A Ghostly Affair: A cozy mystery series (Death by Chocolate Book 3) (11 page)

He leaned over giving her a long, passionate kiss that made her heart race and her body melt. She didn’t want him to stop but as he pulled away his attitude changed.

“That should satisfy anyone watching,” he said and put the jeep in gear. She wanted to smack him.

“How are you involved in this,” she asked instead. “I only asked you to be my guest an hour ago.”

But he only shook his head and pretended to zip his mouth shut while pointing to cute little bug she’d placed in the jeep herself one day for his nephew.

Maxine arrived back at
Au Chocolate
to find Heath doing a major repair on a Halloween cake that was going to be the centerpiece of a United Way Fundraiser.

“We hit the edge of the cake taking it out of the shop and into the van. I figured it was faster to bring it back up and fix it here.”

She looked at it in dismay. “How?”

“I’ve figured out a way. It’s supposed to be a globe cake which it still is except that one part of it is crumpled in. Fortunately we’ve got a back-up cake so we’ll take out one piece and replace it with the other. Most of the damage is over the ocean so redoing the decorating for that’s easy.”

“You’re going to stack layers and then cut it so it’s circular?”

“Ah, yea of little faith. Since we had a moon cake, and an earth cake that were both big event cakes, as well as other cakes that take some engineering I decided it would be smart to have an extra round cake. So it’s not that hard to fix. And I’ve got a couple of graves that I can use the cake ‘crumbs’ and other bits for.”

She shivered slightly. “All this talk of graves is a little morbid isn’t it?”

“Good clean fun,” he said enthusiastically. “How’d the lunch go?”

“It added another layer of confusion,” she said irritated. “I think I’ll go talk to Karin, woman to woman. Travis is in over his head with this group.”

“My car’s in the shop. If you can give me a ride that saves me busing it,” Heather called out.

“I hope you haven’t been doing that all week?”

“Just today,” Heather said. “And they offered me a loaner. I figured it wasn’t worth the bother for one day.”

“I’m happy to have someone with me tonight so you’ll be doing me a favor. Let’s see? Everyone likes black and whites and I’ve got some brownies, oh – and chocolate caramel! That should do it,” she said arranging them with practiced speed on a tray and wrapping them carefully.

“I called ahead and left a message on her voice mail saying I was dropping something off and wanted to talk to her for a minute. Hopefully she’ll be there.”

“Did you tell Patrick their home was ground zero for all the missing dogs?”

“I got sidetracked,” she admitted. Had she ever! That kiss had been a scorcher. And then he’d acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened while signing they’d been bugged. Lunch had turned into something out of a spy novel.

A little thrill went through her. A spy? She’d grown up watching reruns of the Avengers with Dianna Riggs along with Charlie’s Angels, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider. Of course, by now, they’d have probably solved the mystery. And black leather or pleather poured over her wasn’t a practical look for the kitchen.

“Jillian’s dog, just up the street from me has disappeared. I asked her about it and she went all close-mouthed and silent on me. I’d love to have some time to explore their house,” Heather said.

“It might take more than a plate of cookies to get them away from the house long enough to search it.”

“Mm,” Heather said, “too bad we couldn’t drug the cookies.”

She looked at Heather in shock. “You want to drug them?”

“Not anything that would cause lasting harm. Just something that would give us half an hour, an hour tops.”

“Well, unless you have knock-out drops on you that’s not going to happen. And if you do I don’t want to know about it,” she said hastily pulling into the Dent’s driveway.

She was beginning to think Karin wasn’t home when the door opened. “Hello. I got your message but I’m not sure what you’re dropping off.” She appeared nervous and less sure of herself than usual.

Maxine entered with Heather following closely behind. “I wanted to thank you for your help the other day and give you a tray of cookies as thanks.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Karin said.

“And I wanted to talk to you about Travis.”

“Travis? Why?” She sat down abruptly motioning for them do the same.

