Read Online Killer Gourmet by G.A. McKevett - Free Book Online Page B

Perhaps she had some viable suspects after all.
    She picked up her water glass, took a sip, and in as casual a manner as she could muster, she asked, “Of the folks you just mentioned, is there anybody in particular who stands out? Anybody you think could have done such a thing?”
    â€œWho knows? All of them? None of them? He wasn’t known for bringing out the best in people. But then, you know that. You saw him in action. You’re the professional. What do you think?”
    What do I think? Savannah asked herself. I think ol’ Chef Norwood had himself a passel of enemies inside this building tonight. And I think we’re going to have a booger of a time trying to figure out which one got to him first.

Chapter 5
    A s a general rule, Savannah was never happier than when those she loved most in the world were gathered around her kitchen table. Feeding friends and family was third on her list of great passions.
    Number one was catching bad guys—and the occasional bad girl—and making them pay for their evil deeds.
    Number two was taking a long, hot bubble bath while nibbling a piece of quality chocolate. And since she had married Dirk, the bubble bath/chocolate routine was solidly tied with hitting the sheets with her hubby. Whichever one she was doing at any given moment . . . that was number two.
    But tonight, the guests who were gathered around her kitchen table were hardly in a festive mood.
    Usually she was plying them with food and drink of the highest caliber. But since they had just consumed a large meal, no one was interested in the plate of home-baked chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies she had set before them.
    The gruesome sight they had all seen on the restaurant kitchen floor hadn’t exactly whetted anyone’s appetite either.
    Ryan, John, and Tammy were all studying the screens of their tablets, peering at photos they had taken of the crime scene.
    Still stuck in yesteryear, Savannah, Waycross, and Dirk had used their digital cameras and printed out the pictures from the printer stashed beneath Savannah’s home office desk. Their photos were spread across the table, all the more lurid in the red light cast by the stained glass dragonfly lamp overhead.
    â€œAt least we’ve got the murder weapon,” Ryan said, holding up his tablet for everyone to see and pointing to the close-up of a bloody knife that was lying on the floor between the stove and the body.
    â€œYou mean weapons ,” Dirk told him. He picked up one of the photos and shoved it under Ryan’s nose. “Dr. Liu said it was probably that knife that did the damage on his belly area. She’ll know for sure once she’s got him on her table and can measure the depth of the stab wounds and all that. But she said it was a meat cleaver that opened up his head like that.”
    â€œDid you find it?” Waycross asked.
    â€œYeah. It was on the floor a few feet away, over near the garbage cans.”
    Ryan shuddered. “Grisly. I’m sure I saw worse when I was in the bureau, but it’s been a while, for sure.”
    â€œSomebody had it out for him,” Savannah said. “Big-time.”
    â€œI was wondering,” Tammy said as she played with her bottle of mineral water and tried to avoid looking at the pictures, “if it had anything to do with the disturbance that went down earlier, when you guys had to go back there and settle things down.”
    â€œThose two guys, Carlos and Manuel, didn’t seem to think so,” Dirk replied. “When I squeezed them there at the restaurant, they said what happened earlier was no big deal. They’ve worked for Norwood a couple of years and said that’s just par for the course with him. Apparently, he was even better at throwing fits than he was at cooking.”
    â€œAnd pots and pans,” Savannah added. “Maybe he threw one at the wrong person and that led to him getting his hide