Chapter 12

 

“Deani!” I said. The big sound had gone out of my voice and the adrenaline flow had taken over and I sounded high-pitched and squeaky. “What are you doing here?” She was slender and even though she had the tote bag the size of a small suitcase that could have had who knows what inside, I didn’t really see her as a threat.

“I was hoping to get away without you seeing me,” she said. She seemed to be backing toward the stairs at the end of the narrow porch.

“Not without an explanation. Why don’t you come inside.” It was more of a command than a suggestion. I opened the door wider and waited until she complied.

She seemed uncomfortable as she came into the restaurant. She looked around at the empty tables. Just then a fuzzy white head popped over the top of the tote bag. Fifi saw me and let out a yip.

I had my arms folded and was almost tapping my foot as I waited for her explanation. “I was expecting a little more action at night than Vista Del Mar offers. Everybody kind of disappeared and there was nothing much to do. I’d forgotten to bring toothpaste so I used Aileen’s SUV to go to the drugstore. I saw you getting out of your car when I was on the way there. When I saw your Mini Cooper was still parked there on the way back, I wondered what you were up to since this place is obviously closed.” She glanced around the empty dining room.

“Oh,” I said, unfolding my arms.

“And after what your friend said about you being some kind of detective and that you’d be checking out the investigation of the accident, well, I thought it might be related to that.”

I laughed thinking what she must have imagined. “Come with me and I’ll show you what I’m doing.” She’d told me that she ran a food service that provided lunch and snacks for offices and I thought she’d be able to relate.

She followed me into the kitchen and I pointed to the butter, eggs and sugar on the counter. “I make the desserts for the restaurants and bake muffins for the coffee spots in town.”

“Really,” she said, surprised, as she took a look around the kitchen. “Then we’re kindred spirits. Though my customers are down on sugar. I brought samples of a cookie recipe and they weren’t even interested. But they loved the samples of the snack item PJ made, well, except for the vegans and nondairy people.” She asked me for details of how I worked and it turned out we both operated in similar old-fashioned ways.

“I could use an app to handle my business, but I prefer to deal in person.”

“Well, now that you’ve seen what I’m doing—” I left it hanging, hoping she’d take the hint and leave but she didn’t make a move.

“So then you didn’t find out anything more about the accident?” she asked.

I checked her expression. She seemed interested, but not overly concerned. “Bad news. The victim died,” I said.

Deani was pale to begin with but whatever color she had drained from her face as she took in what I said. “That’s terrible.” She leaned against the counter for a moment, before saying that she had to go. Her reaction caught me off guard and I followed behind her trying to think of something to say to her. She mumbled a good night before she went out. She seemed so upset and I wondered if I’d been too blunt or she was just one of those sensitive types. Either way I didn’t think it was a good time to remind her that Fifi should spend the night in the guesthouse.

As soon as she was gone I resumed making the cakes, trying to move faster since I was now behind. I was almost back on schedule as I poured the batter into three tube pans and put them in the oven. It only took a few minutes for the air to smell of buttery vanilla sweetness.

I realized I’d never turned on the radio and just as I went into the other room there was a knock at the door. No mystery this time—Dane was standing with his face close to the glass. He made it a habit to stop by when he worked the night shift. He came in carrying a holder with two cups of coffee and a bag with grease marks.

A midnight blue canvas jacket covered his uniform of the same color. He leaned in and gave me an affectionate kiss before looking around to see if there were any witnesses. “No worries, it looks like no Cadburians saw that.” He had a serious expression but his tone was joking. “I have to worry about my rep. Can’t be caught kissing while on duty.” He sniffed the air. “No cinnamon.” He sniffed again. “But I smell vanilla. Pound cake?”

“Good detective work,” I teased and his mouth curved into a grin.

“That’s me, the cake detective.” He let out a sigh. “Better than the call I had a little while ago. Tonight’s big event was someone getting trapped in the bathroom at the wine bar.” He put up his hands to demonstrate his solution : “All it took was a good shove to the door.”

He followed me into the kitchen. “What else are you making?” he asked.

