Murder in the Pearl District (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 5) (12 page)

After the meeting with
Detective Masters had ended, Kelly, Rebel, and Hank walked out of the office.
“Kelly, let me walk you home. I know you’ve got that big guy with you, but I’d
feel better knowing you and Sophie are safe in the house with the alarm system
on and the dogs in there with you,” Hank said, looking worried.

“After
everything’s that’s happened tonight, I’m not going to turn down your offer.
Thanks,” she said in a shaky voice.    

They crossed
the street to Sophie’s home and Kelly knocked on the door. Sophie opened it,
obviously having recently gotten out of the shower. A towel was wrapped around
her head, and she wore a thick white terry cloth robe.

“Hank, what
are you doing here at this hour?”

He looked at
Kelly. “Do you want to tell her or should I?” Hank asked.

“I will.
Better sit down, Sophie. This might take a while.”

She told
Sophie everything that had happened from the time Detective Masters had called
her to when he’d left to go to the station and write up his report on Chef
DuBois. “Hank is a hero. He risked his own life to save Nico’s life. He was
worried something might happen to you when he saw the chef in the alley headed
towards your restaurant. I thought you should know.”

“
Mon Dieu
,”
Sophie said as she walked over to Hank and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
“Thank you so much. I don’t know the English words to even begin to tell you
what I’m feeling. If it hadn’t been for you, who knows what would have
happened. How can I ever thank you?”

“How about
saying you’ll have dinner with me at your restaurant?”

She laughed. “
Chéri
,
I would love to, and I can even promise you that I can provide a good bottle of
champagne to go with it!”

Hank opened
the door and turned to Kelly. “I think that dog’s a keeper. Sure made my job
easier. Might want to think about giving him a little treat. Night ladies.”

“Sophie, we
can talk tomorrow morning,” Kelly said. “Right now what we both need is sleep,
but first I’ve got to call Mike. He’s probably frantic by now.”

“I agree.
Sleep well.”

*****

“Thank heavens, you
called. Are you all right?” Mike practically shouted into the phone when she
called.

“Yes, Rebel
and I are fine. It’s over, Mike, and I’m very glad you thought to call
Detective Masters. Here’s what happened.” She spent the next few minutes
telling him about the chef, Hank, Nico, Mitch and finally the heroics performed
by Rebel. “Mike, I’d love to talk longer to you, but I’m so tired I’m going to
start babbling if I continue. I’ve got to get some sleep. I love you, and I’ll
be home early tomorrow afternoon. I have to attend my last meeting at the
restaurant tomorrow morning and then I’ll head for home.”

“Tell you
what, I’ll make dinner and get a nice bottle of wine. It’s been beautiful here
so there’s a good chance we can eat on the patio. Deal?”

“Yes,
sweetheart, that’s a deal.”

The following morning,
after the meeting about increasing the staff had ended, Sophie and Kelly walked
back to Sophie’s building to get Kelly’s luggage and say goodbye.

“I never like
goodbyes, Sophie. I much prefer to say, I hope I’ll see you soon, and I’d like
to do just that. Please keep in touch. I’m really interested in hearing about
the success of the restaurant and also about you and Hank.”

“Aah,
chérie
,
who knows? I’ll call you in a few days and tell you what’s happening in the
district. If you don’t like goodbyes, you probably don’t like to be thanked,
either, but I can’t let you leave without thanking you and telling you how much
I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Without you, my new chef and I very
well could have been the next victims of Chef DuBois. Listen to me, using words
like ‘my new chef.’ It all seems so very strange, but for me life is just an
adventure from one day to the next. Drive safely, and I definitely will be
calling you.
Au revoir
.”

“Okay, Rebel,
say goodbye to Amelie. We’re off to Cedar Bay.”

She put her
bag in the back of the minivan and opened the door for Rebel. As she drove away
from Sophie’s building, she saw Sophie waving until she turned the corner. Two
hours later she pulled into the driveway of her home in Cedar Bay, the home
that had been her parents until they retired and moved to Arizona. She sat in
the van and was caught up in a moment of reverie as she looked at the bay
shimmering in the early afternoon sunlight.

A moment later
the door to the house burst open, and Mike and Lady ran over to the minivan. As
soon as she opened the door she was enveloped in a huge bear hug from the burly
sheriff. Lady gave her own greeting to Rebel, gently poking at him with her
nose as if to say, “Missed you, big guy. Glad you’re home. It was lonesome here
without you.”

A few hours
later, Rebel woke up, looked at Lady and then down the hall to the closed
bedroom door as if to say, “We need to tell them to get up from their nap. It’s
time for them to feed us.”

*****

Several days later Kelly
had just locked the door at Kelly’s Koffee Shop and was walking to her car in
the pier parking lot when her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw
the name Sophie Marchant.

