Decaffeinated Scandal: A Cozy Mystery (A Killer Coffee Mystery Series) Read online

  “They are on my list.” I used the wooden spoon to point to the whiteboard on the wall. It was where I kept the weekly orders and weekly menu.

  Catering wasn’t something I’d thought about when I opened the Bean Hive, but it had been a wonderful side hustle that brought in extra income during the off season. Which made me think about the Bee Farm again. Had they had an off season with the bees?

  When Aunt Maxi returned to the kitchen with cups of coffee and blueberry scones, it dawned on me how I could get her out of my hair for the day. “I’ve got a good story for you to investigate for your Sticky Situation article in the newspaper.”

  “I’ve been looking for a good scoop.” She’d recently started writing the gossip column for the Honey Springs Tribune. “I figured I’d just do a piece on the festival. I mean all those cute little kids and fur kids,” she said in her smooshy Pepper voice and pinched off a piece of the scone for him.

  My loud sigh that told her I didn’t approve of her giving him some went unnoticed. She clearly didn’t care because she gave him another pinch.

  “Pepper, down.” I pointed to his bed and walked over to the island, leaning my hip on it. “Camey told me there was a man in town asking around, possibly looking to purchase land on the Bee Farm.”

  “Interesting.” Aunt Maxi dug into the hippie bag she had slung over her shoulder. “Tell me more.” She had her little notebook and pen out, ready to take notes.

  “That’s all I know.”

  “What does this mean for the Honey Festival?” Loretta’s voice dripped with concern, almost on the verge of tears. “No one is going to take festivals away from me now that I’m the president.”

  “I wished you’d shut up about being the president of the Beautification Committee.” Aunt Max dropped her pen. “You act like you’re Honey Springs royalty or something. You won because nobody else wanted to do it.”

  Aunt Maxi could be a bit harsh at times, but that was one of the things that I liked about her. She spoke the truth.

  “Maxine Bloom.” Loretta bolted up. “I don’t know why I even thought we could enjoy a cup of coffee together. You have no manners.” She jerked her pocketbook back on her arm. “The only culture that you will ever know is a yeast infection.”

  Loretta stormed out of the kitchen, leaving me and Aunt Maxi with our jaws dropped plum down to the ground.

  “The nerve.” Aunt Maxi lifted her chin and set aside Loretta’s jab. “What was it you were sayin’ about the Bee Farm?”

  “There’s not much to say. She just said someone was snooping around.” I opened the door to the walk-in freezer and took out pumpkin and cinnamon cookies along with a couple of apple-honey pies.

  “You mean to tell me this is just hearsay?” Her nose curled.

  “I’m saying exactly what she told me.” I turned the ovens on to three-hundred and fifty degrees, the right temperature to warm the cookies and the pies. “Don’t you think it’s something to explore?”

  “This ain’t much of a scoop for the Sticky Situation.” She stood up and walked back over to get her coat. “Sometimes the juice just ain’t worth the squeeze.”

  Then she prattled on to tell me how many people come through Honey Springs to see if the small tourist town was a good place to open a shop and retire. Blah, blah, blah.

  I’d completely tuned her out when the warm smell of cinnamon, baked apples, and pumpkin along with a hint of honey circled my head and filled the kitchen with the scents of fall. It was my favorite season, though it wasn’t the busiest.

  “Roxy, get out here.” Bunny stuck her head in the door.

  I glanced up at the clock.

  “It’s time for another round.” I gave Aunt Maxi a kiss, leaving her in the kitchen while I went to help Bunny take orders.

  There was a small line of about ten people. Bunny and I both took orders. I smiled at the couple I’d seen earlier at the Cocoon Inn with their son as they stepped up to the counter.

  “Welcome to the Bean Hive. What can I get ya?” I asked.

  “I’ll have a mocha latte with a drizzle of caramel. He’ll have a hot chocolate.” The woman had a hint of an accent.

  Upon closer inspection, it appeared she’d been hiding behind her shoulder- length black hair earlier. She was much older than I’d anticipated. She had brown eyes with deep crows’ feet. Her thin lips had little wrinkles around them like she was a smoker, but her uptight outfit told me she was probably much too proper to do so.

