Custom-Made Murder (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery Book 8)

by Cindy Bell

“Just keep heading straight, I’ll tell you when to stop.”

  Ally bit into her bottom lip to keep from screaming. They were too far away from any neighbors to be heard. She regretted not making more of a scene at Dean’s shop. Now that they were isolated on Troy’s farm, every last shred of hope she held disappeared. Briefly she thought of Luke, and how he would feel when he discovered what happened. Her heartbeat quickened. It seemed to her that every step she took brought herself and her grandmother that much closer to a terrifying demise. She didn’t want to even consider what might happen next, but there was no way to avoid thinking about it.

  Charlotte shifted closer to her as they walked and spoke in a whisper. “Ally, we have one advantage.”

  “What’s that?” Ally did her best to keep her voice just as low.

  “Troy doesn’t know that we know about the back roads. If we can get into the woods, we can make our way out to the gem shop. It’s a risk, because once we make a break for it, he’s going to be on top of us.”

  “I know.” Ally grimaced. She was tempted to look back over her shoulder at Troy, but she resisted. Anything that would draw attention to her was a bad idea. “Stay close, Mee-Maw.” Ally tightened her grip on her grandmother’s hand. She was well aware that Troy had a knife, but if they got far enough ahead of him, they might be able to escape. “On the count of three, we’re going.” She locked eyes with her grandmother. “Agreed?”

  “Agreed.” Charlotte nodded as her eyes widened.

  “One, two, three!” Ally bolted off, with her grandmother’s hand still in her grasp.

  Troy’s shouts followed after them. He cursed, and threatened, as he tried to catch up with them.

  “Keep going, Ally, keep going, I’m okay!” Charlotte managed to keep pace with her as they ran down the road.

  Ally was so frightened she could barely draw a breath. Even as her feet struck the dirt road, she felt as if the ground was moving. Her heart raced so much that dizziness swept over her. As they neared the fork in the road, Ally began to think they would really make it out. However, a loud sound behind them, made her stomach drop.

  “What was that?” Charlotte looked back over her shoulder. “Oh Ally, run! He’s after us on some kind of four wheeler. He’s going to catch us!”

  “We have to get into the trees. It will be harder for him to catch us there.” Ally changed direction from the fork in the road and headed into the trees instead. The roar of the engine haunted her more than any sound ever had. What would Troy do when he caught up? She stepped through some brush and expected her grandmother to be right behind her.

  “Ouch!” Charlotte gasped as her ankle rolled in a small hole hidden by the brush. She grabbed on to a branch to try to keep herself upright.

  “Mee-Maw, are you okay?” Ally turned back to look at her.

  “I think I’ve hurt my ankle, Ally. Go ahead, you can get help.”

  “No way, I’m not going anywhere without you. Here.” Ally guided her grandmother’s arm over the curve of her shoulder. “We’ll just take it a little slower.”

  “Ally, you should just go.” Charlotte tried to put some weight down on her foot, but gasped as pain shot through it. “I don’t think I can walk, sweetheart. Please, just go!”

  Ally heard the roar of the engine as it drew closer. Her eyes burned with tears as fear sent all of her nerves into high gear. Despite the fear that flooded her she didn’t consider for even one second leaving her grandmother behind. Instead, she looked for a place for both of them to hide.

  “I’m staying, Mee-Maw. Look, there’s some thicker brush over there. Let’s try to hide. Do you think you can make it that far?”

  “Yes, I’ll make it.” Charlotte bit into her bottom lip as bolts of pain rushed through her foot.

  Ally helped her over to the brush. It was just high enough that they could hide behind it, and thick enough that she hoped it would obscure them from view. As the engine cut off, Ally’s hopes were dashed. Troy obviously had an idea of where they were. She heard footsteps approaching and could barely force a breath into her lungs.

  “We need to create some kind of diversion.” Charlotte grabbed a handful of pebbles from the sandy soil.

  “Wait.” Ally placed her hand over her grandmother’s closed fist. “I hear something. It sounds like a car.”

  “Ally, he’s almost on top of us.” Charlotte crouched down further behind the brush, but as she did her ankle twisted, and the pain that shot through her bubbled up into an unavoidable cry. She clamped her hand over her mouth, but not in time to muffle it. Troy headed straight for them in the same moment that the roar of an engine tore through the country quiet.

  Ally pulled her grandmother’s arm over her shoulder and eased her up on her feet. Troy caught her eyes above the brush and smiled. But that smile faded as he was tackled from behind. Ally caught a glimpse of Luke’s determined expression as he pinned Troy to the ground.

