Gingerdead Man (The Early Bird Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 6)

by Ginny Gold

  She quickly ruled out the possibility of breaking into Addie’s office and searching for clues before heading home. She had to be careful. She needed a plan.

  Kori parked behind the café and walked around front. The café’s light was on but Kori didn’t remember turning it on for Ibis before she left. “That’s weird,” she said aloud as she opened the unlocked front door. Her stomach sank at the thought of Zach coming back early to find her gone when she’d promised she wouldn’t do anything he wouldn’t do.

  Her stomach sank even further when she heard a voice behind her say, “You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” and the tip of a gun poked into her back.

  Kori knew she should have listened to Zach’s advice.

  CHAPTER 21

  Kori knew the voice immediately. Addie Winter was in The Early Bird Café. But where was Ibis? And how was Kori going to save her own life?

  “Don’t turn around,” Addie said forcefully, pushing Kori toward the stairs leading up to her apartment.

  Kori did as she was told and started walking upstairs. In the darkness of the hallway she fumbled in her bag for her phone. With the touch screen, she could only hope that she unlocked the screen and called Zach. But without looking down, she had no way to be sure. She couldn’t risk taking the phone out and having Addie see the lit up screen.

  Then she had to get Addie talking. If she successfully called Zach, then she needed him to know what was going on. And if she hadn’t managed to call him, she needed to delay Addie’s likely plan until Zach showed up for lunch.

  Kori opened the door at the top of the stairs and tried to divert Addie’s attention. “I have a dog,” Kori said, blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.

  “Not a very good guard dog I guess. She’s locked in your office downstairs,” Addie retorted. “Sit on the stool.” Addie waved her gun toward the kitchen island and Kori took a seat.

  “What do you want from me?” Kori asked, her palms starting to sweat.

  “I want you to keep your nose out from where it doesn’t belong. Donnie had nothing to do with you, so leave it alone.” Addie brought the gun millimeters from Kori’s face and she held her breath.

  “It has everything to do with me because you killed Donnie at my café,” Kori shot back, immediately regretting it. She had to play into Addie’s plan, make it look like she was in control, not accuse of her murder.

  Addie shook her head. “Oh Kori. If only you knew the whole story.”

  Kori wondered suddenly if Chip had helped her walk right into a trap. Did Addie have nothing to do with Donnie’s murder? But if she was innocent, she wouldn’t be here right now threatening Kori’s life.

  “Then tell me,” Kori said more calmly. “Tell me the whole story.”

  Addie sneered. “Why don’t we work backwards. I’ll ask you some questions and you’ll tell me what you know.”

  Kori nodded. She’d play Addie’s game if it meant she got to live.

  “But if I don’t like your answers, you’ll get a strike against you. Three strikes, and you’re out.” Addie cocked her gun to let Kori know she wasn’t kidding.

  Kori swallowed and her fear settled in her stomach. Where is Zach?

  “Where were you this morning?” Addie asked.

  “I was talking to Chip Gordon,” Kori said confidently.

  Addie nodded. “Mm-hmm. I know you’re not lying because I was following you. I’ve been following you. Did you like the gingerbread men I left for you?”

  Kori wasn’t sure if this was another question that held her life on the line so she lied when she answered. “Yes.”

  Addie smiled, apparently pleased with the answer. “I thought you might.”

  Kori waited for the next question, hoping it wouldn’t come too soon. She needed this to drag on as long as possible for her life to be saved. She wondered again if Zach was listening to all of this through her phone. She suspected not or he would have arrived by now.

  “So you were talking to Chip. I’m sure he had some interesting stories. You know he was using my business as a cover for dealing drugs?” Addie asked.

  “I don’t know anything about that.” Kori felt a drop of sweat run down between her shoulder blades.

  “Sorry honey, wrong answer. Strike one. The right answer was, ‘Yes, he told me that. And Donnie was also involved.’”

  Kori nodded, swallowing again even though her mouth was as dry as a desert.

  “Do you know what it’s like to be played for a fool?” Addie asked.

  Kori slowly shook her head. “No.”

  “Good girl,” Addie sneered. “It’s humiliating. Donnie and Chip were ruining lives right under my nose and they took away all of my control.”

  Okay, this is a game of control. I have to give her control. Kori was learning Addie’s weak points and how to play to her ego.

  “But it was more than that. They made sure to make it look like I was involved so I couldn’t report them. Well, I showed them. I didn’t report them. Instead, I killed Donnie and made it look like Chip was guilty.”

  Chip was right. He wasn’t lying. He’d known all along but couldn’t do anything about it. He was just hoping Addie would mess up, and this might be the mistake he was waiting for.

  Addie kept talking, pain in her voice. “I couldn’t let it continue. I watched my brother die from a drug problem. I couldn’t let that happen to other families when I could stop it. So with Cecilia’s help, I used Thomas’ gun and framed Chip. Now, thanks to you, the police are starting to ask too many questions. I wasn’t even on their radar before.”

  As soon as the words were out of Addie’s mouth, the sound of a shattering window grabbed Kori’s attention. She looked all around her apartment in a panic but didn’t see anyone. The only difference was Addie lying on the floor, the gun no longer in her hand.

  Did she shoot at me and miss?

  Then the door from the café flew open and all Kori heard was, “Don’t move! Police! Don’t move!”

