some good karma.”
“I think you get the karma. I get the sweets.” He held up the bag. “See you tomorrow.”
Greg nodded at the man as he left. “You’re in a good mood today for the circumstances.”
“No one is going to scare me into doing anything. What, they want my house? Or they want the store? Whatever it is, they’re sending mixed messages. I can’t keep up.”
“Maybe it’s not related to any of this.” He nodded to the coffee. “Can I get a cup while I’m working?”
“Of course.” I poured black coffee into a travel mug. “But it is related. At least, Tia’s related to Alice.”
“What are you talking about?” Greg looked confused.
I put the lid and a sleeve on the cup. “I didn’t tell you. Sorry. I overheard Tia talking to Alice Carroll at the beach. Tia told her she wasn’t going to do her dirty work anymore and called her ‘mother.’”
“I didn’t know Alice had any children. That being said, I guess Tia changed her mind.” He glanced at the door. “Where’s the security feed?”
“I haven’t even looked at it.” I pointed to the office. “It’s back there on the front wall. But it might not be Tia. She seemed pretty firm about not doing it anymore after Toby talked to her. Maybe Alice got a new flunky.”
“We’ll see. Either way, they aren’t smart enough to realize they’re being watched.” Greg went into the back room, and I poured coffee and packaged up a slice of zucchini bread for a customer.
“Jill? You need to come see this.”
I handed the woman her change, then called back. “On my way.”
I glanced around; there didn’t look like any more customers were heading my way. I walked around the door and glanced up at the monitor for the security system. Greg pushed a button, and the tape started to run. I watched as Deek taped up the sign, patted the door, then left, a girl on his arm.
“Deek did this?” I leaned against the doorway and felt my legs start to give out. “My Deek?”
Chapter 11
I watched the video three more times. It was Deek putting up the sign. Deek, who had betrayed not only Coffee, Books, and More, but Aunt Jackie and me. I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.
“Hello?” His sleepy voice filled my ear. “Wait, is this Jill? How are you? What can I do for you? Do you need me?”
“I need you to stop putting signs on my doors. What were you thinking?” My voice got louder and started to crack. I was going to cry. I knew it. “How could you do this?”
“Wait, what are you talking about? I did what you told me to do. I made the sign and put it up late last night, right after your text. I’m so sorry to hear about your uncle.”
I stared at Greg, then handed him the phone. “I can’t talk to him. I don’t understand what he’s saying.”
Greg took the phone from me and waved me out into the front area. “Go watch for customers. I’ll talk to Deek.”
I nodded, not knowing what I was going to do. Deek filled a lot of holes in our schedule. He ran all the book clubs. He even set up our weekly ordering packages. He was an intricate part of our work family and he’d betrayed us. I would never had thought he had it in him.
Greg came out of the back room and handed me back my phone. “Jill, this wasn’t Deek.”
“I saw him on the tape. What do you mean, it wasn’t Deek?”
Greg poured himself a cup of coffee and looked around the empty coffee shop before he spoke. “He got a text from you late last night. You said that Jackie’s brother had been in an accident and you’d lost him. You asked Deek to make the sign.”
“I didn’t text him.” I opened the text app and showed Greg. “See? No texts last night at all. And Jackie doesn’t have a brother.”
“I know. I asked him to send me the number they texted from. Probably a burner phone, but he knows he was played and he feels really bad about it.” Greg walked over and took down the sign and threw it and the covering paper away. “No need to test it; we know who wrote it and why.”
“Do you think you can find out who texted Deek?” I took a brownie out of the case and took a big bite. I needed food to