Christmas Canapés & Sabotage: a Culinary Competition Mysteries holiday short story

by Gradowski, Janel

  Her competitive side kicked in, and she forced herself to stop gawking and get back to work. She placed a few more of the ice-like platforms in the center of the table and then snaked long strips of gray silk between the pedestals, adding shiny and matte silver ornaments to fill in open areas between the platters. As she worked, several more crashes and tortured cries echoed through the ballroom. Suddenly everybody seemed to be peering under tablecloths or pushing on tabletops to check for stability issues. The vibe in the room bordered on full-out chaos by the time she took a step back to study her work. Her table looked as good as it could. Tomorrow, once the food and cut-crystal platters were added, it would look spectacular, in her biased opinion. Hopefully the judges would think so too. She stashed the bags with extra supplies under the table and pulled out her coat. The night wasn't over yet. Dressing for the fruit salad and a couple gallons of non-alcoholic punch still needed to be made. Time to hit the road so she could at least get a few hours of sleep.

  A woman dressed in black from head to toe careened through the doorway as Amy was exiting the ballroom. The wheels of the luggage cart stacked with cardboard boxes that she was pushing rumbled over the hardwood floor like thunder. Since the woman wore a high-collared chef's jacket, there was a good chance she was in the professional division. Nothing like cutting it close, gliding in a half-hour before the setup period was scheduled to end.

  A group was gathered in the hallway outside the ballroom. Amy recognized two faces in the knot of worried people that included event staff and hotel workers—Bea and Rayshelle. Had they been some of the collapsing table victims? She wanted to make sure Bea was okay, but Rayshelle's prickly personality was about as pleasant as moldy Limburger cheese. Concern over Bea won out. Amy turned and walked toward the group, instead of out the door to the quiet, stress-free parking lot.

  "She had blonde hair, just like her!" Rayshelle screeched as she pointed at Amy. Yay! She hadn't said a word, and Rayshelle was already in full witch hunt mode. "I didn't really look at her face. I bet it was Amy and she just changed her clothes after stealing my stuff."

  Amy froze as a dozen people turned to look at her. What was going on? Bea stepped forward and came to the rescue. "I did get a good look at the woman. She was at least four inches taller than Amy and had a different body type. I'm positive Amy wasn't the thief who took our props."

  Took their props? That was even worse than damage from unstable tables. Rayshelle growled like angry dog and stomped her feet in response to Bea. If her head started spinning, Amy was taking cover in the nearby lounge area. The couch there looked sturdy enough to act as a demon shield. Another woman, wearing a name tag sticker like the ones that had been given to all competitors, raised her hand. "I agree. She obviously isn't the person who took my cart. That woman was much taller and skinnier. So could we please get back to figuring out who really took our things?"

  An hour later, Amy cupped her hands around her face to protect her eyes from the icy snowflakes that felt more like miniature spears, pelting her cheeks. Rayshelle had already attacked her enough for having the same hair color as the woman who had taken the props. Now Mother Nature was pretending to be a ninja. Amy knew how to apply blush. Rosy cheeks via bad weather was not a beauty effect she needed.

  As she stepped onto the porch, she could see Alex through the kitchen door's window. The site of her husband still made her heart go bump, badda, bump. There was a gym set up in the basement, and he knew how to use it. Coming home to be greeted by a rear view of him in perfect-fitting, butt-hugging jeans was good, but he was standing at the stove stirring something in a pot. Oh, baby. That was so not good. He had admitted to ruining canned soup before he met her. Not a promising sign that her dinner would be tasty, since adding a can full of water was apparently too complicated. There wasn't a single can of soup in her pantry, so what was he doing? What if he had decided to whip something up using the ingredients she needed to use for the competition?

  "Hey, honey. What are you making?" she asked as she opened the door. It smelled wonderful in the kitchen, like lemon and chicken. Not the burnt aroma she had expected. She hung her coat up on the rack next to the door. "It smells good in here."

  "I know. What a surprise, huh? Especially considering it's me." He laughed as he gave whatever was in the pot another vigorous stir. "It's chicken and orzo soup."

