Beat Around the Broom Read online

  “I’m not sure how to break this to you, so I’m just going to come right out and say it,” I said with a sigh. “Your boss, Arnold Klein, was discovered dead in his home early this morning.”

  For a moment, Karrie just stared at me blankly, as though the information simply couldn’t penetrate her mind. She blinked rapidly, then frowned, shaking her head. “No. No, that can’t be right. I saw him just this morning. I-I was there. I brought him breakfast from the Magic Bean,” she said a little breathlessly, her cheeks flushing red.

  “Look, I know it’s hard to process, but it’s true. Chief Forsetti and I have already examined the crime scene. Mr. Klein is dead,” I told her firmly. I watched her face carefully, looking for signs of deception or acting. But when her eyes started brimming with tears, it sure looked genuine to me.

  “I don’t understand,” she mumbled. “It doesn’t make any sense. How could he? How could someone? What happened to him? Did he have a heart attack or something? Oh, I was always warning him that he needed to get his heart checked by the doctor but he’s so darn stubborn, it’s like pulling teeth to get him to-”

  “No, no,” I interrupted gently. “I’m afraid it’s a little worse than that. You see, he was poisoned. Specifically, he was poisoned by the pastries you brought to him.”

  Her eyes went wide with shock and the tears began to slide down her cheeks as the realization of my words set in. “I just don’t get it,” Karrie sniffled. “He was so normal and healthy this morning and you think - you think I poisoned him? Or do you think the people at the Magic Bean poisoned him? Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I’m going to be sick.”

  She was starting to hyperventilate a little, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she placed a hand over her heart. I reached over to pat her on the arm. “I know, it’s a lot to take in. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news like this, but I’m sure you understand why I had to come here and talk to you,” I told her.

  Karrie was full-on weeping by now, her voice choked with tears. “Oh, I can’t stay here. I have to go see Flo. She must be so heartbroken. She needs me. I have to go to her,” Karrie burst out, standing up and preparing to rush out of the room.

  I gently stopped her, shaking my head. “Calm down, if you can. Florence Klein has been taken to the hospital. She was poisoned as well, but she’s still holding on, as far as I know. She should be okay in a while, I think. But for now, there’s nothing you can do for her except answer my questions so I can get moving on the case and find out who did this to your boss and his wife,” I explained patiently.

  Karrie stared longingly toward the door for a moment, then sniffled and sat back down.

  “Thank you. I know this is hard,” I said. “Can you start by telling me if you know of anyone who might want to harm Mr. and Mrs. Klein?”

  She shook her head and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders quaking with sobs. “No! Not at all. I can’t even imagine. They’re both such wonderful people. Oh my goodness. How could this have happened? They don’t deserve this,” she whimpered.

  My suspicions that she might have had a hand in this were swiftly dissipating. She was a wreck, and I had a feeling not even Lara Lancaster could put up such a convincing act. I scooted my chair closer to hers and put an arm around her awkwardly.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” I told her softly. “I know this is the last thing you want to think about right now, but for Mr. Klein’s sake, could you tell me how the events of this morning played out? In as much detail as you can give me.”

  Karrie reluctantly looked up from her hands, her mascara starting to streak down her cheeks as she took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’ll try,” she said weakly. “So, I got up early this morning, as usual. I got ready for the day and arrived at Mr. Klein’s house just before six, just like I always do.”

  “Alright, good. What happened when you got there?” I prompted her.

  “Mr. Klein told me to run down to the Magic Bean and pick up two doughnuts, one for him and one for his wife. So I did what I was told. I went to the cafe and placed an order. Only,” she added with a sniffle, “I like to go above and beyond in my work, you know. So I got more than just the two doughnuts. I picked out some other pastries too, thinking it would be a nice surprise for my bosses. I do things like that sometimes.”

  “Okay, Karrie, you’re doing great,” I assured her. “Now, when you ordered the pastries, did you happen to leave the order unattended for any length of time? Think hard.”

