Chocolate-Covered Crime (8 page)

Renee snickered. “Still graceful, I see.” Joe jumped to his feet and darted around his desk.

Face red, I got to my feet, shrugging off Joe’s chivalrous offer of help. I waited to rub the aching joint until I hobbled outside where I leaned against the warm brick of the building. Just once, I’d like to make an exit with a statement other than “big klutz exiting.”

I needed chocolate to make me feel better, or Ethan’s arms around me. Maybe his lips on mine. Or a big fat clue that moved me closer to my goal of finding Mae Belle’s killer. I opted to wait for Renee. To kill time, I pulled my notebook from the tote bag and slid down the wall to rest on the sidewalk. I fished for a pen, opened the notebook, and, with a flourish, wrote fR dbagRenee’s name on my suspect list. Right under Lewis Anderson.

Sherry Grover because of her lack of remorse when Mae Belle died, Lewis Anderson for lying to me, Renee Richards for her subtle threats, and Mason White because. . .I wasn’t sure about him, but there had to be a reason. My list grew, and I’d definitely be keeping an eye on all of them. I’d have to get April to help me, or Aunt Eunice. Between the three of us, we’d have this case solved in no time.

A shadow fell across me. I glanced up to see Renee smirking down at me.

“What are you doing on the ground?”

I pushed to my feet. “Waiting for you. You finished quick.”

“What are you writing?”

“Personal stuff.” I shoved the notebook and pen back in my bag. “Where were you on the day Mae Belle died?”

“Stop digging, Summer.” Renee turned and sashayed away, the heels of her boots beating against the sidewalk. In comparison, my gym shoes were as silent as a wraith.

“What did you need to see Joe about?”

She spun. I stopped so fast that I found myself closer to her than I’d ever been before.

“You are as tenacious as a bulldog.” I didn’t think Renee meant the statement as a compliment. “That is none of your business, Summer. As for where I was when Mae Belle was killed—also none of your business, but you won’t stop until I answer, will you? I was on a satellite call with Bill.”

“Any alibis?” Who told her when, exactly, Mae Belle had been attacked? Excitement raced through me. Another fact for my notes.

She sneered. “Still fancy yourself a detective? Why couldn’t you have permanently gotten lost in the fair’s fun house? Would have saved everyone a lot of grief.”

Why did she have to bring that up? Getting lost in the fun house at the annual county fair had not been my idea of fun. I hated clowns, not to mention getting chased by a madman with a gun through the maze of mirrors. Renee was plain mean to mention the incident. “So you think I deserve a letter opener in the back?”

“Look, Summer. I’m not saying any such thing, but I’m not going to stand aside and let you dirty my name around town just because I didn’t like the poor service Mae Belle gave me. Take your snoopy little nose somewhere else.”

Okay. Those words stopped me. Sounded like another threat. First Mason, now Renee. Not being a stranger to danger, I didn’t fall into a terrified faint, but the words did give me pause. I’d have to be sneakier about obtaining my information.

I turned and headed back to the candy store.

I’d been so surprised to see Renee that I’d forgotten to ask Joe whether he had any leads on my threatening letter. I entertained the thought of stopping by the station again, then shrugged it off. I’d ask him later. He’d be over for dinner, along with April. And Ethan. That bright thought put a skip in my step. A skip with a limp. My knee throbbed all the way to my car.

Several customers browsed the store when I entered, and I breathed a sigh of relief that Aunt Eunice wasn’t spending the entire day at Mae Belle’s apartment. If I could make it to the dipping machine before Aunt Eunice saw me limping, I might be free of her questioning. The marble slab we used for candy making hid beneath a mound of what looked like new fan mail. I sighed and wondered when I’d have time to go through it. I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. I’d study my notes while I waited for the chocolate to melt.

