Kee Patterbee - Hannah Starvling 02 - The Gourmet Who Kept Diamonds in the Kitchen (9 page)

Hannah smiled.
“Of course, you know it is.” She turned to look at Louie. “I see he’s still keeping up with you.”

Vera beamed.
“He is… protective.”

“
Just keeping up with my girl. Besides, I like my job and this kind of thing keeps me in it, so…” He smiled and said, “But, we get to see you again. And…” He peered over at his daughter. “Marquette suggested we all have dinner tonight. Do you have the time?”

Vera
’s eyes lit up. “If I don’t, I will make it. So, definitely. How about on the boat? Uncle Asa let us stay on his yacht, which he keeps on the lake. Did Hym come along?”

Her face dropped into a slight grimace. “
Oh, I just remembered. Hym may not be able to. He busted his leg again and the doctor confined him to a wheelchair. And my grandparents are with me.”

There was a pause of silence as a general disappointment set in.

“Tell you what, though,” Hannah continued, “why don’t we just see how things are going and then decide? You know Hym. He’s not going to sit around and mope. If we can’t, I’ll let you know. Sound good?”

Vera and Louie agreed.

“Your grandparents. Are these the ones you told me about? The diner owners? The sleuths?” Vera quizzed.

“
At one time, Gran was.”

The sound of some clearing their throat behind the two women caused them to halt their reunion. Both turned to face another woman. 
Taking her in, Hannah made her usual determinations.
Older than me. Late 30s. Golden tan. Silky bleach bottle blonde hair. Wide gray eyes. Subtle smile
.
Right at six feet. Long legs. Slim. Fit. Daily work outs.
Conservative, simple, yet fashionable dress
. Analyzing further from what she had already determined, she added,
Disciplined. Personally controlling
.

Vera gestured toward the woman. In her slight, French accent, she said,
“Oh, I am so sorry. How rude of me. Hannah Starvling, this is Madeline Doyle. Madeline, this is Hannah. Madeline is our third.”

Madeline glanced Hannah over before she reached forward, extending her hand. Hannah responded in kind and they shook. The woman
’s hand was light to the touch and half held by Hannah’s valuation. She filed
, noncommittal and pretentious
, alongside Madeline’s physicality.

“
Nice to meet you.”

Madeline pulled back and twisted her lip, tapping her finger across.
“Hannah Starvling. Oh yes, I remember seeing you on the event executive list. So nice to meet you. Now let me think. Pasta, pastries, and… mystery. You’re the Culinary Detective.”

Hannah watched as
the woman enjoyed her jibes. First dropping her head to stare at the floor, Hannah brought it back up to face Madeline. “Oh, that name,” she said, feigning fake frustration. “Solve one case, and you’re Sherlock forever.”

Louie grinned and interjected himself into the conversation.
“If it were only one case that might be true.”

“
But it’s not been just one, has it? You’ve solved dozens.” Madeline grinned. “You have quite the reputation, my dear.”

“
A handful at best,” Hannah admitted. She tried to change the direction of the conversation. “I believe you own several eateries featuring pasta. Rosanna’s Italian Ristorante.”

“
I do indeed. Love the hat, by the way. Victorian?”

Hannah affirmed that it was.
Odd
and
distracted
, she added to her mental profile of the woman.

“
I believe you and I have another mutual friend.”

“
Other than Vera and Louie, here. Who?”

“
Elias.”

The mention of his name stunned Hannah for a moment. She twisted her neck and studied the woman. Though personable to most everyone he met, Elias kept a close circle of friends. Few of those travelled in the culinary world.
“Most of our kind is arrogant, pretentious, molecule wasters,” he once told her. “I’d rather spend my time with people who enjoy food for what it means than what it can do for them.” Madeline, upon first impression, struck her more as a so called ‘molecule waster’ than one who knew the meaning of food. Thus, Hannah found the likelihood of Madeline and Elias being friends as far removed. She decided to push the woman and see how much this was true.

“
Elias, yes,” Hannah responded after a few seconds.

“
Wait,” Vera interjected, “are you talking about Elias Babel?”

Hannah affirmed. She could tell by the puzzled expression Vera held that she knew the man. How she knew him was an altogether different matter.
“Yeah, do you know him?”

“
Only by his reputation. Jazlyn and I are trying to get him for the show. We emailed back and forth a few times. When I found out we were both going to be here, we set up a meeting for later this week.”

“
I guess you didn’t hear.”

Vera pulled her brow down in a questioning manner. Louie, out of instinct, stepped up beside her and placed an arm around he
r shoulders. Before Hannah could explain, Madeline cut in.

“
Yes, tragic, isn’t it? Why would he attempt such a thing? I understand he has twins on the way. So sad.”

Madeline
’s words caught her immediate attention. Suddenly, this virtual stranger shot to the top of Hannah’s suspect list. The woman was privy to something she should not have been.
Twins. How would she know? Janine had not even told Elias.
Hannah considered the possibility that she was incorrect about Madeline and Elias’ relationship.
Could they have been friends? Is it possible, I didn’t know him as well as I thought
, she considered. Then a terrible notion crossed her mind. Could his and Madeline’s relationship have been something more? Between Elias attempting suicide, or his having an affair with Madeline, the latter struck Hannah as more inconceivable.
But does the possibility even exist
, she questioned herself.

Despite the distastefulness of the idea,
Hannah knew she must include it in the mix. Several years laid between when she dated Elias and knew him under those circumstances, and the present. A lot in his life changed during the passage of that time. He made himself rich, specialized in a field, and found a wife whom outwardly, he appeared to adore. But once the doors to his private life closed, Hannah admitted she knew little.
And men will be men
, she commented to herself. Still, this did not answer the basic question of how the woman knew about the twins.
There’s more to this woman than meets the eye
, Hannah concluded.

