Dying for Dinner

Eight

MAYBE COOKAHOLICS GET ANTSY WHEN THEIR FAVORITE shop is closed. Maybe they spend their Sundays pacing their kitchens, or poring over cookbooks and planning the meals they’ll prepare in the coming week. I didn’t have to try hard to imagine legions of them taking the seasonally color-coordinated notepads we sold in aisle one (shades of sherbet this time of year) out of the modular drawer organizers they’d bought from aisle two and scratching their lists of ingredients and the details of the pricey cookware they’d need to make their culinary dreams come true.

Maybe that’s why Monday at Très Bonne Cuisine was so incredibly busy. I couldn’t see straight much less take the time to consider what we’d learned the previous afternoon from Monsieur Brun in Sceau-Saint-Angel.

Why had Jacques Lavoie lied to us, his friends?

Why had he concocted a history for himself that didn’t jibe with the facts?

If his background was phony, what did that have to do with the IDs?

And with his disappearance?

Too bad I didn’t have a second to spend on the problem. I was so busy during the day that when five o’clock rolled around and I finally remembered it was class night at Bellywasher’s and I was supposed to supply the gadgets Jim would demonstrate that evening, I panicked.

I raced to the back of the shop and printed out the e-mail Jim had sent earlier in the day. Then, like a deer in the headlights of a fast-moving catering truck, I stood in the middle of the shop and stared at it.

“Rasp?” My voice was a little edgy (OK, it was whiny, I’ll admit it), but it didn’t matter. For the first time since I’d opened the front door that morning, I was alone. My desperation echoed back at me from the hardwood floors and the granite countertops. It was not a pretty sound. “What in the world is a rasp?”

“I might be able to help.” The answer came just after the refined ring of the bell over the front door and I turned just in time to see a man close the door behind him.

I did say man, right?

I think I might have been more accurate describing him as a mountain.

The guy was well over six feet tall and his shoulders were so wide that when he stood in the doorway, he blocked the outside light completely. He wore crisp khaki pants and a pressed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life white cotton shirt with short sleeves that showed off biceps where muscle bulged on top of muscle. His neck was as thick as the ham Jim prepared for the last week’s class at Belly-washer’s, and his chest looked to be chipped from granite.

“I’m Raymond,” he said, moving forward to shake my hand. “You look a little surprised to see me. You knew I was coming tonight, right?”

Somewhere in the back of a brain crammed with information I’d never known existed, been concerned about, or wanted to know about cooking and cookware, a memory floated to the surface, and I recalled that my new assistant was set to arrive that evening. In fact, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (actually it was right there at Très Bonne Cuisine the week before when Jim brought up the subject), I’d heartily approved of the plan. With someone else working the shop, I might be able to get over to Bellywasher’s in something close to reasonable time on nights like this, and, once I was there, I could try to clear my desk of the papers that were piling up on it like sand dunes on a windy beach.

I had not, though, expected Raymond.

At least I hadn’t expected the Raymond that Raymond turned out to be.

Jim had told me the man he hired to help out was a Très Bonne Cuisine regular. I knew he was in his forties and that he was some kind of IT genius who ran his own incredibly successful business but longed to leave the corporate world behind and become a chef.

Go figure.

Raymond was gay, Jim had also told me. He was also helpful and friendly and when it came to food and cooking, he had encyclopedic knowledge. He lived in one of the million-dollar town houses that had just been built nearby.

All that was well and good. But whatever picture had formed in my mind, it was not a buttoned-down African American version of the Incredible Hulk.

Sometimes I catch on slow. But eventually I do catch on. At the same time I gave Raymond a welcoming smile, I realized that in the last week, Jim had come into the shop to help a couple of times, and always in the evening. Not coincidentally, evening was when Greg had been killed. Sure, Jim had hired Raymond to provide the culinary expertise the shop was sorely lacking now that I was in charge. But he was also looking out for me. He was worried about me. Jim had not just hired an assistant, he’d hired some muscle. Some incredibly amazing muscle.

“Raymond! I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you!” True on both counts, the culinary count and the muscle one. “It’s going to be so nice to have help here. We’ve been slammed.”

“And from what I hear, when it comes to cooking, you’re not exactly Martha Stewart.”

Raymond said this with so much good humor, I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. “You got that right,” I admitted.

