Dead Velvet Cake

by James, Emily

  We sat, and I leaned my head closer to Dan’s so Tina wouldn’t overhear. “We might not get anything out of this if Kaylani isn’t even here.”

  Dan’s nose bumped my cheek as he turned to speak into my ear in return. The contact sent a weird shiver down into my stomach.

  “Kaylani is the one I spoke to on the phone. She didn’t say she wouldn’t be the one meeting with us.”

  Tina came back toward us with a sheaf of papers tucked under her arm, a plate with goodies in one hand, and a glass of water in the other. She smiled again, and it was so natural that it made me think she was just a naturally smiley person rather than that she was wearing it as part of her uniform. “I hope you two don’t mind sharing.”

  Dan leaned closer as if he might kiss my cheek for show. I stiffened, and he stopped before he reached me.

  “Of course not,” he said, with a cheeky grin.

  Tina laid out all our options while Dan and I nibbled on the squares and tarts she’d brought us. Eating them felt wrong since we weren’t actually considering hiring Casa Bella Catering, but it wasn’t like she’d put them back in the display to sell now anyway. That’d be a health code violation.

  Dan ate a few items on the tasting plate too, but he didn’t touch the water. He didn’t know if I would, in fact, mind sharing a glass with him, so he must have decided to leave it for me. My throat closed slightly. It was such a small, thoughtful gesture.

  Once she finished, Dan looked over at me. That was my cue. We’d planned out our own version of good cop-bad cop.

  I scooted closer and linked my arm with his, holding his hand once again. Tina wouldn’t be able to see our hands under the table, but it was the only place I could really lay my palm other than on Dan’s thigh, and I wasn’t doing that. The warmth from his arm and hand already made me too aware of how close we sat.

  I gave him a look that said pretty please. “This looks perfect for an outdoor wedding.”

  His expression carried the perfect balance of uncertainty and desire to please.

  Watching him and knowing he’d worked undercover before his brother died and he adopted Janie, it was easy to see how good he must have been. He was good enough that he could have been an actor on screen or in an improv show.

  “Ed did tell me…” He trailed off and shot a fake surreptitious glance at Tina. “We should probably go home and discuss it before we make a decision.”

  We couldn’t be certain someone named Ed worked for Rigman & Associates, but with a company with multiple offices, it seemed like a safe bet. Besides, Rigman & Associates was too large for Tina to know everyone who worked there even if they had catered for them for years.

  “If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.” Tina’s tone carried the right amount of deference. She seemed to know better than to hard sell. There were a lot of bakeries and caterers in Lakeshore. Anyone who pushed too hard would likely lose the sale altogether.

  Dan sighed and angled to face her. “I’ll be honest with you. We were hoping to talk to Ms. Mitchell before making a decision. Is she here?”

  Tina’s body language stayed completely relaxed. If what Dan said insulted her at all, she didn’t show it. “Not today, unfortunately. She sprained her ankle last night, and the doctor told her that if she wanted to be able to work this summer she needed to stay off of it for two weeks minimum. But I promise that I can handle whatever you need. I’ve worked with Kaylani since she opened almost ten years ago.”

  At least we hadn’t gotten a new hire. Perhaps this visit wouldn’t be a waste after all. Tina should know why they’d given up the catering job with Rigman & Associates.

  Dan gave me that look that couples exchange when they’re checking in with each other. It meant something completely different to me than Tina would assume. I nodded.

  Dan leaned forward slightly as if about to make a confession. “Look. A buddy of mine works for an insurance company that’s hired you guys in the past. Izzy loves your food and wants to work with you, but he warned me that you left them in the lurch at the last minute. I was hoping to talk to Ms. Mitchell, so she could clear it up before we committed.”

