On Thin Icing (28 page)

I felt sorry for Gavin, and equally terrified. He had just confessed to murder.

At that moment footsteps sounded on the porch outside. Gavin leaped past me and made a break for the pizza shop.

Chapter Thirty-two

“Jules, what are you doing here?” Thomas walked into the room.

“It’s Gavin,” I whispered as loud as I could and pointed to the pizza shop. “He’s getting away.”

Thomas reached to his holster and pulled out his gun. In two quick moves he was in the pizza shop and out the side door. I heard him yell, “Stop!”

I held my breath, nervous for Thomas. Who knew how Gavin might react.

“Please don’t let Thomas get hurt,” I said aloud.

Gavin must have surrendered. The next thing I knew, Thomas was directing him with his hands cuffed behind his back through the marina.

“Jules, can you run up to the lodge and get the Professor for me?”

I sprinted to the lodge. The Professor and Mercury were sitting in the bar drinking coffee. “Thomas needs you down at the marina,” I said, panting.

“Juliet, sit.” The Professor stood and gave me a look of concern.

“It’s okay.” I tried to slow my breathing. “It’s Gavin. He killed Tony. Thomas has him, but he wants you to come down there right away.”

The Professor walked to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Thank you, but please relax and breathe for a moment. I’m sure that Thomas has everything under control.”

Mercury wrinkled her brow. “Gavin? Did you say Gavin killed Tony? That can’t be right, Gavin wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“I’m afraid he did. He confessed.” I unzipped my coat and reached into my shirt. The envelope was damp with sweat. I handed it to the Professor. “Gavin’s been stealing from you,” I said to Mercury.

She walked over and looked through the envelope with the Professor while I explained what Gavin had told me.

“I can’t believe it.” Mercury looked stunned. “Out of everyone here, I trusted Gavin the most.”

“If it’s any consolation, he said that he was done. That’s why he and Tony fought. I don’t think he planned to kill Tony. He was trying to do the right thing.” Well, sort of. He was going to tell you all about it. I paused and turned to the Professor. “What will happen to him?”

“It’s too soon to tell.” The Professor placed the envelope in his tweed jacket. “I’ll see that this gets returned to you,” he said to Mercury. “But I’ll need to catalog it as evidence.”

Mercury nodded.

Bright blue, red, and yellow lights flashed out the bay window. The coroner and the power company had arrived. Mercury and the Professor left together. I needed to check on breakfast.

Lance and a few board members sipped coffee in the dining room. He waved me over. “What’s all the commotion about, darling? I heard raised voices in the bar.”

“They’ve arrested Tony’s killer.”

“Do tell, darling. Don’t leave me hanging like that.”

“It’s Gavin.”

“Gavin? The burly mountain man? Well, that is a twist, isn’t it?”

“Listen, we can talk later, I’ve got to make sure that Sterling has everything under control in the kitchen.” I shook myself free from Lance’s grasp.

“Fair enough, but we are not finished. I need to hear all the gory details. All of them.”

The smell from the kitchen made my stomach growl. Pizza sauce was simmering on the stove. Garlic, onion, basil, and tomatoes lingered in the air.

Sterling stirred the sauce. “Hey, what happened to you? Carlos and I were about to send out a search party.”

“You don’t want to know.” I walked straight to the sink and ran my hands under hot water. The tips of my fingers had turned bright red.

Carlos was arranging an artful tray of fresh fruits. It reminded me of the extravagant food displays he used to create on the ship. “Julieta, your lips are blue and you are shivering.”

I kept the water running on my hands. My body quaked, but I had a feeling it was due to the adrenaline pulsing through me. Gavin had said he wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t think he would, but now that I was safely back in the kitchen fear assaulted my body.

“Julieta, sit.” Carlos swept me onto a barstool and shut off the water. He wrapped his arm around me and rubbed as fast as he could. “Sterling, can you bring some coffee, yes?”

Sterling left the sauce simmering and headed for the coffeepot.

“It was Gavin,” I said. My voice sounded distant and foggy. Sterling placed a coffee in front of me. I nodded thanks and explained how I found the money stashed under the bar and how Gavin was the one skimming from Lake of the Woods. The words spilled from me. I told them about looking for Thomas and the Professor, but finding Gavin instead.