“Then I’m going to assume Jim was right about everything else he said about you, too.”

I should have accepted the compliment at face value, but who could blame me for being a little curious?

“Oh?” I had to crane my neck to look up at Raymond. “What, exactly, did Jim say?”

Looking me over, Raymond ran a hand through his close-cropped hair. “Pretty, Jim said. He got that part right. He said you were smart, too, and I’m betting that’s also correct since you single-handedly took over this place and it’s looking as good as ever. He did not, however…” He plucked the list from my hands. “He did not tell me that you didn’t know what a rasp was. Do you even know what it’s used for?”

“Rasping?”

Raymond was kind enough not to point out that my guess was lame.

Instead, he strode down the nearest aisle (he practically filled it) to where the gadgets were displayed. He pulled what appeared to be a giant (and dangerous-looking) file from the shelf and held it out to me, its bright yellow plastic handle pointed my way.

“Rasp,” Raymond said. “Sometimes called a rasp grater or a zester. What’s Jim making?”

I stood on tiptoe to point to the printed e-mail message in Raymond’s hand. “Broiled lamb chops with lemon caper sauce. See. It calls for lemon zest.”

“And it sounds divine!” He smacked his lips. “What he’s going to do…” Raymond grabbed another rasper and demonstrated. “The rasp is run across the skin of the lemon. Like this.” He pretended to hold a lemon in one hand, then glided the rasp over it. “That will shave off the zest, and it will gather here.” He pointed to the underside of the grater blades, which, the way he was holding the rasp, were facing up. “Then Jim can measure the zest and put it in his recipe. See, it’s really pretty easy when you just know what to look for. What else do you need, babycakes?”

I doubt I’ve ever been called babycakes by anyone, much less six feet four inches of muscular man. Had I been thinking clearly in an I-am-woman-how-dare-you-minimize-me sort of way, I actually might have been offended.

If I didn’t like it-and Raymond-so much.

I motioned for the e-mail and read over Jim’s message. “Grapefruit citrus sectioning tool,” I said. “That’s for the spinach, chicory, and grapefruit salad he’s making.” Raymond handed me something that looked like it belonged in the garden. “These aren’t pruning shears?” I asked him.

He smiled like I was kidding.

I wasn’t, and since I didn’t want to break his heart, I kept reading. “Baked bananas and blueberries. Which means we need-”

“A banana slicer.” Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, Raymond whisked a weird, banana-shaped item off the nearest shelf and held it up for me to see. “Clever little object. You put your banana here and just slice along the lines. Every home should have one.”

Mine didn’t. Rather than get into it, I went right on, reading from the list again. “He’s also going to make glazed apple slices. Don’t tell me, let me guess. That means we need an apple peeler.”

“One that can also core and slice would be perfect.” He marched down the aisle, reached to a top shelf, and produced the gizmo. “I bought one of these from Jacques right before Christmas last year so I could make my chicken breasts with slivered apples when one of my clients and his wife came to dinner. It works like a dream.”

“And…” I checked Jim’s list one last time. “A pineapple slicer. That’s for the Jamaican punch the drink folks will be making.”

“Done.” Raymond added one last device to the pile. It reminded me of a small cordless vacuum, only more compact and skinnier. He must have been reading my mind. “Easy to clean up. Very simple to use. Perfect pineapple rings every time,” he said.

And I knew that when it came to hiring help, Jim had found us a gem.

I was past the point of proud and, as the day had proved all too clearly, I was heading straight to desperation, so I wasn’t even embarrassed when I blurted out, “How often can you work?”

Raymond’s grin was infectious. “You’re open late Mondays and Thursdays. I’ll be here for sure those two nights. Need me on Saturdays?”

“I need someone who knows what a pineapple slicer looks like every day of the week.”

“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

“Yes!”

“I’ve got water aerobics on Wednesdays, and Fridays are always my night out so I’d rather not work that day. I have to get my beauty nap, you know! But except for the pesky meetings that keep getting in the way of my social life, I make my own schedule. If you need me during the day, I can probably make it. And don’t you dare thank me,” he added quickly, probably because he saw that my mouth was open and he knew I was going to thank him.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me. It’s a dream come true. As a matter of fact, I checked my schedule before I came over here and I’m free and clear tomorrow. If you need some help during the day cleaning up or stocking shelves-”

“Would you? Really?” I could feel the tears welling in my eyes, and rather than have Raymond think I was some kind of weirdo, I balanced my armful of gadgets and took them to the front counter. “I can’t tell you what a wonderful help that would be.”

