Detective Joe Western is having problems at work. His drinking has increased which has been noticed by his partner Detective Gus Denver and also his family. Joe has been tackling his old demons.

Then a vehicle turns up in the river, on its side, with a man who possibly died of a heart attack. The man has a connection with the popular café ‘Dana’s Coffee’ which is in town. Later, two other dead bodies are also connected with this café and its owner Dana Evans.

With suspicion for the deaths firmly on Dana Evans, Joe believes that she may be innocent. Can Joe and Gus prove who has committed the murders? Can Joe confront his demons and give his testimony in court to ensure the conviction of the perpetrator?

 Here is a sample from the novel ‘Dana’s Coffee’.

 

Chapter 1.

Detective Joseph Michael Western, known as Joe, stepped into his office feeling worse for wear from the night before. He attempted a resemblance of smartness by wearing a shirt and tie. He slumped on the chair and looked forward at his in tray which had a heap of paperwork on it. No doubt when he booted up his computer and looked at his emails there would also be at least 50 more of those. The case work seemed never ending, from the misdemeanours to the major criminal cases. He had no one else to blame but himself, this was his career choice. This was the job that he wanted to do and no one had forced him into it. Circumstances had made him want to change his old job but this job, this career change was not normally what someone in his position would have chosen.

Beside his computer was a framed photo of himself with his family. His arm was wrapped round his wife Daphne and they were both standing up. In front of them sitting on chairs were their children Michael and Carrie. All members of the family had broad warm smiles on their faces as they looked into the camera. The best role he has in life is as a father. He is proud to have the children he has. Every day he would look at the picture to see his family smiling at him. He wished that was the reality. His wife still loved him but she was becoming more and more concerned with his drinking. His children, who could be said used to adore him, displayed a wariness about him. It was as if they were questioning what kind of a mood he would be in next. Joe is proud of his children and the type of people they are growing up to be. He is not fully aware of the effect that the drinking may be having on his relationship with them.

He had always been scholarly, influenced heavily by his mother who was a teacher and by his father who had been a lawyer. His father had a profound influence on him and encouraged him also to become a lawyer.  He was brought up to have etiquette and good manners. At school he was in the debating club and the basketball club and performed well in both. His love for the debating club paid off later in life as he argued his cases in the court. Putting forward a point of view and persuading the jury to his way of thinking appeared effortless for him. He was naturally gifted and intelligent and with paternal encouragement he took up the study of law.  He put in a lot of work and excelled as a student and through his practical training and internship. He believed as he had been taught by his father, that if you put in the work that anything is possible. He passed the bar exam with flying colours. He was a voracious reader of both law and non-law books and to this day he has bookcases full of books. His parents and friends would more often than not see him with a book or a textbook in his hand and knew that he was studying once more. With a friend he started his own firm called Western and Fuller which specialised in criminal defence law. He was a diligent and fearless lawyer and saw to it that many of his clients were acquitted. Then he would turn up to work smartly wearing a shirt and tie which was underneath a fine suit. He was formerly a criminal defence lawyer and a good one at that. He saw himself doing that for the majority of his career until he became topflight and then he could consider becoming a judge. The change was his decision and normally it would have been to criminal prosecutions. After years of having defended people and those whom some would have considered indefendable why not become a criminal prosecutor. Put those guys who had committed crimes behind bars. But in the end that was not for him. The change came so brutally that he wanted to stay out of the court as much as he could. He still wanted to play his part in putting away bad guys, but not by wearing a gown. He chose to join the police force as a detective. His working knowledge of the law helped him out immensely in all the training and the exams and he excelled in all subjects. He was in the top 10% of all of the students and could choose his district.

Now he is most moved when ardent criminals are brought to justice. As he was growing up he loved superheros such as superman and Spiderman and the idea of justice that was behind them. He hates criminals which is one of the reasons he takes his role as detective seriously. Normally he looks every inch the detective, however recently due to his drinking his appearance has altered. He is aware of his role as detective. He uses his knowledge of the practice of law as a strength for carrying out his role. Importance doesn’t matter to him, catching the criminal does. He needs to be given all the facilities possible to achieve his objective and for the most part this happens. He follows the chain of evidence to prove as much as he can that a person is guilty before he makes an arrest.  He is extremely practical when he carries out his job.

