Death is Semisweet

by Lou Jane Temple

  “We don’t know that for sure. But with what you found out, and I can’t thank you enough for that, it does look like the Santa could be the bad guy.”

  Dale took Heaven’s hand. “It was my pleasure, I assure you. I’ve never known so much about my building and its occupants. I’ve got to go. Have a good holiday.”

  “Wait. I want you come to my house on Christmas Eve, if you’re not busy with family.”

  “No, I’m not having dinner with my niece and her family out in Overland Park until Christmas Day.”

  “Come down any time after seven.” Heaven grabbed a restaurant business card and scribbled on it. “Here’s my address. You must see Iris all grown up now. She’s home from England, or will be in a few hours.”

  “I can hardly wait. I’ll bring champagne,” Dale said and he left with a cheery wave.

  Heaven was excited. Her hunch about the Santa was right, she just knew it was. Not that it did them much good, since Bonnie wouldn’t call her back. Besides, identifying a Santa on the Plaza that particular day would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She hurried back to the kitchen to fix the rabbit.

  Heaven was pacing. She said she was working the room, but really she was pacing. Because of Iris’s arrival tonight, Heaven had replaced herself in the kitchen, and now it was seven and Iris wasn’t here and all she could do was pace. Oh, she talked to every table, wished them a happy holiday season, but she was wound up and the whole staff was avoiding her as much as possible.

  “Heaven, why don’t you have a nice glass of wine,” Murray said, like he was talking to a small child and offering chocolate milk.

  “When did she say they got in?” Heaven asked, for the tenth time.

  “Six forty-six. But even with a limo waiting for them, it’s going to be another half hour. So, what would you like?”

  “I didn’t see that four top in the back. That’s Eric, our dried herb and spice guy and his wife. I’ll just pop back and say hi,” Heaven said and took off for the back of the room.

  Murray sighed. Just then, Bonnie Weber came charging through the door. “I need a beer,” she bellowed.

  Tony, behind the bar, pointed at her. “Boulevard pale ale, right?”

  “I’d drink anything with a little kick to it right now. In fact, Tony, change that to a Stoli martini straight up with a twist.”

  She plopped down on the bar stool nearest Murray. “Where’s the Queen of Thirty-ninth Street?”

  “She’s jumping out of her skin, waiting for her daughter.”

  “Iris is coming home for Christmas? That must be making Heaven happy.”

  “Yes, except she’s bringing her boyfriend, Stuart Watts,” Murray said under his breath, not wanting Heaven to catch them talking about Stuart.

  Bonnie accepted her drink from Tony and held it up in salute to Murray, then took a sip. “Ah, yes, this was a better idea than beer. I didn’t know that Iris was involved with Watts.” She used the musician’s last name like she was talking about a suspect. “Isn’t he in her father’s band?”

  “Yes, and that’s what’s bothering Heaven. She thinks he’s too old and she knows him too well.”

  Before Bonnie could ask another question, Heaven swirled up beside her. “Oh, my God. I thought you’d abandoned me. How dare you make an arrest without telling me first?”

  Bonnie looked at Murray. “She is a little high-strung tonight, isn’t she?”Murray hurried off to seat a deuce that had just arrived, hoping Heaven wouldn’t explode.

  She didn’t. In fact, she was so glad to see Bonnie she didn’t even yell at her about not returning the phone calls. “So, what made you arrest Claude?” she asked even before she ordered a drink. “Tony, may I have a glass of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc?”

  “No martini?” Bonnie challenged.

  “No, I have to stay fairly sober tonight, so I don’t go off on Iris’s boyfriend.”

  “I want to hear about that,” Bonnie said. “After we discuss my superior criminalist work. I guess we always knew Claude had the motive, or at least we knew that once we started looking into the business practices at Foster’s. Oliver Bodden was a partner who was somehow squeezing the brothers. I do know they’ve been trying to finance a buyout of the West African Cacao Company, going around to local banks. And you weren’t the only one to hear Claude talking bad about the Bodden fellow. Everyone in the plant had seen or heard something. You also weren’t the only one to see brother Claude leave the press show, although I must tell you I’m pissed that I missed that myself. I’m sure he thought his speeches would give him an alibi. So he has opportunity, he certainly has the motive if this guy is trying to steal the business, and the means, those packing wires, were piled in a big box not three feet from where the victim was found. And his fingerprints were found all over the conch machine.”

