Chocolate-Covered Crime

by Cynthia Hickey

  Things looked a little brighter when I read the name on her nameplate, Edna Mobley. Wasn’t she the one who was once engaged to Hubert? Regardless, she was a name in Mae Belle’s book. I signed in. Edna gave me a tight-lipped smile in return and nodded toward the waiting area. Friendliness did not ooze from the woman or ease my trepidation about being here. I took a seat in a green-striped chair.

  My hands shook harder. How would I question Hubert if I let him put dangerous tools in my mouth? And why was his ex-fiancée working for him?

  Minutes ticked by, foretelling my doom. I couldn’t do this. No way. Bolting to my feet, I headed for the door.

  “Miss Meadows? Dr. Smith is ready for you.”

  Her words had the same effect as a bucket of ice water on my head. Taking a deep breath, I willed my limbs to stop their trembling, turned, and forced a smile on my face. Maybe if I kept him talking, we’d never get to the actual exam.

  A pert girl who didn’t look old enough to be out of high school shepherded me into a chair, laid a million-pound x-ray jacket over me, shoved what felt like stiff cardboard in my mouth, cutting into my gums, then told me to hold still. I rolled my eyes. Like, I’d actually planned on dancing a jig.

  That only happened once. Under the influence of the wonderful laughing gas. I’d giggled and hallucinated myself dancing a lively Irish dance with Ethan on the overhead light. I willed myself back to that place.

  Torture accomplished, she removed her death preparation tools and informed me Dr. Smith would be right in. Not if I could escape first. I leaped from the chair, clutched my purse, and ran into the man, hard enough to clunk our heads together. Stars swam before my eyes.

  With one hand on his forehead and the other gripping my arm, Dr. Smith led me back to the chair. “Are you all right? That was quite a wallop we got.” He called the assistant back in and before my eyes could focus, there were metal utensils in my mouth. Cotton balls and floss rested on my chest. Horror. There was no getting away now.

  I clutched the armrests tight enough to lock my finger joints and grunted in response to endless mundane questions. How did they expect me to answer with my mouth full?

  “You’ve got remarkably clean teeth, Miss Meadows. When was the last time you had them cleaned?”

  One month. I held up a finger. How much was this day’s sleuthing going to cost me?

  “A year? Remarkable. You really take care of these little babies. They look as if you just had them done. You might want to lay off the coffee. I see a few stains here.”

  Stains? Oh my. Vanity is slain. I stared into the man’s oversize hazel eyes. His bottle-glass spectacles reminded me of a bookworm I’d seen in a cartoon once. He squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my assistant. She doesn’t hurt too much.”

  Great. I’d endured unbelievable torture and hadn’t gathered one clue. With my eyes squeezed shut, I drifted to my happy place until the dental hygienist finished. When she removed the bib and told me I was done, I almost cried tears of relief.

  Back in the reception area, I paused. Hubert leaned against the counter, speaking in a soft tone to Edna. Bright circles of scarlet dotted the woman’s thin cheeks. Maybe the love wasn’t dead after all. Before I got caught lurking behind a potted silk plant, I pasted another smile on my face and stepped forward.

  “Y’all make a cute couple.” I tried not comparing them with Mr. Toad and a sparrow, but their physical characteristics made it impossible. “I heard through the grapevine you’d been engaged once.”

  Edna’s lips pursed. I immediately wished for a stronger hinge on my tongue.

  “Once is correct.” Edna straightened an already neat stack of papers in front of her.

  “A situation that could be remedied.” Hubert placed a hand over the woman’s fidgety ones.

  “We’d have to begin the planning all over again.” Edna raised a brown-eyed gaze to Hubert. “I’m not sure I can go through that.”

  “You used Mae Belle, right?”

  They both turned to glare at me. Did my cousin have any satisfied customers? “I’m sorry. It’s really none of my business, but I find myself now having to plan my own wedding. A challenge, but fun.”

  “If your cousin had done her job properly, we’d be married now.” Edna stood with enough force to shove her rolling office chair against a file cabinet. “I’m not getting any younger.”

