Murder in the Pearl District (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 5) (6 page)

When Kelly walked out the back door
of the restaurant she involuntarily blinked as the sun on the warm August day
was shining brightly. “Rebel, come,” she said to the big boxer who was sleeping
by the door. They walked between the restaurant and the building next door,
turning left onto the sidewalk as they started walking towards Hank’s Print
Shop.

           
Well, this is probably
going to be my only time to explore the Pearl District and walking halfway down
one street is not what I really had in mind. However, given everything that’s
happened, I don’t think there’s any way Sophie and I will be able to take the
exploratory trip I had in mind.

           
She stopped and looked in
the window of the antique shop that was next to the restaurant. The eclectic
art deco style of the store was reflected in the sleek, geometric shapes and
angular patterns of the furniture and decorative accessories. Highly lacquered
veneer tables, chrome lamps, brightly colored Native American rugs, and exotic
influences from Mexico, Africa, Egypt and Asia fit in perfectly with the feel
of the Pearl District. It was a shop that cried out to be explored, and Kelly
wished she had the time to do just that, but it wasn’t meant to be.

            Next to it was a postage
stamp size dog park. Benches and bright red fire hydrants had been placed in a
small grassy area between two buildings. Owners sat on the benches and their
dogs frolicked in the fenced park. Kelly approvingly noticed that a hose to
fill water dishes for the dogs was located at the rear of the enclosed area.
Rebel stopped at the gate and looked up inquiringly at Kelly as if to say, “We
could use a little break. It’s been a rough day. Let’s go in.”

            “Sorry, boy, not today.
We’ve got things to do.”

            They passed an art
gallery specializing in pen and ink drawings which were tastefully displayed on
brightly colored easels and on the walls of the shop. In keeping with the theme
of the nearby dog park, the artist had captured dogs in all kinds of
activities. The black and white drawings were a great contrast to the vibrant
bright colors which dominated the gallery.

            The building next to Hank’s
was the home of a large yoga studio. As Kelly approached she saw several
students entering the studio carrying bright yoga mats in greens, blues, and
purples and wearing colorful yoga tops and pants. The studio window was filled
with a large blow-up photograph of students sitting with their eyes closed and
their hands on their knees in the classic serene lotus posture. The photograph
made those who passed by the window want to feel as stress-free as the students
in the class seemed to be. It was a great advertisement for yoga.

            When she got to the print
shop she opened the glass door that had the words “Hank’s Print Shop”
emblazoned in gold letters on it. She stepped into the shop and shook her head
in confusion. Fine art covered the walls and a beautiful large blue silk Chinese
rug had been placed on the highly polished wooden floor. The bell above the
door rang when Kelly opened it and moments later a small man wearing a leather
apron over bermuda shorts walked out of the back room.

            “May I help you?” the man
asked. Kelly smiled in befuddlement at the bearded man who wore diamond stud
earrings and had a pony tail held in place by a barrette that looked to be made
of onyx. “I’m really confused. The sign on the door says ‘Hank’s Print Shop,’
but I’ve never been in a print shop like this one.”

            “Good. That’s exactly the
response I was looking for when I opened the shop. I didn’t want it to be like
all the others, and this being the Pearl District, I figured I could get away
with it.” He grinned and held out his hand. “I’m Hank Jones, the owner. I don’t
think we’ve met.”

            “No. My name is Kelly
Reynolds. A friend of mine, Sophie Marchant, is the new owner of Mangia!
Mangia! and I’m helping her.”

            “I heard about
Donatella’s murder. That’s so sad. She was one of my customers, and I loved to
eat at her restaurant. Matter of fact, I never charged her for what I did for
the restaurant, and she never charged me for the food I ate. It was a great
arrangement. So Sophie’s going to take it over. I’ve known Sophie for some
time, and it sort of surprises me. I know she loves to cook, but I didn’t know
she had any restaurant experience.”

            “She doesn’t. I own a
coffee shop in Cedar Bay, and I came up here to cook dinner for a party she was
giving for Donatella. When she found out about Donatella’s death, she asked if
I’d stay for a couple of extra days and help her. The reason I’m here is I need
five hundred temporary menus prepared. She told me you’ve done things like that
for her dinner parties.”

            “Sure. I can do that.
When does she need them?”

            “Tomorrow. I know it’s
really short notice, but we’re having a bit of an issue with a food critic from
the Portland Gazette, and we need to change the menu immediately.”

            “No problem. Business is
a little slow today, so I can get them out before we close. That food critic
wouldn’t happen to be Bill Hossam, would it?”

            “Yes, do you know him?”

            “Not personally. I do
work for a lot of restaurants in the district. He’s given a couple of them
reviews that were so bad they had to close. I’d sure hate to see that happen to
Sophie’s restaurant.”

