Wedding Cake Murder (37 page)

“Did you try to drop out?” Michelle asked.

“Of course I did! It’s what my mother wanted. I told my brother and sister that I was too nervous to be a contestant in a big competition like that, and I was sure that something bad would happen if I competed. And that would generate negative publicity for the restaurant.”

“Your brother owns the restaurant?” Hannah asked, even though she remembered Brooke telling them that.

“Yes, and my sister and her husband helped him to finance it. I really thought I could convince them that I might hurt business if I stayed in the competition and they’d be happy to see me drop out.”

“But they didn’t see it that way?” Michelle asked.

“No. It was . . . just the opposite!”

Hannah could see that tears were gathering in Brooke’s eyes so she quickly asked another question. “What did they say when you told them you wanted to drop out?”

“They were . . . very supportive. Too supportive. They said they had faith in me, that I was a good dessert chef. And then they told me that it didn’t matter if I came in last, that it was a national competition and just being a contestant would increase business at the restaurant.”

“Oh, boy!” Michelle shook her head. “That put you between a rock and a hard place.”

“It did! And I couldn’t tell them the real reason because I’d promised my mother I wouldn’t.”

“Have you heard from them since you’ve been here?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. They call me every night after the competition airs, and they give me a pep talk. And it turns out that they were right. Business at the restaurant has increased by sixty percent. They told me last night that they had to hire four new waitresses for the evening shift. And the bar business is way up because they record the competition and show it again, two hours later, in the lounge on the big-screen television.”

“Let’s talk about Chef Duquesne.” Hannah brought the conversation around to the point where she could ask the questions that she needed Brooke to answer. “Why did you go to Chef Duquesne’s room on the night he was killed?”

“You know about that?” Brooke looked astonished.

“Yes. The housekeeper saw you run back to your room, and she said you were crying.”

“She’s right. I had to tell someone why I had no business being in the competition. The lie I was living was just killing me. So I decided to ask Chef Duquesne for advice. I mean . . . he was my father, after all, and I thought he should know who I was.”

“He didn’t know before?”

Brooke shook her head. “My mother never told him. And I don’t think he ever guessed, because she stopped working at the restaurant right after it happened between them. You see, my mother and my dad were having problems in their marriage and they separated. My mother went to live with my grandmother and Dad stayed in their apartment. My mother got a job at Chef Duquesne’s restaurant as a dessert chef, and a second job as a fry cook at a truck stop. She told me that Grandma was living on a fixed income and she didn’t want to be a financial burden on her, especially since Grandma was taking care of my brother while my mother worked.”

“Your mother was working two full-time jobs?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. And helping Grandma take care of my brother when she was home. One night my mother was baking desserts for the next day at Chef Duquesne’s restaurant when he came in. And he found her crying because she was so lonely and so tired. He asked her what was wrong and she told him, and she said that he was a good listener, and . . . well . . . you can guess the rest.”

“So your mother had an affair with Chef Duquesne?” Hannah asked.

“No! She told me it was just that once. And she felt so guilty, she ended up calling my father and saying that she wanted to work things out with him. She packed up my brother and they went back home to my dad. They saw a marriage counselor, and they were doing great working things out when she found out that she was pregnant with me.”

“That must have been a shock,” Michelle commented.

“She said it was. She didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t sure whether Chef Duquesne was my father, or if my dad was my father. So she . . . she never mentioned it to Dad. They had a happy marriage, and they were together until the day he died.”

“And your mother never told anyone about this?” Hannah asked.

“No one knew. She would have taken that secret to her grave if I hadn’t told her about the
Dessert Chef Competition
. She said that she’d decided that a confession on her part wouldn’t do anyone any good, but she had to speak up, now that I was a contestant.”

“What did Chef Duquesne say when you told him?” Hannah asked, bringing them back to the point.

“He said that it was impossible, that he’d never had anything to do with my mother. He told me that he knew trouble when he saw it . . . and . . . he accused my mother of . . . of playing around with every man on his kitchen staff!”

“I’m so sorry.” Hannah’s heart went out to Brooke.

