Fatal Chocolate Obsession (Death by Chocolate Book 5) (15 page)

But only a moment.

“Boys!” Tina shouted. “Settle down.”

“Yes, Mama,” Wade mumbled.

“Okay,” Drake said quietly.

Then they all started giggling and I could foresee that the sound level would soon rise again.

The doorbell rang.

Tina froze. So did I.

Paula walked over and looked through the peephole then opened the door. The pizza delivery boy stood on my front porch. I dared to breathe again. The kids began shouting again.

“Yay, pizza!” Connor jumped up and down.

“I love pizza!” Drake jumped higher.

“Pizza, pizza, pizza!” The last came from Zach. Surely this was a temporary break with reality and he would return to being a quiet only child when he got home. I certainly hoped so, or I’d be in a world of trouble with Paula.

I set two pizzas on the coffee table and took the other one into the kitchen. Trent, Fred and Sophie looked up as I entered. The guilty expressions on all three faces told me they’d been talking about me. Usually I consider it better to be talked about than forgotten, but I had a feeling they hadn’t been saying anything I wanted to hear.

I put the pizza in the middle of the table and was about to demand to know what they’d been talking about, but Paula came in.

“Can I get some juice for Zach?”

“Sure.” I filled a sippy cup with cranberry juice and handed it to her then reached back into the refrigerator and got a bottle of wine. “You and Tina are going to need this.” I opened the wine and took two glasses from the cabinet.

“Thank you.” She accepted the bottle without hesitation. “It would be great if you could corral the kids in here after they eat. Tina and I have a lot to talk about.”

I looked around the small room. No freaking way. “Okay, sure.” I took another bottle of wine out of the refrigerator and opened it. “One adult to one child. We can do that. I get Zach.”

She smiled and left the room, juggling the wine, glasses and juice with the expertise I’d often seen her display at Death by Chocolate.

I got more glasses and paper plates then sat down at the table.

Everyone was very quiet. I could understand that. My nerves were shattered like a plate glass window when someone throws a brass candle stick through it. Never mind how I know that.

“Enjoy,” I said. “We’re going to need sustenance if we have to babysit the kids. Notice I said
we
, so don’t think any of you are going to escape.”

I opened the box and took out a slice of pepperoni pizza.

Fred poured wine into a glass and handed it to me. He and everyone else looked grim. I decided I didn’t want to know what they’d been talking about when I was out of the room.

I wiped the string of cheese off my chin and stared at the three solemn faces. “Hey, I was kidding. If you don’t want to babysit the kids while Paula talks to Tina, go home. I can handle it. I’ll just give them some ice cream with Benadryl syrup.”

Nobody smiled. My fabled humor was not working as a diversion.

“Kidding again. I don’t even have any Benadryl syrup. I’ll have to crush some tablets.”

Trent took my hand and looked into my eyes. This was getting scary.

I returned his gaze. “If you’re getting ready to tell me you had the mumps as a boy and you’ll never father any children, I’m okay with that.”

“Fred and I are both spending the night with you,” he said.

“Well, all right, but you’re sleeping in the middle. I have to get up to go to the bathroom sometimes.”

“This isn’t a joke. Fred told me about Rick’s blood on the wrapping paper and his suspicions about Ginger’s death.”

“But you arrested Grady.” I gulped and slowly lowered my pizza to my paper plate. “Didn’t you?”

“We went to his business and his home. We couldn’t find him at either place. Lindsay, Grady Mathis is free and probably very angry at you right now.”

My house is old. It was built at a time when an indoor bathroom was considered a luxury. Only the very rich had more than one. That’s how I started Saturday morning in the same bathroom as Wade, Connor and Drake.

They didn’t all come in at the same time. It took them a while to congregate. I was in the shower washing my hair when Drake opened the door and yelled, “I gotta pee!”

“I’ll be out in a few minutes!”

Silly me. I thought he’d leave when he knew the bathroom was occupied. I realized my mistake when the toilet flushed and my warm shower turned to scalding acid. I screamed and turned off the water.

“Drake!” Wade shouted. “You’re not supposed to go in the bathroom while the lady’s in there! Get out of there!”

Thank goodness one of them had some knowledge of bathroom etiquette!

“I gotta wash my hands. Mama says I always gotta wash my hands.”

“Is it time to get up?” Connor joined the crowd.

“We’re sorry, Mrs. Powell,” Wade said.

“It’s
Miss
,” I corrected automatically.

“Yeah,” Connor shouted, “he missed! Drake, you dumb butt, you peed on the floor!”

“Did not! I’m gonna tell Mama you said
butt
!”

“Get some toilet paper and clean it up, Drake,” Wade ordered.

“It’s okay.” I huddled behind my shower curtain with conditioner in my hair, beginning to shiver as the sensation of being boiled alive wore off. “I’ll do it.”

