by Morgana Best
“I wonder why they couldn’t have afforded a nice room in town, maybe at a restaurant,” Carl said.
I elbowed him in the ribs. “Shush. Someone might hear you.”
Carl ignored me. “There’s no one here yet. Maybe they couldn’t afford a restaurant after paying you for catering.”
“I hardly catered this event, Carl,” I said, somewhat put out. “I only catered the chocolates for the event. I run a chocolate shop, not a catering firm, if you hadn’t noticed.”
Carl was still off in his own world. “The Purr-suader would love all these scented candles. This room would certainly calm down a lot of cats.”
I laughed. “Yes, but only if the candles were all lavender scented. I think they’ve chosen every variety of fragrant candles at random, and just stuck them around the room. I think it would have been a better effect if they had just selected one scent.”
Carl sneezed. “Yes, I have to agree with you. Now what do we do?”
“Miriam Moreton, the organising lady, told me to put all the chocolates on this table under the window.” I gestured to an empty table by the window. It had a starched white tablecloth over it that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a hospital.
Carl rolled his eyes. “I’m not an event organiser, but even I could have done a better job. They should have hired me to run this function, but it’s clear they didn’t hire anyone.”
I simply shrugged, and before long, the two of us were busy arranging the chocolates on the table. I now owned a small chocolate fountain, because I had recently been asked to provide chocolates for events such as these, and it had proven cheaper to buy one rather than hiring it as I had in the past. “Carl, I think we should place the chocolate animals here, and those triple chocolate fudge brownie chocolates there.”
“Where should we place the fly agaric chocolates?”
I gestured to the centre of the table. “There for now, but I’ll check with Miriam.”
“Should we leave them in the box?”
I nodded. “Yes. I don’t know if Miriam wants to present them in the box, so that’s why I left them in the gift box.”
I had spoken to Miriam, the organiser who was also Stan’s personal secretary, earlier, but there had been no sign of her the whole time we were setting up the chocolates. She now bustled into the room, a picture of efficiency. “That looks lovely, Narel. Your chocolates are delightful.” I could see she wanted to eat one, maybe a whole bunch. And who could blame her?
“Thank you. I left the chocolates that are especially for Mr Wellings in that gift box. Would you like me to take off the lid and display them or leave them in the box?”
“In the box for now,” she said. “I don’t want anyone else to eat them by mistake until I present them to him. Should we place some candles on the table with the chocolates?”
“Candles will make the chocolates melt,” Carl said, clearly aghast.
Miriam looked doubtful. “I suppose you’re right. I didn’t mean to place them close to the chocolates. It’s just that this room is so impersonal.” She cast a glance around the empty room before continuing. “Normally, we would have a retirement party at the local restaurant, only well, Stan Wellings isn’t well liked.” Her voice trailed away, and her cheeks flushed red, as if she had just disclosed a dreadful secret.
“I suppose there’s a lot of competition in an advertising agency,” Carl said.
Miriam nodded vigorously. “Yes, there is. Although this is a small country town, our office does a lot of business in the capital cities. It’s a short flight from here to Sydney and Brisbane, and the flight to Melbourne isn’t even that long. Of course, with the internet these days, the running costs of an office are much cheaper in the country and we always fly to the clients.”
She continued to talk about advertising agencies in suitable locations, but my mind drifted back to the chocolates. I had to admit, it was an impressive array, and I was pleased that my hard work had paid off.
I jumped when I realised that Miriam was addressing me directly. “Sorry?”
Miriam looked at her watch. “I said that people will be starting to arrive, so would you turn on the chocolate fountain now?”
“Sure.” I set myself to filling the fountain with just the right amount of chocolate.
Carl and I had to stay throughout the event, as I had to monitor the chocolate fountain. I had to make sure I added more chocolate from time to time, as the chocolate was consumed. I would rather have been at home watching the latest series of The Bachelorette, but Carl was happy to stay with me. He was something of a social butterfly. Thinking of The Bachelorette reminded me that I hadn’t heard from my crush, Borage, lately.
