Curried Lobster Murder: Book 14 in The Darling Deli Series (6 page)

“It looks like you followed the rules to a T.” Damien said, putting his fork down at last. “Before we tell you what we think of your dish, would you mind telling us what inspired it?”

“Well, I’m allergic to a lot of things,” the man began. “Peanuts, shellfish, eggs… the list goes on. That means I’m used to cooking with limitations, and at my restaurant we offer a lot of limited ingredient dishes so people with allergies or food sensitivities can enjoy good cooking too. This is actually pretty similar to one of our most popular breakfast dishes, I just substituted chicken for the bacon that I usually use. It’s a hearty dish to get you going in the morning and keep you satisfied until lunch time.”

“Impressive. I love seeing our contestants using their own strengths to their advantage during this competition. The whole idea is to make you all better cooks in the end.” The head judge beamed at them, then turned his attention back to Antonio. “As for this dish, I appreciate the variety of textures—I love how the corn kernels just pop between my teeth—but the hash browns seem a bit underdone.”

“Sorry,” the cook said. “I actually started making something else, and changed my mind partway through. I know the hash browns didn’t get enough time in the pan.”

Damien just nodded in acknowledgment, then inclined his head toward Felicity, who was sitting on his right.

“I’d just like to say that I absolutely love this hot sauce,” she said. “I need the recipe when this is all done. However, I have to second Damien on the hash browns—they are a bit too soggy for my taste—and I would also like to add that you should work on your presentation. While the food tastes good, the way it’s just scooped haphazardly onto the plate like this makes it look like something a cat hacked up.”

Antonio’s lips tightened and he lowered his gaze before turning to face Walter, the last judge to speak.

“I thought the hash browns were fine,” the last judge said. “I don’t like them too crispy. My main complaint is the lack of flavor. Other than the hot sauce, you really didn’t use any other spices. This dish would be much better with some garlic, and maybe a dash of sage or even fresh cilantro on top. You don’t want every bite to taste exactly the same in a breakfast skillet like this.”

“Thank you, that’s good advice,” Antonio said. “I’ll keep all of it in mind for next time.”

The deli owner saw him take a deep breath as he returned to his seat.
That didn’t go too poorly,
she thought.
It could have been worse. Good for him.

She listened keenly as the next few people before her went. The judges weren’t too harsh with any of them, which was a relief. Moira had been dreading the sort of experience that she had seen on some of her favorite cooking shows, where the judges ripped the contestants apart with their words and sent them home in tears.

At last it was her turn. Damien called her up and asked her what ingredients had gone into the breakfast cookies. She told him, then waited anxiously while he bit into one. A thousand fears rushed through her mind.
Were they cooked well enough? Had she used too much syrup? Did the chocolate chips make the cookies too sweet?
Then, at last, her time for worrying was over and the head judge was speaking.

“Very impressive, Ms. Darling. I love the blend of flavors, and the consistency of the cookies is just perfect. May I ask what inspired this recipe? Is it something that you normally serve at your deli?”

“No, sir,” she said. “My grandmother actually used to make these, or something similar. It’s an old family recipe.”

If they really are that good, I just may have to start offering them at the deli along with the quiches,
she thought.
With a few tweaks in the recipe, we could have a few different varieties—one for each day of the week, maybe.
Her train of thought was put on hold when Damien started speaking again.

“Well it’s quite tasty and meets all of the requirements for the challenge, however I do think the cookies are a bit on the sweet side. They’re more like something you would serve as a dessert after dinner than something to start off your day. I would suggest dialing down the sugar content a bit and perhaps adding something tart, like dried blueberries or cranberries, to even out the flavor. I enjoy the chocolate chips, but I think the recipe would be even better with about half of what you put in.”

She suppressed a spike of annoyance at herself for adding so many sweet ingredients and tried to focus on the positive; Damien’s review of her breakfast cookies wasn’t bad at all compared to what he had told a few of the contestants. She held her breath as Felicity began to speak, and it wasn’t until Walter had finished his turn by saying that the cookies were overall very good, though he thought peanut butter would have been a better choice to go with the chocolate and banana flavors, that she let herself relax. She doubted that she had won the challenge, but the judges seemed to like her food more than some of the other dishes that they had tasted.

Feeling almost giddy with relief, she returned to her seat while the judges finished with the last two contestants. When it was finally time for their scores, she felt herself tense up again. In just a few minutes, one of their numbers would be banned from the competition. The only question was, who?

“We will start by announcing the winner,” Damien said after a moment of conferring with his fellow judges. “Daphne, your fruit and granola bowl with the maple icing was as close to a perfect dish as I’ve ever had. It was unique, and really showed your creative side. I’m happy to announce that by unanimous vote, we have decided to give you first place in this challenge. This means that you’ll be exempt from disqualification in the next challenge, and I look forward to seeing your creativity really shine tomorrow.”

He smiled and the rest of them politely clapped as a tearful Daphne stammered her thanks and approached to shake the judge’s hands. She returned to the line of contestants and the judges moved on to congratulating the person who got second place: Sofia.

“Third place we have Moira Darling and her tasty breakfast cookies. You can’t go wrong with those, especially if you’ve got a sweet tooth.”

Stunned, it took the deli owner a moment to get her feet moving. She beamed at the judges as she shook their hands, and couldn’t keep from smiling even after she returned to the other contestants. Third out of six may not have been the best score possible, but it definitely wasn’t bad. She couldn’t wait to tell David and her employees at the deli about today’s challenge.

