Chapter Forty-Six
“RahRah, it’s a good thing Mom is on vacation. For it only being an hour, you seem right at home.” Sarah leaned against her mother’s granite kitchen island. “Mom wouldn’t be too pleased to see you drinking water from one of her cereal bowls.”
As RahRah lapped away, Sarah went to work on making a makeshift cat litter box out of a pink plastic hospital washbasin she’d found in a closet and the bag of cat litter Harlan had dropped off. “This won’t be perfect, but it will have to do until we get you back to my house.”
Finished, Sarah washed her hands at the kitchen sink. She peeked into her mother’s pantry and was struck to see it was almost as empty as her own. Picking out a single-serving can of tuna, she opened the refrigerator. It, too, was sorely lacking in the food department, but Sarah found a full carton of eggs. “Perfect, there’s enough tuna to give you a treat with your cat food and enough eggs for me to practice what Emily taught me when I make myself scrambled eggs.”
RahRah stretched out next to his makeshift water and feeding bowls. “Guess you’re waiting for that tuna, aren’t you?” She opened the white meat tuna and drained the water it was packed in. Using a fork, she took a pinch of the tuna and put it on top of the cat food she’d already put in the feeding bowl. She wrapped and refrigerated the unused tuna before cracking a couple of eggs into a frying pan.
Sarah poured a glass of iced tea and sat at the table with her scrambled eggs, tea, and smartphone. As she thumbed through the pictures she’d taken in Harlan’s office, the buyout list caught her eye. All the names on the sheet had recent dates next to them, except Jane’s. There was no date associated with her name. The other dates fit the story Harlan had told her about the recent Southwind partner buyouts, but she didn’t know if these were the partners he’d referenced.
Using her phone, she ran a search on the first name listed. A picture of a handsome man about twenty years older than Bill popped open. There were numerous citations referencing his name. Ralph Hightower. She clicked on one and saw him listed as a donor for the hospital’s new cancer wing. Another click brought up contributors to the “Campaign to Elect Ralph Hightower.” Apparently, he’d run for a local state senate seat a few years ago.
Luck was with her on her third try. She devoured a detailed article about him being a self-made entrepreneur, but nothing connected him to Southwind. Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t or hadn’t had some type of connection to Bill. She couldn’t imagine Bill not wanting to be in the good graces of someone who might be a state senator.
Finished with the article, she glanced at the second name on the buyout list and had a fuzzy memory of having just seen it. She went back to the hospital fund-raiser article, but that wasn’t it. She brought the political donor list back up and scanned it against the names on the buyout list. She found the original name she’d searched and read the next group of contributor names: Anne Hightower, Peter Mueller, and a third name from the buyout list. As she read further, she realized the political fund-raiser for Ralph Hightower must have been some event. Not only was every name on the transaction sheet a donor, but Harlan and Bill also made sizable contributions.
Interested in finding out why everyone donated to Hightower’s campaign, she ignored her eggs and began a more specific search of his name. She read several similar articles and then opened one that was only a large picture of a man and a younger man she immediately recognized. According to the caption, it was a photo taken when Ralph Hightower conceded his political race. It showed Hightower, the principal owner of RJH Realty, with his arm around his handsome son.
Staring at the picture, she heard a key turning in her mother’s front door. Unsettled, she grabbed RahRah.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“What are you doing here?”
“Is that the kind of cordial welcome you give all of your guests?” Emily teased as Marcus, carrying a picnic basket, stepped around Sarah.
He acknowledged her presence with a quick “Hi.”
“We brought you dinner. It needs heating, though.” She pointed Marcus toward the kitchen. Emily started to follow him down the hallway, but Sarah grabbed the sleeve of her blouse.
“I thought we were going to keep my being at Mom’s quiet.”
“Don’t worry. Marcus is safe.”
Sarah glowered at Emily.
