“No idea,” said Carl. “I didn’t exactly ask our customers.”
“We’d also better tell the staff not to come in tonight,” I said.
“Done that too,” he said. “At least, I’ve left messages for most. And I’ve stuck a notice on the kitchen door, telling everyone to take the weekend off and report for work on Monday morning.”
“Did you tell them why?” I asked.
“Nope,” he said. “Thought it best not to just yet. Until we know for sure what the damage is.” He wiped his forehead with his palm. “God, I feel awful. All sweaty and yet cold.”
“Me too,” I said. “But I suppose we can now take the afternoon off. The tractor makers from Wisconsin are going to have to get their grub elsewhere.”
“Why so?” said Carl.
“Because their pie filling is in the cold-room behind padlocked doors, silly.”
“No it’s not,” he said. “I’d already loaded the van before those men arrived.” He waved a hand at the Ford van we used for outside catering that was parked up near the back door to the kitchen. “The summer puddings are in there too.” He smiled. “The only thing I haven’t got is the asparagus and the new potatoes, but we can get some more of those from Cambridge.”
“You are bloody marvelous,” I said.
“So we’re going to do it, then?”
“Dead right we are. We need a successful service now more than ever.” Silly thing to say, really, but of course I had no idea then of what was to follow.
CARL DROVE THE van to the racetrack while I took my car, a beat-up VW Golf that had been my pride and joy. I had bought it brand-new when I was twenty, using the prize money from a televised cooking competition I had won. After eleven years, and with well over a hundred thousand miles on the odometer, it was beginning to show its age. But it remained a special car for me, and I was loath to change it. And it could still outaccelerate most others off the traffic lights.
I parked in the staff parking lot, on the grass beyond the weighing room, and I walked back to the far end of the grandstand, where Carl was already unloading the van. I was met there by two middle-aged women, one in a green tweed suit, woolly hat and sensible brown boots, the other in a scarlet frill-fronted chiffon blouse, black skirt and pointed black patent high-heeled shoes, with a mass of curly dark hair falling in tendrils around her ears. I looked at them both and thought about appropriate dress.
The tweed suit beat the scarlet-and-black ensemble by a short head.
“Mr. Moreton?” she asked in her headmistressly manner as I approached.
“Ms. Milne, I presume?” I replied.
“Indeed,” she said.
“And I am MaryLou Fordham,” stated the scarlet-and-black loudly in an American accent.
I had suspected as much.
“Aren’t you cold?” I asked her. Chiffon blouses and early-May mornings in Newmarket didn’t quite seem to go together. Even on still days, a cutting wind seemed to blow across the Heath, and Guineas Saturday was no exception.
“No,” she replied. “If you want to know what cold is, come to Wisconsin in the winter.” She spoke with every word receiving its share of emphasis, with little harmonic quality to the tone. Each word was clipped and clearly separate; there was no Southern drawl here, no running of the words together.
“And what do you want to see Mr. Moreton about when he should be working for me?” she said rather haughtily, turning towards Angela Milne.
I could tell from her body language that Angela Milne did not take very kindly to being addressed in that manner. I wouldn’t have either.
“It is a private matter,” said Angela. Good old Ms. Milne, I thought. My friend.
“Well, be quick,” said MaryLou bossily. She turned to me. “I have been up to the suites, and there seems to be no work going on. The tables aren’t laid, and there’s no staff to be found.”
“It’s OK,” I said. “It’s only half past nine. The guests don’t arrive for more than two hours. Everything will be ready.” I hoped I was right. “You go back upstairs, and I will be there shortly.”
Reluctantly, she headed off, with a couple of backwards glances. Nice legs, I thought, as she trotted off towards the grandstand, her high heels clicking on the tarmac.
Just when I thought she had gone, she came back. “Oh yes,” she said, “there’s something else I was going to tell you. I’ve had three calls this morning from people who now say they aren’t coming to the track today. They say they are ill.” She didn’t try to disguise the disbelief in her voice. “So there will be five less for lunch.”
I decided, under the circumstances, not to inquire too closely if she knew what it was that had made them ill.
“It’s such a shame,” she said. “Two of them are horse trainers from Newmarket who have runners in our race.” She placed the emphasis on the market while almost swallowing the New. To my ears, it sounded strange.
She turned abruptly and marched off towards the elevators, giving me another sight of the lovely legs. The mass of black curls bounced on her shoulders as she walked. I watched her go, and wondered if she slept in curlers.
“Sorry about that,” I said to Ms. Milne.
“Not your fault,” she said
I hoped nothing was my fault.
She gave me her card. I read it: ANGELA MILNE, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER, CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL. Just as she had said.
“Why have you sealed my kitchen and closed my restaurant?” I asked her.
“I didn’t know we had,” she said. “Where, exactly, is this restaurant?”
“On Ashley Road, near the Cheveley crossroads,” I said. “It’s called the Hay Net.” She nodded slightly, obviously recognizing the name. “It is in Cambridgeshire, I assure you. I’ve just come from there. The kitchen has been padlocked, and I have been told that I would be breaking the law to go in.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Two men said they were acting for the Food Standards Agency.”
“How odd,” she said. “Enforcement is normally the responsibility of the local authority. That’s me. Unless, of course, the incident is termed serious.”
“How serious is serious?” I asked.
“If it involves E. coli or salmonella”-she paused slightly-“or botulism or typhus, that sort of thing. Or if someone dies as a result.”
“The men said that someone has died,” I said.
“Oh,” she said again. “I haven’t heard. Perhaps the police, or the hospital, contacted the Food Standards Agency directly. I’m surprised they managed to get through on a Saturday. The decision must have been made somewhere. Sorry about that.”
“Not your fault,” I echoed.
She pursed her lips together in a smile. “I had better go and find out what’s happening. My cell phone battery is dead, and it’s amazing how much we all now rely on the damn things. I’m lost without it.”
She turned to go but then turned back.
“I asked the racetrack office about your kitchen tent last night,” she said. “You were right. It’s now full of beer crates. Are you still planning to do a lunch service for Miss America up there?” She nodded her head towards the grandstand.
“Is that an official inquiry?” I asked.
“Umm.” She pursed her lips again. “Perhaps I don’t want to know. Forget I asked.”
I smiled. “Asked what?”
“I’ll get back to you later if and when I find out what’s going on.”
“Fine,” I said. “Can you let me know who it is that’s died as soon as you find out?” I gave her my cell number. “I’ll be here until about six-thirty. After that, I’ll be asleep.”
