Cafe au Slay: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery (Orchard Hollow Book 2) by A.N. Sage

Author:A.N. Sage [Sage, A.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989868287
Publisher: Cauldron Press
Published: 2023-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The beetle’s engine huffed and puffed as I maneuvered it down Cliff Row, heading for the cafe. This morning, I received a call from the sheriff’s office letting me know it should only be a few more days until I could reopen and the first thing I did was call Rory in. I was dead set on making sure the place was ready to go when we got the go ahead.

I also desperately needed a distraction from last night’s events and from the fact that it seemed Zeta’s case was on a fast track to become an unsolved crime. Romero was yet to find the person who killed her and considering how little luck I had on my end, it was looking like both of us were at a dead end.

Though you’d never hear the sheriff admit it.

Jumpy from too many morning coffees, I put the car in park and slammed the door, rushing to reach Bean Me Up. I wanted to get there a little earlier since Rory didn’t have keys to the place, but when I arrived at the door, she was already leaning against it.

“Morning!” she announced in a chipper voice.

I looked her up and down, gauging the reason for her excitement, and unlocked the front door. “You’re here early.”

“Aunt Cilia dropped me off on her way to work.” She pointed to the hotel behind us. “It was getting here early or taking the bus. An easy choice. Obviously.”

I thought of the dingy, old bus going through town and our only form of public transportation. “Obviously,” I agreed. Dropping my purse off in the office, I took an inventory of what had to be done. Chills spread through me when my eyes landed on the spot Zeta died at. There might as well have been a giant chalk outline on the floor because I was sure I could never get the image of her lying there out of my mind.

“Want me to sweep and mop the front?” Rory offered.

Her lack of disgust with being back here surprised me and I cocked one eyebrow, asking, “You don’t mind?”

“No way,” she said. “I know it’s like super grim, but this place kind of made me popular. Everyone wants to know what happened. And trust me, being here beats hanging out at home with the monsters, so you’re doing me a favor.”

The monsters, as Rory called them, were her three older brothers, all of whom were the bane of Rory’s existence, as far as I could tell. In the short time I’ve known her, she had never said one nice word about the boys. It made her spending most of her time with Cilia that much clearer. If I grew up in a house full of testosterone, I’d be itching for female company too. A part of me wondered if Rory took the job to get out of the house and meet people that weren’t her brothers.

I watched her sweep piles of dust into the corners of the cafe and leave them there, my eyes rolling.

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