Murder, Basted and Barbecued

by Constance Barker

  “Sorry, but one of us stepped on it in the tall grass, Rodney. It was right there. And it looks like Flye may have been killed with it just a little further over that way.”

  “He nodded and called for the photographer and an investigator. They quickly put a yellow evidence marker, numbered 301, took several photos, and then carefully bagged it. They also numbered and photographed the spot where Ruby had stepped on it.

  “We’d better get back, guys,” I said. “These people have work to do.”

  “And I’m hungry,” Junior said, thankfully, so I didn’t have to mention it. That beef jerky Deloris gave me on the trail was all I had eaten since breakfast, and there was only one small pancake left after I gave Brody my short stack. I was starving.

  Chapter Thirteen

  People were queued up in six lines, waiting to talk to one of the deputies or investigators at tables that had been set up between the tournament area and the public campgrounds.

  “It looks like the line-up at Customs and Immigration at LAX when you get back to the U.S. from a trip abroad,” Ruby said, still in Junior’s arms. “We might as well go back to my RV for a while.”

  “If they’ll let us go in there,” I said. “It looks like they want everybody out.”

  There was yellow tape everywhere, inside and outside of the tournament kitchens, although we were able to get in from the wooded side in the middle of the racing path. A deputy pointed us toward the queue at the end with an orange baton, but Brody saw us and waved him off.

  “I heard you all found a potential murder weapon out there,” he said. “Are you okay, Ruby? Is it sprained?”

  She raised her injured ankle and made some small circles with her foot. She winced a little. “Mercy looked at it. There’s just a little swelling, so I have to get some ice on it. It’ll be fine if I stay off it for a day or two.”

  I patted Junior’s shoulder. “Thank goodness this guy came along with us. Otherwise she would have had to limp back with me as a crutch. We would still be in the woods. Can we get into Ruby’s RV, Brody? I don’t want special treatment, but Ruby should get someplace comfortable, so she can put her foot up and get a cold pack on it.” Actually, I did want special treatment. After all, the Sheriff always got special treatment from me.

  “The whole gang is in there, Mercy. I went through it myself and checked it off the list,” he said with a smile and wink. “I didn’t find anything that connected you to the murder. Hopefully, there’s some of Smoke’s drunk chicken left for you all. Jake brought a big pot of chili too.”

  “I hope you had a warrant to go through my place, Sheriff Hayes,” Ruby said with a straight face as we started walking to her camper.

  Brody patted her shoulder. “I didn’t need one, little sister. You invited me in and gave me a blanket welcome to make myself at home.”

  Ruby smiled. “Do you really think of me like a sister, Brody?”

  “Sure do. You’re the little sister I never had – or maybe you’re more like a sister-in-law, since you and my lady are like sisters.”

  “Sister-in-law? But you two aren’t married.”

  I listened closely as Brody whispered in her ear: “You don’t think I’m going to let this one get away, do you?”

  My heart might have skipped a beat. Then Brody said for us all to hear, “Yeah, let’s stick to little sister for the time being.”

  Brody went up the steps to the RV first and opened it for us. I went in first.

  “Hidee ho there, Mercy,” Red greeted with his warm smile. “Come on in. There’s a lot of good food here for you all.”

  Babs got up from the table and pulled Jakes arm. “Get up, honey. We need to let Mercy and Junior sit at the table. They must be famished.”

  Junior set Ruby down on the sofa, and I gently put her foot up on the small coffee table. I couldn’t believe it when she caressed his cheek with her hand and kissed his other cheek. Junior’s face flushed, and he hurried to the kitchen table.

  “I’ll bring you some food, Rube.”

  Smoke was standing in the small kitchen wearing an apron and his chef’s hat. “I made a lot of extra drunk chicken for the crew, Mercy, but I made up four plates, just like they were for the judges, and here’s one for you and one for Junior. I’ll bring one to Ruby and then come back and eat with you. Jake’s chili is fantastic too.”

