Murder Al Dente: A Southern Pasta Shop Mystery (Southern Pasta Shop Mysteries Book 1) (22 page)

"How did you get all this so quickly?" I turned in my seat to face Jones.

"
Luck, mostly. It seems I wasn't the first person to investigate him."

"
What? Who else was looking?" Had Flavor TV been investigating more people than just me after the food poisoning incident? The thought was somewhat comforting.

"
I'll explain later," Jones said as Donna parked in the driveway. Hewitt Avenue was a through street, but the lots were much larger than those on Grove Street, and a bend in the road ensured privacy from any neighbors who happened to be home.

Jones and I followed Donna up the steps and waited as she punched her code into the key box. As soon as she unlocked the door, I pulled her aside.
"You should go."

"
What?" She frowned and changed her question. "I mean, why?"

"
Too many people might scare her off. She's already hiding, and we don't want her to vanish altogether. Besides, I don't want you to get into trouble." I left out the real reason. Just because I thought Mimi was incapable of murder, didn't mean I was right. Risking myself was one thing, and despite his soreness, I felt confident Jones could handle himself, but putting my best friend in the line of fire was not gonna happen.

"
My code is already in the box," she argued. "People will know I was here."

"
You can say you were showing us the house but had to leave. It's the truth, right?"

She looked from me to Jones and back again.
"You two out looking at houses together? That'll have tongues wagging all over town."

"
Well, it's better than them saying we're mucking around in a police investigation."

Jones was the voice of reason.
"Maybe Donna could wait for us on the front porch. That way she can call for assistance if it's required."

"
Fine." Donna folded her arms. "But if you die in there Andy, I'm going to be über freaking pissed at you."

"
Nobody's going to die," I said and pushed open the door to reveal a pool of blood.

The Red or the White?

Ah, the age old conundrum, should I order the red wine or the white wine to compliment my meal? Which should I procure when cooking for guests? I'm a self-proclaimed foodie, but even I have stumbled over this conundrum a time or two. When it comes to pasta though, I live by one simple rule—if it's light, serve the white. For instance, pasta primavera goes best with a dry white wine. Baked ziti or lasagna, pretty much anything with a hearty tomato sauce is complimented with a bold red. Still unsure? Split the difference with a nice rosé like Beringer's white zinfandel. And save room for dessert wines, like Rosa Regale, which is a winner alone, served with fruit and cheese, or alongside my dessert noodle kugel.

"
Isn't that a little fast?" Kyle asked as he looked between me and Jones. "You guys barely know each other."

I tucked my arm through Jones
's in a show of what I hoped looked like romantic possession. "Oh well, you know how it goes, Kyle. When it's right, it's right."

In the interest of keeping my pasty backside out of the county lock
-up, I'd convinced Donna and Jones to stick to the story that he and I were looking at houses together. Kyle wasn't stupid though, and he narrowed his eyes on me. I turned the brightness of my smile up a few watts.

"
Did you find anything else?" Jones asked, focusing Kyle's attention back on the random pool of blood.

Kyle squared his shoulders and tugged at his uniform top.
"I can't discuss an ongoing investigation. Don't leave town, any of you." He slid his sunglasses back into place and went inside.

Donna shifted her weight anxiously.
"But the blood…?"

"
It could be anything," Jones told her. "A workman who cut himself and rushed off to the hospital. Maybe a prank. Most likely, they'll run tests to determine if it's human or animal blood. If they'd found a body in there, they'd need more men."

"
A prank," I repeated. That's what the police had said about the other property that had been broken into. I believed it about as much now as I had then.

"
I hate to do this to you guys, but I really need to get going," Donna said.

"
It's fine, Donna. We can walk back to Grove Street on the nature trail."

"
Call me if you find out anything else." Donna gave me a quick hug, managed a small smile for Jones, and then zipped off.

I cast one last look at the house. The door stood open ominously
, and I couldn't suppress a shiver. "I hope she's all right."

"
We don't even know she was there," Jones said.

"
Right. We better get going." I eyed him up and down. "Are you sure you're okay to walk?"

"
It'll do me some good to move, work the stiffness out." Jones nodded crisply and tucked his arm though mine. Though I couldn't see him, I knew Kyle was watching us from inside the house."

"
He still has feelings for you." Jones's tone was mild.

I wasn
't sure how to respond and settled on, "It's more a sense of obligation. You might have noticed Kyle's the hero type, even if your sister does have him wrapped around her little finger. Our situation is…complicated by our history."

He waited, letting me have just enough rope to string up all my secrets and hang them out like fresh pasta. To trust or not to trust? That was the question. He had to give me something first.
"Tell me how much information you dug up on me."

He shrugged.
"Basic background check, list of previous employment, credit history, that sort of thing. That's pretty standard stuff. I didn't have time to go any deeper before Zoltan Farnsworth's murder."

That didn
't sound too invasive. "So, that's when Flavor TV pulled the plug?"

He nodded.
"Right. I was here in town, and they'd asked for surveillance on you, which I was prepared to turn down."

Right, he said that.
"Did you consider telling me what they were doing?"

His expression was pained
, and I couldn't tell if it was from my line of inquiry or his injuries. "That would have been a breach of confidentiality. Any PI worth his salt knows discretion comes with the territory."

