A Food and Wine Club Mystery Boxset Books 1 through 5

by Cat Chandler

  Suzanne took out her cell phone and tapped on the screen. “I’ll put her down as a ‘possible’ and check back with her later.” She set her phone aside and picked up a folder she’d laid on the counter. “I also came by to give you this.”

  “What is it?”

  “With helping out at the diner and then having to arrange the memorial, I haven’t had time to finish the planning for the cooking courses. Now I have done most of it, so don’t panic.”

  “Why would I panic?” Nicki didn’t like where this conversation was headed. It seemed to be a day for bad news.

  “I have the whole checklist right here on the front,” Suzanne went on as if Nicki hadn’t said a word. She pushed the folder over toward Nicki. “Just go right down the list and you’ll be fine.”

  Nicki looked at the multiple-page list attached to the front of the folder and did exactly what Suzanne had told her not to do — panic. She had a blog and a novel she was behind on, and if she didn’t get those outstanding articles finished for Food & Wine Online, she wouldn’t be able to pay her rent, much less buy a new car. She didn’t have time for this. She really didn’t.

  “Suzanne, I can’t…”

  The middle-aged blond gave her a sunny smile. “I know we all agreed that you wouldn’t have to do any of the planning, but that was before bodies started to pile up all over the place.”

  “One body, Suzanne. It was one body.”

  “Yes, well. Things have changed. I’m needed at the diner every day or Jake would be lost.” She pointed at the folder. “Besides, you can see most of the tasks are already done. And if you need help, you can stop in at the diner and I’ll be happy to explain anything to you.”

  “But I really can’t…”

  “And I’m late meeting Jake there. The reopening yesterday went so well. So much support from the community, it was absolutely wonderful! I hope you can stop in today and soak it all in.” She looked at her wristwatch with the bright pink band covered in rhinestones. “I have to go. Now don’t forget to ask about anything that you don’t understand.”

  Before Nicki could lodge even a minimal protest, Suzanne was gone out the front door. Nicki looked at the folder. She didn’t even have a car. How was she supposed to run all over the place to get this very long list of errands done, much less drop in at the diner and ask any questions?

  When the doorbell rang a minute later, she was tempted to ignore it. When it rang a second time, she sighed in resignation. Picking up her wine glass, she took it with her as she trudged down the hall. She didn’t know who else would be standing there besides Matt, and she had half a mind to give him Suzanne’s insanely thick folder and tell him to deal with it. That should keep him busy while she was free from distractions to try to figure out that missing piece of the puzzle that myMason had mentioned. Because she was sure it was sitting right in front of them.

  She grabbed the handle and threw the door open. “What is it?”

  A startled Rob stood on her front step, staring back at her. “We agreed I’d come by?”

  Perfect. This is just perfect.

  “Is it noon?”

  Rob smiled. “Actually, babe, it’s twelve thirty. A meeting I couldn’t get out of ran late…”

  Nicki cut him off by waving him inside. “That’s fine. It doesn’t matter. Come on in.”

  She shut the door behind him and motioned for him to go into the kitchen. Once there, Nicki walked to the other side of the island and waited as Rob looked around before taking a seat on one of the high stools.

  He looked good, but then he usually did. With his blond hair and classically handsome features that went right along with a natural flirtatious charm, Rob really could be a great date. What had kept Nicki up the night before was wondering if that was all she’d ever considered him to be. A great date.

  When he finally met her steady gaze, she smiled and pointed to the open bottle of wine sitting on the counter. “Would you like a glass? Or something else to drink? I have bottled water, and of course coffee or tea?”

  “Water would be fine, thanks.” Rob glanced around again. “I like the way your kitchen came out.” He nodded his thanks when she handed him a cold bottle of water along with a glass of ice. “You had it redone about a year ago, didn’t you?” He smiled as if he’d won a crucial point in a tennis match. “But this is the first time I’ve seen it.”

  “You’ve never asked to see it, Rob.” Nicki tilted her head and studied him. “I don’t want to fight. And especially not over something like whether you’ve seen my kitchen, or who said what.”

