On the Chopping Block (A Callie's Kitchen Mystery Book 1)

by Jenny Kales

  Max put his arm around Piper. “I know that firsthand. Now, listen, Piper.” He used the gentle tones he usually reserved for the little kids who came into the shop. “Why don’t you head home and relax as long as you don’t have to work. I’ll pick up some food and come by later.” He kissed her on the cheek.

  Piper sniffled. “Okay. Thanks. Sorry I burst in here like that, guys. See you, Max. Text me.” She flounced out the door, her A-line skirt floating out behind her.

  Max looked at Callie. “She’s just upset.”

  “Aren’t we all? Let’s get this food done and then we can both go home.”

  Max smiled back at her. “You’ve got a deal.” He went back to his work station, whistling, no doubt at the thought of meeting Piper later. Young love – there was nothing like it.

  Max finished his tasks, cleaned up his station and waved goodbye to Callie, who was anxious for him to leave so that she could make her phone call. She didn’t feel right about Max overhearing, especially because she now feared she’d been wrong about the possibility of Jane’s involvement in the murder. Exhausted, she slumped against the counter and was about to dial when her cell phone rang. Hugh.

  A sense of dread gripped her when she heard her ex-husband’s voice, which was out of breath. “We had to bring Olivia to the hospital today. She’s had a very bad asthma attack and none of her medications were working.”

  “No! What are they doing for her now? Is she OK?” Callie’s heart clenched and seemed to stop for a minute as she waited for his answer.

  “They’ve got her on some new medications and she seems to be improving. I just popped outside the hospital for a minute so that I could call you. She’s been admitted for the night, just to be on the safe side. We don’t know what triggered the attack.” Hugh’s voice was strained with worry.

  “Sometimes the attacks just happen,” Callie said. A headache began pounding just above her right eye. She picked up her purse, put it down and picked it up again, before remembering that she was looking for her car keys. Forcing herself to calm down, she finally she found her keys and gripped the cold metal tightly in her hand, wanting something to hold onto.

  “What hospital?” she asked, pacing as she spoke. “I’m leaving as soon as I clean up and lock up.”

  “The University hospital in Madison. You don’t have to run out here. Come tomorrow if that’s easier for you. They’ve got her stabilized and I’ll call you if there is even the slightest change.”

  “No, I have to be there. Olivia needs me.”

  Hugh didn’t argue, to his credit. “I’m sure she’d like to have you here. She’s been asking for you,” he admitted. “They’ll let you in her room even if visiting hours are over. I told them you’d probably be showing up tonight.”

  “Tell Olivia that I’ll be there soon!” She hung up and looked wildly around the kitchen trying to decide what to do first.

  Working so quickly that she thought she probably looked like a time-elapsed movie, Callie wiped down countertops and stored soups and stews in the shop’s large walk-in refrigerator. It made a strange buzzing noise. That figured: Another piece of equipment to buy. However, that was one worry that could wait. Her daughter was in trouble and needed her. Adrenaline made her hurry even more.

  She was just turning her “Come in, we’re open!” sign to “Sorry, we’re closed,” when she heard someone come in the back door. She dashed to the back of the shop and ran smack into Jeff. The cupcakes! She’d completely forgotten the cupcakes. “Jeff, I’m so sorry but I have to go. Olivia’s in the hospital and I’m closing early so I can drive to Madison tonight.” Callie’s words tumbled out in a rush.

  “No problem,” Jeff said. His eyes looked strange, almost black, as if the pupils were unnaturally dilated. Callie felt her hackles rise as he pulled his hand out from behind his back and brandished a gleaming chef’s knife, holding it toward her in a courtly gesture as if he were offering her a bouquet of flowers. “You’re absolutely right. It’s time for you to go.”

  Twenty Five

  Jeff took a step closer and Callie instinctively took a step back. She looked into the eyes of her old friend and was horrified by the expression in them. Jeff appeared to be in another world. He focused his gaze back on Callie and his eyes narrowed. She took another step back and he advanced another step. Their deadly dance continued until Callie had nowhere else to go. She felt her back bump against the countertop.

