by Cindy Bell
“Sounds like you two didn't get along very well,” Polson said with that cool calm that had driven Wendy crazy when she was the one that was being investigated.
“No, don't try that,” Mark warned. “It's no secret that Vic and I had our differences, but I had nothing to do with his death.”
“Can you tell me where you were between five and nine this morning?” Polson asked as he jotted something down on his notepad.
“I was sleeping,” Mark growled. “I knew that Vic had a meeting this morning and I didn't want to get in the middle of it. I never come in early because Vic freaks out if anyone interrupts his cleaning time.”
“So, you knew that he'd be alone,” Polson pointed out. “You knew what time his meeting would be, so you would know that you had plenty of time to murder Vic before Wendy arrived.”
Mark looked over in Wendy's direction. She felt the heat of his gaze as it settled on her. She shifted uneasily and stepped back closer to Brian again.
“I didn't kill him,” Mark said as he looked back at Polson. “There's no way you can prove that I did, because I didn't.”
“Well, I guess we'll just have to see about that,” Polson said sternly and tucked his notepad back into his pocket. He nodded to a nearby police officer. “Let's go ahead and get him down to the station.”
“What?” Mark asked with shock in his voice. “You can't do this! How can you arrest an innocent man?”
“You have no alibi for the time of the murder, you have motive, you owned the murder weapon, honestly,” Polson sighed and shook his head. “There's no way I can't do this.”
“That takes care of that,” Brian said as he draped an arm around Wendy's shoulders and watched Mark being arrested. “At least it was a quick investigation.”
Wendy frowned as she caught a glimpse of the panic in Mark's eyes. She barely knew him. She had only met him a few times, and all of those times had been insignificant hellos and goodbyes. All she knew of him was what people had casually mentioned about him. But still, there was something about that fear in his eyes that felt so familiar to Wendy. It was the same fear she had felt when she had been falsely accused of murder.
“I don't know,” she said as she nestled herself comfortably under Brian's arm. She hoped he wouldn't pull away too soon. “It's awfully easy isn't it?” she asked critically.
Brian shrugged slightly, his words drifting beside her cheek as he spoke.
“Crimes that are committed in the heat of passion often are. People aren't thinking about the consequences of their actions, or covering up a murder. They just want to get their anger out, and once it's out, they panic over what they did and take off instead of cleaning up their mess.”
“Hmm, you sound a little too familiar with that process,” Wendy raised an eyebrow. Brian's arm slipped off her shoulder and he looked down at her with a serious expression.
“I've seen some things in my time, Wendy. One of the most important things I've learned about a crime scene is never to over think it. The evidence is usually all there, and when it lines up nicely and serves you a suspect, it's just good luck,” he frowned as he studied her. “Don't over think it.”
“What about what happened to me?” Wendy pointed out grimly. “If you hadn't come to my defense, no one would have helped me, no one would have thought further than the evidence.”
Brian shook his head slightly. “That was different.”
“Why?” Wendy asked with confusion.
“It was you,” he said in a softer tone and his hazel eyes met hers with an odd warmth.
“Oh,” Wendy said shyly and lowered her eyes. Brian lowered his voice.
“Let me take you home. Polson knows where he can find you. You don't need to be here any longer,” he frowned as he glanced towards the kitchen.
“No, it's okay, I can drive,” Wendy said quickly. The numbness of discovering the body had begun to wear off. It was replaced with the knowledge that she was going to have to break the news to Laura.
“Are you sure?” Brian asked, his expression still filled with concern.
“Yes, I'll be fine,” Wendy promised him. Her mind was going a million miles a minute. She wanted to be sure she got a hold of Laura before she found out about the murder. It would be a shock to her, and Wendy knew that the last thing she needed a few days before her wedding was a shock.
“I'll walk you to your car,” Brian insisted and placed his hand lightly on Wendy's lower back. She felt the familiar wave of connection at the touch, but her senses were so dulled by what had occurred that she barely noticed it. When they reached her car, she turned to look at him.
“Thank you, Brian. Thank you for being here.”
“Anytime,” he replied and gave her hand a light squeeze. “I mean that. If you need me, just call.”
She studied him for a long moment, but the swirl of wedding plans pushed away any thoughts she could have formed about Brian.
“Thanks,” she said again and slipped into the car. As she drove away, she looked in her rearview mirror and caught sight of Brian still standing in the parking lot.
Chapter Three
Wendy straightened the pens on her desk. She adjusted the binder in front of her. She was not looking forward to this meeting. When she heard the knock on the door she stood up quickly. She knocked her pens out of place and the binder almost fell off the desk. She sighed and tried to fix it, then hurried towards the door. When she opened the door she was greeted by Laura's cheerful smile.
“Hi Wendy, what's this surprise meeting about?” she laughed and hugged Wendy. Wendy hugged her back, but she had a hard time smiling. She knew that Laura was going to be devastated. A wedding was one of the most important events in one's life, and Wendy was going to have to change almost everything that Laura had so carefully planned.
“I need to talk to you about something, Laura,” Wendy said as she led her to the small office area in the corner of her condo.
