Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 01 - Death by Chocolate

by Sally Berneathy

  “Let him up.”

  Bennett glared at me but didn’t move.

  “Let him up and throw him out the door unless you’ve got some other plans for him.”

  Bennett got up, releasing Rick who scrambled to his feet, ran his hand through his hair and straightened his clothes.

  “I’m leaving now,” he said. “But I’ll see you tomorrow night at your parents for dinner.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  “Can I call you?” Suddenly he looked kind of pitiful.

  “I’ll call you.”

  “When?”

  “Next week.”

  “You promise?”

  “I promise but only if you leave in the next ten seconds!”

  “Fine. I’m going.” He left with a final glare over his shoulder at Bennett.

  As soon as the door closed behind him, Bennett turned to me. “I’m going, too. I’ve told you the truth, and if you don’t believe it, that’s your problem.”

  I folded my arms. “I’ll tell you what I believe. I believe tests will reveal that the blood on that diaper is the same blood in Lester Mackey’s apartment and car.”

  “What would that prove if it is?”

  “That you set Paula up. That maybe she’s telling the truth and you’re not. That you’re one sick puppy.”

  His jaw started twitching again and white lines appeared around his mouth.

  “You try to make people believe Paula’s sick but really it’s you,” I taunted, taking advantage of this sign of weakness. “No wonder your father abused you. He was probably trying to beat some of the crazy out of you. I’ll bet he wondered if he was even your father.”

  That one hit home. Bennett’s face lost all semblance of sanity. He grabbed my shoulders. “Listen, bitch, you took that blood from me without my permission. Since your father’s such a hotshot lawyer, you should know that won’t stand up in any court.”

  I twisted away from his grip. “Since my father’s a lawyer, what I know is that rule doesn’t apply to a civilian. You bled on my porch, my premises. I did a good deed and cleaned your wounds. Furthermore, the lab that’s set up to analyze this blood has nothing to do with the cops. It’ll stand up in court, all right. When I get through with you, your career with the police department will be over forever. They’ll lock you away in a mental institution and keep you on drugs the rest of your life.”

  In one slick move, he had my arm pinned behind my back and I knew exactly how much Rick had hurt when Bennett twisted upward. A lot.

  Fear crept back in to blend with the anger and make a huge mess of my insides. Actually, the fear didn’t creep. It poured back in. I was succeeding. I was making him lose control and any minute now he’d spill his guts. I should have been pleased, but all I could think of was, if Bennett decided to kill me, would Fred be quick enough?

  “You’re going to get that diaper,” he growled, “and give it to me. Move or I’ll break your arm!”

  I moved. “It’s in that shoe box sitting on top of the television,” I said as he marched me across the room. “Any thoughts on how you’re going to keep me from telling the world exactly what transpired here tonight? Adam Trent and I are close, you know. Real close. He’ll believe me, and the whole force will turn out to take you down. I’ll blab to the world. Your career’s over. Your freedom is over. I have a really big mouth.”

  He opened the shoe box with one hand while holding me with the other. “You sure do, but I’m not really worried. I don’t think you’re going to be doing a lot of talking after I leave here.”

  I swallowed hard. “Why?” I squeaked. “How do you plan to stop me from talking?”

  He didn’t answer me. He just removed from the box the diaper that I’d drizzled with hamburger blood.

  “You think I’m scared of some lunatic?” I taunted. You’re not enough of a man to stop me from blabbing to the whole town!” I thought I was doing pretty darn good with the taunting business.

  He yanked my arm so tight I couldn’t hold back an audible gasp, almost a scream. “I can stop you,” he said. “There’s going to be a tragic fire at your house tonight and you’re going to die in it.”

  “Ha! Big man! Couldn’t even control his wife! She shot you and left you for dead! You think you scare me?” Actually, he did. But I was doing a pretty good job of acting, I thought. As long as I didn’t wet my pants, I could carry it off.