  “But think about the guy’s physical appearance, Bonnie. He’s a ninety-eight-pound weakling. Do you really think he could choke Oliver Bodden with a wire hard enough to cut off his air? Come on.”

  “I think he found Oliver, they had words and Oliver turned his back on Claude—maybe he was leaning over checking the conch gadget. Claude was mad in the first place and having this dude be so unconcerned just took him over the top. He probably beaned him with something, he fell in the conching gizmo, Claude grabbed a metal wire from the shipping area and showed Oliver who was still boss at Foster’s. When you’re angry, you have that adrenaline strength. Or, Claude and he fought, Claude strangled him, then heard the group coming his way and shoved Bodden in the conch machine because he did know he wouldn’t be able to lug the big guy out of there successfully. Claude will tell us how it went down soon, I’m sure. I’m meeting with him and his attorney tomorrow. Regular joes like him always end up confessing. Speaking of confessing, now is the perfect time for you to tell me what you were doing at Foster’s today.”

  Heaven ignored that. “What I don’t understand is the fire of all the cocoa beans. What’s that about?”

  “That’s when I knew I had a case, my dear. I talked to the guys on the factory floor. Now, they seem to really like their bosses, the Fosters. It wasn’t like everyone was eager to see them go down. But I just played dumb, which I am about chocolate production, and certain facts came out. Here’s what I think happened. No one from the factory was around when the fire happened so I’m flying by the seat of my pants.”

  “The secretary today told me that thousands of dollars of cocoa beans were burned and the brothers said it must be vandalism, but she wasn’t buying it,” Heaven added.

  “Do you want to hear or not?” Bonnie asked impatiently. “No one went for the vandalism excuse. For one thing, the only cocoa beans that weren’t burned were the ones from West African Cacao. Then, the foreman explained this whole nibs thing to me. The good chocolate companies have a secret blend of cocoa beans from all over the world, actually the nibs are the inside of the bean, that’s what they blend. A company will use up to twelve different kinds of nibs.”

  “I knew that,” Heaven said, remembering her chocolate lecture from Stephanie.

  “Except Foster’s was only using West African nibs in the new chocolate. They weren’t blending a thing. The foreman thought it was some kind of a strong-arm tactic on the part of Bodden, said it would ruin the taste of the chocolate. I examined the burned bags, at least a few I found in the back of the Dumpster. They were from Mexico and Costa Rica. I think Oliver Bodden burned up the beans from other countries to make a point.”

  Heaven hugged Bonnie’s arm. “Good investigating, girlfriend. But I just want to tell you that I met the other brother, David, today at the Chocolate Queen and when I told him about Claude he was estactic—well, happy at least. It was very creepy. I think he could do anything to get even with his brothers for the old doublecross. I haven’t been able to get him out if my mind.”

  Bonnie shrugged. “I’ll at least check with the airlines to see when he arrived in Kansas City. I’d love if he was a sharpshooter and sec
retly arrived weeks ago. I’d love to tie both of the Foster crimes up in a nice, tidy bundle. I can’t see Claude for the airship incident, can you?”

  “Why would he? Oh, look, here’s my darling daughter,” Heaven practically squealed. She swooped toward the door and grabbed Iris in a bear hug. Behind her Stuart Watts stood tall in the doorway. His dark hair was spiked with gray, but he was still a handsome figure.

  “Hi, Mom. Can we ride home with you? I told Stuart it was silly to have the driver wait.”

  “Of course, honey. Just have the driver bring your bags in. We’ll stick them in the office.”

  Iris went over to hug Murray and say hello to Bonnie, so Heaven turned to face Stuart. “Welcome to Kansas City,” she said.

  Stuart bowed and took Heaven’s hand, kissed it and smiled up at her. “Heaven, I know you’re not thrilled about this, about Iris and me.”

  “Stop it,” Heaven ordered, giving herself an internal warning about her tone of voice. “I’m just glad to have Iris home. Happy Holidays, Stuart.” She took his hand and led him to the bar. “Tony, get this man a drink.”

