Wings from Death

Chapter Nine

I pushed a glass door open to be greeted by the familiar scent of coffee and fresh baked goods. I had entered a Cafe. More specifically the one Mara had owned and managed. Various customers sat around the room chatting and enjoying a morning coffee. The Cafe had several features that were reminiscent of a fifties milk bar. Swiveling stools stood upon a checkered vinyl floor. Vintage framed posters hung on lilac walls. A juke box was tucked away in the far corner of the room. I could hear soft jazz music emanating from its speakers, but I couldn't place the song.

Scott and Arden were sitting at the bar. Scott had a milkshake glass in his hand and was taking sips from it through a striped white and red straw. Arden was focused on a few sheets of paper, turning them and rifling through the information at her fingertips.

"Scott, we're on a case! We're not here to be enjoying cold glasses of shaken milk." Walter noticed Scott's drink.

"But Cap'n, they claim it to be the best in the city," Scott pointed to a sign displayed above the counter, confirming his statement.

"I don't care. You're not on break yet, so act appropriately."

"Understood, Captain." Scott ducked his head in submission.

"We found some files at Mara's apartment" Arden had turned on her stool, "It's inquiries into payments for her business loan. Apparently she was late on a few payments and her bank threatened to reclaim the property"

She handed a sheet to Walter, and another to me. I gazed over the ink markings on the paper.

"However, just last week she had paid the loan of $50000 off completely."

"She couldn't have just had that money lying around, she wouldn't need the loan," I stated "And there's no way this business would have accumulated that much in the short amount of time."

"What do you suppose happened?" Scott queried.

"It seems she's got help from an outside source. The 'mob' perhaps, it'd explain why she'd have people after her."

Everyone nodded, they all seemed to be on the same page as me.

"Did you find anything else at the apartment?" Walter spoke up.

"The door was unlocked when we arrived," Scott spoke up "The whole place was a mess. It appears someone was looking for something in there. Whether they found it or not is a different story."

"We also viewed the security cameras, we found a dark clothed man entering the apartment block and caught him again at Mara's apartment door, unlocking it." Arden quickly added.

"That could possibly be the same man who killed her. Walter and I had viewed the footage from the crime scene and we saw a dark clothed man. He took Mara's purse and retrieved something from it. Any chances it was her apartment key?"

"There's no doubt it's the same man, and it would only make sense that's what he took." Arden reassured me.

"Did you manage to get any defining features of this suspect?"

"Apart from his build, we got a rough face, the cameras didn't provide a clear image but we'll see what we can do with it."

"While we're here we'll have to break the news to the employees about Mara's death," Walter added "Also we should question them, see if they know something that would help the case."

We had all moved into the kitchen area of the shop. After showing our badges the staff members quickly let us past where we had the unfortunate task of informing these happy people of last night's tragedy.