With the bag of ice balanced precariously on my knee beneath the worktable, I spread papers in front of me. Two names from the appointment book had been questioned, leading me nowhere except into more threats. That left Hubert Smith, Edna Mobley, and Larry Bell. All middle-aged or older. They couldn’t be too difficult, could they? And I didn’t want to forget Sherry. She needed more investigating if for nothing else but her lack of compassion.

Remorse riddled me. I’d grown bitter and presumptuous since Mae Belle’s death. Being unfriendly did not make a murderer. To have chosen to work for Mae Belle, Sherry must have desperately needed a job. She could have a difficult life or suffer from self-esteem issues. Who was I to judge?

“You going to dip with that melted chocolate or daydream all day?” Aunt Eunice plunked down a tray of chocolate creams.

“Just going over my notes.”

“Getting anywhere?”

“No.” I stood. The ice pack fell to the floor with a
thunk
.

Aunt Eunice peered beneath the table. “What are you using the ice pack for?” She straightened. “Did you hurt yourself? Where have you been?”

Remembering my new vow of honesty, I said, “First I went to question Larry Anderson about photos I found in Mae Belle’s apartment. During our discussion, he admitted to having an affair with my dear cousin. Then I took the pictures to Joe as evidence of Larry’s lying. I ran into Renee Richards, who said Mae Belle deserved what she got, and I fell leaving Joe’s office.”

My aunt’s eyelashes fluttered like a moth around a flame. “You’ve been busy.”

“And got nowhere. Everyone’s a suspect, it seems.” I limped over and sat on the stool behind the dipping machine. If making delectable chocolates didn’t calm me, nothing would. “Did you finish with the apartment?”

“Almost. Claudia got tired.” Aunt Eunice plopped onto another stool. “Lord forgive me, but I’ll fR dTimbe glad when she leaves tomorrow. I do feel sad for her, though. I can’t imagine a child of mine dying with hateful words spoken and no salvaging the relationship.”

“Especially when the loved one was a murder victim.” I swirled a C on the just-dipped candy. Time raced by. It’d already been a week. I’d step up my investigating and visit Larry Bell’s farm tonight. There had to be a reason that a single, reclusive farmer with no marriage prospects would’ve needed Mae Belle’s services.

I’d go with or without company.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Aunt Eunice loaded the kitchen table with fried chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, and corn bread with cracklins. Complete with homemade muscadine jelly. While my tongue salivated, my backside grew larger just looking at the food.

Aunt Claudia moped at one end of the table, her mouth forming a perfect upside down horseshoe, while the two uncles argued politics, Joe and April whispered like two love-struck teenagers, and Ethan’s smoldering eyes followed my every move as I helped Aunt Eunice. She must have been in a spat with her sister earlier, because they weren’t speaking to each other.

Ethan’s glances warmed me, caused my face to heat and my thoughts to veer in directions that weren’t proper. Thank goodness people surrounded us. Maybe we should elope. Tonight.

I whispered for him to stop and set a plate in front of him. He gave me a smile that started at one corner and took its time getting to the other. A dimple winked. My heart stuttered. I didn’t think it was possible for my face to burn any hotter. I prayed a look from him would always affect me this way.

Ethan stood and pulled out the chair beside him for me to sit. “Your face is red.” His words tickled the hair at the nape of my neck.

“Stop it.” I reached for the glass of iced tea beside my plate.

“Stop what?” He placed his lips next to my ear. His breath tickled.

“You know what. Behave.” I swatted him away. “What are you doing after dinner?”

“I’m going to kiss you until you can’t stand up, then I’ve got to head home to grade papers. You?”

“Hang out with April. Girl stuff.” I had yet to ask April. Seeing as how she giggled with Joe, I’d probably fR dT/div have to twist her arm to get her away from him.

“Uh-huh.” Ethan moved back to his seat and lifted a chicken leg. He took a bite, his gaze focused on mine.

“Really. We’ll most likely head into town.” There I went with the half-truths again. How could this man love me? I turned to his sister across the table. “April, do you want to hang out later?”

