New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 Mrs. Tinderbeck shook her head and sighed loudly when Saundra stepped into her office. She said nothing about Twila, and that was both irritating and comforting. Saundra itched to know what compelling reason kept Twila working and stopped the library from firing her. Maybe she was only this way toward people she didn't know? At the same time, Saundra didn't want to know. She sensed Mrs. Tinderbeck wasn't the kind of person to talk about others behind their backs. Even when they deserved it. While Saundra's mother had been oblivious about far too many things, she did have moments of deep wisdom. Long ago, after hearing Saundra and her playmates chatter about a school nemesis, she had pointed out that people who said nasty things to Saundra about other people most likely said equally nasty things about her to those same people.

After that, Saundra's first day of work sped by with fewer new-kid-on-the-team awkward moments and mistakes than she had anticipated. She was ready and eager to get to work when the daycare story group trooped through the doors at 10am. The school year started on Wednesday, and once everyone had settled in, Saundra would be handling story times and book discussions throughout the day for each grade in the elementary and middle school. The high school had access to the library during the day, but the students had to have passes to come over during study hall. All three school buildings sat on the far side of the municipal parking lot that separated the Cadburn Schools property from the library. Someone, years ago, had decided it was more efficient to have the children trot the hundred yards to the library, rather than maintain libraries in all three buildings. 

Everything about Cadburn pleased Saundra. The layout of the town was logical. She supposed when she got more acclimated to her new surroundings, she would find inconvenient things that irritated her. Right now, she felt as if someone had sat down decades ago and designed everything for maximum efficiency. She looked forward to being able to walk everywhere, until the weather turned nasty. Then she would drive from her apartment and park in the municipal lot, with access to all the shops and businesses of downtown Cadburn. 

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Tinderbeck completed the last official tasks of the hiring process. That meant signing Saundra into the computerized time clock, logging her into the library computer system and settling her at her desk in the children's corner of the library. Saundra deposited her lunch bag in the refrigerator in the kitchen/break room, refilled her cup from the pot on the counter, and headed back to Mrs. Tinderbeck's office for what she termed the Monday morning circle-the-wagons meeting. Twila got to the door first, stomping up from the other direction, crossed her arms, and nodded twice with a loud snort.

"It's five minutes after 9. Where is this wunderkind you were so excited about? Late, and on her first day of work. Didn't I say you should have given me the job?"

"No, you did not tell me, and no, you said nothing about wanting the position." Mrs. Tinderbeck's voice was pleasant, but with a coolness that made Saundra stop, five steps away, and vow to never have that disappointed tone directed at her. "In point of fact, Saundra was almost half an hour early this morning." 

"No, she --" Twila's head turned quickly enough to generate a loud crackle from her neck. Her nostrils pinched together, and her eyes widened as her gaze met Saundra's. She snorted, turned, and stomped back to the front desk.

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Saundra detoured to Book & Mug on her way to the library for her first day of work. Well, why not? The coffee drinks were incredible, and she wasn't ashamed to want to look at the used bookstore again. A true bibliophile could never have too many books. The problem wasn't the number of books but not planning ahead and getting extra bookshelves, after all.

Kai wasn't at the counter when she stepped up, but Olivia was on duty. She had sat two pews in front of her at church yesterday. Her roommate, Phoebe, had squealed when Pastor Roy introduced Saundra to the congregation and announced she was the new children's librarian. The two of them had made sure Saundra met Devona and her brother, Rufus.

"Hi, Olivia." Saundra stepped up to the counter and decided right then to make a habit of always choosing the first item on the specials board, no matter what. Live adventurously.

"Hey, Saundra. Thought I tagged you as a morning person." Olivia reached for a glass mug, then gestured at the cardboard to-go cups on the counter behind her to. "On your way to work?"

They laughed together, and Olivia confirmed the cinnamon cappuccino was a good choice. Saundra chuckled when she was a block away and realized she hadn't checked out the books. Well, there was plenty of time for that later. She did want to get to work early today.