“Mama says if we make a mess, we gotta clean it up,” Wade said.

“I understand that would usually apply, but this is my bathroom.” At least, it was yesterday morning. “I’ll do it.”

“That’s too much paper, you dummy.” Connor again. “Hurry up. I gotta pee really bad.”

“You can’t do it while Drake’s cleaning the floor.”

“How about,
you can’t do it while I’m taking a shower?
”

“He’s almost done.”

I had no idea if Wade was talking about Drake or Connor.

“Wash your hands again,” Wade ordered.

Must be Drake. Connor hadn’t washed his hands yet this morning. That I knew of. But I’d lost track of all the events going on in my own bathroom some time ago.

“What are you boys doing up so early?” Tina. Thank goodness.

“Drake peed on the floor,” Wade said.

“Did not! It was just a dribble.”

I heard the sound of running water. “This is how you do it. See? I’m not peeing on the floor,” Connor bragged.

“Be quiet and get back to bed,” Tina ordered. “You’re going to wake up Lindsay!”

“Lindsay’s very much awake,” I called from the shower.

“Omigawd! You went in the bathroom while Lindsay’s in the shower? Get back to bed right now, all of you! I am so sorry, Lindsay.”

“Oh, no problem.” My hair should be really smooth and shiny after leaving the conditioner on so long. I turned the water back on and shivered while it warmed up.

“You know better than that.” Tina sounded angry. “If your daddy was here—” She stopped in mid-sentence as if she’d suddenly realized what she was saying and didn’t want to remind them of the man she was running from.

“But Daddy’s not here,” Wade reminded her quietly. He sounded relieved.

I hoped his statement would remain true.

“The boys are going back to their room,” Tina said. “I’m going to close the bathroom door so you can shower in peace. Again, I’m so sorry.”

I finished my shower, put on my robe and headed back to my room. The door to the guest room was closed. Inside the boys were giggling and talking. Weren’t kids supposed to sleep late on Saturday morning, get up about noon and watch cartoons?

I dressed and Henry and I went downstairs.

Trent was asleep on the sofa. He looked adorable lying there in his rumpled clothes, his feet hanging off one end, his mouth slightly open, snoring softly.

Henry nudged my leg and darted toward the kitchen. His breakfast could not be delayed.

I tiptoed into the kitchen and saw Fred lying on his air mattress in front of the back door. He appeared to be sleeping. I moved closer to finally answer the question of whether Fred ever slept. His breathing was slow and even and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. I was certain I’d caught him sleeping.

His eyes opened.

I gasped and jumped back.

He sat up and frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I’ve got to feed Henry.”

I poured food into the bowl while Fred let the air out of his mattress.

He folded it with such precision it fit into the bag it came in. Magical powers.

I returned to the living room where Trent still slept, leaned over to kiss his forehead then moved my lips to his ear to whisper something I found difficult to say while he was awake. This would be good practice for the awake part.

“I’m going to walk you to your car and follow you to work.” Fred was right behind me.

I straightened and looked at him. Whatever he’d been doing on that air mattress all night didn’t involve rumpling his clothes. They were probably made from special fabric from the planet Krypton. He was wearing his glasses again, his disguise as a mild-mannered neighbor back in place.

“Me too.” Trent’s voice was raspy with sleep.

I turned to find him sitting up, rubbing his eyes. “You too what? You don’t even know what we’re talking about. Go back to sleep. It’s still dark outside.”

“Me too, I’m walking you to your car and then I’m going to drive behind you to work and be sure you get inside safely.”

I arched an eyebrow. “You really think you can keep up with me? I’ll be halfway to the restaurant before you wake up enough to figure out where my front door is.”

Behind me Fred snorted. “I’ll give you a five minute handicap while I get my car.”

I sighed, resigning myself to having an escort.

I would never admit it to them, but I was actually a little relieved they were going with me. Grady could be waiting on my front porch or in the alley behind Death by Chocolate. Ken could have tracked down Tina. Evil could be lurking in the darkness.

***

I made the journey to Death by Chocolate with Trent in the lead and Fred on my bumper. We all parked behind the restaurant and got out.

“Paula’s here. The lights are on inside and that’s her car,” I said. “You can go home now.”

Trent took my arm. “As soon as we’re sure Paula’s the only one here.”

I rolled my eyes, but again I was secretly a little relieved. I didn’t want to walk into the restaurant and find Paula tied to a chair while Grady boiled a chocolate rabbit on the stove.

Paula looked up in surprise when we entered. She was alone, unfettered, rolling out dough as usual. “Good morning. I haven’t started the coffee yet, but I can put some on. It’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, but we can’t stay,” Trent said. “We wanted to be sure Lindsay got here safely.”

Paula shuddered. “I hope you find Grady and arrest him today.”

“Fred and I are going to be working on that,” he assured her.