  Rob leaned forward, his expression serious as he held her gaze. “But that is our problem, Nicki. You have something major in your life, like redoing your kitchen or getting tangled up in a murder, and you shut me out of it.”

  She shook her head. “We don’t shut each other out, Rob. We simply aren’t interested enough to get involved with the important things in each other’s lives. We both found Catherine’s body, but you couldn’t wait to put it behind you, and never asked about it after you left Soldoff that night.” She held up a hand when he started to protest. “And I don’t ask anything about the company business dinners you need to attend, and didn’t bother to show up at the first wine history lecture that your boss gave at the local college, even though you made it clear it was important to you.”

  “Maybe neither of us have given this a fair shot.”

  Nicki smiled. Every once in a while, Rob could really surprise her.

  “We don’t have to be an exclusive item, Rob. I can understand how dating someone who lives in the city would be great for you. Tricia seemed very nice.”

  He nodded. “She is. We’ve worked together for over a year. But we aren’t really dating. We just go out to lunch sometimes.”

  She raised an eyebrow at that one. Somehow Rob didn’t think he and Tricia were “dating” because he only saw her at lunchtime. And for Rob, that did not fall within his definition of a “date”. She felt a sudden twinge of sympathy for Tricia.

  “So we’re agreed?” Nicki was relieved Rob was being so reasonable about breaking up.

  He grinned and rose to his feet, holding his water glass out in front of him. “We’re agreed. Not exclusive.” He took a drink and winked at her. “At least not at the moment. After two years, we probably need a short break from being exclusive.”

  “Rob, what I meant…”

  He set his glass aside and made a quick dash around the counter. He put a hand on both her shoulders and leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, followed by a brief swipe of his lips across hers.

  “I have to go. I have a plane to catch, but wasn’t going to get on it until we had our talk.” He looked at his watch. “I can just make it.”

  “But I meant…”

  He gave her another kiss on the cheek before stepping back. “I’ll call you from Seattle, babe.” He gave her a wink. “Try not to stumble over any more dead bodies while I’m gone.”

  “I really think…” Nicki trailed off again since he’d already disappeared down the hallway. She stood staring at the empty space where he’d been, and listened to the front door close. Still bemused by the whole conversation, or what there was of it, she refilled her wine glass, grabbed the bowl of chocolate peanuts and the file folder Suzanne had left, and went into her office.

  She sat at her desk and stared at the blank screen on her computer for a whole minute. Maybe what she needed was to spend a few hours with someone she understood. Like Tyrone Blackstone, the superspy hero in her novels.

  She reached toward the power button when her cell phone rang. The minute she saw the caller ID she groaned. It was Jane, Matt’s very efficient, and completely terrifying, admin assistant.

  Wishing she had the nerve to ignore the call, Nicki reluctantly tapped “connect” and put as much cheerfulness into her voice as she could muster. “Hi, Jane. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you. And I hope you’re doing the same.” Before N
icki had a chance to agree or disagree with that, Jane plowed right on. “Is Matt there? He isn’t picking up his calls.”

  “Um, no. He’s staying with Maxie Edwards and her husband, so I’m guessing he’s at her house?”

  “When you see him, can you please tell him he needs to call his office as soon as possible? Several urgent issues need his attention.” Jane paused and took a breath. “Do you know how much longer it will take you to solve this latest murder, so he can come home?”

  “No, I don’t,” Nicki bit her lower lip to keep from stammering. Jane always had that effect on her. “But I’ll give him the message. It’s just that I’m…”

  “Wonderful. If I could hear from him within the hour, it would be very helpful.”

  “… not sure when I’m going to see him, and it isn’t my fault he’s hanging around here until Eddie Parker’s murder is solved,” Nicki finished, even though Jane had already hung up. She set her cell phone down next to the file folder and shook her head.

  What just happened here? She had no idea how she’d suddenly become the center of everyone’s annoyance. She might be a little preoccupied with murder, but it sure was a lot less complicated than her life had become.

