by Valerie Tate
The others nodded, grumbling.
Chris’ food arrived and he waited until the waitress had left before asking, “So who do you think did it?”
They all shrugged and then a bald man, who had been quiet up until then, spoke up. “There were a lot of people with a reason to be angry with Davina but that doesn’t mean that they’d want her dead.”
“Yeah, she was really rough on Fiona.” ‘Blondie’ looked angry at the thought and Chris wondered if he had feelings for her. That would give him a motive.
“And Magnus,” ‘Baldy’ added. “They had a big row right before the show. The police know about that. It’s why they took him in.”
“Wow! Do you know what it was about?”
‘Baldy’ grimaced and rolled his eyes. “No, with Davina it was best to mind your own business.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if old Eric hadn’t been on his way out,” ‘Shaggy’ said, waving his fork for emphasis. “She kept making digs about his age and saying how she wanted a new, fresh look for the show.”
“Ouch!” That wasn’t the impression Eric had given Alicia.
“Right, eh?” ‘Shaggy’ said, shaking his head. “Eric’s a good guy. He didn’t deserve that.”
The others nodded agreement.
“Anyway, we gotta eat up and get back. We have to keep the yahoos away from our equipment.” He eyed Chris as if including him in that not so complimentary description.
Taking no offence, he had asked for it, after all, Chris said, “Sure, it’s been nice talking to you. I hope they let you leave soon.”
*****
The afternoon wound up without incident and Alicia and was happy to watch the last of the visitors and crew go. Magnus was among the last to leave and, seeing him, Alicia remembered something she’d been meaning to ask. Hurrying after him, she caught him as he reached the doors and drew him aside.
“Magnus, do you know someone named Mike Manning?”
Magnus nodded. “Sure, he’s the chef on ‘Chef in the House’, our major competitor. He’s the one who used our schedule and Davina’s recipes. Why?”
Alicia’s heart started to race. This might be the breakthrough she’d been seeking. “Davina saw him at the opening ceremony. I was close to the front and I heard her wonder what he was doing there.”
“That is strange,” he said, eyeing her thoughtfully. Then he moved closer and went on in a low voice, “If you want someone with a motive to do away with Davina, Mike Manning is it.”
“Why is that?” she asked eagerly.
“Because we were kicking his… we were beating him in the ratings every week. That’s why he found a way to get his hands on our schedule. By coming up with the new format, we beat him at his nasty game. Our ratings soared and his went in the toilet. If our show folds then he’s the big winner.”
“And that gives him a really good motive for murder.”
Chapter 12
Alicia was met at the farmhouse door by two ecstatic dogs. The time she’d been spending at the community centre had meant she’d seen less of them than usual. She felt guilty about that but promised herself she’d have more time once her gingerbread duties were done.
There’d been no response so far to their posters. Alicia looked into Molly’s big, trusting eyes. Dare I hope, she wondered. No, perhaps Molly’s people just hadn’t seen the signs yet. She’d give it until Christmas, she decided, but if no one had contacted them by then, Molly was theirs.
She hurried to change and then, giving Chris a quick, on-the-run kiss in passing, rushed out to bring in the horses. The dogs leaped for joy in the crisp air as they ran through the yard to the paddocks. It was almost dark and the horses were waiting impatiently at the gate to come in.
Once they were fed, it was time for her own dinner and the dogs reminded her that they were hungry, too. She’d made a pot of chili that morning and it had simmered all day in the slow cooker. Now the aroma filled the kitchen. Chris had set the table and made garlic bread and a salad to go with the chili so, once she’d put out the food for the dogs, they dug right in.
Over dinner, Chris filled her in on what he’d learned that day. “You can take Betty Campbell off your suspect list. Davina Dove was going to buy her bakery and Betty was all set to move to Florida. The woman is a wreck.”
Alicia looked up from her bowl. She was having a lightbulb moment. “That’s probably why Davina trashed her cookies on air – to lower the value of the bakery so she could get it cheaply.”
“That makes sense. It was a rotten thing to do. Anyway, I promised Betty I’d go back tomorrow. She’s baking gingerbread cookies for me.”
Alicia laughed before saying dryly, “You are so noble and self-sacrificing. I hope Betty appreciates it.”
“I’m sure she does.” Chris grinned broadly.
“I have someone we can put on the list,” Alicia said as she helped herself to another piece of garlic bread. It was wonderful, dipped in the chili.
“Who?”
“Mike Manning.” She told him what Magnus had said. “So he is definitely going on the list of suspects. I’m going to google him so we’ll know what he looks like if he’s still in town.”
“Is Fiona James still number one on your list?” Chris dipped his piece of garlic bread into the chili and then munched it appreciatively.
“I don’t know. She says she has a job lined up, that she was going to tell Davina after the holidays. If that’s true, then it removes her motive. Davina treated her like a slave.” Not unlike how the mayor treats Saanvi, she thought. “ And then she fired her right after the show. I could see Fiona snapping and letting Davina have it. But if she was leaving, wouldn’t that have diffused her anger? You can put up with a lot if you know it’s going to end soon.” It was the question she’d been struggling with and she still didn’t have the answer.
