Winner Cake All

by Denise Swanson

  The servers had just left with the first round of salad bowls when lightning began to flash. Several minutes later, Ivy, Starr, Tippi, and the rest of the waitstaff returned for the remainder of the salads, but before they could leave the kitchen, there was a bright flash of lightning and almost immediately a loud clap of thunder.

  Dani, Spencer, and Gray crowded into the doorway of the trailer. It was as dark as midnight outside and rain was pummeling the tent.

  Wrinkling her brow, Dani asked, “Do either of you know how safe these kinds of party tents are in a storm?”

  Before either man could respond, huge spiked balls of hail began pelting the vinyl fabric of the tent’s sidewalls and Dani could see the frozen shards ripping through the plastic windows.

  Suddenly a loud buzz sounded from Gray’s cell phone.

  He grabbed it from his pants pocket and explained, “That’s the severe weather alert.” After a glance at the device’s screen, he announced, “We need to evacuate the tent. The storms are intensifying and there have been microbursts of up to sixty miles per hour as nearby as Towanda.”

  “You stay here with the servers!” Spencer shouted to Dani as he and Gray ran for the party tent.

  She ignored his order and followed the men. There was no way she was staying tucked away in a protected environment while four hundred people were at risk. She was grateful that the servers were all out of harm’s way or at least in the safest place readily available, but Jeanne-Marie wasn’t. And Dani was responsible for the pianist being in this dangerous situation.

  Dani had nearly caught up with the men as they neared the mobile bathroom, but before she could ask about their evacuation plan, a gust of wind pushed her to the ground. Spencer must have noticed her from the corner of his eye because he whirled around, snatched her arm, and hauled her upright.

  He seized the trailer’s railing and wrapped himself around her, trying to shield her from the debris shooting at them like buckshot from a shotgun. With nothing to hold on to, Gray was swept into the metal side.

  In between bursts of wind, Gray struggled to his feet and the three of them linked elbows. The struggled to move forward, but they hadn’t gone more than a couple of steps when the wind lifted the party tent into the air.

  An instant later, it was slammed back into the ground. Dani and the men stumbled to a stop and stared at the horrific sight in front of them.

  Dani watched in horror as anchoring plates were tugged from the dirt and metal support beams and poles toppled like trees under a chainsaw. Screams from those trapped beneath the tent tore through the night.

  When the wind suddenly stopped, it caught Dani by surprise. Noticing that Gray and Spencer were already on their cell phones calling for assistance, she ran over to the collapsed tent to try to help get people out from under it.

  As Dani reached the edged of the destruction, she could see that the tent wasn’t completely flattened. She dropped to her knees and crawled into a tunnel that had formed between several tables. A bloody hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist.

  It took a second for her brain to translate the words “help me” and react.

  There was a moment, as if someone had hit the Pause button on a DVD, then other voices yelled out. Dani worked blindly to free the woman from the debris pinning her down. She sent her out through the makeshift passageway, then crawled to the next victim.

  As Dani moved among pockets of survivors, she began to breathe a little easier. So far, although there were some injuries, everyone was alive.

  Little by little, she became aware that other people had joined her in the rescue attempt. Dim light began to creep into the darkness as more and more escape paths opened up.

  Dani had been heading to where she thought the baby grand was located, when Vicki crawled toward her. The skirt of the wedding planner’s stylish dress was ripped nearly off and her face was smeared with dirt. Her eyes were wide with shock and she stared past Dani as if she didn’t know her.

  Dani touched the woman’s shoulder and said, “Vicki, it’s me. The chef. Did the pianist that I suggest agree to come here to play?”

  “What?” Vicki blinked. “Oh, right. Yes. She got here about an hour ago.” With that the wedding planner pushed Dani’s hand away and hurried past her.

  Shoot! Dani had been hoping that Jeanne-Marie hadn’t been available.

