AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 25
D.D.
COOK TURNED OUT TO BE a burly woman wearing a grease splattered apron and hairnet. She had rounded up the other two workers, Mayor Howard’s niece, wearing her light-blue maid’s uniform, and another young woman with exotic features and gorgeous brown hair. The second woman also wore a maid’s uniform and kept her gaze fixed on a spot slightly above D.D.’s shoulder.
“This here is Hélène,” the cook said, pointing at the dark-skinned beauty. D.D. would peg the maid’s age somewhere between eighteen and twenty-three. Not as young as the niece, but still...
“This is Girl.” The cook pointed to the mayor’s niece.
“Girl?” D.D. interrupted. “You call her Girl?”
“She don’t mind.” The cook stared D.D. right in the eye. She had her thick arms crossed over her chest. A show of aggression. She also remained standing, while having the younger helpers sit. A show of power. She was in charge and she wanted everyone in the room to know it.
Beside D.D., Kimberly cleared her throat, a subtle hint for D.D. to move on. Why start with open warfare when you could build up to it?
D.D. pulled out her small notepad. “I’m going to need your full legal names and photo IDs.”
“Why?” Cook asked.
“Because I said so.”
“I got breakfast to prep.”
“Don’t worry, once the guests hear the news, they won’t be hungry.”
The cook glared at D.D. The two younger girls sat in silence on the wooden bench. D.D. didn’t like it. In her experience, employees talked. Especially the younger generation who barely recognized authority figures and had plenty to say about anyone who thought they were above them.
This... this was creepy.
Kimberly moved away from D.D.’s side. She drifted along the edge of the massive stainless-steel prep table, which was covered in flour and a pale mound of dough. The FBI agent conducted a brief inspection of the heavy door for the walk-in fridge, followed by a cursory exam of the commercial-grade dishwasher, complete with a stainless-steel hood and plastic conveyor belt for marching lines of dirty plates quickly and efficiently through boiling-hot spray.
She was drawing attention away, making it difficult for the cook and her younger charges to know where to focus.
“Legal name,” D.D. spoke up sternly. She bore her gaze into the cook. As the boss woman did, so the others would follow.
“I like Cook. Been Cook for thirty years and four marriages, God rest their miserable souls.”
Four marriages, D.D. thought. Four men had endured this delightful attitude?
“Well, Cook, I hear they’re always looking for help in county lockup. Though I don’t think you get to start out running the kitchen. You’ll have to work up to the position. You may find the auditioning process... different... than what you’re used to.”
The cook glared at her.
“I have all day. Do you?”
“Mary!” she said at last. “My legal name is Mary Theresa Josephina Smith.”
“Seriously?”
“Shut up!”
The older maid, Hélène, shifted slightly, the first sign of life from the woman. Repressing a smile at her boss’s expense or flinching from fear of future reprisal? Too hard to tell.
“Photo ID?” D.D. demanded.
“In my room. I’ll fetch it later.”
D.D. turned to Mayor Howard’s niece. “Your name?”