His role as a practicing lawyer was years ago and now just like any job he was stuck in the thick of it pushing on every day. He tried as best as he could at the job of being a detective.  He had to admit to himself that recently he was using alcohol more and more as a crutch. Not as bad as he used to. There were times when he went on benders which shocked his wife and family who had been unaccustomed to seeing him doing this as it was so out of character for him. He had sought counselling and was given therapy which helped settled his mind and put him on the wagon. Now he was off the wagon. The drinking was nowhere near as bad as it was but he was still doing it. His wife had noticed and spoken to him about it, but he swore to her that he had it under control. He would drink moderately but cutting back slightly and there would be no need to seek any more counselling.

His head thumped incessantly as he considered the amount of work he would get through this morning. He would need many cups of coffee to cope and push through. A lot of water would also be needed to hydrate him after the alcohol consumption the night before. It would definitely be a morning at least in the office just to catch up. In the afternoon he could go out to clear his head, perhaps gather some more evidence for the misdemeanours he was looking at.

Detective Angus Denver, known as Gus, the partner who shared a room with him arrived slightly later and in a lot better condition. He is clean living eats well and exercises well and does not drink or take drugs. His health is excellent for his age and he is in peak condition. Some other members of the police force have remarked on this and secretly would like to emulate him in this respect.

He took a look at Joe and could see that he had had another night fighting his old demons. He hoped that he was getting the better of them but wished that he could do it without the aid of alcohol. He could smell the strong alcohol on him and the vapours seemed to be rising from him. His partners face was becoming more putrid each day. If the partners needed to drive today at all and at any time he would be the one doing the driving.  He had not been drinking the night before and was bright eyed and bushy tailed as he looked forward to another day of cracking crimes and bringing the criminals to justice.

Gus had been in the police force for over 15 years and had spent many years working with the detective. He was brought up well by his mother and father who were fine upstanding people. His father had been a policeman and had encouraged Gus to join the force. He emulated his father and followed him into the force. He was brought up in a good family where his father was the bread maker and his mother was the homemaker. They lived comfortably as the father brought in a good wage as a police officer and never squandered any of it, ensuring that it all came home to his family. His mother was able to spend and save wisely as was necessary.  His father could be strict at times and his mother tended to be more caring. As an only child although the temptation was there on his mother’s side, he was never spoiled. He was never overprotected, but he never felt sheltered either.  He had a stable upbringing in a family that was full of love for one another. Gus knew that he was loved by both parents and that they each had a different way of showing it. His mother ensured that the house was looked after and that he was always cared for and never missed his schooling. Sometimes he would come home after playing outside dirty however his mother always ensured that he left the house clean.

He too learned the value of hard work and with a good head on his shoulders eventually left school with a reasonable education behind him. He graduated from school and then college before proudly joining the police force. He worked as a police officer before rising through the ranks with a lot of effort to become a detective.  He knows that he is educated and intelligent although admittedly he is not as smart as his partner. From his schooling he became book smart and from working on the streets as a police officer he became street smart. He learned how to predict and read people from their actions and behaviour. He tries to keep a balance between the both of these in his job.

As a team the detective partners blended well together and complemented each other. They had cracked many crimes together such as thefts, robberies, embezzlement, fraud, rapes, kidnapping and murder. The capital crimes and those that drew the stiffest punishments seemed to drive them on more, not that they didn’t put a lot of effort into the smaller crimes. Each crime was solved one a time and with a lot of effort on the detectives side.

The detective trusted the district attorney and his team. He knew that if he and his partner had gathered enough evidence and felt they had a winnable case then the district attorney would deliver in the court house. In the overwhelming majority of instances that had been the reality.

There were always those cases when no matter how much evidence you had, how much work you had done, how much overtime you had put in , that the results never came through. The district attorney and his team would play a blinder in court, yet still the case would unravel, the judge would not allow a certain piece of evidence or inexplicably the judge would rule in the defendants favour. Those were the days when you didn’t trust the justice system and just wanted to hide your head in the sand. Fortunately, those days were outnumbered by those where their defendant was convicted.

Right now there were no capital cases on the go and it was what they would call a slow day in the office. Indeed, a good one to catch up on the paperwork to make sure that all the files were prepared and ready to be passed on to the District Attorney.

