Free Heavenly Honeymoon (Zoe Donovan Mysteries Book 15) by Kathi Daley Page B

scampi?”
    “It’s really good. Do you want to try a bite?”
    “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass this evening. Maybe another time.”
    “I’ll share my hamburger with you if you want,” Scooter offered.
    I smiled at the ten-year-old with ketchup all over his face. “Thanks, but I’m not really hungry. How was Kids Camp today?”
    Scooter proceeded to fill the silence with a solid ten minutes of very detailed descriptions as to how really awesome Kids Camp had been. Ellie had been trying all evening to cheer me up, but she seemed to have given up. Zak was a lot more quiet than usual. The only conclusion I could come to was that even he was beginning to suspect I was guilty of murdering Ricardo Jimenez.
    “It’s going to be okay,” Ellie whispered to me when I failed to laugh at Scooter’s joke.
    “Maybe it will and maybe it won’t,” I whispered back as Scooter continued with his story. “I’ve gone over the scenario in the hallway in my mind a million times. I know what I saw, but every single piece of evidence seems to counter that memory.”
    “Memories are tricky things,” Ellie sympathized. “Especially during stressful situations.”
    Zak, Ellie, and Alex all laughed at Scooter’s story and I laughed as well, even though I had no idea what he’d just said. There was a voice in my head telling me to go back over things again to try to figure out anything I might have missed.
    I’d gone to the kitchen to find a knife for the cake. The room was empty. The dishes were done and the food had been put away. I remember that Jerrell was still at the bar, but I have no idea where Sebastian, Kai, and Rosa had gone off to. In a way, it was odd that they weren’t hanging around just in case someone needed something from the kitchen. I remember seeing the knife on the counter. I walked over and picked it up and then started back toward the lounge, where the others were waiting. It was at that point that the dark-skinned man in black clothing, who I was certain looked exactly like Jimbo, intercepted me. He told me that I had the wrong knife. He then took the knife from me and assured me he’d bring the right one. I’d continued on to the lounge.
    If no one in the lounge had seen him, he couldn’t have come from there to the kitchen, so where had he come from? I tried to picture the hallway. There weren’t any intersections in it, so there must have been a door to another room that I hadn’t noticed.
    Suddenly, I knew I needed to get another look at the interior of the yacht. I just needed a way to score an invitation.
    “Sebastian will see you now,” the waiter informed me. “He thought you might want to see the kitchen, so he suggested he’d speak with you there.”
    When we’d first arrived I’d asked for an audience for Ellie and me on the pretext that she was a well-known chef in Ashton Falls. I suppose the whole chef thing might have been a stretch, but Ellie was the best cook I knew and I was certain she could hold her own in a conversation with Sebastian.
    “Thank you.” I looked at Ellie. “Are you ready?”
    “I am.” She put her napkin down on the table next to her mostly empty plate.
    Ellie and I followed the waiter through the restaurant to the immaculate kitchen. I could tell by the look on her face that Ellie was in awe. Not only was the room large and modern, with state-of-the-art appliances, but the five men who were working with Sebastian were going about their tasks with a precision that was truly amazing.
    “Wow,” Ellie finally managed to utter. “Your kitchen is amazing.”
    “Thank you. I designed it myself when the restaurant was built almost fifteen years ago.”
    “So you’ve been here almost from the beginning,” I commented.
    “Almost. The resort currently has five restaurants and this was the third one to be built.” Sebastian turned to Ellie. “So you are a chef in your hometown.”
    I watched the hustle and bustle of waiters coming in and out to gather