Vegan Baked Alaska (Auntie Clem's Bakery Book 9)

by P. D. Workman

  Erin let out a long sigh. Terry had done it. The captain hadn’t been willing to listen to a couple of women, but a police officer leaning in and forcing his hand was different. Erin had no idea what he’d had to say to get the captain to agree, but at least he had done it.

  “Thank goodness. Thank you so much, Terry. He just wouldn’t listen to me! I did try.”

  “Of course you did,” he agreed. “I never doubted that. He wasn’t easy to persuade. I’m afraid I might have extended my reach a little more than was strictly ethical…”

  Erin stood up and went to him, giving him a big hug. “And I love you for it. Thank you so much.”

  He gazed down at her. “You’re welcome. I hope that it doesn’t backfire on us.”

  Erin shifted uncomfortably. For once, he wasn’t lecturing her on sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong. He wasn’t getting after her for acting like a detective and interfering with one of his investigations.

  Instead, he had aligned himself with her. If it ended up causing problems for his career or putting him in danger, she would never forgive herself. They were facing off against a killer. As happy as she was to be believed and for the captain to start an investigation for that poor crewman who had died, she was afraid that she had just put herself and Terry right in the crosshairs of a killer.

  It was late and Erin was exhausted. She would have been exhausted staying up that late any day, but after being sick and all of the emotional turmoil of the day, it was that much worse. She couldn’t imagine being any more tired.

  She walked with Terry back to their cabin, K9 heeling at Terry’s other side as usual. Erin looked around the cabin when Terry turned the light on. Terry frowned, looking at her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t say anything, but your expression… I just thought…”

  “No, nothing. There’s nothing wrong.” Erin’s heart pounded hard.

  She didn’t like lying to him. But if she told him that she just wanted to be alone, it would hurt his feelings. He didn’t have anywhere else to go. She could ask him to sleep on the couch instead of the bed and she was sure he would, but that wasn’t the right thing to do. He had done all the right things. He had gone to the captain and convinced him to open up an investigation when the captain had previously refused. Terry had spent all of that time and effort and he was tired too. He hadn’t slept well while she was sick.

  But she really wanted to be alone. She didn’t want to share the cabin. She didn’t want to share the bed. She just wanted to be by herself.

  Terry took a look around the cabin, searching for something that was out of place. “What is it? Do you think someone has been in here?” He paused considering. “Neither of us has anything valuable. I know I don’t. You didn’t bring anything, did you…?”

  “What would I bring?” Erin laughed and shook her head. Her jewelry was purchased at the department store; it wasn’t worth anything. She tended to thrift shop for her clothes to make her money stretch further. Any extra money she made at the bakery went back into the bakery to fund promotions and advertising. She still hadn’t looked at getting a new car, despite Terry telling her several times that she needed a new one if she were going to keep driving.

  Erin had not brought anything valuable with her. Terry hadn’t brought anything valuable. There would be no point in anyone entering their cabin for the purpose of theft.

  “I don’t think anyone has been here,” Erin said, making a motion to downplay it. “I just was thinking about how tired I am. You know how it is when you’re so tired you can’t sleep?”

  “Sure.” He rubbed her back and shoulders. “I know what that’s like. I’ve trained myself to sleep pretty well to be able to change shifts, but you’re used to keeping the same schedule every day, so your body doesn’t know what to do when you change it up.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why don’t you lie down, and I’ll give you a massage. That will help you relax. If you want, you can take another sleeping pill. I know you don’t like to, but I think this is a special case. And you’re not going to get addicted just having one every now and then.”

  Erin shuffled toward the bathroom. “I don’t want a massage.”

  “You don’t?”

  She shut the bathroom door with Terry looking at her, surprised and confused.

  Erin washed her face, hoping that would help lift the fatigue headache so she could concentrate. There was no sound from the cabin at first, then she could hear Terry taking care of K9, putting him into his kennel for the night. She could hear drawers opening and closing as Terry changed out of his daytime clothes.

