Sit a Spell

by Stacey Alabaster

All Candace had done the morning she died was to froth the milk for a coffee. And that had been the last thing she had ever done.

  The Onyx was definitely closed due to unforeseen circumstances now. That sign had gone straight back up the moment that the police had left. Whoever had written that note—whoever had killed Candace—had gotten exactly what they’d desired.

  Of course, the police were “on the case”. But Akiro had asked me if I would stay on the case as a personal favor to him.

  “Of course,” I had told him. “You know I would do anything to help you.”

  He’d gone a little red and told me that he appreciated it. And that he would do anything for me, as well.

  I was still thinking about that moment as I sat in Vicky’s kitchen.

  “This is a big case for you. Er, for us,” Vicky added quickly. She shot me a smile. “Don’t worry. I am still here for a little while yet.”

  “It is a big case,” I replied, taking in a deep breath. The lemon from the tea she had brewed hit the back of my throat. “And I don’t want to let Akiro down.”

  “Of course not. So where is the best place for you, er, for us, to start?” She kept accidentally phrasing it like that. I knew why, too. She still wanted to reassure me that she was part of the team. That she hadn’t checked out just yet.

  But Vicky wasn’t going to be any help to me with this case, as she had a shortlisted audition to play with a band called Ribeye Bandits. If she got the job, she would be touring around the country for a couple of months playing country music at festivals, mostly in hot rural areas in the Outback. A dream for her. And I knew her heart and head were already on the road.

  It was all good—In the end I had more than enough backup anyway.

  Akiro had not only asked me to take on the case as a favor to him, he had also decided to return the favor—by helping me to investigate.

  And silly me, thinking that it would be fine to mix friendship with work.— I mean, I had done it with Vicky, and it turned out great!

  Akiro had gone down to the police station that morning to answer a few more questions, and so I picked him up from the parking lot at the back just after nine-thirty. He was carrying a book as thick as two Bibles as he opened the door, and he barely even nodded at me before he stuck his head back inside it.

  “What is that?” I asked him as I started the engine. Please go, please go.

  “It’s a book about how to be a detective, to put it in simple terms.” He explained that he had picked it up the night before and had been studying it since. “I’m up to the chapter about how to tell if suspects are lying.”

  “Yeah, well, I have a little experience in these matters,” I said with a laugh, ignoring the early red flags that us working together was not going to be a good idea. No other client had ever climbed into my passenger seat with a book about how to be a detective and started to lecture me about it. But Akiro was a friend. So, I was giving him some leeway. I told myself that he was just heavily invested and that it was a good thing that he was getting so interested in my line of work.

  Akiro waved the thing at me. “Yes, but have you read this book? It’s got a lot of useful stuff in it.”

  “I don’t need to read that book. I attended a course. There were multiple books and exams involved.”

  Akiro was still muttering to himself as he poured over the book.

  “A course can’t tell you everything you need to know.”

  “And a book can?” I asked.

  “This book? Yes.”

  “That must be some book.” I scoffed.

  “It is. I think you could really learn a thing or two from it.”

  I took another turn towards Red Annex, which was on the opposite side of town to the station. Was he going to be like this the whole time?

  “You know, I usually work on my own,” I said, starting to get doubts, but he interrupted me.

  “Don’t you usually have an assistant?”

  I had to admit that yes, I did. And that, yes, she was going to be away for a while if she got this new job, and so I was going to be a man down. Or a woman down, in this case.

  Akiro grinned at me through gritted teeth.

  “Then I am happy to fill that role,” he said. “At least for today. I don’t want you operating at less-than-full capacity.”

  Yeah, but was he trying to be my assistant, or was he trying to be my boss?

  We were driving and passed Olde Swift Town where there was a small coffee cart out front for the tourists and visitors to the theme park. I really wanted to duck into the park for a coffee, but doing so with Akiro right there next to me felt like the ultimate betrayal. Not only would I be buying coffee from a competitor, it was a sore point that the former operator of the coffee cart had been Akiro’s girlfriend. The relationship had ended messily, to stay the least.

  So, I just gritted my teeth and bore it.

  I had one burning question in the back of my mind. “What was Candace doing at the coffee shop so early if she was a new employee?” I asked Akiro as we started to get closer to Red Annex.

  “She only worked there for three weeks, but I trusted her enough to get her to open up for me. She had a set of keys. It wasn’t the first time she had done it. The other times, nothing went wrong.”

  She had a set of keys? I didn’t say anything right then, but that seemed like he was just asking for trouble.

  “How much did you know about her?” I asked, trying not to sound too accusatory. It just seemed really strange to me that Candace had the keys when she was so new to working there. Vicky had worked for me for two months and she was my best friend, but I hadn’t given her a key yet. Then again, Vicky wasn’t the most responsible person in the world, so maybe that played into my judgment a bit.

  I needed to find out more about Candace Morgan. I couldn’t completely discount the idea that maybe Candace’s death was personal. Someone might have had a grudge towards her, and it may have had nothing to do with the letter that Akiro received. Yes, it would be a big coincidence, but stranger things than that took place every day in Swift Valley.

