Death of a Kitchen Diva (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktail Mysteries)

by Lee Hollis

  Hayley turned to Mona. “You know, she does make sense.”

  Mona nodded. “I’m shocked.”

  “So who do you think it is?” Hayley asked, spinning back around to Liddy.

  “You can’t expect me to know everything,” Liddy said. “I thought I did a pretty good job coming up with all that. Now it’s your turn.”

  Hayley’s mind raced.

  How could they uncover the identity of this mystery man?

  And then it hit her.

  The answer was right in front of her.

  “The Kitty Cam.”

  Liddy turned to Mona. “What’s she talking about?”

  Mona shrugged, completely in the dark.

  “When Randy and I broke into Karen’s house to poke around for clues ...”

  Mona interrupted her. “She says it like it’s something she does every day.”

  Hayley playfully slapped her arm.

  “Anyway, the only reason we got caught was because Karen had a Kitty Cam recording everything, and it was still running after she died. That’s how Sergio found out about us breaking and entering. If Karen was meeting someone at her house the day before she died, wouldn’t the camera have recorded it?”

  “Genius!” Liddy squealed. “Oh my God, we’re so good at this!”

  “Wait just a minute,” Mona said. “If Sergio saw you and Randy, wouldn’t he have seen whomever visited Karen that day, too?”

  “Not necessarily. The Kitty Cam was set up in the living room. Sergio never saw the killer poisoning the chowder or me discovering Karen’s body because it all happened in the kitchen. But it’s worth checking out! Maybe he missed something!” Hayley said, signaling to Michelle at the opposite end of the bar. “Michelle, where’s Randy tonight?”

  “At home. Date night with Sergio,” Michelle said, wiping a beer mug dry with a blue rag.

  “Perfect! Let’s go!” Hayley said, downing the rest of her Pinot Noir and leaping off the bar stool.

  “We’re going to crash their date night?” Mona asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Please. They just got home from a Mexican cruise a month ago. They’ve had plenty of alone time together,” Hayley insisted as she waved good-bye to Michelle and scurried out the door.

  Mona followed after her, as Liddy paid the tab, grabbed her bag off the bar, and followed them out the door.

  When the three women arrived at Randy and Sergio’s house on the shore, Hayley was starting to have second thoughts about barging in on their evening alone together.

  In fact, she wasn’t even sure Sergio would allow them to review the tape.

  But she had to try. This was too important.

  She hurried up the steps of the front porch just as the headlights from Mona’s truck rounded the corner with the lights from Liddy’s Mercedes close behind.

  Hayley rapped on the door, and within a few seconds, Randy answered, wearing a plush beige robe and dark brown slippers.

  “Hayley, what’s wrong?” Randy said, concerned that his sister had shown up on his doorstep so late.

  He saw Liddy and Mona get out of their respective vehicles and race across the expansive lawn toward the house. “Is this some kind of intervention? My only addiction is American Idol.”

  “This isn’t an intervention. Where’s Sergio?”

  “Upstairs running the bath. I’m supposed to join him in five minutes.”

  Hayley perked up.

  Maybe they could get away with scanning the tapes without Sergio ever knowing. Why get him angry and spoil date night?

  Liddy and Mona pounded up the porch steps, shoving each other, trying to be the first one to reach the door. Liddy finally gave up, allowing Mona to go first.

  “Honestly, Mona, it’s like we’re back in the third grade with you cutting in front of me to get your cup of green Jell-O first,” Liddy said.

  “Did you tell him?” Mona asked.

  “Tell me what?” Randy said.

  Mona studied Randy in his robe. “Are you naked underneath there?”

  Randy peeked inside his robe to double check. “Uh, yeah, Mona, I am.”

  Mona covered her eyes.

  “You gays, always flaunting your gayness and naked bodies.”

  “That would be true, Mona, if I had invited you here and greeted you at the door like this. But you just showed up here unannounced.”

  Mona thought about this. “I guess he has a point.”

