by Cindy Bell
“All right, I see your point.”
Chapter 8
When Lucy stepped into the classroom, she was surprised by how empty it was. The tables and chairs were gone, as were the supplies that usually lined the shelves. Even though there was so much missing, for some reason she still felt as if she could feel Hugo’s presence in the room. Her heartbeat quickened as she stared at the pantry at the back of the room. The police had wiped the area clean, but even without the police tape, the pantry made goosebumps rise on her arms. Hugo stepped into that small space and never stepped out again.
“Lucy, are you all right?” Chantelle touched her arm. “You’ve gone very pale.”
“I’m okay. Let’s just hurry up and get this done.”
“Sure, I’ll check the cabinets, you check the drawers.”
“Okay.” Lucy began opening drawers around the room. Every one she opened was empty.
“To think he was here, in this room, teaching not long ago.” Lucy trailed her fingertips along the counter in the front of the room. “Now he’s just gone.”
“It’s very sad.” Chantelle leaned back against the wall and studied the empty classroom. “I’m surprised the police don’t still have this area roped off.”
“He was found in the pantry, I guess they’ve gathered all of the evidence they needed. Good thing, since the sprinklers might have destroyed whatever they missed.” Lucy opened one of the drawers in the table. As she started to close the drawer an envelope caught her eye. It was the same color as the bottom of the drawer and easy to overlook. “What’s this?” She pulled it out of the drawer as Chantelle walked over.
“Did you find something?”
“Just an envelope.” Lucy lifted the flap and peered inside. “Oh, there are recipe cards in here. It looks like his dessert sauce recipes. The writing is very fancy and detailed.” She held up a handwritten recipe card. “Maybe he had them here to show his students or to work on them.”
“How did the police miss that?” Chantelle frowned.
“It blended in with the bottom of the drawer. I’m sure they weren’t looking for envelopes.”
“Still.” She peered at the envelope. “Should we turn it in to them?”
“I don’t know. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to let Annaliese know we found it.” Lucy began to dial her phone. Sophia hovered by the door of the classroom.
“Did you find anything?”
“Yes, one thing.” Chantelle gestured for her to step in.
“Oh no, I can’t. I couldn’t ever set foot in this classroom again. Like I said, I’m going to have it turned into a storage room.”
While Lucy was on the phone Chantelle took the envelope over to Sophia to show her what she had found.
“Oh, Hugo’s recipes? How nice.” She thumbed through them. “He was always so very careful about every detail.”
“Really? There’s quite a few places where he scratched things off,” Chantelle said.
“I don’t know why that would be. Everything he’s ever written that I’ve seen has been meticulous.”
“Interesting. Maybe he was in a hurry when he wrote these,” Chantelle said.
“Maybe. Are you two finished here?” Sophia gripped the envelope in her hands.
“Lucy is just calling an officer to inform her of what we found.”
“Why would you do that?” Sophia’s eyes widened. “Are the police going to come here?”
“Well, it’s clear they missed it when they investigated the room.” Chantelle looked over at Lucy. “Is Annaliese coming to pick it up?”
“Yes, she’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“This is terrible.” Sophia closed her eyes.
“Why?” Chantelle took the envelope back from her.
“These recipes are secret. Now they’ll be a matter of police record.”
“Hugo is gone now, I’m sure he didn’t plan to take them to his grave.” Lucy walked over to the two of them. “It might give the police some insight into who did this.”
“How? They’re just recipes.”
“I’m not sure.” Lucy took the recipes from Chantelle and looked through them again. “These are quite unique. Hugo had a real gift.”
“Yes, he did. Now everyone will get to see them. Give them back to me, I’ll tuck them away and you can just give the police the envelope.”
“No.” Lucy kept the envelope away from her. “It’s not right to hide them from the police. Sophia, if you don’t want to look guilty you have to be careful about what you do.”
“Look guilty?” She glared at her. “Is that how you think I look? As if I had anything to do with Hugo’s murder!”