  She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a few moments, then nodded. “Yes, actually. Well. Kind of. Not on purpose.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, kind of?”

  “While I was waiting for the order to be finished, I ran to the restroom. When I came back, the box was there on the counter, waiting for me. I wasn’t in the bathroom long, though. And to be honest with you, I thought nothing of it. I guess maybe I’m too trusting, but I’ve always liked the staff at the Magic Bean. They’re nice people,” Karrie said with a shrug.

  I smiled. “Yes. They are very nice people. What happened next?”

  “Well, I grabbed the box and headed straight back to the Kleins’ house. When I got there, I went inside - I have a key to their place - and I put the two doughnuts on a plate. I put the plate on the dining room table and put the box with the rest of the pastries in the fridge. That’s all,” she said, wiping at her eyes with a napkin from the table behind her.

  “And you’re sure there was nobody else in the home besides you, Mr. Klein, and Mrs. Klein?” I asked. She nodded.

  “Yes, I’m sure. It was still pretty early in the morning, and my boss doesn’t usually have a lot of guests. He is - he was pretty reserved,” Karrie corrected herself, her face crumpling into tears once more.

  I nodded slowly, patting her on the back as I soaked in all this new information. I had a pretty good idea of where to go from here, but I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the reason why.

  Chapter 5

  I hopped back on my broomstick once I had made my way outside once more and took a deep breath. Breaking the news of a murder was never something I got used to. That made this job-hobby-who-knew of mine a little awkward, sure, but it was a necessary part of it. And all in all, it was better than just being callous in breaking bad news like that, right? Still, breathing in the fresh spring air made me feel refreshed, like I was washing away all the stale feelings from inside the warehouse.

  “Alright, Arti,” I murmured to myself as I started gliding down the road. “Let’s think. If the little window of time when Karrie was in the bathroom was the only time the food was unattended, then either Karrie is a really, really good liar, or someone at the Magic Bean did the deed during those couple of minutes.”

  The Magic Bean, a den of poison, murder, lies, and betrayal. I didn’t think that kind of reputation suited the place, so I took off toward it once more to try and sort things out. The ride down to the Bean was even more comfortable, since the sun was higher in the sky and things were a little warmer. The Pacific Northwest didn’t really get “warm” in late winter by the standards of a lot of the rest of the country – we were most definitely not in Arizona - but hey, as long as a heavy jacket wasn’t necessary and I could see some flowers blooming and birds starting to zip around the trees, I was happy. I considered myself more of an autumn person, like any other self-respecting witch, but I could appreciate a nice spring when I saw one.

  It had been a snowier winter than usual, snowier than most young people like me could remember, but at least our little slice of paradise decided to reward us with a very mild spring. It never even got into the sixties this time of year, which was something the more southern tourists couldn’t wrap their heads around.

  My phone buzzed as I glided past my parents’ house and waved to my dad, who stood out in the garden arranging some new plants. I took it out to see a text from Lara on it.

  Cats are not on their best behavior this morning, but don’t worry, I’m
on cleanup duty! Guests are already out on the town for the day :-)

  I winced. That was ominous. I thought Luna and Lara’s cat Lucy had finally settled down, or at least resigned themselves to a peace treaty, but I supposed that was too much to ask for. I just hoped I wouldn’t come home to too much chaos. Lara was an actress, not a veterinarian.

  I was lucky enough to find the Bean in the middle of a slump when I glided down to it for the second time today. I came and went from the Bean so often that I thought I served as free advertising sometimes, but then again, so did just about everyone else in town. If there was one business that I could see still being here in a couple centuries, it was the Bean. At least, that was if word didn’t start making its way around town that the pastries here were poisoned.

  The fact that there were only a handful of customers didn’t mean the aroma that greeted me when I walked in was any less soothing to the soul. It was the smell of freshly-ground espresso beans, and it was downright heavenly. I knew Elisa had been waiting for a shipment of some fancy new beans of some kind, so I figured I’d arrived just in time for the unpackaging.