“But that’s not all! When I started to cry and told him that my mother was dead, he wasn’t sympathetic at all. And then he said that this was a first for him, that nobody had ever tried to shake him down for a higher score in any competition he’d judged by claiming to be his illegitimate child!”

Hannah knew the next part of the story. “So you ran out of his room, crying.”

“Yes! I ran straight back to my room. And I double-locked the door, and I cried and cried. And then Loren heard me crying and knocked on my door.”

“You told him what had happened with Chef Duquesne?”

“Yes! And he called room service, ordered a bottle of wine for me, and let me talk until I fell asleep. When I woke up in the middle of the night, Loren was there, curled up and sleeping on the little couch in my room. And he was still sleeping right there when I woke up the next morning.”

“Loren’s a good friend to have,” Michelle said.

Brooke smiled. “Yes, he is. I was feeling so terribly alone and upset when I got back to my room. Thinking about it now, I really don’t know what I would have done without Loren.”

Hannah glanced at the monitor and smiled. “And speaking of Loren, there he is now. I’ll turn up the volume. We were so busy talking, I guess we missed Gloria.”

“Good!” Brooke said. “I didn’t want to see her anyway.” She paused for a moment and then she smiled. “Look at Loren’s cookies! They’re just beautiful!”

Hannah and Michelle exchanged amused glances. Loren’s cookies looked very good, golden brown on top and artfully arranged on a cobalt-blue platter that made them look even more golden and delicious. Handsome, yes. Good-looking, yes. But neither Hannah nor Michelle would have described them as
beautiful
. It seemed that their friend Brooke was now seeing one person in the world through rose-colored glasses, and only one emotion could cause a phenomenon like that to occur. Perhaps Brooke didn’t know it yet, but they did. Brooke was definitely falling in love with Loren.

It was time for the judges to tally the scores and Hannah had to admit that she was more nervous than she’d been in any of the other challenges. Coming up with a good score in the cookie challenge was of paramount importance to her business.

“Smile,” Michelle urged her, as the judges took their seats and the cameras began to pan the contestants.

Hannah smiled, hoping that her put-on smile didn’t look like a grimace. This part of the program made her even more anxious than she’d been when she’d presented her cookies to the judges.

The announcer always started with the lowest scoring entry and worked his way up to the winner of the challenge. Hannah took a deep breath and held it. She didn’t think she’d come in dead last, but anything could happen.

“In fifth place is Chef Gloria Berkeley,” the announcer declared, and Hannah breathed a huge sigh of relief. She’d truly believed that her Butterscotch Sugar Cookies were just too good to come in last, but it was still a big relief. If she came in fourth, she wouldn’t be happy, but she could live with herself. And if she came in third, in the center of the pack, she would be disappointed, but not devastated. Second would be better, a lot better. After all, every other contestant was a noted dessert chef and she was just a small-town baker. But if somehow luck smiled on her tonight and she came in first, she would be ecstatic!

“Our fourth-place winner is Chef Rodney Paloma.”

The moment Rodney’s name was announced, Michelle reached out to squeeze Hannah’s hand. Their sisterly radar was at work again. If Gloria and Rodney had taken fifth place and fourth place, the top three were Hannah, Loren, and Brooke. Now she could relax slightly.

“The judges wanted me to tell you that the top three places were very difficult for them to decide. For this reason, they have reached a tie for first place in the cookie challenge. The third-place cookie was excellent and received top scores on appearance, consistency, and flavor. The judges did not feel, however, that it was as innovative as the top two cookies. For that reason, third place belongs to Chef Loren Berringer.”

“This leaves a first-place tie between Chef Brooke Jackman with her unusual and innovative chocolate rosette cookies and Hannah Swensen with her incredible Butterscotch Sugar Cookies!”

Hannah heard the next announcement through a fog of happiness. The announcer was telling the audience that the next and final challenge of the competition would be a free-for-all challenge. The contestants were allowed to choose any dessert they wished to make and present it to the judges.