  “All the more reason to take Hubert up on his offer.” I withdrew my insurance card. The company probably wouldn’t pay, since I’d had the same services performed last month, but it would prolong my time in here. “You could always elope.”

  “Miss Meadows, my Edna had her heart set on the wedding of her dreams. Neither of us has ever been married. Mae Belle flubbed the plans, taking way too long to get colors, payment, that sort of thing to the companies we’d chosen.” Hubert folded his arms. “No one could meet the deadline.”

  “If she managed to do any planning at all, it’s less work for you to do. I’m sure I could get any notes she might have made.” I gnawed my lower lip. The tension in the air threatened to suffocate me. Hubert seemed nice, but I detected the layer of steel beneath his pudginess. Edna’s demeanor chilled the air.

  She handed me my card. “I’ll never forgive that woman. I’ve looked forward to my wedding my entire life.”

  “She’s dead.” I slipped my insurance information back in my purse. “Forgiveness would be for you—not Mae Belle. My suggestion to you both—if marriage is your dream, then get married.”

  With a flick of my hair, I marched out of the office, thankful I’d managed to make it half a day without getting a threat against my safety.

  Around the corner, leaning against the car beside mine, Renee Richards and Mason White stood close in conversation. For someone engaged to another man, Renee looked cozy. She giggled at something Mason whispered in her ear. He moved closer. If I searched hard enough, I might be able to find light between the two of them.

  They jerked apart when I hit the panic button on my car fob. “Sorry. Wrong button.”

  Mason grinned and folded his arms. “If it isn’t Little Miss

  Sleuth.”

  “Yeah, Summer, how’s the detective work?” The two roared with laughter.

  “Going great. The two of you are at the top of my suspect list.” And with those unwise words, I opened my door and slid behind the wheel. Renee and Mason gaped like a couple of beached bass.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The Lord needed to bang me in the head. Knock some sense into my hard noggin. Why did I tell them they were suspects? Did I have a death wish buried so deep into my psyche that I couldn’t find it?

  I turned the key in the ignition, left the couple standing in the alley where I’d foolishly chosen to park my vehicle, and headed to the store. Aunt Eunice would be waiting to grill me for details. Wasn’t enduring pain at the hands of a maniacal dental assistant enough punishment for one day?

  A glance in my rearview mirror caused me to press harder on the gas. Mason White followed in a silver Mercedes. His white grin shone like a jack-o’-lantern’s.

  Lord, please don’t let me wreck another Sonata. Not that I wasn’t tired of driving the same style of car for the last three years. But the last time my car came face-to-face with a tree, I’d spent the night at the hospital. Still had the scar to show for it. Thank goodness for swoop bangs.

  Maybe it was just a coincidence Mason followed so closely. So what if he lived in the other direction. I sped up. He copied. I stomped the brakes and whipped the wheel to take the car to the side of the road. Gravel flew as I stomped on the brakes. Mason did the same.

  I rolled up my window and locked the door, keeping my gaze on my rearview mirror. Mason sat and stared straight ahead. After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled back onto the highway, gave me a little wave, and headed in the direction we’d come.

  Taking deep breaths, I willed my heartbeat to slow to normal. A tap on the window startled me. I ye
lped. Joe stood there, brow creased, hand still poised to tap his high school class ring on the glass. I pushed the button to lower the glass separating us.

  “Car trouble?” Joe removed his hat. “Pop the hood. I’ll take a look.”

  “Mason White followed me from town. Scared me to death.”

  “What makes you think he was following you?”

  “He doesn’t live in this direction, and I just had an altercation with him and Renee Richards.”

  Joe sighed. “That doesn’t mean anything, Summer. You’re overreacting, as usual. What kind of an altercation? They aren’t going to come to me to put a restraining order on you, are they?”

  “Forget it. When I wind up dead, you’ll be sorry. Watch your feet.”

  I stomped the gas pedal and spun gravel. He jumped back as I sped onto the highway. Restraining order indeed.

  When I entered the candy store, Aunt Eunice stood frowning over a tray of just-dipped creams. “Why don’t mine look as nice as yours?”

