Shoes and Baby: Women Sleuth

by S. Y. Robins

  She shrugged and kept eating. "It's fine. You don't need to worry so much." She took a mouthful of water. "Eat up - you look like you're starving."

  "I'm trying to save room for dessert," I answered. "What is for dessert anyway?"

  "Tiramisu," she answered. "Your favorite."

  As soon as the plate was placed in front of me, and the smell of coffee and cream hit my nose, I burst into tears.

  "Hannah!" My grandma exclaimed in dismay. "Why, whatever's the matter with you girl?"

  I tried to pull myself together as she handed me a hanky. "It's - it's nothing. I'm being stupid."

  "Hannah..." She sat down next to me and placed a comforting hand on my leg. "You can tell me what's troubling you. You can tell me anything. You know that."

  I turned and looked at her kind wrinkled face and felt like crying again.

  "There, there," she comforted me. "Come on, tell me everything."

  "I can't believe someone tampered with our famous recipe!" She said, slamming a hand down on the coffee table. "Hannah, we must not stand for this!"

  "What can we do though?" I asked, feeling dejected. "I've been fired, and everyone thinks I made some stupid mistake that caused Lucy's death." I shook my head. "Maybe I did. Maybe I really am to blame."

  Nona shook her head. "You've been making that recipe since you were five years old!"

  "I know, but-"

  "But nothing, Hannah. You need to discover who did it, to clear our good family name. One of those people at your restaurant did it. You need to find out which one."

  4

  Another text from Ben. "Hannah, I'm sorry. Please, let's go out for dinner."

  I finally relented, this time meeting up with him at a restaurant much closer to my place, the first time I'd really caught up with him for what felt like a 'real date'. We met up at a vegetarian restaurant called Bad Manors, after 7 pm, and settled in while a folk band played in the background.

  "So you don't have work tonight then?" I asked, taking a sip of water. I eyed him up. I'd never seen him in totally 'civilian' clothes before. He was wearing nice jeans, a button up casual top and a smart jacket over the top.

  Ben shook his head, not looking too pleased about it either. "Mick's cut back on my shifts."

  "Mick's in charge now?"

  "I guess so." Ben looked around trying to get a waiter's attention. "You ready to order?"

  "I still need a minute," I said, eager to get the conversation back on topic. "Who put Mick in charge?"

  Ben shrugged. "The owners. They needed a new manager, so Mick was the next logical choice."

  I shot Ben a meaningful look. "You know that Mick has a second motive now, don't you?"

  "What's that?"

  I smiled, almost had to roll my eyes. He was cute, but boy could he be a little dumb. "Well, now that Lucy's gone, Mick has been promoted to manager, hasn't he? So he bumps off his ex-girlfriend AND gets to take her job."

  "Would he really do that?"

  "Ben - we know him - he's a control freak. We weren't even allowed to TALK in the kitchen when he was in there. Remember?"

  "Yeah, I remember. I still work there. Kind of," he added.

  A waiter came over and took our order, causing a break of topic. Once he'd left I turned casually to the window and looked out, before asking Ben even more casually, "So, do you still run pizza deliveries at work? Like, to the neighbors in the apartments next door?"

  Ben shook his head. "Nah, I never do deliveries these days."

  "Oh," I replied.

  Ben walked me back to my flat and we said goodnight.

  "So what do we do about Mick?" Ben asked.

  "We confront him."

  "We need to get proof that he and Lucy were having an affair first," Ben pointed out.

  "Right." I thought about it for a moment. "I'm pretty friendly with Emma. I'll come in and talk with her tomorrow."

  He raised an eyebrow. "You'd better not let Mick see you."

  "Don't worry. I'm a pretty good spy these days."

  We hung around for an awkward moment or two in the dark outside my flat, each of us not really sure what to do or say.

  "You're not still mad at me are you?" Ben asked. "After the other day, when you thought I still blamed you."

