Dead and Berried (The Early Bird Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 3)

by Ginny Gold

  By now the sun filling her room made her feel like she’d slept half the day away, so Kori got up just before six and headed to the bathroom. At the sound of so much movement, Ibis leapt off the bed and headed for the front door. Kori found clean jeans and a black t-shirt. She considered wearing a red one instead of her normal black in honor of the weekend’s fruit but decided consistency and branding was important for The Early Bird Café. Especially until she finally got that logo worked out and put on a t-shirt. Not that she thought anyone would even notice. Maybe tomorrow, she thought and put the red t-shirt away.

  Kori still had two hours before the Strawberry Festival was set to start but she wanted to get there early. She took her time making breakfast and checking on the latest news on her smart phone. After her second cup of coffee, and Ibis continuously pacing around the whole house, she figured she’d better get moving if she didn’t want to clean up a dog mess.

  She picked up the leash and Ibis nearly jumped out of her fur in excitement. “Okay, okay. Sorry to make you wait so long,” Kori said and clipped Ibis to the leash. They walked through The Early Bird Café and out the front door, taking their normal loop around the block.

  Kori wasn’t used to being away from the café at this hour so wasn’t in tune with what was normal for Saturday morning along Main Street. There was more traffic than she would have imagined since it was still before seven. Plenty of people were walking up and down the street. Kori had no idea what they could possibly be up to.

  After their loop around the block and Ibis catching up on her form of latest news by sniffing every blade of grass, every leaf on the sidewalk and every flower—lending new evidence to the importance of stopping to smell the flowers—Kori headed to the kitchen in her café to get all of the supplies she’d need for the day. The big equipment was already loaded in the trunk of her small Subaru but she had to get the already-made pies and the batters, fillings and toppings for the crepes and waffles.

  It took multiple trips to get all of the coolers into her car and it was nearly full to the max but Ibis found a small space behind Kori in the back seat and curled into a ball, ready to stick by Kori’s side at all costs. They drove the few miles out of the center of town to the fairgrounds and found it already hopping with vendors setting up.

  There were dozens of teenagers who were fulfilling volunteer hours for either the just-finished school year or the one that would start at the end of the summer and they quickly swarmed to her car. Kori was known by nearly everyone in town, though she had to admit she couldn’t remember everyone’s names, family members, careers and complete history. But she did her best.

  “Good morning, Ms. Cooke,” a tall teen girl greeted Kori as soon as she’d parked and opened her door.

  “Hi Jackie. How’s your mom?” Kori asked, happy that she knew the first person who was willing to help her. Jackie’s mom, Melody “Mel” Styles, owned a local consignment shop, The Treasure Chest. The store was also on Main Street and Jackie often spent her summers, weekends and even some weekday evenings during the school year working for her mom.

  “Good. She’s excited for this weekend. It’s usually one of her best since so many people come from out of town without the right clothes. She saves all the hats she gets all year for the week leading up to this weekend.”

  The Strawberry Festival’s first event on opening morning was a crazy hat contest. Some visitors were die hards and came prepared with a hat they’d worked on for months. Others arrived in Hermit Cove, saw the schedule of events and quickly searched for anything out of the ordinary that they could wear on their head. It got pretty wild.

  “Glad to hear it. I’m surprised she didn’t keep you around to help with the extra customers.”

  Jackie chuckled. “I had to talk her out of it. And it was a hard sell. I hardly ever get to spend any time here and I really wanted to come this year. What can I help you with?”

  Kori suspected Jackie wanted to be at the festival because she was interested in a certain boy and her mother maybe didn’t know. “The trunk is packed,” Kori said, pulling the lever by her front seat to open it. “Grab whatever you can carry. I’m in booth four. You can just set it all on the tables there. Don’t worry about organizing anything, I’ll take care of that.”

  Jackie got to work and three other teens flocked to the trunk and the back seat like moths to a light. Kori was always impressed with how the community really came together to pull off the town’s biggest event of the year.

  Kori opened the back door and grabbed Ibis’ leash in one hand, a box of supplies in the other, and followed the kids to her booth.

  Kori’d had to work hard petitioning the organizing committee to get such a prime location. She was located just to the right of the entrance next to booth two, one and three opposite them. Last year she’d been placed way in the back and her business had suffered. Now, every attendee who entered would see The Early Bird Café’s crepes, pies and waffles and be tempted with breakfast. There were others serving food as well, but she knew all the locals at least would give her their business.

  Her tables quickly got crowded with everything she’d need and Kori set to work getting things organized. She tied Ibis to one of the tent’s poles and placed a bowl of water next to her. Ibis sat and observed the chaos around her, never making a sound or interfering with the action.

  The four volunteers continued unloading Kori’s car and she soon had everything she needed—coolers of pies, batters, fillings and toppings, two waffle presses, a table top stove and pans for making crepes and plenty of compostable plates, forks and napkins. She loved that the entire festival was nearly trash free, requiring vendors to use compostable dining ware.

  There were only fifteen minutes left before opening when Kori finally had everything right where she wanted them, the pans and waffle presses preheated and ready for business. She decided to use the last few minutes of freedom to browse the other booths and see who had returned from last year and how many new vendors there were.

