“What are you talking about?” Landon heard Lucy ask in the background.
“Speaking of having a heart,” Simone said, ignoring her, “how’s Kait?”
“Kait doesn’t have the same faith in me that you have in Martha. She’s convinced I’m behind it,” Landon said grimly. “I don’t think Gray entirely believes it, but he’s moved out of the Atlantia.”
“Oh, Landon.” Simone’s voice grew serious. “I’m sorry. Do you need me to come up?”
“I don’t think that would help.”
“No,” Simone said as she considered it. “Probably not. Do you want Carter to come up? That would give her a new villain to focus on.”
Landon laughed shortly. “Maybe. I’ll call that Plan B.”
“What’s Plan A?”
“Figuring out who’s really behind it. I’m running out of suspects though. Basil is on a river cruise in Norway.”
Simone snorted. “Doing what exactly?”
“Same thing he was doing in New York. Cooking subpar, overpriced food for suckers. He’s the celebrity guest chef.”
“It’s probably pretty hard to poison someone from Norway,” Simone agreed. “Who else is on the list?”
“No one.”
“Oh,” Simone said.
“Yeah.” Landon pulled into the underground parking lot of the Atlantia and into his reserved parking space next to the elevator. After he hung up with Simone, he sat in his car for a few minutes, staring at the gray cement wall of the parking garage. He had the constricting sensation that he was running out of time. That whoever was moving against the LeClarks and their restaurant wasn’t going to wait much longer to strike again. They’d proven how close they could get to Kait, to the customers. What would they do next? How far would they go?
What if he couldn’t stop them?
Chapter Sixteen
Despite having Gray in the apartment, Kait’s nights were restless. When she managed to fall asleep, her dreams were fraught with nightmares and a strong sensation that something bad was going to happen.
“No, I do not think it means you’re psychic,” Marjorie said when Kait called on her way to work one morning when Gray had left before her. “I think it means that something bad is happening.” Despite Marjorie’s caustic words, her tone was troubled. “I wish I could come up, but I’m in the middle of this project.”
“I know,” Kait said. “I wouldn’t want you to anyway.”
“Keep me updated. You know you always have a place here if you need to get out of town for a minute.”
If Kait really had been psychic, she would have been able to answer Gray’s question when she walked in the front door of LeClarks and found him standing by the pastry case.
“Guess who just made a reservation for fourteen,” he said, turning to her.
“Beats me. Who?”
“Martha James,” he said.
“No way.” Kait looked past him to Ana for a sign he was joking.
“It’s true,” Ana said. “I took the call myself. Gilles wasn’t here yet. Apparently, their usual room at the country club has water damage.”
“Did you tell her we were all booked?” Kait demanded, but she could see that two servers were pulling together tables in the dining room. “You didn’t take the reservation, did you?”
“I did,” Gray said, looking troubled. “But I’ve pulled the beef bourguignon off the menu. It’s the only thing that has mushrooms.”
“Gray, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Kait stepped toward the dining room as though to stop the servers, then looked back, undecided. “Or would it be worse to cancel?”
He shook his head mutely, and Kait could see he’d already gone through the exact same internal debate.
“Have you considered calling Landon?” Ana suggested. “She’s his mother.”
This, Kait was sure about. She shook her head firmly and looked at Gray, expecting to see agreement on his face.
“That might not be the worst idea,” he said slowly.
“Or it might,” Kait said in disbelief. “Considering he might be behind it all.”
“You’re going to hate me for saying this, but I don’t think he is.” Gray held up his hands to ward off the furious diatribe she was about to direct at him. “You should have seen him at the Canteen. I told Ted Jensen about the mushrooms in your car, and Landon purposely implicated himself.”
“That’s a strange thing to do,” Ana commented.
“Not if you’re trying to overshadow the food poisonings at LeClarks story.”
It was too much on too little sleep. Her head spinning, Kait escaped to the kitchen where she took over running the back of the house and let Gray run the front. He was better at being the face of the business anyway. Martha would see the suspicion written all over hers. And besides, this way she could watch the line closely and make sure that not so much as a stray sprig of parsley marred the society women’s entrees.
Antonio was on the line with her. She hadn’t spent much time talking with the younger man, but she knew that he’d spent some time in New York. They passed the inevitable lulls of a morning shift comparing their favorite parts of the city.
“It’s funny that so many of us have ended up here,” Kait commented. “You, me, and Ana.”
“Ana.” Antonio rolled his eyes and put a hand over his heart, making Kait laugh.
“Is she a sore subject? Did you know her back in the city?”
“No,” Antonio lamented, dropping his hand. “I hardly know her now, and I work at least five shifts a week with her.”
“But you’d like to?”
Antonio gave her a sideways grin, turning to the latest order that had come on the screen. “Desperately.”
“Me too,” Kait confessed. “Not desperately.” She mimicked his tone. “But it would be nice to have a friend in New Canton.”
“I’ll be your friend,” Antonio said. “Until Ana comes around. Then I’ll drop you so fast.”
Kait laughed again. She’d known a few people like Antonio back at Le Fontaine. Professionals who didn’t take themselves too seriously, who could make the kitchen fun instead of miserable. She was glad Gray had found him. She wanted to ask what had brought him to New Canton,
