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Fine dining with crime on the menu!  INSPECTOR PASCAL MYSTERIES 1000
#25 Table Manners by T.K. Naliaka ©2016 “Pleased to meet you Mr. Pascal.” “Enchanté, Madame Olinger.” A spry, silver-haired seventy-three years old, she insisted. “Call me Collette.” She leaned past him to address the large, heavy man seated on Pascal’s left. “You could take some pointers from this gentleman here, Mr. Hubert.” Red-faced and uncomfortably bulging out of his tuxedo Hubert snorted. “I earned my millions without being a gentleman.” Collette curled her lip. “Manners don’t cost anything. Mr. Pascal, what do you do?” Pascal demurred, “Nothing worth millions.” Hubert jabbed one of the shrimp on his plate, plunged it into the red tomato cocktail sauce and stuck it into his mouth. He gagged, “Spicy!” Hubert dropped the fork and quickly reached for his water glass. The fork, counter-weighted with the shrimp, clattered off his plate, somersaulted and landed on Pascal’s lap. Collette gasped as red sauce splattered on her white chiffon sleeve. “Hubert, you slob!” With patient restraint, Pascal set Hubert’s fork back on the table. Collette offered. “Come. I’ll show you the lavatories.” A few minutes later, Pascal stepped out, still brushing at the damp patches on his black tuxedo pants. Collette emerged dabbing at her wet sleeve. “Honestly, if I had known Hubert was attending, I wouldn’t have signed up for tonight’s dinner.” She looked at him. “You don’t seem very familiar with these subscription dinners.” Pascal shook his head ruefully. “It was recommended to me to try.” She patted his arm reassuringly. “This isn’t typical!” He murmured conspiratorially. “Maybe we should wait until Hubert has finished the next course.” Collette laughed. They returned to their seats. As Pascal helped Collette with her chair, he glanced at Hubert. Hubert had face-planted into his bowl of soup. He heard Collette exclaim. “Ugh! Mr. Hubert, you don’t have to be such a pig!” Pascal grimaced, then he noticed with a pang of alarm, the woman on Hubert’s left who had her head on her arm, resting on the table. He looked at the others; everyone slumped in some manner beside or over their bowls of soup. Collette gasped. “This is a bit creepy! What on earth is going on?” Pascal reached out, quickly lifted Hubert’s head and pulled the bowl away. Pascal wiped Hubert’s face and pressed his fingers against Hubert’s neck to feel for a pulse as Collette pushed Lady Wynona out of her bowl and blotted the soup from Wynona’s nose. Pascal shook his head disbelievingly. “I think they’re all drugged!” Collette looked aghast at her untouched bowl, “The soup!” Pascal hurriedly re-positioned another guest who was half-submerged in his second course. Pascal glanced up as he heard voices coming from down the hallway to the kitchen, then he quickly gestured to Collette as he jumped back to his seat and lowered his head. “Act like you’re drugged too.” Her eyes widened, but she did as he told her. Pascal carefully eased out his phone. A moment later, two masked men carrying large canvas sacks exited the kitchen. After two rings, his call connected. The voice was small and a bit squeaky. “Hello?” Pascal frowned. “Who’s this?” “Robby.” Pascal glanced cautiously at the men approaching at the other end of the dining room and whispered. “Robby, this is Inspector Pascal; is your father there?” “He’s in the shower?” Pascal winced. “It’s an emergency, can you get him? Tell him I need his help – hurry!” “OK, but he doesn’t like to be bothered while he’s in the bathroom.” The men began stripping the unconscious diners of their jewelry, watches, phones and wallets and stuffing what they could find into their bags. Pascal pressed the video button, eased his arm out surreptitiously and carefully pushed his phone into the floral centerpiece. His other hand felt along his belt under his tuxedo jacket. On the other side of the connection, Robby peered at the small phone screen as he knocked on the bathroom door, “Dad? There’s a phone call for you!” A minute later, one of the men made it to Hubert, tugging to unfasten Hubert’s watch, then reached his right hand into Hubert’s jacket pocket. He cried out with fright as the next sleeping man suddenly came alive, grabbed his arm and smacked a steel handcuff around his wrist. Pascal snapped the other cuff around the armrest of Hubert’s chair. Robby jumped, “Whoa!” “Leroy!” The other man swore as Leroy haplessly pushed and pulled against Hubert’s dead weight, yanking frantically at the locked cuff. Furious, he impetuously pitched his sack across the table to hit Pascal, but Pascal dodged and caught it. Empty-handed, the man swore again as Pascal tossed it under the table, then kicked Leroy’s sack out of Leroy’s reach. Pascal stumbled as he turned to face the man charging at him. He twisted around to see Leroy had grabbed his ankle. “Sean! I got him!” Pascal was slammed back against the table. Sean’s hands squeezed tight around his neck. Robby jumped up and down, excitedly pumping his fist. “Hit him! Hit him!” Sergeant Braque, with only a towel wrapped around his waist opened the bathroom door. He frowned. “Robby, are you playing a video game on my work phone?” Pascal smashed his forearms against Sean’s arms to break the choke. Sean snatched up a steak knife and lifted it high, but he flailed blindly when Collette hit him over the head with a solid silver candlestick. Pascal wrested the knife from him, drew up his legs and kicked Sean away to crash against the serving carts. He grabbed a wine bottle, lunged after him and dropped Sean with one blow. Four minutes later, police were swarming in from every entry. Pascal spoke into his phone. “Yes, Sergeant; your cavalry has arrived. Everything’s secure.” A moment later he added, “Robby? Thank you for your help.” Pascal slipped his phone back into his pocket with a wry smile. “That’s it.” Collette laughed. “So! It’s Inspector Pascal! You must promise me you’ll come to next month’s dinner!” Pascal chuckled. “I don’t know… will Hubert be going?” by T.K. Naliaka ©2016 |