  Next to Kori was an out of town farm, Strawberry Fields. They had acres of strawberries and provided many of the berries that were used in dishes and for sale this weekend. Nora had of course stocked Kori, but almost everyone else bought from Strawberry Fields. They were selling chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry shortcake and pints of fresh strawberries, picked earlier in the week.

  Across from Kori, the Hermit Cove Museum had paintings and photographs on display as well as for sale. Kori didn’t think they sold many at these events, but they also tried to recruit new members.

  The second booth directly across from her was Red Clover Farm’s empty booth. Kori hadn’t really been paying attention to what had been going on around her but she suddenly realized that Nora hadn’t yet arrived. And with only fifteen minutes left, she was almost certainly going to be late.

  Kori picked her phone up off her table and called her best friend, hoping everything was okay and she was on her way. She let the phone ring until Nora’s voicemail picked up and then Kori left a message, “Hey. Hope you’re on your way to the festival.” Glancing out the front gate, Kori continued, “The line of customers is already at least thirty deep. See you soon?”

  Kori started panicking. What had happened to Nora? She was as reliable as Kori was. If she was going to be somewhere, she’d be there. So something big must have happened, but what?

  Kori knew she didn’t have time to make it all the way out to Red Clover Farm and get back before the front gates opened, so she carried her phone with her and walked quickly through the rest of the booths setup on the fairgrounds. Way in the back she found the beer tent—and many of the teen volunteers.

  Next to the beer tent was a booth selling homemade strawberry wine. Kori was glad those were as far from her booth as they could be. She didn’t mind people enjoying themselves, but she didn’t need them getting rowdy right up front where she’d soon be serving customers.

  Coming around the rest of the circle, Jenna Rhode
s had a booth setup for face painting for kids. She had a knack for attracting them to her tent. Which made sense since she worked with kids every day of the week, running an in home daycare in Hermit Cove.

  Next to her booth was Scoop’s Scoops selling ice cream and Betsy waved, a huge smile on her face, as Kori passed. There were even a couple different kinds of ice cream makers where families or kids could make their own. There were hand crank ice cream makers and even a couple that looked like hamster wheels and were always the kids’ favorites. Betsy had made gallons of strawberry ice cream for the weekend and she was hoping to sell out.

  When Kori arrived back at her tent she was disappointed to see that Red Clover Farm’s booth was still empty. She called Nora again but didn’t leave another message. She hung up when no one answered and glanced at the time on her phone. Only two minutes left.

  Kori walked behind her table, put Nora out of her mind and a smile on her face. She was ready for the initial influx of festival attendees and the new business they would create for The Early Bird Café.

  And it was a good thing. Because as soon as the flood gates were opened, her tent was swarmed with both locals and visitors alike. She was making crepes and waffles as fast as she could, piling the toppings and fillings on as she got the next ones ready. During the first thirty second break she managed to take, she considered how she should have recruited Jackie to volunteer at her booth to help out. Now she knew for next year’s festival—or by the end of the summer if she was going to be serious with herself. Having someone help in the mornings at the café was becoming almost a necessity.

  She was quickly brought back to the task at hand when none other than Zach Gulch walked up to her booth. She couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear like one of the teenagers walking around trying to get the attention of the boys their age.

  “Hey Zach,” Kori said, thrilled to see him.

  Before he answered, he leaned across her table—in danger of getting spilled waffle batter on his uniform—and planted a kiss. Kori could feel herself blushing.

  “Hi beautiful.” Kori’s face grew even hotter. “Looks like you’ve been busy.” Zach scanned the contents on the tables, his eyes lingering on the pile of coolers.

  “And it’s not even eight thirty yet! It’s even busier than at the café. I thought it was going to be an easier weekend since there are other places to get food. But Strawberry Fields is constantly bombarded too.”

  “You do have prime real estate,” he said, looking around at the other booths. Kori saw his gaze land on Nora’s empty booth and stay there. When he finally turned back he asked, “Where’s Nora?”

  Kori shrugged. “I tried calling her multiple times before eight but never heard back.” Kori glanced at her phone just to make sure. “I’m kind of worried.”

  Zach moved out of the way of the next rush of customers so Kori could take orders. She started making crepes and waffles before anyone had even ordered.

  “I’ll swing by her place and make sure she’s okay,” Zach said, starting to turn and leave.

  “Thanks. Let me know what you find,” Kori called to his retreating back and he held up a hand to wave his acknowledgement.

  Kori watched Zach walk out of the fairgrounds, her senses taking in everything about him—his perfectly snug uniform, the scent of his aftershave that hung in the air and the way his mere presence made her heart flutter—and then continued serving customers. She was getting rave reviews from everyone and business cards were flying off her tables.

  Suddenly, a voice booming through a bullhorn caught everyone’s attention, even Kori’s.

