We found Steph in the kitchen, where she was assisting the cook in getting dinner ready.“We bumped into your brother just now,” said Odelia. “With Dominic Stewart.”
“I know!” said Steph, who looked better than she did last time we spoke. She had a blush on her cheeks, and flour in her hair, which she had pinned up in a messy bun on top of her head. She was kneading dough, that was going to be used to create something called dumplings. “Dad was totally shocked. For a moment there I thought we’d better call an ambulance, but then he pulled through.”
“Did you know?” asked Odelia as she sampled a tasty-looking dish.
“I found out by accident this afternoon when I went looking for Ben. It’s why Kevin’s been running off all the time. He and Dominic sort of live together in a loft above Ben’s garage. They all knew about it—Ben and Catherine and their staff. But they respected Dominic’s privacy too muchto blab. Which is admirable. The staff here can’t keep a secret if they tried.” She gave Odelia a keen look. “So have you found my husband’s killer yet?”
And as Odelia and Chase informed her about the state of the investigation, Dooley and I decided to wander off in search of something to eat. I mean, we were in the kitchen, so there had to be something! But even though we could smell food, we didn’t find it—they had it all tucked away someplace we couldn’t see! Talk about sneaky! Of course they would tell everyone who would listen that they did it to keep out mice and rats. But in actual fact they did it to keep us out!
At some point the cook must have taken pity on us—though it could be that she simply couldn’t take us looking unwaveringly piteously in her direction—for she placed some nice pieces of chicken on a dish and we ate them with relish.
And so our stomachs filled, we decided to go for a tour of the house. On the second floor we heard loud voices, and moved closer to have a listen. The voices belonged to Steph’s parents Ian and Raimunda, and the topic of conversation was, as one would have expected, their son Kevin. And since the door was ajar, we simply slipped into the room, and eagerly listened in on their back-and-forth.
“I always knew he was gay,” Raimunda was saying. “Didn’t I tell you? Never came home with a girlfriend, and he skipped senior prom, even though Mallery Cooper later told us her daughter Becky had wanted him to go with her. That should have told us everything we needed to know, cause Becky was a looker.”
“I don’t care that he’s gay,” said Ian. “But why a Kosinski! There are so many nice boys around, why pick the Kosinski kid of all people, that’s what I don’t understand!”
“They’ve been together ten years,” said Raimunda with a frown. “That means they started dating when they were eighteen. No wonder he gave Becky Cooper the slip. He and Dominic were already an item. Wait till Mallery hears about this.”
“Oh, who cares about Mallery Cooper, or her stupid daughter!” Ian cried as he grabbed his hair with his hands. “Our boy is getting married to the Kosinski kid! This is the worst day of my life. Do you know what this means? We’ll be the talk of the whole town!” He paced the room frantically. “He did it on purpose, didn’t he?”
“Who did?”
“Ben, of course, who else! He set this up—I’m sure of it. He set this up to humiliate us—to humiliate me!”
“Oh, get over yourself, Ian. Ben had nothing to do with this. Or do you really think our son is such a pushover that he would be forced into a relationship against his own will?”
“No, I guess not,” Ian had to admit. Then he suddenly looked up in alarm. “Does he know? Ben, I mean. Does he know about this?”
“According to Kevin Ben has known all along. Right from the start.”
“He’s known for ten years and never said a word? What’s wrong with that man!”
“What’s wrong with you! Can’t you stop obsessing about Ben Kosinski for one second and be happy for our boy! He’s getting married, Ian. Our boy is getting married. And if you don’t stop with this Kosinski nonsense we just might lose him. I can tell you right now that if you keep this up, he and Dominic could very well decide to move away from here, and we’ll never see either one of them again!”
“But—”
“Not one more word, Ian! I mean it!”
Ian gave his wife a pleading look.“But it’s Kosinski, Rai.Kosinski.”
“So? Better get used to it, honey. Cause in just a few months Ben Kosinski will be part of this family.”
“Oh, God!”
CHAPTER 39
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Robbie could have kicked himself. Now why did he have to go and make a total fool of himself by trying to kiss Steph? Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d been mooning over her for the past couple of days? Not to mention the fact she had just lost her husband and was in no state of mind to even contemplate reciprocating his heartfelt sentiments of devotion? Why couldn’t he just play it cool?