Sixteen

Meet me at the Needle, Nellie. Meet me at the Fair.

The Monorail will take you, Nellie, and I’ll meet you there.

—parody of “Meet Me in St. Louis,” sung by John Raitt at the opening ceremonies of the Seattle World’s Fair, April 21, 1962

Bless the man. He waited until we’d crossed the street and gotten lost in the Saturday throng headed to Seattle Center before dropping his arm—keeping hold of the hand not looped through the leash—and turning to me, eyebrows raised.

“Thanks for the save,” I said. “After yesterday . . .”

“Don’t give it another thought,” he said. “I hope you and your sidekick got more out of the neighbors than I did. Running into you’s the best luck I’ve had all day.”

I let my tote slip off my shoulder as an excuse to drop his hand and hitched the bag back into place. “Did you hear the man in the restaurant quizzing Patel about his hottest dishes? From his reaction, I’m guessing it wasn’t the first time today. The ghost chile genie must be out of the bag.”

Ben pulled me out of foot traffic and handed me the morning paper. Below the fold, small head shots of Tamara and Alex marked the latest account:

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES IN MURDER OF CHEF

Below that,

INDIAN SPICE SUSPECTED

The headlines sucked me in. “According to a source close to the suspect,” I read, “the victim is believed to have died after ingesting a dangerous, exotic pepper.” The words scorched my eyeballs, and flames licked my throat as I tried to speak. “That—that’s what those messages were about. They—they think I’m the source.”

I’d been too busy following my nose—and too annoyed with Seattle’s Finest—to respond to Tracy’s message telling me we had an urgent matter to discuss or to Tag’s text saying, What do you think you’re doing?

There’s a certain kind of silence that gets your attention. “You thought so, too,” I said. “Why would I do that? I’d be implicating my own product.”

The corners of his lips twitched downward, and it took him a moment to look me in the eye. “To make it look like you had nothing to hide? Or to get out in front of the gossip.”

“That’s crazy. Tracy said he knows I didn’t kill her.”

“So whoever leaked it either wanted to cast blame on you, or didn’t know the cops had ruled you out,” he said. “Who does that leave?”

“No idea. Obviously, Alex had access to bhut C, but so did other people. And it’s kind of a ridiculous murder weapon.” Not something you carry around. And not something you plan to use. That made this a crime of opportunity.

A crime of anger. Rage. Fury.

Since we were obviously following the same path, maybe it did make sense to join forces. “I don’t know the official working theory, but one good guess is that the killer forced her to breathe in the peppers. The throat and lungs become inflamed, and the person can’t breathe.”

“Holy cow,” Ben said.

Crowds surged past us. Ben pointed toward the Center entrance. “Let’s go in, take our minds off murder for a while.”

We wound around the north side of Key Arena and through a corridor of lush, fragrant shrubbery, then paused at the stone rim of the International Fountain.

“Wow. Coolest wading pool ever,” Ben said as we watched streams of water spike from a silver dome to the rhythms of Duke Ellington.

“It used to be filled with sharp, white rocks—you couldn’t play in it like kids do now.” I gestured toward the shallow, paver-lined bowl that held the fountain. On the first warm weekend of spring, the water beckoned, and dozens of kids, toddlers to teenagers, had responded. They edged close to the dome, then shrieked and darted back as the water erupted. The music changed to Beethoven’s Ninth. I swizzled my hands in the air. “My dad likes to stand here and pretend he’s conducting.”

“Kane!” A few feet away from us, a woman called to a boy of about six kicking a shiny blue ball through the water. Beside her, a man pushed a stroller back and forth, a pink stuffed animal strung on a white ribbon signaling a girl on board.

Beside me, Arf barked loudly, once.

“Kane, be careful! You’re splashing people!”

Arf barked a second time.

“Arf! Hush!” His bright eyes focused on the child, hips forward, one front paw raised, ready to break into a run. I tugged at his leash. “What is wrong with you? You don’t bark at children.”

He poked my knee with his nose, then rubbed his muzzle on my leg, stopped, and looked up at me.

“That was weird.” I looped the leash through my hand, shortening it. Arf turned his big head as we moved on, watching Kane whirl his arms, trying to catch the falling water. “He’s never done anything like that. He hardly ever barks.”

Over beer and fish tacos in the enclosed area outside the food court, Ben asked me about the Center. “Seems like there’s always something going on.”

