by Cindy Bell
“Could we maybe come inside for a minute?” Charlotte asked sweetly. “We feel awful about what’s happened, and the fact that someone is trying to make it look like we were involved. We’d love to talk to you and your sister about what we know about the investigation, so that we can get you up to speed.”
“All right, but just for a few minutes. My aunt is down at her store and she doesn’t like visitors.”
“Is your father here?” Charlotte stepped in front of Ally and through the door into Stephanie’s house.
“No, he doesn’t fly in until tomorrow.”
“Fly? Does he live far?” Ally asked. She tried to keep her voice level as she followed her grandmother into the house. She had heard Nate talking to Stephanie, why would Mark believe he was out of town? Was Nate trying to hide the fact that he was in the area from his kids?
“No, but he was away on a business trip. He actually lives about twenty minutes from here. He bought himself a nice split-level place. I guess he’s trying to get back on his feet.”
“Back on his feet?”
Mark led them into a tidy living room. “Yes, after the divorce he took it pretty hard, and he was basically living in squalor for a long time. Motels, tiny apartments, even my aunt’s basement.”
Ally’s eyes widened. She glanced over at Charlotte who offered a subtle nod. If Stephanie and Nate had spent time living together that was likely when the romance started.
“Please, sit.” He gestured to an overstuffed, white couch. “I’d like to hear what you know.”
“Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?” Ally paused in the entrance of the living room.
“Sure. Down the hall, to the right.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll fill you in.” Charlotte sat down on the couch and waited for Mark to take a seat as well. Ally could hear them talking as she headed down the hall. Her heart pounded. The search would not be easy. There was a good chance that Stephanie could walk in at any time, or that Mark’s sister would pop out of one of the rooms. She had to be very careful.
Ally peeked into the kitchen. It was cramped, with very cluttered counters. There wasn’t a reasonable workspace. The floors were clean with no sign of chocolate footprints or smudges. She quickly opened the cupboard and then the fridge, but found nothing incriminating inside. When she closed the fridge door she noticed a door in the kitchen that she assumed led to the basement.
After a quick glance around to make sure that no one was watching, she opened the door. The stairs were wooden and rickety. She had to close the door behind her to muffle the creaks of the wood as she made her way down the steps. She envisioned a secret lab of sorts, with beakers and bubbling poison. What she found was quite different. Mountains of boxes were piled from floor to ceiling. Even if Stephanie wanted to, Ally didn’t see how she could have ever made the chocolates there.
Ally made her way back to the top of the steps. Her nerves were alive with fear as she opened the door to the kitchen. Luckily, no one was waiting for her. She closed the door quietly, then stepped into the hallway. There were four doors, two on the left, one on the right, and one at the end of the hall. Her instincts told her that the door at the end of the hall led to the master bedroom. Maybe there would be evidence of Stephanie’s chocolate making in there.
With silent steps she crept her way down the hall. When she reached the room she turned the knob on the door and eased it open very carefully. On the other side was what she would expect to find in any bedroom. She quickly cast her eyes around the room, but she again found no evidence of chocolate making. Ally backed out of the room and started to turn down the hallway when she heard her grandmother clear her throat. A signal that she needed to hurry. Ally rushed to the bathroom door, which she had never even opened. She just made it when Mark walked down the hall.
“Oh sorry, was just checking on you. I thought maybe you were out of toilet paper or something.”
“No, no, it was fine. I’m sorry. I just ate something a little funny.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she realized how awkward that statement sounded. Mark’s eyes widened, but he was polite enough not to comment. Ally felt disheartened as she joined her grandmother in the living room. Not only had she not found anything, but now she had reminded Mark that they were the ones accused of poisoning his mother.
“Well, thanks for sharing the information with me. I sure hope they find out the truth soon. My mother’s will is going to be read after the funeral. I’d like to know who her killer is before then.”
“So would we.” Charlotte stood up from the couch. “We’re going to keep you posted.”
“Thanks. That’s more than the detective on the case is doing.”
“I’m sure that the detective is working very hard on the case and that’s why he hasn’t been able to keep you informed,” Ally said as she stood up.
“I hope so. I really want this solved.” Mark walked them both to the door. Just as he opened it, Stephanie reached for the knob. Ally nearly walked right into her.
“You two? What are you doing in my house? Mark! Did you let them in here?”
Mark shied back from his aunt’s raised voice. “They were just updating me on the case, Aunt Stephanie.”
“Updating you on the case? About what? How they plan to poison me next?”
“Aunt Steph, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“No Mark, you don’t think at all, do you?” She looked from him to Ally. “Get out of my house. And for that matter, stay away from my store as well. I want nothing to do with either of you. Don’t think I won’t be calling the detective about this. You can’t continue to harass us.”
“It was just a visit to express our sympathy.” Charlotte straightened her shoulders. “Really Stephanie, we had nothing to do with this, there’s no reason to be rude.”
“Sure, no reason, except that your chocolates killed my sister.”
