by Ginny Gold
Nearly every house was decorated to the nines. Some went overboard, in Kori’s opinion, and had blow up Santas and reindeer in the yard or on the roof. Her favorites were the houses outlined in white lights with wreaths on their doors and lights in their windows. It was nice to see so many families together inside as well.
The roads were nearly deserted as they drove across town and back. It was getting late and was now pitch black out, save for the Christmas decorations on the houses. Kori was surprised to see that it was nearly seven o’clock when they unloaded and headed back inside to a very happy Ibis.
“Anyone want anything else to eat or drink?” Gale asked.
Kori answered, “I think we’re going to get going. I have to go feed Ibis. Today was really great. Thanks for having all of us.”
She hugged Gale, Lucas and Jay, who was also using this opportunity to go home, and then she and Zach got into his very cold car.
Finally alone with Zach, Kori couldn’t keep her questions quiet. “Do you think Chip could have been working with someone to kill Donnie?”
Zach waited a moment as the car warmed up, then reversed and headed back to Main Street to Kori’s place. “I don’t like where this is going. I have a feeling you’re trying to figure out how to talk to Chip without me knowing.”
Kori blushed, but in the dark she knew Zach couldn’t see the color rise on her cheeks. And she could always play it off as a reaction to the cold. “You know me too well,” she finally said.
“If I tell you what I know, will that keep you away from him?” he asked seriously.
Kori nodded. “I think that would help. I just want to know that whoever killed Donnie so close to my home is behind bars and isn’t coming back again to get rid of me.”
“I agree. And after yesterday’s gingerbread man warning, I think it’s time to find whoever is responsible.”
CHAPTER 19
Back at Kori’s after Ibis had a chance to go outside—which was short lived in the cold—Kori made hot tea. She wanted nothing to do with more wine after last night’s overdose.
“Okay, tell me what you know,” she said, taking a seat on the couch, curling her cold feet underneath her.
Zach laughed. “I already told you that Chip is our number one suspect. But we don’t have enough to arrest him.”
Kori interrupted him. “Tell me about the drug dealing.”
Zach nodded and continued. “We didn’t know about that right away. When we found the truck, we did a thorough sweep of it. It was totally by chance that one of my detectives even figured it out. We didn’t have dogs sniffing or anything. But the truck had been modified to have a secret compartment.”
“How did you find it?” Kori asked, wanting to know everything down to the last detail.
“That’s the crazy thing. It was open. Like whoever killed Donnie and took the truck wanted us to find it.”
“And you think Chip wanted you to find it?”
Zach shook his head. “No, we think he was involved in the drug dealing as well. That’s according to Addie Winter. We checked the truck he drives for Red Barn Foods but didn’t find the same hidden compartment. So either he has it hidden somewhere else, or it was only Donnie’s truck that was being used to move drugs.”
“Could Chip have not actually been involved?”
“It’s possible.”
“What about Addie?” Kori asked. “Could she be involved?”
“Also possible. We’ve gotten some mixed information about that so we’re still not sure.”
“Okay, what else about Chip? You said his fingerprints are all over the truck and on the gun. But he wasn’t the one who broke into my apartment yesterday.” Kori looked around the apartment, thinking about how someone had been here without her knowledge. It gave her chills. She was glad she had Ibis. “Oh! I just thought of something,” Kori said and Zach looked at her.
“What?”
“Well, yesterday when someone broke in here, Ibis wasn’t home. But I’d been planning to bring her back and then go to the cookie exchange. So, what if whoever it was knew that I had Ibis with me? I saw Cecilia on my way. She knew I had Ibis with me and we were heading to the library. Or what if they were at the library when I arrived, saw that I wasn’t home and had Ibis with me, and then came here? They had to know that Ibis wasn’t home otherwise they never would have come.”
Zach nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I’ll check with the library tomorrow to see if they have surveillance I can check out.”
“The library won’t be open.”
Zach smiled. “I have my ways.”
“Okay.” Kori smiled back at him. “That’s Chip. What about Victoria or Jordan DeLeon?”
“They’re on your list?” Zach asked. Kori nodded. “Well, without any evidence of them being at the crime scene or having touched the gun, that’s a pretty weak lead.”
Kori had to agree. She only had Derek’s word that their car was on Main Street Wednesday morning before Donnie was killed. She mentally crossed them off her list. “And Thomas Worth?”
“Again, no evidence that he was at the crime scene. And he couldn’t drive the getaway truck. The gun was his, so maybe an accomplice, but not the murderer.”
“And that leaves Cecilia Blake.”
“Cecilia doesn’t have anything good to say about Donnie, that’s for sure. She has access to the gun, since she works for Thomas. We’re keeping our eye on her.”
“Does anyone have an alibi?” Kori felt like Zach was writing off all of these suspects too quickly.
“Good question. Nothing that sticks. For any of them. They all claim to be somewhere that no one can verify. Mostly, home sleeping. But anyone can say that. The murder was before five in the morning.”
“True. Could someone have planted the evidence? I feel like you’re only going down the Chip Gordon path and ignoring everyone else.”
