“Oh goodness, does Hattie know?”
Bruce shook his head. “No, no one knows. That’s how Alice wanted it.”
“You know this looks really bad, right?” I said.
Bruce walked through the foyer and toward the bar. It was still morning, but he poured himself two fingers of scotch. He drank it down, then poured two more. “That’s just it. My killing her would do me no favors. What I would’ve gotten from the prenuptial agreement would have been more than I’ll get now that she’s dead.”
Just to make sure he understood that I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, I sat down on the loveseat across from the bar. “How does that work?”
Bruce downed his second drink, then leaned against the bar. “In the prenuptial agreement, I get a percentage of what Alice and I earned in the lifetime of our marriage. But according to her will, I get nothing from the estate. It will be sold at auction at fair market value, and the proceeds will go to charity. She had three charities named in her will, but I can’t remember which ones they were. I can tell you this: she left nothing to her family members.”
Whoa. I knew Alice was selfish, and she was estranged from her family, but this took the cake. “She’s not even leaving anything to the kids?”
“She made that quite clear when they decided not to go into the wine business. She told them many years ago, under no uncertain terms, that they wouldn’t get the winery or the income from it once she was gone if they weren’t working here.”
“And she was true to her word.”
Bruce nodded.
“But you are still living together, even though you’re getting a divorce?”
Bruce walked behind the bar and rinsed out his glass. “It was amicable. She was ready to move on, and so was I. These last ten years have been really rough.”
“Have you talked to the police?” Not that it was any of my business, but that hadn’t stopped me yet.
He shook his head. “Not in person. I spoke to them on the phone this morning.”
“Do they know about the divorce?”
“They will soon enough. The sheriff has asked me to come down and see him at the jail.” He looked at his watch. “I’d better get going. Let me show you out.”
This was not what I wanted. I needed time in the house alone to look around. And I needed to know about the video. “Peter told me that you have a security system, but it’s not with the company on the sign.”
“Yes, we do. It’s our own private system because really, what good does it do to pay someone all that money just to have them tell you you’re being robbed? We live in the middle of nowhere. By the time the police arrived, burglars could’ve taken everything from the house and be long gone.”
“Peter said something about hiding the surveillance system?”
Bruce chuckled. “Peter knows a little bit about everything, doesn’t he? He’s definitely Hattie’s son. The grape doesn’t fall far from the vine.”
I laughed. “Isn’t that the truth.”
He gave a light chuckle. “We had a video system in our office, but someone came in and deleted everything. There was evidence on the video that would have exonerated Alice in a lawsuit. We did eventually win the suit, but it was many thousands of dollars later. Since then, we have kept the system hidden.” Bruce washed his hands and dried them on a towel that he threw into a hamper. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
I followed Bruce up the stairs, and into a small room that looked like a den or office. He pressed a button and the bookcase opened. Behind the bookcase was a small room with a split screen monitor and two computers.
“This is it.”
“Have you looked at the video from yesterday?”
“No, I just got home about an hour ago. I haven’t even had time to think about it. Processing Alice’s death is harder than I thought it would be. Even though we couldn’t live together and were divorcing, I still loved her.”
“Do you mind if I look through them?”
Again, Bruce looked at his watch. “Look, I need to go talk to the sheriff. And I’m not leaving you in this house alone. It’s bad enough that Hattie has a key to the house.”
“Well, do you mind if I download the footage and watch it from home?”
“I don’t know what you’ll find, because the camera is set to delete the old activity. It’s deleted from our system, but it’s on the cloud somewhere. I don’t know how to get into the cloud. The cameras are motion activated, so they don’t run all the time, but you might be able to get something.”
I reached in my purse and showed him that I had an SD card. “I can download it onto this in a matter of a minute or two, if you let me. And I can go over the video while you go talk to Sheriff Waters.”
Bruce had a resigned, almost perplexed, look on his face, as if he didn’t know whether to tell me yes or no. After almost a minute passed, he said “It won’t delete what’s on there?”
I shook my head. “No, it won’t affect anything, just make a copy of it.”
“Fine, make it quick. I need to get out of here.”
“You can go ahead and go, Bruce. I’ll just download the videos and be on my way.”
Bruce shook his head and left the room. “Make sure you shut the bookcase before you leave,” he yelled back as he walked down the hall.
I stuck the SD card into one of the laptop computers, looked up the necessary video files and downloaded them. Not knowing which one would have the information I needed, I hoped I had enough room on the card to download recordings from both computers. Once the first one was finished, I pushed the SD card into the second computer and asked it to do its thing. As much as I wanted to look around the house and see if there were any clues, I thought it would be best to just leave. Bruce was cooperating so far, and I didn’t want him to stop. As soon as the second computer finished its download, I placed the card back in my purse and left the secret room, making sure the bookcase was closed tight. I mentally patted myself on the back for having the wherewithal to leave the house without snooping. But as I headed back into town, I smacked myself up beside the head for chickening out and not searching the house. I was halfway into town when my phone rang.
I glanced at my dashboard quickly to see who was calling, but didn’t recognize the phone number. Usually, I ignored these numbers because they were robocalls, but for some reason, I answered.