  What I saw behind the counter wasn’t exactly what I pictured when I thought of ‘new bean shipment,’ though.

  “Oh, hey Arti!” Elisa called across the mostly-empty room over her shoulder. She held her arms out as if she was a conductor for a symphony orchestra, and gently moved her arms back and forth accordingly. Next, I realized the music was different - a classical waltz played softly over the coffee shop’s speakers, and Elisa moved her arms and finger in tune with it. I squinted, letting my eyes pan over to Bella nearby, who was leaning against the doorway to the kitchens in the back with wide eyes, staring at the counter.

  “Um... hi,” I said, approaching the counter. “Am I interrupting something?” I trailed off as my eyes followed theirs, and everything made a little more sense.

  There were beans all over the counter. But they weren’t just scattered around as if someone had spilled them carelessly. The beans were standing upright on the counter, wiggling about awkwardly. Since nobody objected, I stepped a little closer and leaned in to look at them more closely. Sure enough, they were wobbling around as if trying to walk, often bumping into each other and wiggling at each other in a vaguely threatening way, or so I thought.

  “So, is this your idea of breakfast and a show?” I ventured after watching it for a moment. It was a little dizzying, like staring into an ant hill too long. Elisa sighed, frustrated, but she didn’t stop moving her arms.

  “They’re supposed to be dancing together,” Elisa said with a huff. Her concentration wavered a little, and the more it did, the more awkward the beans’ weird little dance got. Elisa noticed, got even more frustrated, and when she scowled down at them, the countertop nearly turned into a mosh pit.

  “I told you it might be better to just practice with two at a time,” Bella said softly, but she winced away from the sharp glare Elisa gave her. I got close enough to see the boxes behind the counter, wherein no fewer than five of the bags of beans had been opened. A slow, steady stream of new beans hopped out of each and marched up to the counter to join in the ‘dance.’

  “This is unbelievably cute, but I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something. Are you trying to get the Moonlight Cove Philharmonic Orchestra started up?” Elisa rolled her eyes, smiling.

  “No, no, I’m just a glutton for punishment. Those new beans I was talking about are a little special. They’re not bad if you just grind them as they come, but apparently, the farm they come from has a tradition of making them dance their way off the trees instead of just harvesting them by hand or even using magic to pick them. So, they send you instructions with every shipment on this damn dancing spell, and their motto is something about the beans dancing off the tree and into your cup, get it?”

  “Oh, that’s precious!” I gushed, smiling.

  “Uh-huh, it is, until it takes you five songs to even coax the little bastards out of their bags,” Elisa grumbled. “I got half a bag into the grinder there, which is what you probably smell, but they’ve gotten stubborn. I’m thinking of changing up the music. They come from South America, so maybe they’ll be more open to a tango.”

  I snickered, and Elisa let her arms drop. As soon as she did, all the beans fell uselessly to the counter, their dancing over.

  “So,” she chirped, turning and putting a bright smile on her face. “What’s up? Any progress?”

  “A little.” I didn’t want to give too much away or do anything that would stress Elisa out any more than she already was. “I wanted to ask if you happen to remember who was around at the time Karrie was here this morning.”

  “Hmm,” Elisa murmured thoughtfully as she brushed all of the beans into a pile together on the counter. “I swear, I can remember orders better than the actual people themselves. I remember a sickly sweet cherry-vanilla macchiato, and that was Jordan Orin’s order. Then there was a flat white with an extra shot of espresso, and I drew a little flamingo in the foam-- that was Laura Mimir, a bookkeeper who lives not far from here. Then there was an old fashioned pumpkin spice latte, which is what George Balder always gets. Besides that, just a couple of black coffees for a pair of tourists.”

  “Wait, a pumpkin spice latte? It’s the middle of spring,” I said.

