After I’d assured the officer that I was uninjured, he wanted me to show him where I’d left Kevin. Somehow, I was able to help him retrace the path I’d taken. “There! That’s the door I came out of!” The officer radioed in the address. Within what felt like seconds, three more police cars appeared and screeched to a halt in front of the garage.
“Wait here!” My savior jumped out of the vehicle and joined his fellow officers while I waited to see Kevin appear in handcuffs.
An ambulance arrived. The officer who had picked me up returned to the cruiser. I rolled down the window. “He’s not there? He got away?” I cried in frustration.
The officer smiled. “No. He’s there. But he can’t walk. You got him pretty good. We had to call an ambulance for him.”
The police eventually drove me to Simmer. All I wanted was to be with Josh, the only person who could make me feel truly safe. On the way, I detailed what Kevin had done to me and explained that he was the person who had murdered Leandra. Explaining his motive was awkward, of course. I used the phrase disfigured manhood.
Two cruisers were outside Simmer, and Josh stood out front with a policewoman. He had both hands on his head and was talking quickly. When he saw me step out of the car, he dropped his hands, rushed to me, and engulfed me a tight, protective hug. “Oh, baby! Thank God you’re okay! That bastard!”
I sobbed in Josh’s arms and looked up only when I began to stop shaking. “I’m fine, Josh. I’m going to be fine.”
NINETEEN
By Friday afternoon I had not only survived Kevin’s abduction but had made it through finals. After misdiagnosing Owen, I mistrusted my judgment while I was taking the DSM exam. I think I did well, but I probably didn’t ace it. Josh had stayed over every night and was feeding me constantly. I’d probably gained five pounds a day.
I was seated with Adrianna and Owen inside Simmer. The weather was cool this afternoon, so we’d forgone the patio in favor of a table in the dining room. Officially, the restaurant was between lunch and dinner service, but Josh had filled our table with plates of food. His latest creation was running as a special: a phenomenal spaghetti and lobster with a fantastic green and red tomato sauce, flavored with saffron, ginger, and fennel, and then topped with fresh basil. Nothing made for more perfect comfort food than a steaming bowl of pasta, and this one was outstanding. I breathed in the aroma and sighed before twirling my fork in the spaghetti and scooping up a generous bite of lobster meat.
“Let me see your ring again,” I said to Adrianna. She proudly held out her hand to show a beautifully simple silver ring with a pale olive stone.
“It’s the baby’s birthstone,” she said with a grin. “It’s called peridot.”
“I know.” I smiled at her. She had told me the same thing about forty times in the past twenty-four hours. “It’s just beautiful.”
Adrianna was happier with the inexpensive ring than she’d have been with the one that Owen had had in mind. One of the reasons that my dear deluded friend had bought a truck for his new fish-delivery job had been to increase his commission: he’d wanted to be able to make payments on a pricey diamond solitaire engagement ring. Adrianna had now convinced him to sell his truck when the police returned it and to use one of the company’s instead. But I’d also learned that Leandra had, in fact, known about Owen’s four-wheel purchase, and she had been taunting him her last night at Simmer simply because she was, as Belita and others had put it, a bitch.
“I wish I could give you the ring you deserve, but I guess this will do for now,” Owen said sadly. “I’m sorry about everything. I really apologize to both of you for acting like such a jackass. I just want to be able to take care of you and the baby, Ade, and I thought you’d feel better if you thought I had a lot of big restaurant accounts. It’s just taking longer than I thought it would to build up business. Do you know how much this baby is going to cost? When Ade stays home next year, I’ll be the only person supporting us, and I guess the stress got to me.”
I hadn’t told either of my good friends that I’d suspected Owen of being involved with Leandra. The notion was so stupendously dumb! And I’d sworn Josh to secrecy. I took Owen’s hand. “Wipe that sheepish look off your face. We understand why you lied. And Adrianna let you have it pretty good. So, you probably learned a lesson, right?”
Owen’s eyes widened. “Our child is going to learn quickly not to mess with Mommy, that’s for sure!”
