Fatal Chocolate Obsession (Death by Chocolate Book 5) (16 page)

“I’ve got a couple of things to do, but I’ll see you around seven thirty or eight. Love you, babe.”

“Me too.” Okay, I didn’t actually say the words, but just the
me too
was a big step for Rickhead’s ex-wife. After that nightmare of betrayal, it was hard to open up and expose myself again.

I put my cell phone in my pocket and unlocked the door. “Have you been hiding outside all day?” I asked Henry.

He meowed and stayed behind me as we went in. I’ve seen him take down a large dog without even breathing hard, but Tina’s kids had him cowering. I felt the same way. Not that I’ve taken down any large dogs.

“Hi, Mrs. Powell!” Connor shouted from his perch astride the back of my sofa.

“Connor, get down from there!” Tina rushed in from the kitchen, her blond hair straggling from a ponytail, an exhausted expression on her face. She hit the button on the TV and the noise level fell significantly. “Oh, Drake, I can’t leave you alone for a minute! Don’t worry, Lindsay, I have a great formula for getting magic marker off your walls. Wade? Where are you, Wade?” She looked frantically around the room.

Wade slid down the banister. “I like this house!”

“Young man, get over here this minute! You are not to leave this room!” She pushed a few strands of hair off her face and turned to me. “I’m sorry, Lindsay. They’re usually better behaved than this.”

“I want to play outside!” Connor bounced off the sofa and landed in front of his mother.

“You can’t play outside. Maybe tomorrow when we get to our new home.”

I wasn’t sure I could survive until tomorrow. Henry remained behind me, not even demanding his food. His ears lay flat against his head, and his tail stood rigidly in the air.

“Drake! No!” Tina caught her youngest son’s arm just as he was about to launch the infamous crystal butterfly across the room.

“I want to see the butterfly fly!” His mouth turned down in a pout.

“You dummy!” Wade planted himself in front of Drake, hands on his hips. “That’s not a real butterfly. It’ll break if you throw it!”

“Mama, Wade called me a dummy!”

“That’s enough, Wade. He didn’t mean it, Drake. But he’s right that you’ll break this butterfly if you throw it. This belongs to Miss Powell. She’ll be very upset if you break it.”

I wouldn’t, but I didn’t correct her. “I have an idea,” I said. “There’s a small park about half a mile from here. It has a lot of trees, and you can let the boys run and play without fear of being seen.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know…”

“Take my car so even if Ken drives by, he won’t see yours.” I extended the keys toward her. Yes, I was even willing to let her take my beloved car just so I could have a few hours of peace and quiet.

She set the butterfly carefully on the coffee table, her gaze caressing it. I usually feel the same way about crystal. Looking at the rainbows, touching the smooth edges…very soothing. But not this time. I didn’t want it in my house. I would be thrilled to turn it over to Trent and let his lab do whatever they wanted with it. In the meantime…

“And take the butterfly with you. Focus on the rainbows in the crystal and try not to think about…other things.”

Tina left with my keys, the butterfly, and a promise to return in a couple of hours. I wasn’t sure if that was a promise or a threat.

The ensuing silence throbbed against my eardrums. Or maybe my eardrums still throbbed from all the noise.

Henry recovered immediately and strolled toward the kitchen, turning his head to be sure I was following.

“I know you think I’m crazy to let them take my car.” I fell into step behind him. He is, after all, King Henry, and his wishes must be obeyed. Besides, I desperately needed a Coke fix and my Cokes live in the same room where his food lives.

“It’s not like one more scratch or ding on my car is going to make a difference. Brandon’s going to take care of all that when he gets a new job somewhere away from his creepy father.” We entered the kitchen and Henry went straight to his bowl. I took the bag of cat food out of the pantry. “If Grady Mathis goes to prison, maybe Brandon will inherit the family shop. I don’t know what happens to property when somebody goes to prison.”

Henry didn’t know either and didn’t care. He looked into his empty bowl then up at me. I filled his bowl in accordance with his wishes.

Then it was my turn. I opened the refrigerator door and reached inside the red cardboard carton that held my beverage of choice.

It was empty.

That was not possible.

I yanked it out and peered inside.

Nothing.

I ripped it apart.

No Cokes. Not one.

And I didn’t have a car to go get any.

Henry crunched his food, completely unconcerned about my disaster.

At least I had the bag of chocolate I’d brought home with me.

Except I didn’t. I’d been talking on the phone to Trent and had forgotten to bring my bag in from the car. The bag with whatever might be left in it currently resided in my car at the park. That sort of verified Trent’s nags about my inability to multi-task while I’m on the phone. Not that I would ever admit it to him.

But all was not lost. I still had the box of Godiva chocolates Trent had given me.

I opened the pantry door and reached up.

My hand encountered only empty space. I must have shoved them farther to the back than I realized.

I pulled over a kitchen chair and stood on it.

The shelf was empty.

The Hyper Horde had eaten my Godiva chocolates! When I told Tina they could eat whatever they could find, I hadn’t thought they’d find those chocolates!

I stepped down from the chair and Henry came over to rub against my leg as if trying to comfort me in my hour of sorrow.

“Heads are going to roll over this.”

He purred and rubbed the other leg. Either he was very sympathetic or he was hoping to get catnip.

I gave him catnip. One of us should have a fix.

While Henry indulged himself, I searched for Brandon’s business card. I finally found it in the living room, missing a corner and smeared with magic markers. I hoped Drake had no plans to become an artist.

I called the number on the front and the number on the back. Got the same recording on both with Grady’s voice saying I’d reached Mathis Paint and Body Shop. I hung up without leaving a message. Poor Brandon didn’t even have his own cell phone.

