Warm Food Cold Body

by S. Y. Robins

  It was Harry who hauled her off of Caroline, dragging her back, and Shannon screamed. Harry was strong, much stronger than her sister, and she could see the self-hating obsession in his eyes as he stared at Caroline. He could not seem to stop himself from helping her.

  “Listen,” Caroline said, advancing on Daisy. “You wouldn’t understand. He killed himself by trying to leave me. He’d be nothing without me. I only ended his suffering before it started.”

  Shannon held the phone up, hands shaking, and ended the recording. She was paralyzed. If she took the time to call the police, she might make Harry and Caroline angrier. If she did not…she and Daisy would have to take them on themselves. She crouched down under the door as she dialed.

  “911 Emergency response.”

  “721 Grace Avenue,” Shannon whispered. “Come quickly. They have weapons.” She wasn’t sure they did, of course, but she wanted the police to come as quickly as they could. Hanging up, she found herself shaking. She was terrified of Caroline—of the half-mad look in the woman’s eye and the way Harry would help her even without wanting to.

  But it was Daisy stuck between them. Daisy.

  From somewhere, she wasn’t sure where, Shannon found the courage to stand and pull open the door.

  “You can leave,” Caroline said contemptuously. She had clearly been whispering something in Daisy’s face while Harry held her still. Daisy was thrashing, trying to get away, and Shannon felt her fury rise.

  “Let her go.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so. She thinks she’s so high and mighty. She thinks she’s some sort of moral authority and what did she just do a few months ago?”

  “I know what she did,” Shannon said, trying to interrupt the tirade. “And I know that’s not the same as murdering something. You poisoned the man you claimed to love because he tried to be honest with you.”

  “He was going to leave! Why don’t any of you understand?”

  “Because you’re being crazy,” Daisy spat at her. “People don’t kill each other for that.”

  Almost casually, Caroline picked up a lamp from the side table and bashed it across Daisy’s head, and Shannon didn’t even think. She was in motion a second later, tackling Caroline across the room.

  “You don’t have to do this, Harry!” She ducked out of the way of Caroline’s fists. “You don’t have to help her! Please, make sure Daisy’s all right!”

  “We can’t let her go!” Caroline was screaming. “She’ll tell!”

  The wail of sirens outside stopped all of them in their tracks and Shannon looked between Caroline, her face screwed up with hatred, and Harry, with Daisy’s limp body in his arms. He was wavering, indecision clear on his gruff face, and Shannon could not take the risk. She dove at him and felt Caroline’s fingers latch around her ankle, dragging her back. The sirens were getting closer, but not quickly enough. They could both be killed before the police arrived, Shannon knew, and then no one would ever know what Caroline had done—Harry would be in too deep to make a confession.

  To her surprise, he put Daisy down carefully and walked over to pry Caroline’s fingers off of Shannon. Almost gently, he picked Caroline up and grabbed her wrists together.

  “You have to face justice for this,” he said gently.

  “What?” Caroline’s incredulous question was echoed by Shannon.

  “Why couldn’t we have been happy together?” Harry asked, but his gaze was searching Caroline’s face as if he’d never seen her before. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Caroline…you killed someone. I can’t just stand by and watch you kill more people.”

  “I didn’t kill him, he killed himself. It would have killed him to be without me!”

  “You didn’t know what to do with yourself without that pain,” Harry corrected her. “You’d spent so many years trying to make it work that the thought of trying to live without him was…unbearable.”

  She was shaking now.

  “But you could have let go,” Harry said. He looked up as the police ran into the room, and nodded to Caroline. “This is the murderer of Noah Pole.”

  The room erupted into chaos. Shannon was holding the phone out to show the video, Caroline was screaming that it wasn’t her fault, and Daisy was beginning to stir as two paramedics knelt over her. As Caroline was held prone, the police watching the video and nodding, taking out their handcuffs, Harry helped Shannon up.

  “Why did you do it?” she asked. “Why side with me?”

  He smiled and looked away, hunching his shoulders. “It was what you said the other day. You told me that Daisy was the only good thing in your life, that she’d stood by you when you had nothing. And I realized—I don’t know why I didn’t sooner, but I realized that no matter how much I thought I loved Caroline, I would never be happy. She would never stand by me, just like Noah would never have stood by her. And I couldn’t fix how she felt about him. I’d spent years trying to, but I realized I couldn’t. All I could fix was to find someone who would stand by me.” He nodded. “So thanks.”

  “Why did she call you here today?” Shannon looked over to where Caroline was being dragged away, still yelling.

  “To have me hide the poison for her.” Harry shook his head. “I can’t believe she thought I’d just do it. But…I would have, until a few days ago. Thank you. You’ve given me a new life.”

  He went to talk to the policemen, and Shannon smiled after him before kneeling at Daisy’s side.

  “Daisy?”

  “What happened?” Daisy winced as one paramedic wiped her forehead with alcohol. “That stings.”

  “Caroline hit you with a lamp,” Shannon told her. “And she’s on her way to jail now. So let’s go home, and make some soup.”