They had a policy of keeping the door open and they would always hear the uniformed police walking by and saying hello or passing on what might be coming their way soon. The uniformed police was normally the way by which they would hear about the big crimes, the rapes or the bank robberies or the murders. Nothing like that today which should have been good. However the detective got restless when it became too quiet. Not that he wanted people being murdered all the time, but when those cases did come along, he and his partner had something to get their teeth stuck into. On those cases with the pressure on, it seemed that professionally they were at their best. His partner had the experience of being in uniform for many years and knowing how the streets work. He could bring his detective training and his legal training and experience to the fore.

 

Chapter 2.

Dana was born in the United States to a hardworking family. Her parents were restaurant owners and with their knowledge of business management and experience in the food industry they were quickly able to establish themselves. Dana learned the value of hard work from her parents and absorbed all the knowledge that went into running a restaurant. It was her ambition that one day she would own her own restaurant and run her own staff. Her parents had done so and so she should be able to accomplish the same.

She had a brother and sister who she was close to when she was growing up in America. When she started her family she moved away from her parents and siblings but she has always done her best to keep in touch with them. It goes without saying that she never misses sending them birthday cards and Christmas cards. She attributes her success to her parents.

As a child she was brought up well by her parents. She was taught to be hard working and to be respectful of others and especially her parents. She learned well at school and went on to take a diploma in business management. At school she related well to her teachers who had good words to say about her. This always helped at the end of year report cards which to her parents delight were always glowing with praise for her aptitude to learn and the fact that she was such a pleasure to teach. She got on well with the children of her own age as well as she was willing to help those who were struggling in any of the classes. Conversely if she was not on top of a subject the children would reciprocate by coming to her aid. In her own time she learned everything about making all sorts of coffees such as cappuccinos’, mochas, lattes, espressos, caramel lattes and other coffees which would sell well commercially. She realised that some customers who ate at her parent’s restaurant were particularly impressed by the choice of coffee available and the quality of it when it was served.

She is five feet eight which was the average height for her family and she is of average build with brunette hair and green eyes. She always spoke well and being in business for as long as she has been only served to improve her spoken communication. Her education and knowledge seems to shine when she communicated either verbally or in written form. Many people would say that her speech was advanced and that her range of vocabulary was broader than the average persons. Any one contracting with her felt as if they were doing business with a knowledgeable and confident person who would more than likely honour the terms of the deal being made. She certainly gave the impression that she knew what she was doing.

She met Larry Evans who was an electrician by trade and together they started a family. Over their many years together they have had two children Rita who is eighteen years old and at University studying engineering and Jake who is ten years old.

Outwardly she seems to be proud of her family and the accomplishments each of them have made in their lives. Along with Larry she ensured that the children were brought up well and attended good schools. Rita was an example of this and achieved grades which enabled her to study engineering at University. Rita could have studied in many faculties but her love of being practical meant that the engineering school would be a good fit for her.

 

Dana now has her own business which is very successful. She is competitive in life as she found out she had to be and she does not like it when people get in her way. She managed to show those people who seem to be determined that she should not succeed or those who don’t try as hard as they should. She likes being successful and that may come across to people as greedy and she has been referred to as money grabbing but that is in fact too simplistic and would not adequately describe the type of person she was. The success and the reputation meant more to her than the money which naturally came with both. She cares for her business and her employees. She realises that they have to put in the work but rewards them with bonuses and ensures that they all get their time off to avoid burnout.

With the internet she was able to do a lot of online searches into coffee. She was particularly interested in the roasting of coffee and it was her ambition one day to as well as having her own restaurant, that she would also roast her own coffee beans. She would spend hours on the internet looking at who grew the best coffee beans. Once she had settled on likely suppliers she would get in contact with them and arrange contracts for the supply of beans. She was necessarily looking for good quality beans as it had been her experience that these gave the best flavour. She would pay above the odds prices to obtain the best beans. The price negotiated would always be one which was fair for the supplier of the beans and for herself.

She is proud of being a restaurant owner, coffee roaster, barista and manager. She wants to excel on all those avenues and continuously develops herself in those areas. She will regularly attend conferences on coffee roasting and management to keep up to date in the latest trends. Her restaurant is normally the first or one of the first to experiment with the newest ideas. She knows that her success depends on being ahead of the other café and restaurant owners in the area. She is aware that this may have generated some envy within her industry.