  Chocolate Empanadas

  8 oz. good chocolate (I used semisweet but milk chocolate

  would be good too.)

  ¼ to cup cajeta, the Mexican caramel, or other good

  caramel sauce

  cup toasted nuts

  cup dried fruit

  Frozen Asian dumpling wrappers, defrosted Canola oil for frying

  ¼tsp. cinnamon

  For dusting: approx. 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar sifted over the hot empanadas or combine 1 cup sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon to dredge the fried empanadas in.

  Finely chop the chocolate and mix with the other ingredients. I used two terrific combinations: almonds and golden raisins, and pine nuts and dates. You could also use combinations such as dried cranberries or cherries and pecans or dried apricots and hazelnuts.

  To fill, dip a finger in a small bowl of water, and wet the edges of the dumpling wrapper. Try not to get the middle of the wrapper wet so it will not crack open. Put a spoonful of chocolate filling in the wrapper and close the edges with your wet finger, pinching shut firmly. This amount of filling will make 40-50 empanadas.

  After forming the empanadas, let set at least an hour or refrigerate overnight. Fry in an inch or so of medium hot oil. The wrappers will brown in about a minute and a half per side. Drain and dust with confectioners’ sugar or a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. These are great for a buffet. If you want to use them at a sit-down party, garnish the plate with warm cajeta sauce and some berries or diced mango and the toasted nut used in the filling.

  Nine

  I can’t carry another package,” Iris gasped.

  Heaven smiled. “I’m so glad we did this. I hadn’t done much Christmas shopping. What a good idea you had, to get Hank a tuxedo.”

  “Mom, he’ll look like a movie star in it. And doctors do need to dress up occasionally, I would think, especially if they live with the famous Heaven Lee. I need an espresso.” Iris was almost whining.

  “You’re right about the first part. He’ll be gorgeous in his new Armani tux. But the famous Heaven Lee part is hooey,” Heaven said with a big smile on her face, obviously complimented. “Let’s go around the corner to Stephanie’s for a coffee drink and some chocolate.” She guided her daughter around a busy corner on the Plaza.

  Today was special for Heaven. Christmas shopping with her daughter was the kind of activity she had missed so much in the last few years after Iris had gone off to England for college. As she spotted her own image reflected in a store window she realized she was positively beaming and almost skipping along beside her daughter. She blushed, embarrassed at her own happiness, and tried to look more sedate.

  When the two women opened the door of the Chocolate Queen, Stephanie Simpson slammed down a telephone behind the counter. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you every ten minutes for an hour.”

  “And a cheery hello to you too,” Heaven said.

  “Hi, Iris,” Stephanie said distractedly. “Come in the back.”

  Iris looked longingly at the espresso machine.

  “Get a latte and a treat, then come in the back,” Heaven said, getting Iris off the hook.

  The store was crowded and Stephanie didn’t say anything until they were down in the basement, a rather dungeon-like place with stone walls and uneven concrete floors. She quickly sent the two employees that were taking a break down there back up to the selling floor, then flung herself in a chair. “Do you remember about two years ago when the couple that owned the bin candy stores got in trouble?”

  Heaven frowned. “Vaguely. Was it something about bugs in their candy?”

  “Yes, and Stan Kramer did an exposé on Channel Five and—”

  Heaven broke in. “Now I remember. There were creepy shots of bugs in those plastic bins. Ugh.”

  Stephanie nodded, not looking up at Heaven, her head in her hands. “Yes, and then they went out of business. Broke. Bankrupt.”

  “I sure didn’t want to eat any gummy bears out of those bins after that.”

  “Well, I’m ruined,” Stephanie said dramatically.

  Heaven was beginning to be irritated. “Your store is full of affluent Christmas shoppers buying things. Why are we talking about the bin candy people and how can you be ruined?”

  Stephanie went over to a work counter and pulled a large plastic storage container out from under, sitting it on top of the counter with a flourish. “Open it if you dare.”

