Read Online Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse (A Cape Bay Cafe Mystery Book 1) by Harper Lin - Free Book Online

you want to.” I tried to read his expression, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if he would be mad at me for wanting to investigate his dad’s murder or interested in working with me. I suddenly felt that this may have been a very bad idea.
    After what seemed like an eternity, Matty shrugged. “Can’t hurt.”
    Relief flooded me, and I smiled. “Great!”
    “So what did you want to know?”
    “Well, I’ve already written down everything I remember from that day. I know Mike asked you this that day, but what I really want to know is, now that we know your dad was—I mean, how he died—I was wondering if you can think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt your dad.”
    Matty sighed and adjusted his position in his chair. “You’re looking for suspects, huh?”
    “Uh, I, uh, um—”
    A half smile crept across Matty’s face. “You can say yes. I’m not the police. I don’t care who finds out who murdered my dad, as long as someone does and the guy—or girl, I guess—goes to jail. If you asking some questions gets things done faster, ask away.”
    I exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and smiled. “So can you think of anyone?”
    Matty tipped his head toward the ceiling in thought. He let out a long breath. “Well, you know how Dad was.”
    I noticed that he’d gotten used to using the past tense in reference to his dad. It was an inevitable part of the grieving process, an important part actually, but in a way, it was still sad, as if he was finally giving up his dad.
    “He thought everybody was out to get him.” Matty laughed softly. “I guess there actually was at least one person who was.” He shook his head. “Anyway, the conspiracies against him were mostly all in his head, but that didn’t mean he didn’t make enemies. It was almost a talent of his. I’ve never met anybody who could hold a grudge like him—and against so many people too. You know how there’s that new haircut place down the street?” He pointed down Main Street toward the beach.
    I nodded. It wasn’t really new, but it was new to us. It had probably been there about ten years or so.
    “Half the men in town go there now. Not because they prefer it to my dad’s place but because he banned them. If somebody said they didn’t like their haircut, banned. If they complained about having to wait, banned. If they didn’t tip enough, banned. Half the time, they didn’t even know until they showed up for their next haircut and he started waving his comb at them, telling them to get out and they weren’t welcome. I think some of the guys don’t even know why they were banned.” He chuckled. “You know, I think one time he actually kicked out the wrong guy. It was the guy’s brother or something. He kicked him out then realized later it was the wrong guy, but he’d never admit he was wrong about something like that, so both brothers were banned.”
    “That’s pretty hardcore,” I said.
    “Yeah, Dad didn’t back down.” His face lit up, and he leaned across the table toward me. His eyes were sparkling. “One time, and I shouldn’t laugh about this, but”—he laughed—“right in the middle of his haircut, some guy said something bad about the Sox—this was back before they’d won the World Series—he said something about they sucked and they’d never win and the Yankees were so much better. Dad just took his clippers and shaved right down the middle of the guy’s head. I guess he wasn’t looking in the mirror, so Dad kept going and shaved the guy’s whole damn head before he realized what was going on. Oh my God, the guy stormed out, swearing at my dad. When Dad came home and told me about it, he didn’t even care that the guy didn’t pay—he was just so happy about shaving his head.”
    I giggled as I pictured the scene. My grandparents had emphasized customer service, so I couldn’t imagine treating a customer like that, but it was funny to think about. I was enjoying the story so