Undercover Cook

“So you got what? Three hours sleep?”

“I’m too tired to do the math,” he said as he headed past her to one of the two stainless-steel fridges and pulled open the door. A weary smile transformed his angular face as he glanced over his shoulder at Eden. “Did I tell you that I love Patty? That I’m going to make her my bride?” He pulled out a stainless-steel bowl of what had to be cake filling, and held it up. “One less thing to do. If I play my cards right, I may be able to sneak in a nap before I head back up to the Lake.” The Lake being shorthand for Lake Tahoe, where Justin had his second job.

By day, Justin was the Tremont Catering dessert chef, but he also worked three nights a week at a Lake Tahoe resort hotel as the pastry chef, and, in spite of those two jobs filling much of his time, he kept making high-end cakes. The more he made, the more the orders poured in as word spread. And they all seemed to be rush jobs. If they weren’t to begin with, then by the time Justin fit them into his jammed schedule, they became rushes.

“You’ve got to stop doing this,” Eden muttered. Her words were barely audible, since she knew they would do no good. She’d been saying the same thing over and over again for how long now? Since he’d taken that first emergency cake order for a bakery that’d had an electrical fire.

Even on that first order he’d been pushing things. They’d had three big catering events that week, yet he’d still somehow pulled off a masterpiece. And Eden knew the argument she’d get in return—the cakes brought in a lot of extra income. Some old equipment had finally been replaced, thanks to those cakes, and Justin had been able to refurbish the classic Firebird he’d bought from one of Eden’s clients. Plus he was socking away money to make a balloon payment on his condo.

At some point all this was going to catch up to him—physically, if nothing else—even if he did have Patty. When, exactly, had she made the filling? She was supposed to have gone home shortly after Eden left. Obviously, she hadn’t. Their prep cook needed to be needed, and with their sister, Reggie, out on maternity leave, and Justin’s ridiculous schedule, Patty was working at the right place.

“When’s this cake due?” Eden asked as she started breading beef for stew. She made five days of container meals for the Stewarts and the Ballards every Sunday and delivered them late Sunday evening. During the remainder of the week, between catering events and prep, she planned menus and typed up reheating instructions, which she saved to her computer for repeat performances. She had the personal-chef gig down to a fine science now.

“Tomorrow,” Justin said. “I have Donovan coming over to help me deliver.”

“Then I can have the van tonight?”

“All yours,” Justin agreed.

“Great.” Eden hated delivering in her small Honda Civic.

“Am I making crème brûlée for the Wednesday deal?”

“Yes. And mini tarts.”

“Got it.” Justin disappeared back into the alcove known as the pastry cave, and turned on his music. Eden chopped vegetables in time to classic Green Day songs as she browned the sausages for the lasagna the Ballard family requested as a weekly staple. Easy for two teenage boys to fill up on.

By the time Patty came in at eight-thirty, Eden had every burner on the stove going, as well as two ovens. She tended to hog the kitchen on Sunday, which was why they avoided Monday events if at all possible. Today was officially Patty’s day off, so she would be coming in for only one reason....

“Good morning,” she said, pulling a scarf from her permed curls. “I thought I’d stop by and see if Justin needed some help.”

“You know he does,” Eden said. “How late were you here last night?”

“Only until eight, but I didn’t put down the extra hours. It was my choice to stay.”

“Put down the hours,” Eden said. “It comes out of the cake money, since that’s what you were here for.”

“If you insist,” Patty said. “Even though I’m happy—”

“I insist. But, really, you shouldn’t stay late to help Justin out of situations he gets himself into.”

“It’s for the good of the company.”

“Yes.” Hard to argue with that.

“The oddest thing happened last night,” Patty said as she tied on her oversize apron. “When I went out to my car, there was a young man hanging out in the alley near the van.”

Eden looked up from the carrots she was dicing. “Just…hanging around? Loitering?”

Their Reno neighborhood was a quiet one, consisting of a couple small bistro-type restaurants that were open only for breakfast and lunch, law offices and boutique stores in refurbished houses and a quiet, upscale lounge two blocks away. They didn’t get many people lingering after hours—especially in their alley, which was a dead-end.

