Page 15 of No Holds Barred

She took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped into the fridge. Which was definitely too warm. And the seal on the edge of it was broken. Hope held her hand over her nose as if that was going to help her any. Justin followed her inside with the camera in front of him. He was braver than Cadence.

Hope still wasn’t sure what to make of Cadence. She was all bravado one minute and then chickening out the next. And the way she talked to Angelica, the way she hovered over her, set Hope off.

Facing the camera directly, Hope talked into it like she was speaking to the audience on the other side. “I’m not sure how long this food has been rotting in here, but it’s definitely rotten.” She ripped the lid off of a plastic container and nearly puked just from the sight. “You can see the slimy film on the chicken here.” She held the container up to the light so that the camera could pan down. “That takes a while to form.”

Putting the lid back on, Hope tossed it on the shelf. She went through shelf after shelf in the fridge, finding more and more items that were just absolutely rotten.

“I hope they haven’t served any of this recently,” she said, glancing around the refrigerator. “There’s nothing in here that’s good to eat.”

Hope went through the rest of the kitchen before she sighed heavily and stared around at it. “We need to shut this place down for forty-eight hours at least.”

“What are you doing?” A woman with short hair stepped into the kitchen, a loose t-shirt that was clearly two or three sizes too big for her hanging from her body.

“I’m going through the kitchen.” Hope furrowed her brow and stared at her. “You must be the chef?”

“I am.” She put her hands on her hips and glowered.

“This is uh… Dawn.” Ali raced into the kitchen as if she’d finally caught up with something.

Hope flicked her gaze to Ali and then focused back on Dawn. “When’s the last time you served a meal out of this kitchen?”

“Last night.”

“Seriously?” Hope couldn’t believe it. “Do you know the proper way to store chicken?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what date this went out?” She pointed to the fresh greens on the prep station.

“Yes.”

“What date?”

“Today.”

Hope narrowed her gaze, looking between Dawn and Ali. “And how does anyone else know that? Since nothing is recorded?”

“I’m here to tell them.”

“You’re not here every day.”

“I run this kitchen.” Dawn put her hands on her hips and glared. “I am this kitchen.”

Well, here was the problem that Hope hadn’t wanted to deal with. She needed fresh air too, because the scent of rotten food was overwhelming her head. “How many staff do you have?”

“One.”

“You have two people working in this kitchen?” Shock rocked through Hope. That would explain a good chunk. She moved her gaze from Dawn to Ali. “You let her have only one other person? How many hours a week is she working?”

Dawn seemed at least pleased to have that question pointed out.

“Uh…” Ali’s cheeks reddened. “Eighty?”

“Closer to a hundred,” Dawn mumbled.

“All right, you and I are going to sit down about that.” She pointed to Ali. “But you and I are going to sit down about proper food storage and inspection requirements.” Hope clenched her fists hard. “In the meantime, I want you two to clean out every single morsel of food in this kitchen, rotten or not. We’re starting fresh.”

“What?” Ali’s jaw dropped.