The Chef at the Water's Edge Read online

  The Chef at the Water’s Edge

  Kee Patterbee

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Kee Patterbee

  Twice By Lightning LLC

  Copyright © 2014

  http://KeePatterbee.com

  Copyright

  The right of Kee Patterbee to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Twice by Lightning LLC, Conyers Georgia.

  Cover design by Adrianna Vines

  Twilight Mystery Serials Coming Summer & Fall 2014:

  www.KeePatterbee.com

  Table Of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  About The Author

  Acknowledgements:

  To my loving husband, Joe Patterbee who shares the adventures and shares the passion of storytelling.

  Welcome to the Twilight Mystery Restaurant Extraordinaire.

  Head Chef

  Hannah Starvling – Former FBI. Part-time sleuth. Full-time Chef. Cool, calculating, methodical, and distant.

  Sous Chefs

  Catherine “Cate” Jordan – Full time librarian. Part-time sleuth. Full time sassy best friend to the head chef.

  Buster Jordan – The Adonis bodied, Apollo smiling, often clueless cousin of Cate, friend of the head chef.

  Starters

  Louie Woolridge – Food critic and friend of the featured entrée. He disagrees with the proposed preparation.

  Hymnal “Hym” Miles – Zebulon Law Enforcement. Handsome and curious, he is equally interested in who is looking into the case as to the case itself.

  Sides

  Asa Karas – Mega wealthy, controlling, jealous, and potentially adulterous, husband. He loved the entrée but has several billion reasons to want her removed from the menu.

  Jazlyn Karas – The morally questionable, social party girl, ‘replacement Chef’ niece. She had much to gain if the entrée turned up cold and soggy.

  Jack Miller – Media manager, paramour of the replacement, and full time manipulator. Payoffs and ironclad contracts are his stock and trade. One poorly constructed entrée could mean the collapse of his otherwise solidly built connection to the house that the Karas built.

  Xabiere Dauphin – The French accented sous chef to the entrée, and new head Chef of Julia’s Kitchen on the Water, he has a taste for Karas women and a distaste for their partners.

  Dessert

  Vera Bessinger – Protégé Chef and handpicked successor of the entrée. Served with naiveté and secrets not even she is aware of, her role serves to complement the meal.

  A la Carte

  Alexander Borg – Retired police chief who, like Woolridge, questions the preparation of the meal.

  Lin Niu – Wealthy medical examiner who has more and knows more than she should.

  Today’s Featured Dish

  Julia Karas, ‘America’s Darling of the Kitchen’.

  Prepared accidental, suicidal, or murderously.

  *Please Note* This dish is served cold and at the water’s edge.

  Prologue

  Hannah Starvling, in preparation of traveling to an epic event with two of her best friends, began online research pertaining to news coverage about the year-old death of a famous chef. Cold cases were her forte, netting her an invitation to look into the matter by a close friend. The news was scant, to say the least, on a famous woman who died by accident. The case ended a little too quickly, so it seems. Hannah knew that famous people die every day and there are always the conspiracy theorists who want to dramatize events. She settled at her computer to gain perspective through the media news on the case.

  Now, here is an interesting bit, she thought …

  One Year Prior

  Peter Grimes surveyed the property of the Karas estate. He worked long and hard to maintain the enormous area, and it showed. The lawn was lush and green. Trimmed shrubs and sculpted hedges defined the area. Everywhere the fifty-six-year-old looked, there were pink flowers from a variety of plants filled beds and designated areas. His broad smile, rigid stance, and curled fists placed on his hips displayed a hardworking, fulfilled man. “This should do her proud,” he said.

  The ‘she’ to whom he referred was Julia Karas, one of his two employers. She was a famous chef, and there was no one in the world Grimes admired more. He found her beautiful, kind, charitable, and charming. She was the one person he never wanted to disappoint. Thus, he had much to do before the tours that came with the annual Ball for Bellies charity event.

  Grimes’ other employer was her husband, Asa. While admiring his work, on more than one occasion, Asa had said to him, “I didn’t understand at first. But this is what Julia always saw in you.”

  Grimes could not agree more. Still, while Grimes liked his employer, he found Asa to be cold, distant, and controlling at times. He often wondered about the relationship Asa had with Julia Karas. “I’ll never see it,” he would tell himself before carrying on with his work.

  Putting the wheelbarrow down before a small area around a large old oak, Grimes saw Asa Karas approaching. He was in formal business attire, even at this early hour. He moved in the groundskeeper’s direction. His walk had an urgency about it, which Grimes took to mean something was upsetting the man.

  “Peter,” Asa called out.

  “Sir. Good morning to ya.”

  “Good morning. You haven’t by any chance seen Ms. Karas, have you?”

  Peter noticed the anxiety in the man’s voice.

