Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 01 - Death by Chocolate (20 page)

“No! I am not coming to your house with that man and I am not overlooking his
gigantic peccadillo
. Mother, I caught them in bed together!
Our
bed!”

“You must learn to forgive. Holding a grudge only hurts you and, in this case, it will destroy your marriage.”

I’m not sure if there was something in her voice or if I had just become cynical, but a terrible thought flashed across my sleep-deprived brain. “Did Dad have his little
peccadilloes
? Did he ever cheat on you?”

She waited a shadow of a second too long to answer. “Your father and I have a wonderful marriage.” And her reply wasn’t really an answer. “We’ll see you on Saturday. Please wear a nice dress.”

I hung up the phone in shock. My father had cheated on my mother.

I really ought to write down all the crazy things happening in my life. The list was getting too long to keep track mentally. I might forget something, and heaven knows, I wouldn’t want to forget any of these insane events.

I picked up the recipe for Brownies with Raspberry Jam and Butter Cream Frosting, took one look at it and laid it aside. I’d better stick with something simple while half my brain cells were comatose from lack of sleep and the other half were having a nervous breakdown from the stress.

A
Chocolate Pudding Cake, made with a simple cake batter in an ungreased pan then topped with sugars and water which cooked through to the bottom to form the pudding, would stretch the limits of my mental abilities at that moment.

I made a couple of extras pans. No leftover chocolate ever goes to waste, and today was already a double chocolate day. I couldn’t wait to see what the evening wo
uld bring. I might have to look into the possibility of hooking up a chocolate I.V.

***

When we closed the shop that afternoon and walked out back to our cars, I did a careful reconnaissance of the area and decided, with the wind blowing, it would be safe to talk as long as we stayed away from anything that might be bugged, like buildings, utility poles, our vehicles, and large insects. Yes, I was getting paranoid. With good reason.

I caught Paula’s arm before she could get too close to her car. “Why did you say that last night about possibly turning yourself in and me making sure your in-laws d
on’t get Zach? We were trying to calm old Lester down, not incite him to come after me!”

She stared at me in shock and horror. “Oh, Lindsay, I’m so sorry! I never thought about that! I just wanted him to know that even if he succeeds in sending me to prison, he still won’t get Zach. I thought it might discourage him.”

“I doubt if a man so bent on revenge is going to be deterred by the threat of a chocolate maker and her team of mythical lawyers.”

“Mythical?”

The bright sun hurt my eyes, and I could feel the perspiration start to trickle down my ribs under my loose T-shirt. “Oh, no. Please tell me you didn’t believe all that crap about the team of Ninja lawyers.”

Now she really looked upset. “It wasn’t true? But your father’s a very successful attorney.”

“In real estate law.”

“He has other attorneys in his firm.”

“Yeah. Taxes, probate, trust indentures, living trusts, corporations, partnerships, securities…anything like that you need, I’ll see to it that he fixes you right up.”

“I thought
—”

I shook my head. “Why do you think I have somebody else handling my divorce?”

“I assumed you were being independent.”

“Well, you’re right. I wouldn’t have used Dad’s firm even if I could have, but I couldn’t. They don’t soil their lily-white, civil-law hands with that sort of sordid stuff. I even got Pre-Paid Legal so I could get my speeding tickets fixed. Dad can do that, but he doesn’t like to.” Although I now wondered if my father might be more conversant with the sordid side of life than I’d ever suspected.

“I’ve really messed things up, haven’t I?”

“Don’t be silly. They were already so messed up, you couldn’t possibly have made them any worse. Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault. I’m just too good at lying.”

“What if Lester believed it and he comes after you?”

“I doubt it. He’s got his agenda, and you’re it. Anyway, I have a vicious attack cat. Come on, let’s go home and see what our mild-mannered neighbor, the Fred-man, has done now.”

In spite of my reassurances to Paula that I was in no danger, I was sure hoping Fred had dashed into the nearest phone booth, shed his glasses and donned his Fred-man cape then found a way to dispose of Lester before the lunatic disposed of all of us.

***

The first thing I did when I got home was to call Fred. He had spent most of the day repairing Paula’s window and installing those bars across her doors. Of course each task had to be done to perfect specifications. Heaven forbid Fred should put in a screw crooked or leave a smudge of glue. But all that persnicketiness meant he hadn’t even started his computer search and had no news.

The second thing I did was take a nap. My mind was all ready to fret and stew and worry some more, but my body took control and cancelled that plan. I was sleeping hard, making up for lost time, when the doorbell woke me…and woke me and woke me and woke me. Somebody was leaning on it. Had to be Rick.

I staggered up and pulled on shorts and a T-shirt. Henry opened his eyes, yawned and closed them again.

Either my caller wasn’t Rick, or Henry had decided he was acceptable after all.

Using those criteria, it could not be Rick.

It was Paula.

Balancing Zach on one hip, she pushed inside, her face a mask of terror. I woke up real fast, slammed and locked the door behind her.

“What is it? What’s happened?”

“The car—it’s not mine—in my garage.”

“Calm down,” I urged. “You’re not making sense.”

Zach pointed to the stairs where Henry was sauntering down to join us. Paula set him on the floor, and he toddled over to maul the cat for a while.

Paula covered her face with both hands as if she were going to cry, but then slid her fingers down her cheeks and drew in a deep breath, looking brave. “There’s a car in my garage.”

Not usually a statement that would send cold chills down one’s spine, but it did this time. Somehow I knew exactly what that car looked like, and that chill ran all the way to my toes. “An old blue Oldsmobile with Texas plates?”

