Free Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 02 - Deadly Surprise by Ginny Gold

his money?” Zach asked, clearly not ready to tell her why they were there to talk about Larry yet.
    Kori shook her head and looked at him. She could tell it wasn’t going to be good whatever came out of his mouth.
    “We looked into him. Really anyone who had an account with recent activity at Heidi’s bank in Scoter Circle was put on their radar. But they had nothing on Larry. He … he’s not someone you want to associate with.”
    Kori raised her eyebrows in question. She was happy to hear that Zach was giving information about account holders. She now needed to find out if Wesley had one.
    “He was suspected of drug trafficking years ago. Rumor has it that he bought his way out of a conviction and gave up his co-conspirators in the process. In exchange, he was given his freedom and was allowed to keep his cash, which would have been confiscated with a conviction.”
    “Wow. In Scoter Circle? I thought that place was as safe as Hermit Cove.”
    “Yeah. Well. We did have a murder not long ago, you might remember.”
    They both laughed. Of course she remembered. She’d basically solved it. With Zach’s and Nora’s help of course. Now she was hoping to do the same with Zach’s and Jay’s help.
    “Okay, so Larry is worth staying away from even if he is guilty because he’s dangerous and will get away with it. Point taken. What about Wesley Sanders?” Kori asked, mentally moving down the list.
    “Who? I haven’t heard that name. In Scoter Circle?”
    “No. He’s a Wall Street Broker in New York.”
    “Why is he even on your list?”
    Kori poured batter for two large pancakes on the hot griddle and sliced bananas on top of them. “Jay was able to hack into Heidi’s online dating profile and they’d recently talked. I don’t know the details of their conversation but Jay thought he was worth looking into. And my mom overheard this weekend in Scoter Circle that any recent online boyfriends were suspects.”
    “Well, I can’t help you there.”
    “And Oscar Baer?” He was the last one on Kori’s list.
    “Brett’s cousin,” Zach said. “Heidi talked to him through the dating site?”
    Kori nodded. “According to Jay anyway.”
    “Hmm. I know Scoter Circle Police talked to him but I don’t know the outcome of the discussion.”
    “But you’ll find out?” Kori asked hopefully.
    “I’ll see what I can do.”
    “Hey, and do you know if Brett has a girlfriend?” Kori thought back to the Barbie in his front yard.
    “Yeah. He does. What made you think that?”
    “ Well … I told you I was helping Jay with something yesterday?” Zach nodded and gave her an encouraging look to continue. “We went to Scoter Circle to talk to Brett. And I followed him home—don’t worry, he didn’t see me—and I saw a real life Barbie greet him. I just thought that maybe Heidi was getting in the middle of that relationship and that was his motive for killing her.”
    In a very serious tone, Zach warned her, “Kori, I don’t want you getting in the middle of this investigation and giving someone a reason to kill you. I can’t believe that’s what you were helping Jay with.”
    “I know. I should have told you . But don’t worry. I’m just helping Jay clear his name.”
    “You know I can do that, right?”
    Kori nodded, suddenly feeling guilty for maybe overstepping her ground with this relationship. She didn’t want Zach to think that she was using him for information. Because that was anything but the case. “I know. And you will. I’ll just—”
    “You’ll just not be connected to this at all. I gave you the information I could, but please don’t do anything … stupid.”
    “You keep saying that,” Kori teased. “You think I’ll do something stupid, don’t you.”
    “No. I don’t. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
    Kori flipped the pancakes. “I’ll keep you posted on my sleuthing.”
    “I guess I’m not going to be able to stop you?” he asked.
    “Nope. But I’ll let