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Authors: Lee Hollis

Death of a Kitchen Diva (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktail Mysteries) (19 page)

BOOK: Death of a Kitchen Diva (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktail Mysteries)

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Chapter 32

Hayley had barely pulled into the driveway when she received an urgent text from Liddy demanding she join her and Mona at Randy’s bar, Drinks Like A Fish, ASAP.

But all Hayley wanted to do was make sure Gemma and Dustin did their homework, pour herself a nice glass of Pinot Noir, settle on the couch, and nod off to sleep with Leroy nestled in her arms while watching an old cheesy Lifetime movie.

Unfortunately, the follow-up text from Liddy pretty much ensured that Hayley’s well-laid plans were kaput.

I have juicy gossip. And it has to do with Karen Applebaum.

There was no way Hayley would ever be able to focus on Heather Locklear running away from a homicidal Harry Hamlin in the woods of Vancouver, Canada, in some fabulously awful nineties woman-in-jeopardy thriller with a text like Liddy’s staring up at her all night from her cell phone.

No, Liddy knew exactly what she was doing, and Hayley knew it would be pointless to fight it.

She and Mona were probably propped up on stools right now waiting for her while Randy tended bar. And she was sure Liddy was teasing the two of them with tantalizing hints as to what her big bombshell was, but refusing to divulge any significant details until Hayley showed up.

Hayley went inside to check on the kids. She gave them money for pizza, and apologized once again for depriving them of a home-cooked meal. She was worried this was becoming a habit, but knew she could resume being a responsible mother once she cleared her name of murder.

Gemma and Dustin didn’t seem all that heartbroken that they wouldn’t be having dinner with their mother. In fact, they barely acknowledged her until she put her hand out holding a twenty dollar bill. Gemma got to it first and snatched it out of Hayley’s fingers, and told her brother in no uncertain terms they would be getting pepperoni and mushroom, whether he liked it or not. Then, she dashed into the kitchen to call Little Anthony’s on the landline. They were pretty much the only place in town that delivered.

Once Hayley inspected their homework to make sure it was done, she told the kids she wouldn’t be gone long, and was back behind the wheel of her car within minutes, heading to her brother’s bar.

Just as Hayley suspected, Liddy and Mona were at the bar, sitting atop their usual stools. But Randy wasn’t there.

Michelle, a tall statuesque goddess with bronze skin and long, jet-black hair—a mix of Native American and Greek blood—was filling in. Michelle went to school with Randy, and had served as his beard for every prom that popped up. They remained close after Randy came out, and when she divorced her husband after he emptied their joint checking account and skipped town, Randy hired her as a bartender. She hadn’t known a Greyhound from a Sea Breeze, but Randy schooled her himself and now she was the most popular server in town, especially given her exotic beauty and winning smile.

“What can I get you, Hayley?” Michelle said, waving to Hayley as she scurried in and headed to the long oak bar.

“Glass of Pinot Noir,” Hayley said, not wanting all her plans for the night to go out the window.

Michelle nodded, and reached for an open bottle of wine and a clean glass.

Liddy was sipping a Cosmo and Mona stirred a straw in what looked like a nearly empty glass of Diet Coke, and she didn’t look happy about it. She kept throwing resentful glances at Liddy’s cocktail.

“It’s about time you got here,” Liddy said. “I called and e-mailed you at work but got no answer.”

“I left a few minutes early. Bruce wanted to talk to me about something.”

“His undying love for you?”

“Not exactly.”

“It’s only a matter of time,” Liddy said.

“Hayley, get your ass up on this stool so we can finally hear what kind of dirt Liddy dug up before my water breaks,” Mona said, sighing.

Michelle busted up laughing behind the bar as she poured Hayley’s wine and delivered it to her.

“Thanks, Michelle,” Hayley said, smiling.

Michelle winked at her, and then went to refill Mona’s soda.

“Okay, I’ve been a basket case ever since I heard what happened to you last night in the park,” Liddy said breathlessly, clutching her heart.

Mona was a little more subdued in her concern, but did reach out and give Hayley a gentle pat on the shoulder. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. He missed completely. He might have just been trying to scare me. If it was a him. I couldn’t really tell.”

“Well, the last thing I want is to see my best friend riddled with bullets, so quite frankly, this latest drama spurred me into action,” Liddy said.

Hayley wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

“What did you do?”

“You’re not the only one who can play detective. I went to the
Bar Harbor Herald
and conducted my own investigation.”

“This should be good,” Mona said, chuckling.

“It is. You’re not going to believe what I found out,” Liddy said, a knowing grin on her face.

This was pure heaven for Liddy—knowing something everyone else in the room did not. She adored being in any kind of power position.

“What, Liddy? What? I have to be at work in the morning,” Hayley said before taking a generous sip of her wine.

“Well,” Liddy said, drawing out the suspense as long as she could, “I wanted to know if anything unusual might have happened on the day before the bake sale. Karen’s last day in the office before she was murdered.”

“So what did you find out?” Mona asked.

“Well, Carol Pinkerton, who does the society column, had a desk next to Karen’s at the
Herald,
and she told me—after I promised to lower the asking price on that quaint little three-bedroom fixer-upper I listed out on Route Three—that after the police returned Karen’s computer it’s just been sitting there. No one’s tried to log on or erase the hard drive or anything. So I went over during my lunch hour today when almost everybody was gone, and I had Carol serve as my lookout while I went through her files.”

“Wait. You broke into Karen’s office computer with Carol Pinkerton as your accomplice?” Hayley asked incredulously.

