by Cindy Bell
***
Back at the cottage Ally stood by the dining room table.
“Look at this.” Ally showed Charlotte the crime scene photo of the box of chocolates again. “I don’t think that’s the box that I packaged the chocolates in, Mee-Maw. The boxes you gave me had gold not red writing.”
“Oh, you’re right.” Charlotte clicked her fingers.
“I found a box of chocolates in Myrtle’s room, but Luke took them from me. I think it’s the one that we took to the open house. I found it in the air vent. Obviously someone hid it there. The only question is, why would anyone hide it?”
“This is getting more confusing by the minute.” Charlotte frowned as she sat down at the table next to Ally. She looked up at her granddaughter. “Are you going to tell me what happened with Luke?”
“Nothing. He let me go.” She shrugged.
“Really?” Charlotte studied her. “Something tells me that there is more to it than that.”
“Mee-Maw, we can’t worry about that now. We have to focus on the chocolates. Look, we know now that the poisoned chocolates didn’t come from our shop. Someone else made the walnut, expresso creams, and those are the chocolates that were poisoned.”
“Right.” Charlotte nodded. “But who? And why? And how?”
“They aren’t very easy to make,” Ally said. “How would someone replicate the chocolates? Unless…”
“Unless what?” Charlotte asked.
“We had left over coffee cream in the fridge.”
“Do you think someone broke in and took it?”
“It’s possible.” Ally sat further forward. “Do you remember seeing it the morning after the murder?”
“No,” Charlotte said. “But I wasn’t looking out for it. It won’t be there now anyway, the police would have taken it.”
“So, that’s probably how they made the chocolates.”
“We still need to work out the who and why,” Charlotte said.
“Myrtle had a business card on her bedside table for a lawyer. Maybe he’ll have an idea of why someone would want her dead.”
“Maybe.”
“Did she have any other family?”
“Well, I can tell you this, Myrtle was worth a good amount of money. When her parents died, she was in her twenties, and her little sister, Stephanie, was still a minor. Her parents had left her everything in the will, on the condition that she would care for the younger girl. Which Myrtle did. She was the one we saw with Myrtle when she looked like she might fall down drunk. She recently moved from Freely to Blue River.
“What about her ex-husband?”
“Oh, they divorced a long time ago.”
“Hm. He might still have a motive. Do you remember his name?”
“Nathan, or no, Nate. It was just Nate. I remember now. And the kids are Shirley and Mark.”
“Do you think you could get hold of them, Mee-Maw?”
“Well, I imagine they’ll be coming into town to deal with their mother’s death.”
“You’re right!” Ally nodded. She glanced at her watch. It was well past one in the morning. “Tomorrow, we’ll do our best to talk to all of them. And I’ll call this lawyer.” She didn’t mention that she had two reasons for that. “I think we need to get as much information as we can tomorrow.” Ally almost told her grandmother why, but she stopped herself. She didn’t want Charlotte to worry.
“All right, good plan. Let’s get some rest.”
Ally nodded. Her grandmother went to her room to sleep. Ally did the same, but she couldn’t even close her eyes. Peaches paced back and forth across her bed. She could sense Ally’s unrest. Even with nuzzled cat kisses Ally couldn’t calm down. Her mind filled with what it would be like to have to wear a jumpsuit, to be lumped in with criminals, to never find out exactly what her life could have been. She pulled Peaches close and snuggled her. What would it be like to never have her best friend around again? As she stared into the darkness of her room one question played through her mind on repeat. Would this be her last night as a free woman?
Chapter Seven
The next day the town buzzed with the arrival of Myrtle’s family members, the closure of the shop, and the general scandal of poisoned chocolates. Ally could see people driving slowly past the cottage as she readied Arnold for his walk. She had already placed a call to the lawyer and made an appointment to see him. By taking Arnold for a walk she hoped that she would run into someone from Myrtle’s family, or even her ex. Also, it might be her last chance to take Arnold for a walk for a long time.
“Ally, hold on, let me get my shoes and I’ll come with you.”
Ally snapped the leash onto Arnold’s collar then waited in front of the cottage for her grandmother. As she did, a car slowed down in front of the house and then stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Ally raised an eyebrow and tried to peer through the window. The sunlight hit it just the right way to prevent her from seeing who the driver was.
“I live here.”
“Shouldn’t you be in jail?” The driver leaned over and out of the sunlight. Ally saw that it was Jensen, the security guard from the night before. She had forgotten to ask her grandmother if she knew who he was.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Isn’t it? You broke into one of the apartments in my building.”
“You did your job, now just move along.” Ally tightened her grip on the pig’s leash.
“You still have that guy?”
“Who are you?” Ally stared at him.
“Oh, you really don’t remember, do you?” He chuckled. “I don’t blame you. But, I bet after last night you won’t be able to forget.”
“Maybe you could just tell me?”
“What would be the fun in that, Ally?” He tilted his head to the side. “So, I guess you have an in with the detective. Are you seeing him or something?”
“Why would I answer that? I have no idea who you are.”
“All right, then.” He shrugged. “Don’t let me catch you breaking in again. Got it?”