  “Don’t move a muscle, or this won’t end well.” Luke pulled Troy’s hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

  “Luke, thank goodness you’re here.” Ally guided her grandmother towards Luke’s car. “I think we need an ambulance.”

  “No, I’ll be fine, really.” Charlotte waved Luke away.

  “Charlotte, what happened?” He gazed at her with concern.

  “I just twisted my ankle is all.” She tried to force a smile through the pain.

  “Mee-Maw, it’s more than a twist.” Ally helped her to sit down in the backseat of Luke’s car.

  “Don’t worry, backup is on its way, along with an ambulance.”

  “How did you find us?” Ally turned to look at him as sirens wailed in the distance.

  “Actually, I didn’t, Arnold did. I received a report of a pot-bellied pig running down the highway, and I just knew that it had to be Arnold.”

  “Did you find him? Is he okay?” Charlotte asked frantically.

  “Don’t worry, he’s fine. I found him, he was taking a rest on the side of the road, and I made sure he was safe before I followed after you. I didn’t want to spook Troy by bringing too many cars down the back roads at one time. Once I knew he was the one who had you.” His voice broke as he stared into Ally’s eyes. “I’m just so glad that you’re okay, that you’re both okay.”

  “The murder weapon.” Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “It’s in his pocket. I hope that you can take that right to a judge and get Jeff out of jail.”

  “I’ll do it right after you get that ankle looked at Charlotte.” Luke lifted an eyebrow.

  “Fine, all right.” Charlotte sighed. “But do hurry. I don’t want him to be locked up a second longer than he has to.”

  “Don’t worry, Charlotte, I’ll make sure he’s released.”

  Ally watched as Troy was loaded into one of the patrol cars. She recalled the first time she’d met him, and how polite he’d seemed.

  Charlotte caught sight of the contemplation in Ally’s expression. “It’s over, sweetheart. Don’t dwell on the why or the how, just be glad that it’s over.”

  Ally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. As another patrol car pulled up she heard a familiar snort. Arnold charged straight for them.

  “My hero.” Charlotte smiled and reached down to pat his head. Ally knelt down in front of him and hugged him.

  Chapter 16

  After a few days of recovery, Charlotte was finally off her crutches, and able to get back in the kitchen.

  “Ally, I have the perfect dessert for tonight.”

  “Mee-Maw, are you sure you’re up for baking already?”

  “Of course, anything with chocolate is healing, you know that.” She winked. “But I think we should make this together. Jeff and Luke are coming for dinner tonight, so we can make it special for them.”

  “That sounds good to me.”

  “It’s one of my favorite recipes, but I only use it on very special occasions.”

  “Hmm? And what makes this occasion so special? Might it be Jeff?”<
br />
  “Shush you.” Charlotte grinned. “Get a bowl and a spoon, let’s get to work.”

  By the time Luke and Jeff arrived the entire kitchen smelled of rich chocolate fudge. The scent followed Ally all the way to the front door. She opened it to find Jeff on the other side. She had seen him from a distance, but close-up she noticed his strong presence despite his age. He was a few inches taller than her, with dark black hair that was speckled with gray. She noticed the kindness in his expression.

  “Hi Jeff.” She smiled at him. “I know we’ve never had the chance to meet, but I just have to do this.” She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Thank you.” Jeff chuckled and hugged her back. “I think we know each other pretty well after all of this, at least the important stuff.”

  “Yes, you’re right about that. Dinner is almost ready.”

  “Are we having chocolate for dinner?” He grinned. “Not that I’m complaining.”

  “No, but the smell of our dessert is taking over the whole house.”

  “I don’t mind at all.”

  Luke stepped in just as Ally started to close the door.

  “Hi.” He smiled at her and pulled her close for a quick kiss.

  “Hi to you, too.” She met his eyes with a warm smile. “I hope you’re hungry.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Everything is just about ready.” She picked up a pile of napkins and silverware to distribute around the table.

  Jeff excused himself to greet Charlotte.

  Ally set out the last of the silverware and smiled as she caught sight of her grandmother with Jeff. They both blushed, and barely said a word, but the connection between them was palpable.

  “Let’s eat!” Charlotte directed everyone to the table. “It’s so nice that we finally got to do this.” She sighed with contentment as she handed a bowl of bread rolls to Jeff.

  “Nice for so many reasons.” Jeff smiled and accepted the bowl. “I’m surrounded by people who helped to get me out of a terrible situation. I don’t think I could be happier than I am right now.”

  “I’m just sorry it took so long for us to get you out.” Luke shook his head.

  “No need to apologize for that, Luke. You helped by looking into the murder, and because you did I was able to get out.” He looked directly into Luke’s eyes. “I am relieved that my name is cleared, and I didn’t just get out on a technicality. If I had been released without the real murderer being arrested, there would still be a lot of suspicion hanging over me.”