“Look, I didn’t think Mom left any food in the house while she was away, so I whipped up a meatless lasagna and salad for you for today and tomorrow. Marcus noticed what I was making and asked me what I was doing. I couldn’t lie to him, could I?” She peered down the hall in the direction Marcus had gone and then back at Sarah. “Well, could I?”
Considering the lies he’d apparently fed Emily, Sarah thought Emily could have done the same, but with Marcus in the next room, this wasn’t the time to tell Emily what Harlan had learned. “That’s debatable. What happened to the two of you not being an item anymore?”
When Emily beamed, Sarah groaned.
Marcus stuck his head out of the kitchen. “Hey, are you two hungry? I’ve got the oven preheated, but one hand won’t do it. You’re going to need to pop the lasagna in.”
“Of course!” Emily started for the kitchen, Sarah three steps behind her. “I was just telling Sarah how we decided to take our break and bring her something to eat.”
Sarah looked at her watch. “I’m confused. What break are you on? Isn’t your booth still open?”
“Jacob, Jane, and Grace are staffing the booth until seven. We decided they could manage for an hour or two without Emily and me hanging around or getting underfoot.”
“We’ll be back in plenty of time to handle the final shift and to break the booth down. In the meantime, especially since we won’t have any other time for dinner, we thought we’d eat with you.” She reached into the picnic basket and brought out a bottle of wine. “Marcus thought we should have something to wash the lasagna down with.”
“And to celebrate Emily’s blue ribbon win.”
Sarah took the bottle from Emily and checked its label as she opened the drawer nearest to her. She rummaged in it for a corkscrew. “Happily, there are some things we can count on Mom never moving.” She popped the cork out of the bottle and handed the bottle to Marcus, while she went to the cupboard for glasses.
He put the bottle down to breathe. “Does your mother move things a lot?”
Sarah and Emily exchanged a look and both burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Everything except her kitchen is fair game for her to redecorate. I went abroad for the year before we graduated high school, but Sarah was still living at home.”
Bringing the glasses back to the table, Sarah poured wine for everyone. “I’d always coveted Emily’s night table.”
“I came home for the Christmas holiday break and found Sarah and Mom had moved the night table to Sarah’s room and replaced it with a small bookcase.”
“Well, you weren’t living there.”
“True, but when I came home again for our graduation and Sarah’s wedding, the bookcase was missing. Mom had put a hassock next to the bed . . .”
“And moved the bookcase into my room.”
“Admittedly, she did put a lamp on the hassock. Unfortunately, if I bumped the footrest, no matter how slightly, the lamp went flying. For safety, I had to put it on the floor.”
“That really doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It wouldn’t have been if Mom had stopped there. Instead, she decided once I left for CIA and Sarah was married that with both of us out of the house, she only needed one guest bedroom. The next time I came home and went to go to bed, I discovered the bed was gone.”
“What?”
“Mom put both beds in Sarah’s room and made my room into her own personal den. She painted it mint green and outfitted the room with a comfortable chair, stereo, and a floor-to-ceiling rack of records.”
Marcus laughed.
“You thin
k it’s funny that my mother completely erased my existence?” Emily said with a straight face.
At that, all three of them lost it so badly that RahRah raised his head from where he lay.
“It’s okay, RahRah.” Sarah threw out her uneaten eggs to make room for Emily to set the table.
RahRah cocked his ears. He assumed a resting but ready position under Sarah’s chair. Sarah was amused. It was doubtful RahRah would see a crumb from the three of them, but she admired RahRah’s scouting sense of preparedness.
Marcus stood by the table with the salad while Emily made room for the food. She picked up Sarah’s phone and glanced at it as the screen lit up. Emily showed the screen to Sarah as she handed her the phone. “What are you doing with a picture of Jacob?”
“I found it by accident.” Sarah took her phone and clicked off the screen, not about to discuss her discovery with Marcus in the house.
“Everything smells delicious. Marcus, what did you bring besides lasagna, salad, and wine?”
