Chapter Six

“Laura, can I talk to you for a minute?” Angel was watching a soap opera in the living room when Laura returned from her adventure with the cows.

“Sure.” Laura joined her at the fireplace, curious and a little guarded. She didn’t trust the other woman.

“I wanted to apologize to you for not doing my share,” Angel said, “for not following the schedule and making you and Phyllis pick up the slack.”

Caleb must have chewed her ass. Laura bit her lip to avoid laughing at the fake look of remorse on Angel’s face. So, what was the catch? Laura wasn’t buying the apology, not for a minute, but she decided it might be fun to play along.

“I am just so happy you’re up and about.” Laura played her role as a concerned friend. “Phyllis and I were worried about you.” She screwed up her face into a look of true concern.

“Things are looking up,” Angel said. “I think I have a pretty good chance of winning this competition now.”

Laura knew exactly what Angel was referring to—the romantic interlude with Caleb the night before. Had Caleb really fallen for Angel’s ploy? Laura knew Caleb was headed out for an evening with someone named Jenny. Laura doubted Angel knew about that.

Laura held out her hand. “Let the best woman win.”

Angel shook hands, a fake smile turning up her heavily glossed lips. “I hope you have a back-up plan, Laura. I would hate to see you homeless.”

Laura dropped her hand and turned to leave, no quick quip coming to mind.

“You’re making lunch, right?” Angel called out.

“Yep, that’s the plan,” Laura answered.

“We’ll see you then,” Angel called.

Laura trailed up to her room, in need of a shower and a change of clothing. The taste of dirt from the cattle barn still lingered in her mouth. At least Holly had been fun, and Josh was as laid-back as a person could be. If only Caleb was as easy to understand as his brother was.

 

* * *

 

“Laura!” Caleb walked into the house yelling for her, and she was quick to respond, as she was only a few feet from the front door.

“I’m in the kitchen.”

“Maybe he’ll know where everyone is for supper,” Phyllis said. Phyllis and Laura had been waiting for the men for almost a half hour. “It’ll be cold by the time they show up,” Phyllis added.

Caleb enter the kitchen. “Hi, Phyllis.” He turned toward Laura. “Can I talk to you in the living room for a minute, please?”

“Sure.” She exchanged a worried glance with Phyllis, and then followed the boss out of the kitchen, back to where she and Angel had visited earlier. When they were alone, she asked, “What’s the matter?”

“What exactly did you put in lunch today?” Caleb towered over her, his hands balled on his hips.

“What do you mean?” She hated to be on guard. “It was just plain chili and grilled cheese.”

“Did you use some weird spices?”

“No.” She shook her head, struggling to remember what combination of seasonings she had used. “Not at all. In fact, I went light on the spices because I wasn’t sure how hot your guys like it.”

“They like it spicy,” Caleb said. “But unfortunately, there was something in it that has kept them in the bathroom all day. None of them has been out of it long enough to get anything done. Whatever you put in there made them sick, Laura! I can’t afford to have all my men too ill to work. You hear me?”

“You’re shouting at me, Caleb. Of course, I can hear you.” She sank onto the nearest chair, stunned. “I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. I cooked the burger long enough. What could have made everyone sick?”

“I have no idea, but you damn well need to figure it out, so it never happens again.”

Caleb stalked from the room, leaving her sitting in stunned silence.

Laura could hear him telling Phyllis to pack up the dinner because the men wouldn’t be leaving the comforts of their beds tonight. Blinking back the tears stinging her eyes, Laura left the living room for the privacy of her room.

Angel, dressed for a night out, met Laura halfway down the stairs.

“I heard yelling,” Angel said. “Is everything okay?”

“Sure, just fine.” Laura blinked fast to clear the tears from her eyes. “Well, except all the men are ill and can’t go party with you in town tonight.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Angel looked crestfallen.

“Caleb said no one is going tonight. I guess there was something in the chili that didn’t agree with them.” Laura brushed past Angel. “See you tomorrow.”

Laura slammed the door to her room, glad Caleb had the heavy kind of doors that made a firm thud when they were slammed. She kicked off her shoes and then flopped onto her bed. How the hell had her cooking made anyone sick?

She was fine, and she’d eaten some. Phyllis wasn’t sick, either. Only the men had gotten sick, although, Caleb looked fine, and he’d eaten his share, too. Were they all sick or just a few of them? She considered the spices she used again. Just the usual ones—chili powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt. The meat had been completely fried before she even added it to the tomatoes. She wanted to crawl under the blankets and hide. Nothing more embarrassing to a cook than making people sick.

Her laptop, resting on the table in the corner of the room, dinged, letting her know she had a new email waiting for her. Curious and feeling lonely for her family, her support system, she stood and went to see who was contacting her.

An email from her sister and a few spam emails were in her inbox. She deleted the junk and opened the note from her sister, Maria, now known as Liz, a former teacher of high school kids in the inner-city.