  "Do you still blame me?" I asked. But that wasn't the only question I wanted to ask. What I really wanted to know was why Ben had been over at Eric's apartment that day, and why he'd been so angry - and why he'd lied to me about it?

  Ben shook his head. "No - I mean, if we can prove Mick did it-"

  "If?" I asked.

  "Hannah, not this again." He looked up at the sky, frustrated. "You're acting like I don't trust you."

  But the problem wasn't that he didn't trust me. It was that I didn't trust him.

  I spotted Emma through the front glass windows of Lucetta, scrubbing at them with window cleaner and paper towel. She looked surprised to see me, but waved me in eagerly once she'd gotten over the shock.

  "Hannah - how the hell are you?" She looked me up and down. "You found a new job yet?"

  I shook my head. "There's no sense me looking for a new job when I still intend on getting my old one back."

  She looked at me, wide eyed. "Hannah, I don't think Mick's going to hire you back."

  "Well, he might not be in charge for long," I said firmly.

  "Why's that?" Emma put down her bottle of window spray and walked over to a sink to wash her hands. It was about 11 am - an hour or so before the lunch shift was due to begin. I could smell the scent of fresh cut basil drifting out from the kitchen, and the sweet smell of baked panna cotta coming out of the oven.

  I lowered my voice. "Mick's not here, is he?"

  She shook her head. "He won't be in till the dinner shift. He doesn't worry about lunch shifts since he took over."

  "Right. Anyway, Emma - Ben was telling me something... "

  She tied the black apron around her waist. "Was he?"

  "He says that Mick and Lucy were having some type of affair. He said you caught them out the back in the store room?"

  She pulled a face. "He wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that."

  I ignored that. "So did you see them?"

  She nodded. "It was pretty gross. I never thought Lucy would go for him. But, yep, saw them going for it with my own two eyes."

  "Emma do you have any proof - that they were going out? Or that they broke up?"

  "Proof?" She turned around and started putting napkins and cutlery on the table. "What would that entail, exactly?"

  I sighed. "I don't know. I just figured, you see everything around here. You know what's going on."

  "You mean I'm a gossip?" She asked, a bit sourly.

  "I didn't mean that." I looked around the empty restaurant, trying to think of something to say to get her back on side. "Hey, do you know what happened to the Willbond wedding? Where did they end up having the reception at such short notice?"

  She turned around, smiling. "The wedding was called off."

  "Called off? That sucks."

  "Does it? I don't really believe in marriage. If you ask me any wedding getting called off is good news."

  I raised an eyebrow. "Well, at least I technically didn't lose the restaurant any money. If the wedding was going to be called off anyway."

  Emma smiled. "Actually, it's all worked out. The groom's family felt bad in the end about cancelling so they have actually made a huge booking here for tonight. I'll be waitressing, so it should be good tips."

  I smiled weakly. "Sounds like it all worked out then."

  I decided to head out the back way, through the kitchen. Big mistake.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" Mick asked, his eyes lighting up with anger.

  Shoot. I had to think quickly. "I'm - I'm just picking up my last pay check."

  He crossed his arms. "You've already received it in the mail. I posted it myself."

  I tried to push past him to the exit, but he stepped to his
left, getting in my way. "You have no right to be here, Hannah - I could have you arrested for trespassing."

  I could have you arrested for murder, I thought. "Look, I was just visiting Emma-" I tried to get past him again, really eager to get out of there. I didn't like being stuck in that kitchen alone with him, with all those knives about.

  "You've been snooping around," he said menacingly. "I don't know what you think you're up to Hannah, but believe me, you've done ENOUGH." His voice started to rise even higher. "First you kill Lucy, you lose us thousands of dollars, and then you come back here snooping around..."

  I reached the back door and stepped through it before he got the chance to block me again. "If I see you back here again I will call the police."

  He slammed the door after me, and I watched him through the latticed window, pacing back and forth, huffing and puffing.

  Walking down the back ally way, I passed Eric's apartment to my left. I hadn't heard from him for a couple of weeks, so I guess we were officially no longer dating. No great loss; I hadn't been that into him, and when Ben had started working at Lucetta I'd lost interest in Eric anyway.