  He yanked so hard I thought my arm might be broken, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of more than a grunt. “I told you that bitch is crazy! Any sane woman wouldn’t have made me hit her! She kept egging me on, just like you’re doing! I loved hurting her, and I’m going to love hurting you! The fire will hide a lot of cuts and bruises and broken bones!”

  “You’ll get caught! You pushed it too far. If you’d just turned her in, you might have made it work, but you had to torment her and do that stupid Lester Mackey trick. You’re an impotent idiot!”

  “I had to teach her a lesson. She deserved to suffer after what she did to me!”

  “What did she do to you?”

  “She made a fool out of me! She left me, and everybody was talking about how I couldn’t control my own wife! Then she shot me and left me for dead and all those people were saying David Bennett was married to a crazy woman!”

  I was pretty sure my arm was broken and it would be a long time before I could hold a pan of chocolate chip cookies, and anytime would be a good time for Fred to show up and rescue me. Surely we had enough, but Fred’s so anal! I supposed he wanted all loose ends tied up. I could only hope my dead, one-armed body wouldn’t be one of those loose ends.

  “You tried to kill me!” I said, plunging on to the only thing I could think of that we hadn’t covered. “You put poison in my Chocolate Pudding Cake! You’re a criminal and a sicko and a pervert and you’re going to pay!”

  He gave my arm another yank and I was positive now that it was broken beyond repair. I’d never be able to hold a Coke with one hand and eat chocolate cake with the other. “You can blame Paula for that. If she hadn’t confessed everything to you, I wouldn’t have to kill you. I told you that woman’s crazy! If she’d just behaved, I wouldn’t have had to hit her! I wouldn’t have to kill you! Oof!”

  Suddenly my arm was released and I whirled around to see Fred flipping Bennett over his back and my front door flying open again.

  “Police! You’re under arrest!” Trent and Creighton came through that door, guns drawn. Rick was right behind, and two more officers emerged from the direction of the kitchen.

  The cavalry had arrived, all the different divisions!

  Trent yanked Bennett off the floor and handcuffed him.

  “Adam,” Bennett protested, “what’s going on? I’m one of you! I’m a cop. That man attacked me for no reason! I was standing here talking to Ms. Powell about doing some babysitting for me and he came up behind me and kicked me on the side of my the head. Nearly broke my neck. Get me out of these cuffs.”

  “Save it for your trial,” Trent said. “I’ve had a microphone on that window since Kramer came inside and got out of our way long enough for us to do it.”

  “Lindsay, are you okay?” Rick took my arm…the sore one. I yanked it back and tried to rub circulation into it.

  Fred was easing toward the stairs. He was barefoot.

  Kicked Bennett on the side of his head? Fred?

  “You have the right to remain silent,” Creighton began.

  “I know my fucking rights!”

  “You have the right to an attorney.”

  “Shut the fuck up!”

  “Give ‘em hell, Bennett!” I shouted as they dragged him out the door. “Show ‘em what a tough guy you are!” I hoped his head hurt as much as my arm, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing he hurt me.

  The cops had lots of questions, but finally only Trent, Rick and I remained downstairs.

  “Rick, go home,” I said.

  “I thought we were friends
,” he protested.

  “After the divorce, we’ll talk about being friends. Tonight, the only friend I want to see is my cat.”

  He left, though he shot Trent a final glare. I could tell it didn’t bother Trent.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind Rick. “I can’t believe it’s finally over,” I said.

  “The deal with Bennett or your marriage?” Trent asked.

  “Both, I guess.”

  “How’s your arm?”

  “Hurts.”

  He took it in a surprisingly gentle grasp and probed a bit. “I don’t think it’s broken.”

  “I didn’t hear anything snap, but if it did, it’ll be on Fred’s recording. We have our own, you know. Probably better than yours.”

  Trent looked toward the stairs. “Who is that guy?”

  “Day trader in the stock market.”

  “Yeah, right. A day trader who knows karate and has more sophisticated listening devices than the police department does?”

