“It’s OK, baby,” Michael said, then walked to Chef Brogna and put his arm around him.

  “The whole damn plan is ruined now,” Chef Brogna said, frustrated. He seemed to shrug the whole thing off instantly. “Screw it. Layton, you and Alex might as well follow us to the tiki lounge and Michael can pour us some drinks—and I do mean pour.”

  Alex and I followed our hosts to the back of the room, down a small hallway, and out a sliding glass door.

  “Wow,” I said. “I love it.”

  The backyard consisted of a pool surrounded by concrete, but the staging was impressive. In the left corner was a full outdoor kitchen with a thatched straw roof overhead. Multi-colored lights were strung along the high and private bamboo fence. There was an actual tiki bar under a smaller thatched roof building Michael directed us to where we sat on comfortable bar stools. By the pool were several lounge chairs, while in the pool there was a chair float.

  “I really do love what you’ve done here,” I said.

  “What can I fix you guys to drink?” Michael said. “I make a mean piña colada.”

  “That sounds good, but make mine non-alcoholic,” I said.

  “Same for me,” Alex said.

  “I’ll grill us up some sliders,” Chef Brogna said, then walked to the grill in his stainless steel outdoor kitchen that was built into a stone surround. “Let me put some music on. I’m not sure how appropriate Dalida is at this point, but that’s what I have ready.”

  I listened as the sound of a woman singing softly in French played over the speakers in the tiki bar.

  “I’ve always liked Dalida,” Alex said. “This song is “Paroles Paroles” and the man talking in between her singing is Alain Delon. The first time I had sex with another guy this song was playing in the background. I think Dalida and Alain’s voices together are—”

  “Sublimely sexy,” Chef Brogna said. “The song always gets to me too.”

  Alex smiled as I held my hand out to him. He took it and we danced slowly by the pool. I turned so I was behind him with my hand around his waist, and I nibbled on the back of his neck.

  “Yeah, this is a very sexy song,” I said.

  “I think the detective likes your taste in music,” Michael said, while he made our drinks.

  “The detective does,” I said, and smiled. Something next to one of the lounge chairs caught Alex’s eye for a moment, but then he leaned back and ground his ass against my crotch. I spun Alex around, then caught him up in my arms, held one of his hands in mine, put my other hand at his waist, and we slow danced.

  “Is this the way most setups go?” Alex said, whispering in my ear.

  “Not usually,” I said. “But the night is still young.”

  Chapter 12

  Playing Games

  OUR DRINKS WERE ready about the time the song ended, so Alex and I stopped dancing and returned to our bar stools.

  “Mmm,” I said, after sipping some of my frosty concoction. “You do make a mean piña colada, Michael. How long have you and Chef been together?”

  “We’ve been together three years, married a little over one.”

  “Congratulations,” I said. “Do you and Chef Brogna dress up in such seductive finery for all your guests?”

  Chef Brogna laughed, then drank from his glass which looked like it contained wine.

  “Chef bought his caftan especially for tonight,” Michael said. “We tried our best to do what that bastard Baker wanted and still screwed up.”

  “Big surprise there,” Chef Brogna said. “I’m just one big screwup these days.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, honey,” Michael turned to the chef and said, before giving us his attention again. “That damn Jack Baker has everyone at the inn deeply affected and like my poor baby—all shook up. Baker’s two goons Barry and Tanner have workers at the inn so rattled they can’t even think straight.”

  “How is Baker getting away with everything he does?” Alex said.

  “Jack Baker gets the goods on everyone, then threatens them and makes them do what he wants,” Michael said. “And his two goons carry guns with them that they flash around every once in a while. That bastard Barry even waved his gun in my husband’s face to get him to agree to doing this thing tonight.”

  “What’s he got on you, chef?” I said, trusting an instinct I had.

  “Why do you ask that?” Michael said.

  “It’s OK,” Chef Brogna said. “I’m sick of this whole thing.” He plated some sliders then brought them to us. “I’ll make some more while you guys eat those. It’s easier to talk about my situation while I’m cooking.”