            “I met him earlier today,
and he seems like a really mean-spirited man. He said he thought the food at
Mangia! Mangia! was like, I guess the kids of today would say, so yesterday.
Sophie and I decided there was no choice but to offer some new dishes that
Nico, the sous chef, has wanted to try.”

            “I hope it works. I
really like Sophie, and I’d like to see her make a go of it. I’ll get right on
these and drop them by when I close this evening. Tell Sophie I’d like to
continue the working arrangement I had with Donatella. I’ll do the work for
her, eat at the restaurant occasionally, and we’ll call it even.”

            Kelly laughed. “I’m sure
that will be fine with her. Here’s the new menu. She wants it in black ink on
pale rust colored paper.”

            “No problem. Well, better
get to work on these. Nice meeting you.”

            “Thanks, and you really
have created a special shop. I’m sure everyone who comes here tells you that.”

            “Yeah, pretty much,” he
said as he walked into the back room, “but that’s exactly what I want them to
say. Hey, it’s the Pearl District, and all of us who live and work here are
free spirits.”

Kelly spent the rest of the remaining
afternoon meeting with Nico and Sophie as the three of them prepared to launch
the new menu the following day. Nico gave her a list of the foods he wanted for
the dishes and which food purveyors she should call to obtain some of the rarer
ingredients. All of them promised to have the needed foods at the restaurant by
9:00 the next morning.

“Kelly, Sophie, I think
this is really going to work. I want to push two entrees - a seafood bucatini
and a lasagna. Both are pasta recipes I learned from my grandmother. They’re
quite different from the usual recipes for those dishes, and I’m sure the diners
will love them. They’re a classy take on timeless comfort food dishes. The
bucatini has several kinds of seafood in a marinara sauce which has been
enhanced by some spices. I let the sauce cook for a long time so the flavors
can marry. Sometimes I use lobster in the dish, but I think we’ll begin with
shrimp, mussels, and some clams.

“By the way Kelly, Sophie
told me about a frozen key lime pie you made last night that she said was
fabulous. I looked at your recipe and took the liberty of adding some silvered
almonds to the topping to give it an Italian feel. It will be a nice addition
to the heavier desserts that are on the menu. Those are the three main new
things we’ll be offering. I’ve updated some of the pasta and vegetable dishes,
but I’m really hoping to make those three dishes the new signature dishes of
Mangia! Mangia! Sound good?”

“Yes,” Sophie said. “Nico,
I’ve never done anything like this, so I have to trust your restaurant
judgment. I not only hope it works because I want to keep the restaurant open,
but I also want to do Dede proud. She entrusted me with what she valued most
other than her daughter, and I feel an obligation to live up to her faith in
me. Do you both understand what I’m trying to say?”

“Absolutely,” Kelly said,
“and I’m sure Nico feels the same way. You can rest assured we both will do
everything we can to make this work for you.”

The evening dinner crowd
started to arrive shortly after 7:00. Some were returning customers, while
others were new and wanted to eat at Mangia! Mangia! before it closed, or so
the rumor mill was predicting. Waiters were busy carrying food to hungry guests
while in the kitchen pulsating background music matched the orchestrated
cadence of the cooks’ movements as they began their kitchen dance, a dance that
required many steps so all of the components of the meal were ready at the same
time.

“Mrs. Reynolds, Carlotta
would like to see you out front,” one of the waiters said as he came into the
kitchen and grabbed a plated meal.

“Wonder what’s up now? I’m
not sure I can handle another crisis,” Kelly said to Nico and Sophie. “I’ll be
back shortly.”

“What is it, Carlotta?”
she asked the receptionist a few minutes later.

“Kelly, do you remember me
telling you about the woman named Elena Wright? She was the one who gave the
dinner party where Mrs. De Luca served the scallops, and her guest became very
ill.”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s pretty
strange. She hasn’t come to the restaurant since that incident happened, but
she’s here tonight. I thought you ought to know.”

“Thanks. Which table is
she at?”

“Table number 27. It’s in
the center of the restaurant. There are two women seated at the table. She’s
the one wearing the red hat with the purple scarf thrown over her shoulder.”

Kelly introduced herself
to diners at several of the tables near Elena’s, and when she reached her table
she said, “Hello and welcome to Mangia! Mangia! My name is Kelly Reynolds. I’m
helping the new owner and want to meet as many of the guests as I can. And you
are?”

The woman in the red hat
looked up at Kelly and said, “Surely you know who I am. I’m Elena Wright. I
thought everyone in Portland probably knew me by now, although most of them
know me because of what Donatella did to me. You must be new to the area.”

“That I am,” Kelly said,
forcing a smile on her face. “I came up from Cedar Bay to help a friend of
mine. Is this your first time at the restaurant?”

