by Sandi Scott
Ryan laughed. “I swear she looks smug, like she knows she found something when we didn't. Sometimes, I think that she's smarter than we are and that she knows it.”
“Whatcha got there, Diz?” Ashley reached down to take the object. “Ryan, look—it's a straw hat. Ortiz said that the guy he saw was wearing some kind of funny straw hat.” She tried not to get too excited, but she felt that tugging at the back of her mind again; there was definitely something significant about the hat.
“It sure is funny-looking,” Ryan remarked. “I'll bet it covered the guy's whole face; no way he got any sunburn that day. Do you think it belongs to the killer? Why would it still be here?”
She frowned. “I don't know. Maybe it fell off when he hit Green, and then he panicked and left without looking for it. I've seen that hat before, though; I just can't place it.”
“Bring it along, and let's go find a place to eat and strategize,” he said. “I have a good feeling about this; I think we're getting close to the answers we need. And I’m hungry.”
Ashley laughed, “Strategize? Really? All of a sudden, you sound all secret-agent-on-a-mission! That's okay, though; I'm starving. Let's get some food and make some plans.”
CHAPTER 16
“Patty, do you need a coffee refill yet?” Ashley smiled at her friend as they prepared for Patty's lunchtime catering job. “I'm pouring, if you're ready!”
“Oh, heavens, yes! I could use the whole pot this morning! Why am I always running low on energy on the days I need it most?” Patty held out a greedy hand as Ashley refilled both mugs.
“I don't know the answer, but I do know the feeling. What do you need me to do next? The Paris-Brests are in the cooler.” Ashley didn't mention that she'd scooped up the leftover praline cream for a decadent breakfast. “The macaroons are in the oven, and the filling is ready when the cookies are cool enough.”
“Okay, that's awesome! Can you peel and dice the potatoes? We'll mix the egg yolks and seasonings in as soon as they're tender, and then can you pipe them out for pommes duchesse? You are so much better with the piping bag than I am!” Patty winked at her friend
“Pfft! You just don't like making the rosettes; they don't take that much skill with the bag! But yeah, I'll get the potatoes started boiling. What else are you serving?” Ashley laughed at Patty's ulterior motive in complimenting her.
“We'll have grilled chicken breasts with a honey Dijon sauce, the potatoes and asparagus with a buttered crumb topping. Starters will be sweet garlic soup and a spinach, bacon and mandarin orange salad. I need to make the dressing for that one still.”
Ashley's mouth began to water as her stomach grumbled its approval of the menu. “Yum! That sounds amazing. Is there prepared soup in the freezer? I can get that started thawing and fry up the bacon while the potatoes are boiling. And what's in the soup? I don't think I've had that one yet, and it sounds delicious.”
“Perfect! Yes, I made up the soup last week, so we should have plenty. It's got six cloves of roasted garlic mixed with butter and flour to make a roux. When that was a pretty golden color, I added basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper, and chicken stock. I was thinking about asiago croutons to top it. Anyway, once it's thawed, we can heat it up at the venue instead of trying to transport it hot.” Patty looked past Ashley, and her face broke into a huge smile. “I think I'll try a new dressing recipe with orange juice, orange zest, a little mint, and olive oil. What do you think?”
“Oh, yeah! That sounds like a perfect match for the oranges in the salad. How about a few slices of red onion in the salad, too?” Patty nodded, but she was interrupted before she could say anything.
“Good morning, ladies! And how are the most beautiful chefs in Seagrass this beautiful morning?” boomed a deep male voice. Ashley turned to see Smoke Daddy Lee coming through the back door to the kitchen, shaking water from his Stetson.
“You old fool! It's pouring rain out there,” scolded Patty, still smiling. “Beautiful day, my foot!”
“Ah, darlin', anytime I wake up still breathing, it's a beautiful day, and it's even better when I get to spend time with my favorite people.” Smoke Daddy's face had that aw-shucks grin that had made women forgive men for almost anything since the beginning of time.