  Still, I really wanted to knock on his door. I wanted to know what his problem with Ben was - how did they know each other?

  I took a deep breath and walked up to the door, ringing the bell. Eric was a web designer, and I knew he usually worked from home, so he'd likely be there at lunch time.

  He answered, looking confused. "Hannah?"

  "Hey," I replied.

  He pulled the door open. "Do you want to come in?"

  I shook my head. "No. I was just - I was walking past so I thought I'd just knock and say hello."

  He looked even more confused. "I thought you didn't work up this way anymore."

  "How did you know that?"

  "Everyone around here knows what happened."

  "Are you - are you still ordering from Lucetta?"

  He shrugged. "Sometimes..."

  I heard a voice call out behind me. "Hannah?"

  I spun around. It was Ben. He pulled a face and quickly approached us. "How do you know this jerk?" He asked me, nodding at Eric.

  "He's - he's a customer of the restaurant," I started to say, feeling slightly confused. He didn't know that Eric and I were dating? If he didn't, I wasn't keen to let that information out. He seemed quite angry as he kept pressing the point. "What are you doing talking to him now then? You're obviously not working!"

  "Alright," I said, trying to pull him away from Ben's front door. "Calm down, I'm just saying hello." I shot Eric an apologetic look.

  "Don't worry," Eric said, slightly snootily, "just keep this jackass away from me."

  Ben started to try and lunge at the door as though he almost wanted to fight Eric. I pulled him away again as Eric closed the door with a roll of his eyes.

  I led Ben down the driveway back onto the road. "What was all that about?" I asked.

  "That guy almost got me fired a few weeks back!" He scowled. "Rang up the restaurant and said I'd ripped him off with his change - stolen money from him."

  I frowned. "When was this - like, two weeks ago?"

  Ben nodded. "Roundabouts."

  I leaned my head back. "Shoot..."

  "What?" Ben asked, still angry.

  "He probably - he probably saw you with me."

  "What would that matter?"

  "Well - he and I were kind of dating when you started working at the restaurant."

  Ben cast me a look. "Dating?"

  "I guess he saw me hanging out with you around that time and got jealous or something. Tried to make things difficult to you. He's kind of a jerk."

  Ben crossed his arms, looking confused. "So what were you doing, speaking to him just now? Are you still seeing him?"

  I shook my head. "No! I - I went to see him to ask about... well, about you actually. I saw you there the other day, yelling at him, and I wondered..."

  Ben's anger had not died down - if anything it was getting worse. "What did you wonder, exactly?"

  I pulled a face. "Okay this is gonna sound really stupid now, but I thought maybe YOU'D been the jealous one. And I just thought... I don’t know... maybe you were the one who wanted to punish me with the Tiramisu incident."

  I looked down at the ground, not wanting to meet his eyes. When I finally did he was shaking his head in disbelief. "You're unbelievable Hannah. You think I could have possibly KILLED someone because I was jealous that you were seeing someone?"

  "Well not on purpose. Just, to get back at me or something."

  He began to walk away, still shaking his head. "You're still trying to make this about you Hannah. That's the size of your ego. No one set you up. No one cares that much."

  He turned away and kept walking till he reached Lucetta, not stopping to look back once.

  I was back at my grandmother's house, as she had gotten it into her head that I would starve to death without her help.

  "No Tiramisu tonight, don't worry," she said, patting me on the head. "We'll have cannoli instead."

  At least they didn't serve that at Lucetta. It couldn't conjure up any memories of me mixing up ingredients or setting a tray on fire.

  "So," she said, putting three large servings of pastry on a plate for me. "What's the progress? Have you found out who killed that women? Which of your co-workers did it?"

  "I don't know. I think so - I'm almost certain about who did it, but I can't get any definitive proof." I filled her in on the situation since I'd last seen her and she listened intently.

  "This Emma girl can't help you out? She's still working there, she should help clear your name if she's really your friend."