“For good reason,” Zach defended. “He’s the only one who left a trail.”
***
The next morning, Kori again woke to the feel of Zach getting out of bed. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to sleep too late tomorrow and lose business,” he teased, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.
She smiled, her eyes still closed. “Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d head home and change my clothes. It’s been a little while.”
Kori laughed. “Then are you going to check out the library surveillance? I’ll be able to sleep even better knowing what happened.”
“Yeah. Promise me you won’t do anything I wouldn’t do while I’m gone.”
Kori thought about his request. She could safely agree since he was a cop and she was only planning to do some investigating. “I promise.”
“Good. Lunch later?”
“Sounds great.”
As soon as Kori heard the door to the café close downstairs, she got out of bed, showered and dressed. She wanted to talk to Chip and she only had a little bit of time to track him down without Zach finding out.
It was after eight when she took Ibis out for a walk. It was warmer than last night so they made it a few blocks before Ibis was ready to turn around, still not nearly as long as her summer walks.
Instead of going upstairs to her apartment, Kori sat in a booth in the café and started searching for Chip’s contact information on her smart phone. Thankfully, the small town of Hermit Cove made it nearly impossible for anyone to hide—as Kori had found out the hard way on Christmas Eve—and she soon had his address and phone number in her possession.
She considered for a few minutes what her approach should be and finally decided she was going to offer to help him. She knew he was the suspect the police were focusing on. She had inside information. So if he could help her, she could help him.
She dialed his number and crossed her fingers for everything to go smoothly.
“Chip Gordon,” a surprisingly cheerful voice answered after three rings. Then Kori remembered that his normal mo
rnings were probably about as early as hers.
“Hi Chip. This is Kori Cooke at The Early Bird Café,” she said as calmly as she could muster.
“Kori. I’ve heard about you. I’ll be your new delivery driver soon.”
“Yeah. Addie told me that, too. I was sorry to hear about Donnie’s murder.”
There was a slight pause on the line and Kori wondered if he was suspicious of her now. “Yeah. Weren’t you the one who found him?” he asked cautiously.
“I was. I wondered if I could come talk to you about that. It’s been . . . hard. And you knew him well.”
She was met by another pause, longer this time. Finally she heard his response but his voice was not nearly as friendly as when he’d answered. “Sure,” he said. “You have my address?”
“On Robin Way?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m on my way.”
Kori hung up and tried to decide quickly about what to do with Ibis. She wanted to bring her just in case anything went wrong, but she wasn’t sure if Chip would be okay with a dog coming into his house. She finally decided to leave her in the café. That way, if anyone tried to get to her apartment upstairs, they would first have to get through Ibis.
Kori rushed out to her car and headed straight over to Chip’s, her mind completely focused on getting the information she needed.
CHAPTER 20
Kori tried to ignore the tightening knot in her stomach as she drove to Chip’s house. He was certainly a person of interest in this case based on everything Zach had told her, but Kori felt there was more evidence pointing to a conspiracy between Cecilia and Thomas. Had Cecilia taken advantage of Thomas to use his gun and frame Chip for Donnie’s murder? Would Chip be able to give Kori enough information for Zach to make an arrest? Who would be arrested, Kori wasn’t sure.
She still didn’t know the answers to those questions when she parked in his driveway. She knocked on the door to the small one level house and a man opened it after only a short wait.
“Chip?” she asked, her hand outstretched and a smile on her face. She wanted to be as friendly and as trustworthy as possible. She needed this to go well.
“Yeah. Come on in.” He never shook her hand.
“Thanks for letting me come talk to you,” Kori said, taking in her surroundings. It looked like the house hadn’t been updated since the seventies. The carpet looked old and felt like it had been permanently flattened from years of feet walking on it. She caught a glimpse of the kitchen and saw chipping blue linoleum on the floor that she thought might be as old as her grandparents if they were still alive.
Chip led Kori to a crowded living room. There were no other people, and not much in the way of furniture, but there were piles and piles of tied up newspapers. He seemed like a hoarder.
“Have a seat,” he said, offering her a place on a love seat. He sat in the only chair.
Kori sat and pulled her phone out of her purse. She pretended to look at a text but really just turned on the voice recorder. If he confessed, she wanted to make sure she had proof.
“Sorry, I got a text when I was driving and I don’t text and drive.”
Chip forced a smile and Kori put her phone upside down on the arm of the love seat, as close as she could get it to him.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Chip asked, slightly unfriendly.
It was now or never, Kori told herself and she opened her mouth, hoping the right words came out. “Well, I just, you know I found Donnie’s body, and it’s been eating away at me since Wednesday about who would do this to him.” She surprised herself with the appearance of tears.
Chip nodded. He was buying her act. “It’s really crazy. I saw him that morning. And then by the time I got back to the office with my truck, Addie told me he was dead.”
Kori nodded. “What time was that?”
“Noon,” he answered without hesitating.
“I think the police thought I killed him at first,” Kori lied, hoping to build a rapport and find out if he would offer the same information. Her plan worked.
Chip huffed. “Yeah, they thought I did too. In fact, I think they still have me on their list. They told me my fingerprints were all over the truck. But of course they would be. We helped each other load supplies all the time.”
