Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 01 - Death by Chocolate (27 page)

“Fred! Just tell me what you found! Yo
u can beat up on yourself later. In fact, I may come over there and do it right now if you don’t tell me what you know about Lester Bennett.”

“He’s dead.”

“Dead? Damn! Somebody got to him before me, huh? I hope they tortured him first.”

“Not exactly. He died in
Dallas six months ago from complications of a stroke.”

“Six months ago?” I repeated incredulously. “No, wait a minute. If Lester Bennett’s been dead for six months, who the hell is Lester Mackey?”

“There’s no way to be certain, but, considering all the available data, it’s possible Lester Mackey is really David Bennett.”

My head was spinning almost as wildly as it had last night after I ate all the poisoned pudding cake. “
David Bennett cannot be Lester Mackey,” I said, slowly and precisely. “David Bennett is dead. Paula killed him.”

“Unfortunately, she didn’t. After I wasted hours getting to Lester’s death certificate, I checked
David’s and didn’t find it. Then I checked the newspaper stories. All public information. All right out there in the open for anybody to find. I can’t believe I missed it.”

“Fred! Stop obsessing! What was in the newspaper stories?”

“I have the first story right here.
Dallas police officer, David Bennett, was shot Thursday night by his estranged wife, Paula Bennett, at Mrs. Bennett’s place of residence in Ft. Worth. Mrs. Bennett called 911 and confessed to the crime then disappeared with the couple’s infant son. Officer Bennett is in stable condition at Harris Methodist Hospital. A warrant has been issued for Mrs. Bennett’s arrest for attempted murder. According to Officer Bennett, his wife’s recurring mental problems were exacerbated by her recent pregnancy. Mrs. Bennett requested Thursday morning that her husband come to her place of residence to discuss a reconciliation. However, when he arrived, she became hysterical and threatened to kill herself and the child. Officer Bennett tried to calm her, but she took a gun from her purse and shot him. Bennett is concerned for his child’s safety.
”

“That’s outrageous! How could they believe that bastard?”

“It sounds plausible. If I didn’t know Paula as well as I do, I’d believe it.”

“But anybody who knows Paula wouldn’t believe it. That’s why he’s been trying to prove she’s an u
nfit mother and even a murderer. He can’t afford for people to hear her side, not with all those scars he gave her. I’d think they make a pretty good case for self-defense.”

“It certainly wouldn’t help his reputation any. So to completely discredit her, even make it look like she could have killed somebody, he invented Lester Mackey. Hard to prove the man’s not dead when he wasn’t alive in the first place.”

“But that business with Mackey is all circumstantial evidence. Without a body, it would be almost impossible to get a conviction. Putting her under suspicion wouldn’t even help Bennett get a conviction against her for his attempted murder. The evidence of Lester Mackey’s pretend murder wouldn’t be admissible in a trial for Bennett’s attempted murder.” Even though Dad’s a civil lawyer, I knew a little bit about criminal law. I read John Grisham. “None of this makes sense.”

“No, it doesn’t make sense if you look at it from the angle of sending Paula to prison. But there’s another possible angle we need to consider. All of that would be admissible in a custody action. If you’ve got two parents competing for custody of a minor child, and one of them is a police officer while the other admits shooting her husband, even in self-defense, and she’s under suspicion of involvement in another death, namely Mackey’s,
plus
Zach disappeared one evening while in her custody,
and
the police found sleeping pills with no prescription in her medicine cabinet, the social worker isn’t likely to choose Paula.”

“Damn.” The swear word came out pretty weak, lacking its usual oomph. Sick fear had taken the place of all that adrenaline of righteous anger. “He wants Zach.” I couldn’t even stand to think of what the monster who’d put that scar on Paula’s cheek and terrified her so badly would do to that sweet little boy.

“That type sociopath prefers to target people he can easily control…vulnerable women and children. You’ll notice part of his activities, like the bear, were geared solely toward tormenting Paula, punishing her for betraying him. Taking her son will be the ultimate punishment.”

“Geez! Do you have to sound so clinical?”

“Yes, I do. And I’m not finished. Bennett’s problem with you is that he can’t control you. He’s not trying to kill you because of your father’s mythical lawyer associates. He knows Paula told you the truth, and he knows you’re pushy and you’ve got a big mouth and an
in
with a cop. He knows he’s got a real problem with you.”

“Much as I enjoy discussing all my positive attributes, the big question is, what do we do now? Paula can’t keep running. This guy’s a cop. He’ll find her wherever she goes. What if we catch him and make him submit to a blood test, then compare his blood to Lester Mackey’s? If they’re the same, we’ll have him! Wouldn’t that clear up a lot of things and prove how nuts he is?”

“It would certainly throw a new light on things. But first you have to catch him and then you have to get blood from him and then you have to find somebody who’ll do the testing.”

“If I ever catch him, trust me, I’ll get blood from that bastard, and if
Trent won’t do the testing, you could find somebody.”

“One thing about you, Lin, you don’t back off just because something’s impossible. Even after you extract blood from this guy and, we hope, live to get that blood analyzed, what we really need is a confession. Considering the dearth of witnesses, this could turn into a nasty court battle.”

“Okay, so we’ll get a confession, too.”

“I see. How?”

“We’ll think of something.”

“Since this guy’s so good at hiding that we’ve never even seen him, first we have to catch him.”

I thought about that for a minute then finally came up with an idea that rivaled the time I vacuumed out the fireplace using a bag that had a hole in it. “If Bennett’s so hot to do me in, can’t we use me as bait?”

“I think that poison affected your brain!” Fred rarely spoke in exclamation points. “Why would you put yourself in danger again? Anyway, this guy’s smart. He’s going to be very cautious now that he failed to kill you. It could be that he’s even accessed the police records and is aware that we know you were poisoned.”

