Getting Rich (A Chef Landry Mystery) (27 page)

“Is it the place on Avenue Road?” Judy asked eagerly. And then noticing Steven’s grim look, her smile melted.

“That very one.” Toni nodded, avoiding Steven’s eyes. “That was the agent calling to let us know the landlord signed our offer.”

“He did?” I grinned, then said in a more subdued tone, “Without making any changes?”

“That’s right. I’ve been thinking, we can’t keep the name Skinny’s on Queen for the new place.” She continued with forced cheeriness. “What does everyone think of Skinny’s on the Avenue?”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “What do you think, Judy?”

“I think I like it.” She raised her glass. “To your new restaurant, Skinny’s on the Avenue.”

Richard raised his glass. “May your new business bring you success and happiness.”

Reluctantly, Steven raised his. “And may you live to not regret it.”

*

After coffee and dessert, Judy excused herself. “I hate to break up the party, but we have to get going. I promised our daughter I’d call her and read her a story over the phone, and it’s already way past her bedtime.”

“Actually, Toni and I should get going too. If we don’t walk the dogs soon, there’s likely to be a mess when we get back.”

Steven raised his hand for the bill, insisting that the evening was on him. “Can I give you ladies a lift?” he asked Toni and me.

“We drove over,” Toni said. “I know it’s only a few blocks, but with Nicky’s cast she’s in no shape to walk. Did I mention? She’s staying over at my place tonight. She brought little Trouble over and she helping me get set up with my new puppy.”

Steven’s smile almost reached his eyes, but not quite. I guessed he’d been hoping Toni would invite him back to her place.

*

The food and drinks had been wonderful, and the news of the lease being accepted was even better. But there had been an undercurrent during the entire evening, and the stress had worn me out. Now, I was oddly dispirited. I couldn’t imagine how much worse Toni must be feeling.

“I’m totally exhausted.” Toni’s jaw was set, her knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“Suspecting everyone is hard.”

She turned into the underground parking. “On a brighter note, Judy’s husband seems nice.”

“I thought so too,” I said, wondering if I should share my latest suspicion. She’d already suffered a few emotional blows today. But if I was right, that meant Steven was innocent.

“I don’t know about you, but I thought Steven was behaving very strangely,” she said, looking miserable.

I hesitated. “I’m not sure I agree. He seemed so surprised about our reopening. If he’d been listening in on our conversations, he would have known about our plans. If that was an act, it was worthy of an award.”

She harrumphed and pulled into her parking spot. “He’s good, I’ll grant you that.” Without further discussion, she hopped out of the car and came around to give me a hand.

We rode up the elevator in silence. Soon, we were back in her apartment, the dogs had been walked and Toni was opening a bottle of wine.

“Not for me,” I said. “I thought you were cutting down.”

“Just one glass. As a nightcap.” She poured and, ignoring my objection, handed me a glass. “So, what were you trying to tell me when we walked into the restaurant?”

I cleared my throat. “Well,” I started, searching for the best way to say this. “I had a bit of an epiphany. Maybe it was just the lighting, or maybe the angle, but when I walked in, I happened to spot Judy at the table and it hit me how much she looks like that blonde in Mitchell’s house.”

Toni’s eyes clouded with confusion. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“Just bear with me for a minute.” I took a swig of wine—liquid courage. “You know how shocked I was the first time I saw you and Judy standing side by side? Well, I had the same kind of shock earlier, when I spotted Judy at the table.” My eyes sought hers. “Toni, she looks just like that blonde. They don’t wear their makeup the same, and they don’t dress in the same style, but they have the same bone structure.”

“Whatever you’re thinking, I just know I won’t like it.”

“Remember what Judy said about your grandparents being set against your mother marrying your father? They thought he was a womanizer, right? Didn’t it strike you as odd that they would say that about a man just because he happened to have been married before?”

She frowned. “What are you getting at?”

“It’s the kind of thing somebody might say of a person with a string of relationships. Do you think it’s possible he might have had other children, not just Judy and you?”

