by Tonya Kappes
“It looks great so far,” I assured my friend.
The door between the kitchen and the dining room swung open and smacked up against the wall. The bang got everyone’s attention real fast. The chatter among the guests stopped and all eyes watched as the man who emerged from the kitchen stalked over to Ben.
“I can’t work in this atmosphere.” The man, wearing a white chef jacket, dragged a white cap off of his head. His brown hair was matted down and wet from sweat. “This is not how I imagined this would be. I expected a quiet work environment for perfection. Not destruction. I cannot and will not work in this...this mess!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Poppa ghost himself gone.
“Yes, you will.” Ben’s face turned crimson with fury. “You’re the one who said you’d love to do the job since we knew each other and graduated from culinary school together. You jumped at the chance. You signed a contract. I paid you upfront and you won’t make a fool out of this diner or me. You and I both know you need this job, so you aren’t going anywhere. Do you understand?” Ben jabbed the man in between his shoulder and collarbone. The man took a step back in a vicious jerk. His eyes narrowed to crinkled slits.
The man stomped off in the direction of the kitchen.
Ben offered us an apology. “I had to hire Mundy to run the diner while I took care of the construction. I can’t be everything around here.”
Ben Harrison had a couple of locals that helped in the diner here and there, mainly high school kids to bus and clean, but otherwise, it was just him running the entire place. He had done all the cooking up until now.
“This is why I’ve always been hesitant to hire people.” He offered an apologetic smile.
“No worries, man.” Finn shrugged it off. “This Frank seems to be a big deal. I’m sure everyone is a little tense today.”
My focus was on Ben. I’d known him all my life and I’d never seen him get so angry.
“Now, what is this about you not being hungry?” Ben asked and changed the subject.
“I’m just going to have my coffee for now.” I wrapped my hand around one of the white ceramic mugs to warm them from the chill of nerves that were shooting through my body.
“Fine.” Finn handed the new menu back to Ben. “I’m going to have the Cottonwood special.”
“Great choice.” Ben took the menu. “It’s a new one, along with the hot brown for supper. You’ll have to come back tomorrow during the tasting so the diner will be full when Frank Von Lee is here. I want a good showing, ya know.”
“Absolutely,” Finn agreed. I nodded too.
“By the looks of this morning, you’re going to have standing room only.” I was proud of my friend. He’d come a long way from the grilled cheese we’d made in my mama’s kitchen when we were in high school and pulling all-nighters studying.
“Two more won’t hurt,” he said.
After a few more minutes of chitchat, Ben headed back to the cranky new chef, leaving Finn and me alone. Finn waited until Ben walked off to reach across the table and touch my hand. The warmth of his touch made me tingle. My pulse quickened and my tear ducts swelled.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You look like you’re in another world.”
Another world? The afterlife. My stomach churned. If only Finn knew about Poppa.
I licked my lips. Was it time I told my real partner about my ghost partner? Before I could say a word, his cell phone buzzed on the table. He pulled his hand off mine and I watched as he picked it up to look at the number.
“I’m sorry.” Finn stood up. “I need to take this.” A look of irritation washed over his face after he pressed the phone up to his ear and headed out of the diner to talk in private.
I blinked the tears from my eyes and flipped my attention to my mama. Edna’s eye was pressed up against her camera, clicking away as Mama posed in the strangest positions with an empty casserole dish, a spatula, and a big ole smile on her face.
Poppa appeared next to Mama. I covered my mouth with my hand and laughed, watching him mimic Mama. It was so good to see him, but I was also waiting for the other shoe to drop when Poppa came and a crime hadn’t been reported.
“Sorry about that.” Finn stood next to his chair.
“Cottonwood special.” Ben sat the plate in front of Finn.
My mouth watered at the sight of the special. The Cottonwood special was goetta sausage, cheddar jack cheese, and sautéed onions baked in a mini cast-iron skillet with a fried egg on top.
