Death of a Chocoholic

by Lee Hollis

  “And I want to name this soon-to-be best-selling candy after my closest friend,” Bessie cooed.

  “Bessie, I’m flattered. That’s very sweet of you,” Hayley said.

  And she meant it.

  She was genuinely touched by the gesture.

  “I wanted you to be the first to know. I feel it in my bones, Hayley. This one’s going to finally put me on the map.”

  “Fingers crossed,” Hayley said hopefully.

  “I better get home and feed my cats. I’ll call you once I whip up my first batch because, of course, I want you to be the first person in the world to try one.”

  She hugged Hayley again—this time more gently and less bone crushing—and hurried out the door. Hayley watched her scuttle down the sidewalk to her car, fumbling in the pockets of her bright pink parka for her keys. Just as she fished them out and unlocked her car with the remote, she was intercepted by a man twice her size. At least in height.

  Hayley recognized him immediately.

  Wolf Conway.

  One of Bessie’s ex-boyfriends.

  Wolf was a lumbering Paul Bunyan type of guy. Roughly six-four, he had a bushy red beard and freckles all over his face. He wore a brown wool cap, a black-and-red-plaid coat, paint-splattered jeans, and tan work boots. Hayley was surprised Wolf hadn’t yet given her a topic to write about in Bruce’s crime column, given the big man’s long record of public intoxication and disturbing the peace.

  Yes, Bessie’s taste in men was exemplary.

  He spoke to her animatedly, waving his arms in front of her face so much that she had to duck a few times to avoid getting slapped.

  Wolf had a violent temper; that was the chief reason Bessie broke it off with him a few years back. In fact, she stopped all contact. And the scuttlebutt was she even took out a restraining order against him. Clearly, if that was the case, Wolf wasn’t adhering to the rules at this moment.

  Wolf could barely hold down a job. Hayley remembered he worked at the docks, towing the lines of some of the fishermen’s boats for a while. Recently he was a fry cook at a local burger joint and made a mean plate of onion rings. Hayley had tried them once—they were greasy and good. But he got sacked about a month ago for mouthing off to the customers one too many times. Now he was living off his unemployment check, trying to make ends meet. Hayley heard Wolf had lost his little shack on the outskirts of town through foreclosure.

  Wolf was yelling now and Bessie tried to push past him to her car, but he grabbed a fistful of her pink coat in his giant paw. She tried freeing herself from his grip and lost her balance and stumbled to the ground.

  Hayley jumped up out of her chair and bolted out the door, not quite sure what she was going to do.

  “Step away from her right now, Wolf!” Hayley said, her voice cracking from fear.

  Wolf glared at Hayley for a moment, then down at Bessie, who was on her back, her fat arms and legs flailing in the air like an upended cockroach. Painted pink.

  Bessie rolled on her side and reached out to try and kick Wolf in the shins with her black rubber snow boots. He just took a step back from her to avoid getting hit.

  “I’m going to call the police right now,” Hayley said, turning to head back inside.

  Wolf took her threat seriously and stalked off.

  Hayley rushed to Bessie’s side and helped her to her feet, which was no easy task, given her heft. Bessie nearly went down again as Hayley hauled her upright from the sidewalk, nearly tearing her pink parka.

  “Bessie, are you okay?”

  “Only thing bruised is my ego. I can’t believe I fell down like that. Especially in front of him. Oh, he makes my blood boil. Wish I had nailed him in the kneecaps.”

  Bessie’s harsh words didn’t hide the fact she was obviously shaken by her run-in with her ex.

  “What did he want?” Hayley asked, steadying her and then bending down to pick up the car keys Bessie dropped during the scuffle.

  “Wolf’s just being Wolf, that’s all. Nothing to worry about. He still harbors a lot of resentment from the breakup. I broke the poor sucker’s heart.”

  Hayley didn’t quite believe what Bessie was saying. There seemed to be more to it than that. It had been a few years. She watched Bessie traipse off to her car and wondered what the real story was between Bessie and Wolf.