  Drumming her fingers against her desktop, she finally gave in. Like her mother always told her whenever she’d complained about being overwhelmed, solve one problem at a time and before you know it, they’re all solved.

  She decided to start with the easiest one and deliver Jane’s message. Reaching for her phone, she punched in Matt’s number.

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Nicki opened her front door to a grinning Matt.

  She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “If you’re still being smug over the whole we-caught-Rob-with-another-woman thing, then you can just go back to wherever you went to hide from Jane.”

  Matt’s mouth dropped into a frown. “I’m not hiding from anyone. If I were, you wouldn’t have found me so easily.”

  “I didn’t find you, I called you. And you answered your phone.” She stood aside and made a sweeping motion with her hand. “Are you coming in or not?”

  Much to her annoyance, he was back to grinning. “I’ll come in. I want to hear how Rob took being dumped.”

  “He wasn’t dumped,” Nicki said over her shoulder. She went around the island but wasn’t surprised when Matt stopped halfway into the room, his gaze narrowed on her face.

  “He lies to you about being out of town, goes out with another woman, and you don’t dump him? So he’s still your boyfriend?”

  “No, he’s not.” Nicki opened the refrigerator and considered what to make for dinner.

  It would be helpful if she knew how many people she needed to feed. But at this point, she could be having a full dinner party, or be eating alone.

  Matt walked over and stood on the other side of the island, his arms crossed over his chest. “Just to be clear, Rob’s no longer your boyfriend?

  “No, he’s not.”

  “But you didn’t dump him?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  Matt scratched his chin. “Am I supposed to understand that?”

  “Probably not.” She looked over at him. “Are you staying for dinner?”

  “Yes. Maxie and Mason will be over too. Maxie said she wanted to talk to you.”

  “Of course she does,” Nicki said under her breath. “Doesn’t everyone?”

  “What?”

  She raised her voice. “I asked how you felt about pork chops?”

  “I’m in favor of them,” Matt replied. “But back to this whole Rob thing.”

  Nicki raised her head out of the depths of her refrigerator and glared at him. “Not talking about the whole Rob thing. None of your business, remember?”

  Matt adjusted his glasses but whatever he intended to say was drowned out by the slamming of the front door.

  “Hello? Are you in the kitchen?” Without waiting for an answer, the sound of flip-flops headed their way. Within seconds, Jenna appeared in the doorway. “I saw Rob’s car, and then it was gone. And now Matt’s car is here.” She looked over at the editor who’d taken a seat at the island counter. “And so is Matt. What’s going on? Did you dump lover-boy?”

  “Nope, and he isn’t my boyfriend either.”

  Jenna nodded. “Ah. That’s probably the best way to go. In gentle stages. You have invested two years in him.”

  Matt’s mouth dropped open as he stared at Jenna. “You understood that?”

  She laughed. “Of course. Didn’t you?”

  “No. Not a sane person on earth would have understood that.”

  “Well I did, and I’m pretty sane.” Jenna walked over to the counter and took a seat next to Matt. “I thought you’d be packing to head back to Kansas City since we aren’t going to be involved in Eddie’s murder anymore.”

  “What?” Matt turned a startled look on Nicki. “When did we decide that?”

  “We didn’t. Jenna did.” Nicki looked over at her friend. “Matt’s in favor of pork chops, how do you feel about them?”

  “Great. If you use that special rub of yours. And I want you to let the police do their thing with Eddie’s murder. As Alex keeps reminding us, that’s their job.” She looked at Matt. “Whoever ran Nicki off the road, it’s because of this whole murder thing. You can’t want to go through a repeat performance of that.”

  “No, I don’t,” Matt agreed. “But…”

  “Hello? We’re here.” Alex’s voice echoed down the hallway.

  We? Nicki took the entire jumbo package of pork chops out of the refrigerator and dropped it into the sink before she turned around to wave a greeting at Alex and Tyler.