Ally stared at him. He had a strange way of speaking to her, as if he knew her quite well. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.” She didn’t add the reason why. She would be in jail by the end of the day.
“Good. Because I take my job very seriously.” He started to drive off.
“Wait!” Ally ran up to the car.
“What is it?”
“Did you notice anyone visiting Myrtle or arguing with her?”
“You mean other than Ruth?” He laughed. “No. Nice old ladies don’t usually have too many enemies. Of course, nice young ladies don’t usually break into apartments either.” He winked at her and then drove away. Ally was unsettled, but she couldn’t pinpoint why. It was odd to have someone know her, when she couldn’t recall who they were. She vowed to ask her grandmother about him and look through her yearbook before she was carted off to jail.
“Who was that, Ally?” Charlotte stepped outside.
“The security guard from Freely Lakes.”
“Oh? Is he a good guy?”
Ally squinted after the retreating car. “I’m not sure yet. He seems to remember me.”
“Maybe someone you went to school with?”
“I think so. His name is Jensen,” Ally said. “Do you know him?” Charlotte thought for a minute.
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Anyway, he reminded me that there is one particular person that obviously had it in for Myrtle. Ruth.”
“Oh yes!” Charlotte gasped. “And she would have known how much Myrtle liked the chocolates.”
“Let’s take Arnold for a walk, then once we take him back home I think you should pay Ruth a visit.”
“Me?” Charlotte asked.
“I think it’s probably best if I don’t set foot on Freely Lake’s property.”
“Okay. I knew there was more to the story about last night. Anything you want to tell me?
” Charlotte asked.
“Nothing to worry about.” Ally shrugged. She didn’t want to burden her grandmother with her impending arrest.
As they walked towards the center of town Ally’s thoughts returned to Jensen. She imagined that was a last name not a first name. But no matter how she scoured her memory she couldn’t recall meeting a boy with the last name of Jensen while she was in school. It was a bit strange that he remembered her, if she didn’t remember him. A taxi whizzed past them. In most towns a taxi might not be noticed, but in their little town, it was an unusual sight. Not many people needed a taxi to get to places and even fewer would take one to or from the airport as usually family or friends would have that honor.
“I bet that’s one of Myrtle’s children. Let’s see if we can catch up with them.” Ally started walking faster.
“We should be cautious though. If they know anything about how their mother died, they might hold it against us.”
“Maybe.” Ally tightened her grip on Arnold’s leash. He was rooting around in a neighbor’s garden.
When they reached town Ally looked around for the taxi. She spotted it parked outside one of the local breakfast cafés. It was easy to see through the big front window.
“That’s him, that’s Mark. And look, Myrtle’s daughter is with him,” Charlotte said eagerly.
“If they’re in there then they have already been updated by the town gossips about the shop being shut down,” Ally said. “Let me go in to talk to them.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I don’t want to put you in that position. When we were at the open house I heard that the nail salon is having a special for Freely Lake’s residents today. Why don’t you see if any of the residents are there? Maybe they can give you some information, maybe about the feud between Ruth and Myrtle. We can leave Arnold here for a few minutes.”
“All right. But, be careful what you say to Myrtle’s kids. We don’t want to cast more suspicion on ourselves.”
“I’ll do my best.” Ally smiled.
As her grandmother walked away Ally tied Arnold’s leash to a lamp post. Ally stepped into the café. The moment that she did, the lively din died down to a subtle clink of silverware. Ally cleared her throat and walked towards the table where Myrtle’s children were seated. “Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your loss.”
The two looked at her.
“Did you know my mother?” Mark gestured for her to sit down beside him. Ally took the invitation though it led to several glares from others in the café.
“Not well. I had just met her before she passed. My grandmother knew her better.”
“Your grandmother?”
“Charlotte Sweet.”
“Wait. The owner of the chocolate shop?” He asked as his eyes narrowed with anger. Ally could tell that this was not going to go as she had hoped.
“Yes,” Ally answered cautiously.
“How dare you sit down with us?” Myrtle’s son glared at her. “We know what you did to our mother!”
“Now wait, please. We had nothing to do with it. We’re trying to figure out who did.”
“I’m sure.” Mark shook his head. “It took some nerve to walk in and speak to us.”
“I only did it because I really want to help. I want to find out what happened to your mother. I was hoping you might know if your mother had any problems with anyone.”
“Only the people who gave her poisoned candy!” Mark gestured to the waitress. “Bring the check please.”
“Mark wait, I’m hungry, and you know that Aunt Stephanie can’t cook,” Shirley said.
“I’ve lost my appetite, I don’t know how you can eat when this woman is here.”
“Listen, Mom never had anything but good things to say about Charlotte. The police will find out the truth.”
“Yes, they will,” Ally agreed. She was sure that when she was taken away in handcuffs later that day all of the judgmental stares from around the restaurant would be vindicated. “I’m just trying to understand why anyone would want to hurt your mother. She seemed like such a nice person.”
“She was a nice person. Not exactly an emotional person, but nice,” Shirley said.
