Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 03 - Dead and Berried by Ginny Gold

the trick. I’m glad I know about them now.”
    “I have to admit that it’s probably not the best business practice to teach clients about repellents that they own, but if I’m going to be eating at The Early Bird Café, I’d rather know that you’re using natural remedies rather than toxic poisons in your kitchen.”
    Kori nodded. She couldn’t agree more. She tried to avoid using anything that had the poison control number on it. If it wasn’t on the container, it meant that she wouldn’t need to call them if she accidentally spilled or ingested whatever she was using.
    “What do you use for rat control?” she asked once the other customers had walked away with their pie slices.
    “Do you have a rat problem now?”
    Kori shook her head. “No. I was just wondering. Ants were easy enough to get rid of naturally, but what about rats?” She hoped that AJ didn’t pick up on why she was asking.
    “Unfortunately I haven’t found a natural repellent for them. Other than cats, of course. I always have to resort to rat poison for that.”
    Kori pushed ahead. “Have you had any rat infestations to deal with lately?”
    “A couple, actually. One at the home of Stanley Roche and one at the law firm Edwards and Greene.”
    Kori had to look down at her pies to hide her surprise. Stanley had a rat problem? Had he used the poison to kill his brother? And who worked at this law firm? Were they involved in the case against Dan Roche? “I hope they don’t spread!”
    AJ chuckled. “I don’ t think you have to worry.” Then he turned and left with his pie.
    Kori typed a quick message to Nora: Stanley Roche had a rat problem. And law firm Edwards and Greene too. Know them?
    Could Edwards and Greene be the same law firm she was hoping to find after learning that Dan Roche had defended the manufacturing company’s chemical spill? Was one of them the prosecutor and had gotten their hands on rat poison for a use other than rat control?
    There was only one way to find out.
    But Kori was too busy right now to be able to investigate. And she knew Nora was too. She didn’t hear back from her—even though they were right across the path from each other—until it was nearly five o’clock and the closing ceremonies were starting.
    Before Kori packed up she headed over to Nora’s tent. “Did you get my text?” she asked.
    “Yeah. But I didn’t have the ten seconds I needed to respond. I don’t know that law firm, but I bet we might know either Edwards or Greene if we look them up. There aren’t many people we don’t know between the two of us.”
    “That’s what I was thinking too.”
    Kori and Nora both pulled out their phones and started looking up the Edwards and Greene law firm. At the same instant, they looked at each other and they both knew they’d found the same thing. Arnold Greene was another classmate of theirs. And he’d been the prosecutor against the manufacturer’s spill.

CHAPTER 7
     
    “What do you know about Arnold?” Nora asked, fear in her eyes. “Do you think he would have killed Dan over losing the case?”
    Kori shrugged. “Seems like a loose motive. Why not target the owner of the company? Sure, Dan might have questionable morals if he’s defending the manufacturer. But is he really the cause of the pollution? Would Arnold kill him over that?”
    This time Nora shrugged. Then her phone buzzed and she looked down at the screen and her faced turned white as the flour Kori used in her baking.
    “You’re not going to believe who it is.” Nora looked up at Kori. “Stanley wants to come over and see where Dan’s body was found.”
    Kori was just as shocked as Nora was. “Well, let’s not stop him. I think we could ask him some more questions. We know he had access to rat poison. Would he have wanted to kill his brother? Where was he at the time of the murder? We need answers to those questions before we can really rule him out and focus just on Holly Barton, AJ Long and Arnold