Murder at the Cooking School: Book 7 of the Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series (11 page)

Kelly opened the door to
their room, hoping that Mike had returned from spending the day with Chief
Varano. She quickly looked around, realized he wasn’t there, and from the looks
of the room, she was pretty sure he hadn’t been back. She took her cell phone
out of her purse and called him.

“Hello,
sweetheart. How’s your day been?” Mike said when he answered the phone.

“Interesting,
but I want to hear how the search went. Did you find out whether or not
Giovanni was embezzling funds from his clients?”

“Yes. We found
some files that clearly indicated he was embezzling funds. The stupid man left
a paper trail that was really easy to follow. He’d written down the dates he’d
taken funds from each account. It was pretty easy to go to his personal account
and see where he had deposited the exact same amount into that account. We also
brought in a computer expert to find out if he there’s anything on the computer
we should know about or that’s incriminating. He’s got the computer and said it
would take a couple of days.”

“How did
Signor
Rizzo take it?”

“As expected.
Not well. We found out something else that is quite interesting. Evidently he
has a mistress, and he’s paying for an apartment for her in Florence. When we
found the credit card receipts for it in a file, Carlo sent the information to
a friend of his who’s on the Florence Police Department. Within an hour he got
back to Carlo with the woman’s name and a photograph of her. She’s a real
beauty.”

“Wow! That
man’s been busy. Gives a new meaning to being a Romeo. He’s got a wife,
according to everyone he was having an affair with Tonia, and now he also has a
mistress. Did you find out anything about Tonia deeding the castle over to
him?”

“No. We found
a file with her name on it, but the only thing we found in it was the same deed
you found yesterday, the one that had never been signed by her. After seeing
the photograph of his mistress and talking to his wife today, which I’ll tell
you about in a minute, I have to believe that the only reason he was having the
affair with Tonia was to get her to deed the castle over to him. She sure
wasn’t the beauty that the other two are. It looks like the castle will go to
Signor
Nardo with no strings attached.”

“What happens
to Giovanni now?”

“Carlo
arrested him for embezzlement. He’ll be arraigned tomorrow and will probably
plead not guilty. If he can post bail more than likely he’ll be released
afterwards. Carlo told me it would be very rare in an embezzlement case for the
person not to get out on bail. What was interesting was when we went to his
house.”

“I want to
hear all about it, but isn’t that home and the land it’s on beautiful?”

“Yes. It was
exactly like you’d described it. We didn’t call first as we preferred to
surprise
Signora
Rizzo. You never know what a spouse will do in a
situation like this. Sometimes they’ll try to leave town or cover up evidence
if they think they can be implicated. She didn’t do either one of those things,
but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone that angry. I think she was sincere
about not knowing anything regarding the embezzlement.

“Carlo asked
her if she knew about the apartment in Florence. He wanted to see what her
response would be. From the way she acted, I’m sure she didn’t know anything
about it. When he told her about it being rented to a young woman, she was
furious. Between her husband being arrested for embezzlement, finding out he
had a mistress in Florence, and having someone, she didn’t tell us who, confirm
that her husband was having an affair with
Signora
Nardo, she was in a
rage. She screamed she wouldn’t give him one penny from her trust fund to help
him out, and even though she’d never believed in divorce before, she did now.
And the tirade went on and on. I can’t begin to tell you the awful things she
called Giovanni.”

“Did you
discover anything at the house?”

“Not really.
He had an office there, but about the only things in it were bills and receipts
relating to the olive oil business and the house.”

“Do you really
think
Signora
Rizzo will divorce him?”

“If today was
any indication, I don’t think there’s a shadow of doubt that if she hasn’t
called her attorney today, she will tomorrow to start the proceedings. She said
it was a good thing she had a large trust fund she’d inherited from her
parents, because it looked like her husband had been lying to her for years
about his assets.”

“So even
though you found out about the mistress and the embezzling, there was nothing
to indicate he murdered
Signora
Nardo.”

“No, not a
thing. We know nothing more about that than we did when we started looking into
it two days ago. I know we’re leaving for Florence tomorrow, but if it’s all
right with you, I thought we could go in the afternoon. Instead of traveling
with the rest of the students in the van to Florence, Carlo told me there’s a
train that leaves from the village for Florence. He even said he’d drive us to
the train station. That way I could be with Carlo when he talks to
Signor
Nardo. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all. I
wouldn’t mind spending a little more time with Caesar. Anyway, I’ve had a very
interesting afternoon. Can you talk a few more minutes, or will you be back
here in time for dinner? If you’re going to be, I’ll wait until then to tell
you.”

“No. Carlo
just ordered some pizza for us. He’ll take me back to the castle in a couple of
hours. Go ahead without me.”

“Will do, but
I do have a couple of things you’ll probably want to tell him.”

“Shoot.”

“Well, you
know I went to the
Mercato Centrale
today. Oh, by the way, while I was talking
to one of the shopkeepers, I would swear that Chef Bianchi was eavesdropping on
my conversation. When I turned away from the shopkeeper I saw her, and she
hurried away. Several times on the way back I caught her staring at me. I can’t
figure that out.”

“Kelly, while
that’s interesting I don’t think it’s something Chief Varano is going to be
particularly interested in.”

“That’s not
what I was going to originally tell you. I just thought of it, and I’m curious
about it. Anyway, I overheard a huge argument between
Signor
Nardo and
his brother-in-law, the chef’s husband. Here’s what happened.”

She spent the
next few minutes relating how she happened to hear the conversation, where she
was standing when she heard it, and what the two men had said during the
exchange.