Carlos didn’t loosen his grip on me. “Julieta, this is very dangerous. I am glad you are safe, but I do not think you should have done this. This is what the police are for. You should have stayed here and waited for the police to come.”

He was right. I knew that Thomas and the Professor would say the same thing. I couldn’t tell any of them that the real reason I went in search of Thomas myself was because I didn’t want to foster the love triangle I seemed to somehow be in the middle of.

“You should eat,” Carlos said, studying my face. “You don’t look so blue anymore. This is good.”

“I’ve got it,” Sterling said. He walked to the stove and removed a plate with sausages and rolls. “We saved you some.”

No wonder that Lance was impressed with breakfast. The delicate and fluffy pastries would rival any French pâtisserie. Paired with the citrusy fruit and spicy sausage it was comfort on a plate. I cut into the sausage. The center was firm, there was no pink, and the juices ran clear. “Nice cooking on these,” I said to Sterling.

“Carlos kept an eye on me.” Sterling winked at Carlos.

“No, no.” Carlos shook his head. “He has it, you know. He cooks from here.” He pointed to his heart. “He cooks with love.”

“He does,” I agreed.

Sterling looked embarrassed.

“He asked me for my recipe for the pizza sauces.” Carlos massaged my back as he spoke. “I told him I could give him the recipe, but every great chef knows the most important ingredient is love. Without it everything tastes flat.”

Everything had tasted flat while Carlos and I were apart.

“Do you want to taste this?” Sterling ladled pizza sauce onto a spoon and brought it to me.

I blew on the spoon, letting my nose take in the flavors. It smelled like a summer garden. The tomatoes had been puréed and blended with herbs. This was going to be
divine,
as Lance would say, on a wood-fired crust.

“Very nice,” I said.

Carlos nodded happily. “
Sí,
I told you, he is good, no?”

“He’s good.”

“Should I start making the pizzas?” Sterling asked.

I moved to get up. Carlos held my shoulder firmly. “No, you sit. You eat. Sterling and I will make the pizzas.”

My core temperature rose and my anxiety faded as I watched Carlos and Sterling spread sauce on the pizza crust. Carlos flicked his wrist in a rhythmic and sexy motion. It looked like he was flirting with the dough as he layered on red sauce. I couldn’t believe we were about to serve our last meal at Lake of the Woods, and that Gavin had been arrested. I wondered what happened next. Would Thomas and the Professor take him to Ashland, or would they wait for the authorities to arrive from Medford?

“This pizza, it will become a bridge to pass your emotions to someone else,” Carlos explained to Sterling as he lovingly massaged olive oil on the dough with his hands. “You nurture your food. You nurture your guests.”

Sterling followed Carlos’s lead.

“
Sí!
That is it.”

I smiled. Was this how Carlos interacted with Ramiro? It warmed my heart to see him take Sterling under his wing, but unanswered questions still sounded in my head. Like why didn’t Whitney tell Thomas and the Professor that she had seen Tony before he was killed, and that he’d been trying to get more money out of her? Why hide the bottle of wine? And why was Dean shooting in the woods? My mind wouldn’t rest until I’d talked to both of them.

For the moment I had a singular mission—finish lunch service and then go home. I had never been more excited to return to Ashland.

Chapter Thirty-three

I polished off my breakfast. Who knew that being alone with a murderer would give me such a ravenous appetite? Then I tied on my apron and started rinsing cherries. This is where I was supposed to be.

Sterling and Carlos sliced steaming hot pizzas and delivered them to the guests. I heard cheers and applause, as I reduced cherries, sugar, and water on the stove. If they were that excited about pizza, just wait until they saw my flaming cherries jubilee.

Every once in a while I caught a glimpse of the activity down at the marina through the kitchen window. A team of police in blue uniforms traipsed the perimeter, snapping photos and collecting evidence. Another crew of power workers had scaled an electrical pole, as high as the evergreen trees, and were working on restoring power.

“They’re ready for you,” Sterling said, bringing in pizza trays without a single crumb.

“Showtime.” I mimicked Lance’s tone.

Sterling laughed. “What do you need me to do?”

“Bring out bowls and the ice cream. You can go around the table and scoop ice cream into everyone’s bowl, while I set the cherries on fire.”

“You seem pretty excited about this. I never knew you were a pyro.”