  Amy ran through the ingredients she would need to make everything for the next evening and decided he probably hadn't poached any of her supplies. At least he shouldn't have if he made the soup like most people would. "You made chicken soup from scratch?"

  "Hell, no. I got it from Columbo's Market." He grabbed a couple of bowls out of the cupboard next to the stove. "You never eat well when you are in battle mode. Have a seat and fuel up a bit before you run out of energy. I bet you still have things to do tonight, and you'll be up early tomorrow."

  He knew her well. She couldn't deny that was exactly what she had planned. She also couldn't deny that she was exhausted. As she scooted onto the bench in the breakfast nook she could feel her back muscles quiver as they relaxed. Steam rose from the hot soup when Alex set the bowl in front of her. The scent of the rich broth was comforting and energizing before she even took a bite. Hopefully not too energizing, since she just needed to do a couple of simple cooking chores and then go to bed. Sleeping soundly would be nice, but that prospect was sketchy considering the tsunami of thoughts that always invaded her mind when she tried to sleep before a big contest.

  "How did the setup stuff go?" Alex asked.

  Amy took a fortifying spoonful of the lemony soup and dove into an explanation of the strange happenings of the evening. When she was done with the twisted tale, she rubbed circles on the side of her forehead. "Of course, since the thief had blonde hair, the ever-obnoxious Rayshelle Applebee was trying to blame the thefts on me. Bea Perkins, along with a couple of other people that got a good look at the woman, assured everybody that it wasn't me. Apparently the woman was tall and thin, not something I could fake if I wanted to. The thing is—I wonder if I saw the thief myself. I asked a tall woman for help, and I could tell she was wearing a wig. A really cheap, ratty, blonde wig."

  Alex reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry. You had so much fun at this event the last couple years. It doesn't sound very enjoyable at all now."

  "Not really. I would much rather concentrate on making a perfect fruit salad than worrying about defending myself against Rayshelle's wild accusations. I'm not behind the shenanigans, but I sure would like to know who is trying to spoil things. This contest is getting bigger every year and makes a lot of money for the Presents For Kids charity. I'd hate to see it harmed by a Scrooge."

  * * *

  "I made a sausage and green chili strata for you," Amy said as Alex walked into the kitchen in search of his morning cup of coffee the next day. He didn't need to know he was pouring his mug from the second pot of coffee she had made that morning. "I set a couple of new hot sauces I picked up last week on the island, if it isn't spicy enough for you."

  "You didn't need to make breakfast for me when you have so many things to do for the contest." He winked as he spooned sugar into his mug. "I'm perfectly capable of breaking out my credit card and hitting a drive-thru."

  "There's no reason for you to go hungry just because I'm a little busy." Alex was a successful, but insanely busy, entrepreneur who treated Amy like a cherished queen. He loved her unconditionally, so she cooked for him whenever she could, as a little way to show how much she loved him. "I had a loaf of bread that needed to be used up. Besides that, you've always told me you hate fast food. Have you been lying to me?" She waggled her eyebrows. "Do you have a secret addiction to greasy burgers and over-salted fries?"

  "Nope. I have an addiction to making you happy, and if I have to eat a greasy breakfast sandwich, I'm willing to make the sacrifice so you can give the contest your best shot."

  He used a fork to push the small, single-serving casserole
dish onto a silicone hot pad and carried it to the kitchen island counter. As he settled onto one of the stools, Amy opened the oven to check on the muffin tops. She was still trying to decide what to call the bite-sized baked goods. A moist, orange muffin batter was dropped onto a cookie sheet, instead of spooned into muffin cups, so the results were closer to a tender cookie than a muffin. A coating of sugar would make them sparkle like glittering coins. "Which sounds better, Orange-Kissed Mini Muffin Tops or Citrus Coins?"

  "Citrus Coins. It's more unique. Might make them stand out with the judges if they have a catchy name." He squirted a spicy stream of hot sauce onto the eggy casserole. "When did you get up? I see at least three things that look to be fresh out of the oven, and it's barely eight a.m."

