Murder Al Fresco (24 page)

My eyes went wide. "And how to use it to kill and protect her secrets."

Sexy Seven Layer Salad

You'll need:

1 head iceberg lettuce

2 English cucumbers, diced

4 carrots

10 ounces of frozen peas, thawed

1 pound prosciutto,

6 hard-boiled eggs, diced

10 ounces colby-jack cheese, shredded

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Directions:

Cook prosciutto and set on paper towel to drain and cool. Wash and chop iceberg and add to a large clear bowl. Add diced cucumber. Use a mandolin to shred carrots onto next layer then top with thawed peas, eggs, prosciutto, and cheese.

In a separate bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Smooth over cheese layer with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate several hours, and serve chilled.

**Andy's note: The salad is a killer picnic recipe. Make it the night before and bring to impress your guests with your culinary prowess!

Clayton arrived shortly after dinner, and Jones and I were too wrapped up in him to discuss the case further. For his part, the littlest Jones boy seemed to have no ill effects from his stay with the foster care family where he'd been placed. We all slept soundly, in spite of the dinner conversation. I woke early though, thoughts of winning the
Diced Showdown
and publically unmasking Fangirl#1 making me eager to seize the day.

Leaving Jones and Clayton to sleep in, I snuck out to Mustang Sally and drove into town. Jacob's sleek BMW was already parked out front. The man was an early bird, that was for sure, but what surprised me was that Lacey was with him.

"Good morning." I greeted them as I entered the kitchen. Most of the remodeling focused on the front room, and though the construction crew wasn't in yet, the place was nothing but sawdust and plywood.

"Andee" Lacey blinked. "You surprised us. What are you doing here so early?"

"Big day today and I thought I'd get a jump on it." I rubbed my hands together and grinned at her, clearly taking her aback. I turned toward the coffee pot, relieved to see it was filled. "So what have you got for me, Jacob?"

"Well, I wanted to get your take on the dining area. I was thinking we could extend the Old World motif we've done in the patio area to inside. Maybe a Venetian plaster wall treatment in a neutral color and then some deeper jewel tones for the fabrics and darker wood colors."

"Sounds great," I said, once again clearly picturing what he was talking about.

"Lacey offered to purchase some oil paintings for you," he continued. "I thought something eye-catching adjacent to the picture window."

"I can do that," I said hurriedly. Lacey's taste was tacky at the best of times, and I really didn't want to imagine what she would think was suitable for my front room.

"It's no trouble," Lacey insisted. "I want to help with ze remodel."

"Thanks, but I'd really rather do it myself. Give it the personal touch, you know."

We stared at each other for a beat. I really didn't want to fall back into old patterns with her, sniping and snarking at one another, but it was my space.

"Honey." Jacob rode to the rescue, putting a hand on the small of Lacey's back. "Why don't you treat yourself to a spa day? You work so hard."

It took all my willpower not to snort. Work hard?
Lacey?
The man was delusional. But I kept my trap shut and let him handle her.

If Lacey was disappointed that she'd basically been told to go sit in the corner while the adults were talking, she didn't show it. "Very well. I wanted to have a manicure before ze show anyhow." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed the side of Jacob's face, leaving a pink lip print on his cheek.

"Enjoy!" My wave was more of a salute, and I turned to Jacob the second the door shut behind her. "Thanks for that."

"I wish you girls got along better," Jacob mumbled.

"Given our history, it's amazing that we're not rolling around on the floor, trying to tear each other's hair out. Call this one a win, and let it go." I didn't mention that up until a few days ago I wasn't even speaking to him, and Lacey was a stretch I couldn't see happening. Plus, I was too busy swallowing bile from him lumping his daughter and his wife together as "you girls." That was wrong on every level.

We talked plans for improvements, and Jacob showed me the back patio, which was in the final stages of development. He talked about updating the kitchen, adding a sous-vide machine, which I approved, and replacing the stove, which I flat out refused.

We argued over redoing the office and the bathrooms and decided to leave well enough alone for now since we wanted the pasta shop up and running as soon as possible.