  Erin sat on the lid of the toilet, thinking.

  The cruise was supposed to be a holiday. A time when they could let down all of their inhibitions and all of the responsibilities that came from their jobs and just spend time together getting to know each other. So far, that had not happened. Terry had learned plenty of new stuff from Erin. How she got seasick on a boat, even one so big. How she was having constant nightmares and wandering in her sleep. How she reacted when she saw a murder right in front of her.

  It was no honeymoon, that was for sure.

  If she wanted to look back at the trip with some fondness, she was going to have to be open to having a good time. She needed to go on the tours, taste the specially-prepared signature dishes, and spend time with Terry doing something other than talking about people being killed. She needed to take pictures and act like the other tourists. Relaxed and happy to be there. She needed to stop being serious and earnest and to make Terry happy. Then she would be happy herself.

  In short, she needed to be someone completely different.

  Chapter Nineteen

  E

  rin went to bed determined to make the best of the next day of the tour. She was there for a holiday, so it was time to holiday. She didn’t try to get the extra sleep that Terry said she needed to catch back up and get over the seasickness and trauma that she had been through. She’d always managed to keep working at Auntie Clem’s Bakery through the other murders, so there was no reason she couldn’t get up and start her day early just like the rest of the time. Not quite as early as her baker’s hours, but still well before the majority of the ship was stirring.

  “You up already?” Terry murmured sleepily as she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. “You’re coming back, right?”

  “No. I’m going to have a shower and then go for a walk.”

  Terry pushed himself up, looking at her blearily. “You can’t be walking around by yourself. Not after the crew has been told about what you saw.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll take K9. He won’t let anything happen to me.”

  Terry considered that, still rubbing his eyes, but didn’t seem in too great a hurry to get out of bed. “I don’t know… are you sure…? I should come.”

  “I want to get an early start. I don’t think you want to get up yet, do you?”

  He grunted, a noise that Erin took for ‘no.’ He scratched his bristly chin. “I don’t suppose there will be many people up and around yet.”

  “No. And K9 will protect me.”

  “Okay…” Terry flopped back down again with a grunt. “I’ll get up before long. I’ll call you when I’m up and we can meet, okay?”

  Erin nodded, but wasn’t sure he could see her in the dark. “Yeah, that sounds fine. No problem.”

  She went into the bathroom and showered and got herself ready for the day as quietly as possible, not wanting to bother Terry again. When she was finished and crept out of the bathroom, he didn’t stir. She let K9 out of his kennel and took him out of the stateroom with her, closing the door quietly behind her.

  “There. It’s just you and me. How does that sound?” she said to K9.

  He looked up at her alertly, ears moving back and forth. Erin felt bad that she hadn’t thought to get a cookie for him. She’d have to wait until
she was back in the cabin to feed him and he might be hungry before then.

  “Well, if we come across anything you would like before then, you can let me know.”

  He panted happily and started sniffing around, investigating for anything interesting. Erin called him to heel, and he immediately fell in at her side. It always amazed Erin how well he was trained. Not only would he respond to Terry and his commands, but he had quickly learned to listen to Erin as well and, although she got the feeling he considered her the junior partner, he seemed to be content to work with her. Terry didn’t want K9 responding to just anyone’s commands; it could cause problems if he obeyed a criminal who told him to sit and stay or to break off of a pursuit. But Terry had quickly come to the conclusion that if they were going to be spending that much time together, K9 would need to be comfortable with doing what she told him to as well. It just made things easier.

  Erin went up the stairs a couple of decks, and took a walk around the outer hall, enjoying the fresh, brisk air off of the ocean. She had at least thought to dress warmly.

  She saw a man in one of the lounge chairs on the deck and was turning around to avoid him when she stopped and looked again. It was Willie. Erin glanced around for Vic, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  “Hey, Willie.”

