David’s eyes narrowed as he rolled her words over in his mind. “No, I did not consider that. That is, Detective Richards didn’t consider that. So I can’t be blamed here.”
“Well”—Amie sighed—“now wereallyneed to figure out who killed her, before your bad Southern accent gets you back on the police’s radar.”
David rubbed a hand over his eyes, nodding in silent agreement. Then: “Hang on. Was I doing a Southern accent?”
Chapter ZeroIceland
Three months before the time loop began
Eons was short-staffed, and the line for the cash register showed it. Madeline had joined the ranks behind the counter to make up for the missing manpower. Even worse, the café’s AC was broken, and the industrial fan that had been placed near the doorway was doing little to appease the sweating patrons impatiently waiting for their iced coffees.
“This isn’t worth the wait,” David complained, wiping sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his T-shirt. “A five-dollar iced tea isn’t worth heatstroke. Actually, now that I think about it, a five-dollar iced tea isn’t worth it, period.”
“I told Ziya I’d get those brownies she likes,” Amie said, attempting to fan herself with a napkin she’d grabbed on her way in. “And we’ve already been waiting for ten minutes. We can’t give up now.”
“Sure I can. Easily. Observe.” David stepped out of line and began walking to the door, then pivoted 180 degrees as it opened.
Rejoining Amie in line, he said, “Never mind. Evil forces are preventing my escape.”
Amie peered around him to see Savannah beelining it to the pickup counter, Raina following close behind.
“Are you still mad that she stole your balloons?” Amie asked.
David huffed. “It’s not just the balloons,” he explained. “It’s that she had the gall to pretend it was an innocent mistake when she’s a notorious package thief. That’d be like Al Capone going, ‘Whoops. Didn’t know that guy was going todiewhen we shot him with machine guns.’ We all know what you thought, Al!”
“You’re being dramatic.” They both shuffled forward with the line. “She’s notthatbad.”
“Hmph.” David glanced over his shoulder, jerking a thumb in the direction of the pickup counter. “Then why is she picking a fight with the barista right now?”
Savannah’s voice was steadily rising above the ambient cafénoises as the two looked over.
“—put in the orderhoursago. I have twenty people arriving in an hour for a book club, and you’re saying you don’t have a single chocolate croissant?”
The barista held out their hands helplessly. “We didn’t do chocolate croissants today,” they explained. “When you called earlier, I told you—”
“You told me you could make it work,” Savannah said accusingly, pointing a finger.
“I said we had a variety of other baked goods for you to choose from. And we still do. If you’d like to come look—”
“This is ridiculous!” Savannah exclaimed, looking to Raina for validation. The younger woman, who had Styrofoam trays of drinks in both hands, shrugged uncomfortably.
“We can just get something else for the book club,” she suggested.
“But I orderedchocolate croissants.”
“Jess, can you cover the register?” Madeline exchanged places with the barista as she gave Savannah a tight smile. “Savannah.”
“Madeline. Your employee’s incompetence has ruined my book club.”
“I’m sure we can still make things right. Can I interest you in—”
“Hi, what can I get you?”
Amie’s attention was pulled away as she and David arrived at the front of the line. Jess was waiting for her response, their shoulders still visibly tensed from interacting with Savannah.
“Oh, hi, um …” Amie pointed at the glass display case. “Four of those brownies, please—actually, five, let’s do five. And an unsweetened iced tea.”
She braced herself for David to protest her buying his drink, and was surprised when she received no response. Turning, she saw her neighbor heading over to the pickup counter, his shoulders set determinedly.