Toni’s forehead furrowed. “You think I might have more than one sibling.”

“Actually, I’m thinking another sister.”

She took a sip of wine. “And you think Judy and her are in this together?”

“I think it’s a possibility.”

She shook her head in disbelief. Jumping to her feet, she marched out of the living room. “I’ve had enough for one evening,” she called over her shoulder. “You can do whatever you like, but I’m going to bed.”

As I watched her leave, I had the strangest feeling that things were about to get much worse.

doing some surveilling of our own

The next morning when I got up, Toni had already walked and fed the dogs, and had coffee ready and muffins waiting for me.

She handed me a cup. “Thank goodness those dogs are small. I’d hate to pick up the poop of a Great Dane. Having dogs is like having babies, only worse because they never grow up and move away.”

“At least you don’t need to set up a university fund,” I said. To my surprise, she laughed out loud. “You’re in a good mood this morning.”

“I am. I’ve been thinking about it and if you’re right, that means Steven has nothing to do with it.” Her eyes moistened as she said this. “It’s too early to know for sure, but—” she held up one hand, fingers crossed, “—here’s to hoping.” She set down her cup and slid the basket of muffins across the table. “Cranberry orange. I know you like them.”

I had just bitten into one when my cell phone rang. Toni reached over and picked it up. “Charles,” she exclaimed. “Where are you calling from?”

I waited, almost holding my breath until she covered the mouthpiece and whispered, “He just made bail.” And then into the phone she said, “Let me put you on speaker.” She pressed a button and put down the phone.

“Oh, Charles, thank God you’re out. How are you?”

“I’m all right,” he said, sounding anything but. “If it wasn’t for Toni’s husband, I’d still be in jail. He represented me at the arraignment and put up the money for my bail.”

I was stunned. I sought Toni’s eyes. “Did you know?” I mouthed.

She shook her head, a dozen emotions playing over her face.

To Charles, I said, “Are you all right? Was it totally awful?”

“I feel better now that I’m home. I showered. I changed. Now I feel almost human.”

“Is there anything we can do for you?”

“You asked that I come over to your place and work on the hamburger recipe. Is that offer still good?”

“You bet,” I said.

“I can come over today if you like. I’ll bring everything I need, be at your place in a couple of hours.”

“I’m not home. I’m at Toni’s. Do you have her address?” I gave it to him. “But soon you’ll be working in a brand new restaurant kitchen.”

“You found a location?”

“Yep, and it’s official. We’re reopening as soon as we can.”

“Let’s just hope I’m not in jail by then.”

“Of course you won’t. Don’t even think that way.” I said this, knowing that when I was suspected of murder, I’d felt exactly the same. The threat of imprisonment was a powerful one. It brought out claustrophobia one never even knew they had.

“Well, that’s something to look forward to,” he said, sounding relieved. “It will be good for me to keep busy. How long do you figure it’ll take to get ready?”

I explained that the place was already near perfect. “Still, everybody will have to pitch in. I’m counting on you to take care of the cooking equipment—pots and pans, utensils, sieves, and all the rest. Jake can take care of all the service items—trays, china, utensils, glassware. I haven’t discussed it with Toni but I think she’d be great at sourcing the furniture, tables and chairs and everything else we might need in the dining room.” I looked at her and she nodded. “As for Scott and Marley, I can make lists of all the little things that don’t necessarily fit in any of the other categories. I’m hoping a month and a half or so.”

He was quiet for a second. “You might just be able to swing it,” he said at last.

“One question, Charles. I know you have other things on your mind right now, but you wouldn’t happen to have copies of all our regular recipes by any chance?”

“Yes, of course. I always backed up the recipe files on my computer.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t even dared tell Toni that I’d been worried about this.

He continued. “I even have all those we worked on but thought weren’t quite good enough for the restaurant.”

“You do? That’s so great. I could kiss you.” I explained about our upcoming column.

His voice went from mild interest to full attention. “That’s cool. That’ll be great publicity for the new place.” The conversation wound down and we hung up.