Charlotte shook her head and guided Ally out through the door. Stephanie slammed the door shut behind them. Ally instantly had a knot in her stomach. Their presence at Stephanie’s house might only make them look worse.
“Mee-Maw, I didn’t find anything.” Ally shook her head. “I think I just blew our last chance.”
“It was a long shot to begin with.”
“I know. Stephanie is too smart to create the murder weapon in her own house. She must have done it somewhere else. Now Stephanie is going to call Luke,” Ally said.
“That’s all right, we didn’t do anything wrong. We paid a visit to show our sympathy, that’s all.” They settled into the car and Ally turned the key. The moment the engine revved, her eyes widened.
“Wait. Wait a minute.” Ally sat forward in her seat. “I bet I know where the chocolates were made.” Ally’s phone rang. She saw it was Luke.
“Ally. I just got a call from Stephanie…” Luke said before she could say anything.
“Can we talk about that later? I need the address for Myrtle’s ex-husband, Nate, please?”
“What? Why? Ally, we need to talk about why you were at Stephanie’s.”
“Okay, and I promise we will. Just not right now. Right now I need Nate’s address. Please Luke?”
“Ally, I feel like you’re not grasping the severity of this situation.”
“I do know that this is serious and that’s why I need the address?”
“No, I won’t give it to you.”
“I need to know his address,” Ally repeated. “There’s a good reason, I promise, and it’s nothing I couldn’t find with an internet search, I just don’t have time for that when I know that you have his address in a file right in front of you.”
“Sorry, Ally I won’t. You need to stay…”
“Stay out of this, I know, I know.” Ally hung up the phone.
“You think they were made at Nate’s house? If they were he must have been in on it.” Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “Ex-wife or not, Myrtle was the mother of his children, who could be s
o cruel?”
“If I’m wrong then we are going to find out.”
Ally searched the internet on her phone for Nate’s address. The address was in Mainbry. She barely ever went to that area, but the address rang a bell. It was like she had seen it somewhere recently, but she didn’t know where. “We’re about to find out.” She set up a map to the address. “I just need to get out onto the main road, and then we will see what we find.”
***
The twenty minute drive was turned into thirty minutes because of the traffic. Ally tried not to complain, but she was getting more frustrated by the moment. She knew that every minute that ticked by was more time for Stephanie to alert Nate that they were suspicious. If Nate had the chance to clear out his house they might end up with nothing to show for their search, yet again.
“Here we are.” She pulled up to a split-level house, just as Mark had described. “This is it.” She double-checked the address to be sure.
“There’s no car in the driveway. I don’t think he’s home.” Charlotte leaned forward to peer through the window.
“I’ll take a quick look around just to be sure. I want to see if there’s any way to get into the house.”
“Ally, remember what Luke said.”
“I remember, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to see what I can see. This is the best thing I can do for us right now.”
“Right, but if Nate catches us we’re going to have a real problem. We’re out of town now, and Luke won’t be able to do much to protect you if you get caught breaking in.”
“I know.” Ally sighed solemnly. “But I still have to try.” She opened the car door and walked towards the house from the side. Just because there was no car there didn’t mean that no one was home. With caution she slid along the side of the house. The bottom floor had a few windows that she could easily look through.
The interior of the house was neat, but bare, only the essential furniture and not much decoration. There was no evidence of any chocolate making that might have taken place. She peered through another window and saw straight into the kitchen. The sink was clean, the table was clear, and the counters were empty. It didn’t seem as if Nate did a lot of living in the house, which made sense since Mark mentioned that his father traveled for business. She stared for some time at the kitchen in the hopes that she would find some evidence of candy creation.
No matter how long she stared she couldn’t invent evidence that wasn’t there. There wasn’t much more that she could see on the bottom floor of the house. She glanced up at the top floor. There wasn’t an easy way to climb to access the windows. She doubted that the upstairs would be much different. As she walked around the house she thought about breaking in. She didn’t even know if she would be able to and she knew that it was a huge risk, but leaving there with nothing seemed like an even bigger risk. She decided to check the garage to see if there might be an entrance that she could use.
When she reached the garage she found a closed door. The door was solid with no window in it. She wiggled the doorknob. The door was locked, but when she pulled her hand away, her palm was smudged with something dark. Her heart raced as she lifted her palm to her nose. She breathed a scent that she would know anywhere, the scent of chocolate. Her eyes widened. She was sure that this must be where the chocolate was made. The windows were a few feet too high for her to see through. She looked around for something that she could stand on, but there was nothing to be found. Nate kept the outside of his house as neat and bare as the inside.
Ally’s instincts and now the evidence told her that this was the place. Her heart rate quickened at the thought of walking away without confirming her instincts with proof. She needed something to stand on to see through the windows. She looked around for something to stand on but she couldn’t see anything. As she walked back to the car she knew that she couldn’t leave without seeing what was inside the garage. She knocked on her grandmother’s window. Charlotte rolled it down.
“Did you find something?”
“I think so. But I need your help.”
“Sure.” Charlotte nodded. “What can I do?”
