Chocolate Covered Murder

by Kate Bell

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just feeling a little down about the fact that it was Charlie McGrath that murdered Greg. I really had it in my mind that it was Frank Garcia. I guess that’s unkind of me, but I really thought he was the one.”

  “To tell you the truth, I kind of felt the same way. I never liked him. And I’m glad I don’t have to work with him anymore,” she said and snitched a gumdrop out of the bulk bin. “Your mom is going to have to weigh me at the beginning of my shift and then at the end of my shift and charge me for all I’ve eaten during the day. I’m afraid I’m probably putting away a lot of candy.”

  “I think she figures in a certain amount of employee bonus candy when she figures out how much she needs each day,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m going to have to get on the treadmill myself if I don’t stop snitching candy.”

  “How does Ethan like his new job?” she asked, straightening jars of candy on the front counter.

  “He likes it a lot. He’s a little bummed that he’s still on patrol most of the time, but I think once he takes the test to become a detective that will give him some leverage for a real promotion.”

  Mom came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of yellow, orange, and chocolate mounds of candy on it. “Guess what I did?” she sang out.

  “What are those?” I asked eyeing the baking tray she held. Each mound was about the size and shape of an egg split in half crosswise.

  “I was experimenting with meringue, and I made these sweet little bundles of lovely goodness. They’re kind of a mix between meringue and marshmallow. I flavored each one differently. Chocolate, orange, and banana.”

  Each mound had a spider web drawn on in thin dark chocolate and in the center of each spider web was a little milk chocolate brown spider with googly eyes drawn on. “Those are so cute!” I said.

  “Oh, my goodness, those look good,” Carrie said. “I’m going to have to hit the treadmill with you, Mia, if I expect to not gain any weight from working here. Those are darling!”

  “Well, don’t just stand there and stare. I want you both to taste test them,” Mom said, holding the tray out toward us.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said and reached for an orange one. Carrie picked up a chocolate one, and we both took a bite. I groaned in pleasure. They were light and airy, and yet very marshmallowy in the center. The flavor was exactly right. Not too sweet or overpowering, but still enough flavor to let you really taste it. “These are delicious Mom. I don’t know how you do it.”

  “Perfection,” Carrie said and took another bite.

  “You girls are good for my ego,” Mom said with a laugh and made some room in the display case for the new candy.

  The front door swung open and Ethan walked in with a grin. “I think this is my favorite place in town. Every time I open that door, the smell of chocolate and sweet goodness hits me.” He walked up to the counter and peered over the side looking at the tray Mom held in her hands.

  “Ethan, you need to try out the new candy I made. I’m still working on a name for them, but the girls have decided that they taste okay.”

  Ethan grinned at her and reached for a chocolate one. “I bet they said they were more than okay,” he said.

  “You know we did,” I told him. “These are absolutely wonderful.”

  He took a bite and smiled. “Wonderful is the right word,” he agreed. “These are great.”

  “So Ethan,” Mom said as she put the remainder of the candies into the display case. “Mia said Charlie McGrath killed Greg Richardson. I have to say I’m surprised by that.”

  He nodded. “I think a lot of people are surprised by that,” he said. “Of course, he maintains his innocence. But as far as I’m concerned, my job is just about done there. He has a good lawyer, and I’m sure he’ll get a fair trial.”

  “Still, I kind of wish it was somebody else,” I said. “I mean, it doesn’t really matter I guess. Greg is dead and there’s nothing bringing him back. It’s sad no matter who the killer is.”

  He nodded. “I enjoy figuring out who did what in a case, but I don’t like to see our friends and neighbors arrested and maybe spending the rest of their lives in jail.”

  I nodded my agreement. “So Ethan,” I said leaning on the counter. “Boo says he misses you and he’d like to invite you to dinner tonight.”

  “Boo?” Mom asked looking at me. “Who is Boo?”