“Concerts, art fairs, international festivals, you name it. Built for the World’s Fair in ’62. You can see the Space Age theme in the architecture. Key Arena’s a flying saucer, the Science Center’s got those futuristic white arches, and, of course, the Space Needle. The newest addition is the Chihuly Glass House—that will blow your mind.” From our table, we could see the crowds surge past. Kane and his parents headed into the Armory, the boy carrying the blue ball, his sister’s pink-shod foot sticking out of the stroller.

Ben listened as I shared memories of events at the Center: My first trip to the ballet—The Nutcracker. High school graduation in the old Mercer Arena, damaged by the earthquake and still closed. Folklife and Bumbershoot, the sprawling art and music festivals that bookend the summer. I even confessed my first kiss, on the roller coaster in the long-vanished Fun Forest.

The man was surprisingly good company, lacking the self-absorbed arrogance of other recent male companions. Plus, my dog liked him.

Ben brought up the murder first. “Can’t blame Patel for being hypersensitive after what happened. Especially when people get all bloodthirsty over ghost chiles and people like you and me come snooping around.”

“I wasn’t snoop—” Heat rose in my face, and not from the midday beer. “I found her. I know what it’s like to deal with all the looky-loos when a dead body shows up. At least he doesn’t have crime scene tape blocking his front door.” Ben tilted his head, questioning, and I told him about my prior brush with murder.

“Then there’s Howard,” Ben said. “I stopped in for a drink last night with my editor. Howard’s in jail, on murder charges, and the place was jammed.”

So that had been him. And his boss. I hoped my cheeks didn’t betray me.

“Charges haven’t been filed yet. But it seems inevitable.” Even I, no defender of Alex Howard but a defender of truth, justice, and the American way, had started to think he might be guilty.

I fed Arf the tail end of my taco. Kane and his family emerged from the Armory, each working on an ice cream cone. Regret is a waste of time, but I couldn’t deny feeling a teeny bit left out. By the time Tag pronounced himself ready for kids, the batteries on my biological clock had run down. Then he’d decided to recharge himself elsewhere.

After our divorce, my mother had confessed surprise that Tag and I lasted as long as we had. Not, she’d hastened to add, that she’d foreseen infidelity. “You two never seemed to fit.”

And yet, Kristen had a point. We couldn’t seem to stay away from each other—or move on. When I discovered his affair—he swore there had been just the one—I’d briefly considered leaving Seattle. But where would I have gone?

Besides, when our marriage ended, I’d had a job I loved. So I stayed and bought the loft. Poured everything I had into building it out and jazzing it up.

Then lost the job.

But Seattle is my home. I hadn’t felt restless. I hadn’t heard the siren call of other lands.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” I asked as we scooted back our chairs.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot going on that we can’t see.”

The Ninth was reaching the finale as we neared the fountain, and the “Ode to Joy” sent plumes of water gushing into the air, soaking anyone not quick enough to dash out of reach.

When the music and the cheering stopped, he was the first to speak. “Pepper, you’re smart, and you know the people involved. I’d like your help with this investigation, without feeling like we’re sources or rivals for information. I’m serious about that feature story and—well, I want to see more of you. Personally, I mean. We can go bowling, or come back here to the Glass House.”

“Bowling?” I laughed.

Few features in a man are more attractive than a willingness to admit he’s interested.

Too young? Too soon to tell.

“Yes,” I said. “To all of it.” We circled back toward the entrance, making plans for an interview and photographs next week at the shop. And maybe bowling.

“Kane!” Ahead of us, out of sight, the mother shouted, shrill, terrified. “Kane!”

“KANE, NO!” The father, his shout louder, deeper, just as frightened.

The leash ripped through my fingers as Arf shot toward the commotion, weaving through the crowd. I tore off after him, not seeing him, not knowing what he was running to. Ben surged past me, both of us shoving our way forward, yelling Arf’s name. Pounding footsteps, more shouts, a bark, a screech.

Silence.

Ben flung out an arm to stop me from tumbling off the curb onto First Avenue North. Not five feet away, in the middle of the asphalt, Kane’s father threw his arms around the boy, snatching him up, the small feet windmilling as the driver of the Volvo got out of his car, eyes wild, hands clutching the top of his head.

“Where did he come from?” the driver said, adrenaline thinning his voice. “What was he doing?”

