“Yeah, that’s me. How are you doing?”

  Chloe wrinkled her nose. “I’m drinking at a bar alone on a Monday night. How do you think I’m doing?”

  “Do you want to come sit with my friends and me?”

  Chloe considered the offer briefly, then nodded. Eve put in the appetizer order with the waitress, impulsively adding a sample platter too, just in case Chloe wanted some food as well, then she led the younger woman back over to the others and helped her snag an empty chair from a nearby table.

  Everyone at the table knew her to some extent from the coffee shop, so it wasn’t long before they were knee-deep in conversation about the two businesses her family owned.

  “Superior Slices isn’t closing,” she said in response to Tiana’s question. “My mom and I are going to reopen it after my stepbrother’s funeral.”

  “Patrick’s your stepfather, right?” Eve said. “He’s not going to run it anymore.”

  Chloe hesitated. “Patrick’s … not doing too well. We were trying to keep this quiet, but he got a cancer diagnosis a few months ago. He was hoping to keep working through treatment, but what happened to Ryan has just completely crushed him. It’s crazy to see how much he’s changed in just a few days, and not in a good way.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Eve said. “I had no idea.”

  “It’s all right,” Chloe said. “I mean, it’s not, but there’s nothing you can do about it. He and my mom saw a lawyer today, and he gave her power of attorney over everything. Neither of them have said as much, but I don’t think he’s going to recover from this. My mom barely wants to be involved with the Granite Mug these days, so I doubt she wants to run Superior Slices. I’m probably going to have to figure out how to keep both places running and it’s… Well, it’s a lot.”

  “I can’t even imagine,” Tiana said. “That’s a lot of responsibility for anyone.”

  “I always knew I’d inherit the coffee shop, but Ryan was supposed to get the sandwich shop. It was part of the deal when he and my mom got married, since they both had their own businesses that they wanted their own kids to inherit.” She sighed, letting her head droop. “This is way too much responsibility. My mom thinks I should be excited, but I feel like I’m going crazy.”

  They assured her that running two businesses would be a lot for anyone, though Tiana handled most of the talking. Eve felt sympathy for Chloe, but it was hard to feel too bad for her when her stepbrother was so recently dead, and in such a gruesome manner.

  Being stressed about figuring out how to run two businesses just didn’t seem like it should be that important when measured up against a man’s murder.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Eve limited herself to one drink, a hard cider from a local brewery, at the pub that night, but the amount of unhealthy, fried food that she ate left her feeling bloated and gross the next morning anyway. It had been worth it, though. Spending time with her friends had been great, and talking to Chloe had been…

  Well, she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It hadn’t escaped her attention that all of Chloe’s worries last night had centered around how Ryan’s death was affecting her. Now, as Eve got ready for work, it struck her just how odd the whole thing was. Her stepbrother was dead. Not only that, but he had been gruesomely murdered. Even if they weren’t close—and Eve got the feeling they hadn’t been, it seemed like their parents had remarried after both Chloe and Ryan had moved away from home—Eve couldn’t imagine being so callous about a family member’s murder. Chloe hadn’t made a single mention of the mystery surrounding his death, or even any worry the culprit was still out there.

  “The local barista did not murder her stepbrother and burn his body in a field,” she chanted to herself as she did her eyeliner. Willow padded into the bathroom and looked up at her, her head cocked quizzically at the words. Eve glanced down at her dog. “You think I’m crazy for even considering it, don’t you, Willow?”

  Except … Chloe had a motive. Sure, she acted like inheriting two successful businesses was a burden, but maybe it really was just an act. It wasn’t as if she was going to become a millionaire overnight when she took over, but she would likely be set for life as long as she put the elbow grease in to keep the businesses running smoothly.

  Ryan’s death had ensured Chloe would inherit a small monopoly in Granite once her stepfather passed away.

  That didn’t explain anything about the teeth, of course. The theft and subsequent discovery of the extracted teeth from the dental clinic littered around Ryan’s body was the thing that had her stumped. It just didn’t make any sense to her. What was the point behind it? Was it supposed to send some sort of message—and if so, to whom?

  She briefly wondered if the Drs. Clark were involved in some sort of organized crime ring, but this was Granite, for goodness sakes. What would they be doing—smuggling maple syrup across the lake to Canada?

  Putting her hands on her hips, Eve glared at herself in the mirror. She didn’t know why she was having such a hard time letting this go, but Tiana was right. She couldn’t let herself get so wrapped up in things. Dwelling on Ryan’s death wasn’t helping anyone, and it was hurting her. She could keep her ear to the ground and her eyes peeled for clues without driving herself crazy picking over every interaction she had with anyone who was even tangentially connected to the case.

  After giving the dogs their frozen treats, she grabbed a coat from the front closet—it was the coldest day of the year yet—and headed into town, bypassing the clinic to go to the coffee shop for her usual latte. Now that she was getting to know Chloe better, she was starting to be a little embarrassed about her coffee addiction, but not enough to change her habits.

