The Billionaire Chef Read online

“Louis,” someone called out in an accented voice Hannah knew immediately as a native speaker. She turned to see a woman shuffling forward. 5’5”-ish. Forties. Shapely. Curly blonde hair. Wire frame glasses. Pretty.

  When she reached Louie, Hannah, and Critic, she shook her finger at the canine. “Je suis désolé ainsi. Il a tenu à l’écart de moi. Il est un si mauvais garçon. Pardonnez-moi s’il vous plaît,” she cried out. She took Hannah’s hand and said in her thick accent, “I am sorry. I have been looking for him all about. He got away from me. He is such a bad doggie. Forgive me, please.”

  “It’s all right,” Hannah assured her, “he and I are old friends.”

  “Oh?” The woman turned to Louie with a puzzled look.

  Louie put his arm around the woman and made introductions. “This is Hannah Starvling. The one I’ve told you about.”

  The woman’s eyes widened, and she shook Hannah’s hand. “Oh, the pleasure, it is all mine. You have helped my niece and given me this nice man. I am beyond words.”

  Hannah smiled and turned to Louie for an explanation. “Hannah Starvling. Marquette Roux. This is Vera’s aunt.”

  Hannah’s eyes lit up with recognition. “I am pleased to meet you as well. Vera spoke about you and Louie.”

  “Marquette and I are…”

  Marquette interrupted with a broad, appreciative smile. “Wait. Wait. How do you say it here… ah, peas in a pond?”

  “Peas in a pod,” Louie corrected.

  Marquette frowned and cocked her head. “Oh. I see. Now that makes more sense,” she said smiling.

  All three laughed.

  “Did Vera come?” Hannah asked.

  “She did,” Louie answered. He looked at Marquette and asked if she would mind taking Critic back to the booth. She agreed and said goodbye to Hannah.

  “We must all dine together,” she insisted before picking up Critic’s leash.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Tonight then?” she asked with hopeful eyes.

  “Can I bring guests? Hymn and my grandparents are here as well.”

  “Of course,” Louie replied. He tapped the side of his thigh as Critic stood. “Vera’s in the back,” he said. “She’ll love it.” He moved in and gave Marquette a quick kiss. “I’ll be along shortly,” he said. “Follow her, boy.” Critic wagged his tail and moved beside Marquette as they headed down the hallway.

  Hannah stopped to register with the reception table, and she was given a name badge by the young man waiting there. Rather than drape hers around her neck as others, she removed the card with her name from the cord. She then tucked it into the band that ran the circumference of her hat, much in the manner of a press pass from the 1940s. Louie then led her way over to a back room connected to the area. When they entered the room, she saw the familiar face of a friend.

  “Vera!”

  Vera Bessinger turned to see Hannah with a broad grin. She threw her arms out in a welcoming gesture. Hannah moved over and the two women hugged. Pulling herself back to get a solid view, Hannah reevaluated her friend. Vera remained beautiful though she appeared somehow different to the sleuth. Longer hair, still brown with reddish highlights. A little less conservative attire. Happier, Hannah clicked off, adding to what she already knew about the woman. Vera was twenty-three, 5’6” with violet eyes that seemed to glow. She took over as producer of the culinary television show, Julia’s Kitchen by the Water, after the chef’s demise. Vera and Hannah’s first meeting involved the death of Vera’s mother, Julia Karas. Through her efforts, Hannah cleared the young woman of a murder accusation. Later, she solved Vera’s mother’s case, making friends with her along the way. In any case, Hannah found herself happy once again to see her friend.

  “So tell me. How did all this come about?”

  “Well, it was a last minute thing. Do you know Marlon Humphries?”

  Hannah nodded. “I’ve met him a couple of times at events and such. Late seventies, early eighties?”

  Vera affirmed. “That’s him. The schedule called for him as your third. Unfortunately, he passed away a couple of nights ago. They haven’t announced it yet, but they were looking for a replacement. They contacted Jazlyn, but she’s wrapped up in the show, but Asa decided it would be good publicity, and suggested I go. So, we’ll be judging together.” A concerned look ran across the young chef’s face. “That is okay, isn’t it?”

  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 Hymn come along?”

  Her face dropped into a slight grimace. “Oh, I just remembered. Hymn 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 Hymn. 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 someone 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 over Hannah before she reached forward, extending her hand. Hannah responded 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 looked 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 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 her 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… speciality 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. 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 slightly . 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 putting 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 exited 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 Hymn 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 Hymn. No, to Elias. But that’s not wha
t 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 operandi. 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.

  “She is. I’ll fill you in tonight if we make it. Later in any case. But for now, you need to act natural around her.”

  Vera and Louie agreed just as Madeline reentered the room. As she sat in one of the chairs inside, Madeline said, “All right, ladies, how are we going to play this and what are our rules of engagement?”

  Hannah and Vera gave each other a smile before taking seats of their own.

  Louie took a seat to the side and pulled out his cell phone, setting it up to record. “Ignore me, ladies. I’m just here to play witness.”

  Chapter Eight

  It was around 1:30 PM when Hannah, along with Vera and Madeline, wrapped up. As was the custom at this festival, the winners of the competition were not revealed until the last day of the event. All three women would be present at the awards ceremony. Hannah and Vera elected Madeline as spokesperson for the group. She would handle any interviews between now and then. This particular arrangement well suited Hannah. It freed her from long talks with media writers and journalists as well as general attendees from the public sphere. Instead of answering inane questions, she could instead spend her time in a more efficient manner. Questions such as, “what does al dente mean” or “why is spaghetti a type of pasta and not a dish unto itself?” Vera, though, had lost much of the shyness she exhibited when Hannah first met her, but still was not comfortable in the limelight. She too, was more than willing to let the outward going Madeline step into the role at hand. Both women watched Madeline from the floor. She talked with those who gathered around to question about the tasting phase of the competitions. Among them was Louie.