“So she didn’t have anyone upset with her?” Ally asked.
“Not that I know about,” Shirley said. “She wasn’t exactly the sharing type though. I know she had some trouble with one of the other residents there. Ruth.”
“Oh yes.” Ally nodded. “I noticed that there was some tension there. Did your mother ever mention why?”
“As far as I could tell it was all over her apartment,” Shirley said. “This Ruth wanted the one my mother had. I guess at some point she flat out refused, and from then on Ruth caused her problems. It upset my mother that she spread rumors that she was dying.”
“I think that would upset anyone,” Ally said.
Mark seemed to be relaxing in Ally’s presence. “It upset her more because she once had a scare.” He frowned. “Got diagnosed with a terminal illness and they thought she was going to die. It’s why she and our father split up.”
“Oh?” Ally met his eyes. “He didn’t want to take care of her?”
“Exactly the opposite. She didn’t want to be taken care of, by anyone. When she was diagnosed the doctor told her she had only months to live. So she wrote out a bucket list and divorced my father. He begged her to stay, to get treatment, to let him take care of her, but she said she could never do that. You know her own parents died when she was young, and she had to take care of her little sister. Maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, it all turned out to be a misdiagnosis, but by then the divorce was final. I guess it was hard for her when Ruth started spreading those rumors. It probably reminded her of that time in her life.”
“Plus, it’s just rude.” Shirley shook her head. “I thought people got kinder with age, but I guess not.”
“Aunt Stephanie certainly hasn’t.” Mark chuckled.
“Your mother’s sister? Is she not kind to you?” Ally looked between the two.
“She’s nice enough to us, but she and my mother didn’t always get along,” Mark said.
“Really?” Ally raised an eyebrow.
“Sure. See, my mother’s parents left her a large sum of money that was meant to help her care for Aunt Stephanie. Which she did. But she never shared any of it with Aunt Stephanie.”
“Oh wow, did they have a falling out about it? I saw her at the open house with your mother,” Ally said.
“Oh, I’m sure she was there. Even though they didn’t always get along they were still sisters and were close. I mean Aunt Stephanie knew she would get her money when Mom died,” Shirley said. “Aunt Stephanie hated her old job and she hated managing the convenience store even more. Especially because Mom could retire early.” All of a sudden Ally remembered that she knew Stephanie because she worked at the convenience store.
“How funny it will be when they read the will?” Mark said.
“What’s so funny about the will?” Ally leaned closer.
“Oh nothing.” Mark shrugged with a slight grin. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’re trying to enjoy our meal.”
Ally was reminded that Mark was not interested in being very friendly to her.
“All right, I’ll be on my way. Again, I am very sorry for your loss, and if there’s anything…”
“Please, don’t.” Mark glared at her. “Don’t offer to help us when it was chocolates from your grandmother’s shop that killed our mother. I’m trying to be civil here.”
Ally nodded and edged away from the table. She stepped out of the café and right into a mess.
“Who in the world thinks it’s okay to leave a pig outside a café?” Stephanie stomped a foot against the sidewalk. “That ugly, smelly thing belongs on a farm, not a sidewalk.”
“I’m so sorry, I just stepped in for a minute.” Ally cringed when she saw that Arnold had dug his snout into a flower pot
. There was soil and flowers scattered everywhere.
“Get him out of here before I call the pound!”
“That won’t be necessary, I’ll clean up the mess.” Ally smiled slightly.
“And who will repair my morning? Here I am trying to grieve the loss of my sister and I have to deal with running into this pig.”
“I’m very sorry. I’m sorry for your loss as well.”
“I bet you are. Aren’t you the same person that brought the chocolates to the open house? The chocolates that my sister ate?” She raised her voice, which drew the attention of everyone around her. “The chocolates that were poisoned?”
“That’s not true. The chocolates we brought to the open house were not poisoned,” Ally insisted.
“Oh then, I guess the police got it wrong?”
“No, there were poisoned chocolates, but not from our shop.”
“Oh, of course not. Because everyone here knows that Myrtle bought any old chocolates. Only that was not the case at all. In fact, the only place she bought chocolates from was your grandmother’s shop.”
“Stephanie, I’m sorry that your sister passed away, I really am, but it was not our chocolates that killed her.”
“Well, I guess we’ll just see about that when we find out who gets taken away in handcuffs, won’t we, Ally?” She raised an eyebrow. Ally was a little surprised that Stephanie knew her name. She cleared her throat and tugged at Arnold’s leash.
“I’m sure that the investigation will lead to the truth.”
“I’m sure it will.” Stephanie brushed past her and into the café. As Ally did her best to clean up the mess Arnold had made she hoped that her grandmother was having better luck.
***
Charlotte pushed open the door to the nail salon. It was teeming with customers. One stood out because of her regal posture and odoriferous perfume. “Ruth?”
“Hmm?” The woman spun around with a toothy smile. When she saw Charlotte her smile faded. “What is it that you want?”
“I just wondered if I could speak to you for a moment.”
“Sure.” She stepped away from the crowd of women she was chatting with. “What is this about?”