“I say, keep her up there. Davina may have done or said something that was the last straw and she just lost it. Also, you only have her word for it that she’s had a job offer.”
“True.” Chris always saw through to the heart of things, she thought. “Okay, she stays there.”
“What about the director, Eric Braxton? You said Davina seemed unhappy with him.”
Alicia swallowed a mouthful of chili and then answered. “She did seem that way and I don’t know if he’s as sure about getting another job as he claims. Director of a cooking show, however popular, isn’t exactly going to win you an Emmy. I can’t imagine they’re lining up at the door to offer him a new show.”
“That jives with what I heard from the camera crew,” Chris agreed.
“What did you learn at The Stockyard?”
Chris filled her in on the conversation he’d had with the crew. “So Eric Braxton has a pretty good motive if she was really trying to get rid of him,” he concluded.
“That’s certainly different from the story he told me,” Alicia said.
“Well, he wouldn’t want to admit that, even if he isn’t the killer. It wouldn’t do for people to know Davina wanted to dump him.”
“I guess you’re right,” she said sadly. Despite how he felt about her right now, she liked Eric Braxton. She would like to be able to take him off the list.
“And that young, blond kid might have a motive,” Chris declared. “He sounded very protective of Fiona James. He might have a thing for her.”
Her bowl was empty and Alicia was debating whether to get some more. “I know who you mean. She’s a lot older than he is. It’s probably just a crush.” She got up and went over to the slow cooker to spoon more chili into her bowl.
“Even so, young love is a powerful thing. It can make a guy do something he’d never do in his right mind.”
He sounded like he’d had some experience with that. Alicia was wondering who it could have been with when he suddenly grinned and waggled his eyebrows at her. Oh, he meant her! She giggled and said, “Okay, I’ll add him to the list. What’s his name?”
“I don�
��t know. Just call him Blondie.”
Later that evening, Marcus Samuel called. She filled him in on what they’d learned about Fiona getting fired and her new job, Eric Braxton possibly being in line to get the axe, and Mike Manning being in town and the fact that it was his show that had usurped Davina’s schedule.
“We’d heard about Davina Dove threatening to find a younger director for the show from the camera crew,” he told her, “but we’ve looked into it and as far as we can determine, it was just a threat. She hadn’t actually brought it up with the producer or approached anyone else. We’re keeping him on the list but he’s not too high up at this point.”
She was happy to hear about Eric but it was shortening the list of suspects.
There was something she’d neglected to ask and Marcus hadn’t mentioned. “Was there much blood from the blow to the head?” she asked, thinking of possible traces left on the murder weapon or the killer’s clothes.
“Some, but if you’re thinking of blood spatter, there wouldn’t have been much – just on the weapon itself and possibly the killer’s hands.”
“So when you searched Magnus’ hotel room and car…?”
“We were looking for a likely murder weapon or blood-stained clothes and shoes. But we didn’t find any. He’d had plenty of time to get rid of any evidence.”
“Or he’s innocent so there was nothing to find.” That seemed logical.
“Or that.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“I don’t suppose you’ve found any witnesses that can place anyone at the community centre that evening?” she asked hopefully.
Samuel hesitated, then sighed and answered. “Our people have canvassed the neighbourhood and questioned residents who live near the community centre but it is set too far back from the road, with that long drive and the playing fields in front, for anyone to see much of anything. There is one witness, who was walking his dog just after nine o’clock ,who saw Davina drive in, park and go in the main entrance, but he didn’t see any other car in the parking lot and didn’t see anything else because he went home to bed.”
“What about her will? Have you found out who inherits?”
“Yes, we were able to get in touch with her lawyer. She has left everything to her parents. The lawyer told us that Davina had built them a house when she started making big money and sent them funds every month. They had been really poor when she was growing up and she wanted them to enjoy the fruits of her success.”
“That’s nice to hear. I guess she did have good in her after all.” And they would be mourning her passing, she thought. That made her happy because no one she’d worked with seemed to be.
Marcus said he’d look into when Manning arrived in town and where he was staying.
After updating the murder board with the information she’d received from Marcus, Alicia googled Mike Manning and Chef in the House. She’d never watched the show since it was on at the same time as The Divine Miss Dove.
Mike Manning looked to be in his thirties and was very attractive. Of medium height, he was slim and stylish with reddish brown hair, a narrow face with a moustache and a refined beard that ran down from his lower lip, across his chin and along his jawline.
Chris came to peer at the photo over her shoulder. “Hey, maybe I should grow a beard. His looks great and they’re all the rage right now.”
There was absolute silence as Alicia turned her head and looked him straight in the eye.
“Or not,” he continued with regret and then walked away.
With the ‘beard talk’ stymied, Alicia turned back to the screen. She thought she would definitely have remembered seeing Mike Manning at the opening and wondered if Davina had been mistaken. But then she dismissed that thought. Davina would never have been mistaken about seeing the man who had pirated her schedule and recipes. And he did look a bit like a pirate – a swashbuckler with a rakish charm. No wonder his show was second only to The Divine Miss Dove in popularity. Female viewers would flock to him. It shouldn’t be hard to find out if he was still around town and where he was staying, even if he was using an alias. The Silver Hair Brigade might be able to help with that on Monday.
