A Taste of Death (Maggie Olenski Series) (11 page)

"Okay
," she said, backing out of the parking space. "Just tell me the way." She
promised herself after that evening’s treat
she would put aside all thoughts of the murder for several hours, and immerse herself completely in "Math Games and Puzzles
,"
even if she had to do without another night's sleep.

M
aggie stood in the foyer of Morgan's and looked around, impressed with the atmosphere of the place which, despite a certain
formality, managed to have a coz
y feel to it. She wondered how that had been achieved.

"You should have been here a couple years ago," Dyna said. "What a difference. Early seventies dowdy. This is a transformation."

At that moment a hostess appeared, menus in hand. A fifty-ish, slightly plump and friendly-looking woman, she smiled at Dyna's comment. "Karin Dekens did the decorating. She started working on it shortly
after the Morgans took over. Karin
put on the final touches just a few weeks ago."

"The Morgans?" Maggie asked. "Dan is married?" She remembered seeing him at the town meeting during the growing debate. He had sat silently alone.

The hostess, whose name tag read, "Vickie
,"
grimaced. "I should be more careful about that. Brenda Morgan was kill
ed a year ago
in an accident. I was hired to take her place here."

"Killed! How sad," Dyna said. "What happened?"

"She was driving alone, late at night on icy roads, when she apparently lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. Dan was devastated."

With Dyna looking close to tears, Maggie said, "How brave of him to carry on with a business they must have planned together."

"Yes. I'm sure it's what Brenda would have wanted. Dan's immersed himself in this place ever since. It's been his life. I'd like to see him get out a little more, but," she added with a smile, "his customers certainly appreciate his dedication. His specialties always get raves. Table for two?"

Vickie led them to a
table near the large fireplace
and
, after mentioning a few special
s not on the menu, left them to decide.

"See, I told you we'd be seated right away," Dyna said.

Maggie nodded, still taking in the atmosphere of the place. Decorated in blues and beiges, the room had a colonial theme that didn't jump out at you, she felt, but slowly snuck into your consciousness. She liked it. And she liked being near the fireplace which had a low fire glowing in the grate, the smell of hickory barely discernable. Pewter pieces graced the mantel above, and antique-looking prints decorated the walls.

The few patrons on this week night were scattered widely at the other tables, and she recognized Regina White at a corner table with two companions. Maggie's attention having been diverted by the room itself when she first entered it, she now realized that she had passed by the table of the Dekens family - Karin, Alexander and their young son Ethan - and her gaze settled on them.

"I can't decide between the
eggplant Parmesan, or the herb
-cheese omelet with sun-dried tomato," Dyna said.

Maggie hadn't even looked at her menu, and quickly began scanning it. "The Beef Bourguignonne sounds good."

Dyna wrinkled her nose, and Maggie countered with, "I'll need the protein to get my brain cells working on my book tonight."

"What you'll be getting is a lot of fat."

"Well, my brain cells will need some fat too." Maggie knew a lot of what Dyna said about diet made sense, but she also knew she wasn't ready to give up foods that still had an emotional, sentimental hold on her. She had grown up in a family that ate pot roast and had back yard cook-outs on Sundays. The smell of smoking hamburgers or steak always carried pleasant memories with it. Then there were the teen-aged group trips to MacDonald's or the local pizza place. How could she give up the good feelings those foods still gave her? She couldn't, was the answer, so she decided on Beef Bourguignonne.

A young waitress came and took their orders, and Maggie picked up a bread stick from the basket she had left behind. As she nibbled at it, her gaze returned to the Dekens' table. So Karin had decorated Dan Morgan's restaurant. Maggie remembered seeing Karin and Dan deep in conversation at the town meeting, shortly after the meeting adjourned. She also remembered Alexander walking by, his lips curling unpleasantly as he looked at the two, and she wondered what exactly that meant.

Alexander's face had a flushed look to it tonight, and he reached for his wineglass after each bite of food, which necessitated refilling it often. Karin's face had the studied lack of expression Maggie had seen before. Only Ethan, their four-year old, seemed to be enjoying himself, murmuring quietly to himself as he lined up peas on the edge of his plate.

"Regina's over there in the corner with some of her picketers," Dyna said, breaking into Maggie's thoughts. "Now that Jack's gone, I wonder what they could be planning?"

Maggie glanced over at Regina's table. The older woman's expression looked just as fierce as she conversed with her companions as it had during the debate at the town meeting. Maggie suspected, though, that Regina carried the same intensity into most areas of her life. She could picture Regina discussing the likelihood of snow coming with an "argue to the point of death" approach.

"I wonder," she said to Dyna, "if Jack's departure will actually be the end of Regina's or Paul Dekens' problems, as far as Big Bear is concerned. I've been thinking about it, and it's possible Jack's power in his company may just be passed on to others, who might continue to follow the course he set."

"I hadn't thought of that."

"You keep playin' with your food like that, son, and you'll make the famous Chef Morgan mad." Alexander's voice came loudly from his table, his words slurred. "You don't wanna get someone with a room full of meat cleavers mad."

Maggie's attention, as well as that of the entire room's, flashed to Alexander. He tipped his chair back on two legs, then drained his wine glass in a single gulp. Etha
n had frozen in his little game
and stared wide-eyed at his father. Karin reached over and brushed a few stray hairs from her son's forehead, murmuring something softly.

Maggie looked back at Dyna, who raised an eyebrow at her, but as their waitress arrived at that moment with their dinners, said nothing. The normal conversations of the room gradually resumed, and Maggie turned her attention to her food.

Vickie was winding her way slowly through the tables, exchanging pleasantries, when she neared the Dekens' table.