  “Don’t you know who that masked man was? Why, he’s the Lone Ranger!”

  Trent’s features warred between irritation and a grin. The grin won. It looked good on him.

  He was still holding my arm. He had nice hands.

  “So you were watching my house after all, huh? I thought you didn’t believe me.”

  “I didn’t, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put a tail on Bennett, just in case.”

  I looked Trent directly in the eye.

  “Okay,” he admitted, “I thought you might be right. Bennett struck me the first time he opened his mouth as a smooth-talking dickhead. Then you mouthed off to him and made all kinds of insinuations and taunts. I didn’t want to take a chance on your getting hurt.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that admission.

  “Well,” Trent said brusquely, dropping my arm as if he’d only just noticed he was still holding it, “I guess that winds it all up. I don’t think you’ll be having any more uninvited night time visitors.”

  “Are you going to let Paula out of jail?”

  “I’ll get the warrant quashed. She’ll be out in the morning.”

  “What about Zach?”

  “I stationed officers to watch the house where Bennett left him. By now he’s been picked up and will spend the night with social services, but we’ll get him back to Paula tomorrow.”

  “Cool.”

  “Well. I guess if everything’s taken care of, I’ll leave and let you get some rest. I know this has been pretty stressful for you.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, you could say that. Death by Chocolate is not a fun way to go, and I’m thinking death by fire would have been even worse.”

  “Well,” he said again and started moving toward the door. “I’ll see you around.”

  I got up my courage. After all, I’d just stood up to a murderer. “How about going to dinner with me at my parents’ house tomorrow night? It’ll be worse than Chinese water torture, but the food’ll be good.”

  He stopped with one hand on the door knob and grinned. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “Pick me up around five?”

  He left and I gave myself a moment to let my lips play with a silly smile before I went to the base of the stairs. “Fred! Get down here! It’s confession time!”

  “I’m not your priest!” he shouted back. “You don’t need to confess to me!”

  It was going to be a long night.

  THE END

  Check out Lindsay’s not-so-secret chocolate recipes, then read a chapter of the second book in the series, MURDER, LIES AND CHOCOLATE.

  LINDSAY’S PRIVATE RECIPE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

  1/2 c. butter, softened

  1-1/2 c. dark brown sugar

  1 egg

  1 T. vanilla (yes, tablespoon, NOT teaspoon)

  1/2 t. baking soda

  dash of salt (bigger dash if you use unsalted butter)

  1-1/2 c. flour

  1/4 c. oat flour

  8 (or more) oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like to use semi-sweet, dark and white)

  1/2 to 1 c. chopped nuts, unless someone is allergic

  Cream butter with sugar. If butter is too hard to stir with a spoon, use a potato masher to soften. Add egg and vanilla and stir briskly until well mixed. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Dough should be very stiff and just a little sticky. Add more flour or butter as necessary to achieve this state.

  Form dough into balls larger than a jacks ball and smaller than a golf ball. Place on cookie sheet a couple of inches apart. Bake at 375º for 8 minutes. Cookies will be moist and chewy with a firm outer crust.

  Makes 2 dozen cookies, more or less, depending on how many samples were tested before baking.

  CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE

  Preheat oven to 350º

  Cake:

  ¾ c. sugar

  1 c. flour

  1 t. salt

  2 t. baking powder

  ¼ c. cocoa

  ½ c. milk

  3 T. oil

  1 t. vanilla

  Sift dry ingredients into a 9x9 pan, ungreased. Add wet ingredients. Mix a little bit. Smooth over.

  Topping:

  ½ c. white sugar

  ½ c. brown sugar

  ¼ c. cocoa

  1-½ c. water

  Mix sugars and cocoa. Spread evenly over batter. Pour water over all. Bake for 45 minutes. Pudding cooks through to bottom. Serve slightly warm or cold with ice cream. Or just serve with a spoon!

  PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

  Preheat oven to 350º.

