Don't Forget Me (21 page)

Kit gave him a mutinous look, then subsided back into her chair. “Okay. The job at the Rose has all kinds of potential, but right now it sucks a lot of the time. The restaurant is terrific, I wasn’t lying about that. And Joe LeBlanc is a pro. But the manager at the inn is borderline competent, and her idea of making the restaurant profitable is to hire inexperienced staff she can pay next to nothing. And not even enough of those. I’m being run off my feet out there trying to make up for all the people the restaurant needs and doesn’t have. Joe’s trying his best, but unless Mabel gets her act together, the restaurant’s new rep is going to burn out fast.”

“Mabel?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Ms. Mabel Morgenstern, manager of the Woodrose Inn. Although if Resorts Consolidated ever finds out what a lousy job she’s doing with their newest acquisition, she could be out on the street. Or at least I devoutly hope so.”

Nando frowned. “I didn’t know the Woodrose had been bought out.”

“A few months ago. I heard about it in San Antonio. RC is a British company trying to break into the upscale trade in the region. The Woodrose was a major purchase.” She picked up her coffee cup. “So how about you? What’s this tightrope that’s got you drowning your sorrows in craft beer.”

He shrugged. “The job’s not bad, not by a long shot. Toleffson’s the best chief the town’s ever had, and he’s got the department running a lot better than it used to. We could still use more people, but we’re getting along with four full time and two part time, which is a lot better than two full and four part like it used to be.”

Kit gave him a slight smile. “But?”

He grimaced. “But I’m on probation with the City Council for the assistant chief position. And not everybody is okay with that. Ham Linklatter in particular.”

She put down her cup. “Nobody in their right mind would appoint Ham to anything in authority. Everybody agreed on that when he didn’t get the chief’s job. How can there be any serious question now?”

He narrowed his eyes, studying the far wall. “If it was just Toleffson’s decision, there probably wouldn’t be any question. But there’s some sentiment in favor of Ham.”

Kit leaned forward in her chair. “This is Ham Linklatter we’re talking about, right? The guy you never want answering your 911 call? The closest thing we’ve got to a village idiot? How can there be any question about him being assistant chief?”

Nando sighed. “You remember when the council hired Toleffson instead of Ham to be chief?”

“To the resounding applause of everybody in town, as I recall.”

“Right.” He nodded. “Nobody wanted Ham in that position. But some people feel like his feelings got hurt when he didn’t get chosen, and they’re kind of sorry for him. And they might be in favor of giving him this job as a consolation prize.”

Kit gave him an incredulous look. “That makes no sense at all. Ham’s barely competent doing what he’s doing now. How can they seriously want to bump him up to something more demanding?”

“My guess is they figure Toleffson’s going to be in charge and he can keep Ham from screwing up too much, so it wouldn’t be like he’d be a danger to the town.”

“Except when Chief Toleffson’s not around to keep track of him.”

“Right.” Nando rubbed a hand across his face. “If Ham takes over this job, everybody in town had better pray that Toleffson doesn’t take too many vacations.”

“But he won’t take it over, will he? I mean if you’ve already got the position, not even people who feel sorry for him would take it away and give it to him. They’d want to keep you there.”

He shook his head. “It’s not automatic. I’m supposed to be supercop for a few weeks just to reassure the citizens that everything is okay.”

“Still.” She shrugged. “I wouldn’t think there’d be much problem. You’re really good at your job. Between you and Ham, any sane person would stick with you.”

He grimaced. “That assumes the city council is sane. I’m not entirely sure.”

“Have you done any campaigning?”

He shook his head. “Just tried to keep my head down. With middling success.”

“What happened?”

“Just…I found some DNA evidence in the bookstore after it was vandalized, but the story got a little twisted.” He stared down at his coffee, hoping his ears weren’t actually turning red.

Kit stared at him. “Oh my god,” she said finally. “The poop. I heard about that.”

“Yeah, so did everybody else, thanks to Ham.”

“But that was a good thing. DNA evidence. That could help you find the guy who’s doing this.”

“Right.” He sighed. “And I guess a lot of people understand that by now. The problem is the boys locker room factor. It sounds funny. And Ham’s been riding it for all it’s worth. He’s made me look sort of like a moron. Or a pervert. A crap collector.”

“But that’s crazy.” Kit sat straighter in her chair. “You’re a great cop, and everybody knows it. Ham’s an idiot, and everybody knows that too. They can’t possibly give him the job. I think you’re worrying about something you don’t need to worry about. Hell, we’re all smarter than that, Nando.”

Nando watched her, listening to the note of outrage in her voice. He hadn’t told anybody about the whole thing with Ham until now, not even Esteban. It was the first time anybody had been irate on his behalf. And it felt really…good.

“Thanks,” he said slowly.

“You’re welcome.” The corners of her mouth edged up. “Listen, I was thinking of going out to the state park this afternoon—I haven’t been there since I’ve been back. Want to come?”

He found himself grinning for no particular reason. The state park had a lake where they’d spent a lot of time. That probably wasn’t what she had in mind. Still… “Sure. I’ll even drive.”

They spent a lazy morning at the lake, neither of them acknowledging the time they’d spent there before or what they’d done then, although Kit thought she could identify at least three places on the shore where they’d made love. They skipped rocks and walked the paths through the live oaks and finally found a picnic table in the shade. And talked. A lot of talking, as it turned out. More talking than she’d done in eighteen months. But then she hadn’t had him to talk to until now.

He asked her why she hadn’t gone to work for her father, and she told him about the restaurant sale. It was the first time she’d told anyone all the details, even Allie.