  “I left our bags in the living room,” Tyler announced. “I have strict instructions from Alex’s mom that we’re to get this latest murder solved in the next day, so she can go dress shopping with her daughter.” He grinned at Nicki. “Consider the message delivered.”

  Matt stood and gave Alex a brief hug and shook Tyler’s hand. “That’s good, but Jenna has decided we aren’t going to solve the murder, and Nicki hasn’t dumped Rob but he isn’t her boyfriend. That brings you up to speed on the latest crazy around here.”

  Alex nodded at Nicki. “That’s probably the best way to go.”

  Nicki smiled at her friend and ignored Matt who threw his hands up into the air. “I think so too.”

  Tyler clapped a friendly hand on Matt’s shoulder. “The trick isn’t to try to make sense out of their mental telepathy, but to just get the information you need to know.”

  “Which is?” Matt asked.

  The fireman glanced over at his fiancée and winked. “Is Nicki going to be dating other guys?”

  Alex nodded. “That’s what she just said, or weren’t you listening?” She walked over and gave Jenna a hug.

  Matt looked over at Nicki. “That’s what you said?”

  Nicki laughed. “Yes.”

  “But what about Rob?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “Still none of your business, Dillon.”

  Tyler gave Matt a hard nudge as he passed by on his way over to take a look at what Nicki was unwrapping in the kitchen sink. “You have the information you need, man. Just go with that.”

  “Yoo hoo!”

  “You should get an automatic lock for that door,” Jenna muttered.

  Nicki grinned at Tyler’s huge smile when he saw all the pork chops. The happy chaos made her warm and happy right down to her toes. Maybe she never would discover the truth of Eddie’s murder, but there were definitely worse things.

  She rinsed her hands and reached for a towel as Maxie and her husband walked into the kitchen.

  “Oh good.” Maxie beamed at Nicki. “I wanted to talk to you before Matt gets back from wherever he’s taken himself off to.”

  Mason put an arm around his wife’s shoulders and turned her so she was facing the far end of the center island. “Matt’s right over there, honey. And you shouldn’t interfere in his
private life.”

  Jenna reached over to the bowl Nicki had filled earlier and grabbed a chip. “Don’t bother, Maxie. He and Nicki have worked it out.”

  Matt looked over at Nicki and then back at Jenna. “We have?”

  Alex gave him a pat on the arm as she headed in the direction of the wine refrigerator. “Yes, you did.” She glanced at Nicki. “What are we drinking?”

  “We’re having stove-top pork chops so one of the lighter reds would be good.” Nicki patted her mixture of salt, pepper and thyme onto the surface of the meat before placing each chop onto the large cookie sheet she’d set on the counter, so they could rest until she was ready to cook them. “And Jenna’s decided we aren’t going to work on the murder any longer.”

  “That’s nice, dear. But we can’t let poor Eddie’s murder go unsolved.” Maxie frowned at the tenant of her other townhouse. “And you would never be happy not knowing what happened.”

  “True,” Jenna agreed. “But I’d be a lot unhappier if whoever ran Nicki off the road kept on trying to stop her from finding out who murdered Eddie.”

  “Even if Nicki stopped, that’s no guarantee that the guy behind the wheel of that truck would stop too.” Matt’s mouth was set into a flat line as he ran a hand through his hair.

  “That’s right,” Mason put in. “But if we back off for a while, the killer might relax enough to make a mistake that will lead Chief Turnlow right to him.”

  Nicki abruptly straightened up and whirled around to face Matt. “Oh good heavens! Jane is going to kill me.”

  “Who’s Jane?” Mason frowned.

  “My assistant,” Matt said, keeping his gaze on Nicki. “Why is Jane going to kill you?”

  “You weren’t picking up your phone, so she called here looking for you.” Nicki could have kicked herself for not delivering Jane’s urgent message sooner. “I should have told you the minute I opened the door. Jane said something was going on that needs your attention right now. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you that right off.”

  Matt shrugged. “There’s always something that needs my attention right now.” He pulled his cell phone out of his shirt pocket. “I’ll call her. Can I use your office?”