  Moving as quickly as her torn-up hands and knees could take her, Dani crawled on. When she finally saw the baby grand, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  The huge piano was still on its legs and Jeanne-Marie was underneath it. The girl appeared unharmed and Dani blew out a sigh of relief.

  Jeanne-Marie caught sight of Dani and asked, “Is it okay to come out? I figured sheltering in place like they taught us in school was the safest bet.”

  “That was smart thinking.” Dani motioned to the girl. “But now you need to follow me. I’ll lead you to an exit.”

  Dani watched Jeanne-Marie scoot from underneath the baby grand, then shook her head as the girl gathered up her sheet music, tucked it into a carrying case, and clutched it to her chest.

  Once she and Jeanne-Marie emerged from the wreckage, Dani realized that most of the guests had now been evacuated, and there were plenty of first responders helping those that still needed to be extracted.

  With the adrenaline wearing off, the cuts on Dani’s palms and legs were starting to hurt. It was time to pack it in and get out of there.

  She and Jeanne-Marie were directed to a triage area where a line of ambulances was parked. Both women tried to tell the first responders that they were fine, but the paramedics insisted on checking them for injuries.

  Normalton police and fire departments were on the scene along with several from neighboring communities. Flashing lights, sirens, and agitated voices filled the chilly night air. Evidently, the storm had pushed out the autumn heat wave and temps felt like they were now closer to fifty than the previous eighties.

  A firefighter came up to Dani and demanded, “Did you see anyone else inside that needed assistance?”

  “No.” She pushed her hair from her eyes. “Everyone I saw was being helped.”

  Before she could ask any questions, the paramedic working on her cuts dabbed them with something that stung and she gulped down a squeak.

  Catching her breath, Dani anxiously looked at the firefighter and asked, “Have there been any fatalities?”

  The man shrugged and started to walk away.

  Dani called after him, “The wedding planner should have the list of attendees.”

  “Thanks.” He turned and asked, “Where is she?”

  Dani looked around. “I don’t see her.” Dani bit her lip, then remembered that she had a list too. The one pairing the entrées with the guests. “But I have a record of the names in the mobile kitchen.”

  “Come with me.” The firefighter jerked his chin at her to follow him.

  “Am I good to go?” Dani asked the paramedic.

  He taped the last of the gauze pads to Dani’s hands and knees and nodded.

  “Thanks.” Dani jumped from her seat and caught up with the firefighter. “This way.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief when all the servers were still in the kitchen where she’d left them. Tearing off the sheets of paper that she’d taped to the counter, she handed them to the firefighter.

  “This is all the guests who were expected, but some may not have actually shown up.” Dani rechecked the servers and said, “All my employees are here, but there were three bartenders and I don’t have their names.”

  “Is that all the people who should have been in the tent?”

  “Maybe a DJ, but I believe he or she was scheduled to arrive after dinner. The pianist was supposed to entertain during the cocktail hour and the meal and she’s safe.”

  “Thanks.” The firefight
er nodded. “I’ll get this to the person in charge.”

  “Let me know if I can do anything else.” Dani watched him leave, then said to the servers, “Why don’t you go home? Come by the mansion tomorrow and I’ll pay everyone then.”

  With the exception of her boarders, the servers gathered their belongings and headed out. Ivy, Tippi, and Starr lingered and Dani observed some silent communication going on between the three girls.

  Finally Starr said, “We’ll help you get the unused food and equipment to the van.”

  As they began packing up, Ivy asked, “Where’s Uncle Spence? He texted me a while ago to say he was fine and to see if I was okay, but it’s been a long time.”

  “We texted a few times too, so I know he’s all right. He’s probably still helping the first responders, but before I leave, I’ll find him and have him text you again.”

  Dani waited until the girls headed to the van with the first load, then allowed herself to flop into a chair. She was dangerously near a total breakdown. She bit the inside of her cheek until it bled. The coppery taste shocked her back into focus. She didn’t have the luxury of giving in to her feelings. She had things to do, but what first?