  Something in the way Dan held himself and the way he’d changed the cadence of his speech from how he normally sounded made me think he was playing the role of a man who worked with his hands—a construction worker or a mechanic maybe. I couldn’t have pinpointed what it was, only that I’d have guessed one of those as his profession if I’d been asked. It made him seem down to earth, while at the same time seeming like someone who wasn’t going to tolerate her sidestepping his concerns. It made him seem like he couldn’t possibly be lying.

  Tina brought in a breath slowly and let it out. “Rigman and Associates, right?”

  Dan nodded.

  “That was a personal matter that wouldn’t ever happen again?”

  A lot of what Anthony Rigman did to other people could be called a personal matter. He’d been controlling and verbally abusive with Eve. He’d made the work environment so toxic for Harper that she felt her only option was to quit, and then out of spite he’d blocked her from getting another position.

  I could only imagine what personal matter could have pushed a caterer to quit a long-standing client. My mind immediately jumped to him raping her, and I prayed that wasn’t what had happened.

  I worked a concerned expression onto my face. My training ground had been different from Dan’s, but I was no amateur in play acting. “I’m in the same field. That could be considered personal reasons for cancelling on us too. I don’t know if we can take that risk.”

  I cast a longing look toward their display cases as if I hated to walk away from their food. Though, to be honest, I couldn’t remember what any of it tasted like. Either it hadn’t been memorable or I was too distracted, the way you could eat a whole bag of potato chips in front of the TV if you weren’t paying attention.

  Tina tugged on her earlobe. Her gaze shifted from me to the papers she’d brought over, then on to the plate where a single square sat. I could also see her trying to decide whether securing us as clients would be worth sharing the truth about what had happened.

  She gave her earlobe one final tug. “I’d like it if you kept this to yourself. I don’t know if you can get sued for libel or slander for a dead person or whatever, but I don’t want to risk it.”

  “Of course,” Dan said without any hesitation.

  Technically, we weren’t going to go advertising what she’d said. Depending on what we learned, though, she might be focusing the light of a criminal investigation on her boss.

  I cleared all that from my mind so it wouldn’t show on my face. Sometimes not thinking about what you were really feeling and thinking was the only way to keep up an act.

  Tina straightened the papers and nudged them a bit in my direction, almost as if she were subconsciously still hoping she wouldn’t have to tell us what had happened.

  “Kaylani was married to one of the owners of Rigman and Associates at the same time that he and his partner were launching their company. Kay basically supported him while he worked for free to get the company off the ground. Then as soon as he started getting successful, he left her.”

  Ouch. That was a great motive for murder if it’d happened recently, but Rigman & Associates had been around for years. Other than the national brands, they were the biggest insurance company in the area with three offices. Waiting this long to take her revenge didn’t make sense.

  Neither did the fact that she was catering for her ex-husband who’d treated her so badly. My confusion and disgust must have shown on my face. Tina nodded.

  “I know, right? Thankfully Kay’s brother was a divorce attorney. Unless Kay’s ex wanted to lose half of his half of the business, he had to agree to supporting her in some way while she launched her own business. Part of that was that Rigman and Associates would have to exclusively use her business for catering for as long as she wanted.”

  Financially that would
have been beneficial. Most new businesses failed within the first year. Having a built-in major client, with all the ancillary business that would generate from their employees experiencing her food, would have almost guaranteed her business took off.

  “So she decided she no longer needed their business?” I asked.

  Tina shook her head. “Not exactly. Anthony, her ex, did the whole letter of the law but not the spirit thing. Every time we had to work for him, he made it a miserable experience. Kay couldn’t take it anymore.” Tina rolled her eyes. “Too bad we didn’t know someone was going to kill him. With him gone, we would have gladly kept the contract with Rigman and Associates.”

  A heavy weight settled on my shoulders. That was the opposite of what I wanted to hear. No one would believe Kaylani Mitchell would have cancelled her contract with Rigman & Associates and then killed Anthony. It didn’t benefit her. If she’d killed him, she would have kept the contract, knowing that her working experience was about to greatly improve with him gone.