  Chapter 10

  “Dear God in heaven, they’re leaving the island!” Hayley screamed as she sat wedged between Mona and Liddy in the front seat of Mona’s pickup truck. They were tailgating a red Honda Accord as it cruised over the Trenton Bridge, which connected Mount Desert Island to the mainland.

  “Faster, Mona, we’re going to lose them,” Liddy squealed.

  “If I go any faster, I’ll rear-end them,” Mona barked. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel as they closed in on the Accord.

  “I almost don’t even want to know where they’re going,” Hayley wailed.

  Hayley’s worst fears were becoming a reality. She was coming to suspect that Gemma’s withdrawal and her moodiness were far more serious than a failing grade or boy trouble. At this moment her only daughter was in the backseat of a car with a gang of local thugs and druggies. She was probably on her way to a meth lab operated out of a trailer in the woods outside of Bangor.

  Or worse.

  Hayley had heard all the stories: How one day your kid starts acting differently. No longer the bright, happy child who draws you a homemade Mother’s Day card. Suddenly she’s become a self-absorbed, rebellious, vicious troublemaker who no longer listens to anything you say. Now she misses her curfew, pals around with a seedy gang, smokes pot or heroin, forever lost to the dark side.

  Okay, maybe she was being a little dramatic, but it was impossible not to allow her mind to go there.

  Hayley yearned for the days when Gemma excitedly filled her in on even the tiniest details of her life. Now it was a Herculean task just getting her to offer more than a sullen look and a dismissive shrug.

  Just twenty minutes earlier, Gemma grabbed her coat and was halfway out the back door before Hayley managed to stop her.

  “Don’t you think it’s appropriate for me to know where you are going, Gemma?”

  “I’m seventeen, Mom!” Gemma groaned.

  “Exactly my point. You’re still a year away from being of legal age, and until then I expect to know what you are doing, who you are with, and what time I can expect you home.”

  Gemma stomped her foot and sighed. “Fine! It’s Tina Staples’s birthday. Her parents are throwing her a surprise party, and I’m going with some friends. I’ll be home by eleven. Happy now?”

  Hayley breathed a sigh of relief. Tina was the daughter of Reverend Staples, the most trusted man in town. With the good reverend and his demure, soft-spoken wife, Edie, chaperoning, there would be no shenanigans going on. Hayley wouldn’t need to worry about anything untoward occurring.

  Hayley opened her mouth once again to try and find out what was bugging Gemma so much. Just then, though, a pair of headlights turned into the driveway.

  “My ride’s here,” Gemma said, bolting out the door.

  “Wait, you didn’t tell me which friends!”

  Hayley peered out the door to see Gemma jumping into the back of a Honda Accord. She didn’t recognize any of the kids in the car when the interior lights snapped on. Especially troubling was the strapping boy behind the wheel. He was big and imposing, with a sly grin; his neck was craned around so he could look Gemma up and down with lustful eyes.

  Well, Hayley couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew in her bones they were probably full of lust.

  Hayley wanted the names of everyone in that car; but by the time she made it out the door to the driveway, the Accord had already backed out and was roaring off down the street.

  At that moment Mona’s beat-up white truck pulled up to Hayley’s house. Mona honked the horn. Hayley had completely forgotten she had plans to go to Randy’s bar with Mona and Liddy for a cocktail.

&nb
sp; Liddy rolled down the window and stuck her face out. “Next time we’re taking my Mercedes. I just scratched my butt on a spring sticking out of Mona’s upholstery.”

  “Stop your yammering and slide over for Hayley,” Mona barked.

  “Mona, the car you just passed, did you see who was driving?”

  “No, it was too dark. Why?”

  “I’m probably overreacting. I’ve just been a little concerned about Gemma lately and the kids she’s been hanging around with. I hope she’s not falling in with a bad crowd.”

  “Gemma’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’ll be fine,” Mona said.

  Mona was always so calm and reassuring.

  “You’re right. I mean, how much trouble can she possibly get into at Reverend Staples’s house?” Hayley said.

  “Is that where she told you she was going?” Liddy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, we just drove by the Staples’ house. They’re not home. All the lights were off,” Liddy said.

  “Oh, my God! She lied!” Hayley wailed.

