Steamed (22 page)
Authors: Jessica Conant-Park,Susan Conant
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Boston (Mass.), #Cooks, #Women Graduate Students
We walked down the back stairs and ran smack into Noah.
With the trashy blonde.
I hadn’t noticed her car outside, but I’d been too focused on half-naked Josh to see much of anything else.
“Noah,” I said cooly, grabbing Josh’s hand.
“Veronica?” Josh said. Owen, Ade, and I whipped around to stare at Josh.
Noah spoke first. “You two know each other?” he asked the skank.
“Yeah,” she bubbled. “I do the books for Magellan, right, Josh?”
What the hell is going on? Eric’s ex-girlfriend is dating my ex? Is everyone part of a conspiracy, some freakish plot centered on Eric’s murder? Is every guy I get involved with connected to this idiot Veronica? And most of all, God, I hope Josh hasn’t slept with her, too.
“Yes, you do a lot of things at the restaurant,” Josh responded. The condescension in his voice told me that he hadn’t been with her. Huge relief.
“Oh my God! Did you hear about Eric Rafferty? I couldn’t believe it.”
We ignored her.
“Let’s go.” I started down the stairs again.
“Hi, I’m Noah.” The jerk extended his hand to Josh while ignoring Owen. I stopped and eyed Adrianna, silently begging her to help move us along. But she looked pretty interested in checking out the male dynamics going on here. Consequently, I was stuck standing there waiting to see which guy would be the next one to try symbolically marking me as his turf.
Josh shook Noah’s hand but looked far from pleased about it. “So, how do you two know each other?” he gestured to Veronica.
“Oh, she’s Tyler’s bookkeeper,” Noah answered. “He’s a chiropractor who lives downstairs,” he explained to Josh. “I met her when she came by to drop some papers off for him.”
“Brilliant,” I said. “Now we all know each other. Let’s get going.”
We started the five-minute walk to Cleveland Circle. “That was weird,” mumbled Josh. “Veronica sure gets around. She and Eric had something going . . . and now this kid? And before that she and—”
I cut him off. “Wait! Josh, hold on.”
Veronica was a link between Eric and Noah. According to Adrianna, Noah had a violent attitude. So . . . Veronica could have wanted Eric dead for some ex-girlfriend reason, and she could have convinced Noah to murder him. Maybe. But what would have been in it for Noah? Veronica’s undying love and devotion? I highly doubted that. The promise of unconditional sex with no desire whatsoever for a relationship? Still not likely. But Noah was a sneaky, untrustworthy person. A person with the makings of a murderer?
Or Veronica did it herself. When Noah had asked how she and Josh knew each other, she’d mentioned Magellan and hadn’t said a word about working at Essence, too. Of course, Magellan was the place she and Josh had in common. Even so.
My question was how to run the possibility of Veronica’s guilt by Josh while conveying a minimum of uncomfortable details about my past with Noah. So far, I’d managed to omit any information about my ex downstairs. I gave a quick summary and actually ended up enjoying the spark of jealousy in Josh’s eyes. When I’d finished, Josh quickly grabbed my hand, thus claiming his position as my new (and improved) man.
“I didn’t like that kid.” Josh shook his head. “I don’t know what it was, but I just didn’t like him.”
“Turns out I didn’t like him much either,” I agreed.
“Yeah. He’s an asshole,” Ade said. “But . . . so what do you think he was doing with Veronica?” She paused for a second. “Okay, I know
what
he was doing with her. But Chloe’s right. It’s a creepy connection. With this whole Eric-getting-chopped-up situation.”
what
he was doing with her. But Chloe’s right. It’s a creepy connection. With this whole Eric-getting-chopped-up situation.”
“Could you not say ‘chopped up’?” I pleaded.
“I don’t know,” Josh said. “I’ll have to think about that. Small world? It might just be a coincidence.” He pulled me in close to him as we walked, his arm securely over my shoulders. “Let’s just forget about it for now.” Josh kissed the top of my head as we strolled toward the Circle.
“You two are ridiculous. Aren’t they, Owen?” Adrianna said. “Any more ogling each other, and I’m going to puke.”
“Ew! Kissing? Girls?” screeched Owen. “Yick!” He gave Adrianna an impressive, slobbery kiss.
“Owen, stop! I’m hungover and all smelly!” Adrianna protested, laughing.
Josh and I walked ahead while my two friends acted like fifth-graders in the playground, chasing each other and squealing.
When we got to Eagles’ Deli, there was a long line just to get to the front entrance. Ade and Owen caught up with us, still giggling.
“Oh God. Look at that line,” Ade moaned. “It’s going to take forever to get in today.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Come on,” Josh said, leading the way past the college students lined up along Beacon Street and into the deli. “Hey, Fatty, what’s up?”
I looked behind the long deli counter to see a six-foot guy assembling an English muffin sandwich. “There you are. I was wonderin’ what happened to you.” He smiled at Josh.
“Chloe, this is Stein. Stein, Chloe.” I gave him a little wave. “And Adrianna and Owen.”
“What do you guys want to eat?” Stein asked us. I looked up at the menu posted above Stein and asked for pancakes, fried eggs, and a side of sausage. When everyone had ordered, we wove around the deli and grabbed a table together.
“I’ve definitely seen Stein before. In fact, I think he’s been working every time I’ve been in here,” I said to Josh. Stein was built like a linebacker. I silently wondered how he managed to maneuver around in the skinny area between the counter and the grills.
“Yeah, he’s hard to forget. And he works all the time.”
“God, I’m starving.” Owen rubbed his stomach. “I don’t know how I can be after last night, but I am. And I have to eat a big meal now because I won’t be able to eat again until I get home from work.”
