Fatal Chocolate Obsession (Death by Chocolate Book 5)

by Sally Berneathy

  His smile widened. “Thanks.”

  I went to the kitchen and fixed him a BLT with extra bacon then returned to the counter and threw in a couple of cookies.

  “Here you go. Your favorite.” I handed the bag to him.

  “Thank you.” He laid money on the counter. “What happened to your butterfly?”

  Did he know his father had left the butterfly? If he didn’t, there was no point in fueling his anger. “I put it in the kitchen. I didn’t want it to get broken.” Two true statements. They had nothing to do with each other, and I shouldn’t be faulted if the sequencing made it seem they did. To quote Fred, I can’t help what inference people take from that.

  “Good idea. See you tomorrow.” He smiled again and left.

  Such a nice guy. Interesting that I had two victims of abuse in my restaurant at the same time. I looked at Tina. She was watching Brandon walk away. Maybe when they were both free of their abusers…

  He was a little younger than her, but not enough to matter. I’d have to find out if he liked kids.

  A few more customers trickled in, but Grady and the cops had disrupted the busy part of the lunch crowd. Well, I’d have plenty of chocolate to share with Tina’s boys. Feed them a pizza, give them some Coke and chocolate, and send them to bed.

  If Trent and I ever had kids, I’d have to take a course on how to handle them.

  As if conjured from my thoughts, Trent strode in. I delivered a customer’s order and rushed to throw myself into his arms. Trent’s, not the customer’s. Once again I had everybody’s attention, but they were all smiling this time.

  “I heard what happened,” Trent said. “I tried to be tactful when I talked to him, but as soon as I mentioned your name, he went ballistic. This removes any doubt in my mind that he’s your stalker. I’m sorry my talk with him made things worse.”

  I laughed and stepped back. “The tantrum he just threw in here was no worse on my nerves than the disgusting way he usually acts except he threatened you and me both. Said we didn’t know who we were dealing with and we’d be sorry. But I think that was just his anger talking.” I hoped it was.

  “Actually, there’s a possibility he could change from adoring stalker to vengeful stalker. But don’t worry. We’re getting an arrest warrant prepared for creating a public disturbance and destruction of personal property. He should soon be behind bars and then he won’t be able to bother you for a while.”

  “Thank you. Have a seat at the counter and I’ll get you something good.”

  He grinned, a slightly wicked, totally sexy grin.

  I punched his arm. “That’s for later!” I whispered. “Right now I’m talking about lunch.”

  “I don’t have time. I just came by to give you this.” He withdrew a cell phone from his pocket and handed it to me. “I don’t want you to be without a phone for even a few hours with that crazy man still on the loose. I picked this up at Wal-Mart. It’ll tide you over until you can get a new one.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Gotta get back to work.”

  “I know. Lock up bad guys. Give speeding tickets to innocent women.”

  “Don’t forget to get those papers from Fred tonight. I’ll come over and pick them up and we can talk about that something good you promised.” His dark eyes twinkled with green.

  “About tonight—let me walk you outside.” I took his arm and led him out the front door.

  “What’s up?” He turned to look through the plate glass windows into the restaurant. “Who are we avoiding?”

  I put a big, phony smile on my face. “Stop frowning! She’ll see you!”

  “Who?”

  “Tina. The lady in the corner booth.”

  “The one staring down at her empty plate? I don’t think she’s going to see anything except a crumb or two.”

  I told him about Tina’s situation. “Fred found her a place at one of the shelters starting Sunday, but she’s spending Friday and Saturday night at my place.”

  “Oh.” The green sparks disappeared from his eyes. He was so uptight, he wouldn’t spend the night with me if someone else was there. “Lindsay, you’ve got a good heart, but sometimes I wonder about your head.”

  “Yeah, right. What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t let her go back to Ken, and I don’t think she has the money for a motel room. It’s only for two nights. Maybe Saturday I can come to your place.”