  When she neared the coffee shop and spotted the protestor set up right in front of the door again, she narrowed her eyes. The very slim chance that Chloe was a cold-blooded killer aside, the younger woman had more than enough on her plate right now. She didn’t need to deal with a middle-aged man sitting in front of the coffee shop and driving away business on top of everything else.

  As she parked, she toyed with the thought of confronting him, but her nerve left her as she neared the door, and she ended up just ignoring him and slipping inside. She didn’t want to let anything Chloe had told her slip, especially not when it seemed like the man was targeting her family and might use anything he learned against them, but she didn’t know what else might get him to leave.

  Chloe was subdued behind the counter. Eve was positive part of that was due to how much she’d had to drink the night before. She wasn’t about to lecture the other woman on healthy coping mechanisms, though, so she just gave Chloe a friendly greeting as she approached. She wasn’t sure if it was just one of those days or if it was due to the man protesting outside of the coffee shop, but she had never seen the Granite Mug so quiet this early in the morning. There were two older women chatting over coffee at a table in the corner, but that was it. She was the only other customer.

  “We finally got the specials running again,” Chloe said. She nodded at the blackboard where the day’s offering was written. “Caramel raspberry with sea salt. I think you’d like it.”

  “That’s what I’ll take, then,” she said. “Thanks, Chloe.”

  She paid, put a five-dollar bill in the tip jar—she had never quite gotten over how awkward it was to tip someone she knew, and tended to overcompensate as a result—and struggled for a conversation topic so she didn’t have to just stand there silently while Chloe made her drink. Finally, she glanced over her shoulder and out the window at the protester.

  “What is all of that about, anyway?” she asked, nodding at him. “I haven’t stopped to take any of his flyers or talk to him. I know he was outside of Superior Slices last week.”

  Chloe heaved a sigh, but it sounded more annoyed than sad, so Eve figured she hadn’t overstepped. “Well, that guy’s notorious around here for protesting random things—he got all up in arms over the secondhand clothing store for selling an old fur coat last year, which is the most recent example I can think of. You know how Superior Slices and the Granite Mug both advertise that we only sell local products? I guess he somehow found out both places buy from local suppliers, but the products aren’t always locally produced. He thinks it’s false advertising, but I mean seriously, where are we supposed to grow our own coffee here in Northern Michigan? When he found out both shops are owned by my family, he made it into some big conspiracy about us trying to take over Granite’s small businesses or something. The guy’s crazy. I wish he would leave, but the police have a lot of experience dealing with him and they can’t do anything about it unless he breaks a law. There’s nothing I can do either, so I’ve been trying to ignore him.”

  “I’m sorry,” Eve said. “I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be. I wish there was something I could do to help.”

  “My mom thinks ignoring him is our best bet,” Chloe said. “She figures if he doesn’t get any traction, he’ll find something else to focus on and leave us be. Though he’s driving our customers away, which sucks. Here’s your coffee. And thanks for being so nice at the bar last night. It meant a lot.”

  Touched, Eve told her to have a good day and, with her coffee in hand, headed out the door. Her mind was on the coming workday, so she wasn’t paying any attention to the protester until he stood up and rapidly approached her. His sudden and swift approach made her jump back, the jolt splashing some of her hot coffee out of the top of the cup.

  “Whoa, easy there,” he said, coming to a stop a few feet away. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  He was a middle-aged man, with a handmade wool cap on his head and a matching scarf that was wrapped around his neck and lower face, covering his mouth. A few days’ worth of stubble was visible higher up on his cheeks. He was wearing a jacket that smelled faintly of smoke, but despite his somewhat scruffy appearance, his clothes looked clean and in good condition. If she passed him on the street, she wouldn’t have looked twice at him. He looked like a normal man, not like a crazy guy who spent his free time harassing small businesses.

  She felt guilty for the thought immediately. People had the right to peacefully protest whatever they wanted, and if she thought about it, the claim that Superior Slices and the Granite Mug made about using only local ingredients was kind of misleading.

  None of that excused him keeping up his protest even after the loss Chloe’s family had suffered. No matter who was right or wrong, they deserved time to grieve.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said, resisting the urge to wipe the sticky drops of coffee off her hand on her pants. She had napkins and a water bottle in her station wagon. “I just need to scoot past you to get to my car.”

  “Actually, I was hoping to get the chance to talk to you, miss. I see you coming in here almost every day. You’re a regular, right? Just like most people in this town, I bet you’re proud of your local, cozy little family-owned coffee shop with its local ingredients. I used to feel the same way, but I recently discovered just how much the owners of this establishment have been twisting the truth, both about the ingredients they use and the owners’ goals.”

  Maybe she had been foolish to think that if she ignored him, he would return the favor. “Sorry, but I’ve got to get back to work,” she said, trying to sidestep around him.

  He moved to block her. A warning bell went off in her mind, but she did her best to rationalize it away. Chloe hadn’t said he was dangerous, just annoying, and she was sure if he had any sort of history of violence, the police wouldn’t be so reluctant to remove him from the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop.

  “Please let me past,” she said evenly.