“I’ve heard he’s involved with an environmental group,” she said carefully.

“Field and Streams,” Karin said. “They do good work.”

“Yes,” Maxine said slowly. “Except he wasn’t happy with the work they were doing. He wanted to have more impact.”

“I still don’t see the trouble,” Karin said, her words short and clipped.

“He’s joined a group called Environment First,” Maxine said softly.”

“So?” Karin said but she was visibly shaken.

“Karin, they’re a lot different than Field and Streams. You should know that.”

“Why? Why would I know that?” she snapped. She jumped off the stool she’d been sitting on, pacing the kitchen nervously, face visibly pale beneath her make-up.

“Karin, you were a member of Environment First,” Maxine said softly.

“So, this is my fault? You think I got him involved in Environment First?”

“I never said that.” Maxine paused not sure to phrase her response. “But you know I’ve been looking into all the missing pets-”

“What has that got to do with Environment First,” Karin said shrilly.

“I don’t know,” Maxine said. “I just know when we started researching Environment First came up. And Travis seems to be involved with them somehow. If he were my son I’d want to know.”

“OK. Thank you. I appreciate it, I really do. But I’m not sure what you expect me to do about it.”

Maxine slipped off her stool. “Just talk to him Karin. That’s all.”

“Fine. I’ll talk to him,” she said, arms crossed in front of him. “Now if you don’t mind I’m very busy tonight. I don’t want to be rude but-“

“We were just leaving,” Maxine said. From somewhere she could hear dogs barking. It was a coincidence she told herself

Heather asked, “do you have a dog?”

“No,” Karin said, clearly annoyed.

“Because if you did you’d realize how important these dogs are to their families. For some pet owners they are the only family they have-“

“That’s enough Heather,” Maxine said sharply as they reached the door. “I’m sure Karin would tell us if she knew anything.”

“Well, I’m not so sure,” Heather said as she buckled up.

“Neither am I,” Maxine admitted. “But I do know she wasn’t going to tell us anything more if we stayed.”

“Drive around the block,” Heather said.

What she expected to find Maxine had no idea but she drove around. The house behind the Dents looked deserted. It wasn’t because piles of newspapers were piling up or mail coming out of the mailbox, but it didn’t look lived in.

Heather pulled out her tablet and pulled up her map. “Bingo! Ground zero for missing pets in Oak Bay.”

“Which means nothing unless we can figure out how Travis is involved and what that has to do with Environment First.”

“I guess not,” Heather said. But she didn’t seem so convinced. Maxine started to say something and then stopped herself. She knew that Heather was just itching to explore the house and not so long ago she’d have been just as eager. But she’d learned to be more cautious.

“I’m going to go home and soak in a hot bath tonight,” Maxine said firmly. “I suggest you do the same. We’re going to be busy tomorrow.”

Tired though she was, it was hard to stop thinking about everything that had happened that day. Tanya, she noted, looked better. Grandma Ellie just smiled when she asked how their day had been. Maxine gave her a quick hug.

“It was busy today. I’m going to have a quick bath and then I think there’s some chicken I can make for dinner. I thought we could watch movies tonight.”

The hot water and bubbles made Maxine feel human. She could feel muscles unknotting  as she sank into the lime and coconut bubbles. Breathing it in she imagined herself on a hot tropical beach drinking a cool drink and being fanned by the cabana boy. She sighed and closed her eyes relaxing, to the point of falling asleep.

She emerged to find dinner ready with Tanya and Grandma Ellie looking smug.

“You didn’t have to make dinner.”

“It was fun,” Tanya said. “It gave me something to do besides mope around. It’s my signature dish,” she said proudly.

“You have a signature dish?” Maxine said in surprise.

“It’s pretty much my only dish. But it’s good! Especially if you have wine with it.”

“Are you sure you should be drinking wine?” she asked trying not to sound like a nag. But Tanya had been doing so well…Until Zak’s death had sent her over the edge.

