A Catered Christmas Killer (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) (6 page)

Maria paused in her cheese cutting and turned to look at the other women. “It was really hard at first.” Maria had a faraway look in her eyes, reliving the pain of loss. “But Mr. Duran welcomed me into his home even more afterward. My family is all far, so they have become like a family to me. Mrs. Duran’s passing—it’s just tragic.”

Maria hadn’t shed a tear since learning of Julia’s death, but she could talk about her like family? Something didn’t seem to add up.

“You must know a lot about them if you’ve been working for them for so long. You must see plenty of people coming and going here.” Sydney was grateful for Grace being so blunt.

“Yes.” Maria turned back to the cheese and didn’t elaborate.

Minutes later, Marcus joined the three women in the kitchen.

“Mr. Duran, how are you coping?”

“Oh, Maria. I don’t think the reality has fully hit me yet.” Sydney was nearly relieved to see the pain in his eyes. Maybe he truly did miss his wife.

“It does take a little while. It’s the quiet times at the end of the days that become the hardest. Do you have any idea how she died?” Grace and Sydney exchanged a look. He hadn’t told Maria?

“She was stabbed, here in the kitchen, last night,” he said matter of factly.

“Stabbed?” Maria nearly shouted. “Who would do such a thing?”

“The detectives are looking into it.”

“If I can offer any assistance, I’d be happy to,” she said.
 

“That won’t be necessary. How is the food coming? When are guests due to arrive?” It became clear that Julia had done all of the planning and now Marcus was stuck with a party he might not even want to be having.

The doorbell was all the answer Marcus got.

“I’ll get that, Mr. Duran.” Maria left the kitchen toward the front door and Marcus headed in the direction of the bar.
Drew was ready for the onslaught and handed Marcus his first drink of the evening.

Grace finished the last of the mushrooms and Sydney put the tray in the oven. They would cook for just a few minutes. Grace took over the cheese cutting and Sydney started filling bowls with dipping oils. They were coming right down to the wire and they still had the eggnog.

Sydney glanced out through the door and saw Maria leading an older man toward the bar. Marcus turned and smiled at his first guest, happiness not quite finding its way to his eyes.

“The first guest is here,” Sydney hissed at Grace. “What’s left to do?”

“Just these oils, and the cheese is almost done. I’ll get the eggnog going. Everything else is plated and out in the main area. I set out trays on the Christmas table cloths you brought, a bouquet of flowers next to each one. There should be plenty of food. We will just have to keep an eye on refilling trays as they get low.” Grace’s steady voice calmed Sydney’s nerves about the party and opened her mind to start digging into Julia’s murder.

“Once we get into the swing of the party, I want to look around to see if there’s any evidence of an affair. I’m not going to let some crazy murderer try to pin
another
death on me! I have to find that knife!” Sydney whispered back.

“I would start in Marcus’ office. He’s gotta have a space here that’s truly just his. He may have looked sad a little while ago, but he’s barely shown any emotion today. And he never noticed his wife hadn’t come to bed last night? Look for your knife in the house first. I bet he’s at least partly responsible for her murder.”

Sydney peeked back toward the bar. Marcus was deep in conversation with his guest.

“I’m going to bring these oils around first. I’ll be right back.” Sydney picked up as many bowls of oil as she could with the hope of having to get close enough to Marcus to figure out who his guest was. She headed toward the loaves of bread that were scattered throughout the enormous room, concentrating hard on not dropping anything.

Sydney didn’t have to wait long to get what she was looking for.

“Howard, this is Sydney. Sydney, Howard is my business partner,” Marcus introduced them. Sydney was taken aback that she was even acknowledged, let alone introduced. “Sydney is responsible for all the food that we’ll be eating tonight. She’s been cooking away for nearly three days, and it has smelled delicious!” he continued, turning back to Howard.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sydney said, awkwardly shaking his hand while still trying to carry too many bowls of dipping oil.

“The pleasure is mine. You know, I’ve actually been looking for a cook—” Howard started.

Sydney didn’t mean to be rude, but she cut him off. “Actually, I own a bakery in Twin Peaks. I specialize in desserts, but have just expanded to include catering events.”

Howard looked disappointed. Sydney wondered how much money these men actually had if one of them was hosting a 100 person party and the other was looking for a personal chef.

“Well, at the very least, let me get your card. Without Julia, I don’t know who will host this party next year. It might have to be at my house!” Howard gave a belly laugh and Sydney turned to put down her bowls of oil so he wouldn’t see her appalled look. She pulled a business card out of her apron pocket and handed it to Howard. “Sinful Sweets. I’m intrigued.”

Sydney was disgusted. Here he was, joyous, and Marcus’ wife had been killed just before her own Christmas party. She’d have to swallow her dislike for this man and grill him later with questions about Julia. He didn’t seem to harbor any sympathy for either of the Durans.

She finished putting out all of the bowls of oil and headed back to the kitchen. Grace passed her on her way to put out the first of the quiches. It wouldn’t be long before more guests arrived.

Maria had made herself scarce, and Sydney suspected she was doing a last check of the areas where guests would congregate, especially the main room that was wide open and filled nearly half of the first floor of the house. She said a silent thanks that Maria had helped in the kitchen when she’d surely had more work to do.