I stopped on the trail and turned to face him.
"You just dodged the question."

Blue eyes locked on mine.
"Yes, Andrea, I considered it. Does that help my case or hurt it?"

Oh, it helped, probably more than it should have. Though I knew very little about him, I sensed that Malcolm Jones was a man of integrity. That he
'd even considered telling me he'd been hired to tail me meant his loyalty had been divided. That I was a sticking point with him and made him consider doing idiotic things. Good to know it was a two way street. The thought warmed my insides, but we had other things to discuss.

"
Why would the network care what I was doing now?"

"
I didn't ask," Jones's, gaze remained steady on my face. "It was just a job, Andrea. One I didn't feel right continuing even before Farnsworth showed up dead."

I thought of my guilt over the file Donna had given me on Jones. Most of the stuff in there was much more personal than the snippets he
'd accumulated on me. "Were you tempted to keep looking into my background?"

"
Tempted, yes. Ask me if I did though."

Slowly, I shook my head.
"You didn't. I'm not sure why, but you didn't."

"
Because," he said, "I knew if I did this conversation wouldn't go nearly as well as it's going now."

It did feel as though we were heading in the right direction as we continued down the nature trail. The day was warming up considerably as the sun ascended
, and with all the blooming flowers perfuming the air, the pollen count must be obscene. Little green worms hung from some of the trees on silken threads, blowing in the slight breeze. In spite of the pool of blood and my worry for Mimi, the walk seemed almost…intimate.

"
Okay, so you want to know about me and Kyle. Well, I told you about what it was like for me here. After my mom's death it was worse. I never thought I'd miss the teasing. After word got out that I'd been the one to find her, no one talked to me. Other than Donna. Until Kyle."

"
Ah," Jones muttered. "So he was your hero, is that right?"

"
Yes. You'll have to ask him why he took an interest in me all of a sudden. I'm still not sure."

"
How old were you then?"

"
Just turned sixteen."

"
I think the answer's fairly obvious." His tone was dry. "Hormones."

I bit my lip.
"That was probably part of it, but it wasn't just attraction. He was…protective of me."

Jones quirked an eyebrow.
"Protective or possessive?"

"
Definitely protective." I drew in a deep breath to fortify my courage. "Especially after he got me pregnant."

* * *

"What happened?" Jones asked as he sat at Pop's kitchen table. It was the first thing he'd said to me since I'd dropped my little bombshell back on the path. Damn it, I knew that had been a mistake, but I didn't know how to fix it. And it was the first time I'd ever told anyone about that time in my life.

Pops was out in the Town Car, and as worried as I was for the pedestrian traffic of
Beaverton, I was glad this awkward discussion wouldn't have a witness.

"
Andrea," he said my name the way he always did, but this time there was a note of pleading. "Did you have the baby?"

"
I'm Catholic. Maybe not the
best
Catholic this side of the Vatican, but certain things are ingrained."

He was doing that thing again, that quiet waiting thing of his that drove me nuts. Had I really once told Donna I wanted to be involved with a man of mystery? That
'd teach me to be careful what I wished for.

I braced my hands on the counter and hung my head.
"Yes, Jones, I had the baby."

The coffee finished dripping into the pot
, and I poured us each a steaming mug full.

"
Do you need to get to the Bowtie Angel?" Jones took the mug I offered him but waved off the offer of cream.

"
So I can 'make ze pasta?' " I mimicked Aunt Cecily's thick accent, and Jones snorted. "Not until later. We have enough to feed the entire town for a week."

I didn
't mention I was also avoiding my aunt, the Vintage Sicilian Hussy, because the image of her in bed with Pops was emblazoned on my gray matter. My gaze slid to the liquor cabinet, and I had to fight the urge to spike my coffee.

"
May I ask where she is?"

I stirred some sugar and cream into my own coffee.
"Tennessee. Her adoptive parents own a horse farm there."

"
What's her name?"

"
Kaylee."

"
In honor of Kyle?"

I nodded.

"Tell me about it," he said simply.

I blew out a sigh.
"My grandparents were shocked, of course. Pops threatened multiple times to string Kyle up by his entrails if he didn't 'do right by me.' Not that accountants normally do that sort of thing, but I'm pretty sure he meant it."

"
He wanted you to get married at sixteen?"

"
Different generation, different times. Kyle was actually on board with the plan, which made everything worse."

"
He was willing to spend his life with you? I'm starting to understand why my sister has a bee in her bonnet about you."

I smiled at the colloquialism which sounded odd in his crisp accent.
"Yeah. Some people try to let go of their grudges, but Lizzy coddles hers, nurtures them even. She'd always wanted Kyle and resented me because I had him. I'm pretty sure she was the one who let the cat out of the bag to the Rotary Club about my pregnancy. From there it went to the Honor Society. Those kids told their parents, and before you knew it my secret was all over town. The whole town was whispering that I was trying to trap him into marriage."

"
I'm starting to understand the animosity you have for gossips."

"
To be fair, I've always given them cause, me and all my zany antics." Though I was trying to make light of it, the memories stung like a fresh cut.

"
So you decided to leave?"