  Hayley shushed Mona and then quickly explained to Randy the situation and how important it was for them to review the Kitty Cam recordings from the day before Karen Applebaum died.

  “I’m sure if Sergio had seen anything, we would know about it,” Randy said.

  Hayley nodded. “I know. But I won’t rest until I see for myself. Do you know where he has the tapes? Are they at the station?”

  “No. He was watching them here when he saw the one of us inside Karen’s house. I don’t think he ever took them back, because he didn’t want anyone to see us breaking into Karen’s house.”

  “So they’re still here?”

  Hayley felt a surge of excitement.

  “Yes. He keeps all of his work-related files and tapes in the top drawer of that wonderful zebra desk I bought in Africa when we went on that safari last year.”

  “Oh, I love that desk,” Liddy cooed. “I have been searching the Internet for months to find one just like it for my home office.”

  Hayley whirled around and glared at Liddy.

  “Let’s try and stay on topic, shall we?”

  “Right,” Liddy nodded.

  Randy turned to go inside. “Let me just make sure. Although I’m not sure Sergio is going to be comfortable letting us all watch it.”

  Hayley grabbed Randy by the arm.

  “Does he have to know?”

  “Hayley, he’s right upstairs,” Randy said.

  “I know. In the bathroom. With the bath water running real loud. Probably can’t hear a thing.”

  Randy hesitated, but then ushered the lot of them inside. “Okay, we’d better make this quick. I was downstairs looking for matches for the scented candles when you showed up. He’s up there waiting, so we don’t have much time.”

  Mona clomped inside, the floor creaking underneath her weight.

  Hayley waved frantically at her to restrict her movements.

  Mona plopped down on the couch and rolled her eyes.

  Randy disappeared into the den and within seconds reappeared with a compact disc. “Jackpot! He even labeled it with the date.”

  Hayley mimed clapping her hands but didn’t really clap so as not to make too much noise and alert Sergio.

  Randy went over and loaded the disc into a DVD player and then picked up a remote and snapped on the large screen TV that was mounted on the wall adjacent to the fireplace. When the scratchy image of Karen’s empty living room appeared on the screen, Randy fast forwarded looking for some kind of action.

  “This reminds me of those movie nights we used to do. Should we pop corn and open a bottle of wine?” Liddy asked.

  Hayley just threw her a look.

  Finally, an image of Karen arriving at the house came on, and Randy slowed down the disc to normal speed. Karen looked radiant and happy and was checking herself out in the mirror. She seemed anxious and excited about her impending visitor. The doorbell rang, and she jumped a bit, startled. She turned and headed for the door, but then stopped and came back. She walked right up to the camera, her face filling the whole screen, and shut it off.

  The image turned to snow.

  “Oh, no!” Hayley cried.

  When she turned the camera back on, Karen was alone again. Her visitor was clearly long gone by this point.

  “Well, that’s why Sergio didn’t say anything. Karen didn’t want anyone finding out who it was that stopped by her house.”

  “Back to square one,” Hayley said, disappointed and frustrated.

  “No, we’re not,” Liddy said, staring at the screen. “I k
now who it is.”

  They all looked at Liddy as she stood up and grabbed the remote out of Randy’s hand. She reversed the recording back to where Karen was primping, before the doorbell rang.

  “Look, there!” Liddy screamed, freezing the image and pointing at the screen.

  Suddenly they heard footsteps from upstairs followed by Sergio’s booming voice.

  “Randy, is someone here?”

  They all froze.

  “No, baby! I’m just still looking for the matches!”

  “Did you look in the Yosemite Sam cookie jar in the kitchen? I remember putting some in there when we went on a diet and threw out all the cookies, but still wanted to fill the jar with something.”

  “Good idea. I’ll look, and be right up!”

  They listened quietly as Sergio walked back to the bathroom, turned the faucet on again, and resumed filling the tub.

  Hayley shot Liddy an admonishing stare, and whispered urgently, “Keep it down.”

  Liddy whispered back, “I’m sorry, but I got a little excited because I’ve solved the case!”

