925. Chapter 925

After Witness for the Prosecution (Really.)

Episode 8.10

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Now that Rick and Kate are together, I might not mind owning…..Forget it. Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: This is a sequel to chapters 408, 545, 673, 712 and 782, being the adventures of Mistress Nikki Heat and her husband, Jameson Rook, American patriots during the American Revolution, now living peaceably in New York City.

And, Merry Christmas!

Mistress Nikki Heat, her husband, writer Jameson Rook and his daughter Alexis, looked at the odd thing that Senor Ochoa had brought to them. Ochoa's pal, Sean Raley, looked over his friend's shoulders and wondered what it was.

Nikki inhaled deeply. "I think the hard brown thing on the top and bottom may be bread of some sort, but very stale."

"And there's very badly undercooked ground meat between the bread." Added Rook.

Alexis Rook spoke. "Someone has made a paste from tomatoes, wrongly called love apples, for many years, and squirted it on the meat."

Raley swiped his finger over a yellow substance dripping from the thing, swiped it across his lips and grimaced. "Not at all tasty." Said the doughty Irishman.

"What is it, Miguel?" Nikki asked.

"Mr. Vaughn is making them and selling them. He calls them King's Burgers. He serves them with some sort of sliced up potatoes and a rather flat drink."

Nikki looked around her famous Golden Arches Tavern located what had once been known as Great George Street, but was now known as Broad Way. "But my famous Big Nikkis, French fries, named for our great friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, and my famous fizzy drinks are famous for using only the finest ingredients. Why would anyone eat such an unappetizing….meal?"

Rook nodded, having figured it out. "Mr. Vaughn made a great deal of money during the late war, selling watered whiskey and inoperative firearms to both sides. Although I exposed his chicanery in the New York Ledger, he has remained in New York and prospered. Plus he is angry with us since I refused to allow him to purchase my dear, sweet, innocent Alexis to be his wife."

"For which I shall always be grateful, Father." Alexis was pleased to note that her father and his friends seemed to be the only people in New York that didn't know that no young man needed money to enjoy the favors of Alexis Rook.

"As I understand it," Ochoa said, "he sells these so called sandwiches very cheaply, even below the cost of making them, hoping to drive you out of business so he can have a monopoly on this "Fast Food" as you call it, Ma'am."

Nikki thought. "There are many poor people in New York who might eat these so called King's Burgers as my food is too dear in price for them. I wish it were not so, for it pains me to see the poor suffer."

"Can we not sue him for stealing your recipe?" Rook asked.

Nikki sadly shook her head. "It is well known that the Fourth Earl of Sandwich began the practice of eating meat between two slices of bread so that he could eat while gambling. And he did so well before I ever even thought of making such sandwiches."

As they sat and pondered what to do about this situation, they were interrupted by Lanie, a free woman of color who often worked at the Golden Arches Tavern. "La, for I have news."

"As do we." Replied Nikki, "Come and sit with us and we shall chat."

Lanie sat and Nikki explained what Vaughn was attempting to do with his so called King's Burgers. "Lanie, I don't see how he can even use the term "king" in our America. Did we not just fight a war to rid ourselves of monarchy and its trappings?"

Lanie shrugged. "New York was held by the British for almost the entire war. There are some here who were loyal to the crown and remain so. And I think that Vaughn plays a deeper game than you had thought. I have learned that Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, is coming to New York City. He intends to let contracts to feed the multitudes of workers who even now toil to build our new Capitol. "

Rook nodded. "Such a contract would be worth a great deal of money. And considering how little Vaughn pays for his ingredients, he'd make a fortune."

Ochoa spoke. "I understand that he pays his workers but a pittance, and makes them buy their meals from him."

Nikki stood. "I cannot stand the thought of our new capitol being built by people fed on such slop. I swear that they shall never go hungry as long as Nikki Heat can feed them."

"I understand that Secretary Hamilton intends to personally try the food being offered." Lanie said.

"Indeed I do." Said a voice from the doorway. "Is it true that you have served fifteen thousand, seven hundred and twenty of your Big Nikki sandwiches as the signboard outside says?"

"It was accurate as of last night, Mr. Hamilton." Nikki said, curtseying. "We add the numbers up at the end of each evening, sir."

"Then you will be able to add two more to the number tonight. Please make one for me and for my friend, Mr. Hunt."

Hunt, a very large man, smiled. "You might make that two Big Nikki's for me."

Nikki curtseyed to both men and then ran back into the kitchen to prepare the most important meal of her life. She served both men and then returned to the kitchen where she and her friends and family waited in agony to see how the two men reacted to the meal.

Just as Hamilton and Hunt were finishing, Mr. Vaughn entered the tavern. "Mr. Secretary, sir." Vaughn said, "I was hoping to get to you before you had to endure this meal. I have brought you some of my justly famous King's Burgers for your enjoyment."

Two flunkeys ran in carrying the King's Burgers on silver platters. Nikki gasped in amazement. The burgers were more than twice the size of her own, as were to portions of French fries. Sniffing cautiously, she determined that those, like her sandwiches, were made of the finest ingredients.

Hamilton and Hunt shrugged and began eating again. When they were done, Hamilton turned to Vaughn. "And the price for your food?"

"Half of what Heat charges." Vaughn said happily.

Hunt glared at him. "And these are exactly what your serve to all of your customers?"

"But of course."

"You're a damned liar." Hunt said coldly. "I've had some of my people eating in both places for week. I've even had them take both foods away in their carriages and bring it to me and the Secretary. Your food is so bad, I wouldn't serve it to a dog, sir."

Vaughn was shocked. "I will not have my honor impugned, sir. I must have satisfaction. I shall have my friend call upon your friend."

Word spread like wildfire that Vaughn had challenged Mr. Hunt to a duel. The next day Hunt began to practice publically with both pistol and sword. He was deadly with both.

On the morning of the duel Nikki and Rook rode to a place on Long Island where the duel was to take place. She went at once to Alexander Hamilton. "Sir, can you not stop this? As a woman I can see no point in this senseless bloodshed."

Hamilton nodded. "I can well appreciate your point of view, and I for one find dueling to be nothing but murder. But, the law does not see it as such and Mr. Hunt will not back down. I fear the duel will go on."

However, as the time of the duel came and went, Vaughn did not show up. Eventually a man rode out from the city to announce that Vaughn had fled, saying he had business in the new states of the west.

Nikki was quite happy and was overjoyed to find that Mr. Hamilton wished her to provide food for the hungry men building Washington, DC. And so our nation owes a debt of gratitude to Mistress Nikki Heat.