Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 02 - Murder, Lies & Chocolate

by Sally Berneathy

  Candy nodded but continued to gaze into the mirror, fluffing her already-fluffy hair.

  “I’m afraid I can’t tell you much, Officer Powell,” Deidre said, returning to her seat.

  I didn’t correct her on the officer title, but I didn’t confirm it either. Strictly speaking, I wasn’t breaking any laws.

  “Lisa was a very private person,” Deidre continued. “She got along well with everybody, but she didn’t share her personal life. The first any of us knew of her marriage was when we heard about her death.”

  I sighed. We were accomplishing exactly nothing. “She had a boyfriend a few years ago, George Murray. Did she ever talk about him?”

  Deidre shook her head. “Not since I’ve known her, but I’ve only been here a little over a year.”

  “She’s going to school,” Candy said.

  “Who? Lisa? What kind of school?”

  Candy looked disgusted at my lack of comprehension. “No, not Lisa. Her.” She indicated Deidre. “Sparkles.”

  Deidre gave us a half smile and pointed to her lone eyelash. “Sparkles. Deidre just doesn’t have the proper zing. Besides, my mother would have a seizure if she found out. She thinks I’m putting myself through law school by tutoring other students.”

  A mother. Law school. My perspective on these women shifted. Lisa would have had a mother too. I’d have to check into that. Maybe she’d been closer to her mother than to her co-workers.

  “I knew George,” Candy said. “Big talker, little doer. He was always going to take Lisa away from this life.” She snorted and turned to actually face us rather than viewing us second-hand in the mirror. “Lisa was doing just fine till she got hooked up with that man. She was a good dancer, and she got good tips. Had her own little place, a nice little mobile home she inherited from her dad. But George filled her head full of big ideas. They were gonna be rich, buy a big house, get a dog, have a baby. She quit work on his say-so, then he dumped her and she come crawling back here.”

  “Did she say why he dumped her?”

  Candy stood, magnificent in her red and white striped regalia. “Another woman, of course. There’s always another woman.”

  My heart rate sped up. Now we were getting somewhere! “Was she another stripper? Somebody you knew?”

  Candy regarded me for a long moment, her blue eyes sharp and filled with knowledge she was probably not going to share. Unlike me, this woman kept secrets. “That’s my music. I gotta go.” She started out the door but turned back at the last minute. “Ask her sister.”

  “Her sister?” I started after her. “What’s her name? Where does she live? How do I get hold of her?”

  Candy continued striding down the hallway as if she didn’t hear me.

  Someone else heard me, though.

  Trent stepped out of the second door, blocking my progress. “Lindsay? What are you doing here?”

  A thousand possible responses raced through my mind.

  I was looking for a place to buy a gift for a baby shower, and my GPS brought me here to Babes and More.

  I’m in charge of my high school reunion, and that woman was our head cheerleader.

  With Death by Chocolate closed, I had to find a new career.

  I settled for the truth. “Looking for Lisa’s murderer.”

  “Officer Powell, are you okay?” Deidre stood in the hallway. “Is this man bothering you? I can call Ralph to get rid of him.”

  Even in the dim hallway I could see Trent’s face flush a dark red. “I’m not bothering you, am I, Officer Powell?” He flipped out his badge and held it up for Deidre to see. “Adam Trent. Detective Adam Trent.”

  Deidre smiled. “You two know each other?”

  Something in the way she smiled or maybe it was the twinkle in her dark eyes told me she knew I was no officer, that she’d known all along. I, the Queen of Sarcasm, had failed to recognize it coming from someone else. How humiliating.

  “Could I have a few minutes of your time, Miss—?” Trent asked.

  “Deidre Madsen. Certainly, Detective Trent. Can we talk while I finish putting on my costume? I’m up after Candy.” She went back into her dressing room.

  “Of course.” He leaned inside the other doorway. “Lawson, I’ll be next door when you’re finished in here.”

  Great. Stone Face and Granite Man at the same time, and me without a single chocolate chip cookie to bribe them.

  Trent followed me to Deidre’s dressing room. He kept his hand on my waist the entire time as if he thought I might try to escape.