“Sophie, how
are you? How is Mangia! Mangia!? How is everything in the Pearl District?”

“
Chérie
,
stop,” Sophie said laughing. “I can only answer one question at a time. I’ll
start with the restaurant. Nico found out who called Chef DuBois and tipped him
off about the meeting in the alley between Mitch and him. It was one of the
line cooks, and he fired him on the spot. We’ve hired five new people for the
kitchen and seven people for the wait staff. One of them does nothing but
handle take-out orders. Believe it or not, we are still as busy as we were when
you were here. Actually, we are booked solid for the next few weeks for lunch
and dinner. We’ll open up the reservations again in a few weeks or so. Can you
believe it?”

“After tasting
Nico’s amazing dishes, I’m not the least bit surprised. Donatella sure made a
bad business decision by not allowing him to put his dishes on her menu.”

“As to how the
Pearl District is doing, it’s fine,” Sophie continued. “What’s interesting is
that this morning there was a rave review in the Portland Gazette by Bill
Hossam on Mangia! Mangia! After you told me what you found out about him, I’m
surprised he can pull off these reviews, but a rave review by him is pretty
much gold for a restaurant. Don’t you Americans have some saying about how you
can fool someone?”

“Yes, and he’s
probably a good example of the saying which is ‘You can fool all the people
some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all
the people all the time.’ Actually it was one of our presidents who said it,
Abraham Lincoln. I had to write a paper on it in a high school history class,
and I’ve never forgotten it. Sure seems to apply to him, but I still think
someday he’ll write a nasty review for a restaurant, and the owner will have
him investigated and then everyone will know what a fraud he is. I’m so glad he
gave the restaurant a rave review. That’s fantastic!”

“Detective
Masters called me the other day to tell me there’s more than enough evidence to
convict Chef DuBois if his case goes to trial. His restaurant, Le Toque, is
closed, and I don’t know what will happen to it. The detective said his
restaurant staff hated the chef and was terrified of him. Evidently he was
physically abusive to some of them and emotionally abusive to all of them.
Several of them have come to Mangia! Mangia! looking for work. The detective
said the chef was hoping some of his staff would testify in his behalf. I guess
he expected them to serve as character witnesses for him, but none of them
would.”

“Couldn’t
happen to a better person,” Kelly said. “Can’t say I feel too sorry for him.”

“I don’t
either. I’m saving the best for last.”

“Well, I hope
it’s about you and Hank.”

“It is. I’ve
seen him several times since you left Portland. I like him, Kelly, I like him a
lot. We’d talked a little bit about art and food before, but now it seems like
there’s never enough time to talk about everything we have in common. He told
me I have you to thank for that. He said he never would have had the courage to
approach me if it hadn’t been for you, so I guess that’s one more thing I have
to thank you for. Actually, I pretty much have my life to thank you for, so
thank you.”

“I just
happened to be in the right place at the right time. My mother always used to
tell me to bloom where you’re planted,” Kelly said, “and I guess I was planted
in the Pearl District and bloomed for you. Maybe that’s a stretch, but you know
what I mean.”

“I do, dear
friend. I see Nico motioning to me, so I better see what the next kitchen
crisis is all about. Thank you again. I’ll be in touch.”

“Give everyone
my best, and tell them Rebel and I will come to visit sometime soon.”

“
Au revoir
.”

Kelly ended
the call and smiled peacefully to herself.

Who doesn’t
love a happy ending
, she thought,
and this is about the best ending anyone
could ask for.

One evening a few weeks
after Kelly returned to Cedar Bay, she and Mike were just finishing dinner when
her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and didn’t recognize the number
displayed on it. 

“Hello, this
is Kelly Reynolds,” she said.

“Well, hello
there yerself’ lil’ ol’ Ms. Kelly,” a stranger said in an obvious slurred tone
of voice. “This here’s yer’ ol’ buddy Dirk the Jerk. You member’ me doncha’? 
Did that little ol’ report for Donatella DeLuca concernin’ those two scumballs
she wanted me to get the goods on. You know, that phony French chef and that
food critic guy that was threatnin’ to give her restaurant a bad name.” 

“Yes of course
Dirk, I remember you. How are you doing tonight?  Sounds like maybe you’ve been
drinking a little, or, if I’m guessing right, maybe a lot, given the sound of
your voice. What can I do for you, Dirk?” 

“Well yer’
right on target about me having a little too much to drink.  Got my ol’ friend
jack black right here on the table in front of me. Jus’ got through making
m’self a brimmer, ya’ know, all the way to the top of the glass and no ice.
Goes down real smooth like, ‘specially when you’re in the mood to do some
serious celebratin’. 

“Anyway, the
reason I’m calling ya’ is I was jes’ wonderin’ if you subscribe to the Portland
Gazette, cuz if ya’ do, you otta’ take a gander at the lead article that’s
gonna’ be in the paper’s weekly food section tomorrow mornin’. Got’s me an
inside contact at the paper, and she tipped me off ‘bout what’s gonna be in it.”