  "I don't know. I couldn't sleep well thinking about all of the things that are going on at the hotel." Amy donned oven mitts and pulled the cookie sheets covered with little orange mounds from the oven. She set the sheets on cooling racks. "I suppose the problems could be coincidental, a random cluster of bad luck, but I barely slept last night wondering if it's something more sinister. What if everything is connected?"

  That was a headache-inducing question. If the incidents were linked, who was causing the trouble and why? That was another loaded question that was heavier than a pan of lasagna from Popper's Pizza. Both the food and the prospect of facing more snafus made her nauseous. Adding a bottle of antacid to her bags would be a good idea for the day.

  She jumped when Alex's warm hands slipped around her hips and settled on her stomach. He gently guided her to the second stool at the island. While she'd been yammering about muffin names and thinking about strange happenings, he had placed the second strata there, along with a knife and fork. She had been so busy connecting the destructive dots she hadn't even noticed him preparing the spot for her.

  "It looks like you have enough done. I think it's time to take a break and eat some breakfast. It's even more important for you to eat since you didn't get much sleep." He patted the stool in front of her breakfast. "Sometimes it helps to talk things out. Tell me what you think is happening, get it off your chest, and maybe you'll feel better. The holidays are chaotic enough without worrying about things that are out of your control. I want to enjoy the holidays with you. Not worry that you'll have a nervous breakdown."

  Could anybody not be stressed out at Christmas? Maybe a man could, but a woman…not a chance. Party planning, gift buying, cleaning, cooking…cooking, cleaning, fighting crowds to discover the perfect gift sold out hours ago, engineering parties that would make a professional planner envious. Amy was spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl run by a psychotic carnie. She hopped onto the stool. Hopefully Alex was right. Putting her ideas about what was happening at the contest into spoken words would help empty out the mess of thoughts clogging up her brain. She needed to concentrate on preparing food.

  "Tell me what you're thinking about," Alex prompted again.

  "Bea said she thought it was odd that the tablecloth at Halo Restaurant caught on fire. It looked to her like someone had purposely flipped over the candle in the middle of the table. Then, speaking of tables, all of the missing screws on the tables last night. Could they have fallen out from being moved around, or did someone take them out?"

  Alex raised his left eyebrow. Then his right eyebrow. "If the tables are from a rental company, they could be iffy. Lots of moving around from venue to venue and not a lot of maintenance. Although I wouldn't expect quite so many faulty tables at one place at the same time."

  So maybe those things did have a rational, non-villainous explanation. Amy took a deep breath and plunged on. "The prop disappearances were definitely a case of thievery. Was it the contest as a whole or specific contestants being targeted? Did someone just think the things would look nice at their house? Rayshelle was trying her best to pin the thefts on me, but what if she did it and was trying to divert attention to me? She enters all of the local contests that I do, but she has never even placed, let alone won. Maybe she's come up with tactics to win, beyond developing recipes."

  Alex raked his finger through his short, ginger-colored hair. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. He hadn't shaved yet, so his whiskers softly scratched her nose. "Damn. That's a lot of suspicious stuff going on. It seems like too many things to be coincidence, but I'm not sure what the purpose would be. Maybe revenge or sabotage? A sore loser or a ruthless wannabe winner, like Rayshelle? Promise me you'll be careful. I would imagine most of the other competitors know who you are and your reputation for winning. If it's someone gunning for a win, they could decide to try to take out the front runners, like you."

  Over the past couple years Amy had honed her cooking and contest-entering skills. Cooking was something she had done for most of her life. As a child she had to cook her own meals if she wanted anything other than frozen meals and condensed soup. Learning how to impress judges with professionally worded recipes and beautifully plated food had taken some time. Lots of studying and note-taking. But just because she did her homework that didn't mean others weren't more than willing to cheat to win.

  "I know. I'll have to keep an eye out for anything else that looks suspicious, but I would much rather concentrate on arranging the perfect table than solving a big mystery that could really be just a case of massively bad luck."

