Chow Down (A Melanie Travis Mystery)

landed on the floor beside my feet.
    “Rock,” he said, grabbing the chair’s runner and pushing it down.
    “Want to join me? You used to love this chair when you were little.”
    “Nah. I’m too big to sit in your lap now.”
    He shook his head firmly and I gathered we were talking age rather than actual size. It seemed like such a short time ago that Davey had been happy to nestle in my arms. It was sad to think those days were over.
    “Nine months,” he said. “So if it’s July now”—he ticked off the months on his fingers—“that means I have to wait all the way until next March ?”
    “Maybe longer,” I admitted. “You can’t start counting until I get pregnant.”
    “Well, why don’t you?” Davey asked. From where he was sitting, it all looked easy.
    “Sometimes things don’t happen just because you want them to.”
    “Yeah, but you and Sam-Dad are married now.”
    “That helps.”
    Sam and I had been together for several years, but we hadn’t started trying to have a baby until just recently. Now it seemed as though everyone expected overnight results.
    Getting pregnant with Davey had been a breeze. It hadn’t required effort, or planning, or even much forethought at all. But I’d been nearly a decade younger and at a totally different place in my life. I was trying hard to be patient, but it was difficult when both Sam and I wanted it to happen so badly.
    “In the meantime, you’ve got Maggie to play with.”
    “Maggie’s pretty cool,” Davey agreed. “But she needs more hair.”
    I sputtered a laugh. “It’ll come.”
    “And when she grows up, she’ll be a girl.”
    “That happens.”
    “I think I’d rather have a little brother.”
    I reached down and ruffled his sandy hair. “I think when the time comes, you’ll take what you get.”
    Davey slithered out from beneath my hand. He’s reached the age where displays of affection mostly just embarrass him. “Can I pick the name?”
    “You can help.”
    “Cool. I’ll start thinking up some good choices.”
    “You do that. Girls’ names, too. Just in case.”
    “Okay.” Davey braced a hand against the toy chest and stood up. “Are you ever going to take a bath?”
    “Probably not.” We’d been talking so long that I’d missed my chance. “But that’s okay.” I reached over and gathered my son into my arms for a quick hug. “I feel much better now.”
    “You do?”
    “Nearly perfect.”
    “Not me,” Davey, wriggling away. “I’m hungry.”
    “Why don’t you go check on dinner? It smells like it might be almost ready.”
    Davey, never one to do things by half measures, dashed from the room. I stood up and followed, retrieving my wine from the bathroom before heading down to the kitchen.
    When I got there, the back door was standing open and everyone was out on the terrace. Sam was bending over the hibachi. Davey was setting the picnic table. The swarm of Poodles was supervising.
    It was the perfect start to a perfect evening. The weather was warm with a light breeze. The lamb chops were excellent. The company was sublime. I finally got to drink my glass of Chardonnay.
    In fact everything came together so well that I thought nothing could spoil my feeling of well-being. That is, until the phone rang later that night just before we went to bed. I picked up and found Bertie.
    “Here’s a news flash,” she said.
    “What?”
    “Lisa Kim has disappeared.”
    “No she hasn’t. I saw her earlier today. We went into New York for the Chow Down contest.”
    “And nobody’s seen her since.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “Since she was going to be gone most of the day she asked a mutual friend to dog-sit for her. Sue expected Lisa and Yoda to be back by five or maybe six. When she didn’t show up and didn’t answer her cell phone, Sue started calling around. Finally she remembered that I had a connection to one of the contestants and tried me. I told her I’d check with you.”
    It was nearly eleven now. The bus had arrived back at the Champions Company in Norwalk at around four o’clock. I hadn’t been paying any attention to her but I assumed that Lisa had gotten in her car and left, just as the rest of us had.
    So where had she been for the last seven hours?

20
    “I s Sue still at Lisa’s place?” I asked.
    “She’s been there all day,” Bertie confirmed. “Lisa and Larry don’t have a huge kennel, but still, you can’t just go out and leave ten dogs to fend for themselves. Sue