  “That sounds good.” Daisy smiled. “That sounds really good.”

  THE END

  BONUS

  Thank you for supporting this book. To extend your reading pleasure, here is a selection of books that you may like.

  Enjoy!

  Deadly Brewed

  Cozy Mystery

  About the Book

  When Hannah opened her cafe on a busy downtown street she had high hopes that she would finally be able to fulfill a dream. That dream however gets squashed when a man is found murdered in the alley behind her cafe. The detective isn’t giving her much information and it is clear from the start he suspects her being involved.

  When being a suspect starts hurting business she decides to take matters into her own hands and investigates the murder herself. Will she find who truly did it, or will she get charged with murder before she can find the real culprit?

  1

  Looking around her cafe Hannah couldn’t help but smile. She knew she was taking a big risk by going into debt to open the cafe of her dreams but as she stood in the middle of it, she couldn’t help but think it was worth it. The past few months had been hectic while dealing with builders, code inspectors and the health department but now that she was set to open it all seemed insignificant. Her cafe would serve small meals, drinks and bakery items mostly looking to attract the business people in the area.

  The cafe was located in the center of town in the middle of a large section of high rise office buildings. She had always seen these people go out to lunch every day and knew that it was the perfect location to offer something new, something they hadn’t had before. The lunch items were designed to be served quick, mostly consisting of soups, salads and sandwiches. There were plenty of bakery items as well, which would allow her to be open for breakfast and have people stopping in for desserts. Her drinks were mostly coffees and teas, but she also had regular soda and such.

  She planned to be closed for dinner, at least at first, and she had only hired one waitress by the name of Andrea. Hannah would be doing all the kitchen work while Andrea would be taking care of the customers, but eventually Hannah hoped to grow enough so she could do a lot of the baking ahead of time and then help serve customers while someone else actually prepared t
he food in the kitchen. She loved the interaction with people and she had always been better at what she did when not under pressure, which she would be if they got busy. The cafe was supposed to open the next day and she had just spent the morning training Andrea on everything she needed to know. The rest of the afternoon was going to be spent baking, and the next morning at six she would open for the early birds. She had been advertising for weeks and had distributed a copy of her menu to all the office buildings around in the hopes that it would help bring in customers. Many people were creatures of habit and they went to the same place every day, which meant she would have to make a good impression right from the start to draw in those who were hesitant to change but who heard good things from their co-workers.

  With a final look around she walked back to the kitchen, ready to get to work. Looking around at all the ingredients she couldn’t help but smile as it had been many months since she had stood in a kitchen and actually cooked or baked anything. Planning to open a cafe might have always been a dream of hers, it did interfere with actually cooking and baking and she would not be doing it quite as much. Pulling out a list of everything she planned to make she started by grabbing the measuring spoons, nearly dropping them in the process, and starting to measure the ingredients for her chocolate cake into the mixer. The oven was warmed up and ready to go and the cake pans were stacked up ready to be filled. As soon as she started she instantly fell back into a rhythm that felt familiar and she couldn’t but smile throughout. This was how she should be feeling and how she should be enjoying what she did every day, and she hoped that would continue.

  The following morning Hannah stood behind the counter, waiting for the first customer to come in. She had come in early to put up a big sign and balloons, hoping to draw in customers, and Andrea was scheduled to come in just before lunch. Since breakfast was just bakery items and drinks she didn’t think she’d need help, at least not at first. The display cases were filled and Hannah had made sure to take a picture, knowing it would look good on marketing materials.

  Her first customer simply wanted coffee and a bagel, and she didn’t have another customer until just after seven when several came in. Every single one of her customers wanted coffee, which she had a feeling they drank a lot of throughout the day, and most also got bakery items to go. She hoped they liked them enough to come back, but for now she was just happy to be selling items. The worst part about a cafe was that the food would go bad and she couldn’t sell it a second day, so anything not sold was truly a waste.

  By the time Andrea came in Hannah had just put more items in the display case and had set up the sandwich preparation station. There were about a dozen small two and four person tables around the cafe and she knew if they ever got busy she would have to hire more help as Andrea would not be able to handle it all. The soups were warm and were ready to be served and everything you could possibly want on a salad was in containers, ready to be used. Smiling at Andrea after she put on her apron, they turned their attention back to the door, hoping they would get customers for lunch.

  As luck would have it a few of the people who had stopped in for breakfast came back, this time bringing co-workers. Hannah overheard many comments about the bakery items and she wasn’t surprised when those people got some to take with them after they were done eating lunch. She hoped they would tell others about the cafe, prompting them to come in as well. In an effort to limit expenses before opening she had limited advertising to local businesses, not putting much in the newspaper or online. That meant she had to rely on the local workers to come in and spread the word, which she knew was risky. The fact that her first day had not been half bad, and she had at least broken even, meant that something was working.