“Where do you work?” asked Josh.
Owen beamed. He loved telling people. “I work on a blimp. We do all the football games and stuff like that around Massachusetts. I’m actually going out later today to fly over a parade in western Massachusetts.”
“No way!” Josh gave the typical reaction to hearing Owen’s unusual line of work. In other words, he barraged Owen with blimp questions.
Owen looked over our heads at the wall behind us. “What are all these Polaroid pictures for?”
The walls at the Eagle were plastered in Polaroids with personalized phrases written underneath.
Josh laughed. “Oh, those are people who’ve eaten one of the big burgers here. You don’t know about the Riley Burger?” he asked Owen.
Owen shook his head. Anyone with Owen’s appetite should practically have been born knowing this famous Cleveland Circle eatery.
While we waited for our food, Josh gave us some deli history. “See, the owner, Robert Chiller? A while back, he came up with the idea for the Godzilla Burger, which is a one-pound burger with a pound of fries. Anyone who finished it got their picture on the wall. There’s no time limit, and that started to seem too easy, because too many people were doing it. So then came the Megaburger, a one-and-a-half-pound burger with fries. Then the Cowabunga Burger, two pounds of meat with two pounds of fries. Next, the ATB Burger.”
“Let me guess,” Owen said. “Two and a half pounds of meat?”
Josh nodded.
“What’s ATB stand for?”
“The Almost There Burger,” Josh answered.
“Now, wait,” Adrianna said. “This isn’t one big, disgusting burger?”
“No, no,” Josh explained. “It’s eight-ounce patties stacked on top of each other on one bun. But then there came the Riley Burger. This kid named Shawn Riley came in one day and said he could eat a three-pound burger with three pounds of fries. So Robert said that if Riley could do it, he’d name a burger after him. And the kid did it. So he was the burger champion for a while. Until the Collette Burger, which is three and a half pounds.”
Even though the images of gluttony were making me queasy, it was still satisfying to listen to Josh recount the legends. Revolting though they were, they weren’t about anything he’d done, and his enthusiasm proved that although his own cuisine was just that, he was no food snob.
He went on. “And the deli was on the Travel Channel, where this Collette kid ate his way through the burger. He did throw up, though. On the show, Robert said that anyone who could eat the biggest burger would have it named after them.” Josh paused. “Which led to the Paul Jones Burger. Four pounds. But Robert started getting too many people who could eat these huge burgers, so he created the Chillarama Burger, which is five pounds of meat, twenty slices of cheese, twenty slices of bacon, and five pounds of fries. No one’s eaten that yet.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “No one has any business eating that much food. And, Owen, don’t even think about it.” I could see that Owen, deep in thought, was pondering the challenge.
Josh got up to get us some coffee and check on our food. When he returned with Stein, both of them were carrying trays of food. Big Stein set pancakes down in front of Ade and me. “I made you the Mickey pancakes, even though you just ordered regular,” he said shyly. I looked down to see two pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse.
“Oh, he likes you two.” Josh winked at us. “Not everyone gets the Mickey pancakes, you know.”
“Hey, I’m cute. Where are my special pancakes?” demanded Owen.
“Aw, I’ll share mine with you,” promised Adrianna while pouring syrup all over her plate. “Thank you, Stein.” She beamed at him.
Last night, the desserts. Now, the pancakes. I’d never noticed the phenomenon before. How general was it? And were plain-looking people doomed to spend their lives being served food that was unfairly unspecial?
“So Stein, what are the Godzilla Babies?” I asked. “I’ve seen them on the menu and always wondered. Are they just little burgers?”
“Yeah. They’re three-ounce burgers, but they never really caught on. We don’t even have them anymore, but we used to have special little buns for them and everything.” He shrugged. “I thought they were kinda cute.”
Stein went back to deal with the unruly and very hungry college crowd while we worked our way through our heaping plates.
“So, Josh,” I wondered aloud, “is Stein’s name really Stein?”
“No,” he laughed. “It’s Mark.”
“Mark Stein?”
“No, Mark Seland. Stein’s a nickname. Just look at his belly.” Josh grinned. “I come in here all the time to make fun of him.” His comment didn’t come across as mean. On the contrary, it sounded like the kind of ritual insult that little boys exchange only with good friends.
When I’d been to Eagles’ before, it had always been for takeout, and, of course, the deli hadn’t yet enjoyed the romantic association it now had, so I’d never really looked at the place. There was a jukebox in the front corner, flowering plants filled the window, and memorabilia covered the walls. I asked Josh about all the pictures.
“Oh, those,” he said. “Well, a lot of times girls from Boston College will send in pictures of themselves from formals and stuff and ask if they can be on the wall. All the girls around here have crushes on Stein, so they’re always sending in pictures of themselves all dressed up and stuff. And then there’s one over there of Steven Tyler. He came in one day by himself and let them take his picture. And I guess Joey McIntyre showed up at a party around here, so the girls sent in that picture of them all huddled up with him.”
“Watch out.” I warned Josh. “Adrianna might try to take that home.”
“I would not!” she insisted angrily. “It was a fleeting crush I had years ago, and I’m properly mortified about it, okay?” Poor Ade had fallen prey to a New Kids on the Block infatuation, an embarrassing addiction that was replaced only by the wretched release of the Spice Girls CD.
“Ade used to have a severe dependence on boy bands. And everything else irritating from the nineties.” I giggled. “Her mom wouldn’t let her watch
Party of Five
, so she used to come over to my house and pretend we were studying.”
Party of Five
, so she used to come over to my house and pretend we were studying.”
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