Aha, Sadie thought. Just as I suspected, they all planned the murder together. But it didn’t go down that way, hence the argument at the wharf.
“Gina’s the one who insisted we call it off,” Lila said.
“Well, that’s true,” Gerp admitted.
“Thank you, Lila,” Gina said. She plastered on a grateful smile.
“You’re welcome,” Lila said politely.
Gina’s smile quickly changed to a snide grin. “Which is why you must have done it.”
Lila’s mouth dropped open. “You know I never agreed with the crazy idea from the start! I thought you guys were kidding around. We were all mad at her, but murder? A little extreme, don’t you think?” Her gaze moved from one person to the next, finally landing on Detective Frogert.
“Seems extreme to me,” Frogert said. Sadie, now standing next to the detective, almost burst out laughing.
Gerp spoke up, glaring at Lila. “Face it, Lila, you’re the one who did it. You might as well admit it. You thought that boyfriend of yours was going to leave you for her.”
“Zany? Ha! He’d never leave me.” Lila examined her nails nonchalantly.
“How can you say that? He was cheating on you!” Gina pointed out.
Lila laughed. “Are you kidding me? He’s done that a million times. I don’t take it seriously anymore. I just feel sorry for the women, knowing he’ll dump them and move on to someone new when he gets bored. Besides, he always comes back to me.” She turned to Zane. “Isn’t that right, sweetie?”
Zane had just grabbed a truffle, tossed it in the air, and caught it in his mouth. He swallowed and smiled. “That’s right, honey bunch.”
“It was you, Gerp,” Lila said, “you and your highfalutin lifestyle. You knew if Luke left you for Sue that you’d lose that fortune you were about to marry into.”
“What the…,” Luke said, his voice trailing off.
“Are you calling me a gold digger?” Gerp shouted. “How dare you!” To Lila’s shock and Zane’s amusement, Gerp picked up a custard tart and smashed it into Lila’s face.
Sadie noted several guests at tables had turned their chairs to face the front and were pointing and discussing the escalating activity. One person held up a cell phone horizontally with two hands.
“We have a prenup, you idiot!” Gerp shouted. “Why would I kill her? I had nothing to gain by her being out of the picture.”
One motive bites the dust, Sadie thought to herself.
Lila, who had wiped the custard and crust off her face, grabbed a crab claw from the ice bin and poked Gerp’s chest with it. Bruno frowned.
“Doesn’t. Rule. Out. Jealousy,” Lila said, one crabby poke per word.
“This is imported silk!” Gerp screamed.
A practical wardrobe item for a food bank indeed.
Frogert leaned toward Sadie. “Five bucks says it’s Lila.”
“You’re on,” Sadie said.
Luke cleared his throat and interrupted. “She was just a client.”
“Stay out of it!” Both Gerp and Lila shouted together.
Wide-eyed, Luke looked at Zane, who shrugged his shoulders, another truffle halfway into his mouth. Both men looked at Bruno, who hovered over the ice bin, guarding the rest of the cracked crab with both hands. He didn’t respond, seemingly determined to stay neutral. Or was his lack of involvement caused by nerves?
Sadie smiled as the band launched into a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “It Had to Be You.” A floor show didn’t get much better than this.
Keeping a close eye on Bruno, Sadie moved over by the ice bin. Giving her the same evil eye as she had the first time Sadie visited the crab stand, Gina moved possessively closer. Bruno stepped away from them both and began wringing his hands. Frogert, noting the behavior, began to move toward Bruno, which caused him to crack.
“I did it! I killed her!” Bruno shouted, drawing chatter from the crowd. The band stopped playing, if only to not miss out on the action.
Gina spun to face Bruno. “What?” She gasped as she saw Frogert reach into his back pocket for handcuffs. “No!” she shouted.
“Zitta!” Bruno yelled at Gina, “Non dire nulla!”
Be quiet! Don’t say anything! Sadie was grateful for Italian lessons, though her intention had always been to use it for shopping in Rome, not for solving crimes.
“Just as I thought,” Sadie said. “You can hold off on the handcuffs for a minute, Froggy.”
Oops.
“Why? Wait… what did you call me?” Frogert kept a grip on Bruno’s arm.
“Oh,” Sadie said, quickly covering her tracks. “I said Frogert, but I meant to say Detective Frogert. Sorry. No offense.”
“None taken,” Frogert said, apparently accepting the explanation.
“Bruno, no!” Gina screamed again.
Sadie turned to Gina. “Are you going to let him go to prison for you?”
“Non dire nulla!” Bruno repeated, his eyes wild.
Lila stepped closer, her expression shocked. “Gina?”
Gerp approached right behind Lila. “You were the one who said it was a bad idea.” Quickly she turned to the detective and added, “We were just kidding around anyway.”
“Of course,” Frogert said.