“I didn’t say that.” Lucy frowned. “I just meant…”
“Hi Lucy.” Annaliese walked up to them from the hallway.
“Hi Annaliese,” Lucy said. “Sophia and I were just talking.”
“I hear the memorial didn’t go very well.” Annaliese frowned. “Sorry to hear that.”
“Yes, well, some would say Hugo’s presence was certainly with us.” Sophia waved her hand and cringed.
“Here is the envelope we found.” Lucy held it out to Annaliese. “It was in one of the drawers.”
“I don’t know how it got left behind.” She shook her head. “Usually the crime scene team is very careful, but I guess anyone can have a bad day.”
“I guess so. But the important thing is you have it now. Do you think it will help with the case?”
“I’m not sure. But we’ll find out. Thanks Lucy. Good to see you, Chantelle.” Annaliese smiled at her.
“You’re welcome. I hope it helps.” As the three walked out of the cooking school together, Lucy made a decision. “You asked me if there was anyone I could think of that had problems with Hugo, remember?”
“Sure.” She paused beside her patrol car. “Did you think of someone?”
“Well, it’s not that I think either of these people were involved, but it’s plaguing my conscience not to mention it.”
“Just tell me, Lucy, if they’re not guilty there’s nothing to worry about, and if they are they deserve to be caught.”
“Yes, you’re right.” She looked over at Chantelle, who nodded. “Lauren, one of the students, she had some problems with Hugo. He apparently harassed her. He even spoke badly to her when she was in our class.”
“Interesting. Lauren Cahill?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
“We have her on our list to interview, but we haven’t gotten to her yet. I’ll move her up. And the other person?”
“Well, Sophia.” She glanced over her shoulder at the school. “I mentioned before that she seemed to have a problem with Hugo handing out the invitations to his cookbook launch, but she also seems to be trying really hard to put on a show since Hugo’s death. It could be nothing, I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ve known her for quite a while and from what I know she’s a good person.”
“Did she mention disliking Hugo?”
“No, she just seemed irritated when he handed out those invitations. Since then she’s just acting a little strange and she did find the body.”
“Okay, I’ll make a note of it. We’ve interviewed her a few times. Let me know if you think of anything else, all right?”
“I will.”
“Thanks.” Annaliese waved to both women then got into the patrol car and drove away.
“Feel better?” Chantelle patted her shoulder.
“Yes, yes actually I do.” She sighed. “I felt like I was keeping secrets.”
“Well, now the police can sort it out. Let’s get this stuff back to the patisserie and let Mom know what happened.”
“Good idea.”
Chapter 9
Lucy and Chantelle drove to the patisserie to find a line out the front door. “What’s happening here?” Chantelle’s eyes widened. She parked the car and both women ran in through the back door. In the front of the patisserie Jacqueline was trying to fill orders as fast as she could.
“I’m sorry, I’m a bit short-handed, please be patient.”
Lucy washed up, donned an apron, and rushed to the counter to join her mother. Chantelle soon followed after.
“Mom, what’s happening? A special sale?” Lucy asked.
“No. I guess since the memorial ended early and no one got their macarons they all came here to try some. Please tell me that you have some left from the memorial.”
“No, the sprinklers turned on and they all got wet.”
“Oh dear, I’m afraid we’re going to run out fast then.”
“Why don’t you use the ones we made for the wedding tomorrow, they just need filling, and you and Chantelle get some more batches going to replace them, I can handle the customers out here,” Lucy offered.
“Are you sure?” Jaqueline looked exhausted as she met Lucy’s eyes.
“Yes, don’t worry, Mom, I can do it.” Lucy took over filling a box and hurried to the register. As her mother and Chantelle disappeared into the back, Lucy began going through the line of customers. Most of them were unfamiliar to her. After several minutes, a woman walked up to the register. Lucy looked up to see that it was Lauren.
“Hi Lucy, I just have to have some of your macarons. Five please.”