  “No, sir. I do know that, upon occasion, she has taken to walk early mornings. She usually heads out toward the greenery. I can take a look there, if you like.”

  Asa gave a quick glance over the area. “No. No. That won’t be necessary. I’m sure she’s out and about. Taking a walk, as you said.” He frowned, and added in a stern voice, “If you do happen to run across her, call me immediately.”

  “I’ll do just that, sir.”

  With that, Asa headed back toward the front of the house.

  Finishing his work on the bed, Grimes made his way back to the grounds shed behind the garage. After rinsing the shovel and wheelbarrow and stowing them away, he picked up a trash bag and ‘stabbie’, as he referred to the item. It was a long rod with a sharp spike for picking up trash. The day guard had told him that there was a party on the property next door the night before. In the past, this always meant that the next morning would bring debris. Empty bottles, papers and all sorts of other items would float ashor
e. He sighed, as it was the one job he hated of all on the estate. It reminded him of his past, with each bottle tossed in the bag. “Quit your complaining,” he told himself. “Just get out there and do your work.”

  Grimes was about halfway down the shoreline when he looked out next to the gazebo at the water’s edge. There was something floating in the water. Something large, and pink. At first, he thought it might be a lounge chair. Or perhaps a tent top. He made his way over closer to see. His eyes widened. His mouth fell open. Tossing the bag and stabbie to the ground, he jumped into the cold water, yelling at the top of his lungs for help. He had found Julia Karas.

  The chef was at the water’s edge.

  Chapter 1

  “How long until we get to Zebulon?” Buster Jordan asked from the back seat of Hannah Starvling’s new plane. “Not that I’m not digging the new wings.”

  From her place in the pilot’s seat, Hannah turned to look back into the prettiest blue-eyes she has ever seen on a man. She pushed a strand of brownish blonde-brown hair from out of her sea green eyes, and considered for a moment before answering. “About two hours,” she replied. “Why? You have a hot date?”

  “I’m hungry,” the handsome, lean, blond man insisted.

  Hannah smiled at Busters attempt at a little boy whine. “Like that’s anything new. We’re going to a food festival. I’m sure they’ll be samples galore. Free samples I might add. You’ll be able to stuff yourself silly.”

  “But my stomach is growling now,” Buster insisted.

  “Think how much more you’ll enjoy the experience if you are hungry when we get there,” his cousin Cate teased.

  “Didn’t we bring snacks?” Buster continued. He then threw himself back against his seat in a dramatic, mock display of anguish. “I mean, we are talking hours from now. I’ll be nothing but skin and bones by then.”

  Cate gave her cousin a whimsical look. “Yes, of course we did.” She tossed him a small plastic bag full of snack foods. “It’s true what your mom used to say. You do have a hollow leg.”

  “Saved from a fate worse than death,” Buster responded. “It’s impossible for this man to go over a few hours without something to snack on.”

  “Impossible,” Cate said laughing. Hannah smiled and looked over to her friends, who engaged in a round of teasing, something they did on a near day to day basis. Listening to them, she drifted off in her thoughts of them, herself, and their past together. At one time, they had been inseparable. These days, it was rare when the three of them could all get together. Life has a way of intervening and taking its own course. Now, this trip to Zebulon was as good an excuse as any to get together one last time before Buster moved to Los Angeles.

  The thought of her friend’s relocation made Hannah both sad and happy. Though she would miss him, she was glad he had found a direction. It had not been an easy path in doing so. Unlike Cate, who was always grounded however up until two years prior, Buster was still searching for meaning in his life. Having attempted various careers over the years, everything changed when he discovered acting. Something that, to everyone’s surprise, he showed an amazing, natural aptitude. In just two years, he had gathered enough agent interest to warrant his moving to Los Angeles in a few weeks. Given his natural gifts, everyone expected him to succeed. And Hannah was sure that his tall, lean, fit body, and fair complexion, blond hair, and blue eyes would not hurt his chances either. In no uncertain terms, Buster Maclevoy Jordan was a beautiful man with talent. And soon, everyone would know it.

  His cousin Cate was beautiful in her own right. Tall and thin, with brown eyes, dark brown skin and close cropped, black hair, she could have been a model. She chose instead to be a librarian, immersed in the world of books. She was always a reader, which she claimed led her to have to wear glasses when doing so. Hannah spent most of her summers with her friend pouring through book after book. Reading underneath a large oak in the backyard of the Jordan family home. Intelligent, quick witted, curious, and caring, she and Hannah remained close to this day. Cate was the closest thing she had to a sister and a sibling, and she would not have it any other way.

  By comparison, her friends were different. But one thing they shared in common was loving, caring families and amazing parents. Two brothers who married sisters. The fact that Cate’s uncle Graham and Aunt Halo adopted Buster is long forgotten. Caring people, they never gave in to social conventions. All that mattered was an orphaned child needed a home, and they needed a child. And Cate’s father, Wilson, helped Buster’s parents see that through. An attorney by trade, he broke ‘heaven and earth’ as her mother Myra recalled, to make what no one should question, acceptable. Theirs was a tight knit family, and it shown in Buster and Cate’s deep love of one another.