Gina collapsed into a chair. “It was a bad idea! That’s why I went to her house.”
Frogert released his hold on Bruno’s arm. Bruno looked down and put his hands over his face. A hush came over the room. Even Zane looked serious.
“I just went to talk some sense into her,” Gina said. “You know, to get her to stay away from them all.” Lila and Gerp nodded, appreciating Gina’s efforts in spite of being shocked.
“Continue,” Frogert said.
“I only meant to confront her,” Gina explained. “She had no right being a mistress!”
“Client,” Luke muttered.
“It turned into an argument, and that’s when I saw the card on her mantle,” Gina said.
“The card?” Frogert moved closer to Gina, handcuffs ready.
“You are my favorite fruit of the sea!” Gina shouted. She stood and rushed to Bruno, grabbing the front of his shirt with both hands. “That’s what you’ve always told me. That I’m your favorite fruit of the sea! How could you tell her the same thing? After all our years together! Bruno, how could you?”
“So what happened then?” Frogert coaxed.
“I saw that crab net in the corner of her living room,” Gina continued. “I was so angry! I just wanted her out of our lives. I grabbed the rope from the net and…” She collapsed back into the seat, sobbing. Bruno put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
Bruno turned to Sadie, devastated. “I tried to get you to back off!”
Sadie and Frogert exchanged looks. So he put the note on her door, trying to save Gina.
“Let’s continue this down at the station.” Frogert handcuffed Gina and led her out, leaving a stunned group of volunteers and diners behind.
Gerp moved to Luke’s side and wrapped an arm around his waist, an apologetic gesture for doubting him. Lila and Nora attended to the buffet. Zane gave her a thumbs-up and went off to help. The band launched into “Unforgettable.” Indeed, it was a Valentine’s Day dinner that no one was likely to forget.
Sadie looked around and said the only thing that came to mind.
“Truffles, anyone?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Well, take a look at those!” Amber exclaimed as Sadie entered the shop. The arrangement of two dozen red roses looked just as beautiful as it had the evening before when Sadie had found it on her living room table along with a heart-shaped box of Matteo’s fancy truffles.
Sadie laughed. “As if you haven’t already seen them. You’re the only one who has a key to my place.”
“Point taken,” Amber said. “They were delivered right after we closed up yesterday. You’d already headed out to the dinner. I figured they’d be a nice surprise when you got home, so I didn’
t text you. It took willpower to not tell you about them when you picked up Coco.”
“They were a fabulous surprise,” Sadie said. “It was very sweet of Broussard to send them. I called and thanked him immediately.” She set the vase of flowers toward the end of the sale counter where customers could enjoy them and then helped Coco get settled on her pillow.
“Have you recovered from last night?” Amber asked.
“Barely,” Sadie admitted. “I stayed to help package up extra food to send home. Many of the guests said it was… Let me see if I can remember some of the comments… ‘better than the latest mystery read,’ ‘a unique experience,’ and my personal favorite, ‘funnier than Saturday Night Live.’ Oh, and one person requested an encore next year.”
“Good luck pulling that off,” Amber said.
“Indeed,” Sadie agreed. “That was one wild Valentine’s Day. Not quite sure how we’d top it. Full of mystery and romance. And speaking of romance…”
A chime signaled the arrival of a customer, a woman in her fifties with a tote bag similar to Sadie’s. She headed to the sale rack to browse discounted selections. Amber smiled as Dylan entered just behind her, his arms empty.
“No UPS deliveries today?” Sadie said, smiling.
“Just one,” Dylan said. He leaned across the counter and gave Amber a sweet kiss.
“I need to thank Matteo for setting aside that Valentine’s Day truffle assortment for Broussard’s order,” Sadie said, heading for the front door. “Be right back.” With only one customer, it was a good time to run next door. And it would give Amber and Dylan a chance to flirt for a few minutes without her hovering over them. She knew Amber would keep an eye on the woman in case she needed help.
Cioccolato was quiet, almost empty, as Sadie knew it would be on a postholiday morning. Half of San Francisco was likely to be on a sugar high for a week just from the amount of business Matteo had done over the past few days.
Matteo looked up from a tray of pecan turtles and smiled as Sadie entered.
“Just wanted to thank you for the box of truffles,” Sadie said.
“Well, they weren’t from me, you know.” Matteo winked at her. “You have a not-so-secret admirer, you know. By the way, he wanted me to make sure it was an assortment of your favorites. Very nice.”
“And what did you tell him?” Sadie said.
“I told him the truth,” Matteo said. “They’re all your favorites.”
“Absolutely,” Sadie said. “I’m an equal opportunity chocolate aficionado.”
“I heard you cracked the Sue Bennett case last night,” Matteo said.
Sadie raised an eyebrow. “You did? Where did you hear that?”