They all laughed, and Ashley asked, “What brings you out to our kitchens on a wet summer morning?”
“I invited him to come down and help get things ready for the luncheon. I figured we could use the extra hands for carrying food to the van and into the hall, if not before then.” Ashley thought that seemed a little odd, especially when she noticed that Patty was blushing as she looked down at the bowl of sauce she was mixing.
“So, put me to work, ladies. What do you need me to do first?” Smoke Daddy winked at Patty, making her blush even more.
“Why don't you mix up a batch of your yeast rolls? Those would be the perfect finish to our menu,” Patty answered. “Then, maybe you could wash the spinach and finish up the salad?”
Smoke Daddy nodded and picked up a large mixing bowl, carrying it with him for gathering flour, yeast, and the other ingredients for his “top secret” roll recipe. He seemed to know his way around their kitchen surprisingly well without having to ask where to find things.
They all worked together for the next couple of hours, sharing funny stories about restaurant and catering fiascos.
Patty said, “My favorite bad memory was when I was a personal chef for a young couple and their two toddlers; it taught me to never serve a new recipe until I had tried it myself. I'd been reading recipes for authentic Mexican food, and I decided that I would use a little chili in a chocolate dessert. I added some dried jalapeño powder to the cake batter, and then I made a pudding-type of filling for between the layers. I added a quarter teaspoon of cayenne powder to that. So far, everything would probably have been fine, but I decided that no one would be able to taste the peppers, so I added more jalapeño powder to the frosting and topped it with candied jalapeño slices. I've had hot wings that didn't have as much heat as that cake. For six weeks after that, even setting a spice jar with pepper in it on the counter to get to something behind it made the family crave a take-out meal!”
Ashley giggled and said, “I think you've got me beat with that one. The worst I ever did was when I left the flour out of the groom's cake for 500 wedding guests. Fortunately, I had several batches of brownies in the freezer; I used the cake frosting on top of them, cut them into triangles instead of rectangles, and topped them with walnut halves. Only the bride, her mother, and I knew we weren't serving what we had planned, and they thought the whole thing was funny. Besides, they heard so many compliments about how fancy the “cake” pieces looked that they weren't about to let anyone else in on the secret!”
More laughter; then Smoke Daddy asked, “Do y'all remember Bertha Mae? She worked for me from the first day we opened—or rather, she let me work there and bossed me and everyone else, including the customers. Anyway, one day, a young woman came in with her boyfriend; it didn't take long to figure out that she wasn't from Texas. Bertha Mae took water and menus to the table, where the young man told her that everyone they'd talked to since they came to town had told them to eat barbecue at Smoke Daddy Lee's place. The young lady claimed that they couldn't wait for their barbecue plates. Bertha Mae asked if they wanted brisket, sausage, or ribs, or if they'd like sampler plates. The girl looked at her in horror and announced that she didn't eat meat, fat, or sugar. Shaking her head, Bertha Mae suggested a turnip greens, pinto bean, and grilled corn vegetable plate with a side salad and cornbread, but that wasn't going to do it! Nope—that one insisted she wanted barbecue, but with no meat. The boyfriend broke in and suggested a chicken plate, hold the chicken, and the girl agreed—with pinto beans, grilled corn and turnip greens as her sides.”
He held up his hand. “Wait—that's not the best part. When Bertha Mae brought their food to the table, the girl wanted to know where the butter for her corn and bread was,
and then decided she wanted some pecan cobbler because 'that would be a healthy dessert, with all those nuts.' I heard Bertha Mae say, 'Bless your heart, girlie,' and I headed to the back of the kitchen as fast as I could. I never found out what else she said to the girl, but the boyfriend left the biggest tip Bertha Mae or any of the other waitresses had ever seen.”
When they could stop laughing enough to breathe again, Ashley washed up the dishes they'd used, while Smoke Daddy and Patty loaded up the food into the van. She’d turned to say something to Patty when she saw them exchange a tender glance; suddenly, everything from the last few weeks made sense.