  Worst fears realized.

  “Mona, follow that Accord!” Hayley said, opening the passenger-side door and trying to climb in, but Liddy pushed her back.

  “No way am I sitting in the middle,” Liddy said. “I’m claustrophobic! Besides, Mona smells like chicken grease.”

  “I just made dinner for my kids! Give me a friggin’ break!” Mona spit out.

  They lost a few precious seconds while Liddy got out and let Hayley squeeze in between them. Then Mona hit the accelerator and the white pickup zoomed down the street in hot pursuit of the Honda.

  By the time they reached Ellsworth, ten minutes past the Trenton Bridge, Hayley was in full panic mode.

  The Honda’s right blinker clicked on and off as it pulled into a large parking lot. Mona veered her truck in behind them and then shut off her headlights so they wouldn’t detect her tailing them.

  “You think they’re doing some kind of drug deal?” Liddy asked, unable to hide her excitement to be smack in the middle of such high-stakes drama.

  “I know this place,” Mona said. “I bring my older kids here all the time. It’s the Beer ’n Bowl. Friday is psychedelic bowling night.”

  Hayley had heard of the Beer ’n Bowl. Bowling for the whole family. A bar area for the adults.

  “Maybe they’re going to rob the place!” Liddy said, smacking Hayley on the arm, proud of her new theory.

  “Okay, you need to take a chill pill, Liddy, and stop scaring Hayley. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation why she didn’t just tell you she was coming here,” Mona said.

  “Why would she lie to me?” Hayley said, shaking her head.

  They watched as five teenagers, Gemma included, piled out of the Accord. The big lug, who was behind the wheel, pulled something out of his coat pocket and started dispensing what looked like white pills to all the kids. They popped them into their mouths as they entered the bowling alley.

  “They’re getting high!” Hayley moaned, covering her face with her hands.

  Liddy opened the door and jumped out, dragging Hayley by the sleeve behind her. “Come on, we have to get her out of there before she gets caught and arrested in a drug raid!”

  As the three women entered, they were overwhelmed by neon spandex, bowling, glitter, and beer. It was like a disco circa 1978. Hayley looked around, but she didn’t immediately spot Gemma and her gang of juvenile delinquents.

  She turned to Liddy and Mona.

  “Okay, I don’t want her seeing us before we know exactly what’s going on,” Hayley said. “Why don’t you two hang at the bar and act inconspicuous while I look around?”

  “I love that idea,” Liddy said with a big smile, turning to the bar and resting her eyes on the hot, young bartender shirtless underneath a tight leather vest. “More than you will ever know.”

  The bartender winked at Liddy. “Cougars in the house. Nice.”

  Liddy blushed and demurely touched his hand. “I’m way too young to be a cougar. Is there something else in the animal kingdom to describe a slightly older woman?”

  “I love older women,” the bartender said, caressing her hand.

  “Okay, then. I guess technically I’m old enough to be a cougar,” Liddy gushed.

  “Just get us a couple of beers, okay, junior?” Mona barked, startling him.

  He quickly grabbed a couple of glass mugs and began filling them from the tap.

  Hayley had trouble scanning the crowd of bowlers with all the neon lighting and the reflections from the disco ball hanging over the lanes from the ceiling. She was halfway across the room when she suddenly spotted Gemma and her pals gathering in an area off to the side near the farthest bowling lane. Hayley was completely exposed just as Gemma unexpectedly turned in her direction.

  Hayley ducked behind a family of five, all wearing matching red bowling shirts. She stayed low to the floor, looking through the father’s legs at Gemma. Luckily, her daughter didn’t see her. One of the kids in the red-shirted family, a freckle-faced boy around eight, happened to turn and found himself face-to-face with a crouching Hayley. Her sudden presence shocked him into silence for a moment.

  “Hello, what’s your name?” Hayley said, offering the kid a warm smile.

  It didn’t work.

  His eyes popped open and he pointed in Hayley’s face. “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!”

  The red-shirted mother whipped around at her boy’s cries to see Hayley on her knees, trying to quiet her kid. “What are you doing? Get away from my son!”

