glove on. He had watched enough to know they don’t normally wear gloves, and not in the locker room. Then the guy was in his stuff briefly before he hurriedly walked out of here and to his station. He stuck his finger into the food, then removed the glove.” He walked over to a trash can and lifted a few things before retrieving a plastic baggie with a glove inside from the trash. “And put it into a baggie, tossed it here, and then went to wash his hands.”
The last few minutes ran through my mind. I remembered him walking away and coming back, then I glanced up as I put a seafood platter next to a chicken plate and saw him washing his hands.
“I know what plate it was. The other diner at his table had a seafood plate.” Malick nodded and rushed out of the kitchen into the dining room.
“So Ricardo was getting the E. coli on his finger and then putting it into the food?” I rubbed my temple. “I can’t believe he would do that to me. Of everyone in my kitchen, it was him that I trusted the most.”
“I’m sorry about that. I need to get a little more information from you if you don’t mind.”
“Yeah, let me get the kitchen shifted around.” I turned back to the kitchen, but as I looked around, the staff was already back to work. All of them quiet, several frowning as if they couldn’t believe what had happened. Well, stand in line. “You guys know what to do.”
I turned and walked into my office. We had been short before, and we were on the decline with meals coming in at this time of night, so I knew that they could handle it.
The officer and I sat in my office, and I explained everything that had happened while giving him copies of all the reports from the Health Department and explaining about the cameras.
“Those cameras were a good idea, and the guy on the other end was observing. As soon as he saw something out of the ordinary, he called us.”
“Do you know who called?”
He glanced at his notes. “Mike Johnson, Safety Zone Security.”
I nodded. Not sure why I was disappointed that it hadn’t been Harvey, but I was.
He asked me a few more questions and then said that a detective would probably be in touch with me the next day. I stared at the phone. I needed to call Randolph, but it was after three in the morning there. It would have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.
I returned to the kitchen, where the conversation immediately died as I stepped into the room. I inhaled and then released it slowly.
“I’m only going to ask this once; was anyone in here aware that he was doing that?”
Everyone answered no immediately as they shook their heads. “That’s messed up, Chef,” Malick said.
Tobias, who had taken over Ricardo’s position, frowned. “I can’t believe he did that to you because he wanted your job. I’m glad you smacked him. If you hadn’t, I would have slugged him.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t right,” Ben called out. “ I can’t believe he hurt people to make you look bad.”
A few others voiced their thoughts, and I felt a little better knowing that they all disapproved of what he had done.
The meals were done, and we were starting our cleanup for the night when there was another bang at the back door, and I sighed. “Good god! What now?” I muttered and then raised my voice. “David, will you get that?” I called over my shoulder as I prepared to break my station down.
“Got it, Chef!” He opened the door, and I expected police to come rushing through again, but no one did. Instead, Dave stood at the back door for a moment, talking to someone. He glanced toward me, grinned, and then spoke to someone before he took something from them and closed the door.
I didn’t see what was in his hand, and he held it behind his back until he reached me. “Chef, you have a delivery,” he said as he attempted to hide a smile as he held an envelope out.
It looked strangely familiar, and as I took it, my heart fluttered nervously. I pulled the card out, and the original words that were written were scratched out with new ones written under it. “May I have this dance, Ali Davidson?”
My eyes snapped to the back door, and before I even consciously knew what to