  After the chatty breakfast with Alex, Amy felt better. Or maybe it was the afternoon of comforting cooking that soothed her crackling nerves. The kitchen was her favorite place to be, unless Alex was frisky. Then she preferred the bedroom. Whatever caused the chill outside didn't matter. She was glad she had arrived at the K Hotel calm, because playing a game of storage-bin-Jenga on a luggage trolley during a snowstorm rated a ten out of ten on the cruel-and-unusual-punishment scale. The giant awning stretching over the valet drop-off area wasn't much protection from the snow, which was falling horizontally. At least the torture was exacted equally on everybody. A line of vehicles snaked around the K Hotel parking lot, although the cars at the back were barely visible in the heavy snow. In years past, at the smaller banquet hall on the other side of town, getting everything inside had been a survival skill test, as competitors were responsible for hauling their food across a slippery, pothole-filled parking lot. Okay, so she wasn't having fun, but if the venue hadn't changed she would've been even more frustrated and frozen. As during the previous evening, hotel staff waited by the entrance to the conference facility, ready to help load up a fleet of luggage trolleys for any competitor who wanted to take advantage of the service. Now that there were heavy coolers full of food and boxes full of fragile serving ware to move, it seemed that every competitor had cued up for the valet service. She doubted anybody would let the carts out of their sight now, though.

  Amy placed the last clear storage bin on her cart and shut the back door of the Jeep. Alex had insisted she take his four-wheel drive, since the storm showed no sign of letting up and the roads were already snow-covered. She kind of liked arriving in the tough-looking, black off-road vehicle instead of her adorable Mini. Tough and ready for anything. That's how she felt, considering she was in the middle of a two-day-long competition in the middle of the holiday season. At that point, shopping for presents was like getting trapped in a skateless roller derby nightmare. The grocery stores were packed with people buying enough food to feed small armies. Her kitchen was her soothing hidey-hole where she worked out stress by cooking. At the end of the meeting at Halo it had been announced that the gorgeously decorated Christmas tree in the entrance was the prize for the most visually appealing amateur tablescape. That was a pretty subjective thing to judge, since one person's perfect was another's tour in the land of gaudy, but she was game. That tree would look incredible in her living room. She had been planning on buying trim at after-holiday sales to try to recreate it. If she could win the tree she wouldn't have to play a rousing game of who-saw-it-first with crazed sale shoppers.

  "Aren't you cold?" she asked the smiling bellhop who was minding her
trolley. She was glad he was a boy-band-cute teen instead of a woman with a wig. "You only have a thin jacket on."

  "Naw. I'm running around a lot, so that keeps me warm. Besides, I play in an outdoor hockey league. This is good conditioning for me." He flashed a smile that probably made half of the girls in his school swoon. "Do you have everything unloaded?"

  "Yes. I've got everything."

  He motioned for a valet worker to take the Jeep's keys from Amy. What a treat to be pampered. It sure beat testing her own defensive driving skills to find a parking spot then playing sherpa over an arctic tundra.

  "Are you an amateur or professional?" the bellhop asked as they walked through the sliding doors into the grand hallway of the convention center. Crystal chandeliers sparkled overhead as the trolley silently rolled over the thick, diamond patterned carpet. The hotel and conference center was less than a year old but had already established itself as the premier place for parties and conferences in Kellerton.

  "Amateur."

  He nodded and nudged the cart to the right, toward the end of the line of people and carts tracing along the ivory paneled wall. "This is your line. Good luck!"

  Amy took over as captain of her appetizer transporting ship. The line moved quickly with three people checking in participants, but there were unhappy murmurs billowing back through the crowd. She could see contestants pushing carts past the closed ballroom doors, with foam sample boxes still balanced on top of coolers and storage bins. Something obviously was happening, and it didn't appear to be good. When Amy made it to the table, she found out what the fuss was about.

  "An apparent power surge broke all of the cold storage equipment we had set up for this event. Replacements are on the way, but in the meantime we are asking that everybody go into the conference room to the left," a woman with long, wavy hair the color of pumpkin explained. "At this point it looks like we'll be running about half an hour behind schedule. If you are afraid your cooler won't keep something sufficiently chilled, the patio doors are unlocked to place food outside. It's only fifteen degrees, so everything should keep fine. All samples will be turned in after the replacement equipment arrives, and then the ballroom will be opened for the competition."