  I decided not to share that theory with Akiro just yet. I needed more time to turn the theory over in my head—and besides, technically he was paying me to investigate whoever was behind the letter. Not to go off track and look into a completely different crime and motive.

  “So, you tell me,” I said to him. “Who in this town would want people to stop serving coffee?”

  “I thought I was paying you to answer that question,” he said, and he almost cracked a smile. “So, come on, detective—who could be so against coffee that they would want it to stop being served?”

  I thought back to Vicky dunking her tea bag. “Maybe it’s just someone who really likes tea.”

  The smile dropped from his face as quickly as it had started to appear. “Do you think this is funny?”

  “When you’ve been in this game as long as I have, you’ve gotta find the humor in things, Akiro,” I said, sounding like a world-weary old timer.

  “Haven’t you only been doing this for three months?”

  We had reached the Red Annex Café, and so it was time for our first stop.

  Red Annex was on the opposite side of town from the Onyx, and it took just over ten minutes to get there after you went through traffic. Even though they were technically competition, they were far enough apart that they attracted different clientele, and it wasn’t super easy to just head over to the other coffee shop if one was closed.

  “Looks like they are still open,” Akiro grumbled as I opened the door and climbed out. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window on the driver’s side. My hair was still bright red, but I could have sworn it was actually starting to fade. Or maybe I was just getting used to it.

  I pulled Akiro back by the arm before we entered. “Just let me take the lead, okay?”

  He nodded. “Fair enough. You’re the one who attended the course, after all.” I could hear the condescension i
n his voice.

  I let that slide, considering the strain he was under. It was really out of character for him to be acting like that. One of the reasons I considered him such a good friend was because I loved his humble nature and how easy he usually was to get along with. Even though he could be a grouch, he had a gentle, reserved nature and always let people do their own thing without too much judgment.

  There was a very strong coffee smell in the air when we walked into Red Annex, and it kind of made my eyes water. Way more overpowering and pungent than I was used to at the Onyx, which had a subtle earthy roasted scent. The coffee shop had a gift shop in the back with candles, scarves, and items of jewelry for display and purchase, while the front section was reserved for the coffee drinkers with its tables and lounges. But on that day, some of the coffee customers had spilled into the back because of the high demand. Just as long as they didn’t spill espresso onto the Italian silk scarves, I supposed.

  “That’s because they’ve burnt the beans,” Akiro said knowingly as he sniffed the air, explaining the strong smell to me.

  “Or maybe it’s just a different roast.”

  “Yeah,” he said with a scoff. “A cheaper one.”

  We joined the queue, which moved fairly quickly, all things considered. They had an effective system in place with Ross, the barista, making the espresso, an assistant beside him frothing the milk, and a girl on the counter taking all the orders.

  Ross was standing behind the coffee machine. He appeared to be in his late thirties, and he was quite good-looking, with strong arms underneath a white T-shirt that had the logo of the coffee shop over the left pocket. He glanced over at us in recognition—or at least, he recognized Akiro.

  “Here for a superior coffee, are you?” he called out to Akiro. There was a smirk on his face that he only half tried to hide.

  “Hardly.”

  I shot Akiro a bit of a look. “Remember, you are just here to observe. I’ll chat to Ross when it quiets down a bit.”

  But as they were the only coffee shop open that morning, it took a while for Ross to find a quiet moment. I overhead from some of the customers waiting in the queue that the third coffee shop in town, a small café and deli called Sally’s, was also shut down, so it seemed that Akiro wasn’t the only one who had faced a threat.

  I noticed that Ross had ducked out the side door, and the girl behind the counter told me that he had left for his morning cigarette break. This was my chance to grab him.

  Ross sort of nodded at me as I approached him. He offered me the pack of cigarettes, but I shook my head.

  “I don’t normally,” he said. “But it’s been a stressful day.”

  Hmm. From what the girl had told me, this was a regular occurrence.

  “Hope you don’t mind me asking a few questions,” I said as I got out my notebook. I let him know I was a PI investigating the case. I was glad I was acting solo again. I felt a lot more confident when it was just me and an interviewee. Besides, I had my own ways of knowing people were lying that Akiro had no clue about. All I needed to do was let my psychic guard down. Had his book told him how to do that? Somehow, I doubted it.

  Ross shrugged. “Can’t promise I will be of much help. But sure, go for it.”

  “Some other cafés and coffee houses in the area have received threats,” I said, not mentioning Candace just yet, as her death was not yet public knowledge. Though of course, there was a chance that he already knew.

  “We got one of those, too,” he said, flicking his cigarette ash onto the ground. “But I don’t let anyone tell me what to do.”

  Akiro cleared his throat, and I jumped a little as I turned around and realized he had been listening in to the conversation. “Well, then, if you are taking the safety of your employees into your own hands,” he said to Ross, sounding angry. “If you can live with that, then good luck to you.”

  Gosh. I hoped this wasn’t going to turn into a full-blown fight.

  Akiro’s phone rang, and he had to leave to answer it. It sounded like it was the police department on the other end. I sighed in relief.

  I turned back to Ross.

  “You got one of the letters as well?” I was surprised.