“Hello.”
I put the call on speaker, since it was illegal to have your cell phone in your hand while you were in the car. A voice came through the speakers of my Lexus.
“Mrs. Friday, you don’t know me, or at least I don’t think you know me, but well, I don’t know.” She was rambling.
“Who is this?” I tried not to sound testy.
“Mrs. Friday, my name is Bridget Toomey, and I’m a friend of Jacob’s.”
I didn’t see this going well. “What can I do for you, Bridget?”
“Jacob told me that Alice Parker is dead. And he told me that he’s a suspect.”
“I don’t know if he’s a suspect or not. I just know that he and Alice didn’t end their relationship on a positive note.” I tried to be friendly, even though I was irritated. Maybe she had something to tell me.
“Jacob told me what he told you, that he didn’t have an alibi. But he does have an alibi. It’s me. We were together yesterday morning. He just didn’t want to tell you who he was with.”
That didn’t make any sense to me. If he was with a girl, why wouldn’t he tell me? I didn’t say anything more, I just listened.
“He didn’t want to tell you that he was with me, because, well, I’m still married.”
Just great. First, he allegedly steals from my mother-in-law’s best friend, and then he’s having an affair with a married woman. I needed to start doing criminal background checks before I hired anybody in the future. And character checks. I considered the best way to do that.
“What would it have mattered if he had told me he was with someone? I don’t care
if you’re married or not.”
“Jacob and I have been trying to keep it a secret until I can get away from my husband. And because it’s frowned upon at the Poached Pear. If my husband found out, Alice wouldn’t be the only person who is dead.”
But Jacob didn’t work at the Poached Pear any longer, so why would anyone there care? Well, he did allegedly steal from them. “How do you know Jacob?”
“We worked together at the Poached Pear. He used to give me rides home because my husband didn’t trust me to let me have the car. Guess that backfired. When we got off work early, we’d hang out together and eventually, we started sleeping together. My husband works nights, so sometimes Jacob and I would be with each other until the morning.”
The story sounded plausible enough. “So what you’re saying is that Jacob does have an alibi?”
“He does. I’m his alibi. And even though it puts my life in danger, I’m willing to come forward.”
I thanked Bridget and hung up. My mind reeled as I drove back to my studio. I could not wait to get into the studio and watch that video. I needed to see who had come and gone from Alice’s house. Was one of those people Jacob?
But I had just one more stop to make.
Chapter Eleven
I pulled up to the back door of the Poached Pear and let myself in through the kitchen entrance. I’d done this many times in the past, so it wasn’t something new to me. I wanted to get there before they opened for lunch.
I walked down the dark hallway and turned left where the hall gave way to the main kitchen. I eased past the dishwashing station and prep areas, and knocked on the door of the manager’s office.
The sterile white walls and stainless steel never quite made up for the smell of the garbage disposal when there was no cooking going on in a restaurant kitchen. The tile floors and rubber mats held onto what they knew. Even though the floors were cleaned, hosed down and sanitized every night, the smell was always there. I’d spent enough off hours in restaurants to know the smell before it actually hit my nose.
Most restaurants didn’t waste valuable square footage on their offices, but Alice didn’t mind. She had plenty of room to expand if needed, and the Poached Pear offices were huge and luxurious. I wished Hattie had the same idea of office space that Alice had.
The door opened, and a tall man with a thick middle stood in the doorway. He wore jeans and a thin white undershirt. His head was bald and shiny. Even though he didn’t look happy to see me, his hazel eyes twinkled, and his thick lips had a hint of a smile, like he knew the answer to a joke I wasn’t in on.
“Hi, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Willa Friday.” I stuck out my hand.
Reluctantly, he put his out and shook. It was half-hearted. Instead of giving me his name he asked, “Vendredi’s?”
I nodded. “Sort of. My mother-in-law and ex-husband own Vendredi’s.”
“Aren’t you in enemy territory?” There was a snorting noise behind him.
“Ha, right. I’m looking for Alejandro Luna.” Alejandro was the Poached Pear’s head chef.
He pushed the door to shut it and I put my foot in the frame. I wasn’t going to be dismissed. I’d learned a thing or two from Hattie over the years. This conversation would be over when I said it was over.
“He doesn’t come in for the lunch shift.” The man looked down at my foot.
“I’m sorry, who did you say you were again?” I wasn’t sorry. I was getting pissed off at his rudeness. Alice would never have put up with this.
“I didn’t. But I’m the assistant chef, they call me Billy.” He relented and opened the door a bit wider. “Do you want me to leave a message for Alejandro?”
“Maybe you can answer my question.” I didn’t wait for him to say he couldn’t. “Did you work here when Jacob Jackson was the sous chef?”
His brows raised and for the first time, he looked interested. “Why are you asking?”
The other person in the office approached and opened the door wide. “Who’s asking about Jacob?”
I grinned. “He applied for a position with my company, I was passing through town on my way back to Vendredi Winery, and thought I’d stop by for a reference.” I hoped I sounded truthful.
“That’s a good one.” Billy laughed.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t know what happened?”