  She pointed at the screen again.

  They all studied it.

  “I don’t see anything,” Mona said.

  “There! Behind Karen. Outside the living room window.”

  Hayley moved closer to the screen and stared up at it. “I don’t see anything.”

  “On the far left side.”

  Hayley got even closer.

  “What is that?”

  Randy joined her. “It looks like some kind of tiny statue.”

  “It’s silver,” Liddy added, waiting for them to catch up.

  “Is that a tiger?” Hayley asked, scrunching her face up.

  “No it’s a Jaguar. I saw it come into view a few seconds before the doorbell rang. It’s the ornament on the hood of a car.”

  “You know, I think she may be right,” Hayley said, turning to the others.

  “And there is only one person in town who drives a Jaguar,” Liddy said confidently.

  “How do you know that?” Mona asked.

  “She knows what everybody drives,” Hayley said.

  “Ted Rivers,” Liddy said. “Karen was having an affair with Ted Rivers.”

  “The lawyer with the office upstairs from your real estate firm?” Randy asked.

  “Yes. The married lawyer with the office upstairs from my real estate firm,” Liddy said emphatically. “I just had lunch with his wife, Sissy, last week. She was cool as a cucumber, that one, she didn’t give anything away.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t know,” Hayley said.

  “Which is why Ted and Karen had to skulk around in secret, and why Karen was so careful not to leave any evidence around that would expose their affair,” Randy said, getting excited.

  “And why he didn’t sign the card on the flowers he sent to the funeral. He couldn’t risk anyone finding out they were involved,” Hayley said.

  “Exactly! He loves that car more than anything. What if Sissy found out he was screwing Karen? She’d have the upper hand in the divorce proceedings and could wind up with his beloved Jaguar,” Liddy said.

  “And maybe Karen decided to go public with their affair! And he couldn’t let that happen! Not if he didn’t want to lose everything. That would give him a motive to get rid of her! Ted Rivers poisoned Karen’s clam chowder!”

  It all made sense. Hayley just needed proof.

  Chapter 33

  After leaving Randy to hop in the tub with Sergio—who was none the wiser—Hayley, Liddy, and Mona hurried excitedly back to their parked cars. At least Hayley and Liddy were excited. Mona was just sticking around because it was a better alternative than going home and watching TV with her husband and five screaming kids. Hayley suggested they continue this impromptu girls’ night out by driving over and staking out Ted Rivers’s house.

  “Why?” Mona asked.

  “Because we might get lucky and find out more about the state of his marriage,” Hayley said. “Maybe we’ll catch him sneaking out to see another woman, who knows how many he could be cheating with, or maybe we just might stumble across some hard evidence we can take to Sergio that will be enough to get him booked for Karen’s murder.”

  “Okay. Sounds better than spending time at home,” Mona said. “But there’s no sense in all of us driving. Why don’t we just take my truck?”

  Liddy laughed. “Oh, Mona, please. We can’t take your truck.”

  “Why not?” Mona asked.

  “Because, honey, we’re going to a high-end neighborhood and your dilapidated rusty truck that smells like—and I mean no offense by this—a stinky lobster boat, will get more attention than a virgin at a prison rodeo.”

  “Did she really just say that?” Mona said, turning to Hayley.

  “I think so,” Hayley said. “But sometimes it takes a few seconds for the words to sink in before my mouth drops open in shock.”

  “This is a stakeout,” Liddy said. “So obviously we need to blend in.”

  “Fine then,” Mona said, shaking her head. “We’ll take your Mercedes.”

  They all piled into Liddy’s car and within five minutes were parked outside the Rivers’ house on West Street. Ted Rivers, a successful attorney who had bought one of the old majestic waterfront mansions just off the town pier, was indeed home as they pulled up; they could see him through the kitchen window.

  Rivers was around fifty-five with silver hair and horn-rim glasses, a long handsome face, a few inches north of six feet. He was at the sink, and it looked like he was drying dishes. He was talking to someone but they couldn’t see who it was. Presumably it was his wife, Sissy.