Two of the three important men in my life (Henry’s the third) don’t always get along. Trent doesn’t approve of Fred’s methods and Fred…well, he’s Fred. I was glad they would be working together. I was certain Grady had no chance to escape with the two of them after him.

“Thanks for the escort,” I said.

Trent gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and the two of them left. I closed then locked the door, something I don’t usually do. But there isn’t usually a psycho murderer stalking me.

“It took me half an hour and two glasses of milk to get Zach calmed down last night,” Paula said. “How much longer will your guests be there?”

“They leave tomorrow.”

She nodded. “I suppose we can get through one more evening.”

“Maybe you can. I’m not sure I can.” I told her about the bathroom scene. It was, I thought, rather rude of her to laugh.

***

We open late on Saturday and only serve brunch so it’s a short day. However, the three hours we served customers stretched to eternity. Every time the bell over the front door jingled, my heart stopped until I saw it wasn’t Grady coming in.

Finally the day was over and we put up the closed sign.

Then a new terror hit me.

Only a couple of hours until I had to go home and face the Hyper Horde. Only a couple of hours until my peace and eardrums would be shattered.

“What are you doing?” Paula asked as I moved the broom across the floor in slow motion.

“I think I’ll just spend the night here.”

“You can’t do that. You have to go home and rescue Henry.”

I groaned and swept a little faster. Henry knew how to hide, but he did need me to get his food out of the pantry.

Trent called as Paula and I were finishing our cleanup.

“Did you catch him?” First words out of my mouth. Damn! That wasn’t what I’d intended to say. So much for pretending to be nonchalant and unconcerned.

A moment of silence followed, a poignant silence if I’ve ever heard one. “Not yet. I’m having trouble getting a search warrant for his house and place of business. My lab won’t even look at the DNA on that wrapping paper. Fred broke the official chain of custody.” He might be working with Fred, but his words were saturated with disapproval of Fred’s methods.

“It’s not his fault. I was going to throw it away, give it to Henry to destroy, burn it and flush it down the toilet stool.”

“I know. Fred did the best possible thing under the circumstances. I just wish you’d reported those gifts to us in the first place.”

“I thought they were from Rickhead!”

“I’m not getting on your case.” He sighed. I could almost see him running his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I’m just worried. Does Grady’s son still come in for lunch?”

“He was here yesterday, but I haven’t seen him today.”

“He lives with his dad, right?”

“Yes.” I’d been so distracted by Tina’s kids and the threat of Grady still out there, I hadn’t thought about Brandon. Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle slammed into place and created a terrifying picture. “Oh, no! Their shop was closed and nobody answered the door at their home? Where’s Brandon? I hope Grady didn’t do something to him! He gave him a black eye a few days ago. I knew I shouldn’t have told Brandon about that scene his dad made in the restaurant. Brandon was really upset. What if he confronted his father and…?” I couldn’t finish the
what if
.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. He probably went to stay with friends, maybe a girlfriend.”

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm my frantic mind. “Maybe. He hasn’t mentioned a girlfriend, but he’s been looking for a place to live so he can get away from his dad. Maybe he does have someone.”

“Do you know how to contact him? If he lives and works with his father, he can give us permission to search the house and business without a warrant.”

“He gave me his business card and wrote his cell number on the back. I’ll look for it when I get home.”

“Call me when you leave the restaurant, and this one time I’ll let you talk on your cell phone and drive at the same time.”

He really was worried.

***

For once I drove home slowly, drawing out the conversation with Trent and lingering as long as I could before confronting the very energetic children in my house. I had a large bag of chocolate goodies in the passenger seat that I planned to use to bribe the kids into silence or, failing that, glue their mouths shut with gooey peanut butter bars.

As I pulled into my drive, I was pleased to see the house was still standing.

“Signing off,” I said. “Nobody in the yard.”

“You don’t hang up until you’re inside.”

I got out of my car and headed across the yard. Nobody jumped out from behind the oak tree. Nobody lurked around the side of the house. Of course, it was three thirty in the afternoon. Most lurking occurs after dark.

“I need to buy a gun. Then you and Fred wouldn’t have to worry about me.”

“You and a gun in the same room? I’d really worry about you then.”

“Stepping onto the porch and all is well.” I heard noises from inside, but I couldn’t see anything. Tina had left the blinds closed, presumably so Ken couldn’t see in if he found her. I knew the odds of him finding her at my house were small, but
small
isn’t the same thing as zero.

A white flash shot out of the bushes and onto the porch. Henry looked up at me with a pitiful expression. “And my guard cat’s here. All is well. I’m coming to your house to spend the night, right?”

“Right. I’ll bring burgers and rings for everybody, and you can come home with me after we eat. We can even take Henry if you want.”

“He’ll be fine as long as I get home early tomorrow morning to feed him.”