“Have you heard from Porridge lately?” Carl asked me.
I shook my head. “Carl, sometimes I think you’re psychic. I was just thinking about Borage. And stop calling him Porridge—you know how much that annoys me.”
Carl laughed. “Yes, and that’s exactly why I do it.”
“If you tease me about Borage, I’ll start teasing you about Detective Rieker.”
That had the desired effect. Carl’s face flushed various shades of red. Carl had something of a crush on Detective Rieker, although he wouldn’t admit to it. Since I had moved back to town, there had been several murders, and unfortunately, I had discovered some of the bodies. That was how I had met the obnoxious-but-just-doing-his-job Detective Clyde and the attractive-to-Carl Detective Rieker. At any rate, there was no time to ponder such events, because the guests were starting to arrive.
I didn’t know any of them, and I feared this evening might be boring, or uncomfortable, to say the least. Various well dressed but bored-looking people filed into the room, some with partners, some alone. I recognised Stan Wellings when he walked into the room, because everybody clapped. At his side was a tall, slender woman. I guessed her young enough to be his daughter, granddaughter even. Despite her youth, she’d had so much plastic surgery that her face looked wildly distorted. I wondered why someone so young would have felt the need to resort to such measures, and I said this to Carl in a whisper.
“Maybe she’s ninety,” Carl said. “Maybe she’s not young after all.”
I wasn’t so sure. She had an impossible figure, huge lips, a highly stretched face, and a tiny waist. She giggled incessantly.
A man appeared at my side and held out his hand. I shook it automatically. “I’m Craig Cooper,” he said. “I haven’t seen the two of you around here before.”
“I’m Narel Myers, and this is my friend, Carl Camden,” I said. “I own the Cocoa Narel Designer Chocolate Shop. I catered the chocolates for tonight.”
Craig’s eyes widened. “You’re Cocoa Narel! I’ve heard all about you.”
I didn’t know if that was a good thing. Carl and I exchanged glances.
“You were the one who had the terrible car accident, weren’t you? And you had loads of plastic surgery because you were so badly injured in the accident, and you came back to town many months later, looking quite different.” If Craig noticed my discomfort, he certainly showed no sign. “And when you were young, you couldn’t stop eating chocolate which was why you looked like you did, and now you can’t put on any weight.” He chuckled. “And now you can eat as much chocolate as you like and not put on weight, after all your surgeries.”
“That’s right,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You’re quite famous around here,” the tactless Craig continued. “Weren’t some of your classmates murdered right after you came back to town?”
I simply glared at him, but he pushed on. “Yes, that’s right. I remember it all now. You were a suspect, weren’t you! The victims were the ones who’d bullied you horribly at school, and they died one by one. The police thought it was you.”
Carl finally spoke up. “Narel wasn’t the only one they bullied.”
The man nodded. “Quite so, quite so. Anyway, I’m sure they got what was coming to them.” He looked pointedly at Stan
Wellings. “Now that’s someone who has managed to avoid getting what’s coming to him, so far. With any luck the karma train will get him sooner or later.”
I was relieved that he had changed the subject. “The two of you don’t get along? I’ve heard Mr Wellings isn’t popular.”
Craig made a choking sound. “That’s the understatement of the century. The only person who likes him is that bimbo, Peaches.” He held up his hands. “I’m not kidding—that’s her name, Peaches. Can you believe it? She’s a complete airhead, a total bimbo. I think she’s younger than his daughter.” He nodded to an elegant young woman on the far side of the room. “That’s Minnie. She was dating a local sheep shearer, but Stan said he wasn’t good enough for her and he forced them to break up. I’m surprised she still speaks to her father after that.”
“Is Stan’s ex-wife still in town?” I asked him.