Nadine got fourth place, and the judges moved on until only one was left. Antonio Cross accepted his disqualification with lips pressed thinly together and an angry glint in his eye.

“We’ll be sorry to see you go, Antonio,” Damien said gravely. “Remember that this in no way means you are a bad cook. You have a successful business, and I’m sure you will keep on succeeding where it counts. Feel free to enjoy the rest of the now stress-free cruise, and be sure to keep up with the competition as the videos are released each night. I’m sure you’ll want to see how your fellow contestants are doing.”

“Screw this.” Antonio stormed out of the room. The other contestants were quiet for only a moment before congratulating each other, each of them happy not to have been disqualified. Moira and Sofia exchanged a quick hug, and Nadine beamed at them both.

“I’m so glad I made it,” she said to them. “I hardly slept last night, I was so worried about today.”

“Me too,” Sofia said. “I know the chances of me winning aren’t very high—I think I’m the least experienced out of all of us—but I could really use that money.”

“We all could, I think,” said Nadine. “Ten grand is a lot. We all got lucky—I’m sure it was a very hard decision for the judges. None of us is bad at what we do. This is going to be a close competition.”

“I’m envious of Daphne,” Moira admitted. “For the next challenge, she won’t have the stress of worrying that she’ll get disqualified, so I bet she’ll do even better.”

“Ugh, that’s not fair,” Sofia groaned. “They should let the person who came in second to last have immunity, since they obviously need the help. I wish they would tell us what we’re going to be making ahead of time so we can plan our dishes—that would help me a lot.”

The deli owner and Nadine both agreed with her.
Maybe they will for the next challenge
, Moira thought.
Maybe they only wanted us to think on our feet for the first one.
However, when Damien spoke again, she realized they would have no such luck.

“Congratulations to the five of you,” he told them after standing up to get their attention. “You’ve all made it to the next round. The second challenge will take place tomorrow at eleven. You will report to the same kitchen that you did today where Charlie will give you further instructions. Until then, enjoy the cruise and feel free to catch the footage of this morning’s challenge on the ship’s television network tonight after dinner. Good luck to all of you. I look forward to trying the food that you prepare for tomorrow’s challenge!”

With that, they were dismissed. Moira followed Sofia out of the banquet hall, still floating on the feeling of placing third. She had a whole day before she had to worry about the next challenge, and looked like it was time to catch up with David and her crew at the deli at last.

She met Candice on her way back to her room. Her daughter was eager to hear what had happened, so she gave her a quick rundown of the challenge, adding that an edited version would be playing on the cruise ship’s closed circuit TVs that evening.

“What did you do with your morning?” she asked the young woman as she unlocked her door.

“I spent most of it at the pool,” Candice told her. “The sky cleared up, and the water was just perfect. It was just amazing. Everyone’s in such a good mood, the food and drinks are amazing—and free—and the air is so fresh. Will you have any time to relax at all while we’re here?”

“Well, I don’t have anything else I have to do for the challenge until tomorrow at eleven. I was going to check my computer and try video calling David, after that we can hit the pool together if you want.”

“Sounds great,” her daughter told her with a grin. “I’m going to go rest in my room for a bit—all of this sun made me tired—so just knock on my door when you’re ready to go out.”

With that, Candice disappeared into her own room and Moira shut the connecting door behind her and sat down at her desk. She pressed the space bar on the detachable keyboard to wake her tablet up, then pulled up her email. There was one from the deli’s email address, and one from David. She opened the deli’s first.

Hey Ms. D,

I just wanted to let you know that everything is going well here. All of us wish you luck and hope you’re kicking butt at the competition. We can’t wait to hear how it’s going!

-Allison

The deli owner smiled and replied with a quick message telling them that she had gotten third place in the first competition, and might have come up with a new option for their breakfast menu. She ended the email by saying she had high hopes for the rest of the competition, thanked them for their support, and promised to keep them updated. Next, she opened David’s message.

Moira,

The dogs are doing well, though they seem to miss you. Maverick kept running up to your room this morning and wouldn’t eat breakfast until I let him in and showed him you weren’t there. Keeva keeps watching out the window—I think she expects you to show up at any moment. I took them out on a walk after breakfast, and plan on letting them spend the day at the office with me. I think my clients will love them.

I’m glad to hear that everything has gone well for you so far. Don’t worry about the ship. Those things are pretty safe these days, and as long as you pay attention during the safety drills and remember where the life jackets and lifeboats are, you’ll be perfectly fine even if something does go wrong. It’s not like the
Titanic—
modern ships have enough emergency equipment for everyone.

By the time you read this, you’ll probably have started the competition. I would wish you luck, but I know you don’t need it. I can’t wait to hear all about it.

With love,

David (and two very spoiled pooches)

Moira started to reply, then decided to try giving him a video call instead. He would probably be at his office by now, which meant that as long as he wasn’t with a client, he would be at his desk with his open laptop in front of him.

Sure enough, he answered the call right away. The deli owner adjusted her tablet’s screen until the camera was at a good angle, then did her best to ignore the small screen showing her own face in the lower corner. Instead, she looked at David and smiled.

“I was wondering when I’d hear from you,” he said with a grin. His voice was only slightly distorted by the wireless connection and the tablet’s cheap speakers, and the video quality was surprisingly good. “How’s everything going?”

“Great,” Moira told him, still giddy with her high score in the first challenge. When she remembered the dead man, she sobered.

“Well, I placed high in the competition,” she amended. “I’ll get to that soon, but something else happened that you’re probably going to want to hear about.”

“What happened? Are you and Candice okay?” He leaned forward, his voice now full of concern.