He paused and glanced up, a smile on his face. “Glad you liked it, Mom. I talked Oscar into adding a little lemon zest to the recipe. I think it freshens it up.”
“It was some of the best I’ve had,” I said. “I’m proud of you, Trey.” He grinned with pride and refocused on his work, deftly coring and dicing a green pepper. I thought back to what Pam said the other day about finding and following our passions. Maybe this wasn’t the life I’d choose for my son, but it really wasn’t my place to make that decision. Besides, it looked like he knew what he was doing in a kitchen. And judging by the food I’d tasted last night, he was a great cook. Which was a good thing, since he’d need to keep his job in order to pay me back for his college tuition bill.
I stopped just inside the door of the office, my eyes jumping from the top of the cluttered desk to the overflowing file credenza to a bookshelf stuffed with cookbooks. Every single surface of Oscar Belmonte’s office was crammed with papers, and I didn’t see the set of keys anywhere. Crossing to the desk, I gingerly shuffled through stacks of invoices and bills and finally found the keys buried under a pile of inventory sheets. I also found something else. A copy of Jodi Lee’s book, The Billionaire’s Bride. The very book where the victim was murdered with a nail gun!
I picked it up with a shaky hand. I told myself I was jumping to conclusions, allowing what might be innocent facts to excuse my innate distrust of this man. Because the book didn’t prove anything. Lots of people had read Jodi’s book. It was a bestseller, after all. Yet I couldn’t imagine The Billionaire’s Bride would be at the top of Oscar’s reading list. Unless he had it for a reason, had discovered the passage about Jodi’s victim, used that as his method to—
“Lila!” Oscar’s deep raspy voice caused me to jump. I dropped the book on the desk, a bit of torn napkin floating out from its pages, and I turned. He was standing in the doorway, his bulk filling the entire frame. “What brings you by?”
My mouth had gone dry, but I managed to pick up Trey’s keys and give them a little jingle.
Oscar smiled. “Oh yeah, that’s right. Trey said you’d be coming by for the keys. Why don’t you stay awhile? Your mother will be here soon for an early lunch. I could have Trey whip up something special for you two.”
“No thanks,” I croaked, moving toward the door. He stepped aside, peering down with a strange look as I pressed past him.
“Everything okay?” he asked. “Been meaning to give Althea a call to see if she’d gone by the garage this morning. Can’t drive too long on a spare. Especially not this time of year with the changing weather—”
He said something else, but I gave a little half wave behind me and just kept on going, zipping through the kitchen and out the front door. Once outside, I sucked in the cold air, willing my heart to stop racing as well as my mind. That shred of napkin could have marked any passage or simply been where the man had quit reading. Or . . . it might have been at the very spot that perfectly described the method of murder used to kill Chuck Richards. For Mama’s sake, and Trey’s, I certainly hoped not. But, for my peace of mind, I knew what I had to do.
Chapter 16
On the way across the lot to Trey’s car, I pulled out my cell and dialed Sean’s number. There was no answer. I stammered a bit, contemplating leaving a message about the book I’d found on Oscar’s desk, but I realized that no matter how I put it, it’d sound silly. What was I going to say? I’m calling to report a book reader? So instead, I hung up and planned to pop by his work later and explain in person.
In the meantime, I desperately wanted to pull Trey out of that kitchen and tell Mama to ignore any attempts by Oscar to meet with her, but I knew better. If it turned out that Belmonte was no more than a closet romance reader, my overzealous reactions would spell the death of any trust they’d ever have in me again. It was bad enough that poor Mama had reacted to my concerns earlier by doubting that she deserved a romantic friendship at this stage in her life, or that Trey had been so afraid of my reactions that he’d gone behind my back with his career versus college choices. No, I couldn’t risk damaging my relationships with them, not until I knew more or my suspicions were validated by Sean in some way.