Free Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams Page A

mind when they did it.”
    “Plus we’re under suspicion until the police nab the culprit. We’re all going to be looking sideways at each other. It’s much worse than actually knowing who did it.
    “She was probably poisoned,” continued Lulu morosely. “All that being sick and the way her body was lying. And that can’t be wonderful for the restaurant, either. Can’t you see the headlines now? ‘Poisoned! A Cooking Channel scout dropped dead today after eating barbeque ribs at Aunt Pat’s.’”
    Ben groaned. “And I’m the chef.”
    “But why should you be a suspect? You barely even met the woman. The only time you even spoke to her was right after the tasting.”
    “You’re forgetting the fact that I might be upset that she turned my wife into a shadow of her former self. Oh, and she made my nephew, Mr. Tough Guy Derrick, cry like a little baby?”
    “I mean she did nothing directly to you.”
    “Well, it can’t be good that I cooked her food,” said Ben. He put his elbows on the table and held his head. “Sara and Derrick are sure to be suspects, I guess.”
    “Considering it’s public knowledge that Rebecca had a big scene with Sara and upset Derrick, I’m afraid so. Mildred, too.”
    Ben said, “Now hold on a minute, though. Mildred wasn’t even around when Rebecca Adrian ate her ribs. She came up with that bundle of papers right before Rebecca got covered with iced tea and left.”
    “That’s not what I’m remembering,” said Lulu. “I think she was really enjoying that barbeque. She kept taking little forkfuls all along. Stuffing herself here and there. But it’s still completely impossible. It’s not like Mildred had poison stowed away in her pocketbook on the off chance that Rebecca was going to disgrace her in front of the entire restaurant.” Lulu clucked impatiently.
    They were quiet for a minute, concentrating on their gingerbread and their thoughts.
    “Come to think of it,” said Ben in the voice of a man about to make a phone call to the police, “Sara and Derrick weren’t anywhere near Rebecca’s food.”
    Lulu said, “Honey, you know I hate to contradict you on Sara. But that plate was getting loaded right back in the kitchen. And it was pretty obvious whose plate it was by the care we were taking to make it look just so. Sara hurried back and forth, and in and out through that kitchen a million times, picking up orders. And the restaurant was so crowded, I think anybody could have slipped something in her food while I was talking to her about the Cooking Channel. I guess it lets Derrick off, though. He was at school.”
    Ben cut off a big slab of butter and slathered it on a hunk of gingerbread. “I’m thinking Mildred, Sara, and Derrick couldn’t have been the only three people with an ax to grind with Rebecca Adrian. I’m hoping that’s the case, anyway.”
    Lulu dropped her voice like someone might be listening in under her kitchen table. “Flo had some kind of a run-in with her. She surely did. I don’t know exactly what happened, but she said the whole reason she accidentally left Derrick at the Peabody to begin with was the fact that Rebecca had gotten her so steamed up.”
    “Well, Flo sure as heck wasn’t lurking around in the kitchen.”
    “No, but she was right next to Rebecca the rest of the time after the initial tasting. And Rebecca kept right on eating, like I told you,” said Lulu.
    “I find it hard to believe, Mother, that Rebecca Adrian could hurt Flo’s feelings. What did she do—insult Elvis’s manhood or something?”
    Lulu said, “Whatever it was, it was pretty serious. Serious enough for Flo to forget about Derrick. The only thing, though,” said Lulu thoughtfully, “is that maybe she wasn’t poisoned at the restaurant at all. Maybe it happened back at the Peabody.”
    There was a sudden explosion of yipping, and Lulu whipped her head around to see Babette skidding on the old linoleum as she raced off after whatever