Dying to Cook

by Patti Benning

  Feeling like an intruder, she pushed through the swinging door to the kitchen and immediately stepped back so as not to be trampled by a hurrying sous chef. She stood with her back against the wall and looked around for Audrey. At last, she spotted the other woman standing next to one of the stoves, arguing with someone over a simmering pan.

  Not sure if she should approach or wait until someone noticed her, Autumn tried her best to keep out of the way until Audrey glanced at her direction. Audrey's hand raised in a wave, and Autumn took that is a sign to head over.

  “It's a bit crazy right now,” Audrey said. “I thought it would be good for you to see what it's like on one of our busiest nights of the week. It won't be this bad on Monday, when you start. You will slowly work up to this.”

  “Good,” Autumn said. “Because I have no idea what's going on.”

  The other woman chuckled. “It does look chaotic, doesn't it? It's an organized chaos, though. Everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing and where they're supposed to go. It's like a dance; you might not know everyone else's moves, but as long as you know your own, you'll be okay.”

  “This is a lot different from the kitchen at Asheville Meadows.”

  “I'd imagine that it is. Come on, I’ll take you on a tour. You've already seen the kitchen. This is where you will be spending most of your time, of course, but we've got a nice little staff area in the back. Come this way, it will be quieter there.”

  Autumn followed Audrey as she wound her way through the kitchen. Audrey held open the door for her, and Autumn stepped through to a quiet, relatively cool hallway. She breathed a sigh of relief. What had she gotten herself into?

  “You've already been in my office – it's right over there. The door on the left is the staff area. Go ahead and take a peek.”

  Autumn walked to the door that Audrey had indicated and pushed it open. Inside was a pleasant little lounge, with comfortable looking furniture, a small kitchenette area, and a flat screen television.

  “Sometimes somebody will have a breakdown, and we send them in here to relax and cool off. When you start working the busier evenings, you'll be able to take a breather in this room if you ever start feeling too stressed. It helps keep everyone sane. If you get here early, you're also welcome to spend time here. This is where everyone puts their coats and their purses, and sometimes a change of clothes. You will sweat while you're working, especially in the summer.”

  “This is nice,” Autumn said.

  “I worked in a kitchen much like this one when I was younger, before I bought this restaurant. I know how high stress it can be. I've seen plenty of good chefs quit in a rage over something small, and I don't want that to happen here.”

  “I always find cooking relaxing,” Autumn said. “I can't imagine being stressed out by it.”

  “Wait until you've been here for a couple of weeks,” the other woman said, grinning at her. “Let's head to my office now. I'll give you your hat and apron. Once you've reached the end of your trial period, we'll get you an embroidered set with your name on them. We'll also go over the contract. It's nothing too scary, but there are some recipes that we are going to require you not to share. Basically, what happens in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen.”

  Autumn followed the other woman into her office and took a seat while Audrey dug through her desk. She pulled out a stack of papers and pushed them across the surface to Autumn.

  “Give them a look while I go find the apron and hat for you. If you have any questions, just ask.”

  With that, Audrey got up and left, leaving Autumn alone in the room to go over the contract that spelled out the terms of her job. She picked up the first page and began reading through it. When she got to the salary, her breath caught. It was much more than she made at Asheville Meadows.

  She flipped through the next few pages. By the looks of it, her schedule would be busy. She would be expected to work six days a week and would be working nine hours a day most days. She got one week of paid vacation every year but couldn't take it during the restaurant's busiest times. After two years, it would be increased to two weeks of paid vacation.

  Feeling a little bit frightened at the responsibility she was about to take on, Autumn turned to the next page. Her mouth was dry, and she looked around for a pitcher of water. Remembering the sink in the staff room, she set the pages down and stood up, stepping out of the office and going into the other room where she found paper cups in the cabinet. She filled one with water and sipped it, beginning to doubt once more whether she had made the right decision.

  She felt a little bit more under control after she finished the water and returned to Audrey's office to continue going through the papers. As she shut the door behind her, a draft of air hit the papers and caused them to flutter off the desk. With a sigh, Autumn walked around to the other side of the desk and began gathering the papers up. One had landed in a small metal trash bin. As she picked it up, a crumpled-up sheet of paper underneath caught her attention. It was handwritten, and she saw Audrey's name on it.

  With a glance toward the door, she grabbed the crumpled sheet out of the garbage bin and smoothed it out. What she read made her blood run cold.

  Audrey,

  I know about the fraud. You know what I want. If you don't hire me within a month, I will send all of the information I have to the IRS, and you will be audited. With what you owe, I would be surprised if you don't lose everything.