  The dark chocolate looked milky with grayish white streaks in the swirls. “They’ve bloomed. Did you check the temperature of the chocolate before you dipped?”

  “I turned the machine on, then we had a rush of customers. I can’t do everything.”

  “The machine should have kept it tempered.” I checked the thermostat. “Did you turn it up? The chocolate is too hot.”

  She planted her fists on her hips. “I might have. I don’t know how to use that thing. With you being gone all the time, we’re getting backed up.”

  “I’ll redip them. Let me put on my apron and clean out the machine. I’ll stay late tonight.”

  “Then I have to stay, too.”

  “Why?”

  “I promised Ethan and Joe. They don’t want you alone. Not after you received that letter.”

  Hadn’t anyone heard of locking doors? Even I could manage to turn a dead bolt. I slipped the apron over my head and headed to the sink to wash my hands. “No clues as to who sent it?”

  “Nothing.” She dumped the tray of creams in the trash. “Joe’s frustrated. No clues to the letter and none regarding who murdered Mae Belle.”

  “Hey! I said I would redip those.” Did she think chocolate grew on trees?

  “Sorry.” Aunt Eunice plopped on the stool. “How did your dentist appointment go?”

  “Horrible.” I plunged my hands into the ruined chocolate. If there had to be a mess to clean up, what could be better than this? The silky softness covering my hands soothed me, erasing the tension of my morning. “But things are getting better.”

  The chocolate dropped into the bowl beside the machine. “Why do you think Edna canceled the wedding after Mae Belle messed things up? It’s plain to see she still cares for Hubert, and he’s nuts about her.”

  “Edna is a strange bird. Wants things a certain way. If it doesn’t happen, she’s finished and doesn’t want to put any more effort into it. Everyone around her has to pay for someone else’s mistake.” Aunt Eunice wiped around the dipper with a damp towel. “She’s been that way as long as I’ve known her. She ought to feel lucky that some man wants to spend his life with her. You should’ve seen her back in the day. She was a looker once upon a time. Had all the boys crazy about her.” My aunt giggled. “Although I managed to have my own following.”

  “Speaking of, I saw Renee and Mason in a very intimate pose in the alley where I parked my car.” The chocolate plopped from my hands into the pan.

  Aunt Eunice stopped her cleaning. “Why’d you park in the alley? Isn’t there any sense in that head of yours? Do you remember what happened the last time? You were kidnapped and locked in a trunk.”

  “I didn’t want to have to hunt for a parking space.” And I’d parked in the alley lots of times since then.

  I think Aunt Eunice called me crazy beneath her breath. She moved to light the flame on the gas stove. While I finished cleaning, she measured the ingredients for peanut brittle. We couldn’t seem to keep the candy on the shelf. A blessing, really.

  “Renee always has been a fickle little filly. With her man in Iraq, she’s probably just playing around.” Aunt Eunice poured corn syrup in the large copper vat.

  I dropped chunks of fresh chocolate into the dipper. “I said something I probably shouldn’t have.”

  “That would be a first.” My aunt glanced at me. “What did you say?”

  “I told them they were on my suspect list.” At her incredulous look, I added, “She was being mean.”

  “You poor baby.” She shook her head and muttered something about me being empty-headed.

  I measured the raw Spanish peanuts into a bowl and set it on the table next to her. “She gets into my craw sometimes. I couldn’t help myself. Besides, if you’d help me like you said you would, I might not get into as much trouble.”

  “Don’t lay this on me, missy. I’m a busy woman.”

  Folding my arms, I leaned against the marble slab. “Mason White followed me halfway here, and Joe didn’t do anything about it.”

  “Mason was just heading in the same direction.”

  “Then why did he turn and go the other way after I pulled over?”

  “Probably just playing a game. He’s a bit of a bully.” She adjusted the flame on the stove. “That’s what happens when your family’s the richest in town.”

  The bell over the door rang, and a boy around the age of ten strolled in with a cardboard box under his arm. “Delivery.”