Twila was spraying the front desk and the switchboard with disinfectant spray when Saundra came in the side door using the key Mrs. Tinderbeck gave her yesterday after the service. She muttered as she scrubbed with a neon yellow sponge. Saundra hurried past her while the woman's back was turned and headed for Mrs. Tinderbeck's office.

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Someday, he would be able to retaliate against Cadburn, and not just make it stick, but ensure Curtis was safe once and for all.

He was still thinking about that when he finished closing up the coffee shop and turned out the lights in the bookstore, lowered all the blinds, turned on the alarm system, and went upstairs. Eden had already gone to bed, and the office was dark when he peeked in. Kai went up the stairs to the third floor. Troy was at work with the door of his apartment open, meaning he wanted Kai to stop in. Something was steeping in the two-cup French press. It smelled spicy and looked purplish, with dark bits swirling around in the hot water. When Troy asked how the meeting had gone, Kai reported on Curtis' latest injury, and his need to retaliate.

"I bet Eden could dig up something strong enough to send the creep running. Get him ridden out of town on a rail." Troy tapped the glass side of the container, his gaze focused on the slowing swirl of the contents. "The problem is that he has connections, and they'll know the minute she starts digging. They're probably waiting for us to give them an excuse to strike. We ignore them, and they waste a lot of time and energy waiting for us to fight back. They do all our work for us, punishing themselves."

"Burning out a few dozen brain cells, too, hopefully," Kai offered.

That got a snort from Troy.

"Wish I could figure out why he has to pick on Curtis."

"Do jerks like him need a reason or an excuse?"

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 "You're a good boy," Cilla told Kai later, when he walked her and her cousin to the door. They were the last to leave when the group dispersed for the night. She tugged him down by his collar so she could plant a kiss on his forehead, then chuckled and rubbed her lavender lipstick off with the ball of her thumb. She ended on a sigh. "I don't know why some smart, lucky girl hasn't snatched you up already."

"Because the girls around here are too smart?" he quipped.

"Not smart enough." Melba shook her head. "All three of you need someone wonderful in your lives. Start another dynasty to run this town before that young snot runs it into the ground."

"Might want to be careful how loud you say that," Kai offered. He glanced up and down the street.

There were still a few cars in parking slots in front of the various restaurants and shops that were open late. He flinched when he saw a Cadburn black-and-white, then he recognized the dent in the bumper. That was Officer Shrieve's vehicle. Of course. Shrieve was a distant cousin of the Tweeds, and he always showed up to escort them home on Guzzler meeting night. The Tweeds refused to drive in nice weather, even though they lived four long blocks away. They were eighty-plus years old and insisted they had gotten to that age because "we don't coddle ourselves." He would drive a hundred yards behind them during the entire walk to their duplex, with his lights off, and they would pretend they didn't see him. Then on Sunday they would have some incredible bakery to give him on their way to church.

Kai loved the people of Cadburn. Most of them, anyway.

"Let him try something," Melba said, punctuated with a snort. She winked at him. "He used to be bearable. When that sweet Deirdre was still alive. We always hoped she'd make a decent human being out of him. Ever since that Ashley came into his life … Well, they're perfect for each other. One of these days, he's going to finally go too far, and he'll be too proud to admit he was wrong. Then he'll be gone."

"Big arrogant booby of a bully," Cilla added.

"Uh, do you know …?" Kai touched two fingers to his eye, then his lip. 

The elderly cousins shrugged. They hadn't heard what had brought on Curtis' latest injury. That just meant whatever it was had happened quickly and recently. Sooner or later, the reason for the beating would make the rounds of the wagging tongues of Cadburn, and Kai would hear it. Too late to retaliate. Again.