  Smoke’s appetizers were beautifully plated and looked delicious. I ravenously grabbed the teriyaki drum stick, dipped it into the spiced-up honey mustard, and ripped most of the meat off the bone with one bite.

  “This is delicious, Smoke!” I had sauce and dip all over my chin, but I didn’t care. I took another bite.

  Ruby hollered over from the couch with a full mouth. “She’s right, Smoke! It’s unbelievable! Too bad there was no judging today – I think you might have won this round, hands down! For sure you’d be going to the next round.”

  I could see the disappointment in Smoke’s eyes, but he tried to hide it and just shrugged.

  “Well,” he said, “it could’ve been worse. At least I didn’t get a meat cleaver in my back and strung up on a high wire.”

  That brought us all back to reality, and we ate quietly for a while.

  IT GOT TO BE A LONG afternoon, waiting for all the people to be processed so I could drive my car out of the state park. Brody had to stay to oversee the investigation, but I finally got out of there at sunset and dropped Ruby off at her house, next door to mine.

  Our dogs were happy to see us, although Liz from the hair salon had taken good care of them. My little hamsters, Wizard and Grace, didn’t really seem to care that I was back, which was fine, since I was too tired to talk to them anyway.

  It was nice to sleep in my own bed and get back to the Old School Diner the next morning. I was eager to get back out to the state park and snoop around the crime scene again a little later, but for now I was enjoying being back home. The regular crew was all there, at the diner, bright and early.

  “Figures,” Red said from his perch at the counter. “We finally get our moment in the national spotlight, and a bigshot gets himself killed. And Kentucky gets a bad name.”

  “Well, at least we’re getting a lot of publicity,” Junior said as he stuffed a forkful of hash browns into his mouth. “Every big-name reporter in the country is at the state park. It’s the only thing in the news.”

  “Hi, guys!” Ruby came in, cheerful and walking normally. She took the stool next to Junior. “I thought you’d be open, so I thought I would have one of Smoke’s famous omelets.”

  Smoke leaned out from his place at the far end of the counter. “I’m not cooking today, Ruby.”

  Deloris came out of the swinging doors with one of Smoke’s chef’s hats over her tall beehive. “So, you’ll be getting a really good omelet. What kind do you want, sweetie? And don’t go asking for some hippie-style avocado and bean sprout omelet, because I only cook real food.”

  “No problem, Deloris. I want green onions and parmesan – just the egg whites, please. Oh – and don’t use any oil.”

  Deloris rolled her eyes and headed back into the kitchen, shaking her head. Smoke just tried to squelch his laugh, but he wasn’t successful.

  “What?” Ruby said, looking at me. I had walked behind the counter now. “Did I say something funny?”

  I patted her hand. “Nothing at all, Ruby. These dinosaurs just think that red meat, lard, and potatoes are the basic food groups.”

  “Don’t forget beer,” Red said with a chuckle. “That’s the number one food group, Mercy.”

  “I stand corrected.”

  “And who are you calling dinosaurs, anyway?”

  “Um...I didn’t say dinosaurs, Red. I said, um, diners...ours...?”

  “Nice try, Mercy,” he chortled.

  Junior turned to Ruby and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “It looks like your ankle is all better, I guess, huh, Ruby?”

  She looked a little surprised by the question. “Oh, no, Junior! Not
at all. It still really hurts. You might have to carry me back out to my car so I don’t re-injure it.”

  “Sure, I’ll do that.”

  Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “Ruby, can I see you in my office?”

  She looked confused and followed me into the kitchen.

  “Ruby, you’re not really getting interested in Junior, are you?”

  “I don’t know. What difference does it make to you?”

  “I don’t know, he’s – Junior. He’s not the kind of guy who’s looking for a champagne and high-heels girl.”

  “Mercy, I get that we’re different people. And I’m not falling for him. He just makes me feel safe. When he picked me up like I was a child’s doll, it just made me feel good. I miss my rodeo cowboy, since he left town too, I guess. It was just nice to be held.”

