A Cup of Murder Read Free Page A

beautiful day,” I said
to no one in particular.
    Talking to myself so much was probably not a good
idea. It could be one of those habits that one day people would look
at me and point to the lady babbling to herself. I decided I didn’t
really care what people thought down the road. Nothing was going to
spoil my day today.
    It didn’t take long to discover that the day was
not going to be so beautiful after all. I was a block from the Piazza
when I heard sirens. When I turned the corner to Roasted Love, the
street was dotted with police cars and an ambulance. The revolving
lights interrupted the beams of sunshine. I saw two officers roping
off the street with yellow tape that extended to the Sunrise. Dread
overtook all optimism I felt earlier and I wondered what had
happened.
    My eye caught sight of a muscular young man was
helping load a gurney onto an ambulance. His thick black hair was
short and between the sun rays and flashing lights it looked like
lightning strikes hitting it. My eyes shifted to the form that was
covered on the stretcher. A shock of blond hair could be seen from
under the edge of the unzipped covering. I froze.
    The handsome paramedic glanced in my direction
with a half smile as he hurriedly finished zipping the bag. I bumped
into the door of Roasted Love and quickly grabbed the rail to steady
myself before walking inside. A few customers sat in front of now
frothless lattes and cappuccinos and stared out the window. Partially
eaten French toast and blueberry muffins were arranged on Roasted
Love’s signature plates. Janie, the server behind the counter cast
large luminous eyes in my direction and motioned toward the kitchen
behind her. Without a word, I kept going toward the kitchen.
    Jacob sat in the corner near the time clock
wringing his hands and muttering incoherently. I heard words like ‘I
can’t go back to prison again’ or similar but I got the meaning
of what he was saying. Not ready to talk to him, I ignored Jacob,
getting a sicker feeling in my stomach by the minute. I punched the
time clock, shoved my stuff in my locker and continued past Jacob as
if he was not there. He didn’t look up at me, but kept moaning
which told me he didn’t know I passed by him.
    I pulled Janie aside. “Did you get here before
or after Jacob?”
    “Before,” she replied. “Jacob arrived a bit
after I did.”
    Neither of us spoke again. I tried to start my day
in the usual manner but thoughts and images flew through my mind. I
recalled how upset Jacob was when I left him the night before but I
pushed all connotations from my head. It was way too early to start
thinking about implicating him in any way. He surely wouldn’t put
himself in a position as serious as bodily harm to someone, even
someone he intensely disliked.
    I recalled the incident of the night before when
Michael Simms and his dog threatened me. Wondering if the owner of
Sunrise had returned to his shop or walked in a different direction,
I mentally kicked myself for not noticing. I had no idea whether that
would tell me anything or not, or if it mattered anyway.
    “Laila,” said Janie. She wiped her hands on
the cloth and her hands twitched. “Some of the customers are
blaming Jacob. Three of them were in here when he flew off the handle
yesterday about Mr. Simms.”
    “You weren’t here at the time, were you?” I
asked.
    Everyone knew how much I abhorred gossip.
    “No, but they were here and heard Jacob make
threatening remarks about Mr. Simms. I’m just telling you that
rumors are starting.”
    My heart lodged very close to my throat. Jacob,
innocent or not was already condemned and I knew it was only a matter
of time before word would spread quickly up and down the Piazza. I
knew I should talk with Jacob but I wasn’t ready for that yet. I
figured I was still more than a little angry with him for lashing out
at me the evening before. His stupid mistakes of flying off the
handle more than once in front of patrons did not