Free Mistletoe & Murder by Laina Turner Page B

they were both sound asleep but Cooper must have heard my footsteps approaching him and popped his eyes opened. He sat up. “What’s wrong?”
    “Brian just called. He said Tommy’s been murdered! He wants us to come to his shop now.”
    Cooper was immediately all business. He owned a private security firm and was always prepared for every emergency so not much fazed him. He tossed me the car keys that had been in his pants pocket.
    “Go warm up the car, and I will be right down.” I took the keys and headed downstairs. I knew he would just be a second. As the car was warming up, I was starting to wish for a cup of coffee. The Coffee Café, Alkon’s only in-town coffee shop wasn’t open since it was Christmas, and we didn’t have time to wait on me brewing a pot. The passenger door opened and Cooper jumped in.
    “Your mom stopped me on the way out. She’s not too happy.”
    I started backing out of the driveway and could see my mom looking out the kitchen window at us with a frown. “Did you tell her what was going on?”
    “Yes, but you know your mother.”
    Did I ever? She wouldn’t like anything, even murder, standing in the way of her Christmas timetable. I couldn’t blame her. I wanted to just be at home, still in bed, in my pajamas with a steaming cup of coffee rather than going to the scene of a murder, but Brian was a friend and I had to admit I wanted to know what was going on.
    “What did Brian say when he called?” Cooper asked, all business.
    “Not much. He just called panicking saying Tommy had been murdered and asked me to come to the shop. Probably for moral support as much as anything else.”
    “I hope so. You know how I feel about getting involved in things that are better suited for the police.”
    I just rolled my eyes. It was too early to have this conversation once again.
    “Are you going to be ok without coffee this early?” Cooper grinned. He knew me all too well.
    I gave him a dirty look and ignored his comment. I soon pulled into the parking lot of Brian’s shop; it was alive with a couple police cars and an ambulance. Pretty much all the emergency vehicles Alkon had to offer. Alkon was a small town so didn’t have a very big police force. Luckily not a lot usually happened in this sleepy town. Though this murder, if that’s what it was, was the second that year, a trend that hopefully would not continue. The first murder being Senator Daniels, a senator I had been in town to interview during my short-lived journalism career, was murdered the night after I interviewed him. That had been the first murder in Alkon since twenty years ago when a wife killed her cheating husband. It did make me wonder what was happening around here. You expected murders in Chicago not here in Alkon.
    Cooper and I walked up to where Brian was standing outside his shop. I gave him a hug. He looked awful but finding a dead body would do that to you.
    “Glad you’re here,” he said as shaking Cooper’s hand.
    “No problem, Brian,” I said. “Now what happened?”
    “I just couldn’t sleep, I’ve been so stressed out about this Tommy issue, so I thought I would come to the shop this morning and get caught up on some paperwork for a few hours. Being here always makes me feel better. I flipped on the shop lights to walk back to my office, and there he was, just lying in front of my office door with a bullet hole through his head.” Brian shuddered.
    “What have the cops said?” Cooper asked.
    “Nothing yet.”
    “What do you think happened?” I asked.
    “I really have no idea, Pres. I mean, I thought he might be stealing from me, but I don’t know why anyone would want to kill him. He was a likeable guy – young but good with cars.”
    “Was he from here?” Cooper asked.
    “No he’s from the next town over, Shelby. It’s about the same size as Alkon. He started working for me part-time last year as part of a vocational program, and I just kept him on once he graduated. He’s too