  “Yeah, but George is a creature of habit,” Elisa said, rolling her eyes. “I only keep a small amount of the ingredients for it on hand for him alone. He owns one of the major construction companies in town, so he’s someone I want to keep happy.”

  I had already grabbed a napkin and a pen from behind the counter and started jotting all this down.

  “Okay, this is all great. What about Jordan, who’s he?”

  “Oh! I guess he’s probably the one you’d want to know about most, I assumed you already knew.”

  I gave Elisa a flat look. “Never overestimate how competent I am, Elisa.”

  She snickered, “Nice to know the town is in good hands. Jordan is Arnold Klein’s ex-business partner.”

  My eyebrows shot up.

  “You don’t say?”

  “I do say. I think he’s involved with books of some kind now, but I’m not sure exactly what. I know, I’m terrible. I need to get up to date with the town’s literary scene. It would be nice to coax a book club into meeting here in the evenings every now and then. It would give me an excuse to rearrange the tables in the shop and get a nice big one for lots of people to sit at…”

  “Agreed,” I said. “But let’s stay focused for now.”

  “Right right right,” Elisa said, shaking her head. “Jordan. I heard his breakup with Arnold was pretty hairy, but I can’t say I know the details. They used to come in together all the time, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say they time their visits now so they can avoid each other. Well, timed. Past tense now.”

  “So, you think there was a lot of bad blood between the two of them?”

  “Not enough to kill someone over, if that’s what you’re getting at,” she said, shaking her head. “At least, I don’t think so, but then again, I can’t imagine killing anyone over anything, unless they threatened Bella or some such.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind if you’re ever on the suspect list,” I said with a wink.

  “Yeah, I’ve gone and incriminated myself,” Elisa said. “Oh well. Maybe a little jail time will give me a break from these beans.”

  As she said that, my ear twitched, and the look on Elisa’s face told me she heard it too. We both looked up at the speakers as the soft sound of tango music started playing through the cafe, and our gaze then went down to the mound of beans Elisa had gathered up on the table.

  On top of the pile, a couple of beans had stood up, and they had begun tangoing their way down the hill of coffee beans. It was definitely a tango. They stepped in tune with the music, swirled around each other expertly, and I could have sworn I saw one bean dip the other dramatically. They had a pretty good tempo, too. Elisa and
I watched, stunned, as a couple more beans followed soon after, then another, and another. Two by two, the bean mountain dismantled itself into a complex and enchanting dance on the counter. We looked up to the doorway, where Elisa’s jaw dropped at the sight of Bella standing there, biting her lip and moving her arms the way Elisa had been doing, face utterly concentrated.

  And just as smoothly as they’d started their dance, the beans made their way up to the coffee grinder and plopped themselves into it. The romantic sound of the bandoneon wafted through the cafe and guided every last pair of beans into the grinder until the counter was completely clean, and the last bean up on the grinder tossed its partner up in the air and onto the ‘on’ button, and just like that, the machine started up, and the smell of fresh-ground beans started to fill the air as the deafening sound of the machine covered up the music.

  Elisa flicked the machine off when it was finished, and we stared slack jawed at a furiously blushing Bella.

  “That was unbelievable,” Elisa said softly.

  “Sorry,” Bella nearly whispered.

  “No, oh no no no, my dear,” Elisa said suddenly, grinning and sweeping over to her to take her by the hand and keep her from darting back into the safety of the bakery. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, and I’m about to love and support you until every last one of these bags is empty. Where on earth did you get a knack for that?”

  “I like the music,” Bella squeaked in a thin voice.

  “She likes the music,” Elisa murmured to me, shaking her head in disbelief before turning back to her sister. “Alright, my little conductor, I might not be able to afford to send you to Juilliard, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you off the hook. And Arti, don’t think I’m about to let you go sleuthing again without trying some of this!”

  Elisa’s words caught me as I was halfway to the exit, trying to sneak out while they were distracted. I needed all the time I could get, but I couldn’t say no to good coffee, especially some fancy new stuff that Elisa was offering me.