“I had this dream about managing the restaurant ever since I was a kid, in fact. In the front of the house, not the kitchen or the dining room. So I told my dad I wanted to go back to work there after I graduated, that I thought the things I’d learned in hospitality management could be useful. He didn’t say much at the time, just sort of nodded and let me hostess in the afternoons for a while.”

Nando ran a piece of rye grass between his fingers. “Did he tell you he was thinking about selling?”

Kit shook her head. “Not at first. I think he was still sort of mulling over the offer.”

“Then what happened?”

She took a deep breath. “He called us all together, the three of us who were still in town, that is. Me, my brother Art and my sister Juana. He told us he’d had a good offer and was thinking of selling, but he’d pass the restaurant on to us if that’s what we wanted. Juana said no right off the bat—she’s a social worker and she’s got no interest in switching to food service. Art’s an accountant. We talked about it, he and I, but it would have been mainly me doing all the work in the restaurant—the ordering, the menus, the hiring, the day-to-day management. All of it.”

Nando’s forehead furrowed. “But wasn’t that what you were looking for?”

Kit stared down at her hands. “Yes, but… It was the family restaurant. If I blew it, I’d be blowing all my father’s work, his reputation. And I’d always know everybody was watching me, waiting to see if I could handle it. Papi had had years to build the place up, and I’d have to try to keep it going the way he had.”

“And you were afraid you couldn’t do it,” he said quietly.

She nodded slowly. “I had my chance. And I flinched. Papi understood. He knew how I felt, how scared I was. But the thing is, I should have had the guts to do it. I should have believed in myself and gone ahead. I just…didn’t.”

Nando ran his fingers gently up and down her arm. “I’m sorry.”

Kit sighed, telling herself to knock it off. Whatever she should have done, she had to live with what she
had
done. “I could have looked for something else in San Antonio, and I’d probably have found a job—Papi could have helped me find something in the restaurant business there. But I couldn’t stay around and watch strangers take over Antonio’s instead of me. I called Aunt Allie, and she said to come on up.”

“Did you tell her what happened?”

“Some of it.”

“Did you want to work at Sweet Thing?”

Kit shook her head. “Allie doesn’t need anybody in the front of the house either. She runs everything, and she’s got the kitchen operation down to a science. Unlike Mabel Morgenstern, she hires the right staff and then she holds onto them, although she’d probably have given me a job running the cash register or something if I’d asked.”

Nando tossed a piece of bark toward the lake, watching it bounce off a rock before sinking. “She’s a good person to be connected to around here. Everybody loves her.” With the exception of the asshole who’d broken in and trashed her restaurant, of course.

Kit shrugged. “So how’s your family?”

“Same as usual. Esteban’s the assistant wine master, but Cliff Barrett doesn’t leave him a whole lot to do. Dad’s still running the vineyards. Mom’s still driving everybody crazy. My sister Blanca is still living in Albuquerque and refusing to come home for Thanksgiving, which drives Mom crazy so it sort of evens out.”

She turned to look out over the lake. “Do they still want you to quit the police force and come to work at the winery?”

“Sure. They’ll never believe I could be happy doing anything except making wine.” Nando shook his head. “Secretly, I think they’re sort of proud of me, but they’ll never admit it to my face.”

“They’re good people,” She said slowly. “I like them.”

“So do I, but they still make me nuts.”

Kit shrugged. “That’s their job. They love you.”

Nando picked another piece of rye grass

“Speaking of Sweet Thing, as we were not that long ago, want to go see if we can grab some iced tea and ham sandwiches there for lunch?”

He frowned. “I thought Allie was still closed down.”

“She is, but she’s got the kitchen open, thanks to you. She’s making bread for all her regulars, plus she’s always got some ham around.”

He pushed himself off the picnic table. “You’ve got a deal.”

To her everlasting credit, Allie didn’t blink when she saw them together. And she was willing to sacrifice a fresh loaf of seven grain, along with some Virginia ham and cheddar cheese, for sandwiches. They sat at one of the unused tables on the restaurant patio, leaning back in their Adirondack chairs to bask in the sun.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got any new ideas about who messed up the restaurant,” Kit asked. The cleaning crew had made some inroads in the lake of jam and honey still hardening in the middle of the bakery floor, but it looked like the floor might need refinishing. She only hoped the crew could loosen the rest of the mess without dynamite.

Nando shook his head. “He didn’t leave any samples this time, which is a good thing, I guess, since this is a restaurant.”

“Right.” She blew out a breath. “Allie found something else missing, by the way, although I don’t know how important it is.”

“Anything’s potentially important.” He leaned toward her. “What was it?”

“A little china bowl she kept near the cash register. I don’t think it’s worth anything. I mean she got it at a flea market.”

“What does it look like?”

Kit held her fingers together in a circle. “About so round. White with purple flowers. It had pennies for change.”

“Did he take the pennies too?”

She frowned. “I’m not sure. I’ll ask. Does it mean anything?”

Nando shrugged. “Not yet. But it will when we find him. If he kept it, it could tie him to the burglary.”

“Why would he keep it?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. Sometimes crooks keep souvenirs, don’t ask me why. Maybe we’ll figure it out when we find out who he is.” He leaned forward, pushing himself up from the chair. “I’d probably better get home. I’ve got night duty this week, and I need to get changed before I head to the station.”

Kit glanced at her watch and discovered the afternoon was almost over. They’d spent most of the day together. Funny—it hadn’t seemed that long while it was happening. She followed him to the back gate. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Thanks for lunch.”

He smiled down at her and her heart suddenly kicked up a notch. She’d managed to push all her thoughts about what this day meant to the back of her mind while it was happening. Now they threatened to come tumbling back to the front again.

Nando ran his fingers down the slope of her nose, his smile narrowing slightly. “I’d like to see you again, Catarina. Would that be okay with you?”