  How close she had been to the killer’s true identity, Callie thought. Close only counted in a game of darts, as Hugh used to say. If only she’d had time to call Sands. Maybe he’d be there right now, gun at the ready.

  “Jeff,” Callie whispered. She had to keep him talking, try to reason with him. “This isn’t going to solve anything. Please. I have a daughter. Don’t do this. We’ve been friends for so many years.”

  She realized that she sounded like she was babbling but she couldn’t help herself. Keeping Jeff preoccupied was her only chance. She willed a late customer to knock on the door but none came. Jeff’s sarcastic words rang through the empty rooms.

  “Yeah, we were friends. But you were stupid, just like Minette. Falling for Drew. Anyone with eyes could see that he just used women.” He gestured with the knife and Callie recoiled.

  “What was it with Drew?” Jeff spat. “He had everything. Why did he have to go after other people’s wives? I’ll bet you didn’t know that he was having an affair with Minette a couple of years ago?”

  When Callie didn’t answer, he gave a bark of self-mocking laughter. “They covered it up pretty well. But in the end, I know Minette better than anyone, even better than she knows herself. She can’t hide anything from me. They weren’t nearly as clever as they thought they were. I actually think they wanted to get caught. You know, add to the thrill.” His creepy laughter rang out again.

  Callie felt her knees start to tremble with fear. Maybe she could talk Jeff through his pain. It was her only chance.

  “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she murmured in what she hoped was a soothing manner. “What happened then?” There was one item in her purse that might possibly help her. Callie held her hands at her sides helplessly. Would Jeff notice if she put her hands behind her back so that she could search for the items with her fingertips?

  She shifted slightly to the side where she thought she’d left one of her kitchen tools but Jeff was staring over her head, into a void of his own dark thoughts. Thank goodness, Callie thought, placing one hand behind her on the countertop. Her fingers touched her purse and she stopped moving as Jeff looked sharply at her.

  “I thought Minette had moved on,” Jeff was saying. “We were a team again, building our business, talking about having kids. And then, Drew’s business started to boom while ours started to go downhill. It made me so angry. Minette got depressed. She was convinced that she was with the wrong guy.” His eyes flashed and Callie glanced uneasily at the knife. It gleamed with menace, a stark contrast to her cheery kitchen. A clock ticked loudly and in the dead silence of the shop, Jeff and Callie’s breathing seemed as loud as a windstorm.

  “I found Minette one day at Drew’s bistro after closing time,” Jeff said, his words rushing out, his voice shaking. “She was so upset that she confided to me that she was still in love with him except he wouldn’t take her back. He’d already moved on to Jane Willoughby.”

  Jeff grasped the knife more tightly and Callie saw the tendons of his arms bulge. “Another married woman! Minette just couldn’t forget him. No matter how much I loved her, I couldn’t make her forget him. He had to die. And then Minette and I could finally be happy together again. But as long as he was around, it wasn’t going to happen.”

  “You killed him.” Callie breathed. “I thought it was Minette.”

  “No way,” Jeff sneered. “She’d never be able to do it.” He glared at her. “I knew when you said you had spoken to Jane that something was up. Then, when I found out that Jane was being questioned by the pol
ice on a tip from you, I realized it was only a matter of time before you figured it out.”

  “So you were the one who attacked Lucille and me.”

  “Lucille talked too much. She even knew about Minette and Drew – apparently that chef she was dating just loved airing Drew’s dirty laundry. It was only a matter of time before she said the wrong thing to the wrong person. Too bad I couldn’t finish the job.”

  He went on, his voice strangely calm. For some reason, this was more frightening than if he had been screaming at her. “I knocked you out the other day hoping to keep you out of commission long enough to get out of town with Minette.” Jeff sneered. “Too bad you’re such a go-getter.”

  The knife wavered in his hand a bit before he took it in a tighter grip and held it up, close to Callie’s eyes. She blinked back tears and tried not to squeal in fright.

  “Don’t you see?” Jeff slowly shook his head, the knife still raised, its sharp point dangerously close to Callie’s face. “Minette and I can still be happy!” He smiled then, a normal smile and for a second, Jeff looked like the handsome, athletic man that Callie thought she knew.

