“You’re going to do wonderfully, Lane. Thornton said he’d never interviewed anyone quite so capable.”

“I appreciate your vote of confidence.” I took a deep breath. “So tell me about Gaspard?”

“Gaspard.” She grumbled out his name. “He’s very particular about his kitchen. We generally have a strict policy about outside food and beverage—it isn’t allowed, period. So we’re making an exception this time around. But convincing Gaspard to let someone else—an at-home cook without a commercial license, no less—bring food into his kitchen is not going to be easy.”

“Is it even legal?”

“It wouldn’t be if we were selling the cheesecake, but serving it at the wedding reception won’t be a problem. Gaspard will just need a little bit of sweet-talking. We have to convince him to keep his claws in, or else he’ll eat that poor woman alive.”

I tried to look confident. “I can talk to him.”

She shot me a sideways look. “You don’t know him like the rest of us do.”

“It’ll be fine. It has to be, right? What’s done is done?”

She nodded. “If he doesn’t agree, you come tell me, and I’ll take care of it. He might think he’s in charge of the kitchen, but I’m still the one who signs his paychecks.” She frowned, and the light fell from her eyes. “At least, I am now.”

It was nice she offered to toss her weight around if I needed it, but I really didn’t want her worrying about a surly French chef. I reached out and touched her shoulder, then stood. “I don’t think it will come to that, but thank you for offering. And for everything. For all your help.”

“It was nice to feel useful,” she said. “Thank you for asking. And don’t hesitate to come find me again if you need me.”

“I won’t. Thanks again.”

April met me in the hallway on my way back to my office. She held up a lanyard attached to what looked like a security badge and a keycard. “Your keys to the kingdom.”

“Thanks. How does it all work?”

“The badge doesn’t really do anything except make you look official. But this keycard will get you anywhere you need to go. Through the back office door, through the main door, and into any of the guest rooms.”

I took the lanyard and hung it around my neck. “Sounds simple enough.”

“It’s cutting-edge technology around here. It’s a wonder we convinced Thornton to go through with it, as old school as he was. It was literally less than five years ago that we started using key cards instead of actual metal keys to open the rooms.”

“Wow. That is old school.”

“Did you solve the cheesecake mystery?”

“I did. Ida was really helpful.”

“She’s a great lady,” April said. “And she’s great at what she does. I think in time she’ll realize how much she still wants to be a part of things.”

“Yeah, she liked that I asked her. Said it felt good to feel useful.”