  Willie looked up from his paper and smiled at Erin. “You’re up early. Feeling better?”

  “I’m doing great,” Erin lied. If she said it enough times, she hoped to convince herself it was true and to actually start feeling better. “Where’s Vicky?”

  “Oh, she’s off with the others,” Willie made a waving motion. But when Erin looked in the direction he had pointed, she didn’t see Vic or anyone else. She looked back to him.

  “With what others? Where did she go?”

  Willie looked at Erin for a moment, frowning. He looked over in the direction he had pointed. “There is a group of the vegans that she’s made friends with. You know, people who are more like her.”

  Erin shook her head. “No. Who do you mean? She’s not vegan, so I’m not sure that…” Erin couldn’t think of what connection Vic would have made with a bunch of vegans on a cruise. “More like her?”

  Willie cleared his throat. “Trans and gay and the whole LGBT spectrum. They’ve been doing some activities together. Mostly just getting together to talk and swap war stories, I think.”

  “Oh.” Erin wasn’t sure what to think about that. She was glad that Vic had found other LGBT folks to hang around with, but she had expected Vic would mostly be spending her time with Willie or Erin or their group. She hadn’t expected her to take off to associate with people who had been strangers before the cruise. It was nice that she’d made some new friends, but…

  Willie chuckled and nodded at Erin. “You look exactly how I feel,” he acknowledged. “I’m glad that she’s happy, but…”

  “But you thought she’d be spending the time with you.”

  “That was the whole point of the trip, wasn’t it? To spend more time together as couples? It seems a little… I don’t know… I’m glad she’s found people who relate to her, but I just wanted… I wanted it to just be her and me. And some of the time you and Terry. This feels like… she’s just turned her back on us.” He held up his hand to prevent Erin from speaking. “I know that’s silly. I shouldn’t feel betrayed just because she’s making new friends. But I can’t help feeling… kind of left out.”

  Erin nodded. “Yeah. Me too. I didn’t even know…”

  “You were sick, and she was looking for other things to do. It makes sense that she would seek out some new girl friends.”

  “You’re right,” Erin agreed. “Well… if you see her, tell her I’m up and around. We can hang out later… do the tour together, maybe, if she’s not already set something up with these others.”

  Willie nodded and lifted his paper again. “I’ll be sure to pass that on. Skagway is supposed to be a really interesting little place. A gold rush town.” With Willie’s interest in mining, Erin could see how it would be right up his alley. He would pick up a lot of nuances and background information in Skagway that would mean nothing to her and Vic and Terry.

  “Sure. See you later, then.”

  Erin went on, feeling a little off-balance, but in a way she couldn’t blame on the roll of the cruise ship. She glanced around to get her bearings and decided to go up a couple more decks to the restaurant. She wasn’t usually one for big breakfasts, but she hadn’t eaten a lot in the past few days and thought she might be adventurous and try some of the specially-prepared vegan foods. How was she to know if she liked them, if she didn’t try them?

  “Oh, Miss Price,” a young waiter greeted. “Are you feeling better? It’s good to see you!”

  “Yes, I’m doing a lot better. Figured I’d better start tasting some of this fabulous food that I keep hearing about.”

  She had heard a lot of positive feedback, even from Willie and Terry who had been prejudiced against it from the start.

  The waiter’s face wreathed in smiles. “I’m so glad to hear that! What would you like to start with today?”

  Erin picked up the menu already in the place in front of her. She skimmed over it. “Well, I’ll start with orange juice and coffee, if that’s alright. I’ll look this over and you can tell me what’s good when you get back.”

  He nodded and disappeared to get her drinks. Erin turned the pages of the menu, letting her eyes wander over the mouthwatering pictures, though she was a little concerned they would not be as mouthwatering as they looked. When the waiter got back with her coffee and juice, Erin wasn’t much closer to deciding what she wanted than she had been.

  “Tell me what’s good,” Erin said. “I hear that you’ve got a really good chef on board.”

