Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty

Before I could follow her to question her on that parting statement, my phone rang. The number flashing across the screen made my heart beat faster.

“Adeena?”

“Lila! I heard about Auntie Rosie being taken in for questioning. Is she OK?”

I glanced over at the door that stayed steadfastly shut. “For now. But Detective Park says he needs to talk to her again tomorrow. I think he’s just waiting for one more piece of evidence to become the nail in her coffin.”

“That’s why I called. My lab friend told me they finally got the results on what killed Derek.”

She paused for a moment, driving my blood pressure up five points. “Adeena, I hope you realize I am not in the mood for a dramatic reveal. Can you just tell me what you found out?”

“Sorry about that, Kevin was asking me something. Hold on.” I heard her yell in the background that she’d finish testing the new decaf beans and would lock up when she was done. “OK, I’m back. He died from nicotine poisoning.”

“Nicotine poisoning? What about the arsenic?”

“My friend said the arsenic in his system was a small amount that’d been building up for a long time, likely months. If it had continued, he probably would’ve died from it, but the amount in his system wasn’t lethal.”

“But the amount of nicotine was? How is that even possible?”

“It’s not common but totally possible. Not by like, smoking a ton of cigarettes and then dying from that. My friend’s theory is that he either ingested liquid nicotine or received an injection.”

I paced around the room, trying to figure out my next move. “Liquid nicotine? Where could someone even buy that? Maybe if I narrow down the possible suppliers, I can figure out who bought it.”

I heard a door slam in the background as Adeena said, “It’s super easy to get your hands on and I’m pretty sure I know who got it. I’m gonna call Amir in a minute. Why don’t you meet me at . . . hold on a sec, I think there’s someone outside.” There was a brief pause and I heard Adeena’s voice again, but slightly muted as if she were holding the phone away from her mouth. “Hey, what’re you doing here? You’re not supposed to—AAAAH!”

“Adeena? Adeena!” I screamed into the phone.

There was the sound of heavy breathing for a moment and then nothing. She was gone.

---

•   •   •I sped over to Java Jo’s, calling Adeena’s phone again and again but it didn’t even ring—just went straight to voice mail. Either her phone died or someone turned it off.

The first option was unlikely, the second terrifying. I pushed my ancient SUV even faster and was trying her number one last time, when suddenly my tires hit a patch of ice. My car slid across the road and I dropped my phone on the floor as I grabbed the wheel with both hands to course-correct, but my tires couldn’t seem to grip the pavement. My car fishtailed for a moment before skidding into a ditch on the side of the road.

Luckily, there was no one else on the street and I was relatively unscathed. I knew I had to hurry, but I sat for a minute, my hands gripping the wheel as I struggled to get my breathing and heart rate under control. Once my hands stopped shaking, I inched the car back onto the road and headed toward Java Jo’s at a safer speed.

I finally pulled into the plaza lot, not even caring that my haphazard park job cut across two parking spots. All I could focus on was hurrying over to Java Jo’s and checking on Adeena. The lights were off in the main part of the shop, but I tugged on the door anyway.

Locked.

She did say she was closing up, but she also said she’d be there testing the decaf beans. So where was she? Had she been dragged away? I looked around, but most of the snow had melted over the week, leaving icy patches here and there, but no footprints to follow. I turned toward my car, ready to find my phone and call 911, when something glittered at the edge of my periphery. I glanced around and spotted a shiny object lying on the cafe floor. I cupped my hands around my eyes and leaned against the glass door to get a better look inside. A golden bangle was on the floor a few steps from where I stood.

Adeena’s golden bangle. I would’ve recognized it anywhere.

Even though the door was locked, the lights in the back were on, which meant someone was probably inside. I knocked on the door, carefully at first, then increasing in frequency and power until I could hear the bangs of the door echoing in the mostly empty parking lot.

Finally, someone popped into view.

“Kevin!” I slammed my hands on the window until he opened the door.

“What the hell, Lila? Why’re you trying to break down my door?”

I pushed him aside as I rushed in. “Have you seen Adeena?”

“Not since she finished her shift. Why?”

Heart pounding, I stooped to pick Adeena’s bangle off the floor and held the familiar object in my palm, the tinkling of its bells filling me with dread. I looked around the room but could find no other trace of Adeena there. The only activity was a small pot of coffee brewing in the decaf corner. So she’d started the pot . . . and then what?

“Lila, she’s not here! Mind explaining yourself? Or at least not tearing up my shop?” Kevin asked as I started going through the items behind the counter.