“No, she died some years ago. Minnie’s the only child. Of course, Stan’s been having affairs ever since his wife died, and no doubt he was before that, too. I’m sure Peaches is only after him for his money.”
“Do advertising executives make a lot of money?” Carl asked with obvious interest.
Craig shrugged. “It depends. Stan has no scruples, so he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants. He made some big deals in Sydney and could’ve retired on the money, but he said he’d be too bored. That’s why he came to this agency out here in the country. He’s a very wealthy man so he doesn’t need to work, hence Peaches the girlfriend. She’s a little gold digger, that one. Oh, speaking of gold diggers! Crikey! There’s that bogan, Mick Holder. Don’t look now.”
Of course, the first thing I did was look. The man who just walked through the door was wearing a flannelette shirt and jeans. He also seemed to be wearing steel-capped boots. Sure, it wasn’t party gear, but I didn’t understand why Craig had such a strong reaction.
Craig kept talking. “Minnie must’ve invited him to cause trouble. There’s going to be one huge scene when Stan spots him. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll help myself to a drink and get ready for the show.”
“I didn’t think this party was going to end up being so exciting,” Carl said. “Mind you, it isn’t exciting yet, but it sounds like it could be soon.”
I shrugged. “Mick is hiding behind people, and not going up to Minnie, so he’s not trying to irritate Stan by the looks of it. Anyway, who knows? Let’s get ourselves a drink.”
Carl agreed. “I was waiting for a waiter to walk past and offer me a glass of champagne from a silver tray, but that clearly isn’t going to happen here. Your chocolates are the best thing about this party, Narel.”
I had to agree. “I wonder why they paid for my chocolates. I mean, you would think they would just go to the local supermarket and buy any old chocolates, given the look of the wine.”
Carl laughed. “What, you’re not partial to Passion Pop?” He pointed to a label on a wine bottle and then placed it down. “Well, here’s a bottle of cheap Moscato. It’s sparkling.”
I held out my plastic champagne glass, and Carl filled it. “Narel, I think I’m going to die of boredom, simply die of boredom.”
Just then, a middle-aged woman burst into the room. The first thing I noticed was that she wasn’t dressed for the party, and appeared to be dressed in everyday household clothes. In fact, she was wearing an apron.
She marched straight over to Stan, who hadn’t noticed her arrival, as he was standing with his back to her. She grabbed his arm and spun him around. Even from where I was standing, I could see that all the colour drained from his face. He took a step backwards into Peaches, who put her arm around him to steady him.
“You cheated on me!” the woman screamed at the top of her lungs. She stabbed him in the chest with her stubby finger. “You cheated on me, with that whore.”
Chapter 3
The apron-wearing woman pointed to Peaches. “I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it!” she screamed, now pummelling Stan’s chest with her hands. “You said you worked late hours, and you’d never take me to parties, and I thought you were just busy, but now I find out the truth! You’ve been playing me all along! You were never going to marry me!”
I realised I was standing there with my mouth open, and shut it. “That poor woman,” I whispered to Carl.
“Shouldn’t someone do something?” he whispered back.
I did think it was strange that no one came to Stan’s aid, but then again, Miriam had said he was unpopular.
“Someone call the police!” Stan said. “Can’t you see the woman’s assaulting me?”
The woman drew back her leg and kicked Stan in the shins. He doubled over with a screech of pain. Miriam and Craig went straight to the woman and tried to calm her. She was now screaming obscenities at Stan. With some difficulty, Craig, Miriam, and two men I didn’t know managed to get the woman out of the room.
Peaches stood there with her hand over her mouth. I figured she was wondering whether she should go to Stan’s aid, or berate him for two-timing her. It appeared she was having trouble deciding, because she continued to stand, frozen in the same position, while Minnie took her father by the arm and led him over to a chair by the chocolate table.
Miriam and Craig presently returned to the room. Carl hurried over to Miriam, and I followed him. “Is everything all right?” Carl asked her.