“
Well, he’s alive. That’s a start.”

“
What happened?” Vera asked, mouth agape.

“
No one knows for sure. He’s still unconscious.” Not wanting to waste the moment, Hannah centered again on Madeline. “So, how do you know him?”

“
Now that’s a story Mr. Woolridge here might find interesting. Elias and I are working together on a one of a kind, exclusive menu for my restaurants. A sort of, how do I describe it… specialty fare that requires a pre-arrangement. We’re building it around his truffles.” Madeline frowned and pursed her lips before adding, “I suppose that is out for now. He’ll have to concentrate on getting better, physically and mentally.”

Hannah listened with care.
Not likely
, she decided. Whatever relationship she had with her friend was not as deep as the woman proposed. One of Elias’ eccentricities was his abhorrence of large-scale restaurant operations. In particular, he detested so-called high end chains and franchises. He found nothing wrong with standard fare on a large scale, but the man believed some foods were special. Everyone should enjoy them, but also preserve them. Distribution should occur on an individual scale and through singular, special events. To him, it was almost a ritualized foodstuff, even sacred. Among those foods were truffles. Any kind of degradation of that idea would have been loathsome to the man. What Madeline Doyle proposed, he would have seen as such.
Why is she feigning the extent of this relationship?

It was obvious to Hannah that Madeline was unaware of her and Elias
’ past relationship. At the same time, Hannah was in the dark about the level of rapport between Madeline and Elias, so she decided to bump the woman’s ego, to one up her, and see how she reacted.

“
Yes, I suppose so. So horrible to see him that way, lying on the car. I wasn’t even sure he would live until the ambulance got there.”

Madeline
’s eyes narrowed a slight bit. Hannah observed that she also masked a hard frown.

“
You were there when he…” Louie interrupted with a gesture of his finger dropping downward. He shook his head. “Ouch,” he commented with a sympathetic tone.

Hannah gave an appreciative but hurt smile. 
“I got there right after. His wife and I were waiting for him in the lobby. We were on our way to dinner. My grandparents were there too. They were anxious to see him again.”

At this point, Madeline stiffened a bit and readjusted her stance. Hannah realized that her information upset the woman.

Madeline nodded her head in short, slow, rhythmic time. “I didn’t know you knew him so well.”

Icy
, Hannah thought. She glanced over at Vera and Louie, whom she could tell also noted the change in expression.

“
Oh yes, we dated years ago. We even considered getting married at one point, but well, you know. We were younger. Things didn’t work out.”

“
For the better, I assume,” Madeline responded with a frosty demeanor.

Hannah shrugged and gave a meek, albeit false, smile. Although for Elias and her, things indeed worked out for the best, she did not want Madeline to see it this way. Elias went on to create a great life for himself. She went on to build a great
career, and at present was in a relationship with a man she considered to be her future. Not a future, but
her
future. But she played on Madeline’s lack of knowledge of Elias, to feather out what game the woman was playing. To do this, she needed to be the woman’s rival. She hoped that between working together and the knowledge of Elias’ and her implied relationship, Madeline would expose her own agenda.

After pu
tting on a sad, but smiling face, Hannah looked at Madeline for a second. “Well, what is, is. Anyway, his wife and his father-in-law are with him now. He hasn’t woken yet, but when he does, Janine promised to let me know.”

Hannah placed particular emphasis on the words
‘his wife,’ issuing them with quiet disdain. Seeing Madeline both twitch and repress a smirk while she did so, let Hannah know that her ploy sealed the deal. Madeline was now her rival, one who enjoyed her competitor’s torment. She added
competitive
to Madeline’s profile.

“
Oh, well, then you can keep me updated. You will, won’t you?” Madeline said, with a mixture of pleasure and a hint of ice in her tone.

“
Of course, I’d be glad too.” Hannah smiled and looked at Vera. “I suppose we all need to go over to the competition.”

Vera, who had been
watching, gave Hannah an odd look. Hannah responded by reaching over and taking her friend’s hand and squeezing. She watched as a smile ran across Vera’s face, catching on to Hannah’s action.

“
I suppose we should,” Vera said with a syrupy smile.

“
I’d like to sit in, if you don’t mind,” Louie requested. “I just need to give Marquette a call.” He pulled out his cell and dialed. “I think judging might make a good angle for an article.”

“
Agreed,” Madeline said with assumed authority, “but first, if you excuse me for a moment. Too much coffee this morning. I’ll be right back.”

Vera, Louie, and Hannah watched as Madeline stepped away from the group and exit out the door. As soon as the door clicked shut, Louie and Vera turned back to Hannah. Vera wore a concerned expression.
“What was that all about? I thought you and Hym were together? Are you… with Elias?”

Louie stepped away for a second and informed
Marquette that he would be just a bit longer. When he hung up, he returned to the ladies.

Hannah smiled.
“No, I mean, yes, I am with Hym. No, to Elias. But that’s not what I need her to think.”

Louie leaned back and pointed a finger as he eyed Hannah.
“You’re on the case. You think Babel didn’t attempt suicide.” He turned his head in the direction where Madeline exited. “And she’s a suspect, right?”

Hannah sighed, before giving an abrupt, low laugh. Anyone who ever spent time with the sleuth during an investigation was aware of her modus operan
di.  Scrutinizing her friends’ faces and seeing their excited smiles, she knew she would need to clue them in. If nothing else, a Hannah Starvling investigation always included assistants. I can always use their help, Hannah considered.