“I’ll call the paper and tell the editor about our reopening,” Toni said. “Then, we can start working on that column.”

While Toni was on the phone with the newspaper editor, my thoughts wandered back to the blonde and the surveillance equipment. Suddenly it occurred to me. The best way to find out who had set up the surveillance equipment was to turn the table on them. We would spy on them for a change. But if Judy was involved, we had to act fast. For all I knew, it might already be too late. The blonde could have gone back and already cleaned the place of everything. I reached for my cell phone and called Charles back.

“Change of plan. We’ll meet at my place. I’m going there now.” I hung up, just as Toni was ending her own conversation.

She gave me a thumbs-up. “It’s all done. The editor said she’d schedule the article about Skinny’s to coordinate with our reopening.”

“That’s great.” I said. “Something tells me there’s bad news. What is it?”

“They want the recipes for the first column day after tomorrow.”

“In two days? I just hope Charles has at least that many recipes ready to go.”

She put up a hand. “If he doesn’t, we can make the following week all about low-cal breakfasts. There’s those Skinny pancakes you like so much. And if we add the strawberry syrup recipe, we’ve got two recipes right there.”

I had left the table and hop-clopped to the bedroom.

“Where are going?” she called out.

“My place, and you’re coming with me. I’ll explain on the way.”

*

Twenty minutes later Toni, the dogs and I were driving south.

“If you were Judy,” I said, “and you knew we’d just discovered the surveillance equipment, what would be the first thing you would do?”

She was darting in and out of traffic, driving at her usual breakneck speed. “I’d get it out and fast. There might be fingerprints on it. And it could be used by the police as evidence.”

“My thoughts exactly. Well, this time I plan on us doing some surveilling of our own. You and I are going to be ready for whoever shows up to get the equipment—probably that blonde again—and when they leave, we’ll follow. If I’m right, they’ll lead us right to whoever is behind this.”

Toni nodded, her eyes on the road. “Good plan,” she said with determination, and then stepped on the gas even harder.

*

After running up and down the hall, excited at being back home, the dogs had quieted at last. Toni had taken her position behind the living room curtains. A few minutes later she called out, “Charles is here with Jake and Marley.”

A moment later, the doorbell rang and I hurried over, with Jackie at my heels, sounding the alarm.

“I know, Jackie. I heard it too. Now be quiet.” She threw me a dirty look as if to say, “Hey, I’m just doing my job here.”

“Hope you don’t mind we tagged along,” Jake said, stomping his boots on the doormat.

“Not at all. I’m glad you’re all here. I wonder if you guys can do me a favor. Come with me.”

Jake picked up Jackie. “Hey there, gorgeous.” Jackie licked his chin. She always was a sucker for compliments.

The guys followed me to the mudroom. “I’m having trouble with the back door lock.” We stepped outside and I closed the door behind us.

“I would have kept my coat on if I’d known we were going back out,” Marley said.

“It’s only for a second.” I turned to Jake. “Would you mind if Toni borrows your car?”

He looked at me perplexed. “My old heap? Sure, why?”

I explained about the surveillance equipment we’d discovered and that Toni was hoping to follow the blonde when she showed up again. “But just in case the woman knows Toni’s car, I thought it better she used somebody else’s.” I pointed to my own on its pad few yards away. “Mine is not exactly inconspicuous.”

“You mean, someone’s been listening in on every word you say?” He looked at me as if I was certifiable. “I don’t get it. Why?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. You can have Toni’s car in the meantime.”

He pulled out his keys, smiling. “That’s the kind of exchange I like.”

I turned to go back in, but stopped. “By the way, whatever we talk about while we’re inside, we can’t make any mention that we think Toni was the intended victim.” I looked at Charles. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Sure, anything to catch the bastard who killed Jennifer.”

We stepped back in, and Charles set to work preparing his low-cal burger, Jackie sniffing the air appreciatively.

