Mocha and Murder

by Christy Murphy

  It wasn't until I got into the van and drove for five minutes that I thought going alone might be dangerous. It puzzled me that Mom hadn't wanted to come. But it was too late. I didn't want DC to get the upper hand and think he was right.

  I turned onto Grace Avenue and parked the van where I could get a good view of the house. I looked at my watch. It was 11:40. The Lucky Dragon was only ten minutes away. She probably wouldn't leave for another ten minutes, but I decided to have my Facebook open and ready. It took a few minutes to go live on our catering page. Mom and the readers were watching. A knock on my window scared the devil out of me. I dropped my phone and as I turned to see who it was to find an angry detective staring at me.

  "You scared me," I said as I rolled down the window. "What are you doing here?"

  "You two need to stop," DC said.

  "You're trying to sabotage Mom's theory just to save some cop that you barely know," I said.

  "Listen," DC said, "if he's responsible, I'm going to find out."

  "Wait," I said as I looked way down the street. "I see someone coming this way."

  DC rolled his eyes.

  "Just get in the van," I said to him. "If he didn't do anything it isn't him, and it won't make a difference. But if that's him, you'll tip him off."

  DC hesitated.

  "You can yell at me inside the van," I said motioning for him to come around to the passenger side as I unlocked that door.

  DC got in and shut the door. "You two have got to stop meddling."

  "We're not! Have we interfered with your investigation in any way?" I asked.

  "You haven't exactly been forthcoming with your information," DC said.

  "It's not like you even talk to us anymore. We haven't seen you in months, and any time we try and tell you something we find out, you never listen."

  "I've been busy," he said.

  "Ditto," I snapped back at him.

  We both sat in the van in silence.

  The person at the far end of the street had stopped to tie their shoes. It was probably just a jogger or something.

  "So are you going to dinner with Officer Reed?" DC asked.

  I glared at him. "Are you going to be dating Jenna?" I asked.

  DC laughed, and it made me mad. "It's fine," he said. "Ryan seems nice."

  "I'm sure Jenna has very exciting things to say. You and a 27-year-old should have so much in common," I said.

  "Like you and that cop have so much in common."

  "He thinks we do. He says were both calm around dead bodies," I said.

  DC laughed. "Did he really say that?"

  "He thought my Pioneer Pal story was funny," I said.

  "It was," DC said. "And you did look pretty cute in that trenchcoat."

  I could feel myself starting to blush. "Yes the Inspector Gadget look is very sexy these days."

  "Don't be mad," he said. "I just didn't know what to say to you."

  "You used to say nice things to me with relative ease," I said to him.

  "Oh for goodness sakes," DC said. "Don't go out with Reed."

  "Why not?" I asked.

  DC looked me in the eye. Then he turned away, and said, “She's leaving."

  I forgot for a moment that we were waiting for Madonna to leave. I grabbed my phone. The Facebook page was still open. I hit the button a few times to get it working, and as she pulled away the jogger from the distance began to come closer. I pointed the camera at the jogger. It looked like Officer Reed.

  "She did it again," DC said muttered. We both watched as Reed snuck around the side of the house and headed to the back door. DC grabbed the radio from his waist band, talked to dispatch and jumped out of the van.

  11

  Specials and Celebration

  I entered the Lucky Dragon through the kitchen, and when I came through the kitchen door to the usually closed side of the restaurant, the crowd cheered.

  "Great camera work, kid," Mom said.

  "Thanks," I said proud of myself. I'd been able to film the backup DC called speeding up to Madonna's house. I even caught DC hauling Officer Keller out of the front door.

  "They caught him red-handed," I said still caught up in the excitement of the moment.

  "You had over two hundred live viewers," Wenling said.

  "How did they find us?" I said.

  "I have some friends in a cozy mystery group on Facebook where I posted a link," the leader of the group said.

  "We even got a booking to cater a party!" Mom said.

  "Make that two, I'm definitely hiring you," one of the women said. "I'm having a birthday in February."

  Mom beamed. This mystery solving was great for business.

  We talked about past cases, and I even answered some questions on Facebook and started reading the comments. There were a lot of them about me!