“So what do
you think, Mike?”

“I think we
should start living in Italy, so you’ll keep your promises to me like the chief
says the Italian women do. Maybe I need to be a little more chauvinistic.”

“That’s not
funny. I just happened to overhear something when I was standing near some
trees.”

“Oh, Kelly,
Kelly, Kelly. Whatever am I going to do with you? It makes me sick to think
what might have happened to you if Salvadore had spotted you as angry as you
say he was. The last thing he’d want is a witness to his conversation with
Signor
Nardo. I love you Kelly, and at times I don’t think you have a clue
how much danger you’re in. This was one of those times. I’ll be glad when we
can leave the castle and all of the suspects behind us. Maybe I’ll be able to
keep you safe then.”

“Look at it
this way, Mike. All that’s left is the last dinner tonight, and then I’ll come
back to the room and go to bed. Tomorrow I’ll spend a little time with Caesar,
and we’re off to Florence. What can possibly happen in that short period of
time?”

“I don’t know
Kelly, but if anything can happen to you, I’m sure it will. I’ll see you in a
couple of hours.”

Mike was
absolutely right. If anything could happen to Kelly, it would.

Kelly walked out to the
dog run and fed Caesar. Then she went into the library and joined the other
students for their last evening at the castle. She had mixed feelings about
leaving tomorrow and continuing on to Florence. She’d thoroughly enjoyed the cooking
school and what she’d learned from it. She felt far more confident about
preparing Italian food than she had in the past, but she didn’t like to leave
something undone, and the
Signora’s
murder was still unresolved.

“I’d like a
glass of white wine. Whatever you recommend is fine with me,” she said to the
wine steward. “What do you do when the cooking school isn’t operating?” she
asked.

He looked
around to see if anyone was listening and then said, “Don’t tell anyone, but
I’m the wine steward at the Moretti Palazzo when they’re conducting a cooking
school. It’s been very fortunate for me that the cooking schools are never held
at the same time. At the Moretti Palazzo there is also a restaurant, and when
I’m not being the wine steward at either one of the schools, I’m the sommelier
at Moretti’s Ristorante. I’m really very fortunate that I can do what I love in
a village this small.”

“Tell me
something. I met Berto Moretti’s son when I visited their shop,
Cucina
,
the other day, and he seemed very nice. I’ve heard conflicting things about the
two cooking schools. What’s your opinion about them?”

Again he
looked around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation and said,
“Berto’s son is a wonderful young man. He’s nothing like his father. Berto has
a very bad temper which I don’t think his son inherited, or if he did, he’s
learned to control it. I’ve never seen him angry. Even if I wasn’t working here
at the school when it’s in session, I would know when the
Castello di Nardo
is getting ready to have another cooking school. Berto becomes impossible to be
around. He has never forgiven
Signora
Nardo for making the castle into a
hotel with a cooking school. He is very jealous of the success of the castle
and quite frankly, there are times when the Moretti cooking school is not full.
He and his son like to tell everyone that their cooking school is much better
than the one here, but that is not true. Many times he has talked about how
much he hates her.”

“Why do you
think that is?” Kelly asked.

“
Signora
Nardo was not the easiest person to be around and certainly not the warmest,
but she paid her staff well. I’ve never heard a complaint from anyone who has
stayed at the hotel or has attended the cooking school. She was always able to
get better help than
Signor
Moretti, and I think that’s the difference.
The grounds here are spotless. The ones at the Moretti Palazzo, not so much.
It’s like that with everything. It’s kind of like the old saying; you get what
you pay for. He wasn’t willing to pay for the best, and it’s reflected at the
Palazzo. The kitchen here is state of the art.
Signora
Nardo spared no
expense when she had it installed. The Moretti kitchen is dingy and doesn’t
have any of the high technology things one finds here.”

“May I ask you
something personal?” Kelly said.

“Sure, I don’t
mind.”

“Are you paid
more here than at the Moretti Palazzo?”

He grinned.
“Oh, yes, far more. Plus the wines I serve are a much better quality than what
he buys. It’s the little things, but even if the students and guests aren’t
consciously aware, somehow I think they know.”

“And the
reason you continue to work for
Signor
Moretti is so that you can do
what you love in this small village, is that correct?”

“Yes. My
family has been here for centuries, and there is nowhere else I would rather
live. Of course I could make more money if I worked in Florence or Rome, but my
wife and I have two small children,n and we want to raise them here, where we
both grew up.”

“I don’t want
to keep you from the other guests, but thank you so much for taking the time to
tell me all of this.”

She looked at
her watch and saw that it was almost time for dinner, and she didn’t want to be
late for the last dinner, particularly since the main course was a beef filet
served on a bed of lettuce with a truffle salad. She’d always heard about
Florence beef, and tonight she was going to have her first taste of it. Who
knew? If she really liked it, she’d have it again when she and Mike were in
Florence.

Kelly put her
wine glass down and joined the other students as they made their way to the
dining room.
This was incredible
she thought, as the meal drew to an end
two hours later.
What a dinner. I’m so sorry Mike missed it. He would have
loved it. What’s not to love about the beef, the gratin of tomato with
anchovies which Mike loves, the braised artichokes with potatoes, parsley and
garlic, topped off with the limoncello dessert, which was fabulous? I can make
that at the coffee shop. What could be easier than vanilla ice cream and lemon
sorbet with a couple of splashes of limoncello liqueur on it? Yum, yum. 

After she
finished dinner
,
Kelly left the dining room and went to the dog run to
get Caesar. Little did she know that in the very near future the big dog would
be the reason her life would be spared.