Adrianna took his other hand. “Honey, we’ll work it out. Plenty of people have babies when only one parent is working. Besides, do you know day care would be over a thousand dollars a month? That is crazy. And it would eat up my income anyhow. Plus, I want to be home for a while with the little one” She gave me a knowing look.
Josh and Snacker came to the table, and Josh placed yet another dish on the table. This one was a deep bowl piled high with clams and mussels. Aromatic steam rose from the top. The chefs sat down, and I was happy to see no overt displays of malice from either Owen or Snacker.
“Chloe, are you getting enough to eat?” Josh asked with concern.
I looked at my boyfriend with disbelief. “More food? Josh, seriously, you have to stop hovering over me! I promise you that I am fine. I’ve eaten enough for me, Ade, and her baby. But thank you. Everything is as good as ever.”
Josh scooted his chair close to me and draped his arm over my shoulder. “Just making sure. Here, try this. It’s clams and mussels cooked with a spicy orange bouillon. A chef I went to school with stole my idea for this and put it on his menu, but this is the original dish. And a better one.” He spoon-fed me some of the broth. “I brought enough for all of you, obviously.”
“Josh isn’t going to stop feeding you until you puke,” Snacker added indelicately.
The bouillon was liquid heaven. I pulled some clams and mussels from their shells and dunked them into the broth. Perfect!
Wade sauntered through the front door. I was convinced that his hair had grown an inch higher in the past few days. Blythe saw him come in, too, and hurried over to our table. “He just came from seeing Kevin.”
I bristled at the sound of that man’s name. Having confessed to Leandra’s murder, he was safely locked in jail, but none of us knew exactly what had transpired on the night of the crime.
“Come here, Wade! What did that asshole have to say for himself?” growled Josh.
Wade stood next to our group. “That night, Kevin and I were closing together, remember? We were drinking a little while we were cleaning up and cashing out the registers. Leandra was with us for a while, but then she left. Kevin and I finished closing not long after that and locked up together and went our separate ways. It turns out Leandra came back because she wanted to get some stuff that wouldn’t fit in her purse.” Josh raised his eyebrows at Blythe, who looked down in her lap.
Wade continued. “She ran into Kevin on the street, and they went back in the restaurant together. I guess she figured that Kevin was stealing, too, so he wouldn’t care. Apparently, he’d had a lot more to drink than I thought, and he came on to her. For whatever drunk, horny reason, he cornered her and unzipped his pants. Kevin said that Leandra ridiculed him beyond reason, and it was completely humiliating. Then she told him exactly what Penelope from the gallery would think of him.”
“And he snapped,” I finished for Wade. “Right?”
Wade nodded and sighed. “Yeah.”
Blythe and I understood, of course. Everyone else looked confused. “What could she have said that was so humiliating?” Adrianna wondered aloud.
I let Blythe reveal Kevin’s secret embarrassment. The sound of ohhh echoed through the room. The amazing thing, I thought, was that if Kevin had just waited to be in a relationship with someone caring and understanding, he wouldn’t have had a problem. Now that I was safely out of the confines of the fish truck, a small part of me actually felt sad for Kevin. I wondered whether the intense pressure of Newbury Street, with its emphasis on physical perfection, had made
his secret all the more mortifying. How unposh to have a problem like his!
Wade continued. “Ahem, yes. I don’t know specifically what Leandra said, but it was apparently pretty vicious. Kevin said he just went apeshit and, without thinking, pulled his apron off and strangled her behind the bar. He didn’t even realize what he was doing. He said he was as surprised as anybody that he killed Leandra. He carried her body out to the alley, thinking he’d throw her in the Dumpster, but Owen’s truck was there, so he put her in. He wasn’t thinking very clearly because he was so drunk, but he did realize that putting her there might make it look like somebody else killed her. Then he just locked up the restaurant and left. When he woke up the next morning, he thought maybe he should move her out of the truck, but by then, it was too late. Chloe and Owen had already found Leandra’s body.”
I’d been right that Kevin had been afraid that I’d ruin any chance he had with Penelope. He threw me into the truck and drove me to what I learned was his home. He parked the truck in his own garage. Kevin always took the bus to work. Consequently, his car had been at his house. He sped back to Simmer, where he told people that he’d been taking his break and had no idea where I was. Because Kevin wanted to get back to me before somebody heard me, he intentionally burned himself on the espresso machine and left work, supposedly to go to the emergency room. But he went back home for me.
