?m her best friend. Maybe I did it,” Katie said pointedly.
“Crazed lesbian kills girlfriend’s almost killer,” a voice said very sarcastically from behind her. “Oh, yeah. I see that. ”
Katie turned to glare at Shane. He had come in through the side door. His crew had been sent out to bring back more supplies from the grocery store freezer since the hotel freezer was now chilled. They had opened up the loading dock door on the side and were now entering the kitchen with supplies.
Rosie waved her hands at him. “Don’t go near the food. You’re all sweaty and gross. ”
Shane just grinned at her. “Yeah, and we smell real funky. Had to kill more of those deadfucks. ”
Rosie began to put lids over all the food and the others in the kitchen helped her.
Shane turned his gaze back to Katie, the hatred in them cold and furious. “What’s up, lesbo. ”
He had hated her since she had to kill his brother after he was bitten during one of the first major fort battles against the undead. Every chance he got, he harassed her verbally. She tried to avoid him.
“Nothing, dickwad. ” She moved to dump the potatoes into a serving bin.
“Fuckin’ lesbo bitch,” Shane hissed.
“Move! Don’t mess up my kitchen,” Rosie ordered, waving a towel at him.
To avoid Shane, Katie busied herself carrying the big metal bins out to the buffet and dropping them into the slots. Already the water that would keep the food warm was bubbling deep inside the buffet table, steam rising up to greet her.
It was five ‘til noon and the old folks, as usual, were already lining up. There were ten officially elderly people who lived in the fort. No one dared group Nerit in with them. Two walked with canes, one with a walker. Old Man Watson was just deaf as they come. When he saw her, he smiled and waved. She smiled and waved right back at him.
Stacey brought out the big basket of biscuits, which brought a lot of “ooohhs” and “aaaaaahs” from the line. Roger arriving with the big bin of chipped beef made them even more excited. Katie’s somewhat pathetic mashed potatoes and the green beans had them positively beaming.
“They’re gonna flip over the cobbler,” Stacey whispered to Katie with a grin.
Katie laughed. When the cobbler was rolled out it sent little waves of excitement through the now growing line.
It was very rewarding to watch people happily digging into the food they had prepared. The construction workers came in to eat while Stacey was dispatched with lunch boxes for the guards. Mealtime was not the sheer chaos it once was now that they had a decent facility.
There was plenty of room to spread out and really enjoy the meal.
Katie was kept busy going back and forth from the kitchen. She kept the food bins full and made sure there were enough clean plates and utensils. Jenni and Juan appeared together. They both looked solemn as they sat in a corner, eating their lunch at a small table. Katie saw one of the tubs, put out for people to bus their own table, was full near their table. She slipped over to pick it up and steal a moment with them.
“How did it go with Bill?” she asked.
“I’m his prime suspect,” Juan responded grimly.
“Which is bullshit. I could have killed Jimmy. Easily,” Jenni said with a frown. “By the way, the food is great. ”
“Thanks. I did the potatoes,” Katie answered, then said, “Juan, I’m sure Bill realized that it wasn’t you. ”
With a shrug, Juan said, “Yeah, but who else would do it other than Loca? Travis? You? Who?”
Katie sighed and heaved the heavy tub up onto her hip. “I’m sure other people had motives. Or could have motives. ”
Juan sighed, then shook his head. “It doesn’t fucking matter, Katie.
Not if they want to blame someone. It will end up me. ”
Rosie came up just then and Katie hurried off under her stern eye.
She glanced back to see Rosie hugging her son tightly and talking to him in a low voice. Katie hated to admit it, but Juan was the most likely suspect. It killed her to think of him doing anything like that.
But then again, she had been furious when she had heard about Jenni being left in that room. If she had been there when it happened, who knows what she could have done to Jimmy.