Murder with Collard Greens and Hot Sauce by A. L. Herbert
Author:A. L. Herbert [Herbert, A. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00+00:00
Chapter 22
âWas that handsome Cuban fellow there?â Momma inquires as soon as I walk into the kitchen at Sweet Tea.
âHeâs Dominican. And no, Alex wasnât there,â I respond, before asking, âWhat are you doing here?â Itâs late afternoon and Momma has usually left Sweet Tea by now.
âLike you,â Wavonne interjects, âsheâs nosy, and came by to see if you had a rendezvous with Alex while you were at Moniqueâs house.â
âWell, like I said, he wasnât there. At least I didnât see him.â
âYou are going to reach out to him and offer your condolences, arenât you?â
âJust as soon as you make me that Bundt cake, Momma.â
âDonât nobody make Bundt cakes anymore,â Wavonne says. âWhat is this? 1972? Maybe you guys can go to the discotheque in some go-go boots while youâre at it . . . you know, relive your glory days.â
âThe seventies were not my glory days, Wavonne. Iâm not that old. I was a child when discos were all the rage,â I protest. âNow, can we change the subject? Weâre opening for dinner shortly, and I still see greens that need to be chopped.â
âThatâs my cue to leave.â Momma grabs her purse from the stool next to her. âIâm going home . . . will see if I canât find that Bundt pan of mine.â
I roll my eyes. âBye, Momma.â
âLater, Aunt Celia,â Wavonne says.
While the kitchen door swings closed behind Momma, I walk around to the other side of the counter and examine the heap of leafy collard greens that were delivered this morning from one of the few local farms left in the county.
âTheyâve been washed?â I ask Tacy, whoâs standing next to me with a chopping knife in his hand.
âThree times.â
âGood. Nothing worse than gritty greens.â I turn to Wavonne. âLetâs grab a few knives and help Tacy with the chopping. Our supply was starting to run low at lunch, and these will take a couple of hours to simmer.â
Iâm sure Wavonne had planned to duck into the break room and surf on her phone until we open, but she grabs two knives, albeit very unenthusiastically, hands one to me, and keeps one for herself. The three of us begin using the knives to remove the stems from the individual leaves and lay them on top of one another in piles.
âSo, what else happened over at Moniqueâs?â Wavonne asks, and I realize why she gave me so little grief when I asked her to help with the greensâshe wanted to stick around and get the gossip.
âNot much,â I say. âI arrived, got my supplies, thanked Lena for them . . . oh, and Nathan was arrested.â
âWhat?! Why didnât you tell us that when you came in?â
âLike I had a chance with Mommaâs hounding me about Alex and Bundt cakes.â
âGirl, you better spill some tea.â
âJack was there.â
âJack Spruce? Your law enforcement admirer that youâve been stringinâ along for years so heâll keep givinâ you inside info?â
âI have not been stringing him along, Wavonne. I genuinely like him. I just donât feel that way about him.
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