“Sure, no problem, Lauren.” Her heart jumped into her throat. Could she tell that she’d said something to the police? Was the guilt written across her face? She hurried to get the macarons packed, then handed them over to Lauren. “No Charge.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I know we had that little misunderstanding and…”
“Don’t worry about that. I was just feeling extra sensitive. I’m looking forward to that class you offered.”
“Great, I’ll text you the details.”
“Thanks. I don’t want to hold you up.” Lauren hurried out of the shop and the next customer stepped up to the register. Lucy didn’t have much time to think as she helped the remainder of the customers. When Chantelle brought out another batch of macarons the line had dwindled down to just a few customers.
“Take a break!” Chantelle nudged her out of the way of the register. For the rest of the afternoon they swapped back and forth between the register and making macarons. When the flow of customers finally slowed down it was already time to close up.
“Well!” Jacqueline wiped her hands on a towel and yawned. “That was quite a day.”
“Yes it was.” Lucy finished closing up the register.
“It’s a good thing you girls showed up when you did. I was ready to call your father in to help.”
“Now that would have been funny.” Chantelle laughed.
“Oh, your dad can make a macaron, he just prefers not to.” She winked.
“Lucy, I’ll drop you off at home.” Chantelle picked up her keys.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything else?” Lucy picked up her purse.
“No, I’m fine. I can lock up. You two get home and rest. It’s been a long day for all of us,” Jaqueline said.
Chantelle dropped Lucy off in front of her house and Lucy walked up to the door. Only then did she remember that she’d left the two cats alone together and that she was going to introduce the orange cat to Chantelle. She braced herself as she opened the door. She expected to see curtains strewn across the floor, all of the dishes knocked out of the cabinets, and maybe even some food pulled down from the shelves. Instead she saw the house exactly as she’d left it. She didn’t hear any little feet either.
“Mia?” She looked around the dim living room. She wasn’t on her usual perch on the back of the couch. “Mia, kitty kitty, where are you?” She walked further into the house, putting down her purse along the way. The bedroom door was cracked open. She pushed it open the rest of the way and found Mia curled up on the pillows on her bed. “There you are you silly cat. I’m not used to you not greeting me. Are you still mad? Where’s the kitten?”
Mia lifted her head from the pillow and flicked her tail. When she did, Lucy saw a flash of orange.
“Mia! What did you do to the kitten?” Lucy rushed over and picked Mia up. Underneath her was the tiny orange kitten, snuggled deep into the pillow, and snoring. “Oh Mia, I think you took kitten sitting too literally.” She laughed as she snuggled her cat close. “Good job though, it seems you protected the house very well.” She carried Mia into the kitchen, then set her down as she got food out for her. The moment she popped the lid off the can, the orange cat tore into the kitchen and slid right into Mia. Lucy braced herself for hissing, but Mia just moved out of the way. “Oh, I see. You two have bonded.” She grinned. “I’m so happy to see that. Now, about your name little kitten. Maybe Mittens?” She smiled. “No, that’s silly. Maybe Honey?”
The orange cat pounced on her dish of food and began to devour it. “Maybe Goblin.” She laughed. “You certainly do a lot of gobbling!”
Mia picked at her food with a demure demeanor. Lucy couldn’t help but think that the older cat was trying to teach the young kitten proper manners. It seemed to her that Mia had finally decided to play the older sibling role. After the cats were fed she sat down at the computer and began to do a little more research on Sophia. The only time she could find that she and Hugo were connected was the cooking school. However, not long after Sophia’s line of dessert sauces were released, Hugo began to speak about having his own line of sauces. Perhaps since he was so well known, Sophia’s line didn’t do as well. Hugo’s fans might have resisted buying Sophia’s sauces, in hopes that Hugo’s would be better.
Lucy did her best to find out how Sophia’s sauces were doing. From what she could tell, they’d been selling very well. They had decent reviews. But they certainly didn’t stand out from any other sauces on the market. The ingredients she saw in Hugo’s recipes really stood out as unique. Who would have thought to add black pepper to chocolate? Who would have considered that ground fennel seeds could give caramel a boost? They were all rather strange combinations. She could only guess that they were also delicious.
