, he was still deeply saddened. The anger most saw in him was replaced with despondency." We sat in silence. "Besides, that is why I wanted to talk to you again. Michael, nor James, was with John when he died. His girlfriend was there."

It was my turn to stare. "You told me it was confusing who was there," I reminded her.

"I hadn’t thought of the specifics for quite a while until you brought that up. Later, I remembered it was John’s girlfriend who was there when he died. I don’t know her name. John had dated her for a short time at that point and I never met her. I have a picture of her, though."

I leaned forward, excited to see another piece of the puzzle. When I looked at the picture I held back a gasp. The girl in the photo with John was tall, slender and had hair the color of sun-bleached sand on a beach. Without a doubt, the woman was Sarah Simms. True, she was younger in the picture, but her face was unmistakable. The girlfriend was the wife of James Simms.

"I only heard her first name and think it was Susan or Sarah, perhaps," said Marianne. "John didn’t tell me everything about his private life. I found that picture in his wallet after he died and on the back he wrote the words ‘my girl’ on it but no name. Michael once told me he knew her, but he didn’t say who she was. I was so devastated I didn’t ask at the time. Do you know her?"

"I thought at first she looked familiar but I’m not really sure."

Now was not the time to tell Marianne Andrews that her son was having an affair with the wife of Senator James Simms. I stood and told Marianne that it was getting late and I had an early morning.

"I hope I’ve been of some help to you. I want to emphasize there was no way I would ever have harmed Michael Simms, ever."

I wanted to say she had only added to my confusion. At this point, I had no idea what was real and what was not. Several people had gone to great lengths to cover up things about John Andrews’ death. I wanted to know why.

Chapter Nineteen

In the early afternoon the next day, I took my break away from Roasted Love and headed for the jail. Jacob looked like he had aged a lifetime.

"Hello, Laila. You know you don’t have to keep coming to see me."

"I come because I want to. I’ve found out some stuff that I want you to know about."

A glimmer of hope lit his eyes and he sat up a little straighter.

"I think John Andrews’ death a while back is somehow connected to the murder of Michael," I began. "I’ve been to see John’s mother, Marianne on two occasions. I keep getting mixed information from her. I’ve learned that her son died in James Simms’ campaign office, not on his apartment parking lot. The obit states that he was found near his car. The autopsy tells it different."

Jacob didn’t look surprised. "What does all of this have to do with anything?"

I told him about Michael visiting Marianne the night before his death and his offer of a huge check amount. "I think he may have been paying her off for something. Like maybe he had something to do with John’s death."

For the first time in the visit, Jacob perked up with more life in him. He asked me to go on. I was only too happy to.

"I’ve enlisted the help of Daniel Jenkins in my investigations."

"Daniel?" he asked.

"The paramedic," I said. "You met him. He was the one who helped take Michael's body out of Sunrise."

"Right," he said, nodding, though I wasn't sure if he was agreeing because he remembered Daniel or because he simply wanted the conversation to continue.

"Daniel knew the Simms’ brothers but not all that well. He does know more about their lives than I do at any rate," I said. "Marianne told me about the differences in the personalities of Michael and James. Seems James has quite a temper at times and is very controlling. Before Michael changed he was the one who gave to the poor and did good deeds right and left."

"I didn’t know that," said Jacob. "I knew James had a way of winning political positions most of the time. Why did Michael give Marianne a check?"

I told him that she was as baffled as anyone and he wouldn’t explain it to her.

"Twenty-four hours later Michael was dead. It could be that whatever went on at her house that night made her resent him. Maybe she blamed Michael for her son’s death. She could have met him at Sunrise that night and slipped poison into his coffee."

Jacob rubbed his forehead. "I just don’t know, Laila. I just don’t know. At the very least, she may know a lot more than she is willing to say. Do you have any proof she could have done it? Remember also that someone had to have planted evidence against me at Roasted Love."

I shook my head no. "Let’s think about who could have put that evidence in your office. How well do you know the servers?"