Read Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) for Free Online

and I’ll get you that glass of wine I promised you last night.
Back in a minute,” Kelly said.
    It was early evening, the
time when the color of the sky melted into the color of the ocean. When Kelly’s
parents built the house overlooking the bay, they took advantage of the view by
having one large room on the ocean side rather than a separate kitchen, dining
room, and living room. The two hundred seventy degree view of the bay and ocean
was magnificent. When Kelly and Mark had moved into the house, she’d insisted
on furniture that invited bodies to lounge in them rather than the
uncomfortable wooden furniture that had been popular during the time her
parents had lived in the house. Paintings by local artists were prominently
displayed on the walls and even though it was late spring, she always had a
fire blazing in the river rock fireplace. It was a simple warm, inviting home
with an incredible view.
    Kelly opened the wine and
turned back toward Mike. Rebel had his paw on Mike’s leg, inviting his ears to
be scratched. As soon as Mike stopped, the paw went back on his leg. “Kelly, I
swear this dog would let me scratch his ears the rest of his life, my life, or
until my hand atrophied. Rebel, that’s all. Off,” he said. Rebel lay next to
him, looking up at him with big brown eyes, hoping that the word “off” meant
there would just be a momentary pause in the ear scratching.
    She laughed and handed
Mike his glass of wine. “I’d like to propose a toast, but don’t think there’s
anything that great to toast right now. How about to finding out what happened?”
    “Works for me. Believe me,
I sure would like to. What did Ginger say about the service for Amber?”
    “I talked to her sister
just before you got here. Evidently Ginger’s still too shaken up to talk to
anyone. I understand. The service is going to be held at the church Saturday
morning. Father Brown thinks a lot of people from the outskirts and surrounding
towns will want to drive in for it. It’s getting a lot of publicity from the
local news programs as well as from as far away as Portland and San Francisco.
He thought it would be better to do it on a non-week day. The family has asked
some people to say a few words about her. I volunteered to have people come to
the coffee shop after the service for some refreshments. Seems like people need
closure at a time like this and it was the least I could do for Amber and the
family.”
    “Awfully good of you,
Kelly. I’m sure Ginger and Bob appreciate it. I did a little poking around this
afternoon. Jeff Black’s ranch is a lot bigger than I thought. According to the
county records, he’s got over two thousand acres. I thought the land he uses
for his cattle operation was owned by the Bureau of Land Management, but not
so. It’s part of his ranch. His cattle herd sure doesn’t look like it needs
that many acres. Wish there was some way I could get in there.”
    “Mike, a thought just
occurred to me. Remember I told you once that I got Rebel from the family of a
narcotics drug officer who had been killed in a drug shootout? I took one look
at that dog and fell in love with him. It never occurred to me to ask if Rebel
ever worked with the officer as a drug dog. Maybe he’d know if there was
marijuana on the ranch. I remember coming back from Phoenix once and every car
had to stop at an immigration and drug check point.
    “There was a helicopter,
about forty officers, and even police on bridges checking out the cars before
they got to the mandatory stop. The thing I’ll never forget is that there was a
big German shepherd dog standing between the lines of cars. It turned its head toward
each car and sniffed it as the cars waited in line. Evidently he’d picked up
the smell of drugs coming from one of the cars in the line because the officers
were completely dismantling it and everything loaded in it. I always wondered
what they’d found, if anything. Anyway, maybe Rebel could help.” Rebel