Call waiting beeped.

“Hang on a second, Fred. I’ve got a call on the other line. This could be a customer or the Department of Health trying to close us down or somebody equally unimportant.” It was probably Rick, but if it was, I’d have a good excuse to get off the phone. I clicked over. “
Death by Chocolate. Can I help you?”

“Lindsay, this is Adam.”

“Adam?”

“Adam Trent.”

“Oh, Trent! Hi! What’s going on?”

“Is Paula there?” The tension in his voice gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“No,” I said carefully, “she’s not. Why?”

“When will she be back?”

“I’m not sure.” I wasn’t really lying. After all, who could be sure about something like that? She could have had a flat tire or made a wrong turn or been kidnapped by aliens.

“Where is she?”

“I’m not sure about that, either.” Another not-quite lie. She could be anywhere between here and the nursery, or between here and Jupiter if those aliens got her.

I could hear
Trent relaying that information to someone in the background, then another male voice answering though I couldn’t make out the words.

“Did she leave to take Zach to the nursery?”
Trent asked.

Damn! That was a hard question to evade. I considered several possibilities but they all involved outright lies, and I hadn’t done real well in the past lying to this man. “Yes,” I finally answered. “Why do you want to know?”

“David Bennett, an officer with the Dallas Police Department, is here with proof that Paula Walters is Paula Bennett, his wife, and he has a judgment giving him custody of Zach. We pulled an outstanding warrant off the computer for Paula Bennett’s arrest for attempted murder.”

That sick feeling in my stomach reached up into my chest while fingers of panic squeezed my throat. “No!” I protested. “You don’t understand!”

“I’ve got to go. We’re on our way to serve that warrant.”

“Wait! Check him for scratches!”

“What?”

“King Henry scratches!”

“Of course he scratches. He’s a cat. I’ve got to go.”

“No!” I was shouting into a dead phone line.

I clicked back over to Fred. “I just told Trent where Paula is, and they’re going to arrest her and Bennett’s going to get Zach and it’s all my fault for being honest!”

“This wasn’t the best time to decide to turn over a new leaf,” Fred admonished. “All right, we’ve got to get to her before they do and hide her for a couple of days until we get all this straightened out. You find her and bring her home. I’ll make reservations at a motel in
Overland Park. That’s half an hour away and across the state line in Kansas, so that should slow their search minimally. I’ll make the reservations for a husband and wife. The authorities will be looking for a woman and child, not a married couple. I’ll take her over there and check in as the husband while she stays in the car and hides Zach and you stay home and lie to the police, and I strongly suggest you lie this time.”

“Got it! I’m on my way to intercept Paula!”

“Feel free to drive as fast as you like. If you get a speeding ticket, I’ll take care of it.”

I’ll take care of it?
Fred certainly possessed a lot of interesting skills.

I slammed the phone down, put a closed sign on the front door and ran to my car, cursing myself all the way for not lying to
Trent about Paula’s whereabouts.

I slid into my car, revved the engine and peeled out of the parking lot. If the traffic cops wanted to give me a ticket today, they’d have to catch me.

Have I mentioned how much I love my little Toyota Celica? Small car, low center of gravity, five-on-the-floor…I made it to the day care center in seven minutes flat. I’d halfway expected to find Paula still there. She doesn’t drive nearly as fast as I do, and she usually spends a few minutes with Zach before she leaves him. However, her car was nowhere in sight.

I charged up onto the porch of the converted house, then stopped and drew in a deep breath. If she’d left Zach here, I had to appear rational enough that the people in charge would let me take him. Paula had listed me as the other person who could pick him up, and I had done so a couple of times, but I couldn’t risk that they’d think I was hysterical and shouldn’t be trusted with a child. I
was
hysterical, but I was still a better choice than David Bennett.

I walked into the entry way, and the woman with glasses and a rigid hair style looked up from her desk. “May I help you?”

What the heck was her name? “Hi, Dorothy! Remember me? Lindsay Powell, Paula Walters’ friend?”

“Hello, Ms. Powell. Yes, I remember you. You’re the lady who always calls me Dorothy. I’m Karen Winslow.”

I cringed. If there was a way to screw up, I’d find it. “Sorry. I washed my brain and can’t do a thing with it. Look, I just got an important phone call at the shop, and I need to get hold of Paula really fast, like immediately. Has she been here? Is Zach here?”

“Ms. Walters was here a few minutes ago. She brought Zach in, but then suddenly remembered he had a doctor’s appointment.”

“A doctor’s appointment? Are you sure?”

“I’m quite sure.”

Paula hadn’t mentioned any appointment, though it was possible she’d forgotten with everything going on.

It was also possible she’d panicked and was on her way out of town already.

I dashed back to my car and headed homeward. I hadn’t passed Paula on my trip from the shop so she wasn’t on her way back there. The choices left were the mythical doctor’s office, the open road, and home. I could only hope she wouldn’t leave town without stopping first to pack a few things. She had no idea of the new urgency of the situation, so surely she would take the extra few minutes. I floored the gas pedal.

Contrary to popular opinion, speeding is not something that can be done recklessly and on the spur of the moment. It is an art requiring constant practice and intense concentration. I’m proud to say, I’ve never allowed that skill to become rusty. Like a ballet dancer on four wheels, I deftly avoided dogs, children, traffic cops, cross traf
fic and elderly drivers going fifteen m.p.h., then turned onto my street just as Paula’s car stopped in front of her house. She didn’t bother pulling into the driveway but was getting out of the car when I came to a screeching halt right behind her. Obviously she wasn’t planning to stay long.

She looked up at the sound of my arrival but continued around to the passenger side to get Zach out of the back seat.

“Paula, David’s alive!”