Owen and Adrianna’s fight had gone on for so long that Josh eventually told them to take it outside. When they did, they realized that Owen’s company truck was gone. It soon became obvious that I was missing as well. Josh called my cell to find out where I’d gone and heard my phone ring in his office. By that time, Kevin had left, supposedly to attend to his burn, but Josh realized that something was dreadfully wrong. My boyfriend called the police, who had him pull Kevin’s home address from the office. My 911 call came moments before Josh’s call, but it eased my mind a bit to know there would have been backup if I’d needed it.
“How’s Gavin doing with all of this?” I asked of the Simmer employees. “Has it helped him at all to know that Leandra’s killer is in jail?”
“Yes and no,” said Wade. “He’s hardly been in here since Kevin was arrested. Of course, he’s glad that Kevin was caught, but he also feels responsible. Like he should have been able to predict that Kevin was going to flip out. He might be down one bartender, but at least he has you two holding down the fort,” Wade said to Josh and Snacker. “You guys are the best.”
Josh opened his mouth. I kicked his foot under the table.
“Oh, and Gavin is working on a new girlfriend already. Did you guys know he asked Penelope out?”
“Oh, God, that’s so tacky,” said Snacker.
“I have to work on finding a replacement for Kevin, so I’ll catch you all later.” Wade started to walk away. I was glad to be done talking about Kevin. “Oh, Chloe? Did you know you fractured Kevin’s left leg? Not bad.” He winked and left us.
Josh and Snacker stayed while Ade, Owen, and I finished eating. Snacker and Owen had apparently called a truce: neither of them threw forks at the other. Blythe leaned in to me. I hoped that she didn’t have another piece of unwelcome anatomical information to convey about another of Simmer’s employees. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
I followed Blythe to the bar. She took a deep breath. “I talked to Josh earlier today, and I wanted to talk to you, too. You know that I’ve been stealing from the restaurant and selling the things on eBay.”
“Did Josh ask you about that?”
“Yes, he did.” Blythe had the decency not to pretend that she was confessing on her own. “I have no excuse. I know I said that everyone steals, but I really took it too far. I needed money for school and for bills. I’ve been getting crappy shifts here, and I got desperate. Obviously, I knew what I was doing was wrong and stupid, but I didn’t realize that the knives I took were Josh’s. I thought they were the restaurant’s and the loss would come out of Gavin’s too-deep pockets. Not that it’s a good excuse, but call me Robin Hood. I’m broke, and it seemed like a basically harmless way to get some cash. Just so you know, I gave Josh back everything I took. Nothing sold on eBay yet, so it’s all been returned.” She shook her head at her own behavior. “I don’t know what else to say. I’m sincerely sorry for being so thoughtless and awful!”
Blythe did look sorry, and I appreciated it that she was speaking to me directly about what she had done. “You still have a job, though?”
“Josh made me swear up and down that it wouldn’t happen again and threatened to make me eat cayenne cookies if I even glanced at his cooking equipment!” She smiled. “So I promised.”
“What about Snacker? Have you talked to him?”
“He’s next. I know he’s a little wild, but I do like him. I think he likes me, but I don’t know what will happen after I tell him. He and Josh seem pretty tight.”
“They are. But if Josh hasn’t booted you out of here, you might have a chance.” I started back to the table but then turned around to Blythe. “And that peacoat better arrive soon, or Adrianna and I are going to give you negative feedback on eBay.”
I heard a gasp. “That was you two?”
I slid back into the crook of Josh’s arm. “Everything okay, babe?” he asked with concern.
I sent Snacker off to talk to Blythe and popped another bite of lobster into my mouth. “A little stuffed, but I’m good. Hey, have you two picked a wedding date yet?”
Adrianna shook her head. “No. I don’t think we want to do a big wedding, anyway. Maybe something simple this summer before the baby is born.”
I turned to my boyfriend. “Josh, you can cater it!”
“Absolutely. I’ll do whatever the beautiful bride wants.”