“I was talking to Adeena on the phone as she closed up. She’d just finished and said she wanted to meet me when she suddenly screamed and hung up. I think something happened to her.”

“Whoa, you serious? I came in through the back and everything looked fine.”

“Why are you here, anyway? I heard Adeena say goodbye to you before she locked up.”

He pointed to the pot of coffee steaming in the background. “I forgot that we were supposed to test out these new decaf beans. I’d wanted Adeena’s opinion, but she was already gone when I arrived.”

I swore loudly. “Can I borrow your phone? I left mine in the car and I need to call 911. I think Adeena’s been kidnapped.”

He laughed shakily and took out his vape pen. “Kidnapped? That seems a bit much, don’t you think? I mean, I guess you can use the landline, but I think you’re being overdramatic.”

As he refilled his pen, the obvious lie Kevin had just told joined all the other puzzle pieces that began clicking into place. The fear that’d been sitting in the pit of my stomach since Adeena’s call grew till I was almost doubled over from the weight of my discovery.

I’d made Derek finish his coffee before coming into the restaurant the day he died. Mrs. Long said he was loyal to Java Jo’s, which meant Kevin had made his drink that day. Kevin also had access to liquid nicotine, which he bought for his vape pen.

It was Kevin. Kevin killed Derek.

I came to that realization at precisely the same moment Kevin decided to drop the act. He sighed and put down his vape pen. “You really should work on your poker face, Lila. You know that I literally watched you work out everything in real time, right?”

His tone was light and conversational even as he advanced on me. “It was almost like that Winona Ryder GIF where she’s onstage trying to figure out what the hell’s going on. Very amusing, but extremely inconvenient.”

I tried to back away and felt the hard edge of the counter against my back. I was trapped. “Where’s Adeena?”

He smirked. “She was a lot faster than you, that’s for sure. As soon as she got that call from her lab friend, she made the connection. She’s also a better actor. She hid her discovery from me almost the whole day. I only figured it out when I heard her talking to you as she locked up. I couldn’t let her meet up with you and her lawyer brother, now could I?”

At the horrified look on my face, he said, “Oh, don’t worry, she’s still alive. I actually like her; would’ve felt terrible to have her death on my hands. I just needed enough time to get the hell out of Dodge.”

“But why?”

“You already know the woman who first owned this cafe died, right? Of an overdose?”

I nodded.

“That was my sister, Jo. She’d worked so hard to get clean, and once she got her life together, she moved here to Shady Palms to start over. But then she met Derek. And he got her using again. Using and selling, actually. This place was their base of operations. After she died, I moved down here to find out what happened to her. She left me this place, so I took it over to learn more.”

“When did all this happen?” How could I have been so out of the loop that I didn’t know about any of it?

“Over a year ago. Maybe closer to two now. That’s when Derek and Ed approached me. They had a scheme going with the health inspector and they’d leave me out of it if I let them continue using the cafe as a drop-off spot. I knew Derek must’ve had something to do with Jo’s death; he was exactly her type. So I agreed. Took the time to get to know him. He was a disgusting human being. Absolutely no remorse over her death, but I had no way of proving he was involved without implicating myself.”

Remembering what Detective Park had told me, I said, “But Derek did feel remorse over her death. After she died, he flipped and became an informant for the police. He was helping them take down the drug ring.”

Kevin snorted. “And what? Then he gets to be a hero because he suddenly grew a conscience? Jo would still be dead. And he gets to start a new life somewhere with that married Japanese woman.”

How did he know about Yuki?

Reading my expression, he said, “Derek told me himself. That morning, he said he was getting away from Shady Palms. Was looking forward to starting over and forgetting all that bad stuff that’d happened. You see why I had to do it, right? He thought he could just pack up and pretend he hadn’t killed my sister. Before he left, he admitted the only thing he’d miss about this town was my coffee, so I gave him a final cup. On the house.”

As he talked, I sidled away from him, trying to find an opening. “And what about Mr. Long? Did he figure out you killed Derek and threaten to turn you in?”

“What’re you talking about? I didn—FUUU—!”

I’d made my way over to the decaf pot of coffee. I grabbed it and threw the steaming contents directly into his face. He blocked the way to the front door, so I ran toward the back, hoping Adeena was there or that I could escape out the service door and call the cops.

Adeena was lying on the floor of the backroom, duct tape covering her mouth and binding her hands and feet. She had the tape halfway off her mouth as I came into the room and her eyes widened when she saw me. I locked the door and jammed a chair under the knob, but knew it was only a temporary reprieve. Then I pulled out my keys and got to work on the tape around her ankles as she continued freeing her mouth.