Hannah smiled and hugged Michelle. They’d won! And then Brooke came racing over to hug both of them. That was when Michelle must have glanced up just in time to see a cameraman getting a shot of all three of them because she said, “Smiles! Quick! Link arms!”

And they did exactly as Michelle instructed so the cameraman could get a good shot of all three of them celebrating their first-place win.

Chapter Twenty-seven

“I
’m all set,” Ross told them, sitting down with the remote control. “I think I’ve got something that’ll help.” He smiled as he started the taped interview. “What time did Doc say that Chef Duquesne was murdered?”

“Between midnight and three in the morning,” Hannah answered. They were sitting on her couch, all four of them. Ross was seated on one end, Hannah was in the middle next to him with Moishe in her lap, and Michelle was on the other end of the couch. They were sipping tall glasses of lemonade, and Moishe was eating a salmon-flavored, fish-shaped kitty treat.

“Between midnight and three,” Ross repeated. “Good! That’s what I remembered. Well . . . this interview should help to give Judge Stone an alibi.”

“She looks happy,” Michelle said when Helene Stone appeared on the screen.

“She was happy and relaxed,” Ross replied. “You’ll see why when I fast-forward through the opening questions.”

They watched the screen as the images sped by. Helene Stone moved only inches, but Ross had shot this footage in the lobby by the massive stone fireplace and the people in the background were moving at a speed that was humanly impossible under their own locomotion.

“Here we go,” Ross said, stopping the forward motion and turning up the volume. “Just listen to this next part.”

“Are you glad the competition is almost over?” Ross asked the next question of his interview subject.

“Actually, no,” Helene replied with a smile. “My husband surprised me by flying in two nights ago, and it’s beautiful and relaxing out here in the winter at this lovely inn. It’s been almost like a second honeymoon for us.”

“You said that he surprised you by coming here?” Ross followed up on her statement.

“Yes. I had no idea he was coming. He called me the afternoon of the cake challenge and told me he’d just landed at the airport, rented a car, and was about to drive here. He got here an hour before the competition was due to start. You probably saw him in the front row. Sally added a chair on the aisle for him.”

“Tall with dark brown hair and wearing a blue blazer and grey pants?” Ross asked her.

“That’s my husband. Both of us are staying for your wedding and the reception. I wish we could stay even longer, but we have to get back to New York the next day.”

Ross paused the tape and turned to them. “What do you think? Does that take her name off your suspect list?”

It took Hannah a moment to reply, and when she did, she worded her reply carefully. Ross was so proud of himself for getting the information about Helene Stone’s husband, and it was very helpful. “It’s certainly a factor, Ross. And it does make her a less likely suspect. Now all I have to do is check to make sure that both of them stayed in their room during the time when Chef Duquesne was murdered.”

“I’m way ahead of you,” Ross said with a smile. “I spoke with Sally right after I finished the interview and she checked with her staff. The college kid at the desk said they sat in the lobby by the fireplace until almost midnight and then they went up to their room. He can see the elevator from the desk and they got on together. That elevator didn’t come down again until some woman got off and rushed out the front door.”

Hannah glanced at Michelle and knew they were both thinking the same thing. The woman had been Aunt Nancy.

“One or both of them could have come down the stairs,” Hannah suggested.

“I asked about that, too. It’s possible, but it’s doubtful that one or both of them did that. You see, Helene’s husband stopped at the bar right before Dick closed it for the night and ordered a bottle of champagne. Dick offered to bring it up to their room after he closed the bar, and they took him up on his offer. He said he delivered it at twelve-thirty, opened it for them, and poured two glasses. Sally had some hors d’oeuvres left in the walk-in cooler so he brought up some of those, too.”

“And there was no one in the kitchen or the walk-in cooler at twelve-thirty?”

“No. And no one was in the hallway, either. Sally’s housekeeper said she was almost positive they didn’t leave their room. Her room is right across from theirs, and she’s a light sleeper. The night maintenance guy was supposed to oil their door because it squeaked when it opened and shut, but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. She told Sally that she’s sure she would have heard their door if it opened or closed during the night.”