Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 03 - Dead and Berried by Ginny Gold Page A

delicious.
    She had barely gotten everything put in place when she went out front to turn the sign around to open and her first customers walked in—Jenna and Kyle Rhodes.
    “Hi Kori,” Jenna said, a huge smile on her face.
    “Good morning,” Kori replied. “You look happy this morning.”
    Jenna glanced at Kyle and then back to Kori. “Because we’re two months pregnant and we’re finally telling people!”
    “Wow! That’s great! Congratulations!” Kori hugged both Jenna, who was beaming, and Kyle, who looked a little overwhelmed. “I think this calls for breakfast on the house.”
    “Oh no, we couldn’t let you do that,” Jenna refused. She glanced at Kyle again who was still expressionless. “But I did want to ask if the café would host my baby shower. It’s not for a couple months still. And I’m not really supposed to know about it. But I know we won’t be able to fit everyone in my house and my parents will be coming from out of town so they won’t be able to plan it well and they asked me to help pick a place,” Jenna rambled on.
    Kori interrupted her. “Of course you can have it here! It would be so fun to cater it. You don’t have to pick a date yet, just give me at least a month heads up.”
    Jenna looked relieved. “Great.”
    With that out of the way , Jenna and Kyle seated themselves at a booth and checked out the menu. Jenna ordered herbal tea—a change from her regular black coffee—and they both ordered eggs.
    Kori didn’t have a chance to talk to them anymore because as soon as she set the plates of eggs in front of t hem, Holly walked in with Mel Styles, owner of The Treasure Chest.
    “She was great this weekend,” Kori heard Holly say. “She’ll be a great employee when she’s old enough.”
    “I know. I’m worried about that day. Then I won’t have her to help at The Treasure Chest,” Mel replied, then turned to Kori. “Hi Kori. I heard Jackie also helped you out at the festival this weekend.”
    “Yeah. She was definitely proactive about being helpful. I don’t know how long it would have taken for some of the other volunteers to even notice I needed help unloading the car. Where is she working this summer?”
    “Still at The Treasure Chest. I was just telling Holly that I’m not sure what I’d do without her. I don’t know how you don’t have help yet. Even Betsy at Scoop’s Scoops has two high schoolers helping out.”
    “I’ve given it a lot of thought. But I think I’ll want to hire someone year round.” And now with Teddi’s help, I might just be able to , she thought. “And since we’re open mornings, students don’t quite have the schedule for it.”
    Holly and Mel nodded conspiratorially and sat in the empty booth by the window behind Jenna and Kyle.
    “Can I start you with some coffee?” Kori asked, hoping she’d be able to ask Holly about Dan Roche without seeming too obvious to Mel.
    “Kona if you have it today,” Mel requested and Holly nodded in agreement. Kori headed to the kitchen to grind the beans, fill the French press and consider her next move.
    As she approached the table, she didn’t have to worry about how she was going to broach the subject as Mel already had. “Did you hear that Stanley has no alibi for his brother’s murder?” Kori heard Mel ask Holly.
    “No,” Holly exclaimed, surprise dripping from her voice. Almost too much surprise, Kori thought as she placed the coffee and two mugs on the table.
    “That’s what I heard. Detective Lani Silver was in the shop yesterday and I heard it come over her radio. I know I shouldn’t have been listening but it was right there. And another murder right in our small town. How could I not listen?”
    Kori thought about the shovel that had been found at Nora’s and Holly saying she’d left it outside Friday night for easy packing Saturday morning. Could Holly be guilty?
    “Well, whoever it was, he had it coming to him,” Holly said.
    “What do you mean?” Kori asked