“What are you
talking about?” Kelly asked.

“Seems like
the editor of the paper hisself is gonna ‘nounce that he’s fired their longtime
food critic, Bill Hossam, and he’s gonna’ make a public ‘pology fer’ allowin’
Hossam to work for the paper under false pretenses.  ‘Cording to the editor,
turns out Hossam was a complete phony and had zilch credenshuls or qualific’
whatever the word is.”

“I think you
mean qualifications.”

“Yep, jes’
like I was sayin’. He ain’t got no qualific’ to be writn’ weekly articles ‘bout
restaurants for the Gazette. My friend at the paper said she didn’t know how
the editor found out about Mr. Phony Baloney Hossam, but she did say there was
a rumor circulatin’ in the newsroom that the editor got some kinda’ ‘nonymous
report in the mail about his star food critic, good ol’ Mr. Hossam. Imagin’
that! Wonder who in the world mighta’ done somethin’ nasty like that and gone
and spilled the beans on him? Heh, heh, that’s a rich one!

“Well anyway,
Ms. Kelly, thought you’d wanna’ know. Have a good night tonight and don’t
forget to take a look at the Gazette in the mornin’. As for me, think I’ll have
me one more little ol’ taste of honey, my ol’ pal jack black. Nitey-nite,” he
said and hung up before Kelly could say a word.  

Well, I can’t
say I feel sorry for Hossam. He was an evil disgusting man and it looks like
he’s going to get what he deserves. I guess the old saying “What goes around
comes around,” certainly applies to the situation in which Bill Hossam now
finds himself!
 

*****

Later that evening, after
Kelly had told Mike about the phone call and Bill Hossam being fired by the
Gazette and exposed as a fraud, he said, “Kelly, remember how we talked about
taking a real honeymoon after Jesse’s murder was solved?”

“Sure, but it
just never happened. Between your cases, Kelley’s Koffee Shop, and then the
murder in the Pearl District, we’ve never had time. Why?”

“I think it’s
time we did it. We could both use some time off. I received a call from my Aunt
Agnes this afternoon. You may remember me telling you about her. She is my
mother’s sister, and when I was a kid I spent a lot of time with her during the
summers at her home in Calico Gold, California. She and her husband never had
children, and I think I was kind of their surrogate child. The little town is
really something. I’ve got great memories of it. It’s nestled in the foothills
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Central California. There’s quite a little
bit of history about the part it played in the Gold Rush.”

“Mike, didn’t
you tell me once your aunt owned a big house on a large ranch.”

“Yes, her
house is on one hundred acres outside of town. When she and my uncle were
younger, they had horses, dogs, cats, goats, and all kinds of animals. Believe
me it was a little boy’s paradise. I used to ramble around that big old house
and think it must be just about the biggest one in the world. Now that I’m a
lot bigger and a lot older, it probably wouldn’t seem that big.”

“What did she
have to say?”

“It was kind
of interesting. She asked if there was any way you and I could visit her as
soon as we could. She couldn’t make it to our wedding, and she’d like to meet
you. She said something that was rather cryptic and makes me think I should pay
her a visit as soon as possible. She mentioned that maybe I could use some of
the skills I’ve learned as a sheriff to help her with a problem she was having.
Her husband, my Uncle Jim, passed away nearly twenty years ago, and ever since
then she’s lived the life of a lonely widow in that big old house.”

“Did she say
what the problem was?”

“No. As I
said, it was rather cryptic. Anyway, I thought maybe you and I could drive over
there with the dogs and pay her a visit. We could stay for a few days and sort
of treat it as a delayed honeymoon. I feel I owe her for all the wonderful
times I spent there as a child, and if she’s in trouble, I would never forgive
myself if I didn’t go. How does it sound to you if we take a trip down there?”

“Wonderful. I
could use some time off from work. From the number of times you’ve mentioned
her and the property, I know she’s very dear to you. I agree, you’ll never
forgive yourself if you don’t go. Consider it done. Why don’t’ you call her as
soon as we figure out when we can go. I’ll call Roxie right now and see if she
can cover for me at the coffee shop while we’re gone. She seemed pretty happy
with the extra money I paid her when I went to Portland. She mentioned she and
her husband could really use it, so I’m sure she’ll be happy to do it. Why
don’t you check your schedule and see when you can take off? If it’s a go for
both of us, I can be ready day after tomorrow.”

“Lady, you
never fail to amaze me. You’ve never even met Aunt Agnes, and you’re ready to
drop everything and see if we can help her. No wonder I love you so much.”

“Never could
say ‘no’ to a man in a sheriff’s uniform,” she said laughing. “Calico Gold here
we come!”