“Emily made garlic bread and I grabbed one of her rhubarb crisps to top off the meal.”
“Sounds good.” Sarah speared a tomato slice in her salad. “What do you two plan to do after the Expo wraps tonight?”
Emily tore off a piece of garlic bread. “Clean up and keep providing top-notch service at the Civic Center until the contract is rebid.”
“What about Southwind? Marcus, when will you be able to reopen it?”
“Let’s not talk about that now,” Emily said. “Marcus, would you please pour me some more wine?”
Marcus complied.
Emily held her glass up. “I’d like to propose a toast to our futures.”
“To our futures,” Marcus replied with a tap of his wineglass.
Sarah followed suit.
After taking a sip, Sarah put down her glass. “So, what is the future for Southwind? Will you be reopening it in the strip center or moving it to one of the old houses off Main?”
Marcus ignored the guttural noises coming from Emily. “I’m not going to reopen Southwind in the strip center. Insurance will fix up the kitchen, but we’ll probably do a neighborhood pub in that location. Our goal is to find an old house to reopen a white tablecloth Southwind in.”
“Do you have a line on a property on Main Street yet?”
Emily held her hand up to stop her sister. “I think that’s enough interrogation for one day.”
Marcus waved her off. “It’s okay, Emily. To be honest, I’m hoping when things settle down and the insurance money comes in I can buy or rent Bill’s house from Jane. If not, I’ll approach some of the other neighbors. I really think that area has the potential to become a true entertainment district. I’d love getting in on it from the beginning.”
“Do you think you can get a good price from Jane?”
“Considering our relationship, I certainly hope so.”
Our relationship? He was involved with Jane. “So, you’re openly taking Bill’s place with Jane? His body is barely cold.”
Marcus’s eyes flew wide. “Sarah, my relationship with Jane is strictly business. We’re professional colleagues.”
Emily glared at Sarah. “You’re out of line. Are you trying to start a fight with us?”
“No, I’m only trying to find out the truth.” She put down her fork and stared across the table at Marcus. “Marcus, why don’t you tell Emily and me what the truth is? You’re not exactly Jane’s boss, are you?”
Emily turned toward Marcus. “What is Sarah talking about, Marcus?”
Ignoring her, he walked over to the sink and filled his glass with water. Marcus peered out the kitchen window at Emily and Sarah’s mother’s garden.
“Marcus, is something wrong? You’re scaring me.”
Rather than responding, he gripped the edge of the sink so tightly with his right hand that the knuckle on his hand whitened.
“Well, Marcus? Going to tell Emily the unvarnished truth? Even if you don’t, it’s going to come out, you know.”
RahRah sidled over and rubbed his body against Marcus’s leg. Marcus knelt, his face averted from Emily and Sarah. He stroked RahRah behind his ears. “I didn’t think you’d ever have to know, Emily, but I guess the cat is out of the bag in more ways than one.” He sighed. “Em, you knew I made some money selling my share of the California restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“Well, when I asked you to come here, I wasn’t exactly losing money like I led you to believe.”
“What?”
“I told you the truth about Bill being a silent partner, but I never told you that Bill and Jane were my partners from the beginning. My interest came from being the working partner, but all the actual money came from Bill and four other people. Bill, three of them, and I had an equal interest partnership—nineteen percent each. Bill also put in a small amount of capital to buy a five percent interest for Jane so she could have a management say.”
“Jane has been an owner?”
“Yes.”
“Typical Bill,” Sarah said. “Because he controlled Jane, he effectively had majority ownership of Southwind from day one.”
Marcus nodded but kept his attention focused solely on Emily’s face. “During the past few months, a third party convinced Bill that not only could we have a successful restaurant, but there was an opportunity to position Southwind as a hub in a planned entertainment district. Bill brought the proposition to the partners. I was as excited at the prospect as Bill, but some of our partners weren’t. When they wouldn’t go along with our plans, Bill and I worked out deals for us to buy them out. When Bill died, we were equal partners, but Jane still had her minority five percent interest.”