Carlos held up the bottle of rum. “Julieta has a fierce and fiery side, you know.”

I snatched the bottle from his hand. “Don’t give away all my secrets. I’ve worked hard to display a professional attitude with my team, right, Sterling?”

“Ha!” Sterling laughed.

“You two are trouble together.” I pulled the cherries off the heat and doused them with rum. “Let’s do this.”

I carried the pan to the table. Sterling followed with a tub of vanilla bean ice cream. “Who’s ready for dessert?” I struck a long match. The rum ignited, and the room erupted in cheers. I swirled the wild flames until they died out.

“Darling, now
that
was a show.” Lance clapped. “Talk about sending us out on fire. I love it. I absolutely love it.”

“You haven’t tasted it yet.”

“I don’t need to. I know it will be divine.” Lance addressed the board. “A final round of applause for our lovely chefs.”

My cheeks warmed as I ladled the hot cherries over ice cream. It was a striking color combination.

The guests applauded and lavished us with praise. I felt like I was on stage. I couldn’t wait to escape back to the kitchen.

When the last of the cherries had been dished up, I made my exit, but not before Lance stopped me. He pressed something into my hand and whispered, “Kidding aside, darling, you did a brilliant job this weekend. Many thanks.” He kissed the top of my hand. “Absolutely brilliant.”

His sincerity gave me pause. Then he quickly returned to his normal role as theater director, commanding that everyone dive into dessert. I snuck away.

Inside the kitchen, I realized the paper Lance had given me was actually an envelope with a stack of tidy one-hundred-dollar bills and a note written in Lance’s beautiful scrawl. “Another smashing success. We do make a stunning team, don’t we? Treat yourself to something special. Well done, darling. XOXO.”

Lance’s tip was generous to say the least. I removed a few bills and walked over to Sterling who was cleaning up at the sink.

“I have something for you.”

He turned around and dried his hands on a gingham dishtowel.

I placed the cash in his hands.

“What’s this?”

“A tip.” I smiled.

“What?” He stared at the money, then tried to give it back to me. “It’s too much. I can’t take this.”

I stepped away. “It’s all yours. I’m not taking it back.”

“But, Jules?”

“Nope.” I held up my hand. “It’s a tip from Lance, and that’s how we work at Torte. We share tips.”

“Yeah, but not tips like this.”

“Sterling, you’ve been invaluable to me this weekend. Take it as a token of my appreciation for a job well done. I couldn’t have done this without you.” I checked to see if Carlos was with us. He wasn’t. “I couldn’t have done
any of it
without you.”

“Thanks.” Sterling’s voice was thick with emotion. “It means a lot to have you trust me.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “Like Carlos said, you cook with your heart. It comes through.”

Sterling folded the cash and stuck it into the front pocket of his hoodie. “What’s the plan now? I’ll finish cleaning and then pack up?”

Carlos stepped into the kitchen. “Are you making plans to leave?”

I nodded.

“I was hoping you would drive with me.”

I looked to Sterling. “Is that okay with you?”

He shrugged. “As long as it’s okay that I drive your mom’s car.”

“She’ll be fine with that.”

“It is settled then,” Carlos said. “I will pack our things at the cabin and come back for you.”

Sterling and I finished clearing the breakfast dishes and cleaning the kitchen. There wasn’t much to pack. Lance and his guests had polished off most of the food. We boxed up the remaining supplies and the kitchen tools we’d brought. Sterling gave the kitchen one last walk-through after he loaded the car with all our stuff.

“You’re sure you’re good?” he asked.

“I’m good.” I gave him a thumbs-up. “Drive safe. Take your time, okay?”

“You got it.” He paused at the doorway. “Thanks again for the tip, Jules.”

“
Thank you
for all your help, Sterling.” I waved. “See you back at Torte soon.”

As he left, I smiled. I couldn’t wait to tell Mom how far he had come this weekend. Having Carlos here made a major impact on Sterling’s ability and confidence level in a short amount of time. When we got back to Torte I was going to talk to Mom about continuing Sterling’s cooking lessons. We had the perfect team—Andy manning the espresso bar, Stephanie training on pastries, and now Sterling working as a sous chef. Torte was in great shape for the new OSF season. And Lance’s tip was going into our fund for new ovens. My wish list now also included a wood-fired oven.