On the threshold between the kitchen and main room, Sydney looked around and took stock of what she’d accomplished. She was proud of herself, and of Grace, for getting enough food cooked for 100 people. She wasn’t tired yet, but knew she’d be dead on her feet by the end of the night. The first of everything was set out and it looked perfect—color coordination, flowers, beautiful food—and she couldn’t wait for guests to begin enjoying the spoils of her labor.

When she scanned the room and her eyes passed over the stairs, she saw Maria furtively dash up them, looking behind her with an expression Sydney had a hard time reading from afar, but thought it was either guilt or fear. She slowly began to follow her.

Sydney confidently walked to the bottom of the stairs. She made like she was checking the food laid out there. She exchanged a knowing look with Grace across the room, who was setting out the first of the quiches and waved for her to keep going. She must have seen Maria leave, too.

Sydney looked up and saw that the landing was empty at the top of the stairs. Wherever Maria was, she was trying not to be seen. Sydney crept to the top of the stairs, not making a single noise.

She saw light coming from under one of the doors. It wasn’t her bedroom, that was in a different part of the house. She’d been using the back staircase that she thought had, at one time, been used by live-in help.

All of the doors were closed and she didn’t hear anything coming from any of the rooms. The thick carpeting was working against her right now as she listened, all sounds absorbed by the rug. She snuck behind a curtain at the near end of the hall and waited. She hoped Maria would be quick so she’d at least know if she was in the room with the light on.

Just then, the doorbell rang and Sydney quickly pulled the floor-length curtain completely around herself.
Am I really hiding behind a curtain?
she thought. She felt like she was playing hide-and-go-seek with her nieces.

She heard a door open down the hall, a squeaky hinge giving itself away, and dared to peek around the corner of the curtain. She saw Maria stick her head out of the room where the light was on, check up and down the hallway, and then step out of the room, carefully and silently closing the door behind her.

Sydney stayed behind the curtain until she heard the front door open and Maria greet more guests. It sounded like a crowd, so she thought it would be safe to sneak into the same room Maria had just come out of, thinking Maria would be busy for a few minutes.

She peaked around the corner at the top of the stairs, and seeing no one at the front door anymore and no one coming up the stairs, she tip toed to the second door on the left. She was thankful it wasn’t locked, and she let herself in.

She didn’t dare turn the light on, but took her phone out of her pocket and turned on the flashlight. She checked the sound to make sure it was off. She didn’t want a warning text from Grace to give her away. She kept the vibration on so she’d at least have a heads up, though.

Sydney was in an office. Clearly it was a man’s, likely Marcus’. It smelled of man—stale cigars and body odor.
He should open the windows
, Sydney thought, taking shallow breaths to avoid the stench.

There were giant filing cabinets along opposite walls, an oak desk in the middle of the room and an executive leather chair with its back to the window.
If you had this kind of space, why wouldn’t you want to face outside?
Sydney thought to herself.

She didn’t immediately see anything out of place, but continued taking in her surroundings. If Maria had been sneaking in and out of this office, there must be something worth knowing about. It could be related to Julia’s murder, and if it was, Sydney needed to know about it too.

Then she saw it. A pair of skimpy red—something—was just about falling off of the top of one of the filing cabinets. She walked over to get a better look, but was too short to reach it. If it was Julia’s, she certainly hadn’t put it there. Julia had been shorter than Sydney.

She looked around for something to use to get it down, but before she could find anything, she felt her phone vibrate in her hand.
Maria’s acting funny. Get back down here. Keeping her here so she doesn’t go back up
. Grace was a life saver.

Sydney listened with her ear to the door but didn’t hear anyone in the hall. She cracked the door open and saw that she was safe to exit. Her heart pounded as she walked toward the back of the house, through the door leading to her room and made a quick stop in her room. She didn’t want to have to lie when she got back to the kitchen, so this way she could say she’d been in her room. After less than a minute in her room, she walked down the back staircase, looking as calm as she could muster.

Sydney was surprised to see at least two dozen people in the main room already. She walked through slowly, checking on the food set out for the guests, and trying to listen to any snippets of conversation. She heard lots of praise for Julia’s involvement in the community and guests offering their condolences to Marcus.

“She was volunteering on so many committees.”

“It’s a shame, she was such a vibrant member of Newhall.”

“Marcus, I can’t imagine the pain you’re experiencing. What a trooper to have this party tonight. To Julia,” one woman offered as those in the group raised their glasses and toasted Julia’s life.

“Where’s Maria?” Sydney asked Grace when she arrived back in the kitchen and found her pulling a tray of kale chips out of the oven.
Kale chips!
She would have failed her first catering job if Grace hadn’t been there.

“She went back upstairs. I couldn’t hold her off long enough. Did she see you?”

“No. I went to my room and down the back staircase. Thanks for the heads up.”

“Good thinking. Did you find anything?” Grace moved on from the chips that she’d put into a bowl and was refilling trays of mushrooms and quiches. Sydney hoped they had enough. Her instructions had been finger food. Julia hadn’t wanted to have a sit-down dinner.