Duffel Bags And Drownings by Dorothy Howell Read Free Book Online

the costume shop.”
    Lourdes stared at me. I could tell she didn’t really believe me.
    The important thing about telling a lie was to not oversell it. I sat there staring
     at Lourdes. I could almost see her brain working. Giving out confidential employee
     info could cause a problem, but offending me and possibly causing a dispute between
     L.A. Affairs and Maisie’s Costume Shop—two places essential to the success of Cady
     Faye’s Catering—would be a disaster.
    Lourdes turned to her computer. “Names?”
    I whipped out my cell phone and accessed Wendy’s text, and showed it to Lourdes. She
     clicked a few keys, and a sheet of paper glided out of the printer. She passed it
     across the desk to me.
    “Thank you,” I said, tucking it inside the portfolio, and struggling to suppress my
     I-won smile.
    I left her office. As I headed down the hallway, I spotted a young woman lingering
     nearby. She had on one of those white coats that a chef wears, and a funky red scarf
     covering her hair. I figured her for early twenties.
    “Excuse me,” she said quietly. “Is it okay if I talk to you?”
    I stopped. “Sure.”
    She glanced back toward Lourdes’ office. “Not here. Okay?”
    I followed her around a corner, then another corner. We stopped near the janitor’s
     closet. There wasn’t a lot of action in this part of the building, so we had the place
     pretty much to ourselves—but maybe that was because a little farther down the hallway
     yellow crime scene tape covered the door to the ice room.
    “My name is Sierra. I’ve worked here for a while,” she said quietly. “Look, I know
     Lourdes has been talking crap about Jeri, and I wanted you to know it’s not true.”
    “You and Jeri were friends?” I asked.
    She gave me a sad smile. “We’re in culinary school together. You know, the one in
     Pasadena. Faye’s really good about giving students a chance. She hired me a few months
     ago, so I told Jeri she should apply here, too. She did, but it wasn’t working out
     so well for her.”
    “Because Lourdes didn’t like her?” I asked.
    Sierra’s shoulder sagged and she shook her head. “I guess I shouldn’t have suggested
     it to Jeri. I knew Lourdes worked here but I didn’t think she disliked Jeri so much.
     I swear I didn’t.”
    “What happened?” I asked.
    “Lourdes was struggling with some of her classes,” Sierra said. “But, I mean, who
     wasn’t? It’s not as easy as people think.”
    “Hang on a second,” I said. “Lourdes was in culinary school with you and Jeri?”
    “Yes,” she said. “Only Lourdes was having major money problems. She had to drop out.
     She kind of had it in for Jeri because Jeri was, you know, really great at everything,
     plus she got all kinds of scholarships that Lourdes thought she didn’t really need.
     Lourdes thought it robbed her of the money she could have used to stay in school.”
    “So it must have really ticked her off when Faye hired Jeri to work here,” I said.
    “Like you wouldn’t believe,” Sierra said. “She seemed to think Jeri was angling for
     her job, trying to take over. It didn’t help that Faye thought the world of Jeri.”
    I could understand how Lourdes must have felt. First, Jeri had been a stand-out in
     culinary school, eventually forcing her to drop out when Jeri got the scholarships
     Lourdes felt should have been hers. Then when she found a great job at Cady Faye,
     here comes Jeri, a darling in Faye’s eyes.
    “Despite what Lourdes says about her,” Sierra said, “Jeri is—was—a good person.”
    “Even though she was involved with a married man?” I asked.
    Okay, that was kind of crappy of me, but I wanted to get Sierra’s read on that whole
     thing.
    “They loved each other. Really,” Sierra insisted. “He was getting a divorce. Jeri
     confirmed it with her roommate who worked for the attorney who was handling everything.
     Her name is Molly. The lawyer is that Horowitz guy whose face is