  Liddy, her eyes fixed on the Rivers’ house, slowed the car down but didn’t stop, and it rolled right into the back of a parked pickup truck. Hayley grabbed the dashboard while Mona was tossed around in the back.

  “Liddy, watch where you’re going!”

  Liddy spun her head around to see if Ted Rivers had heard the crash, but he was too engaged in his conversation inside the house and wasn’t even looking in their direction.

  “What’s a ratty old pickup truck like that doing in this neighborhood?” Mona asked with a big smile.

  “Sarcasm noted, thank you, Mona,” Liddy said, throwing her an annoyed glance through the rear view mirror.

  “Are you going to get out and check for any damage?” Hayley asked.

  “No, I can’t risk being spotted,” Liddy said.

  “Well, are you going to leave a note on the windshield?”

  “What for? That truck’s got to be twenty years old. Look at all the dents it has already. Who is going to notice one more? If anything sustained serious damage, it’s my Mercedes. I’ll take it in tomorrow and have my mechanic look at it.”

  Mona swiveled around and was looking out the back window. “I think there’s an old lady in the house across the street watching us. I saw her part the curtain and she was putting her glasses on.”

  “She’ll go back to watching Bill O’Reilly in a minute. Don’t worry about her,” Liddy said, rolling down the window and sticking her head out to get a good clear view of what Ted Rivers was doing in his kitchen.

  Suddenly, Rivers ducked his head as a coffee mug sailed through the air past him.

  Liddy gasped. “Somebody just threw a coffee cup at him!”

  Rivers’s wife, Sissy, was now visible. She was a bottle blonde with sunken cheeks, tired eyes, and a few too many wrinkles from stress, and she was wearing a low-cut white negligee that sadly didn’t do much to enhance her cleavage, which was generally lacking. She was yelling at her husband, pointing a finger at him with one hand, while holding a dish in the other.

  “What great timing,” Hayley said. “They’re having a huge fight!”

  “I just wish we could hear what they’re saying. I bet it has to do with his affair with Karen Applebaum!”

  Mona popped her head in front from the backseat. “That old woman is looking right at us.”

/>   “Would you relax, Mona?” Liddy said, pushing her face away.

  And then Liddy opened the door and started to get out.

  “Where are you going?” Hayley asked.

  “I’m going to move in closer so I can try and hear what they’re fighting about.”

  “Liddy, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. What if ... ?”

  But before Hayley could get any further, Liddy was already out of the car, crouching down like some U.S. Marine Commando, sprinting across the front yard of the Rivers’ house, and then dropping down just underneath the windowsill.

  She slowly raised her head just as Sissy Rivers threw that dish that was in her hand. Ted Rivers raised his arm, and the dish hit his elbow. They could hear him howl in pain as the dish hit the floor and shattered. Liddy dropped back down, pressing her back against the brick wall exterior of the house.

  Inside the car, Mona was now rocking back and forth, nervous and jumpy. “Oh, I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

  “What is it?” Hayley asked.

  “The old woman is now at her front door, looking right over at Liddy, and she’s talking on the phone.”

  Hayley looked at the house across the street and, sure enough, an old woman with gray hair and granny glasses in a powder-pink-colored robe was talking on her cordless phone.

  “I better warn Liddy. That lady might be calling the cops,” Hayley said, opening the door and slipping out. She kept low as she circled around the front of the parked Mercedes, where she noticed a giant gash in the bumper where Liddy had collided with the truck in front of her.

  Hayley called out to Liddy in an urgent whisper. “Liddy, I think we need to get out of here! Now!”

  Liddy waved her away. And then she turned back around, took a deep breath, and prepared to take another look inside the kitchen window to see if Ted and Sissy Rivers were still fighting.

  Hayley knew she had to get Liddy out of there. She sprinted across the yard, hunched over, and joined Liddy underneath the windowsill.

  “I’m serious, Liddy, that old woman across the street just called the cops.”