  "It sounds like that Detective has a real crush on you," one of the women in the group said to me.

  "I don't know about that. It seems like it's almost something, and then it doesn't go anywhere. I hate that."

  "Me, too," the reader said. "But he sure didn't want you to go out with another man, which is a sign."

  "Maybe," I said and wondered how she picked up on that. Are all mystery fans so observant?

  Then I noticed a lot of the comments on Facebook mirrored what she was saying. An uh-oh feeling descended on me as I watched the playback of the live Facebook video. Then, my stomach fell into my socks. When I dropped the phone after DC knocked on the window the phone was still streaming. It only showed the floor of the van, but it had all of the audio!

  Mom and I sat with Wenling in our back booth talking about the day. The readers had gone home, and Dar-dar had gone back to work.

  "Do you think we should take that video down now?" I asked.

  "No, some of the readers want to show it to their friends." Wenling said.

  "But it's so embarrassing," I said.

  "They'll mostly fast-forward through the beginning," Mom said. "And it's not embarrassing, it's cute."

  "But we could get in trouble from the police," I said.

  Jennifer came over and told Wenling that she had a call on the restaurant phone. Wenling got up to take the call, and Mom and I continued to argue over the video. Mom stopped talking, and her eyes focused on something behind me. I turned to see what she was looking at, and there was DC.

  "Do you have a minute?" DC asked me inviting me to step away from the table.

  "Sure," I sighed knowing he'd found out about the video, and he was going to give me a hard time about posting. It's not like I'd done anything illegal. I used to be so excited when he came around, but now I just rather he'd go away. Crush over.

  "Christy," he started.

  "You know it turned out Mom was right, and if it wasn't for me insisting on going over there, this whole case would've been ruined."

  "I don't want to talk about the case," he said.

  "Because we were right. You never want to talk about how we're right."

  "Why are you so angry with me?" DC asked.

  "It's like the only time I see you is when you're giving us a hard time. You used to be different. What happened?" I surprised myself with my directness.

  "You mean, why didn't I ever ask you out when I said I would?" he asked.

  I nodded.

  He exhaled. "Your divorce, it's finalized?"

  “Almost a month ago," I said.

  "You see, that's just it. You’re just getting out of a divorce. I don't want to be your transition guy."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "I don't want to be the guy that's with you just so you can get over your husband. The get your groove back guy. I want to be–” He didn't finish what he was saying.

  "So that's why you've been avoiding me?" I asked.

  "Yeah," he said staring at the ground.

  "So what do we do?" I asked. "Wait until I get over my husband with some other guy?"

  "No," he said his eyes darting up to mee
t mine and his voice fierce.

  I smiled. He smiled back. We stared at each other grinning like idiots for a few minutes.

  "What does DC stand for, anyway?"

  "You can't tell anybody."

  I crossed my heart.

  "David Charles."

  "Well, David Charles," I said. "Does this mean we’re going out to dinner?"

  "If you promise never call me David Charles again," he said.

  "When?" I asked.

  "Tomorrow night?"

  "Okay," I said.

  "Okay." He turned to leave, and then he turned back. "One more thing."

  I looked up at him, and he stepped closer—way closer. His aftershave smelled amazing. Clean yet masculine. We stared at each other. I think for a moment I forgot how to breathe. Then, he leaned in close like he was going to whisper something into my ear and kissed me on the cheek.

  He pulled away and looked down at me. I couldn't stop myself from smiling my big toothy grin, but then I remembered, he liked my smile.

  Wenling and Mom rushed over to us. We stepped a little apart.

  "We're going to be on the ten o'clock news!" Mom said.

  "The news truck is heading over now!" Wenling said.

  Remember when I said that it might be ridiculous to think one's entire life couldn't change in a moment? Turns out it can.

  DJ, let's have some flash forward music.

  Three months later…

  We'd all made international cable news—Mom, me, Wenling, the Lucky Dragon, Dar-dar, even some of our clients were interviewed. I typed up our first four cases and put them on our Facebook page and website. Fan mail came. Mom sent mango cakes all over the country and spent hours on Facebook talking to the people.