“Can you drive the car close to the garage?” she asked. “I need to stand on the hood so I can see inside.”
“I can do that,” Charlotte said as she walked around to the driver’s side. She started the car. She slowly drove forward while Ally directed her. Ally kept indicating that she should keep moving forwards and held her hand up to stop just before the garage.
Ally gestured for Charlotte to get out and she held her grandmother’s hand to steady herself as she climbed onto the hood.
“Be careful,” Charlotte warned. Ally slowly climbed onto the hood. She tried to stand near the edge so she wouldn’t dent it. Still holding her grandmother’s hand she leaned herself against the wall to keep steady.
With her free hand Ally carefully took her phone out of her pocket so she could take photos. Once she was standing upright she could easily see in through the window.
“I can see, Mee-Maw.”
“What’s in there?”
“It’s mostly empty.” She peered through the dingy window and scanned the garage. “Wait, there’s a work bench. It looks like someone has been using it. What’s that?” She leaned her face closer to the window.
“What do you see?”
“Oh wow, this is the place! I see a bottle of antifreeze. I also see what looks like a small drinks fridge. Oh, and what looks like plastic molds and a camp stove. They could have been used to make the chocolates.”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m going to try to get some pictures. But the window is pretty dirty.” Ally tried to take a few pictures.
When she had finished Ally slowly crouched down on the car then stepped off with Charlotte’s help.
“I think you definitely found the place, Ally.”
“The question is, were they in on it together or was it just Nate?”
“Maybe Nate did it all alone. Maybe he poisoned the chocolates so that he could finally be free of his ex. Maybe he stood to benefit from the old will. He might have been in it still. Myrtle divorced him so he wouldn’t be burdened by her when she thought she was dying, but maybe she never changed the will when they got divorced if she had no animosity towards him.”
“That’s a good point. And Mark said his father was still on a business trip when he clearly wasn’t.” Ally nodded.
“Let me see the pictures.”
“I did the best I could.” Ally handed the phone over to Charlotte. Charlotte flipped through the pictures and frowned.
“They’re a little blurry, but I think they will do.”
“I’ll text them to Luke to have a look at. Maybe it will be enough to make him investigate Nate further.”
“We did it, Ally. We got him!” Charlotte exclaimed joyfully.
“Maybe.” Ally frowned as she sent the texts.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right to me,” Ally said.
By the time they were both settled in the car Ally’s phone began to ring. She picked it up as soon as she saw it was Luke.
“Hi Luke.”
“Hi Ally. Where did you get these pictures?”
“At Nate’s house. In his garage.”
“Wait, in?”
“Well no, through the window.”
“You were there?”
“We’re still here.”
“Ally.”
“Luke, I sent you the pictures. You can do with them what you will. You wanted proof, I think that’s pretty good proof.”
“But he has an alibi.” He lowered his voice. “We ruled him out a long time ago.”
“That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t involved somehow. All I know is that the pictures are of his garage. It’s pretty clear that he was up to something.”
“I’ll look into it.”
“Can you let me know what comes of it?” Ally asked hopefully.
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“I’ll try.”
“Thanks, Luke.”
“Let’s hope this leads somewhere.” He hung up the phone. Ally smiled a little to herself. She felt like she was finally getting somewhere and hopefully she and Luke wouldn’t have the murder hanging over their heads for much longer.
“He said he’ll look into it.” She glanced over at her grandmother as she started the car. “Maybe we’re finally getting somewhere.”
“Let’s hope so, sweetheart, let’s hope so.” She patted Ally’s knee as Ally reversed the car away from the garage and drove off down the street.
Chapter Fourteen
When Ally and Charlotte arrived at the cottage Ally had a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. At first she thought it was about the case, and the photographs that she had sent to Luke. After stepping inside, Arnold raced to the door to greet them. That’s when it hit Ally. There was no meow from a distant room, no pitter patter of little paws.
“Mee-Maw, have you seen Peaches?”
“Not since this morning.”
Ally grimaced. “She must be hiding.”
“Well, it’s just about dinner time, so I’m sure if we bring her food out she will come running.” Charlotte walked over to the cabinet that held the cat and pig food. When she pulled out a can of cat food and popped open the lid, they both waited for Peaches to come running. Instead they were greeted by Arnold’s snorting and squealing. There was no sign of Peaches.
“Maybe she’s stuck in my room. I usually leave the door open, but things were a bit strange this morning.” She walked down the hall to find her bedroom door open. As was her grandmother’s. Even the bathroom door stood ajar. Ally began to panic. “Peaches?” She called to the cat and snapped her fingers. That usually got her attention no matter where she was hiding. This time, no cat appeared. Breathless, Ally rushed back into the kitchen. “Mee-Maw, I can’t find her. Did she come in here?”
“No, I haven’t seen her.” Charlotte frowned. “Do you think it’s possible she slipped out the door?”
“She does have a track record of escaping.” Ally suddenly gasped. “I don’t think I closed the door tightly earlier today when Luke brought Arnold. I bet she got out then.”