“I’m guessing if I did, I wouldn’t be standing here. That is, if you’re talking about Jacob.” I played dumb.
“He was fired for stealing,” the young woman said. “Alice really let him have it.”
I introduced myself again. “Hi, I’m Willa Friday.”
The woman’s face went pale. “Oh, uh, I’m Bridget.”
Ah, she was something. A cute little thing with an hourglass body and nice cleavage. Her tanned skin looked well maintained, and I’d bet she had no tan lines. Even her pixie haircut had a bit of sass.
She didn’t seem as protective of Jacob in this environment. Dog eat dog in the restaurant business. She was covering her ass. Or was she?
“I was the one who brought it to Alice’s attention,” Billy said, sounding proud. “He’d gotten away with the big rip off. Alice didn’t even ask for the money back. She just told him to get out of her face and that she’d better never see him again.”
“How did you know it was him?” I asked.
Bridget looked at Billy, who looked back at her. Then he turned to me and said, “We aren’t supposed to discuss the details because of security issues.”
What a crock of crap. I wanted to say as much.
“Have you hired a new sous chef?” I asked, instead of saying what I really wanted to say.
“We have. Not hard to find good chefs when you’re a world-renowned restaurant.” He looked smug, but in a proud way.
I knew that wasn’t exactly the case. It was usually about timing. But chefs did tend to be a bit more reliable than other restaurant help.
“I’d really like to know what happened. I guess I’ll just call Alice.” I took a chance that Bridget wouldn’t rat me out, since I hadn’t given her up.
“I hardly see how that’s going to happen. Alice was…she died yesterday.” He looked down, as if he felt bad for saying it out loud.
“That’s what we were discussing when you knocked on the door,” Bridget said. “There will be so many changes now that she’s gone. We’ll be needing a new general manager, and there will be changes in the kitchen. So much to take care of with her gone.”
“Are you in management?” I asked Bridget.
“Actually, I oversee the wait staff.” Her chest inflated just a bit.
I liked this girl. Why did I call her a girl? She had to be close to thirty. She deserved to be called a woman.
“Are you getting a promotion, too?” I couldn’t help but wonder about her stake in Alice’s death. She looked strong enough to smack Alice in the head.
“I don’t know what will happen next,” she said. “Would you like me to walk you back to your car?”
I was finished for the time being, so I nodded.
Once we were out of the kitchen, Bridget said, “Look, no one knows about me and Jacob. I can’t lose this job. At least not yet. Please keep our secret.”
“I’m cool,” I said as I opened my car door and got in.
Bridget watched me as I drove away.
I had no desire to hurt anyone, physically or monetarily. I wouldn’t spill her secret unless I had to.
I wished I’d learned more from Billy, but I didn’t know any more now than I did before.
I pulled out of the parking lot of Poached Pear, then turned onto a side street and called Vendredi’s. When the manager answered, I told him who I was and that I needed Alejandro Luna’s phone number. I hoped he’d have it. Luck was running on my side and he gave me the number.
“Do you want me to text it to you, so you can dial it from the text? That way you don’t have to write it down,” he said.
I thanked
him, and pressed the phone number on the text message when it came through.
Alejandro’s phone rang three times then went to voice mail. I thought that was weird. Most phones ring at least five time before switching over.
I left a message. “Hi, this is Willa Friday from Vendredi’s. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about Alice, and what happen with the sous chef she fired. Please call me back.”
After I disconnected, I realized it was a stupid message, but I wasn’t going to call back and leave another one.
Frustrated, I went home to view the videos.
Chapter Twelve
When I pulled into the driveway, Jacob’s car was parked outside and he was leaning against it. He walked up to my car, and before I could even get out, he opened the door and asked, “Did Bridget call you?”
“As a matter fact, not only did she call, I saw her, too. So this married woman that you’re having an affair with is your alibi?” I wanted to see if he was sticking to the story.
“Now do you understand why I couldn’t tell you where I was?”
I still didn’t get it, so I asked him, “Protecting her from her husband finding out about her cheating was more important than keeping yourself out of prison for someone’s murder?”
“You don’t understand, he’s dangerous. For all I know, he killed Alice. He would probably blame Alice for Bridget and I getting together if he knew. But I can tell you this, if she had to supply me an alibi and it became public, he’d kill her. Like I said, he’s dangerous. And besides, I didn’t steal anything from that woman. I’m innocent on both counts.”
I believed him, sort of. If only he hadn’t seemed so animated.
“Tell me the truth. Why did you apply for a job with me?” I wanted to know if it was to get closer to Hattie and Peter, and maybe get into Vendredi.
“I did lie to you before. Alice did follow through on her threat. She made sure that I didn’t have a reference to get another job as a chef. I even applied at Vendredi’s and was turned down. But while I was there, I heard a rumor that you were looking for someone with cooking experience to help you in your studio. That’s why I applied for the job. I can’t afford to move, and I have to pay the rent. As it is, I have three roommates. How on earth was I going to be able to afford a cleaning deposit and first and last month’s rent if I move? I needed something right away.”
Pasta, Pinot & Murder Page 9