Recipe for Murder Read Online Free

Then he seemed to think better of it. “Yeah,” he grumbled. “It would help a lot.”
    â€œHe’s not my type.”
    Ned laughed in spite of himself, and they left the cooking school and walked back to the hotel.
    They met Bess and George in the main lobby.Bess was reading a pamphlet whose pages were covered with pictures of pastry. “Tomorrow we get into dough. I mean, really into dough,” she said rapturously. “Puff pastry with Bavarian cream filling.” Bess closed her eyes in mock ecstasy. “This is what I call heaven.”
    â€œHog heaven,” George remarked, which earned her a withering glance from Bess.
    â€œDid anything exciting happen in your classes?” Nancy asked. Both girls shook their heads. “Ours was a real doozy,” Nancy added. Quickly she filled them in on what had happened with the oven.
    â€œNancy thinks there’s some kind of mystery going on,” Ned told them. “This school seems a little too accident-prone.”
    â€œAnd there was Claude DuPres’s remark about someone being after him,” Nancy reminded them. “I wish I knew how he was doing.”
    â€œWhy not call the office?” George suggested. “Maybe they’ve heard from the hospital.”
    â€œGood idea. I’ll see if I can find out where Trent Richards is too.”
    Nancy went to a pay phone and called the office. The receptionist told her that there had been no word on Chef DuPres’s progress. He was being carefully watched at the hospital, and he had definitely had a heart attack. When Nancy asked how she could contact Trent Richards, the receptionist told her that she wasn’t at liberty to give out his address.
    â€œI guess I’ll have to wait and talk to Richards tomorrow,” Nancy said, returning to their group.
    Bess rubbed her eyes. “I’m bushed. Let’s get something to eat and then go to bed early.”
    â€œGood idea,” said Ned.
    They ate dinner at the hotel coffee shop, but Nancy didn’t have much of an appetite. Her head was too full of the events of the day. She kept thinking about Chef DuPres and Trent Richards.
    A heart attack and an unforeseeable accident. But was that all that was going on?
    After dinner Ned walked them toward the south tower and to the glass elevator that led to the upper floors. “See you tomorrow,” he said.
    â€œRight. Tomorrow,” Nancy answered distractedly.
    â€œStill thinking about the fire?”
    Nancy sighed. “Yeah. Among other things. You know, Chef DuPres collapsed right after he ate that hors d’oeuvre. Do you suppose . . . ?” She left the thought unfinished.
    â€œDidn’t the school tell you it was something to do with his heart?” Bess asked.
    â€œYes, but he was afraid. I distinctly heard him beg for help.” Nancy shook her head. “And then that fire in our classroom and the way Richards reacted.” Nancy turned to Ned. “He got mad, remember? He raced out as if he were ready to tear somebody apart.”
    â€œCome on,” George said. “Let’s hit the sack.I’ve got another big day of chopping and slicing ahead.”
    Ned kissed Nancy and said goodbye. Then the elevator doors closed in front of the three girls’ faces. The elevator whizzed upward, and soon they were on the seventeenth floor.
    â€œThis hotel is really nice,” George said sleepily as she unlocked the door to the room she was sharing with Bess. “Lucky we got a reduced rate through the cooking school.”
    â€œMy room’s right next door,” Nancy said, unlocking her own door. “I’ll knock on the connecting door and wake you guys up in the morning.”
    As Bess followed George inside their room, Nancy heard George warn her cousin, “Just don’t leave your makeup all over the bathroom counter this time.”
    â€œYou worry about the silliest things,” Bess