  “Ron, the waitress is waiting.” She nudged her husband.

  A light giggle escaped from Bunny as she put her hand up to her lips.

  Ron was looking all around the ceiling and along the counter as though he were checking the place out. Maybe I was paying way too close attention to him because Camey had pointed them out to me at the inn earlier.

  “I’ll have a black coffee.” His eyes searched the closest chalkboard. “Venti or whatever you got.”

  “We’ve got one size. Nothing fancy here.” I took the opening. “I’m Roxanne Bloom, owner of the Bean Hive. Welcome to Honey Springs.” I emphasized owner.

  “Roxy for short,” Bunny stole my line. But I only let my friends call me Roxy. These weren’t friendly people.

  “Roxanne is just fine,” I corrected Bunny.

  It’s wasn’t that I was the owner and not a waitress. It was her uppity attitude that got my tall panties all wadded up in my craw.

  “Owner?” Ron asked with a curious tone. “Honey, I’ll wait for your latte. You take Jimmer on over to the table to wait. I’m Ron Harvey and that’s Bev, my wife.”

  They took their seats while Bunny made the pressed coffee and shook the whipped cream to put extra foam on the little boy’s hot chocolate.

  “How’s business this time of the year?” he asked me, his arms folded.

  “Good.” I couldn’t quite put my finger on him. Normally, I was great at reading people since I’d been a lawyer in my former life. Technically, I’m still a lawyer. I did keep up my license in case I ever did go back.

  My degree has come in handy a time or two while living here in Honey Springs after a couple of my friends were wrongly accused of murder. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy being a lawyer. I just liked being the owner of a coffeehouse much better.

  “I mean, like flow of customers and tourists in Honey Springs.” He talked with his hands, making it hard for me to read him.

  “We are a seasonal tourist town.” I knew I should probably keep my mouth shut, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Are you the man snooping around here about the Bee Farm?”

  “I’m a businessman.” He looked at me with tired blue eyes. The kind that appeared to be dehydrated and the result of drinking too much, maybe trying to keep up with the younger crowd. And I didn’t mean the little boy. “I’m always looking for a good place to invest my money and I believe real estate is it.”

  “Thank you,” his wife took her latte from Bunny and then handed the boy his hot chocolate.

  “A good investment. Is that right?” I handed him his coffee. “We believe in community and helping each other. It’s not about the almighty dollar. If it were, I’d still be a lawyer.”

  “You mean to tell me you make more money brewing coffee than you did being a lawyer?” He scoffed.

  “Ron, let’s go.” His wife walked up. Her face was red. I could tell she was embarrassed by her husband’s comment.

  “I’m telling you that you owe me ten dollars and fifty-two cents.” There was no humor found on my face. This man was up to something and I needed to know what it was.

  Three

  Before I even heard the voice, I heard the jingling bracelets after the bell over the coffeehouse door dinged.

  “I hope you brought me a new adoption client.” I quickly wiped down the counter, looking over my shoulder.

  Pepper darted around the counter to see who Louise Carlton from the Pet Palace had brought us and get some love from Louise.

  “Hello, Pepper.” Lo
uise, who was middle-aged, wore a long-sleeved, light blue, knit shirtdress with buttons going up the front. Bracelets and bangles were piled all up and down her right arm. She wore a pair of brown cowboy boots and her silver bob with blunt bangs was the perfect finishing touch to her style.

  Pet Palace was our version of an SPCA and Louise was the owner. Aunt Maxi hooked me up with Louise after I moved to Honey Springs. I’d bought and moved into a run-down cabin on the lake. Aunt Maxi had insisted I needed a guard dog and I was looking to get a furry companion. When I walked through the kennels at the Pet Palace, I’d passed by Pepper’s cage, but Pepper was not going to go unnoticed.

  In true Pepper style, he yipped and jumped until he got my full attention. As Aunt Maxi liked to say, that was all she wrote. Pepper and I were a team from the get go.