“That was my contractor.” Finn sat back down. “I’m having the hardest time getting the construction done on the house. This is the second time they’ve canceled.” Finn shook his head.
The house Finn had bought from Lonnie Lemar, my old deputy, had been a rental property for Lonnie. Like most rentals, there was a lot of work that needed to be done after the tenants moved out. Finn decided to put a little addition on the back, connecting the family room and kitchen into one big room.
“They’ve been doing this addition for months now. I’m going to have to find someone else.” He let out a long exhausted sigh. “He said he’s too busy to finish the job but still wants to be paid for what they’ve done.”
“Who did you use?” Ben asked and set down a to-go cup of coffee on the table for me. It was so nice to have a good friend who knew exactly what I needed.
“Danny Shane.” The local building company consisted of Danny and his three sons. Finn rolled his eyes.
“Yeah. Damn shame, ain’t it? His family has spent decades building up their construction business. Danny takes over and they go to hell in a hand basket,” Ben said, catching my attention. “I fired him a couple of days ago, and luckily these guys were in here when it happened and they do construction, so I hired them and they’re getting it done.” Ben shook a finger at me. “You know what, I’m glad I fired him. Someone told me Danny said my food gave him food poisoning. Jerk.”
Ben had never been so on edge. It had to be because of the stress of the food critic’s visit. After all, it would be his diner that would take the hit, not necessarily Mama. Her ego might be bruised if she wasn’t picked. That’d be on me to listen to for years.
“A couple of days ago?” Finn chuckled. “They shouldn’t be busy then and should’ve been able to come by the house.”
“Riley,” Ben hollered and snapped his wrist in a wave at one of the construction guys to come over. “Finn Vincent, this is Riley Titan. Amazing man who did all this work.”
The two men shook hands.
“Riley, Finn is in the same boat I was in with the same contractor. Do you think you can run over to his house on Broadway and take a look at his addition?” Ben asked.
“I’m not going to do this!” the chef screamed from the pass-through window into the diner. He flung the towel off his shoulder and threw it down.
“I’m going to knock him in the head with a rolling pin.” Ben’s jaw tensed. He turned on a dime and stalked back to the kitchen.
“Is it okay if I head over tonight?” Riley asked.
He was a little overweight and sweat beaded along his forehead under his shaggy head of hair. He looked around thirty and a little too young to be so out of shape.
“After six is great.” Finn wrote down his address on a paper napkin. After Riley walked away, Finn said, “I guess I better go visit Danny and settle up on what I owe him.”
“Yeah. I better go make my rounds.” I looked down at Duke. “Ready, Duke?”
He jumped to his feet, eager to go. He loved going for rides.
“I’ll talk to you soon.” Finn gave me a kiss goodbye and Duke a good scratch behind his ear before he left.
On my way out the door, I glanced back at Mama. Her lips were flapping a mile a minute as Edna wrote just as fast. Poppa was nowhere to be seen. Even as my foot stepped over the threshold, the sound o
f pans banging around and yelling came from the kitchen.
“I’m telling you that I’m not going to work in this noise. It hinders my creative flow and I’m not going to do it. Contract or not!” Mundy, the temporary chef, shuffled backwards in front of the pass-through kitchen window.
When I saw Ben practically chasing him, I hurried back through the diner, but not without noticing everyone was either sitting and watching or walking back to see what was going on.
Even Mama’s interview had come to a halt. Duke had already made it to the kitchen before I’d even gotten close. It wasn’t unusual for my furry sidekick to rush in before me. He’d even taken a bullet for me a few months ago and got a medal from the town because of it.
“All right. Break it up.” I pushed through the door to find Mundy jabbing a big sharp knife towards Ben.
Riley was hanging out on top of the ladder with a DeWalt drill in his hand where he’d been hanging the new pot holder over the island. Slowly he eased down each rung and ducked back into the diner. I didn’t blame him. The knife Mundy was swinging at Ben could possibly fly out of the crazed man’s hand, and who knew where it’d land.