“Uh oh, you're scaring me, Wendy,” Laura laughed again as she sat down across from Wendy.
“Unfortunately, Vic Kail was killed in the kitchen of El Cielo,” Wendy met Laura's eyes as she spoke.
“What?” Laura stared at Wendy, a smile still lingering on her lips as the shock of the news had not yet set in. “Vic's dead?” she asked with disbelief.
“I'm so sorry, Laura,” Wendy frowned and reached out to take Laura's hands in her own. “The police are investigating and they have a suspect in custody,” Wendy explained as calmly as she could.
“This is unreal,” Laura shook her head slowly. “What are we going to do? What about the wedding?”
“Don't panic,” Wendy said sternly. “El Cielo is closed indefinitely but I am already researching other locations. Almost everything will remain the same we just need to give them a new address to deliver to. So, I'm going to check out a few of these locations and when I find one that I think you will like, you can come take a look.”
“Oh wow,” she sighed. “I know I shouldn't be so upset about the wedding when someone has died, but I can't help it, I am.”
“It's okay to be upset,” Wendy assured her. “This is a very special day for you, and I promise it will still be special.”
“Okay,” she breathed deeply. “But what about all of the guests?”
“Once we have the new address I will make sure that new invitations are hand delivered to each of your guests,” Wendy smiled. “Don't worry, Laura. Everything is still going to be just what you hope for.”
Laura nodded again but she didn't look too convinced.
“Just let me know what you need from me, when you need it,” she sighed and stood up.
“Please try not to worry, Laura,” Wendy walked around her desk and gave Laura a quick hug.
“I'll try,” she promised. “But it's hard not to think that this might be some kind of bad omen.”
“There are no bad omens, Laura,” Wendy insisted as she looked into her eyes. “Only true love, and that overcomes everything. Right?”
Laura smiled faintly and nodded. “Right,” she finally agreed. As Wendy watched her walk out of the condo she could only hope that would turn out to be the truth.
***
Wendy spent the rest of the afternoon trying to sort out the perfect place for Laura's wedding. With Laura she had to radiate confidence that everything would be fine, but booking a decent location at the last minute was going to be far more difficult than she had expected. The wedding couldn't be postponed even if Laura was open to the idea because they had booked their honeymoon, the florists were already selecting flowers for the arrangements, the cake had been made. In order to move the wedding even a week would mean a lot of money lost. Even with all the pressure of trying to work out the wedding, her mind kept returning to Mark.
Wendy could not shake the idea that the police had the wrong man. Every time she started thinking about the murder, or about Mark, she tried to force her mind back to the locations she was choosing between. Still, her mind kept wandering back to that look of fear in Mark's eyes. She recalled how terrified she had been knowing that she was innocent, and with no one but Brian to believe her. Mark didn't even have that. She sighed as she pushed away the portfolio of wedding locations and glanced up at the clock.
Wendy decided she was going to take a trip back to the restaurant. She wanted to see if there was anything she might have overlooked when she was there that morning. It was getting close to evening, and though normally this would be the most popular time of night for the restaurant she knew it would be closed. As she drove towards the restaurant she thought about what Brian had said.
“It was you,” she heard replaying in her mind. What had he meant by those words? That he felt the same connection she did? She felt guilty, but she was a little annoyed their breakfast date had been disrupted. Now, with the panic of getting the wedding re-organized she doubted that she would have time to set up another meal with him.
As Wendy pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant she could see that police tape had been strung around the front doors. There were no longer police cars in the parking lot, but she recognized a small, red car as belonging to Javier Perez, the owner of the restaurant. Wendy parked and walked towards the restaurant. She stopped when she heard voices around the corner of it. She recognized Javier's accent, but the female voice that drifted towards her was one she was not as familiar with.
“I just can't believe he's gone,” Javier was saying as Wendy walked quietly around the corner of the restaurant. “Why? Why Vic?” he sighed. “He was such a good man, never anything but a friend to me.”
“I don't know, but I hope Mark gets the death penalty for it,” the woman replied. Wendy could see the two of them now, standing half-way down the path to the water. The woman had long, black hair that was blowing in the wind. Immediately, Wendy recognized her, she was one of the waitresses from the restaurant. She rarely spoke, but Wendy recognized her beautiful hair.
“Do you really think Mark did this?” Javier asked with disbelief. “Sure he's got a temper, but he's a decent guy, too. I never would have expected this from him.”
“You weren't there, Javier,” the woman said as she looked into his eyes. “Vic and Mark got into fights so loud that customers would leave the restaurant.”
“Why?” Javier shook his head. “I've never known Vic to be unprofessional.”
“They were like oil and water,” she pointed out with a sigh. “Mark was always complaining that Vic was messing with his recipes, and Vic was always complaining that Mark was a slob.”
“I wish I had known about this,” Javier frowned. “If I had I might have been able to end it before it came to this.”
“All I know is the day before Vic died, he told me that if Mark didn't start shaping up he was going to have you fire him,” she lowered her voice slightly. “That's what the police call motive.”