“Hey, I love this place. And I miss Jacques. Any idea when he’ll be coming back?”

“Soon. I hope.” The reminder put a damper on the excitement I felt at having a new helper, and a new friend. “Not that I don’t like working here or anything, but-”

“Jim told me.” Raymond patted my shoulder in a friendly sort of way. His hands were as big as frying pans and I had to brace myself against the counter or risk falling over on contact. “He says you’re not-so-good at cooking and great at everything else.”

Yeah, that sounded like Jim. He was a gem, too.

I was thinking exactly that as I loaded my cargo of gadgets into a shopping bag and gave Raymond some last-minute instructions about the cash register and locking up. While I was at it, I’d noticed earlier that our supply of soup mixes was dwindling. I didn’t remember selling any, but, hey, I was willing to chalk that up to a case of trying to do too many things at the same time. I told Raymond where the extras were kept and asked him to please restock the shelves, and I’d already hoisted my shopping bag into one hand when the front bell rang again.

I wasn’t worried. Très Bonne Cuisine was in good hands.

Of course, that didn’t stop me from freezing in my tracks when I saw who stepped into the shop.

“Hello, Annie.”

Tonight, Peter was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt the color of the paprika in little containers on our herb and seasoning shelf. He glanced at the bag I was carrying. “You’re leaving.”

“I’ve got to get to Bellywasher’s for a cooking class. Raymond will take care of you.” I motioned toward Raymond, who was just coming up the aisle from the back office where he’d gotten one of our white aprons and was tying it around his back. On him, the apron looked as if it came straight from the store’s Kids Cook section.

“Oh, that’s OK.” Peter barely looked at Raymond before he turned his attention back to me. He stepped toward the front counter. Since I was standing directly between it and him and the displays all around us made it impossible to get by without getting too close, I had no choice but to step back. “I just need a couple of things,” he said. “I won’t keep you long.”

I wanted to say, You won’t keep me at all since I’m leaving, but I remembered what Eve had said last time Tyler came to Bellywasher’s. Paying customers were paying customers and as caretaker of his establishment, I had an obligation to Monsieur Lavoie to treat everyone who walked through the door with respect. Even a weasel like Peter.

I motioned to Raymond that I’d take care of things and watched as his eyebrows rose in an expression that clearly said he realized I knew Peter-and that he couldn’t wait until we were alone so we could dish the dirt.

I ducked back behind the counter and from there, I saw that Raymond was straightening the shelves of stainless-clad cookware that was not so far away that he couldn’t hear exactly what was going on.

“I didn’t realize you were into cooking,” I said, watching as Peter took a quick look around. “Is it like poker, another new hobby?”

“Oh, you know how it is.” Peter stepped closer. “Everybody cooks.” His eyes lit. “Everybody but you. What are you doing here, Annie? The most cooking you ever did was grabbing a box of Hamburger Helper and-”

“Ancient history.” It wasn’t that I was ashamed of my cooking skills, or my lack of them. It was just that I didn’t need to be reminded. Not by Peter, anyway. And not in front of Raymond. I sloughed off his comments with a laugh and a lift of my shoulders. “You learned to play poker. I learned to cook.”

“Amazing.” He said it in a way that made me feel a little queasy. Like he really meant it. Like he was impressed.

I pretended to fiddle with the cash register.

“But what happened to the restaurant?”

Peter’s question snapped me back. “Bellywasher’s?” He looked at me with those melting brown eyes of his. “You told me you were the business manager there.”

“I am the business manager there. And I’m the business manager here. It’s a long story.”

“And again, I say, amazing. You’re…” Peter took a step closer to the counter. Call it instinct. Even though there was a slab of polished granite between us, I took a step back. “You’re like a different person,” he said. “You’re so accomplished. So professional.”

“Which means I wasn’t accomplished and professional before.”

“Not what I meant.”

“What you said.” There was a time this would have cut me to the quick. Now, I simply cocked my head and stared at him, expecting him to back down not because he had to, but because it was my due.