  – B

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  * * *

  Autumn folded the paper up and stuck it in her pocket. She couldn't know for sure who B was, but her mind jumped directly to Beatrice. Had Beatrice found something out about Audrey, then threatened her in order to get a job? Had she gone even further and attempted to frame Audrey for murder? Shaken, Autumn sat back down and reached for her purse, not sure who she was going to call, but knowing that somebody had to learn about this besides her.

  She heard footsteps behind her, and quickly put her purse down. It seemed important that Audrey didn't know that she had found the letter. Until she knew more about what was going on, she thought it best that it remained her little secret.

  Audrey opened the door, carrying a white apron and a chef's hat. “Here you go. Like I said, you'll get your own once you're done with your trial period.”

  “Thanks,” Autumn said, reaching for the bundle. She set it on the table in front of her and glanced the chef's hat. There was a black B embroidered on the band. “Whose are these?”

  “Oh, no one that works here. They're just some extras we had lying around.” The hat and apron looked like new, and Autumn wondered about the B. Had Audrey bought these in preparation for Beatrice?

  “What do you think of the contract?” the other woman asked, sitting down.

  “Um, I didn't quite finish going through it,” Autumn said. “Can I have just a couple more minutes?”

  “Sure. I'll just answer some emails while you finish reading it, if you don't mind.”

  “Of course not.” Autumn turned to the page that she had been on and tried to start reading again, but she couldn't focus. She had too many unanswered questions. After a moment, she cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Audrey?”

  The other woman looked up from her computer. “What is it?”

  “Did you know that Leo was allergic to sesame oil?”

  “I take it you found out who he really was?” Autumn nodded. “No, I didn't. He actually came with the restaurant when I bought it from its previous owners. It wasn't ever something that we spoke about.” Her voice caught. “I wish he had told me.”

  “Why?” Autumn asked, only partially aware that she was speaking out loud. “It wouldn't have changed anything.”

  “You're right,” Audrey said briskly, giving herself a shake. “Go ahead and get back to that contract. I'm glad you're working here, Autumn. Some of the people who wanted the position…” She wrinkled her nose. “Well, let's just say, I think you are by far the best candidate.”


  Autumn turned her attention back to the contract but couldn't focus no matter how hard she tried. Something was bothering her. Beatrice had already gotten what she wanted. She had blackmailed her way into a position at the restaurant. She had no reason to want Leo dead, and she had no reason to turn to Autumn with the information about the sesame seed oil if she was really the killer. If she had committed the murder, wouldn't she have wanted to keep quiet about it?

  At the time, she had thought the Beatrice was the only possible suspect. She hadn't known about Beatrice and Audrey's history, or the blackmail. Now, however, she was beginning to think that she had made a mistake. One thing was certain; she didn't want to work here. Whether Audrey was the killer or not, she didn't want to be involved with a place marred by both blackmail and murder.

  Taking a deep breath, Autumn pushed her chair back and stood up. “I'm sorry,” she said. “But I don't think this is going to work.” She turned to leave, not waiting for Audrey to answer.

  “Autumn, wait,” the other woman called out. “Hold on – you dropped something. What's wrong?”

  Autumn turned to see Audrey holding a crumpled piece of paper out in front of her. Autumn glanced down and patted her pocket. The note must have fallen out of it. It only took Audrey a second to realize what she was holding. “What is this? Were you going through my trash?”

  “The papers fell off the desk,” Autumn said. “I didn't mean to –”

  “Is this why you're leaving?” Audrey asked, angry. “Beatrice is gone now. She's going to jail. You don't have to worry about her anymore.”

  “It's not –” Autumn broke off. It's not her that I'm worried about, she thought. Audrey froze, seeming to know what Autumn had been about to say even though she had caught herself in time.

  “I think you should stay,” Audrey said, her voice suddenly cold. “I'll raise the salary. We do require a certain level of… discretion from our employees of course. I understand wanting extra pay if you’re expected to keep secrets.”

  “Keep secrets?” Autumn spluttered, unable to help herself even though she knew that she was in a dangerous situation. “If you expect me to go anywhere other than directly to the police –”

  “You are not going to the police,” Audrey said in a low, dangerous voice. She strode across the room and grabbed Autumn's wrist, letting the crumpled note fall to the floor. “Blackmail is illegal. Whatever you know, or whatever you think you know, I hope you remember what happened to the last person who tried to blackmail me. She is sitting in a prison cell right now.”

  “I'm not blackmailing you,” Autumn said. “I just want to leave.”

  “And what are you going to do when you leave?” Audrey said. “What are you going to tell the police?”

  “The truth,” Autumn said. “That you were being blackmailed, isn't that something that the police should know anyway?”

  “The police know as much as they need to know,” Audrey said.