  “You’re going to love this little one.” Louise set the carrier down. Pepper had already dug his nose underneath the small blanket draped over it. “This is Norman.”

  “Pee-yew!” I fanned my hand in front of my face when Louise pulled the blanket off. “Norman stinks.”

  Pepper yipped, moved into downward dog position and stuck his nose in the cage. Norman growled at Pepper. Pepper took a step back, but continued to wag his little stubby tail.

  “Norman is a pug. He’s got gastrointestinal issues.” She fussed with her hands as though she was brushing it off.

  My face was blank. She looked at me, tilting her head with a faint smile. Her armful of bracelets jingled when she clapped them before dropping them to her stomach. Norman grunted a couple of times before expelling more gas.

  “You are going to take him, right?” She brought her hands up in prayer position.

  “You know that I love you and I love all animals.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Do you smell that?”

  Louise blinked a few times, her long lashes getting caught in her bangs. She pushed them out of the way.

  “That was the smell of cinnamon, honey, pumpkin.” I drew my shoulders up to my ears. “All the smells of fall that give a person all the feels of the season and the upcoming festival. Mix in a little of Norman’s toots and we smell like an outhouse.”

  “I took him to see Regina Fowler, the vet at the Honey Pot Veterinarian Clinic, and she put him on a special food,” pleaded Louise. I pointed behind her, toward the door. “I’ve got it in my car. But she said that it’ll take a special person to adopt Norman because he will most likely have to be on this special food the rest of his life or at least until we can get his system in check.”

  “In check?” I mumbled. “He’s in system failure.” My eyes met hers. There was a deep look of concern in her eyes. I gave in. “Fine. He deserves a home too.”

  “Roxy!” Louise reached for me. “Someone is going to love him and it’s going to be all because of you.” She put a hand out and twisted her body towards the door. “I’ll be right back. I’ll go grab his information.”

  “Hello, Norman.” I bent down and looked into the kennel. He was a cute white pug with a few brown splashes. His little round black eyes told me he was a little frightened. “If you could just hold a few of those little toots in, I’ll have you in your forever home in no time.”

  I unlocked the cage, like I normally did with all the animals, so Norman could walk around and get used to his surroundings until someone adopted him. Pepper sat next to the cage staring at the open door, waiting for Norman to come out. Pepper was used to the routine since we hosted at least two pets a month.

  “He is a cute feller,” I said after I heard the bell over the door ring, thinking it was Louise.

  “More dogs?” Ron’s wife and their little boy were standing in the doorway of the coffeehouse.

  “Hi.” I put my hands on my knees and pushed myself up to standing, brushing my palms down my apron. “I thought you were someone else. But yes.” I pointed to the cage. “Like I told your husband earlier, we are a very close community and we help each other out. The Bean Hive is kinda a foster family for the animals at the Pet Palace.”

  The boy with her walked over to the cage and took a look at Norman.

  “I think that all animals should have homes and if I can show potential pet owners how the animal will act in an environment other than a dog shelter or kennel, they are more apt to imagine what the animal would be like in their home.” I looked back down at Norman with a set of fresh eyes. “Norman has some special needs, but we are working with the local veterinarian to help him.”

  Norman poked his head out. He had little black circles around his eyes, his ears stuck straight up, and there was the pinkest skin around his black nose and black lips.

  “He’s so cute,” the little boy’s voice escalated, sending Norman back into the cage. “Mimi, can we keep him?”

  “No, Jimmer. We have your pawpaw.” The uptight lady made a joke and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

  “This is your grandson?” I asked, which made sense because I’d noticed earlier she and Ron were much too old to have a child of this age.

  I went ahead and made my way around the counter to finish making fresh pots of coffee for the afternoon crowd before the afternoon staff came in. Bunny Bowowski left after the lunch crowd every day, leaving me here alone for a few hours. I didn’t mind. I was able to clean, refill, restock, and bake some items for the next day.