Across the street, the blue ball hit the far curb, bounced twice, and came to rest.

Amid the chaos stood my dog. He barked again.

“The dog ran after the boy,” someone said. “He pushed the boy aside and saved him.” A few feet away in her stroller, Kane’s sister cried.

My knees gave way, and I sank to the sidewalk. Arf bounded into my outstretched arms. “Good dog. Bad dog. I just got you.” I blubbered into a furry ear damp with my tears. “I can’t lose you.” He touched his nose to mine, and we embraced, my dog and I, my brave, panting, slobbery dog.

*   *   *

THAT after-the-fact fear had me rattled. The what-ifs—what if Arf hadn’t been there, what if he and the boy had been hit—kicked in and kicked my butt. I drove home still shaking.

Still wondering why my dog had gone racing after a child he did not know to protect the boy from a danger he could not see. Where had he learned that?

I parked the car, and my dog and I trekked up Western. I needed to wash the adrenaline sting out of my mouth. And Arf needed serious treats.

Definitely an elevator day. I punched the button and glanced up the Hillclimb steps, the steps we weren’t taking. Seven metal figures, each sculpture holding a white globe light, climb the walls, dance on the stair rails, and otherwise challenge our sense of up, down, sky, and ground.

Mine had been challenged enough today, thank you.

The elevator creaked its way up, and I replayed what I’d learned that morning. I’d struck out with Tamara’s neighbors. Even if I knew the names of her former employers, I couldn’t call up and say, “So sorry, she’s dead—tell me about her.” The police had the advantage there. So did Brother Cadfael and Sister Frevisse. They didn’t always know the victim or suspects, but cloaked in credibility by their vows, they had little trouble getting people to talk. My job in HR had given me a similar semblance of safety.

In the outside world, such trust is harder to come by.

The stylists had seen Alex arguing with Tamara. They’d also seen him leave while she was still alive.

And they’d seen a man I assumed was Tariq.

I bought a raspberry smoothie at the bakery and walked slowly up the street, sipping and mulling. According to Danielle, Tamara had wanted to bring Tariq with her on the new venture, but he hadn’t passed the test.

That had been weeks ago. If he’d been unhappy—and who wouldn’t be—he’d have told Tamara so back then. No reason to follow her, camp out across the street from the new space, and wait for an opening.

Unless he hadn’t known he was out of the picture until Alex’s tirade. If she’d left him dangling, only to discover unexpectedly that he was being left behind, that might have fired him up. Spurred a confrontation. Prompted an impromptu assault with a deadly pepper.

I shivered. Tariq had sat in my car. Petted my dog. Hadn’t mentioned that he’d hoped to be part of Tamarack.

If he’d expected Alex to fire him at any hint of treachery, no wonder he kept his lips zipped. I’d obviously acquired a reputation for being closer to Alex than I actually was—a pipeline of info to and from the chef himself.

I tucked that thought away. Investigating Tariq would have to wait.

I paused to let a delivery truck pass. Took another sip and noticed the note written on my cup:

Watch for the changeable lady.

I stared at the words. What on earth—?

In the shop, Arf munched a dog biscuit, and I relayed his adventures to my staff. The vet had guesstimated Arf’s age at roughly five, and he’d belonged to Sam for about a year. Before that, who knew.

“Have any of you seen a character dressed all in gray, except for a red scarf and a black hat? I saw him—her—whatever—last night when I walked by, and something seemed odd. But I was too far away to tell.”

“Odd is the middle name down here,” Sandra said.

“Truth to that,” I said. “If you don’t mind, I’ve got another wild hare to chase.”

“Investigating?” Reed’s face lit up at the hint of intrigue. Sandra rolled her eyes and waved one hand in the air as if to say, “Bosses—what can you do?”

I hopped a bus and zipped down to the jail, hoping visiting hours hadn’t ended. On the way, I read the newspaper article again, more carefully. The only new piece of information was the cause of death. Bhut C hadn’t been named specifically, but figuring that out didn’t take a rocket surgeon. Any serious cook could make the link.

Any serious cook . . . That knocked the suspect pool flat open.

“I almost didn’t come here,” I told Alex through the Plexiglas and the plastic phone. My nose twitched—the jail staff did not stint on disinfectant. “Because everywhere I go, every question I ask, I discover that you haven’t been telling me the truth.”