Neither man bothered to look at me. Duke tried to get between them because he knew they couldn’t resist a cute dog.
“You will hold up your end of the deal!” Ben screamed back at him. His jaw tensed, his fist balled at his side. I could feel the anger coming from him. Then he released a finger to swipe it across Duke’s head because Duke wouldn’t stop nudging his leg.
Ben took the tea towel off his shoulder and wound it around his hand as he tried to grab the knife. Duke stuck to him like a booger on a finger. “Duke, shoo.”
Ben lifted his leg to try to get Duke to move, but the dog didn’t budge. It was like he knew that Ben needed to calm down, just like I knew he had to knock it off.
“All right!” I had to scream over the two men again. “That’s it. Break it up.” I did that whole cop stance thing with my legs apart and rested my hand on the butt of my gun nestled in my belt holster. “I’m thinking this employment is over or I can take both of you to the office.”
Not that I had to go far. My office was just a few doors down in the back room of Cowboy’s Catfish. If I did have to haul them down, I really wasn’t sure what I’d do with one of them since we only had one cell. There wasn’t any way they’d be able to stay in there. They’d for sure kill each other. Another murder wasn’t anything I, or Cottonwood, needed.
Mundy looked at me, his nostrils flaring with his deep inhale. His eyes slid over to Ben, who was still leveling a death stare at the poor man. His chest heaved up and down, and his mouth twitched.
Mundy set the knife down on the counter and put his hands in the air.
“I don’t want no trouble. I just want to leave,” he said to me.
“Fine. If you have any belongings, grab them and we’ll wait right here.” I was glad to see things come to an end without someone getting a finger chopped off.
“That’s my knife.” He went to get it, but I made an eh-eh noise to shoo him away. “Chefs carry their own knives. Besides, I wouldn’t’ve wasted a good sharpened knife on the likes of him.” The right corner of his lip snarled.
Ben didn’t move, even when Duke tried to get him to rub his head. Duke had even gone as far as putting the top of his head in Ben’s dangling hand, but Ben was stiff.
The chef didn’t take long. He had a cloth bag rolled up in his hands with his knives in it.
“I swear you are dead,” Ben said through gritted teeth when the chef walked past him to get out of the diner. “No one in this industry will hire you ever again.”
Ben couldn’t leave well enough alone.
The chef stopped so they were shoulder to shoulder. His chin glided toward Ben. Their eyes met. I took a step forward, but the chef hocked a big loogie at Ben’s feet before he walked out.
The clicks from Edna’s fancy camera clicked at rapid speed. She sure did have a front-page story for tomorrow’s edition.
“Sonofa…” Ben grumbled. He took off his hat and threw it on the ground.
“What is wrong with you?” I interrupted him. “We’ve known each other since we were knee-high babies and I’ve never seen you act like such a loon.”
He dragged the toe of his shoe back and forth before he bent down and picked up his hat. Duke saw this as his opportunity to get in a lick since Ben was at his eye level. Ben’s hand finally gave in to the very determined bloodhound. Duke stretched out in delight with each scratch of Ben’s nails.
He shook his head and dragged his hand up to his hair, raking his fingers through it.
The stress had taken a toll on him. The wrinkles next to his eyes had deepened. The bags under his eyes had darkened.
“It just so happened that Mundy called me yesterday right after I’d made a decision to hire someone while I took the extra time to get the work on the diner completed. No sooner did I get off the phone with him than the Culinary Channel called to let me know Frank was coming today. Mundy was working up at Le Fork where we’d met in school. I called him back and offered him the job with a contract. Sight unseen, he took the job and showed up here today.” He threw his hands up in the air. “He was always a great chef. I even made it easy on him by letting him have free creative expression while Viv and I focused on her pot pie.”