  “Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you. When I moved into my new house, there was a sweet little black cat that was hanging around. He just invited himself into my home and into my life. So now, I’m a cat owner.”

  “Oh, I see,” she said nodding. “I think Millie misses you. Maybe you could bring her over to meet Boo?”

  Millie was our former neighbor’s dog. I thought Mom and Dad were probably far too attached to her for me to take her with me, and so I had left Millie with them knowing I would get to see her on a regular basis. “We might have to do that sometime.”

  “Well,” Ethan said after swallowing the bite of candy he had in his mouth. “I hate to disappoint Boo. He seems like someone you don’t want to disappoint. I’ll be off work at seven if that’s not too late.”

  “Seven o’clock is perfect,” I said to him.

  I planned on making tacos and I would need to stop by the grocery store and pick up some cheese before I went home. That would give me plenty of time between when I got off work at six and when Ethan would be home from work after seven.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Hello Evelyn,” I said as Evelyn McGrath approached the front counter at the candy store. I hadn’t expected to see her here so soon after Charlie’s arrest. I noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

  She gave me a forced smile. “I suppose you’ve heard, no wait, you were there at the police station, weren’t you? I’m so sorry, I feel so frazzled these days. I don’t know if I’m coming or going.” She held a coffee cup from Brian and Amanda’s coffee shop in one hand and her purse in the other.

  “That’s completely understandable,” I said. “I’m so sorry about what happened.” I didn’t know what else to say to her. What do you tell a woman when her husband has been arrested for murder? Whether he did it or not, I knew that she was suffering.

  “Thank you,” she said and her eyes went to the display case. “I asked Ethan if I could bring Charlie some fudge. He loves your mother’s peanut butter fudge. Ethan said it would be okay, so I thought I’d stop in before you closed.” Her eyes came back to me and I could see the unshed tears in them.

  I nodded. “Let me get that for you. How much would you like?”

  “A quarter of a pound,” she said. “I don’t suppose he has a way to store more than that. So maybe I’ll just come back every night for the next few days and bring him some fudge.” She smiled, but her voice cracked.

  “I’m sorry Evelyn, if there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask,” I said as I cut a piece of peanut butter fudge for her.

  “That’s very kind of you Mia,” she said. “I need the support of my community now more than ever. But don’t think this means I’m giving up. We’ve got a good lawyer, and I just know he’s going to make sure the truth is known about Charlie. He didn’t kill anyone. It’s crazy to think he would ever harm anyone. He’s the kindest, sweetest man I know. He’s been under such strain lately because we’ve been having some financial struggles. Oh, I’m sorry Mia,” she said. “You don’t want to hear all this.” She chuckled and waved her hand as if she could wave away her troubles.

  “Evelyn, if you ever need to talk, I’m here. You can tell me anything, and I’ll keep it between the two of us.” It was out of my mouth before I thought it through. It might not have been the best thing to say. I couldn’t keep things from Ethan and she might say something he needed to know about the case.

  “I appreciate that more than you know,” she said nodding her head. A tear slipped out of one eye, and she wiped it away with her finger. “Oh Mia,
here I am holding onto this empty coffee cup.” She laughed. “I probably drank the contents of it more than an hour ago. Can you throw this away for me?”

  “I sure can,” I said and reached for the coffee cup. There was a small trashcan that I had been getting ready to empty back behind the counter and I tossed the cup on the top of everything else that was in it.

  I cut and wrapped the fudge, put it in a bag, and handed it to her. “This is on the house, you tell Charlie I’m thinking of him.”

  Evelyn’s eyes lit up. “That’s so sweet of you, Mia. Thank you. Well, I better get going if I’m going to drop this off this evening. But first I need to stop by the house and pick him up a couple of his spy novels. He loves to read, thank goodness he’ll have something to do while in that horrible jail. But like I said earlier, this is temporary. I just keep telling myself that and I know it’s the truth.”