She pulled her attention away from Joe. “Sure. Joe has to work.” She turned back to her love.

I gave Ethan a smile.

He tilted his head. “That doesn’t mean you aren’t up to something.”

“Nothing dangerous, I promise.” I might as well come clean. “I’m going down the list of Mae Belle’s appointments. We aren’t going to town, but away from it.”

“Who’s the target tonight?”

“Larry Bell.”

Ethan’s brow furrowed. “Okay, but you and April stay together. Don’t do anything stupid.”

I grinned. “You know me.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Where are we, and what are we doing here?” April leaned forward to peer out the front window of my car.

Larry Bell’s farm, actually nothing more than a small ranch house and barn, seemed deserted beneath the full moon. “We’re investigating.”

“Oh, Summer. I don’t want to be wandering around in the dark, in a strange place, looking for a murderer. Besides, what happened to Claudia helping you find the killer of her ‘baby’?” April’s pale face shone from the light of the moon.

“She seems to have lost interest.” I shrugged. “Besides, she’s going home tomorrow. I’d rather be with you. Remember that time at church when you said you would be my sidekick?”

“That was before you almost got yourself killed. Twice. I don’t think I’ll do well with being kidnapped and shot at. Not to mention Joe will have a coronary.”

We shoved open our doors and slid from the car. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and no one will be home.”

“I can only hope.” April slammed her door. The sound reverberated across the yard.

“Shh. We need the element of surprise.”

nR d elApril rolled her eyes. For a best friend, her behavior and her lack of a sense of adventure let me down.

“Just follow my lead. You’re only here for support. I’ll do the talking.” I gave her what I hoped was my most reassuring smile. She frowned and followed me onto the front porch. After receiving no response from knocking, we peered through the front window into a room full of shadows. “Let’s go around back.”

April clutched my arm. A coyote howled in the distance. “How can you do this? I’m terrified. I should’ve got my cell phone out of your car. Oh no, I’m turning into you. You never remember your phone. At least then Joe would have been only the push of a button away.”

“Stop being a baby. Do you know you’re rambling?” I pulled free from her grasp and cupped my hands around my eyes to see through a grimy kitchen window. “You’re in luck. I don’t think anyone’s home.” I grasped the knob. The door pushed open with a turn of the knob.

“What are you doing? This is breaking and entering. Joe’s going to be livid.” April regained her death grip on my arm.

“You already said that, and we aren’t breaking and entering. You’re a real scaredy-cat, you know that? The door opened by itself. Mostly.”

Something crunched under our feet as we stepped into the kitchen. I pulled my newest toy from the pocket of my jeans. A pink, pen-size flashlight. The beam revealed food crumbs on the floor, dirty dishes stacked in the sink, and grease splattered across the stove. This place definitely lacked a feminine touch.

I moved into the living room and stepped into a maze. Magazines and newspapers were stacked five feet high or more in every available inch of space, only leaving room to walk between them. Claustrophobia threatened before we took another step. I tried to pull my arm free of April. “Let go of me, and take a look around.”

“No way. I’m staying right beside you. This place gives me the creeps. I feel like a mouse in some weird science experiment. You know, like how long does it take to find the cheese? And
what
is that smell?” She gagged and pulled the neckline of her shirt over her nose.

“Most likely the several days’ worth of dirty dishes piled in the kitchen. Spoiled food. And something else. . .like cat urine.” I shone the light around the space we stood in, revealing nothing but towering paper walls. “There’s got to be something here to let me know what Larry’s relationship with Mae Belle was.”

I led the way. A cat sailed over our heads, and I shrieked. It landed on another stack of magazines and perched there like a phantom, yellow eyes glowing in the light.

“I’m going to throw up.” April sniffled behind me. “I’ve never been more frightened in my entire life.”

Horror
. That was one of the things in life that terrified me the most: someone losing their dinner in front of me. Had Nancy Drew suffered li nR d ofke this with her friends? I didn’t think so.