Just one more day to get though with the gingerbread display and then she would be free to concentrate on finding Davina’s killer. Tomorrow was the eighteenth. Just one week until Christmas. The clock was ticking.
Chapter 13
All of the suspects were giving Alicia a wide berth on Sunday, so nothing was gleaned from them. The only thing to mar the afternoon was the arrival of Tim Kane, owner, editor and reporter for The Dunbarton Times.
He wandered into the rotunda wearing jeans and a navy ski jacket. Looking at his Howdy-Doody face, you’d never know what a slime-ball he was, Alicia thought. With his dubious ethics and yellow journalism style, the once proud Dunbarton Times had become a scandal-mongering rag that only stayed in business because it was the sole paper in town.
“Alicia Mallory!” Kane eyed her up and down, taking in her tight leather pants and long, blue, wool sweater that was belted at the waist. “Looking good as usual.”
Conversations with Tim Kane always made Alicia feel like she needed a shower. “It’s Dunbar-Mallory. What are you doing here, Tim?” Her look could have frozen Niagara Falls, something she’d learned from her mother.
“Just covering a local event.”
She wondered if he meant the gingerbread competition or the murder.
His next words answered her question. “So what have you learned about who killed the Divine Miss Dove?”
“What makes you think I know anything about that?”
The look he shot her asked her not to waste his time. “There’s a murderer in our midst. My readers want to know that he or she is going to be arrested soon so they can feel safe in their beds at night.”
“I don’t think your readers need to worry,” Alicia replied, trying to stay civil. “This murder was about Davina Dove. No one in Dunbarton is in danger.”
“Can I quote you on that?”
That was the last thing she wanted. “I doubt anyone cares about my opinion. The person you should be talking to is Marcus Samuel.”
“He just gives me the police party line – it’s early days and they are investigating all leads. Do you know what those leads are?”
For a moment, he almost looked professional as he asked the pointed question, but that didn’t change Alicia’s perspective.
“I’m not in a position to tell you anything the police haven’t,” she replied. And she wouldn’t even if she could.
“But you’re here, in the midst of everything, with all of the suspects. Surely you must have some idea of who might have done it. Who had a motive? Anyone besides the sous chef?” One character trait he did possess was persistence.
“There’s nothing I can tell you,” she repeated firmly. “Perhaps you should interview the winners of the gingerbread contest. I’m sure that would interest your readers. Isn’t that what a small-town paper is supposed to do?”
He mumbled something unintelligible and then wandered over to the table with the winning entries. After spending a few minutes talking to the winners, he took some pictures and left. Alicia heaved a sigh of relief. One less thing to worry about.
The final three hours of the show passed uneventfully and as four o’clock approached, the last of the visitors cleared out and the bakers quickly packed up their goods and headed home, followed by the television crews. Their equipment would still have to be left there until Marcus Samuel gave them the green light to leave, but there wouldn’t be any need to watch over it once the rotunda and kitchen were locked up. The community centre was staying closed for the time being.
Relieved to be free of their oversight duties, Alicia and Saanvi left for home, too.
That didn’t mean an investigation-free evening for Alicia, however. She had plans. When she’d googled Mike Manning and Chef In The House, she had discovered she could watch past episodes online. After dinner,
she was going to watch The Divine Miss Dove’s main competition and see what she could learn.
As much as she was itching to get started with Chef in the House episodes, it had to wait until she’d taken care of the horses and she and Chris had eaten dinner. Once that was done, she hurried to her computer leaving Chris to clean up the kitchen. She chose an episode at random from the last few weeks and settled in.
One thing for sure, she decided an hour later, Mike Manning had a lot of magnetism. The camera loved him and she imagined his female viewers did, too. The meal he created in sixty minutes, with time out for commercials, looked delicious and was easy to prepare. She wondered if it was one of Davina Dove’s recipes.
On impulse, she took out her phone and called Magnus Wolff.
“Hi, Magnus, it’s Alicia. I’ve just been watching an episode of Chef in the House and I was wondering if the Sesame Ginger Chicken dish was one of Davina’s recipes.”
“Yes, that was one of them, but it was impossible to prove.”
She couldn’t resist. It was another mystery to solve. “Where did Davina keep her recipes?”
“They were on her computer but she also had a hard-copy backup in case anything happened to it.”
“So who would have had access to her computer or the backup?” She couldn’t help feeling that there was a link between the thefts and the murder.
“Well, just about anyone could have gotten at her laptop since it was usually at the set,” Magnus explained. “The hardcopy was stored away some place only Davina knew. She didn’t want to risk losing what amounted to her life’s work. Many of the recipes had been included in her cookbooks but there were some that were under development and some that she wanted kept secret.”
“Were any of the secret ones used on Chef in the House?”
“No, only the ones that were scheduled to be used on our show.”