After finding nothing more to be concerned with about Sophia, she decided to take a break and make dinner for herself. When she opened the refrigerator she realized that although she made sure she had cat food, there wasn’t much human food. She opened the freezer to see if there were any quick meals she could stick in the microwave. All that greeted her was a half-empty container of ice cream and some bags of frozen fruit. She didn’t really want to eat that for dinner. When her cell phone rang she was contemplating ordering food from one of the local pizza places. She saw that it was Jack, and hesitated to pick it up. Maybe she could handle talking on the phone a little better?
“Hello?”
“Hi Lucy. I’m free this evening, and I thought with everything going on, you might want to get out of the house and talk about it. Would you like to go to dinner?”
“Oh, I.” Her head spun.
“It’s okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, I just well, I uh.”
“Lucy really, I’ve made things awkward. I just thought, you and I could spend some time together as friends. I mean, not that you consider me your friend it’s just…”
“I do. I really do. Consider you my friend, that is.”
“Oh good. Because I think of you as one as well. So just a friendly dinner.”
She opened her freezer again and stared at the ice cream. “Okay. Yes. Let’s do that.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. All I have to eat is ice cream. Not that I eat ice cream all of the time. Just for dessert really, not every night of course. I just mean, I haven’t had a chance to go shopping.”
“Oh right, I understand. Annaliese keeps our fridge pretty stocked up, but she buys nothing but healthy stuff. Which is fine, I mean, some of the time. A man can only eat salad so often.”
“Yes, I guess you need your meat.” She laughed. Then gulped. “I mean, if you like meat. Not everyone likes meat. Some people don’t eat it at all
. Which is just fine.”
“Sure it is. I do like meat.”
Lucy slapped her hand against her forehead. She was not doing any better on the phone. “Okay well, can I meet you somewhere? Meet, you somewhere that has meat?” She laughed, then winced.
“Grissom’s?”
“Sure. Great. When?”
“Twenty minutes?”
“Wonderful. Okay. I’ll see you there.”
Lucy could barely breathe as she hung up the phone. What was she thinking? It was ridiculous to agree to go to dinner with Jack when she couldn’t keep her thoughts or words straight. What if she blurted out something completely embarrassing? What if? It was almost guaranteed to happen. She groaned and headed to her room. What would she wear? Did she dress nice? Or would that indicate that she had feelings for him? If she didn’t dress up at all, would he be offended? After a few minutes of fretting she chose jeans and a sweater. It was casual, but nice enough. She texted Chantelle to tell her where she was going. She hoped to get an encouraging response in reply, but she received nothing. Lucy knew that she had a meeting at Greg’s school so she wasn’t surprised.
Lucy brushed her hair, her teeth, and inspected her face for anything embarrassing. When she thought she was safe she picked up her purse and headed for the door. The cats had been fed and were getting along. That was one thing to feel positive about. What Jack said about a friendship between them was true as well. She respected him, and his opinion. He might even have a fresh perspective on Hugo’s death that would make things clearer to her. She just hoped that she didn’t make a fool of herself and managed to have a conversation with him without stumbling over her words.
Chapter 10
Lucy drove to the restaurant and practiced small talk along the way.
“It’s so nice to see you, Jack. I’m glad we’re doing this, too. Yes, absolutely, nothing but friendship. Please, tell me more about yourself. What do you and Annaliese like to do together? Have you seen any movies lately? What kind of books do you read?” She cleared her throat. “What if he doesn’t read, Lucy, that’s a stupid question. Then again he seems like the type to read. He seems so intelligent. And handsome.” She sighed and rested her head back against the seat of the car. “So very handsome.” She turned into the restaurant and saw that his car was already parked there. “Okay Lucy. Don’t make a fool of yourself. Keep it calm. He’s just another human being. You’re just a human being. Don’t trip over anything, don’t spill anything, and for the love of all that is good on Earth, do not kiss him. No matter what.”