  All heads in the bowling alley now turned in Hayley’s direction. Hayley sprung to her feet and quickly walked across one of the lanes, turning her head to one side, to avoid being spotted by Gemma and her druggie friends.

  Her head was turned so far she was unable to see where she was going.

  “Look out!” a man yelled.

  Hayley spun around to see Reverend Staples frantically waving his arms in the air at her.

  Hayley suddenly realized she was in the middle of a bowling lane and Reverend Staples’s bowling ball was barreling straight for her. She broke into a run to avoid getting mowed down by the ball, but she wasn’t fast enough. The ball slammed into her right ankle and she fell face-first into the bowling pins.

  They scattered in every direction.

  She managed to knock down all the remaining pins that were standing.

  At least she helped the reverend score a spare.

  Reverend Staples and his wife, Edie, hustled down the lane to help Hayley to her feet.

  “Are you all right?” Edie asked.

  Hayley nodded, forcing a smile. Then she glanced over to see Gemma, who at that moment was staring at her, mouth agape. That’s when Hayley noticed the birthday decorations and cake set up in the corner.

  Gemma marched over, screaming at the top of her lungs, “Mom! What are you doing here?”

  “I . . . I didn’t recognize the kids you left with, so I—”

  “They’re Tina’s cousins visiting from New Hampshire. We all carpooled to the party,” Gemma said evenly, her arms folded.

  “Well, don’t I feel like the fool,” Hayley said, laughing, trying to make light of the situation.

  Nobody else laughed.

  “I can’t believe you embarrassed me like that. Just go home, please.”

  “Wait just a minute, young lady. What did that boy give you before you came in here? It looked like some kind of pill. Are you high?”

  The big kid who was driving pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Hayley. “You mean these?”

  It was a can of Altoids mints.

  “We shared a bag of Funyuns on the way up here, so we had stinky breath,” Gemma said, seething.

  “Want one?” the boy offered Hayley.

  “No, thank you. I’m fine,” Hayley said, barely audible.

  Hayley looked over to Mona and Liddy for support, but they had already quickly downed their
beers at the bar and were slinking toward the exit before Gemma spotted them too.

  Hayley feared she had just crossed a line and perhaps lost her daughter’s trust for good.

  Chapter 11

  “I’m really not comfortable appearing on camera, Bessie,” Hayley said.

  “Nonsense. You’re a natural,” Bessie said, fluffing her own hair as she stared into a mirror.

  A pimply kid around Dustin’s age, wearing a Jay-Z t-shirt and tattered jeans, stood behind a mounted camera. Next to him was a pudgy kid holding a cheap-looking boom mike.

  “Where did you get all this equipment?” Hayley asked.

  “Rented it from the high school. My crew members are volunteers from the visual-arts department. They’re getting extra credit for helping me out.”

  Bessie had decided to make a promo video for her burgeoning candy business and post it on YouTube. When she called Hayley to come over to her house, Hayley just assumed the special candy she promised to whip up for her was ready to be picked up.

  But it wasn’t.

  Bessie had other plans.

  She needed a straight man for her video. Since Bessie had very few friends, Hayley was basically her first and only choice.

  “What do you want me to do?” Hayley asked.

  “Just be yourself. You’ll be my guest. After all, you’re somewhat of a local celebrity with your cooking column. Now don’t worry. You can just stand here and smile and I’ll do all the talking.”

  “Like a Price Is Right model.”

  “Exactly,” Bessie said as she finished primping.

  That didn’t seem so bad.

  “Okay, let’s try one and see what we get,” Bessie said. “You boys ready?”

  They nodded, but they seemed noncommittal.

  The plump one yawned.

  “Okay, we’re rolling.... Sound is speeding . . . and action!” the pimply kid said.

  Bessie smiled brightly and looked straight into the camera. “Hello, everyone, I’m Bessie, your favorite chocolatier. Today I have a special guest here with me. I’ve invited my dear friend, Hayley Powell, over because I’m dying for her to try some of my delicious chocolate candies you can buy online at my website, BessiesSweetTreats.com. Go ahead, Hayley. Have one.”