“Hey, you two! How long have you been an item? And why didn't you tell me?” Ashley put her hands on her hips in an attempt to look angry, but the sparkle in her eyes gave her away. She couldn't think of anyone better suited than those two, once she considered it for a second.
“Girl, you know this place; if we told anyone, it would be all over town within ten minutes! We just wanted the chance to get to know each other and enjoy some time together without being the object of everyone's gossip obsession!” Patty looked worried that her friend might really be upset with her.
Shaking her head, Ashley said, “Yeah, I guess I can understand that. But I have to admit, I thought you were mad at me or something, because you didn't seem to want to spend any time together lately. I thought you didn't approve of my taking business time to go sleuthing with Ryan.”
Smoke Daddy's laugh filled the commercial kitchen; Ashley was almost willing to swear that the pots on the shelves were rattling from his guffaws. “Darlin', I told you to tell her! Ashley, hon, not only does she approve of your sleuthing, she's been going crazy because she wasn't helping out. She kept telling me about what you found out and making lists and charts with the information. I finally had to hide the paper and pencils at my place so she'd spend a little time talking to me when we were together! Not approve—that's too funny!”
Patty waited, pretending to be impatient, until the others had stopped laughing, then shook her head. “I didn't want to butt in; you and Ryan seemed to finally be spending some time together, and I didn't want to mess that up. I know he had a big crush on you before, and it sure seemed like you might be getting interested in him lately. No way was I going to interfere with that! And I'm sorry about not spending time together; Lee and I have been working around our crazy schedules to find time to be together.”
“I was so worried that you thought I wasn’t taking the business seriously enough. You've been so supportive since I decided to start it, and I didn't want you to think it wasn't important to me. I definitely still need your advice, and I was so scared I'd messed up both our friendship and your willingness to help me.”
The two friends hugged each other, and Ashley knew things were good between them again. To lighten things up, she asked Smoke Daddy, “How did you get started in the barbecue business? And what was the most important tip you got when you were starting out?”
“Well, the restaurant was kind of an accident. My sister decided I needed to take charge of cooking the meats for a big family reunion—never mind that I had never cooked anything more complicated than a TV dinner in my life. She announced that we were having brisket and sausage and that I was doing the barbecuing. Next thing I knew, friends and family were asking me to cook for their parties, church events and fundraisers. About the time I realized that I was having fun doing it, my sister came to my house with another announcement: my new barbecue joint was opening in two weeks, and I'd better get busy on finding the right building and suppliers, because she'd already put an ad in the newspaper and stuck posters up all over town. Twenty years later, she still walks in to inform me that she's hired someone to work in the place, that I'm redecorating and how, or that something is being added or removed from the menu. She's a force of nature, and I don't even try to argue with her anymore!” They all laughed, knowing his sister well enough to know that he wasn't exaggerating much at all.
“As for business advice, I think the best suggestion was that you should name your business after yourself and then hang out a big sign for everyone to see. When you put your name out there where people can see it, they start to believe that you really can make what you promise happen.”
Ashley's head jerked up at his words. “Oh, my gosh! That's it! Patty, do you need me at the luncheon? Can you manage without me there?” She was already pulling off her apron and heading for her purse under the front counter as she asked.
“Lee's helping, and I have several college students meeting us there to do the actual serving, so we're good. Are you okay, though?” Patty looked concerned. “Where are you going?”
“Yes, I just realized who the killer is. I have to go somewhere; I'll call you later.” Ashley grabbed her purse and rushed toward her car.
“Ashley! Don't go confronting a killer by yourself!” She heard Patty call out to her as the door closed behind her. It was pretty good advice, though, so she texted Ryan on her way out. “Figured it out. Meet me at the kitchens, we need to go to the lab!”
His response was immediate, as if he’d been staring at his phone and waiting for her text. “Be there in 10. Call Luna and wait outside for me.”
CHAPTER 17
When Ryan arrived in front of the kitchen building, Ashley opened his passenger door while the car was still rolling and jumped into the seat.