  Ross nodded and looked a bit nervous. As soon as it was just him and me without Akiro, he let his guard down a bit. He dug into the front pocket of his black jeans and pulled out a piece of paper. “I mean, of course I was a bit rattled . . .” he said, passing it over so that I could read it. “But it’s all a bluff, isn’t it?”

  I didn’t say anything until I had read it. But it seemed that he had come to the same conclusion that I originally had. That because it was just a handwritten note, it couldn’t possibly be a real threat.

  I got a very bad feeling as I read over the letter. And that word came back to me like a shock. Danger.

  The letter was like the one that had been given to Akiro. Maybe a word or two different, as it was an original, not a carbon copy, but almost the same. Ending with the threat that if they served so much as one cup of coffee, someone was going to get hurt.

  I put the letter down, then I realized I had to tell him about Candace. “I don’t think this is an idle threat, Ross. There have been real consequences.” I told him what the papers had yet to report. The scene that I had walked into the previous morning at the Onyx. “Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this. But it’s only right. I can’t put another life at risk.”

  Ross went white.

  He nodded. “Thanks Ruby.”

  “Aren’t you going to question him some more?” Akiro asked. “Or stake him out a bit later?” He wasn’t willing to let this drop. Ross was our best suspect, and now he was out. “We can wait until he closes up at three, and then follow him to see where he goes.”

  “Akiro, he is in the same boat as you are,” I said and started the sick-sounding engine. I couldn’t help wishing Akiro didn’t have so many opinions about how I should and shouldn’t run the case.

  “He is putting his employees at risk!” said Akiro.

  I shook my head. “Look, I told him about Candace, okay?” Akiro went quiet as I described the conversation I’d had with Ross. “He is taking it seriously. I think he will shut up shop soon. But we can’t force him to. He has to come to that decision on his own.”

  Akiro opened his mouth to interject again. But I interrupted him. “Seriously. I am the detective here, okay? I appreciate your help, but I know what I am doing.”

  “I should be just as involved in this case as you are!”

  I slammed on the brakes. “Look, that is not how it works. When a client comes to me and asks for my services, I don’t then ask them to come along with me like they are my partner, giving them an equal roll and stake in things. And that doesn’t change just because you and I are friends.”

  “Are we friends?” Akiro asked. “Because right now, you are not acting like very much of a friend, Ruby.”

  I scoffed and was about to launch into a huge tirade about how unfair that was. I was offended that he would say something like that to me. But he had experienced a large shock. It was quite probable that he was acting out of character, and so, I shut my mouth again and waited a minute or two before I spoke. Then I told him something that I thought was best for both of us, moving forward.

  He may not like it, but it needed to be done.

  “This is too emotional for you,” I said, taking the turn back towards the police station where Akiro was wanted again. “I think you are too close to matters. I’d better investigate this one by myself.”

  Vicky knew I had been too busy to be there to see her perform, but I had promised her I would be there at least for the tail end of the audition process, which was being held at the local theater. There were a lot of musicians with guitars and cases lurking around, looking a bit too cool for school and not that friendly when I walked in. Most of them men. There were only a couple of lady guitarists, and Vicky was one of them

  I didn’t get to hear Vicky play that
day as they were already down to the final audition. After the last guitar solo had been performed, all the hopefuls were brought back together on stage to hear whether or not they were going to get to tour with Ribeye Bandits.

  They were Vicky’s favorite Aussie band, and she was jiggling a bit as they all gathered on stage. This meant everything to her.

  I knew she had the skills, and so I kept my fingers crossed that it was going to be good news whilst they all lined up like they were part of a reality show. There was a judge at the bottom of the stage with a sheet of paper in front of him. He was telling them who got in and who was out.

  I was too far away to hear the announcement. I just saw Vicky’s face turn bright red and wasn’t sure whether that meant good or bad news.

  Really. Vicky was a little hard to predict, and either announcement could have gotten her all hot and bothered. I did notice that the rest of them dipped their heads.

  “I got it!” she screamed as she jumped off stage and raced over to me. I squealed as well and gave her a big hug because I was so excited for her. This was a national tour. Unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

  “What is it?” Vicky asked as she released me from the hug. The smile dropped from her face a little bit when she saw the look on mine. I was happy, mixed in with some sadness.

  I shook my head. “I’ll just miss you as my assistant, that’s all.”

  “Akiro not working out?” she asked with a bit of a laugh. Little did she know that it wasn’t exactly funny. I hadn’t told her about the fight we’d had.

  “Not exactly.”

  Vicky wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I’ll miss you while I am gone as well. But the good news is that I will be able to get you discount concert tickets!”

  No Akiro and no Vicky to help me out.

  Well, I suppose I still had my cat.

  3

  I dunked the tea bag into the hot cup of water and let is seep for three minutes like it suggested on the back of the box. Then it was time to sip the thing. Maybe I could become a morning tea drinker, I tried convincing myself. Maybe this is the brand new healthy me. But it just wasn’t the same. Maybe it worked for an afternoon snack with jam and bread, as the song goes—but not for a morning hit. I needed my triple shot latte!