A Catered Christmas Killer (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) (3 page)

She took her time, letting herself regain her composure in private, gathering the few things she’d need over the next few days out of her car. She left her pots and pans, hoping that Grace had enough still at Sinful Sweets. They’d had to ration what they had so they could both work in different places. Now Sydney felt guilty for taking anything after seeing what was available in the kitchen.

She brought her bag of clothes and her personalized knives, able to carry everything in one trip. She saw Maple’s hair all over her bag of clothes and realized she already missed her dog. She’d make time tonight to call Mia and see how things were going there.

“I was thinking of making the bean dip and the artichoke dip today since they’ll keep the best. If I have time after those are done, I’ll also make some of the gingerbread cookies,” Sydney announced when she found Julia sitting at the kitchen island, reading a magazine. She’d hoped that she’d be able to work alone for two days until Grace arrived on Saturday.

“That sounds perfect. Did you buy canned or dried beans?” Julia asked.

“Dried. So I’ll get them going right away in the crock pot and make that dip last.”

“Don’t you think you should cook them overnight so they’re really soft?”

Sydney was wishing even harder that she could work alone.

“I’ll see if they get done in time. Otherwise, I can always make it first thing in the morning tomorrow,” she said, knowing they’d be done in time to make the dip tonight if she could get them all cooking immediately.

She started opening cupboard doors looking for a crock pot or the biggest pots she could find. They would need a lot of beans and she would probably have to put them in two different pots.

“Second door to the left,” Julia directed.

Sydney grimaced to herself with her back to Julia and lifted the first of two crock pots out from under the counter. She was pleased to see that between the two, she’d be able to easily cook enough beans all at once.

She poured in the black beans, followed by twice as much water. She’d let them soak in the water for a couple hours while she prepared the spinach artichoke dip.

She first filled the sink with water and poured in just over a cup of white vinegar. Even though they’d bought all organic produce, the transportation of vegetables attracted dirt and germs that she didn’t want to feed the guests.

Sydney could feel eyes like daggers in her back. She turned to see that Julia had put down her magazine and was staring at Sydney.

“I always use a diluted vinegar rinse to wash my veggies,” she explained without being asked. The eyes had said enough.

Julia silently picked her magazine back up and continued reading.

This could be a long weekend,
Sydney thought to herself. She continued washing the vegetables that would go into both the artichoke and black bean dips, knowing it would be a late night if she managed to make both kinds of dip today.

As the vegetables sat in the rinse, Sydney made herself lunch, helping herself to anything that was in the kitchen, per the terms of her contract.

***

“How’s everything going?” Marcus asked his wife when he got home from the gym that evening.

Julia hadn’t left the kitchen once. Sydney was disappointed to not be fully trusted with preparing the food for Saturday’s party, but she’d managed to ignore Julia’s presence as much as possible. She had finished the artichoke dip and gingerbread cookies and was just about to start on the black bean dip.

“We’re moving along,” Julia said, her voice lacking confidence.

Marcus wanted nothing to do with the preparation and grabbed a beer out the fridge before leaving the kitchen.

“Are you sure the beans are done?” Julia asked.

“Yup. I’ve been keeping an eye on them all afternoon and mashing them as they cooked,” Sydney reassured her. “They’re well done and ready to be put in the food processor with the other ingredients.”

Julia didn’t respond, just returned to another magazine.

“Do you want to try a gingerbread cookie?” Sydney asked, hoping to make amends before the end of the day.

“I’d love that.”

Sydney brought a plate of cookies over. A few had broken when she’d taken them off the baking sheet, and she’d tried one already. It had been delicious. She’d used bell and snowflake cookie cutters and had artfully applied icing to two thirds of them. The rest she’d left plain.

“What do you think?” Sydney asked, when Julia had swallowed her first bite.

“It’s good. I think it will be better with the icing. Let me try one of those.”

Sydney was disappointed she wasn’t getting the same praise she’d received during her interview. She gave Julia a fully intact bell shaped gingerbread cookie with icing in stripes across it.

“Could we have some that are the traditional gingerbread shape?” Julia asked.

“There are already 150 cookies. I can make more tomorrow. How many gingerbread men do you want?”

“Let’s do another 50. These are delicious with the icing. You should add icing to all of them, too.”

Sydney smiled and turned back around, continuing to work on the black bean dip. She could feel Julia continuing to watch her, but she didn’t give her the pleasure of making eye contact until she had finished.

She started cleaning up, filling the dishwasher, soaking the crock pots and wiping down the counter.

“You’re finished then?” Julia asked, finally standing up. Sydney wondered how big her bladder was.

“For tonight. It’s past ten and I’m exhausted. Tomorrow will be a full day of baking and then Grace will be here Saturday morning to help with the finishing touches. I think I made good progress today,” Sydney said with satisfaction.

“Alright then.”