  “Just give me a chance to share my findings with you. Here, take a flyer.” He pulled a folded paper from his coat pocket and held it out to her. “I’ve backed up all of my claims. All you have to do is visit the webpage printed at the top of the page. I’m not trying to get the Granite Mug shut down, I just want them to change what terms they use when advertising. I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not some kook. I’ve been active in calling out unethical business practices for the past twenty years. My name is Jordan Green. You can look me up, I’m quite well known in the Upper Peninsula area.”

  Eve was in the middle of reaching for the flyer when she froze. His name was familiar, and unlike last time, she knew exactly where she had heard it before. Jordan Green was the man who had called in the report about Ryan’s body, and the client whose information she had faxed over to the clinic in Foxglenn the day before.

  She snatched the flyer from his hand. “Thanks. I’ll look into it while I’m at work. Can I go now?”

  “Of course. I was never stopping you from leaving.” He chuckled. “Do your research, all right? You’ll see I’m not the bad guy here. I’m just trying to get the truth out.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Eve shoved the flyer into her purse after she got into the station wagon and hightailed it out of there. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she couldn’t help but feel as if she had just escaped a brush with danger, but like everything else with Ryan’s murder, she couldn’t quite place her finger on why.

  Was it suspicious and a little concerning that Jordan Green, the man who had been harassing Chloe’s family for the past couple of weeks, was the same person who witnessed someone burning Ryan’s body?

  Yes, it was.

  But that didn’t explain how he was involved with the whole thing, if he even was. Sure, he clearly had a grudge against Superior Slices and the Granite Mug, but Eve didn’t see how that could have led to Ryan’s murder. Unlike Chloe, Ryan was barely involved in Superior Slices. She didn’t think she had ever even seen him there before. If Jordan wanted to put the restaurants out of business badly enough that he was willing to kill for it, why would he have targeted the one family member who had nothing to do with running either place?

  And it still didn’t explain the missing teeth.

  Tiana was just as clueless about what the connection between Jordan and Ryan meant as Eve was. Eve toyed around with the idea of telling Sheriff Larson what she had learned, but upon thinking about it more, she realized the sheriff already knew that the man who called in about Ryan’s death was the same person who had been protesting outside of his father’s restaurant in the week leading up to his murder. The day that Eve found the body, Sheriff Larson had said Jordan Green was well known at the sheriff’s department.

  The week passed slowly, and Eve tried to resign herself to the fact that she might never know what happened to Ryan, but it was difficult. She had found his body—it was impossible not to feel connected to the case.

  Ryan’s funeral was on Thursday, less than a week after she and Atlas found his remains. Knowing about his father’s health issues, she guessed his family wanted closure as quickly as possible. She heard about his funeral through the dentist office’s rumor mill, and toyed around with the idea of going, but when she looked it up online, she saw that his family was requesting that only people who had known him personally came, and she wanted to honor that request. His murder was big news in town, and she understood why they didn’t want his funeral flooded with a bunch of strangers.

  When she got home that night, she lit a candle for Ryan and spent a moment in quiet contemplation before starting her usual routine with her dogs. She hoped his family had gotten the closure they needed at his funeral. Maybe now she would be able to find that closure herself, and let the mystery surrounding his death go.

  Eve had been avoiding the coffee shop since her encounter with Jordan on Tuesday. She wasn’t going to avoid it forever—she didn’t want to—but she didn’t want to get caught outside alone by him again either. She was hoping he would move on soon, so she could get back to her comfortable, caffeine- and sugar-laden routine.

  However, when she pulled up to the dental clinic Friday morning and spotted Jordan setting up his folding chair across the street, in front of Superior Slices, the first thing she felt was anger, not relief that the coffee shop was safe to visit again.

  The sandwich shop’s open sign was lit up, and she remembered what Chloe had said about reopening it after Ryan’s funeral. It looked like they were finally back in business after being closed for almost a week … and Jordan had taken the opportunity to switch his target back to Superior Slices.

  Why couldn’t he just give them some space? They were recovering from losing a family member. Would it kill him to wait a couple of weeks before resuming his protests against their misleading advertising?

  “It looks like you’ve got a bee in your bonnet today,” Tiana said as Eve got out of her car. “What are you all grumpy about? It’s a Friday, and we have a door again. No more duct taping that piece of cardboard up every time the wind blows it down or a kid runs into it.”

  “Superior Slices is reopening,” she said, nodding across the street as they walked around the side of the dental clinic toward the front entrance. The glass company had replaced the broken glass yesterday, and it made a world of difference. “I just wish that protester would leave them be.”

  “Yeah, it seems insensitive,” her friend said, frowning as she gazed across the street. “It’s not like there’s anything we can do about it, though. I guess we could march over there and give him a piece of our minds, but do you think that would actually get him to leave?”

  “I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “I just feel bad for everyone who’s involved. I don’t know if Patrick is working there at all anymore, but he just lost his son. He shouldn’t have to deal with this, and neither should Madison or Chloe.”

  As Tiana unlocked the door to the dental clinic, Eve watched Superior Slices. Jordan was still getting his things arranged. He had an umbrella that clipped to his chair, and a cooler, which he rested a thermos on. He looked like he was preparing to be there for a long time.