On the other side of the clear wall, Alex shifted in his seat. Energy radiated off of him, as always, but this time, the vibes had nowhere to go.

“I didn’t kill her, Pepper. You have to believe me.”

A spasm stabbed my neck. I don’t have to believe anything. “So who did?”

His eyelids fluttered shut. Did he not know, or not want to say?

“I struck out at Tamara’s house,” I said. “But I talked to a few restaurant neighbors—retail clerks, a couple of hair stylists, and the guy who runs the Indian place next door—”

“Ashwani Patel?” Alert now. A crease cut across his forehead. “Don’t believe a thing he tells you.”

“You know him?” I shouldn’t have been surprised. Everyone in the restaurant biz seemed to know each other.

Alex tried to fold his arms, but the short metal phone cord stopped him. “We—crossed paths. He and his wife had a series of restaurants. None really took off. Probably why they split up.”

My brow furrowed. If Tamarind wasn’t a success, why had Tamara so badly wanted to open next door? “Where is she now?”

His left knee bounced like a drummer’s hand. “Gone, I guess. You know cooks.”

I was learning. They skip around like drops of oil on a hot griddle.

“Alex, you promised to tell me the truth. You admitted you went to see Tamara Wednesday, but you didn’t tell me you argued on the sidewalk. Yelled and threatened her.”

He blew out a noisy breath. After a long moment, he wriggled in his chair, half turning from me, then glared through the scratched plexi.

“I needed to know why.” He was the chef, demanding cooperation. “After all I had done for her, why?”

His changing moods and tones were giving me whiplash. “Seriously? Her plans surprised you? Did you honestly expect her to stick around forever?”

When he finally answered, head tilted back, eyes hooded and unfocused, his voice was tired and thick, like a dough that’s been overworked. “Maybe not. But she was different. Lot of flakes in this business. Talented cooks who do their work and go home—or get stoned or high or drunk. You try to hold on to the good ones. You push ’em to do better, better, better.” His hand tightened on the phone. “To meet your standards, night after night after night. But you ride ’em too hard, and one day, they don’t show up. Or they walk out in the middle of service and you got nobody to take their station and orders piling up and you’re disappointing people. You’re messing with the rest of your crew. Your diners are goners and everybody suffers and it stinks.”

He stared at failures I couldn’t see—the server impatient for a missing meal, the too-rare filet sent back for refire that throws off all the intricate timing, the night’s special that sparks no palates. “You get a sense for who’s gonna last. And you hope to hell you’re right. Sometimes, though, you fool yourself. You don’t wanta know what you know, so you shove it aside. But you know.”

I’d been in enough kitchens to understand what Alex was telling me: Every image of the confident chef in sparkling whites waiting, just waiting, for you to walk in and feel the love, teeters on a tightrope. He—or she—dare not for one second admit that he might fall, might fail, might tumble to the floor and crack like a raw egg or a crystal goblet.

I let the silence sit between us as long as I dared. Jail guards watch the clock the way a fish cook watches a pan of butter browning for the halibut.

“Who else, Alex? You were watching for signs. Who else did you think might leave?”

He didn’t answer.

“Promise me you won’t fire anyone,” I said. “But what about Tariq?”

His eyes snapped to attention. “Tariq? What do you know that I don’t?”

“Promise me.” He nodded reluctantly, and I continued. “He thought Tamara was taking him with her, but Danielle had other ideas. I don’t think Tariq knew until you canned her in front of the full staff.”

A cranberry flush covered his face. He leaned back as far as the phone cord let him. “Kid’s a hothead. That’s part of his problem in the kitchen. Thinks he’s special because he’s heard that all his life. Doesn’t realize out in the real world, everybody’s special and you have to work your tail off.”

In other words, Tariq wanted to be Alex. “But would he kill her?”

“Apparently so.” He gave me one of those believe-it-because-I-said-so looks. I hate those looks.

And I didn’t buy it. Alex had had another suspect in mind before I mentioned Tariq. Who?

“You said you should have known Tamara would leave eventually. But tell me the truth here, if you can.” I leaned forward, my hazel eyes boring into his browns. “Before Lynette dropped the dime, did you know—did you even suspect—that Tamara had other plans?”

His lips tightened. “I’d like to say I did. But she blindsided me.”

And in Alex Howard’s world, that was a fate worse than rubbery calamari.