  “Troy even admitted to being the one that spray-painted Dean’s shop with graffiti. He was trying to take down Dean’s business before he even opened it. He didn’t want the competition for Silvio. He’d learned about his not so squeaky clean history from Silvio, and had gone after him full force.”

  “He probably thought he was doing the right thing, since Silvio was the first person to give him a chance,” Ally said,

  “Maybe he did.” Jeff nodded. “It was just bad luck that my mandrel was nearby when the police investigated, and I was there around the time of the murder.”

  “Hopefully, this can all be put to rest now. I saw Erica at the shop today, and she told me that she put her foot down with Brad and is keeping the shop open. He thought he was going to sell it right out from under her to make a nice profit. The whole time she thought he was handling things, he was actually arranging for someone to buy it. She also said that Silvio was retiring which he has apparently planned to do for a while and now that Troy is going to be in prison he is closing down the shop. So it looks like Dean’s shop won’t have much competition anymore anyway. When she threatened to divorce Brad, he agreed to transfer the shop into her name.” Ally shook her head. “I’ll never understand how people can love each other and do that.”

  “Me neither, but all relationships are different.” Charlotte frowned. “I can’t believe that Jeff could have spent his life behind bars for something he didn’t do.”

  “The important thing is that Jeff is free and justice was served, even if it was a little late.” Luke nodded.

  “Just like this dinner.” Charlotte laughed as she set lamb chops in the center of the table. “Let’s eat!”

  Ally settled in a chair close to Luke, and her grandmother sat down beside Jeff. For just a moment, Ally considered just how wonderful it was that they were all together. If things had gone wrong, she and her grandmother might not even be alive, and Jeff might still be behind bars.

  “At least we finally got to have dinner together.” Charlotte smiled.

  As they began to dish food onto their plates, Ally couldn’t help but steal glances in her grandmother’s direction. She watched as Charlotte spooned mashed potatoes onto Jeff’s plate until he laughed and begged her to stop. They certainly did have a chemistry between them that Ally could see sparking every time their hands touched, or their eyes met. As strange as it was to see her grandmother in such a position, it also inspired Ally. Companionship could be found at any age. Their relationship was much stronger than it had ever been.

  They were deep in conversation, when the timer on the oven went off.

  “Oh, the cakes must be ready.” Charlotte clapped her hands as she stood up from the table and headed for the kitchen. Ally followed after her.

  “Smells delicious. I wonder how they turned out.”

  “Looks good.” Charlotte peered inside the oven. She grabbed the pot holders and lifted the cakes out of the oven. Right away the kitchen was flooded with a chocolate aroma.

  “That smells amazing. I can’t wait to taste it.”

  “Me neither.” Luke piped up from the table.

  “How did we get so lucky, eh?” Jeff grinned as Charlotte and Ally carried the plates over to the table. She set one down in front of Jeff and then glanced up at him.

  “I was going to make a cake like these only bigger so I could bake a file into it, just in case the legal way didn’t work out.” Charlotte placed a ramekin in front of Jeff.

  “Good woman.” He grinned at her. “Hopefully, I’ll never be in that situation again, but if I am, it’s nice to know that you would have my back.”

  “I will always stand up for the innocent.”

  “That seems to be a family trait.” Luke smiled. “Along with being able to make the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.”

  “You have to eat this cake while it’s warm, as it’s gooey chocolate cake, and the gooey is the best part. But be careful and blow on it first or it can singe your tongue,” Charlotte said.

  “Hmm, sweet and sassy just like you.” Jeff winked at her.

  “Jeffrey!” Charlotte blushed and handed him some ice-cream.

  Ally took a deep breath of the delicious scent, and savored being surrounded by wonderful people. As laughter filled the air, she was reminded that she was exactly where she wanted to be and that she was the happiest she had ever been. She noticed Peaches curled up in a chair in the corner of the room and a snort from under the table reminded her that Arnold still had his appetite.

  The End

  Thank you very much for reading ‘Custom-Made Murder’. I hope you enjoyed it. You can sign up for Cindy’s newsletter to be notified of her latest releases so you don’t miss out on the special new release price at

  http://www.cindybellbooks.com

  Also by Cindy Bell

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  Bekki the Beautician Cozy Mysteries

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  About the Author

  Cindy Bell is the author of the cozy mystery series Dune House, Sage Gardens, Chocolate Centered, Macaron Patisserie, Nuts about Nuts, Bekki the Beautician, Heavenly Highland Inn and Wendy the Wedding Planner.