  “More than one!” the waiter agreed. “Right now, Chef Kirschoff is on. He’s mostly doing breakfasts and lunches, but he does have a couple of dinners lined up, so that he can prepare a wide variety of dishes. He really is quite good!”

  “What should I order?”

  “Do you like pancakes? Are you looking for a big breakfast, or do you just want fruit or something light…?”

  “I’m actually hungry this morning. So tell me about the pancakes.”

  The waiter pointed at various different dishes on the menu, describing them and talking about the highlights of each one. Erin ordered some faux buttermilk pancakes with scrambled tofu and vegetables, and some breakfast sausage patties. She was interested in what was in the various dishes, quizzing the waiter on the details. She tripped him up a few times, but he had a pretty good idea what was in most of them. After he finished taking her order and writing it down, he looked back at Erin.

  “Are you a cook?” he asked. “Most people don’t have that much interest in what the ingredients are. They just want it to taste good. Of course, there are those who are on special diets and can’t have certain ingredients, but other than that, most people don’t ask a lot of questions.”

  Erin nodded. “I’m a baker. I own a gluten-free and specialty bakery in Tennessee.”

  “Really?” he laughed. “That’s fantastic. I didn’t know that we had a celebrity on board!”

  “I wouldn’t put it that way!” Erin shook her head.

  “I will put this order in for you, and Chef Kirschoff will probably be out to tell you the answers to the questions that I didn’t know.”

  “He doesn’t need to. I was just curious. I can eat anything.”

  “He’ll want to talk to you!” the waiter assured her. He gave a little wave and headed for the kitchen.

  Erin looked down at K9. “I’m a celebrity. I’ll bet you didn’t know that.”

  He looked up at her, made a grumbling noise in his throat, and lay beside her, still and quiet, as she had told him to.

  The chef did come out to talk to her, making Erin a little embarrassed at the attention. But it wasn’t like the dining room was full. There was only a scattering of people up, and they were p
retty quiet, minding their own business and not openly listening to her.

  “Miss Price! It’s very good to meet you!” he boomed. He took hold of her hand between two of his and nearly lifted her out of her seat. “I am the chef, and I am most happy to discuss food preparation with you. Tell me all of your questions.”

  Erin shook her head and repeated a few of the questions that the young waiter hadn’t been able to answer. In a few minutes, she and the chef were deep in culinary discussions. Erin glanced toward the kitchen a couple of times, but the chef didn’t seem too concerned about the kitchen staff not being able to do without him. Erin knew that they could probably function autonomously. They would know all of the recipes and preparation techniques. He was needed, but not every hour of every day.

  “I’m very excited to meet a gluten-free baker,” Chef Kirschoff said. “As one specialty cook to another, I spend all of my time on vegan considerations and not much on gluten-free. I have a few gluten-free options, of course, serving dishes with rice or potatoes instead of bread, using tofu rather than seitan, things like that, but as far as the baking side of it goes… I’m sadly lacking there. I’m familiar with the most popular ingredients, rice and sorghum flour and cornstarch, but I haven’t had much experience in baking with them myself. I usually buy premade pizza shells, buns, and so on. But they aren’t as good as homemade, and I always feel like I’m doing my customers a disservice by not having my own gluten-free baking on offer.”

  Erin nodded. “The same here, but in reverse. I know what ingredients to avoid for vegan baking. I deal with a few people with egg or dairy allergies. But I don’t have a lot of vegan offerings. A lot of gluten-free baking relies on the protein in eggs and dairy, and doesn’t do very well if you don’t make the right substitutes. I find it is easier to go from a vegan recipe and to adapt it to gluten-free flours than the opposite.”

  He nodded wisely. “That makes sense. But since I don’t have enough familiarity with the gluten-free flours and chemistry, I’m not yet at the point at which I can substitute on the fly. I have to find recipes others have already developed and go from there.”