  Taking advantage of his calmer demeanor, she took another tiny step backwards. Had he seen her move? No, his moods were shifting again. He frowned. “Minette is all upset about Drew but one day she’ll know it was for the best.”

  Suddenly, Jeff stepped closer and held the knife right in front of Callie’s nose. Time was running out and Jeff’s next words confirmed that.

  “Unfortunately for you,” Jeff said shaking his head, “you couldn’t stick to your own business and keep out of mine. That’s why you’re going to have to die. I’m going to make it look like a suicide – you’re going to slit your own wrists with this knife and die relatively peacefully or I’m going to slit your throat.” Jeff regarded the knife, running his thumb lightly over its sharp edge. “I’m sticking you in the walk-in refrigerator. No one will find you until morning.”

  As she took in these horrible words, Callie forced herself to breathe. She held her body steady, ready for a chance to move if she could.

  “Minette and I are heading out of town forever and starting over. We’ll find new mountains to climb. All Crystal Bay has to offer are cheating jerks like Drew and pathetic rock climbing walls at Bodies by the Bay. Minette and I are going to travel the world,” Jeff said, almost dreamily, his eyes glassy and unfocused. Callie started to tremble.

  “Where is Minette?” she asked, hoping to throw him off balance.

  “She’s in the car, waiting for me to finish. Then we’re out of here.”

  Callie swallowed back a lump of terror. “She knows you want to kill me?”

  “That’s right. She hated that you were with Drew! In fact, she’s the one that tampered with your food that night.” Callie blanched but Jeff just smiled.

  “It wasn’t Jane,” she whispered.

  Jeff looked at Callie with mock pity. “Minette kept trying to see Drew but he kept saying no, he was busy. Finally, she asked if she could come over on the same night you two had a dinner date. The same night, in fact, that he found out that he won Taste of Crystal Bay. She even brought him flowers!”

  So those had been the mums that Callie had seen with the tags still on them.

  “She added ipecac to the food out of spite?”

  “Someone at Bodies by the Bay told her it was a great way to purge. Minette developed an eating disorder after Drew dumped her. The sad part is that the weight never even really came off. Poor Minette – she couldn’t even do an eating disorder right. Yeah, she was angry that you and Drew had a date that night and she was jealous he was cooking for you. She thought it would be ‘funny’ – her words – if you both got sick.” Jeff smirked, but his eyes burned with madness.

  Having grasped the final item she was looking for while Jeff was talking, Callie held it tightly, steadying her feet and gathering her courage before making her move. She spoke quietly to Jeff while holding his gaze. “The affair must have been so hard on you.”

  “Not as hard as it ended up being on Drew. I followed her and then decided to spy on them from across the Bay, where it narrows. You can see pretty clearly into Drew’s house depending on where you stand.”

  “You were the one at Mrs. DeWitt’s! You dropped that rope that Koukla found,” Callie said slowly.

  “Gee, Callie. You’re really on the ball. Just for that I’m going to tell you the rest of this sweet bedtime story. Your last one, you might say. After all, what are friends for?” He chuckled to himself again and Callie steadied herself, gathering courage for what she had to do next.

  “I used my rock climbing gear to get into Drew’s house. No sign of forced entry – nice, huh? I waited until I was sure Minette was gone before climbing in through Drew’s window. He’d left it open. It was a warm night, just right for romance.” He spit out the last word as if it tasted bad. “I must have been quick and clean because none of the neighbors reported seeing a thing.” He smirked at his own cleverness.

  “Drew thought I was there to talk. He told me not to worry, he’d never loved Minette and they weren’t going to get back together. Like that would reassure me! The smug bastard. He offered me a drink as a peace offering and turned around, thinking it was settled on his word alone. That’s when I killed him.” Callie watched him clench and unclench his fists, perhaps reliving the memory.

  “I don’t like to have to kill you but at least now you know why I have to do what I’m about to do. So which is it? Suicide — because you’re so distraught about Drew – or should I slit your pretty throat?”

  Callie gripped the familiar objects in her hands and decided it was now or never. She raised Olivia’s asthma inhaler and sprayed it into his eyes to stun him, then whipped the kitchen blowtorch out from behind her back and turned on the flame.