Henry strolled in from the kitchen, his steps slow and his eyes slightly crossed. He enjoyed his catnip.

“I’m going upstairs to take a nap,” I said. “I need to be rested so I can stay up late with Trent. He invited you to come along, but I told him you’d be fine here. I know you don’t like riding in cars. No, I didn’t tell him about your phobia. That’s between you and me.”

Henry went to the front door and I let him out then went upstairs to enjoy a long, solitary shower before collapsing in bed.

***

A loud ringing woke me. I sat up, completely disoriented. My bedroom window showed a dim light. The sun was coming up! I was late for work!

The noise came again.

It wasn’t the alarm clock.

Six thirty.

The sun was setting, not rising. I’d slept almost three hours.

The doorbell pealed a third time, and I came completely awake. Probably Tina and the Hyper Horde returning from the park. I’d wasted my quiet time sleeping.

Damn!

I went downstairs and peered through the peephole. I wasn’t taking any chances. Tina had no reason to knock since she had my keys, including a key to my house, and besides, Grady was still out there.

Brandon, alive and unharmed, stood on my front porch wearing his usual jeans and denim work shirt.

With a huge rush of relief, I opened the door. “Well, hello! It’s so good to see you! I was worried when you didn’t come in for lunch today.”

“I’m fine. I was just getting my new place cleaned up.”

A few dark spots on his usually immaculate jeans and shirt verified that he’d been working. “You found a place? That’s wonderful! Come in and tell me all about it!”

“How about I take you there and show you?”

I hesitated. Being at home hadn’t been pleasant lately, but I didn’t really feel up to oohing and aahing over an apartment. “I don’t know. I have company. They went to the park, but they’ll be back any time.”

“It’s not far, only about ten minutes from here.”

“Oh. I thought you were going to find something as far away from your dad as you could get.”

He shrugged. “You’ll understand when you see the place.”

Listen to Tina’s kids or go look at Brandon’s apartment? Trent wouldn’t be here for at least another hour. If I spent half an hour praising Brandon’s apartment, that would be half an hour I wouldn’t have to spend with the Hyper Horde, leaving only half an hour before Trent arrived on his white charger—well, in his black sedan—to rescue me. It would also give me a chance to talk to Brandon and convince him to give the cops permission to search his house and place of business.

That tilted the decision in Brandon’s favor. Trent would be impressed if I got that permission, and maybe then they’d be able to find Grady and arrest him.

“I’d love to see your new apartment. I loaned my car to a friend. Can I ride with you?”

He looked surprised. “You loaned your car to someone?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’d like to hear your story.”

I didn’t want to talk about Tina’s situation. “After we look at your new place.”

He smiled. “I’d love for you to ride with me.”

I grabbed my purse and followed him down the sidewalk to his car, the same car he’d driven the day he bumped into me, the day that began our friendship and resulted in me persuading him to leave his abusive father. That was a good thing.

However, a shiver ran down my spine as I reflected that it was also the day that resulted in my meeting Grady Mathis.

But Trent and Fred were on Grady’s trail. I’d get Brandon’s permission to search, and soon Grady would be behind bars. “Getting your own place is a huge step! I’m so proud of you. What did your dad say when you told him?”

Brandon opened the car door for me and I slid in.

“I haven’t told him,” he said.

That didn’t surprise me. Brandon had good reason to fear his father. “That’s okay. Maybe you can just disappear and never have to confront him.”

He got in the other side and started the engine.

“Have you talked to your dad at all since his outburst at my place yesterday?”

Brandon steered the car onto the street and shook his head, his lips compressed.

“The police are looking for him, you know.”

He nodded.

“They’d like for you to agree to let them search the house and shop.”

“Can we talk about something else? This is a pretty big deal for me, and I don’t want to ruin it by talking about that man right now.”

“Of course we can talk about something else. Tell me about your new place.”

***

Ten minutes later we pulled into the driveway of an older house. The place wasn’t charming old with lots of personality like the houses in my neighborhood. It was boring old. These houses were probably built in the ’50s or ’60s. Small slab homes with no basements. That’s almost unheard of in Kansas City. Everybody has to have a basement so they can worry about cracks and leaks.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“It’s, uh, lovely. Are you renting a room or is there an apartment in back?”

He smiled proudly. “I have the whole house.”

“Well. Okay. This is, um, very nice.” Another blatant lie so ridiculous no one could possibly believe it.

He opened his car door then came around and opened mine. “Come see inside. I’ve spent all day getting it ready.”

I did not want to see inside, but it was obviously important to him. This was no time for me to be snobbish. I planted my feet on the cracked driveway and stood. “I can’t wait.”

We walked to the front door and he produced a key. “We can replace this,” he said, indicating the faded hollow core door with water damage on the bottom.

“Sure,” I said. “Easy to replace a door.”

“I think one of those pretty ones with glass.”

“Of course.” A heavy oak door with beveled glass insets would be a lovely compliment to the warped beige siding.

I stepped onto the gold shag carpet of the living room. Irrationally the sound of the door closing behind me was disturbing. Actually, the whole place was disturbing. A sagging couch sat in front of a new flat screen TV. On one side of the sofa a floor lamp had age-yellowed plastic wrap around the shade.

It was all clean and tidy. I couldn’t spot a sign of dust. Nevertheless, the place smelled like cigarette smoke and mold.

I turned to Brandon who smiled tentatively. “Did this place come furnished?”
Please tell me you didn’t go out and buy this horrible stuff!