Bulletproof Barista by Cleo Coyle

Author:Cleo Coyle [Coyle, Cleo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

Forty-one

Lizzy and I sat alone in the empty coffeehouse at the only occupied table in a shadowy sea of café tables.

Sebastian Albee would have loved lighting this, I thought.

The place was still and quiet—almost too quiet, save the muffled noises of passing cars on Hudson and the sound of my uninvited guest hungrily gobbling her dinner.

As I quietly sipped a fresh cup of my Fireside blend, I watched Lizzy polish off one of Babka’s gourmet wraps—a lovely combo of fresh baby greens, creamy Jarlsberg cheese, and succulent slices of Babka’s Roasted Chicken with Sweet Garlic and Citrus. I snagged Lizzy a snack bag of Terra chips and a cream soda, too.

When she finally dabbed her lips with a napkin, I poured her a hot cup of Fireside from my French press, slid over a plate of our Village Blend Chocolate Chip Cookies (with notes of caramel and sea salt), and leaned across the table’s marble top.

Now that her supper is over, it’s time Lizzy sings for it . . .

“Could you answer a simple question for me, Ms. Meeks?”

Lizzy shrugged as she reached for a cookie. “Okay.”

“You claimed you were in my office for the past three hours this evening. Where were you last evening?”

“Last evening?” she mumbled between nibbling bites.

“Yes, specifically between seven and eight o’clock.”

She sat back. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Try me.”

“Turner Classic Movies ran The Road to Ballyhoo last night. Do you remember it? Jerry actually married his costar, Brenda Tanner. For the first time ever, Brenda introduced the film herself for TCM, and I didn’t want to miss that. I had to see what she’d say about working with Jerry.” Lizzy shook her head. “I could immediately see why the marriage didn’t last. She wasn’t the right fit for his comic genius. Not at all—”

“Back up, please, Ms. Meeks, and forget the postmortem on Jerry’s failed marriage. I don’t care about the man’s love life. I want to know where you were between seven and eight o’clock. You’re saying you were home, watching television—”

“Not in my home. I didn’t say I was home. I live in Las Vegas. I was in the apartment that I’ve been subletting in Chelsea. But, yes, I was alone, watching television at seven, waiting for my dinner to be delivered and the eight o’clock movie to start. Why do you want to know?”

“Because someone pulled an ugly prank on Kylee around that time last night.”

“Really?” Lizzy’s eyebrows rose. “What was the prank?”

“You don’t know?”

“I have no idea, Ms. Cosi. Like I told you upstairs, I couldn’t get near the set all day, and Jerry won’t return my calls.”

I told Lizzy about the snake in Kylee’s trailer. “She was frightened so badly that she couldn’t pull herself together. They had to postpone her scenes and revise the shooting schedule to make up for lost time.”

“And I take it from your cross-examination that you think I pulled this prank?”

“Are you saying you didn’t?”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t waste my time. Not when The Road to Ballyhoo is on with Brenda Tanner providing commentary.

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