  “Don’t come any closer,” she said, sliding along the side of the countertop. The inhaler hadn’t done anything except surprise him, so Jeff was able to reach for her almost immediately. He growled like a bear and sprung forward, as Callie blasted her blowtorch directly into his face.

  Jeff screamed and howled like an animal in a trap. He fell to his knees, the gleaming knife falling to the floor as if in slow motion. Before he could move, Callie picked up the knife and ran to the front of her shop, away from where he’d had her trapped by the counter. The sickening smell of burned flesh permeated the kitchen and Callie was horrified to see that Jeff was now on his feet, advancing towards her, his eyes filled with tears and rage, burn marks ravaging his cheeks, nose and forehead.

  Callie had already leapt away from the counter. She held her blowtorch out in front of her. She was shaking and trembling now, rage replacing the fear she’d felt just seconds before. “Don’t you dare take another step!” she screamed as Jeff rushed at her.

  Callie closed her eyes and averted her face while she aimed the full force of the blowtorch toward Jeff’s head, the knife jutting out in front of her.

  Again he fell to the floor, clutching his eyes, rolling and screaming in pain. Callie looked down at the knife and saw that it was dark with blood, thankfully not her own. It appeared that as Jeff had come towards her, he’d run straight into his knife.

  While Jeff lay writhing on the floor, Callie ran for the door.

  “Help! Help!” she screamed as she burst through the front door of Callie’s Kitchen. A couple on the sidewalk took a step back when they saw that she carried a flaming kitchen blowtorch and a bloody knife. Callie dropped them both on the ground and sank to the sidewalk. Inside her shop she could still hear Jeff screaming in agony.

  “Please, can you call 911?” she asked. The girl grabbed her cell phone and punched in the numbers while her companion leaned down, asking Callie if she was all right. Taking deep breaths, Callie stood up, filling her lungs with the cool night air. “You know what? I’m great. But that guy in there? He’s not so hot.”

  Twenty Six

  “Cheers!” said Mrs. DeWitt, topping
off Callie’s champagne glass. She took a quick sip and then clinked with Mrs. DeWitt and then Samantha, who was standing next to her. A few feet away, George chatted with Olivia, fully recovered, who was frolicking in Mrs. DeWitt’s great room overlooking the water. Even Koukla had been invited to the bash.

  Max, his hair spiky and gelled for the occasion stood next to Piper, resplendent in head-to-toe ‘50s vintage. They laughed and chatted with Chef Johan and Lucille, still a hot item. When he wasn’t ranting about not getting paid, Johan was actually pretty nice. Lucille, always bubbly, seemed happier than ever.

  Even Callie’s ex-husband Hugh was there with Raine. Thankfully, Raine had restrained herself and there was no talk of her sex life. Well, at least that Callie could hear. Dozens of other guests were being served canapés and champagne in celebration of the new Taste of Crystal Bay prize winner – Callie’s Kitchen. Best of all, customers were beginning to come back to Callie’s Kitchen to enjoy her Greek food and home-baked treats. It looked like her dream business just might pull through.

  It was two weeks after Jeff’s apprehension via blowtorch and things in Crystal Bay were slowly getting back to normal. Jeff had been led away in a police-escorted ambulance that had gone straight to the hospital, but he had survived his injuries and was now being charged with Drew’s murder.

  Minette was distraught. Contrary to what Jeff had told Callie that horrible night, she was not a willing participant in Jeff’s schemes. She had been bound and gagged in the back of the Minette’s Chocolates van. Once she had discovered that he was Drew’s killer, she’d tried to leave him but he’d restrained her. Minette’s Chocolates appeared to be closed for good this time.

  On the bright side, Olivia’s health was greatly improved. The doctor had determined that an allergy had exacerbated her asthma – apparently Olivia was allergic to Raine’s new perfumed soap and body wash. A completely mortified Raine had apologized graciously to everyone and thrown the products in the trash, promising to never buy them again. She wasn’t so bad. Callie decided she’d visit Crystal Bay’s nicest bath products store – with Olivia so the same thing didn’t happen twice – and buy her some beautiful, non-allergenic replacements.