  Kori held up her hands, not sure if she should still be terrified for her life or if they were here to rescue her. Had she actually managed to get through to Zach’s phone?

  “Kori, are you okay?” Zach’s voice asked from under a helmet. She couldn’t even recognize him in all of his gear.

  Knowing that she was finally safe, Kori’s legs gave out beneath her when she tried to stand and she collapsed into a mess of tears in his arms.

  “Are you okay?” he repeated, concern growing in his voice.

  Kori nodded and managed to say through her tears, “Yes.”

  Zach wrapped his arms around her and held her to him as tight as he could. “I didn’t know if we’d make it in time. When you called me, I only heard what was going on for a few seconds. You must have been climbing the stairs and lost reception.”

  Kori looked up at her savior and asked, “Then how did you know to come?”

  “You never hang up on me. So when you didn’t call back right away, we got a team out here as soon as we could. We realized that to get you out safely, we had to get the gun out of Addie’s hand.”

  Kori looked to where Addie was being cuffed on the floor. She’d been shot in the leg to immobilize her and in the process had dropped the gun.

  “She killed Donnie,” Kori told him.

  “We’ll have to get your statement. And then we’ll have to get a confession. Promise me that once we’re married, you’ll stick to running the café and I can take care of murder investigations.”

  Kori smiled, an unfamiliar feeling with all of the adrenaline coursing through her veins. “I’ll do my best.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Kori wouldn’t let Zach out of her sight. Even after Addie had been escorted out of Kori’s apartment and the gun that had threatened her life was gone, Kori was still a trembling, nervous wreck.

  “I have to go to the station to start wrapping things up, can I bring you somewhere? I don’t want you to be alone,” Zach said, sitting next to Ko
ri on the couch. They were the only two people left in her apartment.

  She looked at him with puppy dog eyes. “Do you really have to go?”

  Zach nodded and looked around. “Where’s Ibis?”

  Kori jumped up, scared that something could have happened to her. She’d forgotten about her in all of the chaos and action of the last hours. “Locked in my office. At least that’s what Addie said.”

  Kori led Zach downstairs and through the café’s kitchen. She opened the door and found Ibis happily sleeping on her bed under Kori’s desk. “You didn’t even try to come and save me?” Kori asked, kneeling down and petting her dog. Ibis responded by licking her face.

  “I think she knew you’d pull through,” Zach said, watching from the doorway. “Will you be okay with Ibis?”

  Kori stood. She didn’t want to be alone. Or even in her own apartment. She shook her head. “Want to go to Nora’s?” Kori asked Ibis, who stood quickly, bumping her head on the corner of the desk. Kori laughed for the first time since Zach had left her that morning.

  “Come on, I’ll bring you over there,” Zach offered, extending his hand which Kori gladly accepted.

  Ibis had no problem getting into the back of a police car but Kori would have rather Zach drove her there in her Subaru. She didn’t like being in police cars, even if she wasn’t guilty of anything.

  As he drove, Kori turned to him and asked, “Can we stay at your place for a little while?”

  Zach placed his hand on Kori’s leg. “Of course. I’ll make sure that window gets fixed, but you can stay as long as you like.”

  “Maybe we can just move in with you?”

  Zach took his eyes off the road and looked at Kori. “I think that’d be okay.”

  They both chuckled. “I would have asked even if we weren’t engaged, you know,” Kori told him, not wanting him to think she was only ready to move in with him because he’d asked her to marry him.

  “And even if you hadn’t been held at gunpoint in your own apartment?” he teased.

  Kori’s chuckle turned into a belly laugh, her nerves making her think that was funnier than it was. “Of course,” she finally said when her laughter started to subside and the tears stopped flowing from her eyes. “I love you and I want to live with you.”

  Zach took her hand in his, the hand that wore the engagement ring he’d bought for her. “Good. Because I love you and want to live with you too.”

  Zach parked in Nora’s driveway and her two dogs came running out from behind the barn. Zach kissed Kori and she kissed him back. She didn’t want to let him go, even if she knew she’d see him in a few hours.

  Tapping on the window interrupted them and Nora’s smiling face was just outside Kori’s window. “What’s going on, you two lovebirds?”

  “I think you have a story to tell her,” Zach said.

  IN THE KITCHEN WITH GINNY GOLD

  Are you looking for more recipes? Menu ideas? Meals for certain dietary restrictions? Head over to my Facebook page where I share recipes, blogs I follow and plenty of gardening tips for those starting to grow their own food. Recipes include vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, fish and poultry. Can’t wait to see you there: http://www.facebook.com/GinnyGoldAuthor

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ginny Gold lives in the high Rockies and wouldn’t trade it for the world. She loves anything outdoors—especially skiing, cycling, and gardening, though living at over 9,000 feet does make for a short growing season. You can also find her volunteering with local nonprofits and schools when she’s not cooking up her next cozy mystery for her loyal readers.

  BEFORE YOU GO . . .

  If you enjoyed this installment of The Early Bird Café Cozy Mystery Series, be sure to join my FREE COZY MYSTERY BOOK CLUB! Be the first to know about new releases, promotions, sales, new recipes, and even be entered to receive advanced reader copies. Join the club here—http://www.ginnygoldbooks.com

  OTHER BOOKS BY GINNY GOLD

  Rise and Die

  Deadly Surprise

  Dead and Berried

  Croaked Wheat

  Smashed Potatoes and Gravy