“So, what you told Emily about Southwind losing money was a lie?”
“Not exactly. No restaurant is profitable at first, but we were on target to break even during our first year. Things changed in the last few months.”
“While you were doing the buyouts?”
“That’s right. As we negotiated with our partners, profits dipped enough to make them more than willing to sell their interests.”
“Were you manipulating the numbers?” Emily stared at him.
His face took on a pained look. “Never. You know I wouldn’t do that. It seemed like food and profits suddenly were walking out the door, but I couldn’t figure out where. That’s when I asked you to come back to watch over the daily management to help me stop whatever had changed.” He smiled at her. “And just like I knew you would, you put your finger right on where the problem was.”
“But why didn’t you tell me about Bill?”
“Because you wouldn’t have come. The way you felt about how he treated your sister, I knew you’d never willingly work for him.”
“You were right about that.”
Marcus spoke to Emily, seemingly oblivious to Sarah’s presence. “But I wasn’t right about how I handled things once you got here. It was a mistake to break off our relationship. You’re a great chef and you command respect in the kitchen. I know I’ve screwed things up but, even with all this, I hope you’ll give Southwind and me a second chance.”
“I’m not sure. This is a lot to digest.”
“Oh, my,” Sarah interrupted as it hit her like a two-ton truck why Harlan hadn’t shared what he knew about the plans for Main Street with her. “Marcus, if you weren’t actually developing the entertainment district with Bill, who was?” She held her breath as she waited for his reply.
“Bill was partnering with Jacob on that project. Since Bill’s death, Jacob has continued working behind the scenes with a group of other developers.”
“Jacob?” Emily asked.
“Yes. You remember when he worked with me in California?”
Emily nodded.
“He quit the restaurant to come home to Alabama and go into his dad’s real estate business. Apparently, they didn’t see eye to eye, so things didn’t work out. He tried another venture that also failed and decided his best opti
on was to return to cooking. He’s the one who introduced me to his partner, Bill, and enticed me to open Southwind here in Wheaton.”
Sarah got up and brought the rhubarb crisp to the table. She cut each of them a piece. “If you wanted to be on Main Street, why didn’t Bill and you simply open it in one of Bill’s houses?”
“That would have been a lot easier, but the zoning laws hadn’t been changed yet, plus the big house requires a major renovation before it can be a restaurant or a bed-and-breakfast.”
Emily glanced toward Sarah’s phone again. “If Jacob was working with Bill to develop Main Street, why did he let you buy his share of Southwind out? Wouldn’t it have made sense for him to own a piece of the new entertainment district?”
“Jacob never was a Southwind owner. He wanted to be involved in more than just Southwind. Jacob is part of a group quietly buying up land on or around Main Street.”
Sarah reached for her phone. She opened the search screen. The picture of Jacob and his father popped up. She held the phone out to Marcus. “What about Jacob’s father? Wouldn’t he have been able to help finance the restaurant and the other aspects of Jacob and Bill’s project?”
Marcus glanced at the picture and handed the phone back to Sarah. “When he came home, Jacob originally thought his dad’s realty company would be a natural fit for developing Main Street into an entertainment district. He didn’t count on his dad’s loyalty to preserving historical Main Street. You can imagine his shock when his dad ran for the Alabama State Senate on a ‘revive downtown and preserve Main Street’ platform. Mr. Hightower lost the election, but a lot of people supported his viewpoint.”
“But not his son?”
“Definitely not. Jacob and his dad never have seen eye to eye on anything. That’s why Jacob and his ex-brother-in-law are keeping a low profile while they move forward with developing the entertainment district.”
Emily shook her head. She took a bite of the rhubarb crisp and put her fork down. “This isn’t my crisp. Where did you get this one, Marcus?”
“From the big refrigerator at the Civic Center.”
One Taste Too Many Page 23