“It’s the first time I’ve
been here in several weeks. I used to be a very good customer, but that was
before Donatella tried to poison a guest of mine with bad scallops she served
at a dinner party I was hosting. She never admitted her mistake and tried to
put the blame on me, telling everyone I should have asked my guest if she had
any food allergies. It’s a good thing there was a doctor at my dinner party, or
my guest might have died. The only reason I’m here is to celebrate the closing
of this restaurant and a very bad time in my life,” she said bitterly. “I’m not
surprised Donatella was murdered. I just wish she’d been murdered before she
catered my dinner party. She was an evil conniving woman, and I truly hated her
for what she did to me.”

“Elena, that’s enough,”
her dining partner said in a low but commanding tone of voice.

“Yes, well it’s been nice
meeting you Mrs. Reynolds. I rather doubt we’ll be seeing each other again.”

“
Buon appetito
,”
Kelly said as she continued on to the next table and introduced herself. When
she came to the end of the row of tables she walked over to the reception desk.
“Carlotta, do you know the woman who’s with Elena?”

“Yes. She’s Elena’s
attorney. They used to come here a lot before the scallop incident. Why?”

“She told Elena more or
less to shut up. I was wondering why.”

“I don’t know. We’re sure
getting a lot of people in here who Mrs. DeLuca had some kind of trouble with.
I just received a call from Chef Pierre DuBois for a reservation for six people
at 8:00 tonight. I know he and Mrs. DeLuca weren’t friends. This is all very
strange.”

“I agree. I imagine the
people who didn’t like her are hoping that the restaurant fails. Would you let
me know when Chef DuBois arrives? I’d like to meet him.”

“Of course. I’ll call the
kitchen and let you know.”

“Kelly, Carlotta said to tell you
that Chef DuBois and his party have arrived. They’re being served their
cocktails right now,” Nico said, hanging up the house phone.

“Well, what am I now?
Three down and one to go. Let’s see. There’s Elena Wright, Bill Hossam, Tina
Ramos, and who knows, maybe Chef DuBois. All of whom for one reason or another
didn’t like Donatella and actually seem to be glad that she’s dead. For a woman
who was supposed to be so popular, it seems that Donatella had quite a few
people who weren’t all that happy with her. Hopefully, this will be short and
sweet.” In her mind, Nico was still a suspect, but she certainly didn’t want to
tell him that. She walked out of the kitchen and into the crowded restaurant
dining area.

I wonder if it’s always
this busy on weeknights. They’re standing three deep at the bar, every table in
the restaurant is taken, and the reception area is filled with people waiting
for tables. And they haven’t even tried the new menu which debuts tomorrow at
lunch. This bodes well for Sophie and Nico. Hope it continues.

It was impossible to miss
Chef DuBois and his party. The table was surrounded by people greeting him. As
she got closer to it, she overheard a conversation at a nearby table. “I
understand he’s going to replace Donatella DeLuca. The television station is going
to change the name of the show from Dining with Donatella to Dining with
DuBois. They’ll probably just delete the name Donatella on the promotional
material and insert DuBois. They can even keep the D. Makes it real easy,” the
man said, laughing.

Could he be right? The
station, Mitch’s station, is going to hire Chef DuBois to replace Donatella?
And so fast? Oh no. It looks like the person who said that might be right.
That’s Mitch Ramos from the television station sitting at the table with the
chef.

“Hello, Mitch. It’s nice
to see you again,” Kelly said. He looked up, clearly shocked to see her. Mitch
stood up from his chair and shook her hand. “It’s been a very emotional day for
me. When Chef Dubois asked me to join him for dinner, I thought it might take
my mind off of everything that’s happened today,” he said in a voice tinged
with sadness.

I’ll bet. Sure didn’t seem
to stop you from filling that vacancy for the cooking show. Bet Donatella
wouldn’t have been too happy about that decision.

“Pierre,” he said, turning
to the chef as the people he had been talking to returned to their table, “I’d
like to introduce you to Kelly Reynolds. She’s the woman who catered the dinner
for Donatella last night.”

The fat pock-marked
florid-faced chef with the scraggly goatee took Kelly’s hand in his and brought
it to his lips. “In my country this is how we greet a beautiful woman. It’s a
pleasure to meet you,” he said insincerely. He turned to the other four people
at the table, “Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet Kelly Reynolds.” They stood and
shook her hand.

“I don’t want to keep you
from your dinners, but I wanted to welcome you to Mangia! Mangia! I’m sure
Mitch has eaten here many times, but if the rest of you haven’t, you’re in for
a treat. And it will be even more of a treat when we change to our new and
exciting menu tomorrow.”

“Why is the menu being
changed?” Mitch asked. “I know Donatella wanted it to stay as it always has
been.”