  “Well, Officer Powell,” he said when we were inside the room, “I see you brought Officer Roberts.”

  Paula, standing as close as she could get to the corner of the room and looking even smaller than she actually was, let out a strangled sound.

  “I’m surprised Officer Sommers isn’t here too.”

  “He’s, um, with Officer Zachary.”

  Trent and I were probably going to have a discussion about this later, a loud discussion.

  Deidre applied her other sparkly eyelash and watched us in the mirror. Her eyes were as sparkly as her lashes. She might not know exactly what was going on, but I suspected she had a pretty good idea. Sharp lady, and she was going to be a lawyer. I made a mental note of her name for future reference.

  Trent took out his little notebook and his pen. “Can I get your legal name, residence address and phone number, ma’am?”

  She gave him the information. I repeated the phone number to myself nine times. I’ve heard that’s what it takes to commit something to memory.

  “Were you acquainted with Lisa Whelan Bradford?”

  “Yes, I knew her, but, as I told Officer Powell, I’ve only been here for a year.”

  “Want me to catch you up?” I asked Trent. “Or do you want to be redundant?”

  “I’ll be redundant, if that’s okay with you.”

  I shrugged. “Then Officer Roberts and I might as well leave and begin our investigation based on the information we have.”

  Trent looped his arm through mine, holding me securely in place while he continued to write in that book of his. “I think you should both stick around. We can compare notes later.”

  He asked Deidre a few more questions but got no more information. Considering what a jerk he was being, I wasn’t sure I was going to share the lead about Lisa’s sister. After all, I’d offered to catch him up and he’d turned me down.

  “What do you know about Lisa’s sister?” Trent asked.

  Damn. Somebody else had already blabbed.

  “I didn’t even know she had a sister until Candy mentioned her a few minutes ago. That’s my music. I need to go.” She rose, tossed back her dark, shiny hair and moved gracefully across the room then out the door, looking elegant in her ridiculous costume. Some people have the elegant gene and some of us have the chocolate gene.

  “You are in so much trouble,” Trent said.

  I yanked my arm away from him. “No, I’m not. You are.” The best defense is a good offense.

  His eyes widened. “Me? What am I in trouble for? You’re the one impersonating an officer!”

  I shoved my fists onto my hips and glared at him. “I did no such thing. She assumed I was an officer, and I just didn’t correct her. Ask the guard. I came in here pretending to be a stripper. I don’t think you’ll find any laws against a woman pretending to be a stripper.”

  Paula stepped up into the line of fire. “It’s true, Trent. She never claimed to be an officer.”

  He shoved his notebook back inside his jacket and shook his head. “I’m sorry she got you involved in this, Paula.”

  My friend straightened and suddenly seemed several inches taller. “Don’t be rude, Trent. If you didn’t keep so many secrets from her, she wouldn’t feel the need to do these things on her own.”

  That shut him up.

  “What’s the sister’s name?” I asked. Never hurts to ask.

  “I can’t discuss the details—”

/>   I interrupted him to complete that sentence. “—of an ongoing investigation, blah, blah, blah. Fine. I’ll find out on my own.”

  His jaw clenched, and I knew he was grinding more enamel off his teeth.

  “If you don’t relax, you’re going to have some big-time dental bills,” I advised.

  “I’ve got to finish up here right now, but you and I will talk tomorrow.”

  I tossed my hair, though it probably didn’t come across as elegantly as Deidre’s hair toss. “Assuming I’m speaking to you tomorrow. Let’s go, Paula.” I was glad to have the time to prepare some chocolate and some excuses.

  We passed the big guy on our way out. I assumed he was Ralph.

  “You leaving already?” he asked.

  “I didn’t get the job.”

  He glanced at my tee-shirt again. “Maybe you should get some of those implant things.”

  “Nah. I think I’ll just find another career. Maybe I’ll open my own restaurant.”

  “I’ve heard that’s a tough thing to do.”

  “I’ve heard the same thing.”