  She knew that Gray was working with the police. Like Spencer, he’d texted her. He’d asked if she needed help and when she assured him she didn’t, he said he’d stop by the next day.

  What she wanted—no, needed—was to find Spencer. Intellectually she knew he was safe, but she wanted to see it with her own eyes.

  Dani sent him a text asking where he was, then struggled to her feet. Having rested a bit, her legs were stiff and she felt about a hundred years old.

  A second later, Spencer answered her text and said he would meet her at the ambulances. Dani left the girls a note and headed to that area.

  She’d just arrived when an older man staggered past her. Dani glanced at the woman he was carrying in his arms and gasped.

  It was Yvette. And Dani was pretty sure she was dead.

  Chapter 8

  Dani sat in the Korn Kings’ locker room wondering when she’d be allowed to go home. She tried to figure out how she had gotten there, but the past couple of hours felt like a bad dream. In fact, since seeing the tent collapse, it was almost as if she was in a nightmare and couldn’t wake up.

  After Franklin had walked into the triage area carrying his fiancée and Yvette had been declared dead, the police were summoned. Due to the disaster, they were already on-site and arrived within seconds.

  Moments later, Gray was sent for, and as soon as he appeared, the original responding officers pulled him aside. They held a lengthy whispered conversation, Gray made a quick call, and he took over the scene.

  He directed the officers to secure the area. Several people, including Dani and Spencer, were ushered into the stadium where they were ordered not to talk to each other while they waited to be interviewed by an officer.

  The witnesses, or whatever the police thought they were, had all been soaked from the rain, and one of Whittaker’s minions had brought in a stack of clothes from the concession stands. They’d been allowed to use the restroom to change out of their wet things, but again cautioned not to discuss anything among themselves.

  Then, wearing sweatpants that were too big and a T-shirt that was too small, Dani had been assigned a seat at the opposite end of the row from Spencer. They were separated by half a dozen other detainees and, beyond raised eyebrows and pointed looks, had no way to communicate.

  Perched on the edge of her chair, sipping really bad coffee, Dani was surprised that the locker room was so comfortable. Not only didn’t it stink of sweat, it had nice leather chairs rather than wooden benches. She had expected it to look and smell like the ones in her high school.

  Out of boredom, she watched several bigwigs embroiled in an animated conversation on the other side of the room. Gray seemed to be the center of the discussion, with the mayor, the police chief, and a couple of people Dani didn’t recognize lecturing him about something.

  Dani’s eyes kept drifting closed, only to jerk open as her head sagged forward onto her chest. It was going on 11:00 p.m., her head throbbed, and she needed food. To make matters worse, her cell phone had been confiscated and she had no idea what was going on.

  Gray had gotten her purse from the mobile kitchen, and when he’d handed it to her, he’d assured her that he’d let Ivy, Starr, and Tippi know that she was fine. He’d also informed her that the girls would finish packing up the van and once that was done, they would return the keys to him before going home.

  While Dani had been grateful for both her purse and the assurances, what she would have really liked was to be told why she and the others were being detained—an inquiry that the detective completely ignored.

  In the hours she’d been waiting, Dani mulled over what she knew. If Yvette had been killed when the tent collapsed, what did the police need to talk to Dani about?

  As far as Dani could tell from her quick glance at the bride-to-be’s injury, it had looked as if it were made by one of the support poles hitting her in the head. But if that was the cause of death, what possible information could Dani share with the police?

  In her earlier interview, Dani had been asked to explain why she’d been inside the collapsed tent. The officer had seemed especially interested in who she’d encountered and where the people were located while she was trying to rescue the trapped guests.

  Dani kept attempting to recreate the situation in her mind. Had she’d forgotten anything important? She was still going over it again and again when Gray startled her back into the present.