  “Welcome to the Summer Strawberry Festival,” came the sound of Mayor Norm Devlin’s voice. “North Maple County is thrilled to have such a large crowd so early in the morning.” He paused for the applause. “It is now my pleasure to kick off the events—though I know many of you have already been enjoying the strawberries and strawberry treats from our local vendors so this will hardly be the opening event for you—but we will now begin the craziest hat competition.” Cheers erupted and Mayor Devlin had to wait even longer for the noise to die down. Finally he could continue, “So without further ado, I present to you our judges—last year’s top three winners.”

  As the competition began, customers began turning back to Kori’s booth and she had to block out the rest of what the mayor said. She was once again working as quickly as she could. A few times she was able to glance toward the stage in the center of the fairgrounds to see a contestant walking in front of the judges with a ridiculous hat on. There were paper mâché hats in the shape of strawberries, hats with live strawberry plants on them and even a hat that was at least three feet tall, made of balloons that had been drawn on to look as much like strawberries as the creator could manage.

  Needless to say, Kori missed most of the competition but she wasn’t disappointed about that. Instead, her thoughts returned to Nora’s absence, and now Zach’s. What was going on?

  During her next short break, Kori turned around to check on Ibis. She was relieved to see her lying in the shade, completely unconcerned with all of the strangers around her. Some even paused to pat Ibis on the head and she would barely react.

  When she turned back to her tables, Zach was standing in front of her, a look of concern plastered on his face.

  “What happened? Where’s Nora?” Kori asked before Zach even had a chance to tell her anything.

  He opened his mouth twice before finally answering, as if he was trying to figure out what words to use for the softest blow. “Nora found a body outside her barn this morning. She called it in right after I left you to go check on her. She’s being questioned by Detective Silver right now but I wanted to let you know—in person—what was going on.”

  Kori’s mouth hung open and she tried to regain control of her fine motor skills. Before she could, Zach gave her a halfhearted smile, a nonchalant wave and turned away toward his cop car.

  CHAPTER 3

  Kori finally regained control of her brain and she came up with too many questions but no answers.

  Nora was being questioned about a body she’d found on her property? Why hadn’t she called it in before Kori had seen Zach the first time? Wouldn’t she have found it before eight if she was supposed to be here by then? What had she been doing before eight thirty if she’d found the body but didn’t call it in? Who was it? What had happened to them?

  Kori wanted desperately to be able to go to her friend’s side and offer any comfort or help that she could. But she couldn’t leave. She had the rest of the day to get through. A much longer day than she was used to. Maybe Jackie would be able to help after all.

  Kori did her best to remain focused on serving customers but she was distracted until she was able to take a break for lunch. She packed everything up in her coolers—she was going to have to restock tonight for tomorrow—and made a beeline for her car, almost forgetting to bring Ibis.

  As she walked, she called Nora again, hoping against hope that she wasn’t still being questioned and would be able to answer her phone this time. It kept ringing and Kori’s heart sank. But finally, Nora’s voice answered and it wasn’t her voicemail.

  “Nora, what’s going on?” Kori said over whatever Nora was trying to tell her.

  She paused before answering. “Just come over.”

  Kori could hear that there was something else she wanted to tell her but was maybe worried about saying it on the phone. “I’m on my way.” Then she hung up.

  Kori forced herself to focus on the road in front of her. The last thing she needed was to get into an accident and leave her best friend without her partner in crime—or rather, her partner sleuth—and her booth abandoned. Hermit Cove would never be able to host the Strawberry Festival again if two of the local vendors didn’t even end up selling anything.

  As Kori drove up Nora’s short driveway, Milo and Otis came charging out of the barn toward her car. Kori could see that a section behind the barn was taped off w
ith police tape but she didn’t see any cop cars anywhere. That seemed like a good sign—they’d already processed the whole scene. And Nora was home. That was definitely a good sign.

  Nora must have heard Kori drive in because she was coming out of the house when Kori turned around after letting Ibis out. The three dogs took off together, probably charging straight through the crime scene at some point. Now Kori hoped that it had been fully processed.

  “Zach told me a cliff note version,” Kori said. “All I know is that you found someone? A dead someone?”

  “Yeah. Come inside. How long do you have? How’s the Strawberry Festival going?” Nora turned back toward the house and let them both inside.

  Kori glanced at her watch. “About a half hour. It’s going great. I was just so worried about you when you didn’t show up. But I’ll probably sell out what I brought for today before five when it closes for the night.”

  “That’s great!” Kori was surprised to hear so much excitement in Nora’s voice when she clearly had bigger concerns than how the festival was going for Kori.

  Kori sat at the kitchen island and asked, “So what’s going on then?”

  Nora pulled some fixings for sandwiches and Kori suddenly heard her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and hadn’t had time to even consider if she was hungry or not. Nora set to work making enough food for both of them.

  “I let the dogs out this morning before I was going to head over to the fairgrounds, and they wouldn’t come back. I didn’t even realize I was running late until it was already almost eight and I’d checked all the irrigation hoses to make sure nothing would die when I was gone. By then I knew I wouldn’t make it on time anyway. I started calling and calling Milo and Otis and they still wouldn’t come back. Then I heard them barking like crazy so I went outside looking for them. I found them behind the barn. And there was a body on the ground with a pint of strawberries next to him.”