“Over in that back corner,” Matteo said, nodding toward the back of the shop.
Sadie turned, surprised to see Froggy enjoying a café mocha with the morning newspaper.
“I was on my way over to your store to thank you,” Frogert said. “Couldn’t resist a little detour in here first.”
“Thank me?” Sadie said. “I figured you thought I’ve been in your way the past few days.”
Frogert nodded. “That too, of course.” He managed a slight smile. “But I wouldn’t have thought to connect everyone to Free Harvest without your help.”
“Or the amateur crabbing club?”
“No, I knew about that,” Frogert said. “That was the connection between Sue Bennett and the men. But I didn’t see the link between the women. Obviously, they had to know each other from somewhere…”
“…in order to figure out that the guys all knew the same woman, Sue Bennett.” Sadie finished the sentence for him.
“But how did they figure it out?” Frogert took one more gulp of his coffee and stood up, folding his newspaper under his arm.
Sadie almost laughed. For a detective, Froggy was a tad slow on this point. Then again, he was not looking at it from a female viewpoint. “By comparing notes.” Sadie smiled. Never underestimate the power of women’s intuition. “So, Gina and Bruno?”
“Both in a lot of trouble,” Frogert said. “Obviously, murder is murder. But covering it up is also a crime.”
Sadie nodded. As for Lila and Gerp—seriously, Gerp?—Sadie didn’t need to ask if anything would happen to them. Maybe they’d originally conspired to commit murder; maybe they only joked about it. There was no way to know.
“Thank you, Detective Frogert,” Sadie said, shaking the detective’s hand.
“Thank you,” Frogert replied. “And thank that Broussard friend of yours for his help.”
“For trying to keep me out of your way part of the time?” Sadie asked
“Your words, not mine,” Frogert said. He tipped an imaginary hat and left.
Sadie returned to Flair as Dylan was heading out the door. She found Amber still blushing from the young man’s visit as she rang up a purchase for the woman. Coco sniffed at the woman’s tote bag when she set it on the counter to take out her wallet.
Nudging Coco, Sadie whispered, “Coco, be polite.” She then complimented the customer on the petite nautical-print bandana she was purchasing, suggesting it might work as a scarf for her neck, maybe with a crisp white blouse in the summertime. Again she nudged Coco away from the woman’s bag.
“Oh, it’s not for me,” the woman said. “It’s for…” She looked down at Coco and then back up at Sadie. “Well, you seem to be pet friendly here, so…” Reaching into her tote, she pulled out a Yorkie almost identical in size to Coco, with slightly darker fur. “It’s for Winston here. He just loves a little flair.” She tied the bandana loosely around the dog’s neck. The Yorkie stood tall, proudly modeling the new accessory.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Sadie exclaimed. “It’s perfect!” Apparently, Sadie wasn’t the only one who thought so, as Coco trotted right over to Winston. After a few sniffs, the two Yorkies sat down side by side.
Amber handed the customer a receipt and thanked her for her purchase. Sadie was certain Coco and Winston leaned toward each other as the woman put Winston back in her bag and left the shop.
“Not a bad Valentine’s Day,” Sadie said as she leaned over the roses and breathed in their sweet scent.
“Murder aside,” Amber said.
“Yes,” Sadie agreed. “Murder aside.”
Amber smiled and fingered the necklace Dylan had given her.
Coco simply yipped and stared at the front door.
“I think this calls for two truffles and one dog bone, don’t you think, girls?” Sadie pulled a few treats from a drawer under the counter and doled them out appropriately.
“Absolutely,” Amber said.
“To Valentine’s Day.” Sadie offered a mock toast with her truffle in one hand and the dog bone in the other. Amber reciprocated by lifting her own truffle in the air. Coco took the treat eagerly from Sadie.
Yes, Sadie thought as she bit into the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. Not a bad Valentine’s Day at all.
RECIPES
Spicy Chocolate Truffles (Submitted by Kim Davis, from her blog, Cinnamon and Sugar and a Little Bit of Murder)
Ingredients
Truffles:
1 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk
16 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips or bars chopped into small pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder, depending on how spicy you like it
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Garnish:
Your choice of cocoa powder, hot cocoa mix, nonmelting confectioners' sugar, or holiday-themed candy sprinkles
Instructions
For the truffles:
Heat the sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan just until the edges start to bubble. Don't bring to a boil.
Place the chocolate in a medium-sized, heat-proof bowl. Pour the hot milk over the chocolate and allow to sit for two minutes. Add the vanilla, sea salt, cinnamon, and cayenne powder
and stir until the chocolate is fully melted.
Cover and refrigerate until chilled, around 1 hour.
Roll the chilled mixture into small balls, and then roll into your choice of garnish.
Serve truffles at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
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A Flair for Truffles (The Sadie Kramer Flair Mysteries Book 4) Page 13