  1/2 c. butter

  1/2 c. peanut butter (crunchy or smooth or a combination)

  1/2 c. white sugar

  1/2 c. brown sugar (firmly packed; I prefer dark brown for a richer flavor)

  Stir in:

  1 egg

  1 t. vanilla

  1/2 t. salt (1/4 if butter is salted)

  1/2 t. baking soda

  1 c. flour

  1 c. chocolate chips (milk chocolate or M&Ms for a mellow experience; semi-sweet or darker for a maximum chocolate experience; add more than a cup if you’re having a bad hair day)

  Cream together butter and peanut butter. Beat in sugars. Stir in egg and vanilla. Mix salt, soda and flour well, then add to mixture, stirring until well blended. Add chips. Press into balls roughly an inch in diameter or the size of the kidney stone you wish your ex-husband would get. Flatten on baking sheet, leaving ½ to 1 inch between cookies. Bake until firm but not hard, about 10 minutes.

  DECADENT CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

  Preheat oven to 300º.

  3 pkgs. cream cheese (8 oz each), softened

  1 c. sugar

  3 T. flour

  6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

  3 eggs

  3 T. amaretto, Frangelica, Bailey’s or just plain cream

  2 t. vanilla

  6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

  Combine cheese, sugar, flour and chocolate. Beat until well blended. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Blend in liqueur or cream and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into chocolate crust (below). Bake 70-80 minutes or until filling is set.

  Top with:

  Vanilla yogurt sprinkled with chocolate chips

  Fresh or frozen strawberries* either alone or over vanilla yogurt and/or chocolate chips

  Fresh or frozen raspberries* either alone or over vanilla yogurt and/or chocolate chips

  *I love to put sugar on the berries, let them set for a while, then drain off the resulting juice, add 1 T. cornstarch to juice and cook in microwave in 45 second increments, beating with wire whisk after each increment, until thick. Cool, add berries back to juice, chill and pour over cheesecake.

  Chocolate crust:

  8-1/2 oz. pkg, chocolate cookie wafers, crushed (about 2 cups)

  1/3 c. butter, melted

  1/4 c. sugar

  Mix and press into spring-
form pan. No spring-form pan? Fold aluminum foil in half, form into a circle and put inside regular 9 inch cake pan. Don’t obsess about getting the crust all the way up. Already got the crust in the pan before you remembered about the aluminum foil? Put it on the outside of the pan and continue. Who’s going to notice a slight irregularity in edges when that luscious piece of cheesecake is lying in front of them, ready to be eaten.

  CHOCOLATE EARTHQUAKE CAKE

  Preheat oven to 350º.

  1 c. chopped nuts (I use more)

  1 c. coconut (I use more)

  1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared according to package directions

  (I prefer the deep chocolate varieties, but lighter varieties can be used…though I can’t imagine why anyone would want less chocolate)

  1/2 c. butter

  3 oz cream cheese, softened

  1 lb. powdered sugar.

  Grease or spray 9x12 pan. Cover bottom of pan with nuts and coconut. Pour cake batter on top.

  Melt butter in a bowl in microwave. Add cream cheese and powdered sugar and stir. Spoon over unbaked batter, spreading as much as possible. Bake 42-45 minutes. (You cannot test for doneness as cake will be sticky even when it’s done. About all you can do is eat a piece or two. Or three or four.)

  Sprinkle with chocolate chips while still hot so they’ll partially melt.

  BROWNIE NUT FUDGE PIE

  Preheat oven to 375º.

  1 unbaked pie shell (see below)

  2 squares (2 oz) unsweetened chocolate

  2 T. butter

  3 eggs

  1/2 c. sugar

  3/4 c. dark corn syrup

  1 c. nuts

  Melt chocolate and butter in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Beat eggs, sugar, chocolate mixture and corn syrup. Mix in pecans. Pour into pastry lined 9-inch pie pan. Bake 40-50 minutes just until set. Serve slightly warm (to die for!) or cold with ice cream and hot fudge sauce.