  “We can definitely do that, but I was thinking about the danger you’re putting yourself in. Abusive husbands don’t like it when their wives escape. If Tina’s husband comes after her, you could be collateral damage. So now I’ve got to worry about Grady Mathis and Ken Wilson. I’ll be over tonight anyway and sleep on the sofa.”

  “Well, no, that’s not going to work. Tina has three sons. That takes care of my guest bed, the sofa and Fred’s inflatable mattress.”

  He scowled and ran a hand through his already messy hair. “I’ve got to go, but this discussion is not over. I’ll be there tonight.”

  We exchanged a brief kiss and he left.

  I hadn’t thought about Ken coming after Tina. I didn’t see any way he could find her at my place. Fred had not given him our last names or told him where we lived. But he had mentioned that Bob was murdered in the alley behind a restaurant where a friend of his worked. It wouldn’t take a lot of brain power to figure out from the news reports that the restaurant in question was Death by Chocolate.

  I had told Tina in private that I was the owner. Surely she hadn’t mentioned anything to Ken, and he hadn’t seemed smart enough or sober enough to make a connection. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t give Henry much catnip while Tina was staying with me. He needed to be alert.

  When I got back inside, Paula was checking out the last customer. As soon as he left, I started to lock the door but Tina stopped me. “I need to leave. I have to pick up my kids at school. Will you still be here when I get back?”

  “Of course,” I assured her. “We have to clean up. We’ll be here another couple of hours. If you don’t see us, just bang on the door.”

  Tina reached for the door handle.

  “What if Ken’s at the school?” Paula asked.

  Tina turned back and licked her lips. Her pupils shrank to pinpoints. “I—I don’t think he knows we’re gone yet. He hasn’t called. He won’t get home from work for another couple of hours.”

  Paula moved closer. “He’ll recognize your car before you have a chance to get them. You can take mine. It’s parked out back.”

  Tina blinked a couple of times in rapid succession. So did I. Paula seemed determined to help this woman who was in a situation she knew too well.

  “No, I couldn’t,” Tina said.

  “Yes, you can,” Paula insisted. “Even if you think he won’t be at the school, you can’t be sure. Abusive men are sneaky and clever. Take the car. Keep yourself and your boys safe.”

  Paula led her to the kitchen. I followed with the last of the dirty dishes.

  Paula’s short so when she reached for her keys on the top of the refrigerator, she didn’t see the butterfly. As she retrieved her keys, the crystal slid from the top of the refrigerator. We all three grabbed for it. Tina had the quickest reaction. Probably came from years of dodging her husband’s fists.

  She held the object reverently in both hands. “It’s so beautiful. I’m glad it didn’t break.”

  She offered it to me. I flinched away from it. She turned to Paula who shook her head. “It’s Lindsay’s.”

  Lindsay’s bane. “Maybe you could do me a favor. I need to take it home tonight to give to Trent, but I’ve got so many other things to carry, I’m afraid I’ll forget it. Could you take it with you?”

  She smiled. “I’d love to. It will be nice to have something pleasant to focus on instead of…well, you know. I promise I’ll keep it safe.”

  The two of them went out the back door and I returned to dirty dishes and my thoughts. Both Paula and Trent seemed to think Kenneth Wilson had super powers. I fi
gured he had a room temperature IQ, and we’re talking about an air conditioned room in the middle of winter. But maybe they knew something I didn’t about the abilities of abusive men.

  Even though I couldn’t imagine that Ken Wilson could find Tina at my house, I would let her park her car in my garage just to be on the safe side.

  ***

  Tina made the kid pickup without incident. She and Paula exchanged cars again, then Tina followed me home while Paula went to get Zach from the babysitter.

  My first encounter with the boys was at my house. Tina and I both parked at the curb. I got out and started toward her to tell her to put her car in my garage but halted in mid-stride when three car doors on Tina’s battered sedan flew open. Three boys in blue jeans and T-shirts burst forth, shouting, chattering, pushing and shoving.

  Tina slid out of the driver’s seat. “Boys, be quiet.” She was only a couple of inches taller than the oldest one, but they obeyed her. “Lindsay Powell, this is Wade, Connor and Drake.” She pointed to the boys in order of size.