  The next few days went very much the same way, with the customer base increasing slightly each day and Hannah receiving more and more compliments. She knew if they kept going like this she would have to hire another waitress soon but for now they were managing with just the two of them. Each day after the cafe closed in the afternoon Hannah would spend the rest of the afternoon and evening baking for the next day. It was a time she truly enjoyed as it gave her time to reflect on the day while doing what she truly loved doing. The thing she enjoyed even more was that she was completely alone, so anytime she dropped the flour or nearly tripped over something, nobody was there to see it. She could laugh about it and move on.

  The cafe had been open nearly a week when she thought she heard a noise out by the back door but when she went to see what it could have been she didn’t see anything. Shrugging it off as nothing she went back to work, hoping to be home at a reasonable hour that night. She knew it was a false hope but she held onto it as she continued working.

  2

  Hannah knew Andrea was a good waitress but she wished she would work a little bit harder and flirt a little bit less. Any guy who came in without a wedding band on got the same treatment and Hannah wasn’t sure if that was an image she wanted. Many of the guys didn’t seem to mind, likely because Andrea never cared about showing some cleavage and her jeans were as tight as jeans could get. It still wasn’t an image she truly wanted but Andrea had indicated her tips were higher when she did that, which told her even the guys who didn’t respond appreciated it.

  The lunch rush was starting to come to an end when a group of seven men walked in, immediately pushing tables together and sitting down amongst loud conversation. The only other person in the cafe was a man sitting at a table to the side by himself, who looked almost irritated at the loud group that had just walked in. Andrea easily walked over to the group, taking care to bend over slightly as she put napkins on the table and handed out menus. As she took the drink orders, Hannah had to restrain herself from walking over and stopping her from her blatant flirting, especially when one of the guys put his hands on her backside. She just laughed and didn’t make any attempt to move away from his hand. Hannah knew she had to mention it later, but as Andrea came back with their drink orders she knew she wouldn’t have time until the group had left.

  As Andrea was busy with the group, Hannah walked over to the lone man in the corner and smiled at him. “I apologize for them. Can I get you anything to eat?” Hannah had noticed that he hadn’t eaten anything yet, and hoped he would. She still had a few items she wanted to get sold.

  “Actually, I’ll have one of your grilled chicken Panini’s and a croissant. If they give you any trouble, you let me know and I’ll deal with it. My name is Chris.”

  “Thank you Chris. I will get this order started, it shouldn’t take long,” Hannah replied with a smile before walking back to the kitchen. The large group’s order was on the ticket rack but she decided to make Chris’ sandwich first so he wouldn’t have to wait as long and Andrea appeared to be handling the group fairly well. They were loud and boisterous, and several customers who came in for carry out orders looked at them in irritation. Hannah apologized to them, before calling Andrea over and telling her to handle it. She did not want to lose other customers because of this group, and she was encouraging them as opposed to trying to stop it.

  Andrea seemed to get the hint and stopped encouraging it, but for some reason that only increased their yelling to her and they continued touching her. She wasn’t stopping those touches, much to Hannah’s annoyance, and when she walked over to Chris’ table to get his plate she once again apologized. It was when she walked back and one of the guys touched her that Chris stood up. “Hands to yourself. No woman should be touched like that unless she agrees to it, which she didn’t.”

  “Thank you Chris,” Hannah said with a slight smile in his direction, “Guys, I do not appreciate being touched. Keep your hands to yourself if you want to be allowed back here again.”

  With those words Hannah walked back to the kitchen and finished making their lunch, having Andrea quickly serve it in hopes that the faster they were done the faster they would leave. When Chris came over to pay his bill, he told her he had enjoyed lunch and would be back, hope
fully with better customers. That meant it was just Hannah, Andrea and the group of guys left. Once they left she would be closing for the day and she had to admit she was ready for it. She heard Andrea call the guy who had touched her Jared, but she had more eyes for a guy named Matt. Hannah decided to ignore them before she lost her patience and started cleaning all the other tables and putting the chairs on top of them. It would save her time later and she doubted the remaining customers really cared.

  The second they walked out the door she locked it behind them and sighed as she flipped the sign. Andrea was humming some song as she cleared the table, walking the dishes to the kitchen. Hannah took the remaining dishes and followed, and soon they were washing them side by the side to get them done quicker. They did this every day, but today Hannah decided to use the time to talk.

  “I don’t think you should be flirting like that with customers. I understand they were encouraging it but most customers would not have appreciated seeing the display you put on with those guys. I’d like to have a certain reputation but the reputation you are starting isn’t the one I want. Please treat customers with respect while also respecting yourself enough not to put yourself out there like that. Don’t tell me about the tips, I’m sure they’re good but the kind of customers that attracts are the kind of customers I think should go elsewhere.”

  “Most customers seem to like it though.”

  “The young, unmarried male customers maybe but we serve women, married men and children as well and I want them to have the same good experience.”

  “I’ll try to limit it more.”

  “Thank you,” Hannah said with a reassuring smile, trying to show Andrea that the matter was closed. She hoped the girl would listen and actually change because she was a decent waitress otherwise and she didn’t have the time or energy to go through having to hire someone else. She could tell Andrea was irritated but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with it and decided that if Andrea wanted to complain about it she could go find a friend to do so.