  Over time, I'd grown more comfortable seeing my round face in the paper or online. DC's compliments helped. My old life with Robert faded, and my new life in Fletcher Canyon brightened.

  It was two weeks before my birthday, and I'd just checked the mail before going into the kitchen for my morning half-caff. Mail was fun now. I went into the kitchen and saw Mom there looking over her checkbook and some bills.

  "Here's a few more bills and some fan mail," I said handing over a few envelopes. "And here's something for me.

  "You know, kid. Business is picking up. Maybe in a year we could take a little vacation and go somewhere like the Philippines."

  My head snapped up. "So you can find out what happened to Aunt Lalaine?"

  Mom had avoided talking about Aunt Lalaine. I'd found a briefcase in the guest closet with what looked like evidence Mom had gathered over a decade ago, but she never wanted to bring it up.

  "It just seemed so hard to swing financially. But things are better now. If I went, and I'm not saying I will, but if I did, would you go with me? Help me solve the case?"

  "Of course, Mom," I said.

  "It might take a while over there."

  I realized why Mom was hesitant. I'd just built my life here in Fletcher Canyon—including a relationship with a certain detective. But this was the first time I'd gotten a sense that my mother might actually need me. I'd made the mistake of putting a romantic relationship over my family before, and I wasn't going to do it again. "I'll go for as long as it takes."

  "Thanks, kid," she said and smiled as she turned back to her calculations.

  I sat down to read my letter, but when I opened up the envelope there was a check. I thought it might be one of those personal loan offers, but noticed there was a sheet outlining my royalty earnings that came with it. My hands began to shake. It wasn't “I won the lottery kind of money”, but it was more than I'd ever expected.

  "Mom! That song I wrote with Robert. I just got my royalties for this quarter!"

  "That's nice. Congratulations!"

  "No, Mom. I don't think you understand," I said and handed her the check.

  "Wow! I'm so proud of you!" Mom said. "We should copy it and get a frame before you deposit it."

  "You know what this means, don't you?"

  "You're going back to college?" Mom asked.

  "No! We can go to the Philippines!"

  Mom shook her head no. "That's your money."

  "I'll save half, and we'll go with the other half," I said.

  Mom shook her head no again. "I'll save up, and we'll go then."

  "It's better we go now while Dar-dar is still living here," I said. "He can watch the house."

  "Kid, I can't let you do that," Mom said.

  "You can," I said and this time it was my turn to convince Mom to accept help.

  It took two whole weeks, but I did it.

  This would be my first trip to the Philippines, and the hardest case we'd ever had to crack.

  * * *

  Read what happens next in Book 5: Coconuts and Crooks

  12

  A Note from the Author (and her mom)

  “Can you hear me, kid?" Mom shouted through our bad connection. She'd returned to the Philippines just as I was finishing up the book. Mom used Facebook to call me instead of her cell. It was free, but not always easy to hear.

  "I got here okay. The flight went good. We're going to spend a day or two here in Cebu and then take the boat to Dumaguete. How is your book coming along?"

  "I'm working on it," I said.

  "Don't forget to say thank you," she reminded me.

  "What should I include in the book?" I asked.

  "You're the writer."

  "Yeah, but it's not the same if you don't add to the story."

  "Your readers know more about mysteries than I do," Mom said. "Put something in it about them."

  And so I added the San Fernando Mystery Readers inspired by you!

  Thank you for your reviews, messages, and most importantly, your readership.

  Book Five will come out soon, and it takes place in a small town that will resemble Dumaguete—where I lived with Real Mom in the Philippines. But don't worry, several residents of Fletcher Canyon manage to come along, too. You'll have to read the book to find out who.

  And speaking of the next book. Sign up for Mom and Christy's Mysteries Club to find out when the next book comes out and to get free books, bonus content, and more!

  https://christymurphy.activehosted.com/f/12

  Also by Christy Murphy

  Mango Cake and Murder

  Apple Pies and Alibis

  Milkshakes and Murder

  NEW: Coconuts and Crooks