Levi and Jeanna worked to push the tables together, then sat down in the seats closest to the door.
Tippi, who loved to flirt with everyone, pressed her fingertips against her chest, drawing attention to her v-neck t-shirt. She leaned in and asked, “Are we in danger?”
Levi and Jeanna both glanced over, their eyes lingering. I tried not to snicker, but it wasn’t easy. Tippi had a great body and excellent breasts. I couldn’t blame them for looking.
Jordy brought a tray of drinks to the table, his smile never wavering. “One frozen chai latte for Nora, a mocha Frappuccino for m’lady, a double-shot espresso caramel macchiato for the artist, and two Americanos for the cops: one black with four sugars, the other with cream, no sugar.” He handed out the beverages with a flourish. “Is everyone good?”
“Perfect for me,” I said, inhaling the spicy aroma with a contented sigh. “Heaven.”
“Thanks, Jordy,” Jeanna said, her eyes lighting up as she took the Americano with heavy cream and no sugar. Levi accepted the other one with a nod.
“So,” Tippi said eagerly. “Tell us what’s going on. Pippa said the bomb at the church wasn’t a real bomb. What the heck was it then? The smell was disgusting. It took me five washes to get the odor out of my hair.”
I glanced a Jeanna for permission, and she shrugged. “It’s not a secret. The mayor’s planning to tell the whole town in about...” She looked at the digital clock behind the coffee bar. “...ten minutes.”
“Oh, good.” Tippi rubbed her hands together. “We’re getting the scoop early.”
“It was a homemade stink bomb.” I fanned my hand in front of my nose. “Apparently, if you add sulfur powder with sugar and ignite it with gunpowder, it creates a disgustingly putrid gas.”
“Sulfur dioxide,” Jeanna said. “That’s the gas it makes, and it stinks to high heaven.”
“So we weren’t in any real danger,” Pippa mused.
“That’s not the case,” Levi jumped in. “If you inhale a large concentration of sulfur dioxide, it’s toxic, plus, when the bomb went off, shrapnel from the container was embedded in the walls. That could have seriously injured someone.”
Tippi drew her finger in a circle on the table in front of Levi. “You’re a seriously serious person, aren’t you, Officer Walters?”
I almost choked on my frozen chai when I laughed while trying to take a sip. The bomb might not have killed anyone, but Tippi’s flirting might.
Levi shifted in his chair, his expression waffling between flattered and scared. I didn’t blame him. Tippi was beautiful, like her sister, but she was also headstrong and fierce as well. I imagined any guy who ended up with her would have to accept that she was the boss of them.
“Anyhow,” I said, rescuing Levi. “To summarize, it was a stink bomb, but not the harmless kind you find in a joke shop.”
“Who in the world would have those chemicals on hand? I mean, if someone put in a big order, wouldn’t they be easy to trace?” Pippa asked.
“Pharmacy companies, demolition experts, farms, manufacturers, labs, and gold miners,” Levi rattled off.
“Gold miners?” Pippa asked. “What would they use it for?”
“I’m not an expert,” Levi said. “Just good at Googling. From what I skimmed, it can clean and purify the gold.”
“They used to use mercury,” I added. “To clean gold, I mean.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Tippi commented.
“No more dangerous than the acids,” he replied. There was a glint in his eye that I interpreted as interest. Maybe Officer Walters didn’t need nor want to be saved.
Good for him, and good for Tippi. Levi, from what I knew, was a decent enough man, and after three years of sobriety, Tippi was more than ready for dating.
“Burt Adler,” Pippa exclaimed. “He was a pharmacist. What if it’s someone who is getting revenge for him?”
“Not pharmacist,” Levi corrected. “The pharmaceutical companies. The ones who make the drugs. And, while Burt was pushing drugs through his business, he wasn’t making them.”
“Since there isn’t a farm anywhere near Garden Cove, we can rule that out,” Jordy said as he came back with a pot of coffee and topped off Jeanna and Levi’s cups.
I wanted to shout to the room, “They have a suspect! We can quit guessing!” but I’d promised Jeanna I’d keep my trap shut.
Jeanna put her phone on the table. “The Gazette is going live with the mayor’s speech now. Do we want to watch?”
