by JoAnna Carl
I didn’t take offense. That was Hazel. She completely lacked tact, but after working with her for a couple of years, I knew she didn’t really mean to be rude. Things just came out that way.
“I’m not here for the reunion dinner. I just brought something by for Aunt Nettie. Is she out on the porch?”
“Oh, yes. With the rest of the gang.”
Somehow Hazel made the word “gang” sound as if she thought her former classmates were planning to write graffiti all over Warner Pier or start a fight with a rival sextet.
“Are things not going well?”
“Well enough. It’s just that—we’ve all grown in different directions. You know. It always happens that way. Life.”
“Aunt Nettie seemed to be looking forward to seeing everyone, Hazel. I thought you were, too.”
“Maybe I’m just not in the mood.”
I gave what I hoped was an encouraging smile and headed out toward the porch. Hazel’s comment had surprised me. She had always appeared to be a happy housewife, with few ambitions, content with a job that paid her a reasonable wage and kept her in close contact with an old friend. But Aunt Nettie owned a successful business, and Hazel merely worked for hourly wages. Did it rankle? I wondered.
Aunt Nettie’s porch is comfortable and attractive, furnished with a collection of wicker pieces that includes a couch and two large chairs with striped cushions. The porch was connected to the dining room by French doors. When I drew near them, I was greeted by a gale of laughter. Its fruity, rich tone told me Ruby Westfield was there.
Ruby might have been the most interesting person in Warner Pier, or so I thought, and I paused to observe her for thirty seconds before I went out onto the porch.
Ruby probably held the Warner Pier record for marriages and divorces. She’d made it to the altar at least six times, and she had four children, each with a different father. And she’d done all this marrying and divorcing and reproducing in a town of twenty-five hundred people.
Amazing.
What was even more amazing was that each of Ruby’s husbands was an upstanding, responsible citizen. Ruby wasn’t one of these women who picked guys up in bars and rushed them to the altar after a few drinks. She also wasn’t one of the types who had public fights and kept the “domestic incident” statistics high. And she definitely wasn’t one of the sirens who went after married men. Each of Ruby’s husbands had been single, solvent, and sober when he fell for her. Each was also intelligent and gainfully employed. All the exes still lived in Warner Pier, and I knew several of them. One was an electrician, one owned a hardware store, one was street superintendent for the city, and one was a retired teacher. The two others I didn’t know much about.
None of the ones I knew ever had anything bad to say about Ruby. Even after the splits, all the men in her life liked her. Apparently Ruby simply had “it,” whatever “it” is.
The other remarkable thing about Ruby’s marital history was that she wasn’t particularly attractive. If an actress were cast for a role like Ruby in a movie, the producers would select some sexy, ultra-good-looking gal. But Ruby was very ordinary-looking, at least to me. She was plump and comfortable, with frankly gray hair and a happy smile. Plain. But the latest word around town was that the city’s most eligible older guy—a doctor who recently retired here—had been calling on Ruby.
Ruby and Aunt Nettie were sitting in the big wicker chairs, facing the French doors. The matching couch was in front of the doors, with its back to the dining room.
“Hi, Lee!” Ruby said. She had a voice as comfortable as her figure. “We’re telling dirty jokes!”
Aunt Nettie laughed. “Just like high school!”
“Only now we understand them!” Ruby giggled.
“If y’all are reminiscing,” I said, “I’ve brought something to add to the mix.”
I walked around the couch and put the box marked “Nettie’s Memorabilia” down on the coffee table. Then I pulled the trophy from the garbage sack, still wrapped in kitchen towels. Aunt Nettie and Ruby looked at me expectantly. I unwrapped the trophy and held it over my head proudly.
“Ta-da! Look what I found in one of the old filing cabinets.”
Aunt Nettie and Ruby wore almost identical expressions. Their mouths formed big O’s, and their eyes got wide, like something had scared them.
And behind me, someone screamed.
JoAnna Carl
The Chocoholic Mystery Series
EACH BOOK INCLUDES YUMMY
CHOCOLATE TRIVIA!
Looking for a fresh start, divorcée Lee McKinney
moves back to Michigan to work for her aunt’s
chocolate business—and finds that her new job
offers plenty of murderous treats.
The Chocolate Cat Caper
The Chocolate Bear Burglary
The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up
The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle
The Chocolate Mouse Trap
The Chocolate Jewel Case
The Chocolate Snowman Murders
The Chocolate Cupid Killings
The Chocolate Pirate Plot
Available wherever books are sold or at
penguin.com
OM0031
NEW IN HARDCOVER
FROM
JoAnna Carl
The Chocolate Castle Clue
A Chocoholic Mystery
Lee McKinney Woodyard discovers a dusty trophy inside
TenHuis Chocolade that belongs to her aunt Nettie and
her old high school singing group, the Pier-O-Ettes. It’s a
trophy that brings back terrible memories of an unsolved
murder that happened years ago.
Before Lee takes aim at the past, someone is murdered in
the here and now. Lee needs to keep her eyes on the prize,
hoping the trophy is a clue to finding the killer—before
she’s a target herself.
Available wherever books are sold or at
penguin.com
OM0051
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Also by JoAnna Carl
The Chocolate Cat Caper
The Chocolate Bear Burglary
The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up
The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle
The Chocolate Mouse Trap
Crime de Cocoa
The Chocolate Bridal Bash
The Chocolate Jewel Case
The Chocolate Snowman Murders
The Chocolate Cupid Killings
Chocolate to Die For
The Chocolate Castle Clue
