The doctors say he’ll be fine by the morning, but pregnant me is tied up in knots with worry.”
Angie waited for her to leave, then set the extra bottles of water down. And for the second time that night, she called Sheriff Brown.
Ian frowned when she came back to the waiting room. “I almost went looking for you. What happened?”
“I ran into a friend.” Angie decided she’d tell him the whole story later, not in front of an already upset Matt. “Are we ready to go?”
“I went to the room and said good-bye to Hope. She’s embarrassed, but at least she has color in her cheeks. I told her she owed me a carnival night soon.” Matt glanced up at Angie. “That was the right thing to say, right? I didn’t want her to know how crazy with worry I was.”
Angie glanced at Ian, who shrugged. Yep, he’d seen it too. There was a workplace crush happening here. “It was perfect. Ian will take you to your car. Go home and get some sleep.”
“Give us a minute,” Ian said to Matt, and then took Angie by the arm. “Okay, what happened that you’re not telling me?”
“Call me once you get Matt back to his car. I’ve got a few things to catch you up on.” Angie rolled her shoulders. “Maybe participating in this Restaurant Wars competition was a bad idea.”
“But you’ve made it through two rounds. Hope’s heatstroke wasn’t your fault.”
Angie knew he was right, but she was afraid that she’d just put another bull’s-eye on her and her team’s back. One that didn’t end well for Chef Nubbins nor for the Copper Creek gang. She stretched up on her toes and kissed him. “Just call me.”
Chapter 7
Monday morning started out with not just Ian in the kitchen for breakfast, but Felicia and Estebe there as well. Estebe had volunteered to cook omelets, so he was chopping meat and vegetables to mix into the eggs. Felicia was baking a couple loaves of quick breads to share. Angie sat at the table drinking coffee.
“So, you really think that the nachos were poisoned?” Ian asked as he rubbed Dom’s head. “I’ve talked to Allen, and he said they didn’t find any trace of nachos in Sydney’s trailer.”
“The trailer that was ransacked, remember?” Angie had a notebook out taking notes and writing down questions. “I’m just concerned that someone, probably someone in the contest, is trying to narrow down the field even more than the actual contest is doing.”
“And you think it’s Miquel. That’s jumping to conclusions, isn’t it?” Felicia popped up when the timer went off for the breads. She’d made a banana loaf and a dried cranberry and orange bread while Angie fed the zoo in the barns. Satisfied the breads were done, she grabbed hot pads and set the loaf pans on the counter to cool. Then she turned off the oven and picked up the coffeepot to refill everyone’s cups before sitting back down. “He’s not that bad of a guy.”
Estebe rolled his eyes at Felicia’s statement, which made Angie laugh. The two of them had been dating for several months, and from what she’d seen, the pairing worked. Even though Estebe didn’t like it when Felicia brought up other men. Like now.
“I knew him. I didn’t date him. Calm down, hot stuff.” She laughed as she paused by Estebe and kissed him on the cheek.
“I didn’t say anything,” Estebe protested.
“Whatever.” Angie drew a box around Miquel’s name. “All I know is he’s been acting weird. He all but threatened us at the market. Sarah agrees with me that he’s a problem.”
“Sheriff Brown talked to him and didn’t find any reason to think he’s a serial killer.” Felicia sat back at the table and sipped her coffee. “So, who else has a reason to knock off the competition?”
“Rumor has it that your friend Sarah is losing her business. The building she owns is needing too many repairs.” Estebe washed his hands and then sat down at the table with the rest of them. “I looked at buying that building five years ago to open my own