  Something could have happened after she quit the contract to make her snap, but it’d be a hard sell to the district attorney, let alone to a jury.

  Dan got to his feet. “Thanks for sharing that. Izzy and I will talk it over, but that helped a lot.”

  “Oh.” A frown slid across Tina’s face, but she quickly replaced it with a smile. “Yes. You know how to reach me. I wouldn’t wait long, though. Summer is the busiest season for weddings, and we book a year in advance so if you want us to cater for next summer, now’s the time.”

  I gave the regular assurances that we’d contact her as soon as we could, slid my arm through Dan’s as if that were the most natural thing in the world, and let him lead me out the door.

  I didn’t say anything until he’d helped me back into the car and climbed into the driver’s seat himself.

  Once he pulled away from the curb, I drooped my head back against the head rest. “Detective Strobel won’t consider her, will he.” It was more of a statement than a question. I knew the answer, but I couldn’t give up hope until I heard Dan confirm my suspicions.

  “She doesn’t seem like a likely enough suspect. Especially not compared to Eve.”

  “You keep saying that, but you can’t give me any proof that I shouldn’t trust her.”

  The words were out before I could stop them. My body instinctively shrank away from him, close to the door. My heartrate jumped like I was out after dark alone and caught motion in my peripheral vision.

  Dan’s gaze stayed on the road. “You know I can’t. There’s only so far I can push the lines.”

  He sounded factual, not angry. Not even annoyed.

  The pounding of my blood in my head eased. Dan wasn’t the kind of man who’d get angry with me because I lost my patience or defended my friend. Intellectually I’d known that, but something inside me gave a little seeing it again.

  I forced my body to relax. “I know,” I said softly. “And I wouldn’t want you to.”

  His gaze slid to me and away again. “I’ve seen the evidence. It speaks to a pattern. If it were my case, I would suspect her too.”

  In other words, he’d been helping me investigate this case not because he believed Eve was innocent the way I did. He’d been helping me because it was important to me and because he wanted to be sure I was safe.

  I didn’t know how to feel about that.

  16

  Standing in the Rigman & Associates lobby, waiting for the receptionist to retrieve my check, I couldn’t get Dan’s words out of my head.

  If it were my case, I would suspect her too.

  I didn’t trust a lot of people, but I did trust Dan. Not just as a human being. I trusted his investigative skills and instincts. Beyond that, he was objective about this case. His suspicions about Eve weren’t because he wanted a quick solve to the case—though detectives always wanted to solve cases as quickly as possible.

  Dan had seemed genuinely concerned when he’d asked me to be careful about Eve. He said there was evidence.

  The receptionist returned and passed me my check. “I missed the barbecue, but I heard the food was amazing. I hope you’ll be doing our Christmas party too.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. If the majority of employees had enjoyed my food, maybe they would hire me again for Christmas and then for next year’s annual barbecue. Eve might have just handed me a long-term business relationship. The only other situation I had that fit was the Friday cupcake tray I delivered to a business that had concerns about nuts. If I could get a few more repeat customers who were businesses, I wouldn’t feel so pressured about money and getting the best spots for the lunchtime rush.

  Had I thanked her? I didn’t think I had. I’d been so hesitant about it at first because I wasn’t sure why the other caterer quit, and then I’d been looking at it from the perspective of finding other suspects for Anthony’s murder. I should thank her. At least part of her reasons for getting me the job had been to help me.

  The receptionist’s smile faded slightly, and her eyebrows arched up in a question. How long had I been standing there, staring into space?

  “Eve Tudor is a friend of mine. I thought I’d pop in and say hi. Can you point me in the direction of her office?”

  “Sure thing.”

  She must have assumed my mental lapse was me deciding whether to bother Eve at work. She led me past the offices where agents were speaking with potential customers. Their doors were glass, but shut for confidentiality.

  I knew we’d reached the non-insurance agent staff when the glass doors turned to solid doors.