It was.

He did.

And somewhere deep down inside, I actually felt a little sorry for him. “I’ve got to get going,” I said, stepping to my right so that I could move around to the front of the counter. “We’ve got a cooking class at Belly-washer’s tonight, and-”

“I won’t be another minute.” Peter grabbed a pig-shaped wooden cutting board from a nearby shelf and plunked it on the counter. From another display near the front window, this one intended to attract mothers and grandmothers for those last-minute impulse buys, he reached for a tube of pink cake icing. As if that wasn’t enough, he added two boxes of the red, white, and blue citronella candles I’d put out in honor of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.

“That ought to do it,” he said.

I look at the disparate assortment. “You’re sure?”

“Sure.”

“You don’t need anything else?”

He reached for his wallet. “Nope.”

“Then how about if you tell me what you’re really doing here.”

Just as my professionalism and business acumen apparently had done, my question caught Peter off guard. I would have known that even if we hadn’t been married for eight years. It was the uneasy, embarrassed way he smiled, I guess. Or maybe it was the uncomfortable way he shifted from foot to foot.

“I was just passing by,” he said, and I actually might have believed it if he didn’t push a hand through his dark hair when he said it. I remembered that gesture. I’d seen it a thousand times. Always when Peter was feeling guilty about something.

Oh, how well I remembered that he’d never once resorted to that gesture when he fessed up about Mindy/Mandy!

Keeping the thought firmly in mind, I wrapped the pig cutting board in tissue and tucked it into a shopping bag along with the candles and the icing. “You were just passing by and you decided you couldn’t live without a wooden pig cutting board? Or maybe it’s Mindy/Mandy who needs the cutting board. What, is it some kind of romantic anniversary for you two? Maybe you’re commemorating the first time you cheated on me with her? There are some who would see the pig as wonderfully symbolic.”

In my peripheral vision, I saw Raymond give me the thumbs-up.

That was far more encouraging than the pained look on Peter’s face. “That’s not fair, Annie,” he said. Leave it to Peter to try to defend the indefensible. “I didn’t come here to argue with you. I just wanted to…” He was never the hemming and hawing type. He hemmed and hawed. “Actually, I just wanted to see you.”

I was about to ring up his purchases, and my hands stilled over the keys of the cash register. “That’s not a good idea,” I told him.

Peter shrugged. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“I can blame a guy for not trying back when we were married and you didn’t give a damn.”

At this, Raymond’s eyebrows rose even more, and his eyes went wide. He had given up all pretense of not eavesdropping, and he stood with his colossal arms folded over his enormous chest, just listening.

I don’t think Peter noticed. He wasn’t looking at anyone or anything but me. “That was a long time ago, Annie. You haven’t forgiven me?”

I’d like to say I took Peter’s cash from him gracefully. It was more like I yanked the money from his hands. I punched the keys on the cash register, fished out the proper change, and shoved it in Peter’s direction. “If you’re looking for forgiveness, you’ve come to the wrong place. That’s not my job.”

“But-”

“Thank you for shopping at Très Bonne Cuisine.” I gave Peter the smile I offered every customer as they left.

Right before I stepped around the counter, grabbed my shopping bag, and called a good night to Raymond.

“You’re making a mistake, Annie.” Peter’s words followed me to the door. “You’re forgetting that not everyone is what they seem.”

Yeah, I already knew that. Peter had taught me that lesson.

But as I got to my car and headed over to Belly-washer’s, the truth of what he said hit like a ton of bricks.

“Not everyone is what they seem,” I mumbled to myself, and I knew exactly why it bothered me in the context of Monsieur’s disappearance.

It was exactly the reason I hadn’t done more to pursue that stack of suspicious IDs. Or the telltale information I’d received from Monsieur Brun, the innkeeper, the day before.

Not everyone was what they appeared to be, and if I dug a little deeper into Monsieur Lavoie’s background, I was afraid I wasn’t going to like what I found.

Did it matter?

Personally, yes, it mattered a whole bunch. To me, to Jim, to all Monsieur’s other friends.

Professionally…

I knew exactly when I made up my mind, because my hands tightened on the steering wheel and my spine stiffened with resolve.

Professionally, I had to find out what was going on.

No matter what the consequences.