"What are you thinking, timetable-wise?"

"I'll have to talk to my contractor, but I think we can set the re-launch for two weeks from today."

"That soon?" I'd anticipated being down for close to a month.

He sent me a devilish grin. "What can I say? I'm that good."

"Then I'll leave you to it." I had a blogger to unmask and a competition to win. Plus I wanted Jones's input about the changes to the Victorian and to ask if he thought we could swing it. I dug through my purse, hunting for my cell, and finally yanked it free, only to have the entire bag upend itself all over the alley. "Freaking great," I mumbled and crouched down to scoop up my belongings. This sort of fumble wasn't helping my confidence level. I needed to breathe, maybe do some of the yoga breaths Donna had insisted were so helpful. Positive thoughts, I needed to remember that I was supposed to think positively and attract good things.

I couldn't find my wallet. Damn, I knew I should have bought the neon-purple one, instead of the drab brown that blended all too well with my surroundings. Crouching behind the Dumpster, I peeked underneath, and sure enough, my wallet had slid beneath. Glad I had a change of clothes in my trunk, I tried not to think about the years of decomposition as I lowered myself onto my belly. The alley always smelled sour, but the day was already heating up, adding
eau de
hot garbage to the mix. Naturally, it was trash day, and the truck hadn't come by yet.

"Positive thinking," I grunted, straining for the wallet.

"Querida?"

The sudden voice, when I'd been sure I was alone, startled me, and I jumped, smacking my head against the bottom part of the Dumpster. Rodrigo had snuck up on me. Great, just the position I wanted my competition to see me assuming prior to our cook-off. I was just about to call out when another voice spoke.

"
Mon amour.
What are you doing here?" Lacey hissed.

"I had to see you."

I froze, not wanting to alert Lacey or Rodrigo, for surely no one else spoke in that same sultry Spanish, at least not in Beaverton. Turning my head, I could just see their shoes, her ridiculously high pink pumps and his shiny dress shoes. They were standing way too close together for propriety, even if the endearments hadn't tipped me off. And then I heard the distinctive sounds of passion. Kissing and frantic groans. Oh hell, I'd stumbled onto an international love triangle. Or maybe it was a telenovela.

Either way, it should be preserved. My cell phone was still in my hand, so quietly as I could, I selected the video function and hit record. Not that I doubted Jacob would believe me when I told him about this little tête-à-tête, but if there's one thing I'd begun to appreciate, it was the undeniable value of hard evidence.

"You shouldn't be here." Lacey's voice was breathless. "My husband is right inside."

"Have you told him yet?" Rodrigo whispered.

"No." Lacey sounded bitter, and I could just envision her pert nose crinkled with dislike. "Andee has been particularly needy."

Needy my substantial Italian backside. A soft growl escaped my throat before I thought better of it.

"What was that?" Lacey asked.

I closed my eyes and tried to not make another sound.

"Probably just a dog somewhere," Rodrigo soothed. "Andy has been surprisingly resistant to my charms."

"I thought you said you could handle her." Lacey's tone was irritated.

Handle?
Moi?
Good one, tutti-frutti.

"I can," Rodrigo insisted. "But she's smitten with that photographer, so I had to take a different angle."

"By seducing her mousy little assistant?" Lacey scoffed. "That iz rich. And what happened?"

My breath caught, eyes going wide. Was I right? Was it really Rodrigo who'd been behind the Bowtie Angel's sabotage after all?

"I don't know." Rodrigo sounded baffled. "Not a thing,
carina
.
One moment she was fine, and the next, she had fallen to the ground."

There was a scuffling noise from farther down the alley, and Lacey gasped. "I have to go. Jacob could come out here at any moment"

"Wait—when will we see each other again?" Rodrigo asked.

"After the competition. Good luck,
mon cher
, "she hissed, and then the sound of her heels clicking echoed down the alley.

I shut off the recording and texted Jones.
Meet me in town ASAP! You were right about R.

Slithering out from under the Dumpster, I rose and whirled on my heel and ran smack into Rodrigo.