  I nodded. “I think I understand. But don’t forget that Junior just had a steamy relationship with Liberty until she got that job at the museum in Louisville. They were doing a lot more than hugging, so if you get his juices flowing to much, well, we don’t want him to get hurt either.”

  “Yeah. I’ll be careful. We’ll keep it friendly. I’m not interested in a romantic relationship with him, Mercy.”

  “Okay. Just checking. You know that every guy you smile at falls in love with you, so take it easy on him.”

  My phone buzzed with a text. It was from Brody.

  “Oh, my gosh!”

  “What is it, Mercy?” Deloris asked as she handed Ruby her white and green omelet.

  “They’re going to arrest Chef Andy Gourdaine for the murder of Billy Flye.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Something really bothered me about the impending arrest of Chef Gourdaine. He clearly was not a nice person, and he did seem to be pleased that Chef Flye was dead, but I wasn’t convinced he was the killer.

  Brody wanted me to come to the crime scene, so I drove out to Daniel Boone State Park.

  “This time your instincts are just wrong, Mercy,” Brody said. He had an office set up in a small mobile home trailer near the entrance to the tournament kitchens, and he was sitting behind an old gun-metal grey desk. I wasn’t used to him using his official “Sheriff look” on me, and his strong eyes seemed to pierce my skin. “It was your investigative work that proved his guilt, Merse.”

  “What are you talking about, Brody? I didn’t bring you any evidence that pointed to Gourdaine’s guilt.”

  “Sit down,” he said, pointing to the folding chair in front of the desk. Then he pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons. “This is the recording you took outside of the chef’s bus right after the murder.”

  I listened:

  “The competition is over, Mar. Their big superstar is dead, and my cleaver is in his back, where it belongs. Our work here is done.”

  “That was the first thing on your recording, Mercy. The D.A. says it’s all we need.”

  “So that’s it, Brody? The investigation is over? He’s your man? There was a lot more to that conversation.”

  “We still have to get the medical examiner’s report, and the lab has to analyze the blood evidence and the rock...the cleaver. Everything.”

  “When are you going to arrest Gourdaine? Does he know?”

  “Maybe tonight. The Governor wants the attorney general to go over the warrant and the evidence first. This is a high-profile case. Of course, Gourdaine won’t know until we show up to cuff him.”

  I got up from the chair, shaking my head. “Can I borrow this Sheriff’s Department vest?” I took it off the hook on the wall and put it on without waiting for an answer. “I want to look around and maybe ask the EATS crew a few questions. I have to think things through.”

  “Be my guest,” he said. He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a badge in a little flip-wallet. “You’re deputized, but, you know...”

  I took the credentials. “I won’t do anything stupid or embarrass the department, Brody.”

  “I know.”

  I went outside and walked toward the yellow tape. One of the network roadies, a big man, was gathering up the ATVs from the race; another young man was cleaning them up. The big man was wheeling the yellow one over to the place where the others were parked.

  I remembered that the yellow one was on Big Bear hill when Deloris and I arrived, along with Gourdaine’s red one and Nancy Lu’s pink one. Deloris had thought that it was used by the Italian Chef, Roger Garaducci, but I thought he had the orange one.

  “Excuse me, Dan.” I said, reading his nametag.

  “Yes, officer. What can I do for you?”

  The officer moniker sounded a little odd, but I went along with it.

  “Who drove this ATV in the race?”

  “No one. I don’t think this one was in the race.” He grabbed a clipboard at a small desk that looked like a valet stand by the starting line. “Nope. This one was checked out by Darnell Macki. I think he’s a crew member for one of the celebrity chefs.”

  “I see. Where did you find the ATV just now, Dan?”

  “It was just over there, not far from Chef Flye’s kitchen, ma’am. In the back by the campsites.”

  “Thank you.”

  I looked at the tire tracks behind it as the man continued wheeling it away, and then I looked at the tires. They were different from most of the others.

  “Say, Dan, I have a question.” I looked at the tires on the other ATVs. My blue one, Nancy Lu’s pink one, and Gourdaine’s red one all had knobby tires with deep treads that would probably be good in mud and rough terrain.