Julia turned and left in the direction that Marcus had headed hours earlier and Sydney was left to make her way to her room for the night.

She’d been told to use the back stairs, not the staircase by the front door, and as she walked upstairs, she pulled her phone out of her pocket for the first time since she’d arrived at the Durans’ in the morning. Three messages.

How’s everything going? Sinful Sweets is BUSY!
Grace had written in the morning.

Thinking of you and reliving last night,
Austin had written at lunch time.

The kids love having Maple! Maybe we’ll have to get our own dog . . .
Mia had written a few hours ago.

It was too late for Sydney to call Mia, but she would try to make time the next day. She responded to the other two messages.

This is going to be a loooong weekend. But incredible kitchen,
she wrote back to Grace. She couldn’t wait for Grace to arrive on Saturday to help absorb some of Julia’s micromanagement and to share in her love of the cooking space.

Thinking of you, too. Looking forward to the next meal we share!
she wrote back to Austin. She hadn’t actually thought of him all day, but now that she was alone and going to bed, that’s all she could think about.

***

Friday morning, Sydney got up early. She was used to waking up and getting to the bakery when it was still dark. She was excited to get a jump start on the day’s baking without Julia hovering around her. She was happy to see that no one was in the kitchen and everything was just as she’d left it.

She started by finishing the dishes. She emptied the dishwasher and washed and dried the pots in the sink.

Then she got busy with almond snowballs and gevulde koeken. They’d both keep well until the next evening when they’d get eaten.

She was just finishing the powdered sugar coating on her final batch of snowballs when Julia walked in.

“You’re up early,” Julia said by way of greeting.

“Best time to be in the kitchen!” Sydney said, ready to give Julia another chance. Sleeping away her frustration and spending the last few hours baking alone had cleared her mind and given her a fresh outlook on the previous day. “Want to try a snowball? They’d be a great breakfast!”

“I think I’ll wait. Marcus and I will be gone most of the day. I hope you’re alright with that,” Julia said, disappointment lacing her voice that she wouldn’t be in the kitchen with Sydney again.

“I should be able to manage.”

“Just call if you need anything. And make yourself at home.”

“Thanks.” Sydney was surprised at the more than welcoming tone in Julia’s voice before she finished speaking.

Julia and Marcus fixed themselves a quick breakfast that they ate in another room to give Sydney space to continue working, and then made themselves scarce.

Sydney found her rhythm and fell in love with her job all over again.

It was still early and she started getting bread dough ready to be baked later in the day. Her goal was to get half of the loaves finished and then have Grace finish the final loaves after she arrived the next morning. She also wanted to get the quiches finished, and make the additional 50 gingerbread men. The dipping oils and the parfaits could be made at the last minute and would be best fresh anyway. She’d make the deviled eggs the next morning, while Grace worked on the dough. But she would hard boil all 300 eggs today so they were cooled and easy to shell tomorrow.

Sydney began mixing the first batch of dough—flour, water, salt and yeast. A simple recipe that, when cooked correctly, was mouthwatering and addictive. Each batch of dough made two loaves and she’d cook them each in a Dutch oven at 475°F.

The trick was getting the consistency right and not letting the crust burn at the high temperature.

When she was happy with the first batch, she set it aside to rise slowly and began on the second. Her hands were covered in dough when the doorbell rang.

She suspected the bartender would come at some point today to take stock of his area, but she assumed he’d made plans with Julia to come when Julia was home. Given her helicoptering the day before, Sydney didn’t think she’d want him doing anything without her overseeing it.

Sydney wiped her hands on her apron and headed to the door, feeling funny about opening the front door at someone else’s house and greeting a stranger.

“Sydney, hi.” Ryan stood on the threshold with a dozen roses.

“Ryan. Julia and Marcus are gone for the day,” Sydney told him, not inviting him in.

He looked surprised, like he’d expected to be greeted by a welcoming Julia. “Well, I’ll see her tomorrow night then. No message. You don’t have to tell her I was here. I’ll call her.” His last statement was more of an afterthought than an actual plan.

He abruptly turned and walked back to his car.

Sydney remembered the look Julia got in her eyes when they were at Natural Wonders yesterday. There was no mistaking the lust she felt for this man. Sydney recognized it from herself when she thought about Austin.

She made herself put that out of her mind, knowing it wasn’t her business, and returned to her dough.

After the fifth batch, the first one was ready to be punched down. She got to work, rhythmically working on each batch in turn.

By the time the first one was in the oven, evenly divided into two Dutch ovens, she was ready for a break but knew there wasn’t time for that. She set to work making the quiches—spinach, ham and cheese.

The phyllo dough wasn’t her favorite to work with, but she knew it made a better quiche than a traditional pie crust. It was worth the extra work to have the buttery flakiness melt in your mouth. Today, she would just get them all ready and would bake them tomorrow afternoon.