  Heaven jerked the lid off. The container was full of ten-pound blocks of chocolate. And the chocolate was moving. She peered in the container more closely and realized there were some sort of white worms winding in and out of the chocolate. Lots of them. She closed the top and snapped it shut tightly. “Is it just one tub?”

  “I wish,” Stephanie said. “There were four of those and I’ve already thrown away the other three, tub and all. I kept this one to show you and maybe Bonnie Weber.”

  “Bonnie? I know it’s upsetting but it’s not exactly a crime. It’s not as bad as stuff I’ve seen in my own restaurant kitchen. Things grow. One fly is left in the whole universe and it finds its way to food and then there are maggots.”

  “I do not have maggots,” Stephanie said, practically screaming.

  “Look, I think I’m missing something here. And keep your voice down, for God’s sake. The word ‘maggot’ shouldn’t be yelled out in a place that sells food. Whatever the little critters are. Aside from the obvious cost connected with all the chocolate you had to pitch today, no candy you’re selling on the floor was affected, was it?”

  “No, but I haven’t checked every single piece of candy. And it will only take one to finish me,” Stephanie said, refusing to give up her position that ruin was around the corner.

  “So be sure and give your employees a good talking to about keeping the lids on these containers sealed at all times.”

  “Heaven, we always keep the lids on. Someone came in here and put bugs in my chocolate. That’s the only explanation.”

  Heaven immediately thought about Uncle David. “Are these blocks kept down here in the basement?”

  “No, in the room upstairs by the selling floor. And I’m sure this chocolate was just fine yesterday. I know it has to do with all these Foster’s problems, I just know it,” Stephanie said with feeling.

  “You may be right,” a male voice said from the top of the stairs.

  “Mom, what’s going on?” Iris called down.

  Together Iris and Uncle David came down the stairs. “This is Stephanie’s uncle, David,” Iris said. “We met upstairs.”

  “Yes, we met the other day. David, why did you say you may be right?” Heaven asked, knowing she was slightly rude. Her instincts about this guy were telling her he could sabatoge Stephanie too.

  “Because Stephanie may be right. This may be connected to the Foster’s candy drama.” He turned to Stephanie. “I was vi
siting your mom before I came to work and your aunt called. It seems Janie called home and there’s been a whole batch of chocolate, hundreds of pounds, that suddenly has bloom on it. And the foreman is sure it was fine a couple of days ago.”

  Iris held up her hand. “Okay. What’s bloom?”

  Heaven knew Stephanie would give a lengthy lecture on bloom so she answered quickly before Stephanie could. “I don’t know all the chemistry but air and moisture combine somehow and the surface of the chocolate becomes discolored, lighter than it should be.”

  “That icky white stuff?” Iris said, wrinkling her nose.

  “It doesn’t really hurt the chocolate but it does render it unsalable,” David said and then smiled at Heaven and his niece. “Just because I didn’t get to work in the company doesn’t mean I don’t know about chocolate. It seems someone doesn’t want any of the Fosters in the candy business to have a good Christmas.”

  Heaven was sure he had a look of satisfaction on his face as he talked about his family’s problems. They needed another nutty Foster family member like they needed another hole in the head. “That’s it. I’m calling Bonnie,” she announced and no one argued.

  Everyone was talking at once.

  Bonnie had agreed to meet Heaven and whoever else she wanted to bring along at Heaven’s favorite Mexican restaurant down on Southwest Boulevard, the Hispanic section of Kansas City. Heaven had insisted Stephanie and David come along and Iris had called Stuart to meet them. Hank came from the hospital only thirty minutes late. Now they had a long table full of food, two pitchers of margaritas, and plenty of opinions. The days’ discoveries, bloom on the chocolate at Foster’s and bugs at the Chocolate Queen, met with mixed reviews from the crowd. Some found it more significant than others did.

  Hank took a logical approach. “Both of these things could have occurred naturally. I know it’s a weird coincidence, but the discoloration, the larvae, both could be the product of simple accidents.”

  Bonnie nodded. “Hank’s right. Carelessness on the part of workers could have caused both of them, and I’d be inclined to believe that was the case if there wasn’t the tiny little problem of a sniper taking down the Foster’s airship and killing its pilot, then Oliver Bodden’s murder. When you add them all up, it stinks.”