Turn up the Heat

bathroom. “I obey laws, okay? Who else, with this drugs everywhere? I do nothing wrong.”
    Did Belita think that I was here to ask her about Lean-dra s murder? “I just wondered if you had any happy memories of Leandra that I could write down here.” I showed her my memory pages. “Maybe you could ask your friends if they have anything to say about her?”
    “Leandra?” Belita blew air from her lips. “She like the others, you know? Nobody sees me here except nice Jason and Josh. And that Gavin, he pay me in cash, which I like very much. But that girl never see me!”
    Leandra regularly ignored the cleaning crew. I couldn’t write that! “Would anyone else you know want to say something?”
    “That Kevin! He takes bottles. All the time, he is taking bottles. Javier tell me this. That poor Gavin! He nice, nice man to me!”
    We had hit a communication breakdown. Among other things, I didn’t know enough Spanish to discuss memory books. And what did Belita mean about Kevin? He was taking bottles? Her accent, however, made Kevin and Gavin sound similar. Maybe I had misunderstood. Or maybe not. Both Kevin and Gavin picked up and moved bottles. Kevin was, after all, a bartender, and Gavin owned Simmer.
    “So Kevin took bottles?” I tried to clarify.
    “Si, Kevin take Gavin’s bottles to him! All the time! That Leandra know, and she no care!”
    I still wasn’t following, and I didn’t have time to try to decipher what she was telling me. I wished that I’d taken Spanish in high school and felt embarrassed that I couldn’t understand Belita. She knew a hundred times more English than I knew Spanish. “Belita, did you like Leandra at all?” I was willing to take anything, even some neutral comment.
    “Leandra was bitch!” Belita declared as she spat into a bucket.
    I sensed a common theme.
    “Okay. Well, thanks anyway.”
    “You? You is nice girl. You, I like.” Belita patted my cheek and left to do her work.
    Isabelle was one of the sweetest people I knew. I could certainly count on her to give me something appropriate for Monday’s celebration of Leandra’s life. I again braved the kitchen, where I now found Isabelle slicing beef tenderloin— and not, I was pleased to note, carving fruit displays.
    “Hi, Isabelle,” I greeted her.
    “Hey, Chloe! Look, Josh is letting me slice the beef for the party today. Isn’t that cool? Josh said I’ve been doing such a good job with everything else he’s taught me that he’s going to let me take on more responsibilities. I’m even helping him plate the dishes for that party!” She must have been the happiest beef slicer in the entire world. I silently thanked Josh for supporting her.
    “I’m so glad that you’re enjoying your job. Josh must be impressed with you if he’s giving you more responsibility. He makes everyone pay dues and earn his respect, so you must have been doing something right.” In case she felt unfairly treated in Josh’s kitchen, I passed along some of my feminist insights from the previous night’s dinner.
    Isabelle’s only response was to say, “Josh is great! I love it here!” She smiled as she continued working.
    I explained about the memory book and asked whether she had anything to contribute.
    Isabelle’s face hardened. “Leandra didn’t like me very much. Did you know she called me ‘rat girl? She used to tease me about having grown up the way I did, and she said Josh only gave me this job because he felt sorry for me. Do you think that’s true?” She clapped the knife down onto the cutting board.
    “No. Josh didn’t pity you, Isabelle. Josh talked to you before he offered you this job, right?”
    She nodded.
    “Well, he must have seen something in you that gave him a good feeling about hiring you. Nobody made Josh hire you. You got this job on your own, and you’re keeping it on your own.”
    Leandra was lucky to be dead. If she’d been alive, I’d have murdered her myself! Well, I’d have felt like it. In reality, I’d have delivered a nasty talking-to that included words like ignorant and insensitive , and I’d have engaged in lots of dramatic finger-pointing.
    “Leandra was terrible,” Isabelle said. “She fooled Gavin into going out with her. He is nothing but wonderful, and I don’t know how she tricked him into liking her, but she did. So, no. I don’t have anything to give you for this memory book!” The usually soft-spoken Isabelle had raised her voice enough to make Josh and