She nodded, the movement so shaky, it was barely recognizable. “This is going to make it look like I did something to Lester and tried to hide his car!”

“Any idea how long it’s been there?”

“No. I haven’t been in my garage in several days, not since I got out the lawnmower on Saturday. But when I came back from the store and pulled into the driveway, the door was standing wide open
, and there it was!”

“Which means he could have put it in there while you were at the store, or he could have done it several days ago, then got tired of waiting for you to find it and came over and opened the door while you were gone. I love all the trees and bushes in this neighborhood, but they sure do make it easy for somebody to sneak around unseen.”

“He could be outside watching us right now! He’s closing in. You were right. What I said last night didn’t scare him at all. It caused him to hurry. Even you’ve got to admit, the only chance I have is to run.” She looked around at Zach where he sat on the floor, laughing as Henry’s big tail switched across his face. “It’s the only chance
he
has.”

“Let’s go talk to Fred. He’ll know what to do.”

“No! He’ll just try to talk me out of it. I have a plan, but I need your help. First, we go over to my house and talk about my leaving so Lester can hear us. Then we move my car as close to the house as possible and load it with empty suitcases. Next you change clothes with me, cover your hair, carry a bundled up blanket like it was a baby and get in the car. With all the trees, he won’t be able to see well enough to know it’s not me. You then drive away. After he leaves to follow you, I’ll get Zach and a few things and drive your car to the bus station.”

“I think that plan sucks.”

“Have you got a better one?”

“Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. Why don’t we just move Lester’s car? Put it around behind that old house? Give it back to him?”

“What if somebody sees us?”

I spread my hands in a helpless gesture. “I don’t know. He moves around without being seen. Why shouldn’t we? Maybe we ought to call
Trent and tell him. It’s not like you murdered Lester and stole the car.”

“Isn’t it? He’s missing. He had my phone number in his apartment and now his car’s in my garage.”

We stood for a moment in silence.

“Lindsay,” she said very quietly, “what if there’s a dead body in the trunk?”

“What? You’ve been watching too much television. I’m going to take Zach over to Fred’s, and you and I will move that damned car.”

Paula laid a restraining hand on my arm. “He’d do that, kill someone just so I’d have to take the blame. After all, I killed his son.”

“And you called 911 and then ran away. He doesn’t need to plant a dead body on you. You already did that. He could get you for murder any time he wanted to. He’s just playing cat and mouse with you right now.”

Paula dropped her head into her hands. “He’s insane!”

“No doubt about that.”

She looked up, agony and fear blanching her features. “Maybe he isn’t just playing cat and mouse. Maybe he has some convoluted plan to kill me and get away with it.”

I didn’t have an answer for that one. She could very well be right. “I’m taking Zach over to Fred’s. Whatever we do, that little boy doesn’t need to be in the middle of it.”

Standing on Fred’s front porch with Zach in my arms, I explained that we needed him to baby sit for a few minutes while we did some “girl stuff.”

“Baby sit?” Fred repeated, and his composure seemed to slip a quarter inch or so.

“Yeah, you know, take care of the kid for a few minutes. It’s Zach. You do remember Zach, don’t you?”

Fred scowled at me as he took the boy. “I’ve just never been alone with him before. What do I do if he needs something?”

“Unless it’s poison or sharp, give it to him. I gotta run.”

Just before he closed the door, I heard Fred ask Zach if he was familiar with Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and Transmission Control Protocol. By the time we came back for the kid, he’d probably be wearing glasses and have a pocket protector in his diaper.

Paula backed her car out of the driveway and into the street then met me as I headed for her garage.

The big old car almost filled the small space. We stood outside staring at it for several moments.

“Are we going to look in the trunk?” Paula finally ventured.

I thought about it, but not for long. “No way. If there is a dead body, it won’t do us any good to know about it. We’re not going to dig a grave in your back yard and bury it.”

I squeezed along the side and peered in just to be sure there wasn’t a body in the front seat. “The keys are in the ignition. That’s a sign. We’re
meant to move this thing out of here.” I started to open the door, then stopped. “We need gloves. We don’t dare get our fingerprints on it.”

“I have gardening gloves.”

“That should work.”

She found two pairs of dirty, ragged gloves and I reached for the door handle again, but Paula stopped me. “What if there’s a bomb?”

I peered cautiously inside. “I don’t see a bomb.”

Paula looked in the back window. “Do you know what one looks like?”

“No. But there’s nothing in the car.”

“It could be in the glove compartment.”

“There’d be wires.” I was trying hard to convince myself. What I really wanted to do was get completely away from that car, call Trent and let the professionals handle this. But I couldn’t do that because of Paula’s involvement.

“It could be in the engine.”

My hands inside the gloves were getting sweaty. My whole body was getting sweaty. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.” I tried to make myself reach for that door handle again, but my hands refused to carry out any such insane order. I had a vision of the car, garage and the two of us going up in a huge explosion. Thank goodness we’d left Zach with Fred. Somebody should be left to open the café in the morning. Okay, that was an insane thought. I was feeling pretty insane at that moment.

Finally, the obvious dawned on me. “There’s no bomb. He wouldn’t risk killing his grandson and you’d normally have Zach with you.”

Paula nodded slowly. “You’re probably right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m going to open the door now.” I knew I was right, but my hands shook as I yanked that door open…and found myself still alive and whole. I slid into the driver’s seat. It smelled like cigarette smoke, just as the apartment had.

I reached for the key, pretty much certain there was no bomb, but terrified nevertheless.

“Lindsay,” Paula said, “get out and let me do that. This isn’t your problem. If somebody sees us moving it, I don’t want you to be involved.”