  Paula and I drove home and discussed what we’d accomplished. Other than making Trent mad, we hadn’t done a lot, and making Trent mad is no great accomplishment. I do it all the time without even trying.

  “But we did learn that Lisa has a sister. Fred will be able to find out her name,” I said confidently. “And he’ll tell me, and then I’ll tell Trent just so he’ll know that I know.”

  “I’m not taking up for Trent,” Paula said, “but you do sometimes push his buttons.”

  I smiled. “I do, don’t I?”

  We arrived at Fred’s house shortly before midnight. He met us at the door before we had time to ring the bell or knock. His hair was mussed, his glasses were on crooked, and his eyes were wild. Zach must be suffering from insomnia. Actually, it was more likely Fred was suffering from Zach’s insomnia.

  The short person in question appeared behind him, beating a maroon Le Creuset pan with a wooden spoon. As soon as he saw Paula, he tossed both to the floor. “Mommy!” He ran to her, and she picked him up. “We saw women with no clothes and I played with Uncle Fred’s ’puter and we had ice cream!”

  Paula’s eyes widened at his announcement, but she let it go. “Thank you for taking care of him, Fred.” She crossed the yards to her house, holding Zach while he babbled excitedly.

  Fred and I stood watching until she was safely inside.

  “Had a good time, did he?” I asked, walking inside and taking a seat on his sofa. “I understand about the naked women, but I can’t believe you let him play on your computer. You’re so OCD about that.”

  Fred closed the door and straightened his glasses. “Let him? We were in the kitchen, and I was scooping out ice cream for him. When I turned to hand it to him, he was gone. I found him on my computer, checking out a porn website. I’ll be getting emails for penile implants and cheap Viagra for the next ten years.”

  He sat down beside me, and I patted his hand. “There, there. It’s going to be all right. Just hit the delete button when they come in.”

  “This is your fault. I hope you got enough information to justify my discomfort.”

  “Sort of. I found out Lisa has a sister, so now you just need to find out her name.”

  A smug expression settled on his face, looking very much at odds with his hair. “Her name is Kristen Delaney. She’s Murray’s only other visitor.”

  “Kristen Delaney? KD like the initials on Murray’s tattoo? Murray dumped Lisa for her sister?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Step sister,” Fred clarified.

  “Close enough. I can see the potential here for some big time animosity.”

  “If she’s the one who killed Lisa by bashing out her brains and then stabbing her seventeen times, I’d definitely call that animosity.”

  “If? You don’t think she did it?”

  “Yes, I think she did it. As I said, that killing was personal. Stabbing someone that many times after they’re already dead shows a lot of rage. But what I think doesn’t matter. We need proof.”

  “Does that mean we’re going to see her?”

  He peered down his nose at me. “We? Oh, did you want to come along?”

  Great. I was going to be punished for running off to the strip club while leaving him with Zach. “You need me,” I said. “A man and a woman together are much less threatening than a man alone.”

  “What makes you think I want to be nonthreatening? Sometimes threats accomplish a lot.”

  “I’ll make you something chocolate and yummy,” I promised.

  I knew that would get him. He had to sulk for a couple more minutes just to save face, but then he relented.

  “Tomorrow morning we go in as insurance investigators looking into the death of her sister with regard to the policy benefits which will go to Lisa’s next of kin. I spoke with Kristen earlier and made an appointment for nine o’clock.”

  “Can I have a cool name like Bubbles Galore this time?”

  Fred scowled. “Good grief, no. You’ll be Hilda Klapnauer, and I’ll be Nathan Rivers. That’s the names I gave Kristin, and I already have business cards printed.”

  “Hilda Klapnauer? Where do you come up with these names?”

  “Where did you come up with Bubbles Galore?”

  “Fine. I’m Hilda. Where are we going? Home? Business?”

  “We’re going to her apartment. Like her sister, she’s an exotic dancer who works nights, and I don’t think you need to visit any more strip clubs.”

  “Another stripper? What’s her professional name?”

  Fred cleared his throat and tilted his chin upward. “Tiger Lily,” he said with as much dignity as possible.