  I picked up a slider and took a bite—it was a perfectly cooked thin piece of steak between two tasty buns. “Good stuff, Chef,” I said.

  Michael and Alex each grabbed a slider and we all turned our attention to Chef.

  “It happened before I met Michael,” Chef Brogna said. “I was so lonely… fat, pathetic, and lonely—and desperate… pitifully desperate. The funny thing is that I really did need to stop and take a leak and the public restrooms were right in front of me.” He paused for a long moment, then continued as he cooked. “While I was pissing, this good-looking guy walked in and used the urinal next to mine. He made eye contact with me but I just concentrated on what I was doing. When I finished peeing, the guy turned my way and shook his hard cock at me. ‘Just touch it,’ he said. Everything inside me told me not to, but I was so damn lonely and desperate that when the guy said ‘please’ I reached out and touched it. That was when he flashed his badge at me. Oh, the games people play. Life is all about playing games, isn’t it. Stupid, ugly, vile games.” He slapped his spatula hard on the counter and Michael looked his way. Chef held his hand up. “I’m alright. Melinda stood by my side as a true friend through that whole ordeal. Fucking cops… and fucking us doing the same thing—or trying to and failing pathetically.” He began to weep, and spoke through tears. “God! I can’t help a woman who’s been one of my best friends for years because I’m fucking terrified of her damn punk ass brother-in-law. That asshole found out about what happened and says he can cause trouble between me and the cops anytime he wants. I can’t go through that again—I just can’t.”

  Michael moved to walk toward Chef but I stopped him and went myself. I put my arms around Chef Brogna and let him cry on my shoulder for a few seconds. The man had reached his breaking point.

  “Hey, chef,” I said. “I’m still hungry, how’s about some more sliders?”

  Chef laughed, lifted his head from my shoulder, and spoke. “I love a man with a healthy appetite.” He straightened up, patted my back, then went back to cooking. “Just don’t get fat like me, Detective Shayne.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with having something extra to love on,” Michael said. “I know I love me a big man.” He laughed and the rest of us joined in.

  “You’re a regular chubby chaser, my sweet boy,” Chef Brogna said, then chuckled.

  I helped him bring the finished sliders to the bar and chef sat on the bar stool at the end. He put his hand to his head then placed his elbow on the bar and spoke.

  “What a damn mess. Do you think you can help us, Detective Shayne?”

  “Yeah,” I said, then lifted a hot slider from the plate. “What was the exact plan for tonight… and call me Layton?”

  “You were going to get Layton into a compromising position then take pictures, right?” Alex said.

  “Jack Baker said he wanted to distract Layton by causing some strife between Layton and you, Alex,” Michael said. “Baker didn’t like Layton cozying up to Brandon. He was scared Brandon was gonna talk. He told my chef baby that he wanted us to get some pics of Layton that could be used to cause problems between you, but my baby refused. That is, until the goon waved his gun in my baby’s face.”

  “I almost peed my pants,” Chef Brogna said. “I knew Barry could kill me without so much as blinking an eye.”

  “The lens on the hidden camera you set up was too low to get a good picture, even if Layton was lying down in the lounge chair next to it,” Alex said.

  “Damn, he saw the camera and everything,” Chef Brogna said. “We really are inept.”

  “You are him,” Michael said, out of the blue while looking at Alex. “I told Chef I thought I recognized you from a picture I’d seen in class. You’re the great photographer Alex Kennedy, we’ve studied your work.”

  “Oh, um, thanks,” Alex, said shyly. “My last name is Shayne now.”

  “Cool,” Michael said. “Your nude photographs are absolutely amazing. Now I’m embarrassed. We really do look like amateurs.”

  “Considering you were about to set Layton up, it might be a good thing you’re amateurs,” Alex said.

  “Down deep, you guys didn’t want to do it,” I said. “That’s why you screwed up so badly. How many pictures did Baker ask for and with what sort of details?”