  They all mumbled some version of Nice to meet you, Ms. Powell.

  “Hi, Wade, Connor and Drake. Tina, why don’t you pull up in the driveway and we’ll put your car in the garage.”

  She considered that suggestion only a moment before nodding and getting back in her car.

  “Wow, Mom gets to use the garage!” Wade exclaimed. “Dad never lets her use the garage.”

  “That’s because Mom’s car’s old and ugly,” Drake said.

  It was.

  I pulled into the driveway behind Tina then got out and opened the door to the garage. She drove inside.

  The boys were right there.

  “Your garage is falling down,” Connor said.

  Drake stepped closer to peer inside. “You don’t have a motorcycle.”

  “Dad’s going to let me ride his motorcycle when I’m twelve,” Wade said proudly.

  Tina came out of the garage carrying two suitcases and gave me a No, he isn’t look. Ken might be a bully, but I sensed that Tina was in charge of the kids—as much as anybody is in charge of kids, especially when they come in packs.

  I took one of her suitcases, grabbed the bag of leftovers, and we crossed the yard to the house. The boys darted around us, eager to explore their new surroundings.

  I opened the front door and, as expected, King Henry waited just inside. But he didn’t step out to wind around my legs or give me a homecoming head butt as he usually does. He surveyed the group behind me, tilted his head arrogantly, hefted his tail into the air and trotted toward the kitchen.

  “Welcome to my home.” I stepped inside and held the door to invite the others in.

  Tina came in with her suitcases and all three boys tried to come through the door at once. After much scrambling and shouting, they managed to get in and I locked the door behind them.

  A cell phone rang. It was a generic sound, not the wind chimes tone I had my phone set to, but I didn’t have my phone anymore. I put my bag of goodies on the coffee table and reached for the burner phone in my pocket.

  Tina held hers in her hand and stared at it as the ringing continued. I peeked over her shoulder. A picture of Ken Wilson along with his first name showed on the screen.

  Oh boy. The fun begins.

  “Can we turn on the TV?” one of the boys shouted.

  “Sure, go ahead.” What was one more source of noise?

  Tina continued to stare at her phone which continued to ring. “Should I answer it?” Her quiet words trembled and hung in the air.

  “Uh…” I had no idea what to tell her. She needed Paula’s advice, not mine. Sometimes I answered Rick’s calls and sometimes I ignored them. “If you want to talk to him, answer. If you don’t, ignore it.” That was the best advice I could come up with.

  She looked at me with a terrified expression. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

  “Don’t answer.”

  “He’ll keep calling.”

  “Keep not answering.”

  She bit her swollen lip. “Would you mind if I kept the kids inside this evening instead of letting them play in the yard? I just worry about Ken somehow finding us.”

  I nodded, recalling Paula’s protective attitude toward Zach. It was better now, but she still worried. Of course Tina would worry about her sons.

  Underneath the shouts of the kids and the roar of the television, I distinctly heard the sound of a hungry tiger in my kitchen. Okay, a distant relative of a tiger, but he sounded upset.

  “Excuse me. I have to feed my cat.” And get away from the bedlam.

  “Get your feet off the sofa and sit up straight.” I was pretty sure Tina wasn’t talking to me so I kept going.

  When I first moved into the house, a door separated the kitchen and the living room. I like open spaces. That door currently resides in the garage. I wondered briefly how long it would take me to put it up again.

  Henry looked into his empty bowl then up at me accusingly.

  “Chill out. You’re not going to starve.”

  He continued to focus his ice blue stare on me. He didn’t believe me.

  I poured nuggets in his bowl and added some stinky, fishy mixture from a can. He needed to be fortified to face the evening.

  “Mama, he hit me!”

  “Did not!”

  “Sit down and be quiet, all of you.” Tina’s voice.

  I couldn’t tell if they sat down but they didn’t stop shouting.