"Why don'cha ask Chef Morgan to come out and join us?" Alexander called out to her, an unpleasant grin distorting his face. "There's a chair right here for him, right next to Karin." He kicked it out several inches with his foot as if to prove his point.

Vickie answered genially that Dan was very busy and asked if they'd care for dessert.

Karin shook her head no, her dark hair swinging softly, and began gathering their things. She offered a last drink of milk to Ethan and rose to help him off his booster seat, avoiding looking at her husband and the other diners. Ethan immediately ran to the foyer, stopping to play with a large spinning wheel that sat in a nest of potted plants.

Alexander stood up unsteadily, scraping his chair noisily.

"Hey Chef Morgan," he called out, "your decorator's leaving. Don'cha want to come out? Give her a nice, big hug?"

The door to the kitchen slapped open, and Dan Morgan emerged, wiping his hands on his white apron, a dark scowl on his face. He spoke quietly to Karin, who had gone up to him, and she shook her head. Maggie ca
ught some of her words: "It's okay
. I'm sorry."

Karin took her husband firmly by the arm and led him to the foyer, he stumbling and protesting that she hadn't said a proper good-bye to her special friend. Somehow she managed to get the three of them out the door, leaving behind a room of uncomfortable diners, some pretending nothing had happened, others exchanging knowing looks and muttered comments with their companions. Dan Morgan pushed back into his kitchen without another word, and gradually the level of noise in the room returned to normal.

"Poor Karin. I had no idea," Dyna said, poking at her omelet with her fork, looking distressed.

"Annette told you Alexander had gambling debts. Looks like he has other problems too."

Dyna just shook her head. "Poor Ethan," she said, and pushed a forkful of omelet into her mouth, chewing glumly.

Maggie watched, realizing she'd have to distract her somehow or Dyna would be up all night with indigestion. She searched her mind rapidly and pulled out a subject that was never far from reach.

"By the way, I've been struggling with a section in my book, lately. Maybe you can help. Would you mind?"

Dyna looked up. "Help you on your math book? I don't know anything about math, you know."

"Yes you do. I need to know if I'm explaining something clearly enough. Would you listen to it? Tell me what you think?"

"Sure. Go ahead." Dyna forked some lettuce into her mouth and munched, her gaze no longer returning to th
e door through which the Dekens
had just departed, but fixed on Maggie, some of the distress in her eyes replaced with a flicker of interest.

Maggie told her about the magic square, quoting the directions as closely as possible. Since she had worked that explanation over at least a dozen times, it wasn't hard to do. "Does that make any sense to you?"

"Yeah, I think so." Dyna turned her fork around and drew with the rounded end on the tablecloth. "What you're saying is you divide up a square into nine small squares, and pick different numbers to put in them." She tapped her fork on the table into her creased squares. "And the numbers in each row have to total up to the same thing no matter what direction you go in. This way, this way, that way...." Her fork made horizontal, vertical and diagonal swipes on the table cloth. "Is that right?"

"Yes! You got it." Maggie beamed at her, and Dyna beamed back.

"I guess that means if I understood it, some elementary school kid's gonna get it too, huh?"

"Dyna!" Maggie said, exasperated. She hated when Dyna put herself down like that. She had just drawn a breath to say so, when someone's loose sleeve brushed her shoulder in passing, distracting her.

"Sorry," the woman apologized, pulling her jacket tighter t
o her. Maggie smiled an "It's okay
," recognizing one of the people who had been sitting with Regina. Regina followed in a moment, but
toning up her pea coat. She paused at their table, checking out
their plates.

"Good," she fairly grunted to Dyna. "I see you're continuing to take your diet seriously." Her words were approving, but anyone hearing only the tone, or seeing her face might have thought she was scolding Dyna. Maggie wondered what it would be like to truly be on the receiving end of Regina's wrath, and hoped she'd never find out.

"Yes, Regina, I've been cutting out meat for nearly a year now. Have you met my friend Maggie Olenski?"

"Saw you at the town meeting. How do."

Maggie shook the firm hand Regina held out to her. She felt uncomfortably on the edge of a squirm as she noticed Regina glaring at her plate of Beef Bourguignonne, but a flash of annoyance brought out her stubbornness instead. She speared a chunk of beef and popped it into her mouth, smiling benignly up at her critic as she chewed. Regina continued to glower, but Maggie thought she caught a glint of amusement in Regina's eyes before she turned back to Dyna.

"You came to the right restaurant for a good choice of vegetarian meals. Had to convince him
,"
Regina tossed her head in the direction of the kitchen, "it was in his own best interests to add them, but he did a good job on it once he got going."

Maggie wondered what form Regina's 'convincing' took, and how she managed to persuade Dan Morgan - who looked like he had a stubborn streak of his own - to do something he might not have originally intended. She was picturing the two matching glare for glare when Regina broke into her reverie.

"You two hear about the school's fund-raising dinner?"

"Uh-huh," Dyna answered, "today, as a matter of fact."

"You can buy tickets from me, if you like. I wasn't going to be involved, with it being at the Warwick's home. But now it's just Mrs. Warwick, I don't mind. It's a good cause, you know." Regina smiled for the first time, and Maggie wasn't sure if it was in honor of the good cause, or at the thought that now there would be one less Warwick in attendance.

Maggie realized she wanted to find out more about this woman
,
and she spoke up before Dyna could respond. "We would like to help the
school. As a teacher myself...
" Maggie paused and saw Regina's face immediately show approval, as she knew it would. Everyone she met since she received her teaching degree seemed to react the same favorable way, which was pleasant, but would have been even more pleasant if that approval had extended to voting for increased teachers' salaries. She continued, "...I understand the often dire needs of schools. Can I stop by and get the tickets from you tomorrow?"