“Now it’s over and we need to move on. I’m sure you’ll think of something. You always do.” I could tell by the expression on his face that he didn’t give two cents what I was saying. “He did seem like a hot head, so maybe it’s a good thing he’s gone before Frank gets here.”
That sounded like a bright side to me.
While Ben had been doing his culinary thing, I was off to the police academy. During that time I rarely kept up with my old friend from high school. I just wanted to get through my training and get out. It wasn’t until Poppa died that I’d decided to come back, which was when I’d reconnected with my childhood friends.
“He can go back to Le Fork up in Lexington. Granted, Ben’s is a step down from his big restaurant dreams.” Ben shook his head. “I knew better. He’s ruined every place he’s ever gone. I was giving him a shot.”
“Some people just don’t know a good thing when they see one. Plus, how well can he cook your cornbread?” I tried to offer sympathy with my voice. Southern cooking truly was an art form. Some people thought we just threw things in a fryer. Not true. It was the golden crisp, just enough lard, and the perfect seasonings that made my mouth water with every dish at Ben’s.
“What am I going to do with just a few hours left before Frank Von Lee gets here?” Ben asked.
I would’ve offered my services, but no one in Cottonwood wanted a frozen dinner from the Dixon’s Foodtown.
My phone chirped a text. It was from Jolee Fischer, my best friend and Ben’s girlfriend.
“I need a friend to talk to. Ben’s all nuts and crazy over this Frank thing and we’ve not spent any time together.”
“I think I just solved your chef problem.” I quickly texted Jolee, “Where are you?”
She replied, “On my way to park the food truck at Lulu’s.”
Jolee owned the only food truck in Cottonwood, On The Run. Every day she parked her truck in different locations around the city. Most mornings she parked in front of Lulu’s Boutique on the north side of town so the people going to work in town could stop for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee.
“Can you stop by Ben’s Diner first?” I wrote.
“Sure thing.”
“What do you mean you think you solved my problem?” Ben asked.
It was a perfect solution. “Think about it. Jolee and you haven’t been spending a lot of time together. She would love to help you out. She can get Viola White and Myrna Savage to take over since they were the runners-up against Mama.”
It was a brilliant idea.
“It’s only two days that Frank will be here.” I continued to sell him on the idea. “You know she can cook good food too. And without you watching over her.”
“I think this might work.” The smiling Ben I’d known all my life appeared before me with a very thankful face. “One more thing. Can you come here this afternoon and do crowd control? According to the latest phone call, Frank wants to come here after he checks in and talk to me and Viv.”
“No problem. I’ll be back in a few hours.” I patted my leg for Duke to come. “Jolee will be here in a minute. You can discuss the situation with her because I’ve got to do my morning drive-bys.”
Duke and I headed out the door. My shoulders were back and I was confident that I’d just kept the peace once again in Cottonwood. Though there was the one little issue that had just showed up. Poppa.
Chapter Three
After doing my morning rounds and stopping to say hello to a few of the citizens walking around, I headed on back to the office to see what was going on there. All seemed to be quiet and I’d not seen hide nor hair of Poppa.
Betty Murphy, my office clerk and dispatch operator, was busy filing and answering the phones. I typed a little report up about what had gone on at Ben’s Diner just in case it came back to bite me in the hiney. One aspect of the sheriff’s job was to document everything. This would be classified as disturbing the peace.
The dispatch phone rang. Betty scurried over to answer it, probably thankful for the distraction from answering any more of my questions. I flipped Duke a treat from the jar that sat on my desk.
“Dispatch, how can I help you?” Betty asked in her sweet southern drawl. “Why, hello, Viv.”
My head jerked up.
I waved my hands in the air and shook my head at Betty. She looked up at me and smiled. “I’m not here,” I whispered.
“Why, she sure is here. No, she’s not busy at all. Hold on.” Betty clicked the hold button. “Sheriff, your mama is on line one.”