  Blinking, Dani looked around. The folks Gray had been arguing with were gone, as were Dani’s fellow detainees, including Spencer. They all must have been questioned and dismissed while Dani was lost in her thoughts. Now she noticed that she was the only one left.

  Gray took the chair next to her, but before he could open his mouth, she demanded, “What’s going on? Why am I being held here? Can I go home now?”

  “Not yet, but soon.” He pulled his seat closer and said, “What can you tell me about Ms. Joubert?”

  “She wanted what she wanted and she was willing to pay for it.” Dani shrugged. “She had expensive tastes, demanded perfection, and wasn’t interested in hearing excuses.”

  “Oh?” Gray had a notebook out of his pocket, flipped it open, and said, “For instance?”

  Dani closed her eyes trying to think. “For instance, the pianist canceled at the last minute and the wedding planner freaked out. She said that Yvette would destroy her career if she didn’t find a replacement.”

  “Anything else?”

  “When I spoke to the florist earlier in the week to check on the size of the centerpieces, she mentioned something about a hissy fit Yvette threw when a certain black iris called Before the Storm wasn’t available. Now that this happened, the name is pretty ironic, right?”

  Ignoring her digression, Gray asked, “Did Yvette threaten all her vendors? I remember you saying that when she changed the date of the party, no one really felt they could refuse.”

  “Before I answer any more of your questions”— Dani crossed her arms—“how about you tell me why the police are interviewing people about what seems like an accidental death?”

  Gray fingered the crease in his pants. “I’m not at liberty to say at this time.”

  “I completely understand.” Dani got up and stretched. “But then it’s a shame that I’m just too tired to remember anything else.”

  “Hmm.” Gray rotated his neck; furrows of exhaustion were etched in his handsome face. “I could charge you with obstruction and interfering with an investigation.”

  “But I know you won’t.” Dani shot him a tiny smile. “Maybe we should do this tomorrow once we’ve both had some rest.”

  “I was thinking along those lines too.” Gray agreed.
“But if there’s anything that I might need to know immediately, I’d appreciate it.”

  “How in the blazes should I know what information might be important?” Dani’s head was splitting, she was starving, and she was beyond cranky. “You won’t tell me what’s going on or why you’re asking questions. What do you want me to do, read my crystal ball to figure out if there’s something I should tell you?”

  “Just try a stream of consciousness.” Gray took her hand and tugged her back down onto her chair.

  “Let’s see.” Dani scrunched up her face and tried to remember everything she’d heard about Yvette. “I didn’t deal with many of the vendors in person, and I only talked to Yvette about the party once, the day she interviewed me. Everything went through the wedding planner.”

  “How about today?” Gray leaned forward, his palms on his knees. “Did you see Yvette or hear anything about her?”

  “No.” Dani bit her lip. “Wait.” She had run into the bride-to-be. “I just remembered. I did see her. Remember right before we started to serve the appetizers when I went to the washroom?” Gray nodded. “Yvette was standing between the two trailers arguing with someone.”

  “Who?” Gray’s shoulders tensed and he added, “What were they saying?”

  “I don’t know who. That person was in the shadows.” Dani tapped the arms of her chair. “And all I heard was Yvette saying that they didn’t see anything. They replied, ‘I did too and I’m telling Mr. Whittaker.’ Or words to that effect.”

  “Would you recognize the voice?” Gray pressed.

  “I doubt it, but I truly am too tired to think.” Dani glanced down. “Maybe if I had a shower, a good night’s sleep, and some food, I’d be more helpful, or at least more coherent.”

  “You’re right.” Gray sighed, dug into his pocket, handed her the van keys, and said, “I’ll come over to the mansion to talk to you tomorrow morning.”

  Dani glanced at her watch and saw that it was a few minutes past midnight. “It is tomorrow morning.” Dani stood, picked up the plastic bag holding her wet clothes, and moved toward the door. “After church, I’ll be home the rest of the day. I’ll even cook you brunch.”