 

Dana had chosen her staff well and as far as she was concerned they were all happy with the positions and the roles they had. Mandy was her main barista and also acted as the undermanager. She knew how the café ran and could easily fit in as the manager when Dana could not be there. Mandy is the most experienced worker. She has been fully trained by Dana. She knows how to make all the coffees, run the staff and run the shop. She has been involved in the running of the shop and of the staff for many years. She has learned all that she knows from Dana. Dana likes to know that her shop is running well and is making a profit and she can rely on Mandy for this.

Claire was a barista and also helped out with the waitressing whenever the café got busy which was mostly every day. Sadie was the waitress and she had also shown an interest in learning how to be a barista. In the slow times Claire and Mandy would take turns in teaching her how to make the various coffees and drinks. She was catching on fairly quickly and would soon be competent enough to make coffees unsupervised. Norris was the chef and he was rushed off his feet most days. His speciality was the chicken cordon bleu but there were no meals which really challenged him. He liked the fact that Dana enjoyed varying the menu and this kept him on his toes.

She had taken on an empty shell of a building and completely transformed it. The main supporting walls had stayed as they were. The separating walls made from wood and plaster board had been removed to give her the premise with a layout that suited her. She ensured that the manager, herself and sometimes Mandy had their own office had the back of the premise where the business could be run. Within this room were hard and soft copies of business documents. She was responsible for files, accounts, personnel files, applications, interviews, hiring and firing, leaving dos, using the safe, banking of money at the end of the day, Christmas functions, birthdays, databases, spreadsheets, making the rosters, holidays, public holidays and collections, to name a few items. There she kept a track on the commercial lease, gas usage, electricity usage, water usage, rates, wages to be paid, goods purchased, raw materials purchased, contracts with suppliers, and the employment contracts for the staff. She determined the opening hours. She determined the shifts such as the day shifts the night shifts, weekend shifts, Sunday shifts. She kept an eye on when staff should be paid at Normal time or Double time.

Next to the manager’s office was the staff room where people could change from their outdoor clothes into their working clothes. This had a fridge and microwave, a small cooker for making meals and a table where staff members could sit down for their break. There was a small toilet next to a shower where staff members could wash if they so desired. Staff members each had a lockable cupboard where they could keep their valuables while they were working their shifts.

Food safety was paramount for Dana and there had been no food poisoning outbreaks associated with the premise. She ensured that there was a flow of food within her café. Deliveries came in at the back door. Food was then stored in the frozen, chilled and dry storage areas. It was then brought to the kitchen where it was prepared and cooked by Norris. After the splendid meal was cooked Norris would pass the meal to the waitresses through the serving hatch. The waitress would then deliver the food in plenty of time to the delighted customers who would invariably be happy with his product. The empty plates would then be picked up by the waitresses and brought back to the kitchen. The leftovers were scraped off the plates and placed in the bin. Once the bag s of the inside bins were full these would be tied and taken to the back area and placed in the skip for collection once weekly.   Dirty plates would immediately be stacked in the washing machine for washing once the machine was full.

The café was modern in its outlook and Dana was pleased with the effect it had on the staff and on the customers. It was on the corner of the street and had doors to the front and the side of it for welcoming the customers in. The floor was made of wood and was highly varnished. One side of the café was mirrored which created reflections making the premise seem more spacious than it was. Cleanliness was important to Dana and she ensured that the floor, the mirrors, the silverware, the equipment and the rest of the premise demonstrated a high standard of cleanliness. Not only was it important for hygiene, but it was greatly appreciated by the customers. At the front near the serving counter was a polished silver handrail which reflected the light from above. Dana made good use of both natural light from outside and artificial light from large bulbs with silver shades which were in rows on the ceiling.

A busy café seemed to bring out the best in the staff and also attract more customers. Dana knew that if she satisfied the customers they would keep on coming to her premise and she was grateful for them. On the large menu at the front which was partly written in chalk and contained the specials for the days was written s special message for the customers. ‘The staff at Dana’s Coffee would like to thank all customers for their patronage. We wish you a happy thanksgiving day when it comes.’