  The look in the other woman's eyes convinced Autumn that Beatrice had been the target all along. Audrey's grief when Leo died must have been real – she had never meant it to hurt him. She had been aiming for Beatrice. There would have been no way for the police to prove that she knew about Beatrice's allergy. They would have simply assumed that it was an accident. With Beatrice out of the way, Audrey would have been free of the person who was blackmailing her and would have been able to run her restaurant as she liked.

  “Let go of me,” Autumn snapped, attempting to yank her wrist away, but Audrey's grip was surprisingly strong.

  “Not until we reach an understanding,” Audrey said, twisting her arm painfully to the side. “I don't know what you know – or what you think you know, but I want to feel confident that you aren't going to open your trap the second you walk out these doors.”

  “Now who's blackmailing who?” Autumn snapped, the pain in her arm wearing down any good sense that she might have had.

  Audrey gave her a tight smile. “This isn't blackmail, dear. This is a threat.” Without warning, Audrey's other fist drove into Autumn’s stomach. Autumn doubled over, gasping. It took her a long moment to catch her breath again, and by the time she managed it, Audrey had taken her purse from her. Autumn looked up, feeling helpless. Her purse had both her phone and her keys inside it. Now she had no way to call for help, and no way to escape.

  “Why did you try to kill her?” Autumn managed. “Why not go to the police? What she was doing was illegal.”

  “So is evading taxes for half your life,” Audrey said. “She might get a slap on the wrist if I went to the police with the information about her blackmailing me, but I would end up in federal prison. There's no way I could ever pay the fines that I owe for all of my back taxes. I knew when she sent me this note that this wouldn't be the end of it. She would get a job here, then she would start asking for more and more, and it would never let up. I wasn't about to let someone control my life like that. I didn't even come up with the plan to kill her until she let slip about her allergy while we were in my office. A little flick of my wrist, and your mashed cauliflower had a new ingredient added in. I figured it wouldn't hurt anyone else, but it would kill her. Before leaving the kitchen, I had Kiki get the plates out, which gave me enough time to add the oil without her seeing. I wasn't expecting Leo to have a reaction to it. He was a great chef, and a good friend. That's the only thing in all of this I'm sorry about. Well, that, and the fact that it didn't work.”

  “You are insane,” Autumn said.

  “She was going to suck me dry,” Audrey said, her voice rising. “How could I live my life with someone like her draining my resources every time she wanted something else? Where would it end? How much money would she end up asking for? Would she demand the whole restaurant one day? No, this was the only way out. What she was doing was illegal too, and I wouldn't have felt bad about killing a criminal.”

  I need my phone, Autumn thought, staring at the purse. Or my keys. Anything. There is no way I can get help without – She froze, feeling stupid. She was in a restaurant full of people. She was standing with her back to the door, and Audrey was a few feet away from her. She had regained her breath enough that she was no longer gasping for air. If only she had the courage, she could make a run for it, and help would be only a few steps away.

  “After all of this, am I supposed to think that you wouldn't try the same thing with me?” Autumn asked. “Even if I agreed to let you pay me off so I wouldn't go to the police, I already know that you will kill someone who blackmails you. How would this be any different than living with Beatrice over your shoulder?”

  To her surprise, Audrey actually seemed to think about that for a moment. The other woman frowned. “You're just making this worse for yourself, aren't you?”

  She seemed to make up her mind about something after a moment. Walking backward, never taking her eyes off of Autumn, she made her way to the other side of the desk and pulled open a drawer. Not sure what the woman was looking for – was she about to pull out a gun? A knife? – Autumn reached for the doorknob behind her. She turned the handle slowly, then yanked the door open and slipped into the hall. She heard Audrey's enraged shout behind her but didn't stop to look back. She ran toward the door that led to the kitchen and burst through, nearly knocking a waiter off of his feet. She wanted to stop and ask for help then and there, but she didn't know if she could trust the kitchen staff. Just how devoted were they to their boss? Instead, she shoved her way through the kitchen and out into the dining area, where she skidded to a stop at the first table she saw.

  “Call the police,” she gasped. “Someone's trying to kill me.”

  EPILOGUE

  * * *

  “I have to say, I'm glad you came back,” Nick said. He was leaning against the counter while Autumn chopped up a bell pepper.

  “So am I,” Autumn said. “Though I can't say the circumstances were the best.”

  “Yes, I could have done without you facing off against a murder
ess.” He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, looking tired. “Has anyone ever told you that you are a very stressful person to date sometimes?”

  “Sorry,” Autumn said. “I promise it's not every day that I almost get myself killed.”

  “It sure seems like it is,” he said. “I'm glad you're all right. And I really am glad that you're back. This place wouldn't have been the same without you.”

  “I was having doubts about my decision even before I realized that Audrey was the killer,” Autumn said. “I think I would have come back here anyway. I love this place. I wouldn't have ever felt at home there.”