And then my gorgeous, wonderful chef looked at me. “You know, you’d make a beautiful bride, too.”
Turn the page to continue reading from the Gourmet Girl Mysteries
ONE
I peeked in the rearview mirror of my car, touched up my lip gloss, and ran my hands through my hair. I was, after all, going to be on television, so I had every excuse in the world to double-check my appearance. Okay, well, it was actually my boyfriend, Josh, who was going to be on television. Still, I was going to be in the vicinity of the taping of a television show, and if the camera just so happened to find its way to me, I had to be prepared. My hair disagreed; far from behaving itself, it was doing everything it could to fight the anti-frizz and straightening products that I had slathered on this morning. I got out of the car, slammed the door, and cursed Boston’s triple-H weather: hazy, hot, humid. I should’ve taken my friend Adrianna’s advice about wearing my hair curly. I had taken her advice, however, about wearing a cute, if uncomfortable, outfit. I tugged at the hem of my lime green and sky blue retro-print dress and tried to smooth out the wrinkles that had developed during the drive. And these darn toeless pumps that matched the green in the dress were going to be hell; I could already feel my big toe whining about being squashed. You have to suffer to be beautiful, you have to suffer to be beautiful, I repeated to myself.
The parking lot of the upscale grocery store, Natural High, was moderately full for four o’clock on a Monday afternoon in late August. I was there—on location, as I liked to think of it—because Josh had been invited to participate in a local cable reality TV show called Chefly Yours. I was tagging along, but Josh was one of three local chefs competing to win the prize of starring in a new eight-part cooking show. The other two contestants were Josh’s friend Digger and a woman named Marlee. Chefly Yours was scheduled to have nine episodes, three for each chef, with the contestants competing in rotation. Josh, Digger, and Marlee had each filmed one episode. Today was Josh’s second turn. When all nine episodes had aired, viewers were going to call in to vote for the winner. Each episode followed the chef contestant into a grocery store, where the chef approached a shopper and persuaded the surprised stranger to participate in the show. The chef then selected and bought food and
accompanied the shopper home to cook a gourmet meal. The hope was that the chosen shopper would have a spouse or partner at home, an unsuspecting person who’d provide moments of drama by expressing astonished delight—or filmworthy rage, maybe—when the TV crew burst in. Crew: considering that the cable station, Boston 17, provided one producer-director, Robin, and one cameraman, Nelson, the term struck me as a bit generous. Also, the premise of Chefly Yours hit me as disconcertingly similar to the premise of a big-time national program hosted by a hot Australian chef, but when I’d told Josh that Robin was copycatting, he’d brushed me off.
Still, my boyfriend’s first episode had gone well in spite of an unexpected challenge. Because the “lucky shopper,” as Robin called her, turned out to have numerous food allergies, Josh had been forced to cook an incredibly simple seared fish fillet with practically no seasoning. To his credit, instead of throwing up his hands in frustration, he had used the episode to showcase his technical culinary skills, and he’d taught his shopper and the audience how to break down a whole fish and cook it perfectly. Nonetheless, I was hoping that today he’d find a truly adventurous eater. I hadn’t been present for the taping of Josh’s first show. When Robin had given me permission to watch today’s taping, she’d made me swear that I wouldn’t make Josh nervous. I’d given her my promise.
The location, Natural High, was an elite market in the Boston suburb of Fairfield, which our local papers always described as the wealthiest community in Massachusetts. As the store’s name suggested, its specialty was organic produce, but it also sold fresh meat and seafood. As the automatic doors opened and I stepped in, I felt a surge of irritation at the show for what was obviously a search for wealthy guest shoppers. It seemed to me that the people for whom it would be a big treat to take a chef home were middle-income and low-income shoppers at ordinary supermarkets. The station, however, evidently preferred to have a good chance of shooting in a lavish-looking house with a luxurious, well-equipped kitchen. I consoled myself with the thought that Natural High did have a few advantages. The butcher at the meat counter, a guy named Willie, was the brother of my friend Owen, so at least Willie would get some airtime, and Josh was hoping to stop at a nearby cheese and wine shop run by Owen and Willie’s brother Evan.
The Gourmet Girl Mysteries, Volume 1 Page 62