Banana Muffins & Mayhem - Culinary Competition Mystery #5

Chapter 15

(Amy)

Amy stuck the red plastic coffee stirrer into the layer of foamy milk and drew a tiny line and then another. The barista had made a coffee art kitten on the top of her buttered rum latte, and Amy had just added the finishing touch to match the situation—devil's horns. It certainly felt as if she was meeting with the devil or at least one of his minions. That is if she and Geri were on the correct path to finding the killer.

At least she felt relatively safe surrounded by a packed house of Riverbend Café customers and employees who were almost like family to her after working with them for over a year. If she was attacked by a switchblade or even one of the café's mugs, which were so sturdy that she had seen them dropped on the hardwood floor resulting in not even a chip or crack, surely someone would come to her rescue. She checked the time on her phone. Ginny was five minutes late. More time to go over the questions she planned to ask and work at crossing all of her fingers and toes that the assistant wouldn't catch on to what she was really trying to figure out. Why were she and Nigel really still in Kellerton?

"Sorry I'm late," Ginny said as she plopped down in the chair on the other side of the table.

A tidal surge of adrenalin pulsed through Amy, right into the arm which was cradling the coffee mug. The latte art devil kitten came to life as her rattled nerves jiggled the cup. A tan stain bloomed on the napkin under the mug. Great way to start off the meeting. She had been so busy going over what she would say while staring at the fireplace, she hadn't realized Ginny had arrived. So now, thanks to the case of jitters, she was even more on edge. She forced herself to smile and said, "No problem. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me."

Ginny nodded. Her dark hair was slicked back and so stiff it looked as though she was wearing a helmet. It didn't move a millimeter when she turned her head to grab a couple of sugar packets from the basket on the table. Definitely not a hairstyle that would commonly be seen in Kellerton.

"So you said you wanted to talk about preparing for the audition?" Ginny asked.

The severe hairstyle seemed to match the production assistant's mood. She had been friendlier the last time they had spoken at the café. Amy forced another smile. "Well...yes. I have to say when I called you, I was surprised you and Nigel were still in town. I figured surely you would've finished looking for people for the show and gone back to Traverse City by now."

Ginny crossed her legs. She was wearing knee-high, black boots over hot-pink leggings. The lady-like move could be a habit. Or a position to make it more convenient to whip out a knife hidden in the top of a boot. Amy used the coffee stirrer to turn the sweet kitten drawing into an abstract swirl. Why was Ginny just staring at her instead of answering? Oh yeah—she hadn't really asked a question.

"Nigel and I are staying to do some more talent scouting. He and I have been going on press appearances with Phoebe for a few months. Nigel figured she was getting ready to bail, so we've been checking out replacements behind her back for a while. Since we're settled in at the K Hotel, we've just been doing follow-up interviews with people we're interested in who live in the metro Detroit area."

So they weren't looking for people just in Kellerton. Or so she said. "I see. I hope you're enjoying Kellerton more than Phoebe did. I don't think she liked the town very much."

Ginny rolled her eyes, which were ringed with bright-purple eyeliner. "She was crankier than normal. Nigel had been trying to get her to be more professional, so she was mad at him. Everything had to be done her way. Never mind that she had zero experience working on a television show before then. She made everything one hundred times more difficult for the crew because she refused to take any kind of direction or advice."