  “Tiger Lily. That’s a nice name.” I thought of Paula’s description of the woman who’d visited her. “Is she tall and blonde with big boobs?”

  “Her hair color varies from picture to picture, but it appears she is tall and amply endowed.”

  I sat forward excitedly. “Bingo! That’s got to be her! Now if we can just verify that she has cat scratches, we’ll know she was the one who broke into my house and visited Paula, and we can put a stop to these threats on my home and cat.”

  Fred looked suddenly serious. “Lindsay, we need to be cautious talking to this woman. Remember, she may be a murderer. She’s been arrested in the past for everything from drunk and disorderly to prostitution.”

  “Wow. This should be interesting.”

  I saw no reason to mention that Trent knew about the sister and would likely be questioning her when he made it through all the official channels and rules and hoops he had to jump through. Fred and I were going to get there first.

  ***

  I didn’t sleep much during what was left of the night. My insomnia wasn’t a result of worrying about Tiger Lily breaking into my house, whacking me over the head and stabbing me the way she’d done to Lisa. Now that the intruder had a name and was a real person, my fear had actually diminished. She was a woman, not a monster. I figured I had just as much of a chance to whack her with my iron skillet as she had to whack me with whatever she used on Lisa, especially since I had a vicious guard cat on my side.

  My insomnia was caused partly by anticipation of finally meeting this woman and confronting her and partly by anticipation of getting there before Trent and sneering at him later for the way he tried to keep me out of the loop.

  Fred had made a half-hearted attempt to get me to stay at his house for the night or let him sleep on my sofa, but it was pretty easy to dissuade him in his Zach-weakened condition. I assured him Henry would alert me if there was a problem. I asked him if I could borrow the machine gun, but he refused. Men can be so selfish with their toys.

  Henry wasn’t happy with my restless night. He was already in a snit because I needed him to be alert and refused to give him catnip. Henry had the catnip monkey on his back. About the third time I woke, got up to go to the bathroom then
flopped around for a while before going back to sleep, he gave an indignant snarl and jumped off the bed to sleep on the floor.

  I had finally drifted into a sound sleep when the alarm I’d forgotten to reset went off at 4:00. With cat-like reflexes, I rolled out of bed, grabbed the skillet from my nightstand and looked around for someone to whack. Henry opened one blue eye, looked disgusted, closed that eye and went back to sleep.

  I tried to do the same, but I was really wired by that time so I got up and had some eggs with cheese, a Coke and a few cookies for breakfast. Henry ate his breakfast then demanded to go outside. I let him since he was in a really grumpy mood, and I figured Tiger Lily would not be up and roaming around at that hour after a long night of dancing around a pole and inhaling stale cigarette smoke.

  I made a pan of brownies (for purposes of bribery with Fred and Trent), did my dishes, tidied up my kitchen, sorted my chocolate chips according to size and percentage of chocolate, straightened my pictures, sharpened my knives, started my laundry and finally called Fred.

  “I assume you’re being held at gunpoint,” he said. “That’s the only thing that can justify calling me at this hour.” But he sounded wide awake.

  “The sun’s almost up,” I said. “I can’t sleep. Let’s go roust out Tiger Lily, take her by surprise.” Get there before Trent.

  “Go back to bed and call me after the sun rises.”

  “I have fresh chocolate brownies, just the way you like them, with nuts. Still warm. I’ve got vanilla bean ice cream to go with them.”

  Fred sighed, but I knew I had him. “Put on your black suit with a white shirt and low heels, and I’ll be at your place before the brownies get cold, but remember, our appointment isn’t until nine.”

  Fifteen minutes later he was at my door carrying his own cup of coffee and looking quite spiffy in a pin-striped gray suit and dark red tie. I felt that I looked professional in my trusty black suit, but not actually well-dressed and sophisticated like Fred. Maybe I ought to invest in another sedate outfit. However, I had nowhere to wear it except on these expeditions with Fred and to the occasional funeral.

  We sat around eating and drinking for a while, then at eight o’clock I finally persuaded him to leave, go to our appointment a few minutes early. It sounded like something an insurance investigator might do.