  The receptionist knocked on the doorframe beside an open door. “You have a visitor.”

  “Ooo, you know I love guests.” Eve’s voice was bubbly. “Any excuse to take a break.”

  The receptionist motioned me in. “Don’t let her silliness fool you. She’s one of the hardest working people here.”

  I gave her an I’m-in-on-the-secret smile and headed in.

  Eve came forward with her arms held in a way that made me think she planned to hug me. I stiffened before I could stop myself. It wasn’t that I had a problem being touched per se. Janie hugged me all the time, and I’d gotten used to being touched by Dan. If I were being honest, before Dan took me in as a quasi-family member, I’d missed being touched.

  I just needed to be prepared for it, so I could remind my body that normal touch didn’t hurt.

  Eve stopped partway to me as if she’d spotted my hesitancy. “Is everything okay?”

  Something in her voice made me think that she was worried I’d learned something negative about Anthony’s murder investigation. As if she were scared of what I might have found.

  If she were innocent, would she be frightened of what I might have uncovered?

  I was innocent, and I was frightened. I was frightened of what Detective Strobel might uncover about who I was. I was also frightened because I actually had something to hide.

  So she could be frightened that she’d go to prison for something she didn’t do if enough evidence piled up against her. Or she could be frightened because she had done it, and she was worried I’d uncovered something that would help prove her guilt. I had no way of knowing which.

  “I came to pick up the rest of my payment.”

  I stupidly held up my check as if she would need proof that’s why I came. That was definitely my own guilt showing through. Shouldn’t I believe her? Shouldn’t her word have been enough for me when she said she hadn’t killed Anthony? It felt like it should if we were truly friends. But that was the rub. If she were guilty, we weren’t really friends at all.

  But if she was innocent, and we were friends, I didn’t want her to think I was ungrateful for the opportunity she’d given me. “And I wanted to thank you for getting me the job in the first place.”

  Eve’s entire face seemed to lift, from the corners of her lips to her eyebrows. “We should be thanking you for taking the job. No way were we going to find food that go
od anywhere else.”

  The compliment should have sent a warm tingle over my skin. Instead, I somehow felt like I was about to kick a puppy.

  That said, if I was going to keep defending her to Dan, and if I was going to keep asking him to help me dig into this case at the risk of a reprimand from his superior officer, I needed to first be sure she’d told me the truth.

  I peeked back out into the hallway. For the moment, no one was nearby. “I did find out a couple of things about the case.”

  Eve practically bounced on her toes. “A new suspect.” She lowered down and stilled for a minute. “I know I shouldn’t hope one of my co-workers killed Anthony, but it’s better than me going to prison for something I didn’t do.”

  There’s your opening, Isabel, I prodded myself. You have to be brave and take it or you’re always going to wonder.

  Fear was silent in my head for a change. He must agree with my more rational side for once. To be Eve’s friend going forward, I had to feel safe around her.

  “Not exactly.” My mouth felt like I’d eaten sand. “You’re the main suspect because of some evidence they have against you. I don’t know details, but I heard Anthony’s death fits into a pattern.”

  Eve’s face went white, and then two spots of red flared in her cheeks. “Are you kidding me?”

  Her voice did a funny high-pitched squeak on the me. Her hands fluttered up like she was going to cover her mouth, then down again. Finally, she clasped them tight in front of her, her fingers a tangled mess.

  “That was…that shouldn’t even…” She stopped as if she didn’t know how to finish any of what she’d started.

  Her response could indicate guilt or it could indicate that she was afraid something innocent would be used against her. I didn’t know her well enough to know which.

  And I was too far in to let it drop. I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else every time I saw her or talked to her.

  “What are they talking about?” I kept my voice low and non-threatening.

  The look she shot me felt like a slap.

  “Knock knock.” A man’s voice said from the doorway. “Everything alright in here? I thought someone sounded upset, and you know we have a No Tolerance policy.”