Undercover Cook

by Jeannie Watt

  Daphne scowled. “It isn’t like I want him to become a CI—”

  “Good thing, considering what happened to our last two informants.”

  “I want some names. I want a starting point.”

  “If the small fry you bust can’t name names, what makes you think Tremont can?”

  “I don’t know that he can, but I think we can talk to him without him blabbing all over the place.” Her lips curled into a smirk. “And we can ask him to keep his ears open, and he might do it.”

  “Why?”

  “Circumstances.”

  Nick and Eden. “Look, Daph…give me a little time to figure the best way to go at this.”

  “Fine.” She slung the long strap of her purse over her shoulder with so much force that it made a slapping sound when it hit her back. “Guess I’ll go see if I can find a meth house.”

  “SOMETHING’S WRONG,” Lenny said on a note of satisfaction.

  “Lower your damned voice,” Gabe muttered, not looking at Lenny. They were eating breakfast they’d made during the lesson, but the old coot kept staring at first Eden and then Nick. Paul was scowling down at his plate of waffles, making Gabe believe that his bet in the Nick/Eden pool—which had become a reality despite Gabe’s protests—was a losing one.

  “They’re not making any eye contact at all,” Lenny announced in a slightly lower voice, which still reverberated through the room. Neither Nick nor Eden seemed to notice.

  “Save it,” Paul said in a deadly voice.

  At the exact same time Gabe said, “Shut up, Lenny.”

  Lenny blinked at the two men. “I’m just saying…” Then clapped his mouth shut and reached for the syrup.

  Gabe shoved a forkful of French toast into his mouth and chewed without tasting it. Lenny was right. There was something off between Nick and Eden. And here he’d had high hopes that even if it didn’t develop into anything lasting, at least Nick might get back into the game.

  So what now?

  EDEN IGNORED NICK for most of the cooking lesson that week. They hadn’t managed to get together on Monday and Tuesday, due to him having to put in overtime, but tonight had possibilities. And she didn’t want to telegraph that to her elderly students, who were watching the two of them like a flock of geriatric hawks.

  They made French toast, pancakes and waffles, and then everyone sat down to a breakfast-for-dinner feast at the table in the rear of the kitchen. By the time the guys piled into the van, Eden was ready for the night to be over.

  It had been an exhausting day. She’d had to deal with a complaint about the amount of food served at a luncheon, a bride who insisted on getting the best of the best without paying the price, and Tina Ballard, who had once again changed the menu for the surprise birthday party, as well as the number of guests.

  Eden had worked for the Ballards for almost four years and was accustomed to Tina’s flighty ways, but she had to insist that this change be the last. If she didn’t order the correct amount and type of food, then she couldn’t guarantee satisfaction. Tina, however, had been fully cooperative and understanding when Eden had had to explain the hard facts of life. Which was why, despite the woman’s case of rampant indecisiveness, she enjoyed working for her.

  Ignoring Nick had taken its toll, as well, making Eden edgy as she waited impatiently for the class she usually enjoyed to end. Of course, tonight the guys didn’t take their food home with them. They’d eaten it during class. Which had taken forever. She’d gotten a kick out of watching them slowly devour the French toast, waffles and pancakes, but she couldn’t help but think that she and Nick could have put the whipping cream and syrup to better use.

  He waited in his car until the van left, then followed her home, parking across the street. He caught up with her before she reached the porch, took her tote and the two cookbooks she’d lugged home for research, while she dug out her key.

  Once they were inside, he set the books on the end table closest to him, dropped the tote on the sofa and hauled her against him for a real kiss. A soul-searing kind of kiss.

  “I need to disarm the system,” she murmured against his lips, before putting a hand on his chest.

  “By all means,” he said, taking off his coat and locking the front door.

  When Eden came back into the living room, he kissed her again, then scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. She snapped off lights as he walked past them, since she might not be leaving her bed for a while.

  Nick undressed her without speaking, slowly removing her clothing, caressing her body with first his fingers and then his lips. It was the first time Eden had ever experienced anything close to worshipping-her-body sex. Once she was naked, he took off his own clothes and then gently laid her on the sheets.

  He started at her feet, nuzzling, stroking, and worked his way ever so slowly up her legs until he got up to her most sensitive spot. And then he did what Eden loved most, caressing her breasts and stroking her skin until she bucked against his mouth. Seconds later he entered her, moving slowly, lovingly, until she was on the brink again. He reached down to touch her, once again sending her plummeting over the edge before he, too, came.

  “I don’t suppose we can do this again tonight?” she asked as she idly stroked his hair.

  He rolled off her and lay with his head resting on his arm, the planes and hollows of his handsome face dimly lit by the night-light next to Eden’s bed. “I might need a minute,” he said with a slow, sexy smile.

  “Take your time.”

  “What’s your schedule like next week?”

  “Busier than I’d hoped. Justin has one more week of extra shifts at the Lake.”

  “You don’t have to make a cake for him or anything?”

  “As if he’d let me,” Eden said with a sputter. “That’s Patty’s territory.”

  “The Candlewood Center is putting on an event—a poker casino night—and it’s a big deal to the guys. Family comes and it’s a good time.”