  I took a bit of cannoli. "I don't think she cares that much, if it doesn't directly affect her. Anyway, everyone's kind of scared of Mick. What's she supposed to do?"

  "I have a good mind to go speak to this girl myself. She knows something and she's not speaking up! What's her full name?"

  "Nona..." I said.

  "I'm serious." She grabbed a pen and paper. "What's her full name?"

  I had to actually think for a moment. "Emma... O'Doherty," I said, finally.

  My grandma pulled a face. "She doesn't have long blonde hair, does she? Always pulled in a ponytail?"

  I was kind of surprised. "Yeah...?"

  "About your age? 22?"

  I nodded, with a mouthful of cannoli. "I think so. You know her?"

  "Yeah, she used to be engaged to my next door neighbor's son! He called it off though. She used to be over this way all the time up till then. Haven't seen her since."

  I scoffed. "I doubt it. Emma hates marriage, and weddings. She's never been engaged."

  "I'm sure it must be her."

  I shook my head. "Believe me, it's not her. She practically rejoiced in a wedding getting called off the other day, just so she could get a day off. She's not a romantic."

  We sat and chewed for a moment, as I thought over what my grandma had said. Something was gnawing at me. It couldn't be the same Emma O'Doherty, could it? I glanced in the direction of the next door neighbors.

  "Nona..." I asked slowly. "What's the name of your next door neighbor's son? The one this girl was engaged to?"

  "Adam Willbond."

  "I gotta go," I said, grabbing my jacket and heading for the door.

  "Hannah, what's the matter?"

  "Nona, I need to go - trust me." I grappled around for my shoes, pulling them on. I quickly checked my time on my phone. 7.30. "Someone else is going to get killed tonight if I don't stop it."

  5

  Outside on the street I tried desperately to call Ben's phone. "Come on, pick up, pick up," I pleaded, but it went straight to voice mail. Even if he hadn't been in the middle of a shift, he was probably too angry with me to pick up if he saw it was me calling. I tried again with my number on private. Still no answer.

  There was no sense trying Mick - he was hardly going to answer my calls, so I phoned the restaurant on the home delive
ries number.

  Emma was the one to answer.

  Shoot, I thought, and hung up. I waved down a taxi, and, using the last ten dollars I had on me, told the drive to take me to Lucetta Italian Restaurant. I kept checking the time - 7.40. 7.45. 7.50.

  I had no idea what time the booking for Adam Willbond's dinner was, but I was just hoping they hadn't reached the dessert course yet.

  "Just here is fine," I said, passing the cash to the driver and running up to the back entrance of Lucetta.

  Locked?

  I banged on the door, calling out for someone to listen to me. "Hello?!" I could hear the overwhelming noise of pans being thrown into sinks and chefs yelling out orders and loud music coming from the front of the restaurant. "Mick!?" I called out, still banging on the door as hard as I could. Though, there was zero chance he would open the door for me, even if he could hear me over all the chaos.

  "Someone listen to me! If you can hear me, make sure that no dessert goes out to any more tables!" I banged again one last time. Still, no response.

  There was nothing for it; I'd have to go around the front entrance. I sprinted around in the dark, barely watching my step, trying to get to the front of the restaurant before Emma killed her ex-fiancé.

  Bang. I tripped over, landing face first on the pavement in front of me.

  Or at least, I thought I'd tripped. When I looked up to see what had happened, trying to scramble to my feet, I saw Mick looking back up at me.

  "I told you not to come back here Hannah," he growled over me. "I'm calling the cops, right now."

  "Mick!" I called out, trying to get up. "No! Wait!" Then I thought, that might not actually be such a bad idea. "Hang on, yes, call the police, but first, you have to let me get inside the restaurant!"

  "Fat chance of that happening sweetheart."

  He grabbed my arm so that I couldn't move. "Let me go! I need to get inside!"

  "What, so you can kill someone else?!"

  I wriggled to get free, struggling to explain myself. "Mick, I didn't kill Lucy!"