  I glanced at my aunt. She shrugged. We hadn’t placed any orders, and the shoe box–sized package was too small for supplies. Besides, who would send a child to bring it? I handed him a piece of chocolate cream candy. The boy grinned and skipped out the door.

  Using a pair of scissors, I cut into the box. Nestled inside sat another smaller replica of the one I’d opened. I smiled. Ethan must be up to his pranks. Loving surprises, I ripped into the second box. My hand paused in midair. I gasped and dropped the container.

  In the center of a pile of chocolate that looked like it had been melted and reset, lay a dead rat.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Now we’ll have the health department here. I would need to sanitize the entire store with about a million gallons of bleach.

  Get control of yourself, Summer. Don’t let Aunt Eunice see it. She’ll freak. I slapped the box closed before she peeked over my shoulder, tucked it under my arm, and sprinted for the bathroom. My first instinct was to throw it away, but I knew I needed the dead animal as evidence to prove my case to Joe.

  “Summer?”

  I kicked the door closed. “Be right out.” The tiny room contained a pedestal sink and a toilet. I stuffed the box behind the plumbing, flushed, then washed my hands. With a deep breath, I opened the door.

  Aunt Eunice waited, arms crossed and foot tapping. “What are you doing?”

  “Uh, using the restroom?”

  “Fastest time ever recorded if you did. What was in the box?”

  “Nothing.” Well, the first box was empty, kind of, except for the thing inside. I glanced to where the outward packaging still rested on the counter.

  “Summer, you’re a terrible liar.” She pushed me out of the way and stepped into the small space. I closed my eyes and waited. Before I counted to five, my aunt screamed and dashed back out.

  “I tried to hide it from you.”

  The odor of burnt peanuts permeated the candy store. “The brittle!” Grabbing a hot pad from a nearby shelf, I darted to save my candy. The mixture had moved past the greenish tinge of perfectly cooked peanut brittle to the dark brown of scorched nuts. This obviously wasn’t a candy-making day. I turned off the gas and started scooping for the second time.

  “I’m calling Joe. This is getting out of hand.” Aunt Eunice marched to the phone hanging on the wall, punched in some numbers, then demanded to speak with her nephew. After disconnecting, she turned to me. “He’s on his way. Said not to do anything with the box. He also said not to touch it. He isn’t talking a
bout the rat, is he? He doesn’t think we’d actually touch that thing, does he?”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m sure it’s the box he means.” Joe would be furious to know I’d carried then tucked the offending item behind the toilet. It wouldn’t help that Aunt Eunice’s fingerprints were also on it. We couldn’t leave it out front for a customer to see. My throat constricted at the thought of Ethan’s reaction. How much could he take and still be supportive?

  Maybe things were getting dangerous, but I could handle it. The few times I’d gone to my self-defense classes would help. I could do a roundhouse kick with the best of them. Maybe. If I had to.

  I poured boiling water over the sticky mess on the sides of the vat, washing the gunk to the bottom. After covering the congealed mess, I lit the fire to steam the last of it from the copper sides. If only life were that easy. Light a fire, and steam away the hardest part.

  The bell over the door jingled. Joe stormed in. Aunt Eunice bustled to meet him. I stayed right where I was.

  “Joe, we got us a chocolate-covered crime. Right in there behind the toilet.” Perfect. After getting over her fear of the dead rodent, Aunt Eunice grew witty.

  Joe’s eyebrows rose so high that if he’d had bangs, they would have disappeared. “You said you received a threatening package. What’s it doing in the bathroom?”

  My aunt planted her fists on her hips. “Summer put it there. Tried to hide it from me so I’d find it and be surprised. I almost had a heart attack.”

  “I did not. I wanted to keep you from finding it and freaking out. My heart was in the right place.” Where did the ideas in my aunt’s head come from?

  “Who delivered it?” Joe stepped past us and into the bathroom. He nudged the box with his toe.

  “The rat’s dead, Joe. It won’t hurt you. Some little boy brought it in.” I lifted the package and thrust it toward him. “Here. Other than mine and Aunt Eunice’s fingerprints, it ought to be clean.”