Page 22 of Exposé

If I left now, I’ll get to the shop when it opens…

Puffing out my cheeks, I tucked my laptop into my bag and looped it on my shoulder, nabbed my keys out of the damned fruit bowl, and headed out the door.

Crickets picked up their songs again, undisturbed by the morning’s chaos, while city lights bled into the sky, swallowing the stars and holding the night in place. I unlocked my car and sunk into my seat, keeping a close eye on anything moving outside, my ponytail swaying side-to-side as I buckled, then pulled out of my space.

Lidia Faulkner, the news host for the Saturday morning news, filtered out of the car speakers, my tires humming down the darkened two-lane road, void of anyone and everyone at this forsaken hour.

A robbery gone wrong, left one dead and another wounded, and we're expecting a slight drizzle of rain this week.

Joy.

Why can't we have good news for once?

I pulled into the small parking space next to Arise Coffee and made my way inside, my laptop bag in tow and a hankering for coffee better than anything my old coffee pot could ever make.

The little white building boasted colorful signs on the glass and petunias in the window boxes, which were always vibrant and growing.

I opened the door, and a small bell chimed overhead.

"Good morning," Reagan hollered over her shoulder as she worked on someone's drink.

The robust toasted coffee beans filled the space around me, sending a zing of energy straight to my toes and washing away whatever sleepiness remained.

Small round tables sat in a huddle square separated by a white quarter wall with succulents planted on top.

Against the far wall, with a coffee sign hanging above, was a bar with three rounded seats.

Reagan turned and gave the young woman her coffee before dashing her gaze towards me.

"Let me guess…" She looked up at the chalk-covered menu hanging above the espresso machine. "You want a blueberry muffin and a caramel macchiato?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Not today. I need something a little stronger."

"Shots?"

"Reagan, who do you think I am?" I placed my bag on the table in the corner—the perfect spot to watch the crowd on the streetandprotect my privacy from whatever I had on my screen. "Of course I want two shots…"

I made my way to the front as Reagan went to work on a double shot espresso. "Long day already?"

Scoffing, I leaned on the counter. "I should be sleeping right now." I bunched my fists into my cheeks and leveraged them to keep my head up. "I'm running on fumes here."

I winced as the coffee grinder eviscerated the beans.

"I hear ya. My baby kept me up, and I had to come in earlier than normal to prep." She pressed the ground coffee and locked it into the machine when the door chimed.

A tall man strolled through the door wearing an expensive suit and tie, the material far more luxurious for my appetite.

"I'll be right with you."

"I'm gonna sit down and get to work." Reaching into my pocket, I slid a ten towards the register. "Keep the change."

"Thanks, Ava."

I skirted around the man staring at the sign above Reagan's head and took my seat in the corner I'd discovered during my first year at the paper. It’d been mine ever since.

Reagan had joked, six months in, about putting a VIP section in this spot, and only I would hold the membership.

Firing up my computer, I searched LexisNexis for anything pertaining to the new drug.

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