  “Yes. Step grandson. He’s been staying with us for the summer.” She moseyed up to the counter. “My husband, Ron, who you met earlier…” I couldn’t help but notice how she rolled her eyes. “He and his daughter have a very volatile relationship. She’s a grown woman who can’t pay her bills, but I blame Ron for that.”

  “I’m so glad you get to see your grandson.” Apparently, this woman needed an ear to listen.

  This was what I loved about coffee. It brought people together. It opened doors for conversation and many problems had been solved over cups of this magical drink.

  “It’s not been easy.” She groaned and looked over at him trying to coax Norman out of the cage. “I’m not used to little kids and when Ron told me that we were going to keep him so his mother could work all summer long, I knew he meant that I was going to have to take care of him.”

  “I’m sure he’s enjoying it.” There was just enough coffee in one of the carafes for two cups. I got out two mugs and put them on the counter and grabbed a few ingredients before I filled them.

  “It’s been a rough summer. This is our last week with Jimmer. Ron planned to come here for business and it just so happened that you’re having your little Neewollah Festival, the perfect opportunity for him to say he did something with us this summer before Jimmer goes home.” There was a little bitterness in her tone.

  “You are staying at the right place since the festival takes place on the beach in front of the Cocoon Inn.” I drizzled at least two teaspoons of caramel syrup, maybe a smidgen more, in the bottom of each mug, along with a couple tablespoons of half and half and a dash of salt. “Oh, if you don’t have a costume, be sure to check out All About The Details.” I glanced up at the time as I filled each mug, remembering the appointment Patrick and I had tonight with Babette. “Babette Cliff is renting costumes for very cheap. I’m sure she’s got plenty left.”

  I grabbed one of the Honey Springs boardwalk brochures that had a map with all the shop locations and a couple of discount coupons.

  “Some of these have expired since we really do cater to the lake crowd during the summer, but there are still plenty of good deals.” I handed her the cup of coffee. “Like this free salted caramel coffee blend just for you and me.”

  I picked up the other cup I made for myself and we clinked the mugs together.

  “Bev.” She finally smiled at me. “My name is Bev.”

  “Roxanne Bloom, but my friends call me Roxy.” I smiled back and looked over her shoulder as Louise came back through the door with Norman’s packet of papers under her arm.

  “Do you want to adopt Norman?” Louise saddled right on up to Ji
mmer.

  “I want to but Mimi said no. We’ve got Pawpaw.” Jimmer was as serious as a heart attack.

  Louise looked over at Bev and they both started to laugh.

  “I understand that.” Louise joked back, though she wasn’t married.

  “I hope I don’t understand.” I held up my finger with my engagement ring. “I’ve got an appointment with the wedding planner this afternoon.”

  “Marriage is all good.” Bev had relaxed a little since she’d walked in here. “I wasn’t prepared for the stepchild. Everything that goes wrong is blamed on me and I’m sick and tired of it. I’m going to tell his daughter that too when I see her tomorrow.”

  “She’s coming into town?” I questioned, tossing the used filters as I cleaned the commercial coffeepots. Grabbing the big jar of my own Harvest Blend, I counted out the scoops needed to make the perfect brew.

  “Yes. All members of the board are coming here. I don’t know why he gave her a job when she wasn’t doing anything at her previous employer but it’s the I-wasn’t-a-good-father syndrome Ron is trying to make up for.” She sighed and took another drink of her coffee.

  “There’s such a syndrome?” Louise had made herself a cup of tea from the tea bar. I watched her pour from the Bee Farm honey pots into the steaming cup.

  “No.” Bev cackled. “That’s what I call his actions towards his daughter. She was addicted to painkillers. She’s in her late thirties, thrice divorced, can’t hold a job, and is barely a mother.”

  I looked around to see where Jimmer had gone, because I didn’t want him to hear what Bev was saying about his mother. She was still his mother. He’d walked over to the tree and was looking at all the fall ornaments. Pepper was standing between his legs, just begging for some attention.

  “That’s a shame.” Louise was buying into this woman’s story.

  I listened to the two of them while I finished making the regular coffee and a pot of decaffeinated, which was a sin. Whoever drank decaf should be shot. In my opinion. Just sayin’.