“Rustic cherry pie,” I said. He chuckled and shook his head.

“I still can’t believe that someone who makes such fabulous desserts relies on frozen food.” He put down the coffee and took out two submarine sandwiches wrapped in paper.

My eyes lit up at the food and he feigned a grumble. “And here I thought you were excited to see me.”

“Sorry. Of course I’m glad of your company. But I’m famished. With everything that happened I never got around to eating.” I gave him a hug. “I’d starve if it weren’t for you. You bring me sandwiches and you leave pasta for me a couple nights a week when you cook for the karate kids.” The truth was Dane was a whiz at dinner food. The tomato sauce he made from scratch was so delicious that I was tempted to lick the plate.

“You look a lot better than when I saw you earlier. Too bad they couldn’t save him.” As he said that the thought that had been lurking in the back of my mind finally came to the front. How had I not thought about it before?

“Someone else was there,” I blurted out.

“Someone else was where?” Dane said, sounding confused.

“Someone had to have seen what happened and called for help. I can’t believe that Lieutenant Borgnine didn’t figure that out.”

“He assumed that you called,” Dane said. He was looking at the sandwiches. “Where should we eat these.”

I forgot about my ravenous hunger for the moment. “I couldn’t have called. There’s no cell signal there. I can’t believe he doesn’t know that.” I was pacing in the kitchen now. “There’s something more. I’m sure he was lying on his back when I found him, but there was blood all over his face. Sammy said you’d think the blood would be on the ground around him.”

“Okay, what’s your point?” he asked.

My shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. Maybe somebody hit him in the head with a rock. You should tell Lieutenant Borgnine.”

“I’m sure he’ll figure it out,” Dane said, waving the sandwich under my nose. The smell of garlic and Italian dressing made my mouth start to water, but I took one last shot.

“So, you aren’t going to say anything?”

“Don’t poke the bear,” he said.

“But you’d think he’d be happy to get the help,” I said and Dane rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like a simple accident. There’s a reason for all those warning signs. And it’s not like you’re involved with the group the victim was with,” he said. He peeked out of the kitchen. “Let’s take our food out on the sunporch. Though I suppose now it’s a moon porch.” He picked a table near the window and I moved the place settings out of the way.

“As long as we put everything back just the way it was. We don’t want Tag to throw a fit.” The smell of the meat and cheese and condiments was swirling around my senses, overriding all other thoughts, and I felt drunk with hunger.

He watched as I practically inhaled the sandwich and downed the coffee.

“What would you have done if I hadn’t come by?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Who knows? Passed out—eaten one of the pound cakes? I’m just glad you did.”

“I’d like to take that to mean you were glad to see me, but I get it. It really is all about the food, isn’t it?” He faked a hurt expression.

“I’m glad to see you, too,” I said, looking in the bag to see if there was anything else. He rolled his eyes and handed me the rest of his sandwich. “You need this more than I do.” A moment later there was nothing left but crumbs. Now that I wasn’t consumed by hunger I remembered to tell him I’d offered to let Fifi stay in my guesthouse. “So if you see someone going in or coming out, don’t call out the cavalry,” I said. I was about to tell him about Deani’s strange visit when his radio began to crackle and I heard something about trouble on Lover’s Beach.

“Got to go,” he said. He went to pick up the wrappings of the meal, but I said I’d take care of it. “Probably kids drinking beer.” He got up from the table and then looked around before he smiled at me. “Looks like the coast is clear.” He held out his arms and what started out as a mutual hug finished as a hot kiss that neither of us was in a hurry to end. It was just lucky we both’d had garlic. And then he was off into the night.

I knew that Dane wouldn’t arrest the kids. He’d just give them a talking to and then get them to join his karate classes. His motto was keep them busy and keep them out of trouble.

I cleared up the table and reset it, making sure everything was perfectly aligned before going back to the kitchen. I made the crust and poured on the cherry filling. All the red brought to mind Tim’s head again. Maybe Dane didn’t want to poke the bear, but I had no problem doing it.