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Most of the meeting was spent just talking and catching up on each other's lives. There were fourteen official Guzzlers, but only five met tonight. The others were busy with last-minute chores for the street festival. Set-up would commence tomorrow, starting with the official placement of the barricades along Center Avenue. Kai anticipated extra business in the coffee shop from the workers setting up the booths, and then the people who would be occupying those booths, when they took breaks from the August sun and heat. He already had dozens of water bottles jammed in all the refrigerators getting cold. The water would be free, as a good will gesture. And not just because he knew those who came in for water would be tempted by the pastries and sandwiches and candy he offered, or browse in the bookstore side of the shop. When he was feeling especially crabby, he was willing to admit that the good will gesture irritated Cadburn and his group of cynics and sourpusses. Knowing that was reward enough.

Even though he thought it might turn out disgusting, Kai whipped up a concoction of frozen crème de menthe, swirled into the glass with chocolate and peppermint syrups, with chocolate whipped cream on top, and sprinkled with crushed peppermint sticks. He hoped no one would ask how old the peppermint sticks were. They had actually been on a shelf in the back room, waiting to be tossed. Olivia, his chief barista, had found them during the regular ridding of the storage room. He had saved them just because he knew Curtis liked anything peppermint, especially if they were green-and-white striped. The timing was perfect.

His choice was also perfect. The syrups didn't melt together into a disgusting brownish-reddish-greenish mess when he put them into the glass. 

Curtis' eyes got wide and his mouth dropped open like a little kid. He even bounced in the booth seat a few times when Kai put the glass in front of him.

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

Curtis Bridgewater came to the Guzzlers meeting at Book & Mug that evening with a black eye. The Tweed cousins, Cilla and Melba, fussed over him. Kai fought not to smile as the big, shuffling man visibly wobbled back and forth between feeling foolish and lapping up the cooing attention like a puppy. 

That pretty much described Curtis, one of the town's characters. An earlier era, less politically correct, would have kindly labeled him "slow." The mockery and people taking advantage of him would have been much more open, even encouraged in some circles. Kai had decided Cadburn was just the sort of town he wanted to live in when he had met Curtis on that first visit and saw how the "challenged" people were treated. What a lot of people didn't realize, and Eden had discovered first, was that Curtis knew everything about everyone. Especially the history of the township, going back several generations. Maybe further. Curtis, his father, grandmother, and her siblings, had been something like family retainers for the Cadburn family. That translated into them handling maintenance and managing the three Cadburn buildings on Center Avenue, and various other properties once owned by the family. Including the grand old apartment complex where a woman who called herself Sybil Orwell had lived. That was the last of many names Eden had been able to uncover for the woman who might have tossed the cousins into the foster care system and then figuratively threw away the key. As far as their investigations had revealed, Sybil -- if that was her real name -- had trashed every bit of documentation that would reveal their identities and help them find their real families.

 

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THE UNWELCOME WAGON

Book 1 in the Book & Mug cozy mystery series.

Saundra Bailey has a rough few first days after moving to Camden Township to be the new children's librarian. First a strange man who smells of cheap cigars tries to get into her apartment, then she’s caught between two Welcome Wagon teams, which results in her feeling rather unwelcome. When Cigar Man later tries to steal her purse, she meets Kai, owner of Book & Mug, a coffee shop and bookstore. Cigar Man tried to break into the building Kai owns with his cousins, Eden and Troy, after trying to hire Eden, an investigator, to find lost family documents.

 

As Saundra settles into her new job and home, she learns about the political and social feuds and alliances in town. Then Cigar Man breaks into the Book & Mug building in the middle of the night, falls from a fire escape, and dies. The hunt is on to figure out what he was looking for, who was the other man with him when he fell, and whose side the mysterious accomplice is on.

 

Head Trustee Roger Camden, descendant of a founding father, has a growing list of grudges against the cousins and gets in the way of their investigation. Their building used to belong to his family. He accuses them of being in league with Cigar Man, who apparently was seeking Camden family documents. The foursome scramble to put together clues and identify Cigar Man’s accomplice before he hurts more people and makes more evidence and clues vanish.

From Mt. Zion Ridge Press