Kori waited for him to continue. She felt like he was about to get on a roll about what else the police had told him.
“They said there were boot prints in the snow that matched my boots. But it’s impossible. I was making deliveries. I don’t know why Addie can’t confirm that.”
“I found his body before five, where were you then?” Kori asked. “Maybe one of your clients could verify it.”
“I was on the road. They’ve checked the cameras at intersections, but they said my timeline would give me a window to go to your café and still be able to get to my next stop.”
“But wouldn’t you have needed your truck for that?” Kori’s gut told her Chip wasn’t lying.
“I asked the police the same thing. They said I could have left my truck somewhere, gone and killed Donnie, then switched trucks where I dropped Donnie’s. They had a response for everything I told them. The only thing is, I was telling the truth the whole time and they were the ones making up stories.”
Kori heard Chip’s voice crack much like her own had when she mentioned finding Donnie’s body. She felt sorry for him.
“Were you and Donnie close?” she asked, taking a different tack.
Chip nodded. “We’d go out together on weekends when we didn’t have to get up the next morning to work. I was even gonna be his best man at his wedding.”
Bingo. Kori now had the in she wanted. “So you know Cecilia Blake then?”
“Know her? I set them up. I don’t know what got into Donnie on his wedding day, but she started walking down the aisle toward him and he bolted. Never looked back.”
“You think she could have been angry enough to kill him?”
Chip shook his head. “Well, maybe, but I’m almost positive she didn’t do it.”
Kori cocked her head in question.
“She told me once that she’d never shot a gun.”
Maybe Kori had been following the wrong lead. But if Cecilia was innocent, and Thomas was physically incapable of killing Donnie, and Chip wasn’t lying, that only left Victoria or Jordan DeLeon, who Zach didn’t think were guilty.
“Do you have any idea who else might have wanted him dead?” Kori asked, looking at him directly and daring him with her eyes to lie to her.
He squinted and asked, “Are you with the police? I thought you ran The Early Bird Café.”
Kori chuckled. “No, I’m not with the police. You’re right, I do run The Early Bird Café. I just need to figure out who killed Donnie. It’s been eating me up. I was the first to know he was dead and now I need to know who killed him so I can sleep at night.” She didn’t tell him about the break-in at her house on Christmas Eve.
Chip stared at her, hard, reading her, trying to tell if she was lying to him. Finally he said, “There’s one person I can think of.”
Kori took a sharp breath when he told her who he thought might have killed Donnie.
“Addie Winter? Your boss? But she’s been helpful in answering all my questions about him,” Kori said, confused about this new name being added to the list. Zach hadn’t even mentioned her as a possibility.
Chip nodded. “Yeah. Because she was trying to frame me.”
“Why?” Kori asked, growing even more confused.
Chip sighed. “I knew this wouldn’t end well for me,” he said quietly. “You know about . . . Donnie’s other business?” Kori nodded. “I wasn’t involved. Donnie tried to get me to go along with it. I knew he was doing it and I kept my mouth shut. He said the money was too good to pass up. But I didn’t want to take the risk. I’ve landed in some bad situations in the past and I’ve been trying to turn my life around. So I never joined his operation. But Addie thinks I was in on
it.”
“Is she involved?” Kori asked, hoping he wasn’t lying through his teeth. “He was using her business’s delivery truck.”
“Right. But no, she’s not involved. Donnie planted evidence to make it look like she was so she wouldn’t report him. Then she’d just be implicating herself.”
Kori nodded slowly. That was why Zach wasn’t sure if Addie was involved in the drugs or not. Donnie had planted evidence to make it look like she was, but she wasn’t really involved so the stories didn’t line up.
“So you think she killed him because she didn’t want him doing it right under her nose?” It all seemed like a stretch for her. Like maybe Chip was making things up now to get someone else to look guilty. This was all a little too convenient.
Chip nodded. “I don’t know if that’s really what happened, but that’s the way I see it. She thought I was involved, she wanted it to end, she took out Donnie and framed me.”
“So why not just tell the police?” Kori asked.
Chip shook his head. “Everything’s pointing at me. How’s it gonna look if I start fingering someone else, telling them I wasn’t involved in the drug dealing when they think I was? Tell them my boss was the one who killed Donnie when I have no evidence for it?”
Kori agreed that he had a point.
“So whatever you do, don’t go telling the police about this. Find evidence. I’ll keep looking. If you really want to know who’s behind Donnie’s murder, start looking closer at Addie.”
Kori stood and put her hand out again. This time, Chip shook it.
“Thanks again for talking to me. Everything you told me really helps.” Kori picked up her phone and put it back in her purse, then headed for the front door, Chip following her.
“I’m glad you called. Good luck. And be safe. You don’t know what you’re going after with Addie.”
Kori smiled and got in her car. She took a moment to think about everything he’d just told her and then started driving toward home. It was getting to be close to lunch and she didn’t want Zach to find her somewhere she shouldn’t be. Like at Chip’s house. Or at Aunt Addie’s Red Barn Foods.