“Detective Luna said to meet him in the parking lot nearest to the lab building. He doesn't want us to confront anyone until he gets there and until we catch him up on what we've learned,” she reported. “Thank goodness you had already told the sheriff about some of it.”
“Makes sense. But you said you know who the killer is? Who is it, Ash?”
“I'd rather wait until we get there; I'm still not 100% sure—more like 95%,” she teased. “I don't want to say anything until I check out one more thing. But, if I'm right, we owe Smoke Daddy Lee big time; it was one of his business tips that made things click for me.”
Traffic was light, so it only took about thirty minutes to get to the campus and navigate to the science lab, but it felt more like thirty hours to them. As they pulled into the nearly empty lot, Ashley pointed out the detective's car.
“That has to be him,” she said. “Nobody else would be sitting in a closed car, without the engine and A/C running, in this heat and humidity. And nobody but plainclothes cops drive that kind of nondescript sedan. I guess he didn't want to take the chance someone in the lab would see him and run if he drove the department's new decaled SUV.” Ashley and Ryan got out of the car and walked over as the detective emerged from his car.
They went into the building next to the lab, where there was a small coffee bar and a few small tables and chairs. They chose the table farthest from the barista and began talking about what the friends had learned.
“Okay. Ms. Adams, you say that the club manager saw someone arguing with the victim not long before the murder?” Detective Luna asked. “And, Mr. Bregar, you checked your uncle's phone records and found out he got a call just before that?”
“Yes,” Ashley said. “And Javier didn't mention seeing Charlie around while the two men were arguing. I think he would have said something if he'd seen all three of them, instead of just Dr. Green and the mystery guy. He was pretty surprised that y'all even suspected Charlie, so—”
The detective nodded to indicate he understood her point.
“Yes, and we found out that Jordan Berg and Javier Ortiz had motives to want Dr. Green dead,” Ryan contributed, “but they can account for their time that day. Wendy Graham wasn't having an affair with Green, after all, and his death wouldn’t have done their research or her career any good, so I don't think she killed him, either.”
Ashley took up the narrative. “Blake Simmons and Evan Richards both had reasons to get rid of him, though. Blake said he was here that morning and then left to go surfing, but I didn't check to see if he was telling the truth, and we never asked Evan where he
was.”
“Why are you sure there was no affair?” the detective asked. “I don't think you can just take her word for it, in light of the emails her fiancé found. It still sounds like Green was threatening to tell Berg about his relationship with Ms. Graham.”
“That's what was bothering me about the messages,” Ashley suddenly realized. “Dr. Green said that he and Wendy had to tell 'them,' not 'him.' The only person who would have been invested in knowing about them was Jordan Berg—not a 'them' at all. He was talking about the FDA and their data! That's why I believed her before, when I told you about it in the grocery store. I couldn't figure it out then, but I knew I'd heard something that made me believe her.”
“All right,” Luna said. “You two wait here; I'll go talk to those guys and see what they have to say.”
“Detective, I don't think they'll tell you anything, but I believe I can get some information from them. What if Ryan and I go to the lab, and you follow us and wait in the adjoining classroom? You can hear everything we all say, and you can come in at the right time to make an arrest, if we get the right clues.” Ashley looked up at the detective, surreptitiously crossing her fingers and hoping that he'd go along with the plan.
“Absolutely not! There's no way I'm letting a couple of civilians get in the middle of this. The coroner said that whoever hit Green was in a rage; if the killer is in there and figures out that you're on to him, it could be dangerous for you. I'll handle it. If I can't get them to talk, I'll take all of them back to the station and keep them until they decide to tell me what they know.”
Detective Luna's eyes held a don't-mess-with-me look, and Ashley had a short moment of panic; everything was going to fall apart. She was certain the killer was cool enough to maintain the façade of innocence in front of law enforcement personnel, but he might more likely brag to someone he viewed as being below his intelligence level, a “mere” female caterer without any background in science or academia. He didn't know her background and training, and she thought they should take advantage of his ignorance.