Spoiled Rotten (20 page)
Authors: Mary Jackman
Frozen, I watched Winn walk into the room. The bag fell over with a heavy thud and flour showered the air. Cecilia Vieira shoved it out of the way and, jumping from behind it, dove at Winn's legs. He was thrown off balance and teetered. Then he slipped in the flour and slammed to the ground onto his back. Cecilia bent over, lifting a knife high in the air, ready to plunge. I ran through the door, the baker whistled shrilly, and tossed me a rolling pin the size of a baseball bat. I caught it and yelled, “Hey, Cecilia, want a chocolate?”
She twisted around and screamed, “You stupid, interfering bitch!” Then she lunged.
I swung the bat and landed it squarely on the top of her head. Cecilia folded onto her knees and collapsed. The baker threw his hands in the air and hollered,
“She's out!”
THE END
(Well, not quite.)
T
he good news is that my son Jon and Susan, the police rookie, are engaged. I have their assurances they will both finish their degrees and live together for a year before planning a wedding.
The bad news is that I've been stood up. Winn was supposed to pick me up at Walker's Way twenty minutes ago, except he called and said he wasn't coming. His wife got wind of the fact he was interested in another woman and has apparently reconsidered her position. If nothing else, he said he had to talk it over with her and he owed it to her. I understood didn't I? Of course I understood. There's a picture of me in the dictionary beside the word.
In the meantime, it wasn't all bad. The restaurant was packed, the customers were swooning over Daniel's food, and Rick, one arm in a cast, was dazzling a bevy of teachers and looking as if he just won the lottery. I had a bowl of cognac in front of me soon to be consumed and was contentedly watching the happy customers while jazz murmured softly in the background and the cat was playing with a â¦
CHEQUE, PLEASE!
Bag of Bones | A bag of fresh bones from the butcher used to make a concentrated stock base |
|---|---|
Bag of white | A ten-pound quantity of chicken breast with the bone out |
Bar Back | Open bottles of house wines or liquor. Can also refer to second bartender in command |
BOLO | A police alert meaning “Be on the Lookout” |
Bucket of Death | A pail of water with a miniature tilting gang plank |
Comp | A free drink or food bought by the house. (establishment) |
Covers | Number of meals served to customers in a given period |
Deck | On deck, referring to food orders waiting in sequence to be filled by the chef |
Demi glace | A base made from veal bones |
El dente | Translated literally means “to the tooth,” (not cooked to mush!) |
Expediter | Person who controls pick-up and delivery of plated foods |
Garland | A common brand of commercial oven used primarily in restaurants |
Hobart | Large upright floor model dough mixer |
“In the weeds” | When the chef has more orders than he can handle |
Plated | Prepared meal waiting to be served |
Prima vera | Pasta mixed with vegetables. A vegetarian alternative on most menus |
Rail | A trough containing easy access bottles of the most common house-brand liquor |
Reach-in | Refrigerator you reach into with your hands. Side by side, with two full length doors that open out in the middle |
Salamander | A broiler attached to the top of a stove range used to heat flash foods, a separate unit |
Spaghetti Carbonara | Pasta with ham or bacon, eggs, and cream finished with parmesan cheese. Should only be eaten by those unconcerned with weight or cholesterol |
Stiff | Person who doesn't tip or is dead (same thing, really) |
Supremes | Chicken breast and upper wing, bone out in the breast |
Two fingers | Two ounces |
Walk-in | A refrigerated room you can walk into |
Whites | Kitchen uniforms, chef coats, pants, shirts, and aprons |
Wood flour | Ground sawdust used to smoke meats |
Copyright © Mary Jackman, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor: Shannon Whibbs
Design: Courtney Horner
Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Jackman, Mary (Mary Elizabeth)
Spoiled rotten [electronic resource] : a Liz Walker mystery / Mary Jackman.
Type of computer file: Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 978-1-4597-0142-7
I. Title.
PS8619.A227S66 2012 C813'.6 C2011-906003-5
We acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts
and the
Ontario Arts Council
for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada
through the
Canada Book Fund
and
Livres Canada Books
, and the
Government of Ontario
through the
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit
and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation
.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
www.dundurn.com
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