“Maybe,” Javier cleared his throat. “But you know how chefs can be, Melody. They like to fight, they're passionate, and they don't share well. But that doesn't make Mark a murderer, does it? Poor Vic,” he sighed again.
“Well, if it wasn't Mark, who else could it be?” Melody asked stubbornly. “I mean no one else at the restaurant had a problem with him. It had to have been someone that knew Vic would be alone this morning.”
“I don't know, maybe it wasn't even someone from the restaurant,” Javier sighed. “If someone had been trying to rob the place, Vic would have done anything to protect it. This is all such a mess. We will have to stay closed for a long time. I might shut down the place altogether, I can't imagine anyone but Vic being head chef.”
Wendy grimaced as she heard the defeat in Javier's voice. To lose his friend and his business in one fell swoop had to be devastating for him. But it did strike her that sometimes the best of friends made for the greatest of enemies. Perhaps Javier had thought Vic was getting far too familiar with the restaurant. Maybe his jealousy had driven him to do something stupid.
Wendy walked quietly back towards her car. She didn't want to interrupt the conversation. But as she walked past the front of the restaurant she noticed something caught on the side of the stoop. It was a piece of paper that had become wedged in the crack between the cement stoop and the pavement of the parking lot. Something about it held Wendy's attention. She crouched down and tugged the paper free. As she looked down at the names and text written on it she could barely take a breath. It was a program for Laura's wedding. Wendy had arranged Laura to give them out to members of the wedding party. No one else should have had it. She hadn't even given one to Javier or Vic. She didn't have time to think about what that might mean, as she heard the voices approaching from around the corner of the restaurant. She slid the program into her pocket and stood casually by the door.
“Wendy,” Javier said with surprise as he walked up to her. “I didn't expect you.”
“I'm sorry I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing,” Wendy explained with a grim frown. “I know how close you and Vic were.”
“The police told me that you were the one to find the body, I'm sorry,” he sighed and took Wendy's hands in his own. “That had to be terribly difficult for you.”
“It was,” Wendy agreed and gave his hands a gentle squeeze. “It is a great loss.”
“Yes, Vic will be missed,” Javier sighed and nodded to Melody as she walked past him into the restaurant.
“Did you know that he was having trouble with Mark?” Wendy asked curiously.
“Well, they had spats I'm sure, that happens when you share a kitchen,” he shrugged mildly. “But honestly I could never imagine Mark doing something like this. I don't know him well but I hired him as a favor to his father. He's in my circle of friends, and since he's a judge I figured Mark would be pretty trustworthy,” he added.
“Mark's father is a judge?” Wendy asked with some surprise.
“Yes, I've had dinner with him a few times, we've vacationed in the same spots, he said his son, Mark, was a chef with limited experience and he was hoping that I would give him a job so he could gain more experience. We needed extra help in the kitchen and I couldn't think of anyone better to teach him than Vic, so I agreed to it,” he sighed. “Now, I wish I never had. I still just can't believe that it could be true.”
“Well, did you notice Vic having problems with anyone else? A jealous boyfriend maybe?” Wendy suggested.
“No, Vic was a player, but he never told me about any trouble with any women,” Javier sighed and ran his hands back through his hair. “Honestly, I'm not sure if he had any real enemies. Even the other chefs around town seemed to get along with him.”
“Had he mentioned any frequent customers, maybe someone who complained about their food and demanded to see the chef?” Wendy asked.
“If anything like that happened, I did not hear about it,” Javier sighed. “I guess I should have been here more often. Vic really handled everything himself.”
“None of this is your fault, Javier,” Wendy assur
ed him. “No one could have known.”
“I guess,” Javier agreed solemnly. “I'm sorry about the wedding.”
“Don't worry we will figure something out,” Wendy smiled sadly and reached out to squeeze his hand once more. “I'm very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” he replied quietly before turning and stepping back into the restaurant. Wendy stared after him, wondering if he knew more than he was letting on. But that was not likely considering he was rarely in town. She walked back to her car, still thinking about the paper she had tucked into her pocket.
Chapter Four
The next morning Wendy found herself pacing in front of the piece of paper. It was carefully laid out on top of her desk. She couldn't stop looking at it. To her it meant that one of a handful of people had been at the restaurant. The bride, groom, two bridesmaids and two groomsmen, as well as the celebrant that would perform the wedding were the only ones that she knew of who had the programs.
Wendy thought perhaps Laura and her husband-to-be had come by the restaurant to check things out. Still, she would find it unusual that they had not even mentioned it to her. Of course the slip of paper meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, but Wendy was fixated on it. When there was a knock on her door she jumped. She walked over to the door and peered out through the peephole. When she saw Brian on the other side she smiled instantly. Then she realized she hadn't even brushed her hair yet, or put on decent clothing. She was still in her sleep pants and an over-sized t-shirt. Brian knocked again. For a second Wendy considered just pretending she wasn't home. Or, even asking him to wait while she rushed around to look more presentable.
“Wendy, I know you're there I can see your toes,” Brian said with amusement in his voice. Wendy looked down at her bare feet the toes of which were pressed against the edge of the door so that she could lean up far enough to see through the peep hole. She quickly opened the door.