“She can smell the meat.” I bent down and scratched her behind the ear. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep a little for you.” She did her doggie version of a happy dance, barking happily. “Now, get out of our way. We have work to do.” She stalked off in a huff, her feathers—or rather her fur—ruffled.

I turned to Charles. “By the way, did you remember to bring those recipes?”

“Yep, got ’em right here.” He picked up his pack sack and riffled through, producing a small stack of index cards. “I brought over the hard copies but I can email them to you if you prefer, and here’s a list of recipes we discarded for the restaurant.”

“Wonderful.” I counted them. “Eight recipes—that’s enough for three or four weeks of columns.” I leaned in and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Glad to be of help.” He returned to the counter. “I’ll make two burger versions for everyone to test, a beef burger and a turkey burger.”

I helped him set up the equipment, bowl, measuring cups and spoons.

“With the beef,” he said, “I start with extra-lean ground beef with no more than five percent fat. I add one cup of old fashioned oatmeal to every pound of beef.” He did this as he spoke, mixing the cereal and the meat along with one egg, one tablespoon of Dijon mustard and one-quarter cup chopped scallions. Using a half-cup ice-cream scoop, he made a row of burger mounds on a cookie sheet. “All you have to do is flatten them, and you’ve got eight perfect patties.” He set it aside and started on the turkey version.

“I use ground turkey breast. It’s lower in calories.” He added chopped scallions, chopped celery, tabasco sauce and mango chutney, and mixed it well. “Also, if we use thin buns, we save a ton of calories. They’re only one hundred calories each.”

I left the guys to finish cooking the burgers and joined Toni, who was still at the living room window, watching the street like a hawk. “No sign of her yet?” I asked.

She shook her head. “And I’m getting cross-eyed from staring at the same spot for so long.”

A few minutes later, Charles brought in a couple of sample burgers. “Hope you like them,” he said, handing us the plates. “The beef burger is three-hundred-and-sixty calories. The turkey burger is only three hundred. Which means we can serve them with half a cup of fries and the meal will still come to under five hundred calories.”

Toni took a bite of the beef burger. Her eyes widened. “This is good.” She set it down and took a bite from the other one. “Oh my God. This one is to die for.”

“I guess that tells me which one you prefer.”

“There she is,” Toni hisspered, putting down her plate. I peeked out from behind the curtain. Sure enough, the blonde was hurrying up Mitchell’s walk. I darted back before she saw me.

Toni jumped to her feet and threw on her coat. “Where are Jake’s keys?”

I searched through my pocket and handed them.

“Here are mine,” she said, dropping them in my hand. “Remember, the minute you see her leave, call my cell, let it ring twice and hang up.” She checked out the window to make sure the woman had gone inside, then she hurried to Jake’s car. A moment later she was scrambling into the old Buick, slinking down in the seat until the top of her head was barely visible. At the same time I noticed scratching sounds coming from the common wall between Mitchell’s place and mine. We’d been right. The woman was getting rid of the evidence. This proved it. She was working with either Steven or Judy. I prayed it wasn’t both.

I returned to the kitchen with Toni’s unfinished food, and fished through my purse for my cell phone. “Somebody just went inside Mitchell’s house,” I whispered.

“What do we do now?” Jake asked.

“You go about your business until she’s gone. I’ll tell you when.” I hurried back to living room, taking up Toni’s earlier spot. A few minutes later, the woman stepped out, carrying two large shopping bags. She glanced directly at my front window. Even though I knew she couldn’t see me behind the curtain, I snapped back.

The woman ran down the steps and hopped into a silver Audi. Her car roared to life and she drove off. I punched Toni’s number, let it ring twice and hung up. From the window I saw Toni sit up and a moment later she was racing up the street in hot pursuit.

I returned to the kitchen and nodded to the guys, beaming. “And let the games begin.”

“So that means we can talk now, right?” Charles said.

“We sure can.” For all my outward confidence, in truth I was worried for Toni. What if the woman noticed her? What if Toni got hurt in the process? I had to keep busy until I heard from her. Or I’d go out of my mind worrying.