“The new owner, Sophie
Marchant, and her sous chef, felt it was a bit out of touch with what people
want in a modern Italian restaurant. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“Well, no matter what you
do to this tired and dated restaurant, I’m sure it won’t affect the popularity
of my restaurant, Le Toque. As a matter of fact, after my show airs next week,
I definitely will be the owner of the most popular restaurant in the Pearl
District, if not all of Portland, and who knows, maybe even the West Coast,”
Chef DuBois said in a pompous and arrogant manner. “Donatella was behind the
times when it came to her cooking. It was too bad about her being murdered, but
I’m glad Mitch called me as soon as he found out and offered me the opportunity
to host the show.”

Mitch called him
immediately after he found out that Donatella had been murdered? So much for
grieving over the loss of your steady girlfriend who was about to become the
star of your new TV show. Maybe his ex-wife was right. Maybe Donatella was only
a way for him to hold onto his failing television station, and now that she’s gone,
he’s hoping that Chef DuBois will be his new ticket to success. I don’t think I
like this man. No, Mitch, I don’t think I’m liking you at all. Something about
you just isn’t right.

“Mrs. Reynolds, I hope you
won’t think I’m being rude, but my lawyer and my financial adviser need to talk
to Mitch and work out the details of my new television show. I hope you’ll
watch it. I promise you it will be the best cooking show on the air. People
love me and my food,” the obnoxious chef said.

“It’s been a pleasure to
meet you. I look forward to seeing your show and Mitch, it was nice to see you
again,” Kelly said as she struggled to keep from sounding sarcastic. Willing
herself to smile and appear happy, she walked back to the kitchen.

I better tell Sophie about
the TV show before she hears it from someone else. With her quick temper, I
also better be prepared to keep her from going out to Mitch and Chef DuBois’
table and telling them what she thinks of them once she hears the news.

“Sophie, can you come into
the office for a moment? I need to talk to you.”

A few minutes later Kelly
and Sophie were sitting in the office while Kelly took several slow and
deliberate sips of water from the glass on the desk. She reached down and
petted Rebel, who had decided the carpeted office floor was much more inviting
than the concrete slab by the back door. After pausing for a few more moments
she related her recent conversation with Mitch and Chef DuBois. Sophie’s
reaction was exactly what she predicted - instantaneous and explosive with
anger. Her hands flew to her heart and her eyes narrowed as she said in a voice
filled with anger, “
Mon Dieu!
  How dare Mitch besmirch Donatella’s name
by hiring that sleazy chef. I don’t think he’s even French. I’ve noticed his
accent is completely wrong when he pronounces certain words.”

“Look Sophie, there’s
nothing we can do except hope his show is a big flop, but from what Mitch’s
ex-wife told me this afternoon, Mitch needs the show to be a big success, or he
might have to declare bankruptcy and lose the television station. Did Donatella
ever mention that to you?”

“No, but she was a very
private woman. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that maybe
Mitch’s attentiveness to Donatella was based less on his attraction to her and
more on his need to save his television station. Maybe he saw her as the way to
do it.”

“
Non
. That can’t
be. If it’s true, I’m certain that Donatella didn’t know that’s how he felt.
She was a very high-minded woman, and if she even suspected the only reason for
Mitch’s attentiveness was because he needed her to help him financially, she
wouldn’t have allowed their relationship to continue. She really didn’t need to
do it for the money. I think George Mitchell made that perfectly clear today.
Remember, he told us she had numerous assets. No, I’m sure she never suspected
that he possibly didn’t really love her.”

“I need to put the
receipts from the bar and the reception desk in the floor safe. Thankfully, we
only have a couple more hours, and we can go to your house and get some rest. I
honestly don’t remember ever being this tired.”

“Nico and I have a few
more things to discuss about tomorrow. I also need to make some notes on things
I need to do tomorrow like alert the newspapers about the change in ownership,
and then I’ll be ready to go home. Carlotta and Nico can probably handle
anything that comes up, and they’re used to locking up.” She looked at her
watch. “Let’s plan on leaving in half an hour.”

“Fine. I’ll meet you in
the office.” As she made her way towards the front of the restaurant to collect
the day’s receipts, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach knowing she would
have to call Mike as soon as she and Sophie returned to her home.

Today has been a day of
putting out one fire after another and the biggest fire of all is yet to come.
I promised Mike I wouldn’t get involved in trying to solve Donatella’s murder,
but I don’t think I have a choice. I’ve already discovered a number of people
who have motives for killing her, and I’d like to run them by him. After all,
he’s a sheriff and knows a lot more about solving crimes than I do. Mike isn’t
going to like it, but he’ll probably understand. At least I sure hope so, and
if he doesn’t, then I’ll just have to cross my fingers behind my back and tell
him a little white lie.