  “You’re welcome Evelyn,” I said. “Remember, if you need anything else you just let me know.”

  “Thank you so much, Mia,” she said and headed toward the door. “You’re a lifesaver!” And then she was gone.

  It was nearly six o’clock and almost closing time for a weeknight at the candy shop. On weekends we stayed open until nine o’clock during the Halloween season for the tourists that were visiting the different attractions in town.

  The front door swung open and my friend Amanda walked in with a smile on her face. “Hey Mia, I’m so glad I caught you guys before you closed. I’ve had fudge on the brain for days now and I keep meaning to stop in. I’ve been so busy down at the coffee shop and by the time I remember, you guys are closed.”

  “Well, I’m glad you made it in. We’re all out of pumpkin spice fudge, but we’ve got plenty of vanilla, chocolate walnut, and candy corn left.”

  “I think I’m going to have to try a quarter pound of the candy corn, and maybe a quarter pound of the vanilla. And while I’m here, I think Brian would love some of those candy corn marshmallows. What are these cute little candies with little spiders painted on them?” she asked, peering in at the candy my mother had made earlier.

  “My mom made those earlier today, and we haven’t come up with a name for them yet. So if you think of something cute, you let me know. They’re really good and I think you’ll love them.”

  “I’ll have to think on a name for them,” she said with a chuckle. “Why don’t you give me one of each flavor?”

  “You got it,” I said and began cutting her fudge.

  “Mia, did you hear what happened with Charlie McGrath? I can hardly believe he killed Greg Richardson,” she said looking at me wide-eyed. “I just saw Evelyn leaving here. Poor thing.”

  “I know, it makes me sad. I thought Charlie was a really good guy, and it makes me sad for Evelyn, not to mention Pumpkin Hollow. We didn’t need another murder.” I still wasn’t sure he had done it, but Ethan was convinced.

  “I was just talking to Brian about it today. Evelyn came into the coffee shop the morning Greg was killed and since we weren’t busy yet, we talked for a few minutes about the Halloween season. The poor woman. I’m sure she had absolutely no idea what was going on with her husband. Along with the money problems they’ve been having, I think it must be a tremendous strain on her. It seemed like she was kind of shaky as we talked that morning.”

  I looked up at her and stopped in the middle of wrapping her candy corn fudge. “She stopped by the coffee shop the morning Greg was killed?” My eyes went to the coffee cup I had thrown away for Evelyn just a few minutes earlier. There was bright pink lipstick on the lid.

  She nodded. “Yes, I remember it was Saturday because when I heard about the murder, I immediately thought about Evelyn and our conversation about the haunted house having some financial difficulties. It’s heartbreaking.”

  “Can you remember what time of morning it was?” I asked her and continued wrapping her fudge.

  “First thing. When I went to unlock the door, she was waiting out front. Why?”

  The coffee shop opened at six a.m. I had intended to ask Amanda if anyone unusual had come into the coffee shop that morning, but I had forgotten. “I was just wondering,” I said and looked over at Lisa. “Lisa? Can you come over and finish putting Amanda’s order together?”

  “Sure,” Lisa said and came over to where I stood. I glanced down at the coffee cup in the trashcan and picked it up. Then I looked up at Amanda. “I’m sorry Amanda, I’m going to have to let Lisa finish up with you here. I’ll get back with you in the next day or two and we can catch up on things, okay?”

  Amanda looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed. “Sure Mia, no problem. Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is fine,” I said and grabbed my purse from under the front counter and headed for the door. “Lisa, tell my mom that I left a little early and let her know I’ll get ahold of her later. And please don’t forget to clean up and lock up the shop when you’re done.”