  A mock slap/push/punch fight going on between the two cousins brought Hannah back into the real world.

  “You know, once I hit the big time, you won’t be able to treat me like this. I’ll be too rich and too famous”

  “You’ll eat up all your money and be famous for how fat you got.”

  “Children. Children. Keep it on that side. I’m trying to fly here.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Some things never change.” Although she was attentive to what she was doing, once again she let thoughts of her childhood roll through her mind.

  Hannah spent most summers of her young life in Twilight where Cate and Buster grew up. It was also where her grandparents, ‘Gran’ Sindee and ‘Papa Jay’ Jayland Starvling lived. They owned the local burger and fry joint, The Starvling Diner, which dated back to the 1950’s. Her parents were archaeologists Skyler and Mikael Starvling. More often than not, they spent the summer months at remote excavation sites. When they went on these extended jaunts, they handed Hannah off to her grandparents. Therefore, she spent her childhood between two worlds. Living with her parents during the school year and living with her grandparents during summers. In her mind, it amounted to a perfect childhood.

  “So are you thinking about settling down in Twilight?” Cate asked in a hopeful tone.

  Her friend’s question drug Hannah back from her inner thoughts once more.

  “I’m considering it. Papa Jay and Gran are getting older. They’re going to need some help. So…”

  “Good. But what does that mean for you?”

  “Well, I did have one idea.”

  Buster leaned forward. “Oh. Oh. I know. Why don’t you open an agency?”

  “Yeah. That’s just what she needs,” Cate said in a sarcastic tone.

  Buster huffed and defended his position. “Think about it. It’d be awesome.” He wiped his hands across the air to as though looking at a theater marquee. It could be the beginning of another chapter in the career of… Hannah Starvling: Private Investigator.”

  “Another chapter indeed,” Hannah thought to herself. In her scant thirty-one years, she had gone through two thus far. She found it interesting that both had developed out of her grandparent’s restaurant. Hannah’s summers in Twilight had meant a lot of time in the diner, where she came to know two things. The world of investigation and the world of cooking. While running the counter, Gran Sindee told her granddaughter about her sideline hobby of ‘being nosy’ as her Papa Jay put it. An amateur sleuth of some note around Twilight, she had acquired the nickname of ‘the Gumshoe Gal’. Though she railed against it in public, in private she was quite proud of the moniker. It was from these stories that Hannah grew to love the idea of investigation, and vowed to one day be an investigator.

  Earning a scholarship at Serling University, she double majored in criminal justice and psychology. After graduation, she joined the FBI. Having been part of the agency for just over a year, she encountered the worst day and the best day of her life. She fell victim to a gunshot while working a case, which left residual effects to this day. An unsteady arm that was noticeable just to those who knew. Still, it affected her ability to use a weapon. During her long recovery, she found that switching hands was not an option. Her hard-sought career
was on the line, and the prospect for a permanent desk job held no appeal. Though she did not lose her intense curiosity of crime, her days in law enforcement ended. That concluded career number one.

  Depressed and uncertain of the future, she returned to Twilight to recover from an injury, and in a sense to recover her life.

  “So, what’s this idea? Are you sure you’re awake enough to fly this bucket?” Cate asked which served to return Hannah to the conversation at hand.

  “Well, I was thinking I’d like to open a restaurant.”

  Buster became excited. “You’re bringing The Starvling back? That’d be awesome! I loved that place.”

  “No. It’s gone. Even if I rebuilt it, it wouldn’t be the same. It’ll be something different.”

  Hannah had too many memories of the diner, as it once was to bring it back in a different form. It was from the diner that her second career was born as much as the first. All because of her Grandpa Jay.

  Watching all the activity while sitting in a booth at the restaurant, Hannah went over her life options. That’s when Grandpa Jay came and sat beside her. She could tell he was contemplating something but said nothing. She was thinking of all the time she spent in the diner with him, where he taught her to cook. Hannah found a love of the culinary in his simple instructions, what he referred to as “burger slinging.” Now she was considering asking if she could come to work with them once again, just long enough to find her next career. After coming and sitting down beside her, Grandpa Jay made an offer. A life changing one. After some silence, he turned to look at her. In that charming, wrinkled, stern face, she saw great concern.

  “Sweetness,” he said, “Guns are dangerous. How about we get you into something a little less so? Like with knives, maybe.” At that moment, he gave her a new direction. He offered to send her to the L’Académie Gastronomique de Paris and become a chef. “I’ve an old military buddy who’s a big muckety muck there. Pretty sure I can get you in,” he said matter of fact. She agreed. Career number two had begun.