The next day Amelia arrived at Food Truck Alley without hearing so much as a whisper from John, and for that she was thankful.
Dan had not come by after his shift. That led her to believe that he was probably up to his eyeballs in paperwork on the arsonist. But when she walked in on Lila and Beatrice, she was surprised to hear what they were talking about.
“They said her body was in the drainage ditch just off Polk Street. That’s less than a fifteen-minute walk from here,” Beatrice said.
“Body?” Amelia interrupted.
“As if we don’t have enough to worry about with the fire that was a few doors down from our supply warehouse,” Lila grumbled. “Do you know how far we’ll have to go to get bags of flour and sugar this size if anything happens to Venti’s?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Amelia asked.
“Well, it seems a lady of the night was found dead in the drainage ditch over near Polk Street.” Beatrice’s eyes bulged. “She was beaten, and her throat was slit. She probably knew too much. Had the goods on some drug lord or maybe a local politician. I know, a married man with a taste for slumming it got the woman pregnant and now had to make her disappear before his wife found out.”
Lila and Amelia looked at Beatrice as if she’d suddenly suggested throwing a cat in the oven.
“What? These things happen.” Beatrice pulled her lips down at the ends and shrugged before going back to her mixing.
“What does Dan have to say about it?” Lila asked. “Oh, and good morning. Here’s some coffee.”
“Dan couldn’t come by last night. He got hung up at work again,” Amelia said as she slipped into her hot pink apron and opened the service window. She took her coffee and a quick sip before sitting down on her stool, anticipating the rush. “There was a murder? And there is a suspected arsonist on the loose? Do you guys know if the police think they are connected?”
“We were hoping you might have some inside information,” Lila said as she stuffed the napkin holder with napkins. “Dan canceled again? That poor guy. You need to convince him to take a week’s vacation. Even a long weekend. You and him should go someplace together. Don’t worry about the kids. I’ll have them stay at my place. They’ll love it. We’ll eat Chinese and Mexican every night. Stay up late. Make prank phone calls and watch a bunch of R-rated movies.”
“We can’t just go. What about the Cupcake? I can’t just leave if we are in the process of buying a new truck,” Amelia protested.
“You are just as bad as he is. All work and no play puts people in early graves,” Lila replied.
“Right. Look at that poor hooker,” Beatrice piped up as she poured the cake mix into the cupcake tins. Again, Amelia and Lila looked at her, Amelia shaking her head.
“I’ve never been away with anyone but John. And most of the time, he worked, and I took care of the kids,” Amelia said. “Besides, that’s what married people do, and we are not married.”
“I get it. You’re old fashioned. But there isn’t anything stopping you from taking a trip and getting separate rooms. I know. My ex-husband and I used to get separate rooms all the time. He snored something terrible. It was about a month after our wedding that I told him if he didn’t sleep in the guest room, I was going to strangle him in his sleep. It worked for many years.”
“That sounds expensive. Two rooms.” Amelia felt herself blushing. She didn’t want to talk about the sleeping arrangements between her and Dan with anyone.
“Please, you could afford it now. Pretty soon you’ll be able to afford the suites only John was able to afford. Speaking of which… any word?” Lila asked.
“No. And no news is good news,” Amelia quickly replied, happy to change the subject. She couldn’t help how she was raised. But the motto “you don’t buy the cow if the milk is free” still rang true. “So, did you say that the arson and the murder are somehow tied together?” She urged the conversation to go in another direction.
“I have no idea.” Lila slipped on her pink apron. “All I know is that if anything happens to Venti’s, we’ll have to drive about an hour and a half, one way, to get our most important ingredients, flour and sugar. Not to mention all the other potions and concoctions that Bea needs to create her masterpieces.”
“Venti’s does something with their flour that makes everything it touches taste better,” Beatrice said. “I don’t think I’d be able to work with another sub-par flour. Sugar, well, one’s as good as the next. But flour, it’s the soul of the pastry. It’s the perfect strand of DNA that composes all of the most scrumptious desserts. As I said, working without it would be like Michelangelo trying to create using cheap, Crayola-brand watercolors to pay homage to the Mona Lisa.”
“So you like Venti’s flour. Got it.” Lila winked at Beatrice. “Is there a comparable substitute? Anything you’d settle for if things went south?”
“Well, I’m sure Farine Magnifique can be ordered online directly from France.” She nodded as if ordering baking supplies from overseas was a real possibility.
“France. Right. Okay, thanks for the input, Beatrice.” Lila smiled and shook her head. “At least we know our options. I’m sure Beatrice could make any store-bought flour work. She’s got a gift. I wouldn’t worry about the quality being reduced. I worry about the cost increasing. Amelia? Are you listening to me?”
“I’m sorry, Lila. I was just wondering if this arsonist has a pattern. Adam told me last night he burnt down a couple homes and the warehouse. Poor Dan. How do you find any clues when everything is burnt up?” Amelia put her hands on her hips.
“Those guys know what they are doing. Especially Dan. He’s not just a pretty face. Speaking of pretty faces, when do you want to go take a look at the second truck? My friend is eager to unload it.”
“Uhm, how about next week? That way I can make sure I have the funds for another license and see if we can swipe a good spot, maybe on the other side of town. That’ll require a little investigating on my part.” Amelia looked off in the distance as she thought of all the details around buying another truck.
“I’ll tell him we’ll be out Tuesday after five,” Lila said and quickly gulped down the last of her coffee as the morning crowd approached.
Amelia tried to concentrate on work, but her mind kept wandering to the burning building she saw on the news. She’d never thought about fires all that seriously. She didn’t smoke. Her home’s electric wiring was old but safe as far as she could tell. Neither of her kids had a weird fascination with fire. She had smoke detectors in all the right places.
But now, not far from where she lived, someone was starting house fires intentionally. They’d killed people. Children. Right now, Meg and Adam were safe at school, going about their business of learning and navigating the high-school environment. To them, that was a huge responsibility.
“Just wait until they become parents,” she muttered.
“What’s that, honey?” Lila asked.
“Oh. Nothing. I’m just thinking out loud.” Amelia waved her hand and once again got back to her immediate tasks.