  I got into my car and stopped for a moment to call Ethan. I placed the coffee cup in the cup holder in my car and waited for him to answer the phone. When there was no answer I hit end and started my car.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Evelyn had only left the candy shop a few minutes earlier. She had mentioned stopping by her house to get novels for Charlie, so I headed over to the police station to see if she had made it there yet. I drove through the police station parking lot and didn’t see her red SUV. I hesitated before leaving the parking lot, looking for Ethan’s pickup. His vehicle wasn’t there either, so I left and drove by Ethan’s house to see if he had gotten off work early.

  There were no vehicles in front of Ethan’s house, so I decided to drive past Evelyn’s house and see if she was there. It might have been wiser to go back to the police station and wait there for her, but the adrenaline was rushing through my body and I needed to do something.

  When I turned down Evelyn’s street, I slowed down. Her red SUV was parked in the driveway of her house and I drove slowly past it, trying to decide what to do.

  When I got to the end of the block, I made a U-turn and drove back by, slowing down again when I was in front of her house. I couldn’t see any movement through the sheer curtains on the windows at the front of the house, so I drove to the other end of the block. I made another U-turn and came back. I slowed my car down again and realized that I really just needed to get out of there and go back to the police station and find Ethan. He needed to know what was going on because we had the wrong person in jail for Greg’s murder. But as I started to put my foot on the gas, Evelyn emerged from her house. When she saw me, she stopped in her tracks. She looked at me quizzically and then smiled.

  Before I had time to think I pulled my car over and got out. My body was shaking with adrenaline as I walked toward her. She had several paperbacks in one hand along with the bag of fudge I had given her and what looked like a man’s sweater over her arm.

  “Mia, I didn’t expect to see you so soon. What are you up to?” she asked as she closed the distance between us.

  My eyes went to the books in her hand. “You’re on your way to the jail now?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, I told you I needed to stop by the house and pick up some paperbacks for Charlie. I also thought I’d bring him a sweater, he gets chilly and I don’t know what the temperature is like in that jail cell. I hate to even think about him being there at all if you want to know the truth. It just makes me sick to my stomach.”

  I nodded. “I would imagine it’s cold in there. Not that I really know, of course.”

  “Mia, is there something I can do for you?” she asked, scrutinizing me as I stood there.

  “Charlie really is innocent, isn’t he?” I asked her.

  She nodded and then narrowed her eyes at me. “Yes Mia, he really is innocent.”

  “I thought so. I didn’t feel right about it when he was arrested. I really thought it was Frank Garcia, but Ethan and the other officers thought it was Charlie. But something about that just
didn’t sit right in my gut.”

  She looked at me somberly. “Your gut instincts are absolutely correct. There’s no way my Charlie could have killed Greg. He couldn’t have killed anyone. He just doesn’t have the heart for that sort of thing.”

  “Do you?” I asked. “Do you have the heart for that sort of thing?”

  She moved two steps closer to me and I stepped back one. “It all depends. If someone were trying to hurt someone that I love, I think I could find it in me to do that. But not Charlie. Bless his heart, I know he loves me more than anything in this whole world. But I’m afraid he couldn’t kill someone to protect me. I can tell you one thing though, no one is going to hurt my Charlie. I would do whatever I had to do to protect him.”

  I nodded. “I think I can understand that. But was Charlie ever really in any kind of mortal danger?”

  “Let’s just say, he may not have been in any present mortal danger, but someone wanted to take something very dear from him. It was the thing that he had worked all of his life for and he loved it almost as much as he loved me. It was breaking his heart, someone wanting to take that from him.”

  “I can understand that fear can get away from you, and your feeling that you had to do something drastic. But what I can’t understand, is murder.” I stood and stared at her, waiting to see what she would do next. Every nerve in my body was standing on end and I wondered if anyone was home in the nearby houses and could I count on them should things get out of hand?

  Her mouth made a hard line. “You just don’t understand. You haven’t spent your life with someone you love more than life itself. Until something like that happens, I don’t think you’re in a place to judge.”

  “I guess you can say I’m judging,” I said. “But, didn’t Greg have a right to live his life with the person he had loved all his life?”