A Cup of Murder by Cam Larson Read Free Book Online

growl from him toward Jacob would be enough to calm him
down if he decided to display his anger again.
    If I told Jacob my intentions of finding the
murderer of Michael Simms I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be.
He was a proud man and a fighter. He may not like the idea I planned
to interfere on his behalf. But the way I looked at it, I was his
main ally or at least the one person he could trust whether he
realized it or not.
    I cringed when I reflected on my hesitation
earlier to reassure him about his innocence.

Chapter Seven

    With Thor alongside me, I arrived at Roasted Love.
His eyes begged me to invite him in. I commanded him to stay and
returned with a large bowl of water. I had no idea where his leash
was and had failed to purchase one when getting the dog food, so I
trusted him to stay close.
    Though it was early in the morning, Janie and
Jacob were already as busy as we used to be in the days before
Sunrise. The patrons were chatting and I noticed conversations
centered more on their normal activities rather than the murder of
Michael Simms. I picked up on snippets of opinions, but none like the
past two days. I silently commended Jacob for his vow to be visible
to all. They could see he had not been arrested so that seemed the
reassurance they needed. The day continued in a normal manner even
though bits of yellow tape continued to hang on across the street. By
one o’clock most of the noonday crowd returned to their own
activities.
    "I’m going out for some lunch today,"
I told Jacob. "I’ll be back soon before mid-afternoon gets
busy."
    He nodded and I felt our relationship had returned
to normal even after yesterday’s exchange. Neither of us knew
appropriate words to mend any of it, but since we had known each
other a long time that alone kept us drawn in a partnership. I headed
for Sam’s Sandwiches after retrieving my laptop from my car and
walked the two blocks down the street. Thor wanted to come along but
when I commanded him to stay, he did that and I was thankful Michael
had instilled obedience in the dog.
    "Hi, Laila," someone called from a shop
door.
    I turned to see Mary Lynne, owner of Beads and
Bangles. Mary Lynne was a woman in her fifties. I knew her as a
friendly person who found it hard to leave the mentality of the
sixties, indicated by her peasant-styled long skirt and gypsy blouse.
Dark black hair was adorned with glittering rhinestones and small red
beads that matched a long necklace twined in layers around her neck.
I stopped to talk with her for a couple of minutes.
    "How are things going on your end of the
street?" she asked.
    "I think we are getting back to normal. The
yellow tape is still around Sunrise so I guess the police are still
going through the place."
    She smiled and I noted sympathy in her dark eyes.
"Jacob Weaver didn’t kill Michael Simms," she said. She
turned to go back inside just as a customer entered but not before
she waved to me over her shoulder.
    It was only when I ordered my favorite at Sam’s,
watercress and goat cheese on wheat and tall glass of unsweetened
tea, did I remember Mary Lynne thought of herself as some kind of
fortune teller. I shook the idea from my head that she would know
Jacob was not a murderer. She was simply being a good friend and
besides, I didn’t believe in fantasy, the paranormal or psychics.
After greeting several people, I started my research. I sat in a
corner at a table away from the other customers. Sam wasn’t
surprised to see me there with my laptop. I came here often enough
whenever I needed a different scene to break my day.
    Opening my laptop, I searched the name 'Michael
Simms'. There was plenty about his recent demise. I skipped over it
all and went to his bio written by a reporter who had known him in
the past when both were in college. I looked at that information
twice. Michael had been brilliant. That was something I already
sensed about him, but had no idea he had gone to Harvard. He finished
with a