“Yes. I thought it was strange, but I just walked straight to my car, got in and locked the doors. Once I had it started, I checked and saw the man slipping into the space between our building and the law office, apparently on his way to the street. When I pulled out of the alley, he was gone. Or he may have been hiding between the buildings.”

“Any chance it was—”

“It wasn’t Ian,” Patty said in a definite voice, referring to Eden’s ex-boyfriend.

“Hey, Justin?” Eden called, loudly enough to be heard over the music. Her brother came out of the pastry room, stainless-steel spatula in hand. “Patty said there was someone hanging around the van last night when she left. Maybe you should take a look at it, see if he tried to pry the doors open or something.”

“Yeah. Sure.” He put the spatula down on the counter nearest him and headed for the back door. “Any chance it was Ian?”

“Patty says it wasn’t,” Eden answered wearily.

A few minutes later he was back. “Nothing. Maybe just a homeless guy looking for a place to sleep.”

“Probably,” Patty agreed.

“But maybe you should park out front on the days you’re working late,” Eden said. “And keep an eye on your surroundings, all right?”

Patty sniffed. She was the designated lecturer.

“For your safety,” Eden added. Ever since Reggie—her and Justin’s older sister—had started maternity leave, Patty had all but declared herself a full partner in Tremont Catering. Granted, they needed her. She was dependable and honest, and without her Justin would be in deep trouble. But she did have a few quirks, control issues being at the top of the list.

“I’ll watch myself,” she said. “And I am positive it wasn’t Ian. This man had dark hair.”

Eden gave a quick nod of understanding before she walked into the dry storage area. She hated that Patty was so aware Ian would be her number-one suspect. Eden very much liked to keep her private life private. It was her own fault, though, that Patty was so well-informed on the ex-boyfriend front, since Eden had taken a strip off his cheating hide when he’d had the audacity to show up at the kitchen with flowers and an apology, delivered with the perfect combination of sincerity and humility.

Eden hadn’t budged, and after a few words it became clear that he didn’t think coming on to Vanessa, his best friend’s wife, in the guest bedroom at a dinner party counted as cheating. He had, after all, been drunk, and they hadn’t done anything but a little kissing and groping. It was all a big misunderstanding. Surely Eden could see that? His friend understood, so why didn’t she? Shattering her trust? No big deal. Being drunk? Hell of an excuse.

Eden dragged the stepladder from one end of the metal shelving units to the other and started climbing so she could get two large cans of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes. After a stressful childhood with a father who said anything to keep people happy, then did as he damned well pleased, she had no tolerance for subterfuge, lying or “misunderstandings.” Which was why she didn’t care how many bouquets of flowers or apologies Ian sent her way.

They’d dated once before and he’d left her, shortly after college. It’d taken her a long time to get over him. When he’d appeared back in Reno six months ago, he’d come to see her. Apologized for being such a short-sighted jerk. Asked her back into his life. Eden had taken a chance, thinking they’d both grown and that Ian had dealt with whatever issue had caused him to leave her in the first place.

And the flame had burned hot.

Now, thanks to him, it had abruptly gone out, and that was it. Over was over, and he needed to get that through his thick head.

Unfortunately, Ian hated to lose. That probably made him a good lawyer. It also made him a pain in the ass.

Amazing just how quickly things changed once a person discovered that the guy who was supposed to be watching her back was actually more interested in someone else’s boobs.

“WHAT DO YOU mean, you aren’t taking the cooking lessons?” Nick stared at his stubborn grandfather, who stood next to the patio door of his small apartment wearing his favorite plaid flannel shirt and baggy police tactical pants. A couple quail ran across the courtyard lawn outside.

Gabe pulled the door open. The quail instantly took cover in a juniper bush. “Why in the hell would I want to take cooking lessons?” he asked as he grabbed the bag of seeds off the bookcase by the door.

Because I want to take them.

“Lois says you guys need to eat better. This is one way to do that.”