  “A few is all he mentioned,” Chef Brogna said. “And with enough details to get Alex jealous and all worked up.”

  I looked at Alex. “What would it take for you to get all worked up, babe?”

  “It’s hard to say,” Alex said. “First off, I would’ve just assumed it was something you had to do for the case, so I wouldn’t necessarily even be upset.”

  “Well, let’s come back to that later, then,” I said, then looked at Michael. “Did you take that picture of Melinda’s husband with the naked girl?”

  “Nobody took that picture,” Michael said. “But I know the guy that combined two pictures in Photoshop and printed it out for Jack Baker to show Melinda.”

  “I tried to warn her,” Chef Brogna said. “I told her to take a really good look at that picture.”

  “How long have you known Melinda Baker, Chef?” I said.

  “We grew up together here in town, before her last name was Baker. I went away to school, but I came back and catered Melinda’s wedding to Callum Baker. That was my gift to them, just like I always told Melinda I’d do when we were kids. Her grandma came all the way from Brazil to go to the wedding and she praised my cooking, which was a huge compliment to me.”

  I smiled. “I’m sure you deserved the compliment,” I said. “The thing I’m having a hard time with is figuring out how Jack Baker got in a position to have so much power at the inn.”

  “Well, Jack Baker wasn’t in the picture except for having attended Melinda and Callum’s wedding,” Chef Brogna said. “The Mt. Ore Inn has always been in the Baker family, passed down from oldest son to oldest son. Callum is the oldest son, but he went off to fight overseas. At the time he left, the inn was being run by Sam Chambers who was a good man. Melinda handled taking care of the guests, and she left the running of the restaurants to me. She hired me to work here when I graduated cooking school. Anyway, poor Sam Chamber’s daddy in South Carolina had a stroke and Sam had to move up there to take care of him. He offered to stay a couple days to help Melinda get settled in her new position running the inn, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She’s a sweet soul really.”

  “Poor Sam,” Alex said.

  “Yeah,” Chef Brogna said. “Melinda wouldn’t hear of Sam staying to help her and she honestly thought she could run things herself. But, she had a hard time of it, what with taking care of Brandon and it being our busy season for parties and events at that time. I’m guessing Jack Baker caught wind of things and came over offering to help. He acted like he really cared about Melinda and Brandon and wanted to be of assistance while his brother was away.”

  “How long before things changed?”

  “Not even a year,” Chef said. “Jack was having high stakes poker games in the lakeside guest suites when Melinda was doing volunteer work at the hospital, not even a month after he started here. His people also deal drugs out of this place. Anybody that said anything was threatened, sometimes he implied he’d hurt Melinda or even Brandon. There were always insinuations that accidents could happen to anyone at anytime if they didn’t do as he said.”

  “And did any suspicious accidents happen?” I said.

  “One of the young men who helps with maintenance threatened to tell on Jack Baker once, after he attended one of Jack’s poker games and lost badly,” Chef Brogna said.

  “The man ended up being beaten so badly he’s still in a coma,” Michael said. “Chef had me send an anonymous note to our police department about what Jack was doing—fat lot of good that did.”

  “I saw Jack Baker hand the investigating officer a nice big bribe with my own two eyes,” Chef Brogna said.

  “Do Melinda and Callum seem like the real thing to you, Chef?” I said.

  “Oh, they are the real deal,” Chef Brogna said. “But, I understand why you’re asking me that question and I can explain things for you.”

  “I’m all ears,” I said.

  “When Jack Baker first got here he really charmed Melinda by being super attentive to Brandon and talking highly about Callum,” Chef Brogna said. “Melinda can be very naive when it comes to people. She wants to see the best in others and is slow to think badly of them. Jack Baker hid all the things he did from Melinda and even Callum to a certain extent when he got back. He even watched this place by himself, and told Melinda and Callum to take a one week vacation with the boy. That was when that evil bastard Jack Baker put his full plan into action. Planting things in various places to set up Callum, and getting the staff to whisper things about Callum and another woman. He even acted distraught and put out about his brother’s so called affair. Melinda didn’t want to believe it, but the fix was in as they say.”