  Eden propped herself up on her elbows, touched that he would want to invite her. “When?”

  “Tuesday the fifteenth. They don’t have it on weekends because most people have other plans that don’t involve hanging out at an old folks center.”

  Her face fell. “I’m catering a surprise birthday party. It’s for one of the families I cook for. I truly hate surprise parties, but the Ballards have been good to me.”

  “Trust me. I understand. The guys would have been in seventh heaven to see us together, though.”

  “Sorry,” she said as she stretched out on his firm body, loving the feel of hard muscle beneath her. “Oddly, my line of work can make it very difficult to attend other social functions.”

  “I can see that.” Nick cupped a hand behind her head and pulled her forward for a soft kiss. “You make me feel alive again, Eden. More than I have in a long time.”

  She smiled, not certain how to respond. Finally, she simply kissed him back, thinking that actions spoke louder than words.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  EDEN AND PATTY served a brunch to a ladies’ club on Tuesday morning, arriving back at the kitchen to find Justin sitting on one of the counters, holding a beer and staring into space.

  “What’s wrong?” Eden asked as soon as Patty had gone into the walk-in with a container of leftovers.

  “I just had the most weird-ass experience.”

  “How so?” Weird-ass experiences were kind of a way of life with her brother.

  Justin got off the counter and gestured toward his room with his head. Once there, he closed the door. Eden had a very bad feeling about this, since he rarely felt the need to close Patty, his number one helper, out of his life.

  “What?” Eden demanded.

  “I was questioned. Unofficially, mind you, by a police officer who wanted information on the kitchen at the lake.” He took a card out of his loose pants pocket and flipped it onto the table. “Detective Daphne,” he said with a hint of derision.

 
; Eden drew back slightly when she read the name on the card, then glanced up at her brother, her expression hard. “What kind of goings on?”

  “Drug trafficking.”

  It took her a moment to say incredulously, “They thought you were involved?”

  “It was damned hard to tell. I didn’t get arrested.”

  Eden moved closer to her brother, stopping directly in front of him, the way she’d done when they were young and she was trying to keep him in line. She folded her arms over her chest. “Is there drug trafficking through the kitchen?”

  He shifted the beer from one hand to the other. “It’s Lake Tahoe. A kitchen in Lake Tahoe.”

  Oh, great.

  People in professional kitchens often worked hard and partied hard, and not always in a legal way. It was part of the culture. And South Lake Tahoe was a party town. But he still hadn’t answered her question. After another few moments of silence, he said, “It’s common knowledge there’s drug traffic through that hotel. Even the cops know.”

  “Do you know who’s involved or how?”

  “Not really, because I’ve made no effort to find out. Kind of a health-and-safety issue, you know? I don’t use and I don’t ask questions. I make pastry.”

  “But…don’t you have to take a drug test to work there?”

  Justin smiled. “Drug tests pick up users, not sellers.”

  “Wow.” Eden leaned back, pushing her hair away from her face with both hands. Then she slanted a sideways look at her brother.

  “The job is a good one,” he said before she could voice her concern. “There are plenty of nice people there who have nothing to do with the few guys who make connections. I’m one of them.” He reached out to pat her hand in a brotherly way. “I’m back to three nights a week as of tomorrow. If I can get another pastry job somewhere else, I will, but for right now, it’s a good opportunity, good pay and good connections to potential catering clients.”

  “I feel very conflicted about this.”

  “I know,” Justin said with a sigh, lifting his beer to his lips. “I know.”

  Eden hesitated for a moment, then asked her final question on the subject. “Do you know anything that might help the police get a handle on the situation?”

  “Nothing the police themselves don’t already know. Nothing that would further an investigation.”

  Enough said. For now. But Eden had a lot she was going to say to Nick whenever she saw him next.

  She didn’t have to wait long. Justin had taken off for his job at the lake, which made her feel a bit sick, knowing what she did now. She was closing up the kitchen for the night, having shooed Patty home, when Nick’s SUV pulled into the lot. Her stomach tightened. Showtime.

  He came into the kitchen with that open smile that would have melted her heart a few hours ago. When he saw the expression on her face, he stopped a few feet away form her. “What?”

  “Didn’t you once tell me that your partner’s name was Daphne?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would that be the same Daphne that just questioned my brother about drug trafficking?” Nick’s expression instantly closed off. “How many Daphnes can there be on one police force?” Eden continued, as if asking a rhetorical question.

  Nick’s face could have been carved from ice when he said, “I imagine it was my partner.” Who was this man?

  Eden shifted her weight, settling a hand on her hip. “Why Justin? Have you found something that makes you think he’s involved in drug trafficking?”

  “We don’t think Justin is involved.”

  “We?” she asked, her voice rising slightly.

  “I am a cop, Eden. On a drug task force.”

  “Why Justin?” she repeated.

  “There’s drug traffic connected with some of the people working at the Lake Summit Hotel at Tahoe. Large amounts that are shipped out and smaller amounts sold locally. We were hoping that Justin might have heard or seen something.”

  Eden tried to moisten her lips, but her mouth was too dry. Pieces were falling into place and she didn’t like the picture they formed.

