Murder in the Pearl District (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 5) by Dianne Harman Page B

givers in the Pearl District
to suffer a severe blow. I find it hard to think someone would kill over that,
but if her reputation as the ‘hostess with the mostest’ was all she had,
maybe.”
    “You said her father was a
lumber baron. I wonder if I can find out anything about him. I’ll look up the
name Wright and see what I can come up with.”
    “Mike, I knew I could
count on you. Thank you so much for helping Sophie and me.”
    “I still think it should
be Detective Masters who’s helping you and vice-versa. This is way out of my
jurisdiction.”
    “Mike, one thing Sophie
mentioned about Chef DuBois was that the accent he placed on some of the French
words he used was incorrect. She wonders if he really is French. I did not like
that smarmy man. It literally made my skin crawl when he kissed my hand. It was
disgusting. I wonder if he could be a complete fake.”
    “May have disgusted you,
but that doesn’t mean he’s a murderer.”
    “I know, but the whole
television thing smells. First of all he tries to get a show, but Mitch gives
the show to Donatella. Then I find out Mitch’s television station is in
financial trouble, and he calls the chef the morning the woman he loved was
murdered and offers the television show to him? Doesn’t sound like a very
honorable man to me. I don’t like the whole television thing, and I don’t like
either man.”
    “Lady, I think you’ve done
enough for today. Turn off that wonderfully inquisitive brain of yours and get some
sleep. Tomorrow may be another zoo at the restaurant and you also have the new
menu to deal with. I’ll be curious to see how that goes. I have a little time
free in the morning, so I can do some research before I have to attend some
meetings I have scheduled. Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll run a check on all these
people. I’ve written their names down while you were talking. Maybe there’s
something in one of their backgrounds that will give us some type of insight
into whether or not they could be the murderer.”
    “Give us some type of
insight, us?” she asked.
    “Just a phrase, Kelly.
Just a phrase. I’ll call you when I know something. And Kelly, this is from
Lady, keep the gun on you at all times and Rebel with you. Hear me? Deal?”
    “Yes, sir, Sheriff Mike, I
promise I will. Deal.”
    “Kelly, we both know your
promises leave something to be desired. How about if you don’t keep the
promise, you will do all of the dishes, housework, and whatever else I may have
in mind,” he said laughing.
    “I don’t know whether I should
look forward to that or fear it,” she answered.
    “Take your pick.
Goodnight, sweetheart.”
    “Goodnight. I love you.”

CHAPTER 16
     
    When Kelly, Sophie, and Rebel arrived
at the restaurant at 10:00 the next morning it was a scene of utter chaos. Nico
was trying to get everything ready for the new menu which was to be introduced
at lunch. The requested food had been delivered and boxes were stacked on the
floor just inside the back door. The kitchen staff was frantically trying put
everything away in its proper place before the first diners arrived.
    “Nico, did you see the
Portland Gazette this morning?” Sophie asked as she began to chop the mound of
fresh mushrooms he put in front of her. Kelly watched, impressed by knife
skills she didn’t know Sophie possessed.
    “No, I barely slept trying
to wrap my mind around everything that needed to be done today.”
    “Well, there was a long
eulogy to Donatella and at the end the article mentioned that Mangia! Mangia!
was under new ownership and a new menu would be debuted at lunch today. I
wonder how they found out. Neither Kelly nor I called them.”
    “That’s all we need, a big
crowd of hungry diners all ordering the same thing. I’d like to have some time
to experiment with the new dishes and try to get them tweaked to perfection. It
will be hard to do if everyone is ordering the same dish. I ordered more food
than I thought we’d need, but