“Relax, I’m sticking to sparkling water. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a glass of wine. I mean how long am I going to be able to go if no one can have a drink around me?”

“I really don’t mind,” Maxine said.

“Well I do. I refuse to be a wet blanket,” Tanya said. “And I found the perfect wine to go with my stir fry.” She brought out a bottle of white chardonnay.

“I didn’t know I had any white wine,” Maxine said, surprised.

“Because you didn’t. But I wanted to do something nice to thank you for saving me when I needed help.”

“I didn’t do anything special,” Maxine protested. “I was just being a friend.”

“And I wanted to let you know I appreciated it. Grandma Ellie helped me pick the wine.”

She looked at Grandma Ellie in surprise.

“We all have our weaknesses,” Grandma Ellie said. “I could easily go overboard on chocolate but I’ve learned to control myself.” She gave a wry smile. 
“I wouldn’t want to give it up entirely though.”

“Well, no…” Maxine said. The wine was excellent, along with the stir fry. Luckily she had a chocolate mousse that made the perfect desert. By the time they were finished so was the wine.

Maybe that’s why she told them about the house.

“We need to check it out!” Tanya said as if this were the most logical thing in the world.

“How are we going to get there? We’ve been drinking so we can’t drive.”

“But I can,” Tanya said smugly.

“I’ll bet Patrick would be happy to check it out for you,” Grandma Ellie said.

“How many times do I have to tell you he’s busy. He’s working on a big case right now,” Maxine said with a sigh.

“We could check it out. If there’s nothing there we won’t have wasted his time. If there is we can call him.”

“Or 911,” Maxine said. “

Grandma Ellie and Tanya looked at her. “What? He’s working
undercover
. He can’t just drop everything and come.”

“Mm, I suppose you’re right,” Grandma Ellie said. “If we all stick together we should be fine. What could go wrong?”

Maxine could think of a dozen things.  “Are we getting out of the car?”

“I’ve got my phone programmed to dial 911 as soon as I press the button. All we’re going to do is take a look around,” Grandma Ellie said firmly.

Maxine looked at her in alarm. “We’re not calling 911. Patrick will kill me.”

“It’s a precaution. Patrick showed me how to do it.”

Even the wine couldn’t convince Maxine this was a good idea. Unfortunately she couldn’t come up with any concrete reason it was a bad idea. And she was out voted two to one.

Less than an hour later they were all wearing black yoga pants, black tops and running shoes. Tanya was calling herself their wheelman and Grandma Ellie was hoping to put some of her self-defense moves into action. And that was before Tanya started the car.

“We’ll just drive by first,” Maxine said. “Maybe there’ll be light. Maybe this is all one big misunderstanding.”

Tanya turned onto the street.  Streetlights showed a street filled with houses that looked lived in. Cars were parked outside. Lights lit up the windows. Inside people were walking around, sitting, their bodies silhouetted in windows and behind doors. A TV blared from one house, the sound of music spilled out onto the street from another.

Except for
the
house. The one behind the Dents looked as deserted tonight as it had this morning. Tanya pulled to a stop in front of it. “We’re like Charlie’s Angels.”

“With a few more wrinkles,” Grandma Ellie cracked.

“Wait.” Maxine said. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“We’ll just look around,” Tanya said.

“I’ve got the flashlights,” Grandma Ellie said.

Maxine felt nauseous and she was pretty sure this was a bad idea with a capital B. She was also aware it was too late to stop it.

Besides, it would probably turn out to be a false alarm. An example of how over-active imaginations could get out of control. Particularly when fueled with wine.

They walked up to the doorway together and rang the doorbell.

“What are we going to do if someone answers?”

“Tell them we’re the Avon ladies,” Tanya said giggling.

“Sshh,” Maxine said, trying not to laugh and failing miserably. No answer. She rang the doorbell again. The sound of a doorbell echoed throughout the house. She raised the doorbell knocking it repeatedly. Nothing.