  “Yes, ma’am, what is it?”

  “It looks like that yellow one has different tires.”

  “Yeah, it’s one we use around the sets. It’s not really for off-road so much. That’s why we didn’t have it with the ones that were used for racing. I mean, it would be fine on this track here, but the others are more suited.”

  I nodded and smiled, and then I followed the tracks to see where he had found it. The tracks led past the big tree. The deer and dead body were gone now.

  I passed Gourdaine’s kitchen, and that’s when I remembered something. These were the same kind of tracks that I saw in the photograph on Junior’s phone. Gourdaine had not come back to get the shovel in his red ATV; someone must have brought it out to him with the yellow one. That’s why the yellow one was there when Deloris and I arrived. Whoever brought the shovel must have been there too. Maybe it was even the killer. I had to find out more about Darnell Macki.

  I took photos and video all around the cook-off area. I walked the road to Big Bear Hill too. I took more pictures there as well. And I listened to the conversation I recorded of Gourdaine and Margot Steward in their bus over and over. I ended up back by Ruby’s RV. Randy’s big RV was still there too. I had to smile when I thought about Nancy Lu’s feisty personality, and I hoped her scrapes and bruises were healing.

  It also reminded me that I had to talk to Nancy Lu. Her ATV was there around the time of the murder. She might have seen the driver of the yellow ATV, and maybe she saw or heard something else that could be important. I had to talk to Darnell Macki too.

  Things were starting to come together in my mind, and I rolled various scenarios around and around. I still didn’t know who the killer was – though I suspected it was the driver of the yellow ATV – but I was fairly sure now that it wasn’t Gourdaine.

  I found Brody standing outside of his mobile office talking on his phone. He hung up when I arrived.

  “Anything new?” I asked him.

  “Yes, actually. I just talked to the medical examiner. Sylvia said that Chef Flye had been hit in the head with that rock you and Ruby found back by the hill, but that just knocked him out. He would have bled out and died from that blunt force trauma, but the cleaver in his back happened after he was out, and that pierced his heart and killed him first. Gourdaine’s fingerprints are all over it.”

  “Of course they are – he found the cleaver and was holding it when we caught up with him.�
��

  “There was another latent print on it too – just a pinky finger and the tips of two other fingers – but we couldn’t identify them. Probably whoever buried it. But there was blood in the drain of the bathroom sink in Gourdaine’s bus too. I’m sure it will turn out to be Flye’s.”

  “Some pretty compelling evidence, which makes it more difficult for me to ask you this.”

  Brody knew I was getting ready to throw a monkey wrench at him, and it was obvious he wasn’t thrilled with the idea. He let out a slow sigh as he exhaled.

  “What is it, Mercy?”

  “I need you to call the Governor and tell him that you need until tomorrow afternoon before you arrest Gourdaine. Tell him some new exculpatory evidence has come up, and you need to check it out first, you know, to avoid embarrassing the state by arresting the wrong person.”

  He was not happy. “And what exactly is this new evidence, if I may ask?”

  I looked down and then raised my eyes to meet his. “I’m not exactly sure yet. But I know if we can let everyone come back out tomorrow morning for a one-day cook-off, I’ll have that answer for you. I can’t prove it yet, but I think that a crew member for one of the celebrity chefs did it, or at the very least he might have been an accomplice. Gourdaine couldn’t have done it by himself, though. Of that I’m sure. I need all of the contestants out here so I can talk to talk to a couple of people and put the rest of the story together.”

  Brody grabbed his head with both hands and moaned as he turned around in a circle. “Ay-yi-yi! Really, Mercy?”

  I looked him in the eye and nodded.

  “Now I know I’ve really lost my mind. I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this.” He took out his phone and dialed the Governor.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The tournament kitchens were bubbling with activity as the sun came up on Sunday morning, and EATS -TV was broadcasting it all. Hosts Chester Monsoon and Jennifer Gilliam were cheerfully making the rounds to each of the 15 kitchens to get a sneak peek at what the chefs were cooking up.