The sound of Kevin cursing and screaming made its way closer to the break room, forcing Adeena and me to work faster. The tape on her legs and mouth was completely off but we hadn’t had time to free her hands yet when we heard him banging on the door.

“Where’s your phone?” I asked, sawing away at the tape around her wrists.

She twisted her hands around in an attempt to speed up the process. “No idea, he took it from me. Where’s yours?”

“I left it in the car. And shut up, I know exactly how that sounds,” I added defensively as she pulled off the last of the tape. “Anyway, that door is the only way out of here. Is there anything we can use as a weapon? Let’s rush him together then make a break for the car.”

She looked around the mostly empty room and snatched something off a shelf, hefting it in her hands to feel the weight. “This should work.”

I only had a moment to realize it was a statue of a dog before Kevin crashed through the door. When he saw what Adeena was holding, the skin beneath the red-mottled burns turned a sickly white. “What’re you doing with that?”

“What’re you doing with it?” I countered. “Janet made it for me. Why do you—” My eyes widened at the revelation. “Oh my God, you were the one who attacked her?”

“She gave me no choice! She figured out how Derek died and wanted to blackmail me into keeping her secret.” His eyes darted around the room, likely looking for a weapon since he was empty-handed.

Adeena clutched the statue tighter and crouched into a defensive stance. I was still holding my keys, so I put one between each finger. Reminded me of my nights out in Chicago.

I held up my fist. “What secret?”

His face contorted in anger, the effect made even more dramatic thanks to the burns crisscrossing his skin. “She was one of Derek’s suppliers. Her medical connections let her funnel fake prescriptions around town. My sister OD’d on the pills that Janet and Derek were peddling.” Kevin fought back tears. “Derek knew she was a recovering addict, but he didn’t care. They killed her. They may not have pulled the trigger, but they sure as hell gave her the gun. And they got what they deserved.”

While he was delivering this illuminating monologue, Adeena was inching toward the door. Kevin snapped out of his confessional state just as Adeena grabbed the knob.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He grabbed her, but I punched him as hard as I could with my key-spiked fist. He fell to his knees, screaming and clutching at his face as the keys tore through his already damaged skin. My hand throbbed from the effort, but we shoved past him and made our way to the front of the shop.

We were almost home free when something hit me from behind, knocking me to the ground. Kevin had recovered enough to grab a chair and hurl it at me, advancing much faster than someone who had just been scalded and knocked around should probably be moving. I tried to get up, but he pounced on me, driving his knee into my back to keep me down.

“Adeena, go!” I screamed, throwing my keys at her. She froze, torn between coming to help me or running to the car to call the cops.

“Just go!” I repeated, grabbing at Kevin’s ankles as he tried to get to my keys. Adeena threw the statue at him but he dodged it, slowing down enough for me to wrap my arms around his ankles and pull him down with me. Before I could get up and follow Adeena out, I got a swift boot to the face. Everything went blindingly white, my whole body going limp at the sudden shock wave of pain.

Through the haze of pain, I could see Kevin gaining on Adeena. There was no way I’d reach him in time. My eyes scanned the room, trying to find something, anything, that would save us. The dog statue! Without hesitation, I grabbed it and hurled it at him with all the strength I could muster.

Some higher power must’ve guided my arm because I scored a direct hit to the back of his head and he tumbled to the floor, pulling a table down with him.

Kevin lay in a crumpled heap under the table, a pool of blood slowly seeping out from underneath him.

“Oh my God, I killed him.”

I crawled over to his inert body, pulled the table off him, and crossed myself. Then I kneeled beside him, reciting every prayer I could dredge up from memory, rocking back and forth as I cried.

That’s how Detective Park found me, crouched by Kevin’s body, hugging myself with tears streaming down my face, as I repeated that I killed him over and over again.

“Ms. Macapagal?” I didn’t respond. He repeated himself. I still said nothing. “Lila?” I looked up at him.

“I need you to move so the EMTs can get to him when they arrive.” I continued staring blankly at him. “You didn’t kill him. Look, he’s still breathing.”

I didn’t believe him. How could he not be dead? He was so still, and I’d heard the crack his head had made as it connected with the statue, and look at all that blood. But the ambulance arrived moments later and an EMT confirmed what the detective said before taking Kevin away.

“You should probably go to the hospital as well. You’re looking a little banged up,” Detective Park said.

I shook my head. “I just want to go home.”

He nodded. “I’ll take you there as soon as someone examines you. An officer can bring your car around. And when you’re ready . . . I have some questions for you.”

“Lucky for you, I’ve got the answers, Detective.”