Caffeine & Killers (Roasted Love Cozy 3)

"I know you think that homeless man who used to sit outside here was murdered," he began.

I cocked my head and studied him. "Are you talking about John Wilkins? Your friend from the past? You certainly know that was his name."

His face started to turn red, and he raised his hands a little as if in surrender. "You're right. John and I had problems between us. But that’s not what I want to say to you."

I took a sip of my espresso.

"Linda came clean last night about meeting with you."

I held up my hand to stop him. I remembered what Daniel had said to the chief about me being in the middle of this. "Don’t tell me anything. Chief Hayes is the one to talk to."

"That’s what I’m trying to say. I met with the chief this morning. I told him I knew that both of those homeless men were murdered. And I',m sure I know who it was."

I shut my eyes. My heart was pounding out of my chest. "Mr. Larch – I don’t want to know. I’m just glad Chief Hayes has the information. That's who should be handling this."

Though at the same time, I had no idea of what had come over me. This was exactly what I'd wanted to know from the start. Why was I trying to shut him down?

"All right," said Larch. "Suit yourself. I just don’t want you thinking I had anything to do with it."

He got up from the table and walked to the register, where Lily took his money. I watched him hurry to his car. The rain came down harder and he wasn’t someone who would appreciate getting his good suit all spotted with rain.

Of course, I sure wanted to know who had murdered John and Ricky, but the relief that Chief Hayes now knew was enough for the moment. That fact should stop whoever continued to harass me – at least, I sure hoped it would.

Before going back out to the counter, I called Daniel and told him what Larch had said to me.

"But he didn't give you a name?" Daniel asked. "Did he say it was a bad cop?"

"I didn’t let him tell me much of anything. I have to close tonight, but maybe you can get some information from Chief Hayes. You're good friends and I think he might tell you what's going on."

"Are you using me again?" asked Daniel, teasing me.

I smiled, even though he couldn't see me. "Well, you have to admit that you're good at getting the info any time you want to." It was true. "And if Donald won’t tell you anything, then ask your cop friend Leo Swenson."

"Okay, okay. I’ll do my best. I’ll call you later this evening, Sherlock," said Daniel, and he hung up.

# # #

A little while later, I had just taken a couple of sandwich orders when Lily came over to me. "I need the keys to the register," she said. "I accidentally overcharged somebody and I need to make a correction."

"Oh. Okay." I'd done that myself more than once. "Hang on and I'll get the keys."

I was in charge tonight since Jacob was out working with his accountant, so I walked into his office, pulled open his lower desk drawer, and reached into the little compartment inside to get the keys.

That's when I noticed something.

Stuffed into that same drawer was a large, smudged, dirty manila envelope. It was torn along one edge and looked as if it had been lying in the mud at one time. The crease in the middle told me it had been folded for a while, too.

This was pretty unusual. I did have to open that drawer to get the keys every now and then, but I didn't remember seeing this big filthy-looking envelope before.

I ran back to the floor, gave the keys to Lily, and then ran back into Jacob's office.

Without hesitation, I picked up the mysterious envelope. It was heavy and lumpy. I dumped out the contents onto the desk, and took a good look.

I

saw a man’s silver bracelet and a ring. The bracelet was nicely engraved: To John, my love. Happy Valentine’s Day. Linda. A date was etched below that, in smaller characters.

The other piece looked like a class ring. It had the name of a high school that I didn't recognize, along with the year.