Customers came into the shop for many different reasons. The smells and aromas from the café could be sensed from some distance from the premise. The aroma of cappuccino, hot chocolate, warm lasagne and other delicacies would waft outside to tempt the passers-by. Once inside the premise customers would be shown the menu on the table. The drinks menu offered among other drinks latte, cappuccino, flat white, black coffee, hot chocolate, white hot chocolate, caramel latte and mochas. Drinks could be ordered with regular, soy and almond milk. The menu was large and each meal would be described to make it as tempting as possible. In most instances there would be a photo of the mouth-watering meal beside the description. Dana had learned her trade well over the years from seeing her parents work and from her own experiences. Saying that she was always willing to learn and experiment in order to keep her customers satisfied.

She would also want to deliver on what they had described and shown the patrons. The meals themselves would be as large, as fresh, as scrumptious and as tasty as they had been described. Within her café very few meals had been returned to the chef. Customers were never kept waiting longer that they had to be. Even when the café was packed the meals would be delivered on time. Dana saw a forgotten meal as being unforgiveable and she had shown her staff how to be on their toes and to never forget a customer. The main reason that food would be left on the plate would be because there had been too much of it and Dana did not see this as a complaint.

 

Mandy took a large water jug and filled up the water tank of the coffee machine. She switched on the power to the machine and allowed it to warm up. As this was happening she poured newly roasted coffee beans into the large grinder. She switched on the power to this and listened to the discordant noise of the powerful grinding and watched the fall beans fall through the hole only to come out the other end ground. After these were ground they were collected in the porta filter which was to be inserted into the coffee maker. The ground coffee was levelled using the coffee tamper. Dana had taught her to do this precisely and that it was a pivotal point to making good quality coffee. Mandy ensured that the silver of the tamper could be seen above the top of the porta filter to ensure that there was an adequate amount of coffee. Once satisfied there was enough coffee and that this was level she inserted the porta filter into the coffee machine. She turned the handle ensuring that the porta filter was firmly on the machine and would not become loose whilst the hot water would later be passing through.

She switched on the button allowing the hot water to filter through the coffee. The coffee filtrate poured out slowly with the accompaniment of a lot of noise and was collected in the large disposable cup. Mandy always made sure that she wrote the name of the person who would be receiving the coffee on it, as Dana had taught her. This ensured that the correct customer received the correct order. Whilst the filtrate was being collected Mandy took some fresh cream milk from the fridge and half-filled a medium sized metal jug. She placed this under a steam nozzle of the coffee maker ensuring that the nozzle was well under the surface of the milk before she turned on the steam. As the steam poured through it frothed and heated up the milk. She held the jug at an angle which allowed the milk to be constantly heated and agitated. A thermometer was placed in the jug to ensure that the milk reached an optimum temperature, not too hot and not too cold. Once the milk had doubled in volume from being frothed she switched off the steam and removed the jug from underneath the nozzle. She swirled the milk in the jug and then moved the jug from side to side to create some more froth. She tapped the jug on the surface of the table to compress the froth.

With the milk and the coffee filtrate prepared it was now time to mix them both. Holding the disposable cup at an angle she poured the milk from the metal jug into it. The coffee mixed with the hot frothy milk to give a smooth all round consistency. She poured until the frothing coffee was slightly above the level of the cup. Its elasticity prevented it from spilling down the sides of the disposable cup. She finished off the product by sprinkling chocolate powder evenly on the top of the cappuccino. Pleased with her efforts she placed the cup on the counter for the customer to collect.

At the side of the counter were sugars, wooden sticks for stirring and plastic tops for covering the coffee to prevent spillage. The customer finished off her drink by adding some sugar stirring and placing a plastic lid with a hole at the rim for drinking firmly on top.

Mandy was on top of the hygiene and liked to keep the coffee maker as clean as possible. Taking a clean cloth she wiped the milk which had gathered on the steam nozzle as the milk was being frothed. She then removed the porta filter with a bit of effort from the coffee maker. This contained the used grind which she removed by hitting it hard against the bar of a collector. The used coffee fell out and would be added to frequently later on that day. Finally she wiped the silver perforated tray which had been underneath the disposable cup………………………

 

‘Dana’s Coffee’ a novel written by Alan Barr is available in eBook and paperback formats from Amazon.

Kind Regards

Alan Barr 

alanrove@hotmail.com