  “Damn,” Alex said. “That’s a pretty evil thing for one brother to do to another.”

  “Never underestimate a greedy fuck like Jack Baker,” Michael said, then drank some of his piña colada.

  “Indeed,” I said, and thought about what Shiloh Key would have in store for Alex, Sassy, and me.

  “What will Jack Baker do if you don’t bring him the pictures of Layton he wanted?” Alex said.

  “God only knows,” Chef Brogna said.

  “Then I think we’d better come up with a game plan,” Alex said.

  Chapter 13

  Not Again

  “YOU DO KNOW WHAT that means, right?” I said. “Jack Baker’s expecting incriminating pics or he’s gonna give our friendly chef here a hard time. And by incriminating pics—”

  “I know what you mean by incriminating pics,” Alex said. “It means that yet again, Detective Layton Shayne has to go naked for his art.”

  “Huh?” Chef Brogna said.

  I grinned. “It does seem like that sort of thing is happening pretty regularly in my job lately.”

  “Did it happen that often when I wasn’t in the picture?” Alex said.

  “Yeah, actually,” I said.

  Alex huffed loudly, then spoke. “Examples, please.”

  “Are we having our first argument?” I said.

  “Please tell me it’s not because of us,” Chef Brogna said.

  “Well, Layton’s gonna have to get naked with one of you, so Jack Baker doesn’t go after you and break your fingers or something,” Alex said.

  “He did actually threaten that once,” Chef Brogna said.

  “Baker really did,” Michael said. “No lie.”

  “One time I had to go undercover as a male stripper for women,” I said, deliberately changing the conversation. “And once I went undercover at a nude campground—before the gay one we were investigating that had the zombies. I went undercover as a male escort another time—oh yeah, and there was when I posed as a centerfold. That time I wore a cowboy hat and showed my ass… but I did it for a local charity calendar, not undercover.”

  “And what did your ex Hank think about all that?” Alex said.

  “He did the charity calender too,” I said. “I think it kind of turned him on hearing about the other times. But then he was screwing my nephew so why would he have cared what I did?” That shut Alex up, but then I felt guilty. “Since I’ve met you, Alex, I’ve done nothing behind your back. You’ve been alongside me every step of the way.”

  “Aww, that’s sweet,” Chef Brogna said. “Let’s just forget all this picture business. I’ll try and stall Baker and his boys.”

  “No, you can’t do that,” Alex said, deflated. “He’ll never believe it. I’ll go ahead and take some pictures for you to give him. A chef with broken fingers wouldn’t be good for the Mt. Ore Inn’s restaurant.”

  “Nope,” Chef Brogna said. “My apprentice is cooking at the inn tonight and God bless him, he tries… but he’s got a ways to go yet.”

  “No offense to either of you,” Michael said. “But I’m not enjoying this whole… whatever it is—situation. I’ve never done anything away from Chef and neither of you two are my type.”

  “You keep calling Chef Brogna ‘Chef’,” I said. “Why don’t you call him by his first name?”

  “I find it sexy to call him Chef,” Michael said. “Besides, he hates his first name.”

  “Which is?” I said.

  “Willy, and it’s not even short for William,” Chef Brogna said.

  “Chef it is then,” I said.

  We were all silent and a bit downtrodden, when Michael spoke. “I can’t believe world famous photographer Alex is here and I can’t even watch him at work.”

  “Why not?” Alex said, and his eyes lit up. “We can just think of this as a photography lesson. Michael’s a photography student and there’s not really any reason Chef can’t be the one to pose with Layton… unless Jack Baker specified it had to be Michael in the pictures.”

  “He didn’t,” Chef Brogna said. “If we handle this like a photo class for Michael I wouldn’t be so nervous about it either.”

  “And what else would I teach but a nude photography class, since that’s my specialty,” Alex said.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27