Murder at the Cooking School: Book 7 of the Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series by Dianne Harman Page B

Book Nook and how she was going to surprise him. When
she saw the skeptical look on Mike’s face, she walked across the room to where
the maid had set out an Italian newspaper for them when she’d cleaned their
room. Kelly picked it up and began translating the lead article that had to do
with the President of the United States, and how he and his family were coming
to Italy to meet with the Pope.
    “Okay, Kelly, you’ve made
your point. I believe you. Now tell me what you overheard.”
    She spent the next twenty
minutes telling him what the two women had said and concluded by saying, “I
don’t know if you want to tell the chief about it, but it might be something he
should know.”
    “Let me get this straight.
You’ve been in Italy less than twenty-four hours, and you just happened to
overhear a conversation which indicated that if Signora Nardo was
murdered there are five possible suspects. Remember, I won’t know until I learn
from the chief and the autopsy report if she was murdered. But let’s say she
was, and let’s say what you heard was correct.”
    Kelly interrupted him,
“Mike, what I heard was correct. That’s what I overheard.”
    “Okay, I’ll play along. Signora had a good-for-nothing brother who was jealous of her because she inherited the
castle and the land. Then there’s her lover’s wife. Uh-huh. Oh, I don’t want to
leave out the Mafia man. I mean anytime there’s a murder in Italy a member of
the Mafia has to be involved.” He deliberately avoided her gaze which was
getting steelier by the moment.
    He continued, “I don’t
want overlook the owner of the competing cooking school and last, but not
least, her husband, Signor Nardo. Kelly, doesn’t this all seem a bit too
convenient? Maybe those two women wanted you to overhear them. Maybe one of
them killed Signora Nardo and was trying to draw attention away from
herself.”
    “First of all, they didn’t
know I was there, and secondly, even if they had known, why would they assume I
spoke Italian? No one knows about that except Ginger, the owner of The Book
Nook. She remembered when we were in school how much I’d loved Italian.
Certainly no one here knows.”
    He was quiet for a few
moments. “Okay, I’ll grant you that. It just seems too coincidental that you,
of all people, would overhear that particular conversation. You’re probably the
only one here besides me who has been involved in solving crimes.”
    “That’s probably true, but
Mike, sometimes things can’t be explained logically. It just is what it is. I
think this is an ‘isness’ time, at least that’s the word I use when something
just is and can’t be rationally explained.”
    “An ‘isness’ time? Would
you like me to tell the chief that you heard this conversation because it was
an ‘isness’ time? That would go a long way to establishing my credibility with
him.”
    “Quite frankly, I don’t
care what you tell him, if anything. That’s your decision. I’m just telling you
what I heard,” she said jumping off the edge of the bed and flouncing into the
bathroom.
    When she walked out a few
minutes later, Mike said, “I apologize. I was being a smart aleck, and that
wasn’t fair. You’re absolutely right about sometimes things happen for no
apparent reason, and this is probably one of those times. I’ll see what the
chief has to say about the autopsy report and then decide whether or not I
should tell him what you overheard.”
    “That’s fair. Anyway, I
just heard the conversation. I never saw who was talking. It could have been
idle gossip or there could be some truth to it. What makes me think there is
some truth to it is that Chef Bianchi said pretty much the same thing about Signora Nardo and Giovanni Rizzo. Evidently his wife is one of the chef’s best friends,
and she’s been worried for a long time that they were having an affair.”
    “Why would she tell you
that?”
    “She said I was easy to
talk to. She was wondering if you’d