In the wrong place at the wrong time, but so were we all.
The Chief Constable took over again.
“There has been some speculation in the media that the bomb was planted in an attempt to assassinate a foreign national.” He paused. “Whereas it is too early for us to comment, I can confirm that the occupants of box number 1 were switched with box 6 down the corridor. This switch had been made at the request of the new occupants of box 1 since they would then be able to accommodate a larger party in boxes 1 and 2 with the dividing wall folded away between them instead of having two separate rooms as originally allocated. The switch was made early last week. It would appear that the explosive device was detonated by a timing mechanism. We have yet been unable to establish for how long the device had been in situ and therefore we have to consider the possibility that it was intended for a different target than that actually hit.” He paused again before adding, “As part of the security check for the foreign national, the air conditioner in box 6 was opened and inspected early on Saturday morning and found to be clear.”
Oh great, I thought.
The press conference went on for a while longer, but it was clear that the police had no idea who was responsible and seemingly no leads to act on.
My phone rang.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Chef?” said a voice. “Gary here. Are you coming to work?”
Gary was my sous-chef, my underchef. My apprentice.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“At the Net,” he said. He always referred to the restaurant as “the Net.” “But I can’t get into the kitchen.”
“I know,” I said. I looked at my watch: ten-fifteen. Our normal start time was ten. “Who else is there?”
“Ray, Julie and Jean are here, and the kitchen porters are somewhere around,” he said. “Oh, and Martin’s here too,” he added.
Martin, my barman, must have recovered, I thought. It was he who had gone to the hospital on Friday night.
“How about Richard and Carl?” I asked.
“No sign of them,” he said. “Nor of Robert and Louisa.”
He obviously hadn’t heard about Louisa.
“Tell everyone to go into the dining room and wait for me,” I said. “Tell Martin to make some coffee using the bar machine.” He could do that without going into the kitchen.
“How about milk?” he asked. It was in the cold-room.
“Drink it black. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
IT ACTUALLY TOOK me twenty minutes to reach the restaurant, not least because my car was still at the racetrack and I had to phone for a taxi. By the time I arrived, Richard had made it there as well, and he had brought with him the bad news about Louisa. Julie and Jean were in tears and consoling each other, and Ray, Martin and Gary just sat in silence with their heads bowed. Louisa had been a very popular member of the team and was loved by us all. Martin asked me about Robert, and I was able to assure them that he was all right. But it did little to lighten the mood. Richard was expressing his anger at the “bastards” who had done this. He kept banging his fist on the table, and, in the end, I suggested it might be best if he went outside to cool off. I could see him through the window kicking a tree near the parking lot. He was in his mid-forties, and was my maître d’, meeting and greeting the customers and taking their dinner orders as they enjoyed a drink in the bar. Louisa had been his own teenage daughter’s best friend at school, and I knew that he thought of her as an extension of his family. It had been because of Richard that Louisa had come to work at Hay Net, and he now probably felt in some way responsible. His anger was directed not just at the bastards who did this but at the whole situation that had led to her death.
Carl arrived to join this happy throng.
“Hi,” he said to me. “How’s the knee?”
“I’ll survive.”
“Pity.” He forced a smile. I knew he slightly resented having a boss who was ten years his junior, especially one who took all the credit when Carl thought he had done the lion’s share of the work. But I paid him well, so he stayed.
I convened a meeting in the dining room. Richard came in from the parking lot with red and tearful eyes, Julie and Jean still clung to each other, with Martin fussing over them both, and Ray and Gary sat close together facing me. I suddenly wondered if they were, in fact, a couple. Our two kitchen porters had wandered off somewhere, but I wasn’t so concerned about them.
“It is absolutely dreadful news about Louisa, and I know that we are all angry and disturbed by her death.” Richard nodded furiously. “This has been an appalling weekend for everyone in Newmarket, and especially for us who were involved with the event on Saturday.”
“I feel so guilty,” said Richard, interrupting.
“Why guilty?” I asked.
“Because I was meant to be there on Saturday,” he said, “but I didn’t go because I was so unwell on Friday night. Maybe I could have saved her if I’d been there.” He started crying again.
“Richard,” I said, “you mustn’t blame yourself. If you were there, you might have been killed too.”
He looked at me in a manner that suggested he knew that and still would have preferred to have been there just the same.
“Martin and I were ill on Friday night as well,” said Jean. “I called an ambulance because he was so bad.”
“I was also meant to be at the racetrack on Saturday,” said Martin, “but they didn’t let me out of the hospital until about one and it was too late by then.” He looked at me for reassurance.
“It’s fine, Martin,” I said. “I wouldn’t have expected anyone to come to work after being so ill.” He looked relieved.
“I was ill as well,” added Julie in her high-pitched manner.
“And us,” said Gary, indicating him and Ray. Perhaps I was right about them. Gary went on. “I should also have been there on Saturday, but I was too sick to make it. Sorry, Chef.”
“It’s all right.” I said, looking at him. “I think we were all food poisoned on Friday evening, along with most of the guests who attended the function at the racetrack.”
The enormity of what I had said slowly sank in.
“Is that why the kitchen is padlocked?” said Gary.
“Yes.” I explained to them all I knew about the situation. I told them that someone had apparently died from food poisoning but that I didn’t yet know who it was. I told them that I would try to get the kitchen inspected quickly and that we would try to be back in business as soon as possible. “Louisa would have wanted that,” I said. I thought it was true, and they all nodded in agreement.
“So,” I said, “you can all go home now and come in again at ten tomorrow. I can’t promise that we will be back in business by then, but I will try. When we find out when Louisa’s funeral is, we will close so we can all attend. How about if we offer the restaurant to her parents and ask them if they want to invite everyone back here after the funeral?”
They all nodded again.
“I’ll do that if you like,” said Richard.
“Yes, please,” I said. “Tell them it’s also fine if they don’t want to have it here, but we will do the catering for them wherever, free of charge.”
Richard smiled. “Thanks, I will.”
The phone rang, and Carl went and picked it up from the desk in the corner. He listened for a bit and then said, “Thank you for letting us know.” He hung up.
“A cancellation,” he said. “For tonight.”
“Just as well,” I said.
“I’ll call around to the other bookings,” said Carl. “We should have their numbers.”
“Good,” I said, trying to sound upbeat and businesslike. “OK, everyone, the meeting’s over. If anyone wants me, I’ll be in my office, trying to get us back up and running.”
I called it my office, but it was used by everyone. Martin was in charge of the bar and was responsible for the ordering of all the drink, including for the restaurant, although it was me who decided which wines actually appeared on the list. Carl dealt with all the food and equipment ordering. The office had one wall with three rows of seven hooks each. On each hook was hanging a large bulldog clip. Each of the seven hooks in each row represented a day of the week, Monday to Sunday. The top row was for notes of things to be ordered. The middle row was for orders placed. And the bottom row for delivery notes of orders received.