"Hola," he said.

"Cripes," I gasped, putting as much distance between the two of us as I could. "You scared me."

He studied the area beneath the Dumpster and then scrutinized my face. "You heard everything?"

There was no denying it. Lifting my chin, I stared him straight in the eye. "Enough to know that you're having an affair with my father's wife, and she asked you to seduce me for God alone knows what reason."

A little shiver of fear coursed through me. People didn't react well when you figured out their secrets, and both Lacey and Rodrigo had been sneaking around behind Jacob's back. I was trapped in an alley with him, never a good situation, especially if he'd been doing dangerous things.

"Not seduce you." He shook his head. "Distract you. Lacey knew if you found out you'd tell Jacob."

And what better way to keep me from seeing the truth than to have him play my own romantic lead? Sooner or later someone would walk down this alley. The construction crew or maybe one of the people associated with the
Diced Showdown
. I was probably safe but decided to bluff my way out of this just in case I was wrong. "Shows how much she knows, I don't even like Jacob."

Rodrigo nodded. "That's what I told her. You have no loyalty to him, blood or no blood."

"So your secret is safe with me, as long as you stay away from Mimi and out of my pasta shop."

I made to push past him, but he caught my arm. "Wait. I do like you, Andy. Very much."

My temper got the best of me. "Right, so much so that you're trying to dupe me. You know she's never going to leave Jacob, right? Lacey's a pampered poodle, and she's used to luxury. You may be famous, but you can't compete with his money. Speaking as a 'friend,' you'd be better off finding a woman who wants to be with you and only you."

He stared at me for a minute. My heart thudding, I glanced pointedly down at my arm, where he still held me. Would he let me go, or was I about to see an even uglier side of him?

My instincts told me Rodrigo was a lover, not a fighter and certainly not a killer. I'd agreed to keep the affair secret, even if my fingers had been crossed behind my back, but I'd been cornered too many times to take anything for granted.

After what felt like an eternity, he released my arm. "Good luck in the competition today."

"You too," I answered and scurried out of there as quickly as my legs could carry me.

*   *   *

"You think
Lacey's
the blogger?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"Sssh." I waved frantically, trying to get him to keep his voice down. "I know it sounds crazy. I don't know for sure, but it feels right. She hates me and wants to discredit me. She knows enough about food and drinks that she could pull off a mass poisoning and make it look like an accident. That's a bunch of secrets she desperately wants kept. If Chad Tobey figured it out, she might have killed him to keep it quiet. Plus, my keys were at her house the night of the break-in, so she could have easily been behind that. And if she made a copy, she could have gone back and put Spice in the ventilation system. It all fits."

Kyle held up a hand. "One problem with that. Lacey is an undercover FBI agent."

I stared at him blankly, the words not making sense. "Lacey L'Amour works for the FBI? Kyle, have you lost your frigging marbles?"

He heaved a sigh. "That's what I found out in Atlanta. The FBI contacted me about the food poisoning incident and told me they already had someone working the case."

My head was shaking back and forth, denial burning through my system. "Special Agent Lacey L'Amour. You can't be serious. Jacob would know." Then an even stranger thought struck me. "Wait, why would the FBI send someone to investigate a simple case of food poisoning? And undercover no less?"

Even though the rest of the office was virtually deserted, Kyle shut the door to his office. "Look, I don't want you to panic, but there have been threats."

"Threats?" My eyes went wide. "What sort of threats?"

"Anonymous ones targeting the
Diced Showdown
."

"And you're only telling me about this now?" I couldn't keep the screech out of my voice.

It was Kyle's turn to make a shushing sound. "I don't know how serious it is or how much danger could be present. But Chad Tobey also received threats prior to his death."

"You said that was ruled an accident."

Kyle wouldn't meet my gaze. "I sort of fibbed about that."

"Fibbed?" I stared at him uncomprehendingly. "You mean lied? You flat out lied to me." "Don't get all high and mighty with me when you and your boyfriend go hacking into records you have no business seeing. I had to keep you from snooping somehow."