“Hey now Jim, I paid last time. It's your turn.” the wrinkled faces of two antiquated men glared at each other. “No Paul i got yesterdays you got fridays” the men stood together scratching their heads for an answer. This was the same song and dance that happened every day at the squeezed bean coffee company.

“Hey guys, why don't I just put it on a tab and you work it out in a while?” Kevin stood with his hands hovered above the register ready to input their order. His evenings and weekends had become the same thing every day since he started here. The old residents of Lamplight come in for the same order every time.

“So two americanos double shot extra strong?” Kevin took pride in learning the orders and names of all the patrons of the shop. They were the only one in town so naturally became a meeting spot for the residents of the small community.

Mrs Mckenzie still held her super spy meetings here regularly. Although stealth and subtlety was obviously not taught at their academy as they would air everyone's business for the whole shop to hear. They sometimes openly spoke of people that were sat metres away.

“How do you remember our orders all the time? I can't remember where I parked my car and I only just got out of it.” Jim and Paul Goodfellow laughed heartily at Paul's comment. The brothers had been coming to this coffee shop since before Kevin was born. They had practically become town celebrities for always being side by side in the same window seat of the shop every day.

They shuffled over to their regular perch and slowly descended into their well worn seats. They eagerly awaited as Kevin loaded the machine with freshly crushed coffee beans. The smell of the beans had permanently secured itself inside his nose and clinged to his clothes. Liv sat perched on the edge of the counter swinging her pale legs back and forth.

“Hey, what does coffee taste like?” she looked with curiosity at the bags of beans lined on the shelf behind the counter. Kevin couldn't answer her; he couldn't be seen having a one sided conversation with nothing here. “What does anything taste like?” she sighed in deep sadness as kevin reached through her to grab some caramel syrup.

She shot him an annoyed glance as his arm passed back through her. “I know you can't talk to me right now but that was just rude.” She jumped down from the counter in a huff and walked towards the two brothers sitting at the window. “These guys must love it. It would be nice to sit with them. I bet they have tons of stories.”

Her sad eyes were taken away by the arrival of a familiar crown victoria cruiser outside. “Uh oh.” she turned to face the counter holding a concerned look on her face. Officer Williams stepped out of his cruiser and adjusted his belt. He made a call on his radio and made for the front door of the coffee shop.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Good morning Officer! My brother done wrong again?” Jim chuckled after his words. “Not this time Mr Goodfellow. He been behaving himself to my surprise” Paul smacked his brother's arm and chuckled with him. The Officer's gaze shifted to Kevin and then to the many patrons of the shop. Mrs Mckenzie and her super spies perked up their ears.

Officer Williams came close to the counter and spoke softly “Hey junior I'm sorry to bother you at work but it's a work thing for me. There somewhere we can talk in private?” Kevin’s heart sank. The Officer carried a serious tone and a look to match. The hand of the store owner Mr McCarthy touched Kevin’s shoulder “you can use the walk in out back.”

Stood amongst shelves of cakes and milk Kevin and the Officer were crammed into the small walk in fridge at the rear of the building. Kevin leaned against the frigid metal back wall. The Officer grabbed a stool and sat. his large frame on such a comically small stool drew a laugh from Liv.

“Junior, I need to talk to you about your old coach Mr Anderson.” Kevin’s eyes went dead as an unnatural calm flowed through him. “I've seen him around school but you know that I quit playing when I was like 12” The Officer sighed and ran his hands down his face. His features slowly rose up as he looked Kevin in the eye.

“Did he ever?” the Officer cleared his throat to dissipate his shaking voice. “Did he ever do anything to you or make you do anything unusual?” Kevin held back a sigh of relief. “You mean like sexual stuff? Some of the kids at school had spread rumours about it.” the Officer raised his eyebrows to Kevin gesturing to him for an answer.

“No. he never did. Did you guys find something?” the Officer let out a long breath of relief as he brushed his palms on his slacks. “Dammit you’re 17 I'll tell you.” The Officer stood up and leaned on one of the metal racks. “He's dead junior. We found him at his home after his brother called in a welfare check on him. He had been dead a couple days.”

Kevin feigned a surprised look “Jesus what happened?” The Officer sighed and removed his hat “We found most of him on his living room floor. Looks like someone pushed him off his landing. That aint the most messed up part.” Liv laughed knowing that their work had been discovered. Kevin hid a smirk.

“What do you mean most of him?” Kevin hid a sinister smile. He already knew the answer. “Whoever pushed him off took a cleaver from his kitchen and used it to remove his head. It was on his bed next to a duffle bag full of pictures of kids. I recognised a lot of them from your class and the baseball team. We found a warning carved into the ceiling.”

The Officer pulled out his police issued camera phone and showed Kevin a picture of his handiwork on the ceiling. Inside he was proud of the fear he had struck into Mr Anderson before taking his life. “Whoever did it wore gloves and left no DNA. slippery bastard. We got nothin.” The officer turned to walk out of the fridge.

“I just needed to know that nothing happened to you. I thought that might of been why you stopped playing.” he put his hat back on his clean shaven head and Kevin followed him out. The Officer turned suddenly and hugged Kevin tightly. In his surprise Kevin instinctually hugged him back. In a brief moment he felt safe from the world. “You’re my boy alright? Don't care what anyone says.”

“So what he do Officer? Don't take him away, I like the boys' coffee!” Paul announced their return to the front of the coffee shop. “Nothing to worry about Mr Goodfellow. I wont take away your favourite barista.” The officer adjusted his belt and tipped his hat. “You all have a pleasant day now.” The clientele of the shop all said their goodbyes to the Officer.

Kevin waved and smiled as the Officer pulled away. Liv stood next to him and leaned into his ear to whisper. “I guess they haven't found any of the others yet.” Kevin's false smile faded away as he turned to take the next patrons order.

“Why hello young Kevin. I'm looking forward to our session tomorrow.”