  About half the stinky, fishy mixture remained in the can. I raked it all into Henry’s bowl then watched him eat. No, I don’t usually stand and watch my cat eat but I wasn’t ready to go back into the melee. Tina’s boys didn’t seem as bent on destruction and disobedience as Rick’s son had been, but they weren’t quiet and sweet like Zach either. I wondered if Zach would turn into a wild boy in the next three years.

  Probably.

  I tossed the cat food can into the trash and opened the refrigerator door. Coke or wine? It was only five thirty, but the evenings were growing shorter with the approach of winter. A shorter evening justified an earlier first drink.

  “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

  I gasped and spun around to see Fred standing in my kitchen doorway. He was immaculate as always, every white hair in place, knit shirt and blue jeans unwrinkled, black framed glasses free of spots. Nevertheless he had a disheveled look about him. Running the obstacle course that existed in my living room would have that effect.

  “Are you talking about my land line? I just got home. I guess I didn’t hear it ring over all the noise.”

  “No, your cell phone. I’ve left eleven messages. I was getting ready to call Trent when you drove up with your new roommates.”

  “Oh, my cell phone. I don’t have that anymore. Grady Mathis came into the shop today, yelled at me and stomped on my cell phone.”

  Behind his sparkling lenses Fred’s eyes widened. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple lifting and plunging with the action. “Lindsay, we need to talk about him.”

  “It’s okay. He won’t bother me again. The cops are going to arrest him for creating a public disturbance, destroying my property, and just generally being a disgusting excuse for a human being.”

  “That’s good news. Is Trent coming over tonight?”

  “Yes. He wants to get that box and wrapping paper from you that the butterfly came in.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I believe Grady is Rick’s attacker. I found Rick’s blood on the wrapping paper.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I stumbled to the table, pulled out a chair and sank into it. “You mean…?” I couldn’t say it. I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around the implications of what Fred had just told me.

  He sat in a chair next to me. “I mean your secret admirer tried to kill your ex-husband.” Fred doesn’t believe in wasting anything, not even words.

  I opened my mouth but only one syllable came out. “Coke.”

&n
bsp; “Lindsay, did you just croak?” Sophie stood in the kitchen doorway. She wore a white cotton blouse that set off her dark hair perfectly, and she looked totally composed. Had she come up from the basement through a hidden trap door I didn’t know about or down through the roof? She could not possibly look that serene after coming through the fracas going on in my living room.

  Fred unfolded himself from his chair and sauntered to the refrigerator. “She needs a fix.” He took out a cold Coke, popped the top and brought it to me. “Did you bring home any chocolate? I think you need some before we go on.”

  “It’s in a bag on the coffee table.”

  “I’ll get it.” Sophie started to the living room.

  “Don’t go in there!” I warned.

  She turned back. “Why not?”

  Really? Had she gone deaf?

  “Give that back! It’s mine!” Drake shouted.

  “Is not!” Wade declared.

  “Mama!”

  “Wade, take this car and leave your brother alone.”

  “Don’t move a muscle or I’ll shoot!”

  I was pretty sure that last came from the TV. I fervently hoped it came from the TV.

  Apparently my idea that Tina was in control of her sons had been naïve.

  “Sophie, there are kids in there,” I said. “Lots of kids.”

  “I know. Aren’t children adorable?”

  I looked at Fred to see how he was taking that comment. He doesn’t do well around kids. Or cats. Or dust mites. Or dust.

  He sat down again, looking completely unconcerned. Either he really was unconcerned or he was pretending.

  Sophie smiled and disappeared into the chaos.

  “Do you think she’ll make it back alive?”

  “Don’t worry about Sophie. She’s stronger than she looks.”

  “How do you know that?”

  He scowled. “How do you not know that?”

  Fred would have made a good politician. For all I knew, that might be on his resume.

  “Lindsay, there’s a possibility Grady killed Ginger.”

  His voice was calm and quiet, and it took a couple of seconds for his words to register. I blinked a few times, forcing my mind back to a place it didn’t want to go. “Uh…what?”