Read Online Murder on the Rocks by Allyson K. Abbott - Free Book Online Page B

workbench that spanned nearly half of one wall. The emotional
     toll of going through his things was something I hadn’t felt ready to tackle yet.
     I avoided the workbench whenever I came down here, rarely even looking at it. I preferred
     to leave it exactly the way it was on the day my father died, every tool, every scrap
     of wood right where he left it.
    Looking at it now, however, it was obvious that things had been moved and disturbed.
     A fine patina of dust had accumulated on the table, and it created outlines of some
     of the tools that had been moved. Apparently the police and crime scene techs had
     been down here while conducting their search and evidence collection, though they
     had been more careful here than they were upstairs, returning each item to almost
     the same exact spot each time. I examined the tools hanging on the pegboard and those
     spread out over the table top to see if anything was missing, but near as I could
     tell nothing had been taken. While that was some consolation, the workbench area had
     been something of a shrine for me, and seeing it disturbed brought tears to my eyes.
    Eager to escape the emotional cues in the cellar, I focused on the task at hand, loading
     my milk crate with bottled beers and hauling them upstairs. I felt flushed and a little
     winded by the time I made it back to the bar, and when I found Duncan Albright there
     watching me, my flush inexplicably spread, leaving me with a hot, prickling sensation
     over my entire body. I wasn’t sure if this was a new type of synesthetic experience,
     or something else entirely.
    Either Duncan had gone home or he kept a change of clothes in his car because he had
     ditched his suit in favor of khaki pants and a collared pullover shirt. He had a cup
     of coffee in one hand and he waved the other in front of himself. “I hope this will
     pass for bartender wear.”
    “It’s fine,” I said, setting the crate on the floor and moving beers from it to the
     cooler.
    He held up the coffee cup. “My fellow cops and I, and our crime scene techs, are quite
     taken with your coffee. Bars aren’t typically known for their coffee, unless it’s
     in a bad way. Most places have stuff that tastes like battery acid. What’s your secret?”
    “I’m something of a coffee junkie so I like to have some decent stuff available all
     day. Plus it helps to have some on hand if I need to sober up one of my customers.
     I make my own blend using beans from a coffee shop a few blocks over and I grind them
     fresh every morning. It’s a mix of Ethiopian, Guatemalan, and a mild Arabica, but
     my secret ingredient is a pinch of salt used to brew each pot. It takes out the bitterness.
     Do you drink battery acid often?”
    My question momentarily stumped him but after a few seconds he caught on, winked,
     and smiled at me. “Only when I’m grilling suspects. It makes me meaner.”
    I finished loading the beers into the cooler and walked the crate back into the kitchen,
     setting it in a corner. When I came back out, Duncan was standing in front of the
     liquor bottles lined up along the back bar, staring at them.
    “It’s all rather overwhelming,” he said.
    “It seems so at first, but it’s not that bad. And I have a cheater for you.” I reached
     under the bar, grabbed my bartender’s bible, and handed it to him. “Even I have to
     look drinks up from time to time.”
    Albright set down his coffee and flipped through the book, looking intimidated.
    “Tell you what,” I said, taking it from him and returning it to its hiding place beneath
     the bar. “Let’s start out with the basics and we’ll move up from there. For tonight
     you can just follow me around and watch what I do. You’ll be surprised how fast you’ll
     get the hang of it. The easiest drinks, like your basic booze and mixers, you’ll be
     doing before the night is out. But there is one drink you should learn by tomorrow
     because it’s my signature drink and very