“Yes. She really wants to put a bid in on that house. But without my help bringing down the price, she’ll never qualify for the loan. So you can thank me when I’m finished with my story.”

“Go on,” Hayley said, taking another sip of wine, her curiosity peaked.

“There wasn’t much, believe me. I can see why the cops came up empty. But then I noticed on the day before she died, which was a Friday, Karen went home for lunch,” Liddy said, slapping a hand down on the bar for emphasis. “It was right there plain as day, typed into the calendar on her computer!”

Hayley and Mona waited for more.

But there wasn’t any more.

Even Michelle, who had stopped washing glasses at the other end of the bar to eavesdrop, had a confused look on her face.

“Is that it?” Hayley asked.

“Ladies, according to Carol, Karen Applebaum never, ever went home for lunch. She ate out every day, like clockwork. I used to see her at all the different restaurants in town.”

“Because you also eat lunch out every day since you make more money than all of us and can afford it,” Hayley said.

“Precisely. So why on this particular day did Karen break her routine and go home? I asked Carol that question, and she told me she remembered specifically on that day that Karen took a phone call around ten-thirty, and told someone she would meet them at one-fifteen. Well, Karen took her lunch hour from one to two. And it’s about a ten-minute drive from her office to her house.”

“Liddy, maybe she was just meeting a contractor to have some work done on her house or something completely innocent,” Hayley said.

“That’s what I thought at first. But then Carol told me that when Karen noticed that she was listening to the conversation, she quickly turned away and started whispering, like she didn’t want Carol to know who she was talking to.”

“So you think it might have been the man she was secretly seeing, the mysterious man who sent flowers to her funeral service,” Hayley said.

“Yes, and if she rendezvoused with him the day before she died, it would not be a stretch to think that maybe they had some kind of big fight and he got enraged. He would have had motive and opportunity. The chowder could’ve been simmering on the stove in a Crock-Pot all day Saturday. He may have had a key to her house and came back the next day to add the cyanide while she was at the bake sale. She got home from the library, had some chowder for dinner, and it killed her.”

Hayley turned to Mona. “You know, she does make sense.”

Mona nodded. “I’m shocked.”

“So who do you think it is?” Hayley asked, spinning back around to Liddy.

“You can’t expect me to know everything,” Liddy said. “I thought I did a pretty good job coming up with all that. Now it’s your turn.”

Hayley’s mind raced.

How could they uncover the identity of this mystery man?

And then it hit her.

The answer was right in front of her.

“The Kitty Cam.”

Liddy turned to Mona. “What’s she talking about?”

Mona shrugged, completely in the dark.

“When Randy and I broke into Karen’s house to poke around for clues ...”

Mona interrupted her. “She says it like it’s something she does every day.”

Hayley playfully slapped her arm.

“Anyway, the only reason we got caught was because Karen had a Kitty Cam recording everything, and it was still running after she died. That’s how Sergio found out about us breaking and entering. If Karen was meeting someone at her house the day before she died, wouldn’t the camera have recorded it?”

“Genius!” Liddy squealed. “Oh my God, we’re so good at this!”

“Wait just a minute,” Mona said. “If Sergio saw you and Randy, wouldn’t he have seen whomever visited Karen that day, too?”

“Not necessarily. The Kitty Cam was set up in the living room. Sergio never saw the killer poisoning the chowder or me discovering Karen’s body because it all happened in the kitchen. But it’s worth checking out! Maybe he missed something!” Hayley said, signaling to Michelle at the opposite end of the bar. “Michelle, where’s Randy tonight?”

“At home. Date night with Sergio,” Michelle said, wiping a beer mug dry with a blue rag.

“Perfect! Let’s go!” Hayley said, downing the rest of her Pinot Noir and leaping off the bar stool.

“We’re going to crash their date night?” Mona asked, eyebrows raised.

“Please. They just got home from a Mexican cruise a month ago. They’ve had plenty of alone time together,” Hayley insisted as she waved good-bye to Michelle and scurried out the door.

Mona followed after her, as Liddy paid the tab, grabbed her bag off the bar, and followed them out the door.

When the three women arrived at Randy and Sergio’s house on the shore, Hayley was starting to have second thoughts about barging in on their evening alone together.

In fact, she wasn’t even sure Sergio would allow them to review the tape.

But she had to try. This was too important.

She hurried up the steps of the front porch just as the headlights from Mona’s truck rounded the corner with the lights from Liddy’s Mercedes close behind.

Hayley rapped on the door, and within a few seconds, Randy answered, wearing a plush beige robe and dark brown slippers.

“Hayley, what’s wrong?” Randy said, concerned that his sister had shown up on his doorstep so late.

He saw Liddy and Mona get out of their respective vehicles and race across the expansive lawn toward the house. “Is this some kind of intervention? My only addiction is
American Idol.
”

“This isn’t an intervention. Where’s Sergio?”

“Upstairs running the bath. I’m supposed to join him in five minutes.”

Hayley perked up.

Maybe they could get away with scanning the tapes without Sergio ever knowing. Why get him angry and spoil date night?

Liddy and Mona pounded up the porch steps, shoving each other, trying to be the first one to reach the door. Liddy finally gave up, allowing Mona to go first.

“Honestly, Mona, it’s like we’re back in the third grade with you cutting in front of me to get your cup of green Jell-O first,” Liddy said.

“Did you tell him?” Mona asked.

“Tell me what?” Randy said.

Mona studied Randy in his robe. “Are you naked underneath there?”

Randy peeked inside his robe to double check. “Uh, yeah, Mona, I am.”

BOOK: Death of a Kitchen Diva (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktail Mysteries)

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