Miriam shook her head. “An unpleasant business. That’s Daphne Delamare, Stan’s live-in housekeeper.” She shook her head. “An unpleasant business,” she said again. “Oh dear!”
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
Miriam nodded in Stan’s direction. “Minnie has just offered him that box of chocolates. You know, the ones I was going to present him as a special gift later.”
I tried to comfort her. “Well, he’s had a terrible shock,” I said, doing my best to sound sympathetic for the two-timing man. I watched as he greedily devoured my fly agaric chocolates one by one, without even looking at them. To think of all the time and effort I had put into them! They could have been generic store-bought chocolates for all he knew or cared. I felt a fresh wave of dislike for the man.
The crowd was gathered around Stan, staring at him. All of a sudden, Stan let out a yell. He jumped to his feet and pointed. “You!”
I spun around, as did the rest of the crowd gathered. Minnie and Mick were standing close together, talking, or at least they had been.
“How dare you invite that man to my party!” Stan yelled at Minnie. “You gave me your word that you two had broken up!” He made to rise to his feet, but Craig and Miriam managed to restrain him.
“You’d better go,” Minnie said to Mick. “I’ll call you later.”
“You will not call him later!” Stan yelled, struggling to his feet once more.
Mick headed for the door, but Stan broke away from Miriam and hurried after him.
“I wonder if there’s going to be a fight,” Carl whispered in my ear. “I don’t like Stan’s chances.”
“Me either.” I looked at Mick’s muscular appearance. I knew that sheep shearers were fit and strong, whereas Stan had obviously spent too much time in front of his computer. He didn’t strike me as the healthy type. If it did come to a fight, it would be over in seconds.
This must have occurred to Stan because when he reached Mick, he simply shook his fist in front of his face. “I told you to stay away from my daughter, you good for nothing…” He let out a stream of obscene language that made his daughter gasp.
She tugged on her father’s arm. “Daddy, stop it. You’re making a scene.” She nodded to the door. Mick took the hint and hurried out. “I didn’t invite him, Daddy,” Minnie said, although her tone was less than convincing.
“Then why was he here?” Stan roared.
“I don’t know.” Minnie shrugged. “I didn’t invite him,” she added lamely.
Miriam rushed over and took Stan by the arm. “Come on, Stan, don’t let this ruin your lovely evening.” She shot a v
enomous glare at Minnie. “Come on now.”
She led him back to the chocolate table. “I was going to present these chocolates to you when we made the speeches, but you’ve already eaten some of them.” She gestured to a chair. “Why don’t you eat some more, and I’ll get you a drink. Your usual?”
Stan nodded, and sat down, accepting my lovely fly agaric chocolates from Miriam. He continued to shove them in his mouth, not even tasting them. It looked as if he swallowed them whole. I was furious.
Carl, as best friends do, realised why I was upset. “Narel, you can only create the chocolates. You have to release them into the wild, and then you’re no longer responsible for how people treat them.”
I sighed long and hard. “I know you’re right.” I looked around the room. Everyone was now ignoring Stan, and several were crowded around Minnie, consoling her. Peaches was still off to one side, clearly forgotten by Stan. I pointed this out to Carl.
“I feel quite sorry for her, not knowing Stan was having an affair with his housekeeper,” Carl said. “But then again, if she is truly a gold digger, then she got what she deserved.”
“If she is a gold digger, then good luck to her!” I said. “It sounds like Stan deserves her.” Before I had even finished my words, Peaches snatched up her purse and stormed across the room to the door. It was a dramatic exit, or would have been, if anyone had paid any attention. Carl and I seem to be the only audience. Stan certainly didn’t notice, as he was busy stuffing his face with the chocolates.
“I didn’t think anyone could eat so many chocolates in one go,” Carl said, “except you, of course, Narel. I think he can eat more chocolates than you can.”
I was thinking up a witty retort, when Stan stood up, clutched his stomach, and fell face forward onto the ground. Miriam screamed.
