Death by Tea by Alex Erickson Read Free Book Online Page B

always closed, just as one of us always opened. I trusted both of our employees fully, but that didn’t mean I wanted them in the store alone without either Vicki or me there to supervise them.
    â€œWhy not?” I asked. “Did something come up?”
    â€œNot really,” she said between bites of ice cream. “Trouble didn’t like all the yelling. We left as everyone was packing up. Mike closed up for me.”
    â€œOh.” Then that wasn’t so bad. Besides, if one of those people was a murderer, I’d much rather have Mike there to deal with them than Vicki. I had nothing against him, but if I had to choose between them, I’d take Vicki’s survival every time.
    Does that make me a bad person?
    I shoveled some Rocky Road into my mouth and chewed, feeling as low as I could go. I glanced back at where Buchannan sat and hurriedly looked away. He was staring at me still, in almost the exact same position I’d last seen him. It was downright creepy.
    â€œDon’t worry about him,” Vicki said. “He’s just fishing right now. The police will realize you are innocent soon enough. It’s not like they have anything on you, right?”
    Sure, if you didn’t count my fingerprints on the murder weapon, being placed at the scene on the same night as the murder, and, well, me being me. My life really did suck sometimes.
    I took another large bite of Rocky Road and spoke around it. “Did the police talk to you already?”
    Vicki’s nearly ever-present smile slipped. “A little. They questioned me when they came to see the body. I called it in.” She shuddered. “It was horrible.”
    I suddenly felt like the world’s worst friend. In all of this, I really hadn’t considered how finding the body would affect Vicki, or what condition he was in. All I knew for sure was that David had been hit in the head with the teapot hard enough to kill him. A shudder worked its way through me.
    â€œAre you doing okay?” I asked, pushing my bowl away. I was only halfway through, but I was getting the chills thinking about the case and the cold ice cream wasn’t helping.
    â€œI suppose.” Vicki sighed dramatically. “I was worried they’d blame me, but they only asked me a few questions before kicking me out. And then when they told me the store would have to remain closed while they investigate, I put my foot down. There wasn’t a mess and they are going to get all of the clues from there today, so there is no reason to remain closed longer than necessary. The police chief agreed with me, and we’ll be opening tomorrow.”
    â€œReally?” I wasn’t all that surprised Vicki had managed to talk them into letting us open so soon. She could sweet-talk just about anyone. There was a reason her parents had pushed her so hard to follow in their footsteps and become an actress. She had the charisma for it, not just the looks.
    Still, the thought of reopening Death by Coffee after such a horrible tragedy had me worried.
    â€œDo you think that’s such a good idea?”
    â€œWhy not?” Vicki asked. “It isn’t our fault the man was killed.” She frowned. “I don’t mean to disrespect him, and it is terrible what happened, but we shouldn’t be punished for what someone else did. If we remained closed, our customers might go elsewhere.”
    She didn’t need to mention that those customers had only recently started coming to Death by Coffee for their morning jolt in the first place. If they stopped coming now, it was unlikely we’d ever get them back.
    â€œBesides,” she went on, “if I have to sit at home and think about what happened, it’ll drive me crazy. I’d much rather work.” She paused, her frown deepening. “I do think I might skip out on the audition I was considering, though.”
    I looked up, surprised. “What