  “It was no accident that you came to Tremont for cooking lessons with your grandfather, was it?”

  He pulled in a breath, then shook his head. “I’m not going to lie to you. No. No accident.”

  “You came to spy on Justin.”

  “Not exactly.”

  Eden rolled her eyes to the sky, blinking rapidly. “It’s going to get worse, isn’t it?”

  “I came to get a look at your business. See if there was any sign that all was not as it seemed financially.”

  “I don’t—” She looked away abruptly, pressing her lips together.

  “Drug money has to be laundered,” he stated. “Small businesses are great for that. A catering firm might be one way to pass bad money into the system.” She turned back to him. “We know now that’s not the case. Tremont has been taken out of the investigation.”

  “Why?”

  “We’ve received information that indicates your records are clean.”

  “Damned right they’re clean.” Eden swallowed, but couldn’t tamp down the outrage welling up in her. He’d used her. He’d come to her kitchen with a nefarious purpose in mind and he’d lied to her.

  “You know, Nick? It’s been a hell of a night.” She took a couple steps away from him, then rested one hand on the stainless-steel counter, her fingers gripping the edge. “I need you to go now.”

  “Eden…”

  “Now, Nick. Leave now or I’ll call your brothers in blue and ask them to remove you.” She smiled grimly. “You wouldn’t want to risk another suspension, would you?”

  “I didn’t sleep with you because I was spying on Justin.”

  “Was that part of the investigation over?” she asked. “I can see by your face it was.”

  “I didn’t go into this thinking I’d fall for you. I was trying to do my job. I care for you, Eden.”

  “If that’s true—if you honestly care for me—then do me a big fat favor and get out of here.”

  NICK WAS HOT. He drove straight to Daphne’s apartment and pounded on the door. A few seconds later she jerked it open with a belligerent look on her face.

  “Did you talk to Justin Tremont?” he asked as evenly as possible.

  “Yeah. I questioned Tremont. No stone unturned.”

  Nick shoved his hand into his hair. “You could have warned me. Given me some time to…set the stage.”

  “Set the stage for what, Nick?”

  “You knew I was seeing Eden.”

  “Yeah? So?”

  “Well, she figured out who you are. And why I must have been at the kitchen.”

  “How in the hell did she do that?”

  “Because I mentioned your name once, I guess. As my partner.”

  “That was your mistake.” Daphne turned and walked into her apartment.

  Nick followed. He never ceased to be amazed at how much her place was at odds with her personality, given all the soft draped fabrics and colors. The Sig .45 sitting on a towel on the coffee table, where she’d obviously been cleaning it, seemed wildly out of place. Unless you knew Daphne.

  “Does she know you stole her computer files?”

  “No. And I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t tell her that.” He still had that secret, was still lying by omission.

  Daphne cocked her head. “Look, Nick. I’m sorry if I screwed up your love life. Frankly, I was glad you were finally developing one, although I probably wouldn’t have chosen the sister of a suspect as my dream date.”

  “Former suspect.”

  “Right.” She put a hand on her hip, rustling the blue silk robe she wore. Marcus would have had his tongue on the floor if he could have seen her. “But someone killed my CI and fed me bad information, and I want a resolution.”

  “Our CI,” Nick said. “And I want to get to the bottom of it, too.”

  “I’m sorry about your love life,” Daphne said a
gain, in a way that made him wonder, and not for the first time, if she had ever been in love.

  Nick’s mouth tightened. “I’ve got to go.”

  Daphne opened the door for him and he stepped out into the carpeted hallway. And because he was still so pissed, he didn’t say anything to make the situation between them better.

  EDEN’S SHEETS SMELLED like Nick, so she stripped them off the mattress and tossed them into a corner. It was too late to do laundry, so she hauled her extra blankets out of the linen closet and went to bed on the sofa. And once she was settled there in her living room, she stared up at the dark ceiling with eyes that were puffy from crying and threatening to produce tears again.

  She’d thought Ian was a liar. Ha! He was bush league compared to Nick. Sneaking around, spying on her and her family.

  She pressed a hand against her eyes as tears started to seep out the corners. Played for a fool. In the worst way.

  And this time it hurt so badly.

  She flopped over on her side, drawing the covers around her tightly. She missed her sister. She so needed to talk to her, but wasn’t going to dump this mess in Reggie’s lap.

  No. She was going to dump it in Justin’s, since he was the one involved.

  The next morning she caught him at the kitchen and asked him to stop by her place that afternoon before he took off for the lake. When he showed up, just after she’d returned home from a client consultation and had kicked off her heels, she hauled him in, pressed a cold beer into his hands and told him exactly what she’d learned about Nick.

  “Let me get this straight,” Justin said as he popped open the beer and dropped the top in the bamboo trash can next to Eden’s kitchen sink. “Nick was investigating us for money laundering. It wasn’t just this Detective Daphne chick.”

  “Isn’t that what I just said?” Eden asked irritably.

  “I wanted to make certain that was what I heard. Shit.” Justin took a long swallow of beer. “He thought I was laundering money.”

  “Yes.”

  “Which must have meant that he thought I was selling drugs.”