Watch your back, Bre, she wrote, forgetting to call her Laura. They found Vinny. Careless idiot was still using his credit cards. I love and miss you. M.

“The news today just gets better and better.”

Laura flopped back onto the bed, switched on the TV to the Travel Channel, and wished she could be anywhere but where she was at the moment—even in the haunted, Scottish manor house some pretty blonde British chick was exploring.

 

* * *

 

Phyllis won the first round of the cook-off. The guys hadn’t had a hard time picking the winner, seeing as Angel had been absent most of her scheduled meals and Laura’s chili had made everyone sick. Having the ladies out there was definitely bringing more excitement to the place, but Caleb was still spending another boring Friday night in front of the TV.

“Hi, Caleb.”

Laura’s voice from the doorway surprised him, and he turned to see her.

“You probably aren’t too excited to see me right now, huh?” She leaned her hip against the back of the couch, facing the fireplace. “Sorry if your plans were ruined for the evening.”

She looked like she had been crying; her eyes were red rimmed and looked puffy in the light. He’d been too hard on her, probably. Her other meals had been terrific, and she had a work ethic he didn’t often encounter—even when she was pushing around cows that weighed five times more than she did.

“I don’t believe you set out to make the guys sick.” He flipped off the television and motioned for her to sit.

She sniffed and shook her head. “I’m headed to the kitchen to see the ingredients I used. I want to double check that I didn’t grab something odd without realizing.”

“I’ll come with you.” He tossed the TV remote on the couch and stood up. “Maybe together we can figure it out?”

Laura went straight to the pantry and came out carrying a few small spice containers.

“I’ll check if there’s anything out of the ordinary in there.” He went inside the small room but couldn’t see anything unusual on the shelves, certainly nothing that would cause someone to get ill.

He joined her again in the kitchen, empty-handed, and watched silently as she studied the petite containers, checking their dates and smelling them.

“Do you have any of the ground beef left?”

She pointed him to the stainless-steel fridge. “It’s in the meat keeper, in a zip baggie.”

To the naked eye, it looked fine, and even after he opened it and smelled it, it seemed perfectly usable. “Is this the leftover chili in here? In the plastic sealed container?”

She got off her stool and looked over his shoulder into the fridge. “Yeah, that’s it.”

He pulled it out and took it to the counter. Opening it, he immediately noticed an odd smell. He brought the bowl closer to his nose and then farther away, frowning.

“What do you smell?”

He pushed the container toward her nose, and she ducked her head to get closer.

“Eww,” she said. “Is that peppermint?”

He put the plastic container down and walked toward the dining room.

“Where are you going?” she called from behind.

“Come with me.” He looked at her over his shoulder. “I have an idea.”

He walked through the vacant dining room and into the bathroom used by the staff. He slid open the medicine cabinet, not at all surprised to find the laxatives missing. The cabinet was always stocked with the usual pain relievers, sore muscle gels, stomach ache pills, and probably as recently as this morning, there’d been laxatives in there too.

“Well?” Laura stood behind him, her hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans.

“It would appear someone added the peppermint-flavored laxatives to your stew. They’re missing, and that’s what I smelled in the chili when I open the container.”

“Who would do that?”

He stared at her, marveling at her naiveté. “Considering you’re competing for this job, I guess there could be a number of choices.”

“But I’m not the one suffering; your men are.” She walked back into the kitchen and slumped onto a chair. “How will we know who did it?”

“Good question.” He joined her at the table. “Who had access to the kitchen all alone today?”

They both considered the question.

“I was with Holly at the barn until eleven. Anyone could have slipped something in the pan. Really anyone who had been in the kitchen anytime today could have done it. If they had the idea, had a plan, all they’d need is a few minutes alone, I would guess.”

“Who was here when you got back?”

“Phyllis was working in the laundry room.” Laura dropped her head into her hands. “I can’t imagine she would do something so mean. She’s a good cook in her own right, a nice lady.”

“You saying I should hire her?”

Laura’s head popped up. “I would rather you didn’t.”

He chuckled at her fast reaction. “Any men hanging around?” Caleb asked. “I think they were supposed to be out on the field, getting the harvest set, but one could have snuck in here.”

“Were there any men who didn’t get sick?”

“Nope. Josh said they all were. They all ate. Josh, too, I’m afraid.”

“I’m not sick,” Laura said. She motioned his way. “You’re not sick. Phyllis and Angel are fine. We all ate it.”

“But we ate out of the pot in the kitchen, not the dishes and the dining room.”

“Right.” She agreed with a nod. “So someone had to slip it into the pot in the dining room?”

“Would appear so, yes.”

Laura left the room a few minutes later, having gathered as much information as they would get at the moment. What else could be said? Someone was out to get the Morning Glory, and things just seemed to be getting worse. Missing fertilizer from the week before and now poisoned chili. Any more disasters and they’d have a serious crisis on their hands.