by Abigail Keam
26
In a corner booth sat a young woman with short ash blond hair. She was preening into a compact mirror while powdering her nose, which drew attention from her gadget resembling a smart phone taping O’nan and Neff.
When O’nan and Neff left the bar together, the woman nodded to two men sitting at the bar.
Taking their cue, they sauntered out of the bar following the pair.
Another man immediately scooted into the booth with the woman. “Put eyes and ears in both their apartments. I want each room available. Make sure you tag their cars as well.”
“Sure thing, Asa. Cars are already booted,” he said in a cockney accent.
Asa frowned at the use of her name. Her tone turned very chilly. “I want their every movement tracked.”
Getting the message, the man reminded her, “This is gonna cost a bundle, boss.”
“Don’t worry about the money. I will take care of everyone. Just do your best.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’ve seen O’nan’s psychological profile. If it were your mother, what would you do?”
“He would have already been neutralized. Made it look like a car accident . . . if he had been bothering me mum, ma’am.”
Asa nodded in agreement. She wasn’t ruling that option out.
She threw a twenty on the table and left with her employee. Outside they parted. Asa got into a black SUV with government tags and pulled off her wig. “Take me home,” she said to the driver.
“To the airport?”
“Sorry, no. Take me home to the Butterfly. I need to see my mother.”
Before the SUV could take off, the back door was wrenched open.
“What are you doing here, Asa?” asked Officer Kelly, leaning in. “I was sitting in the back watching you watching O’nan. Don’t do anything stupid. The city would love to see your mother trip up so they don’t have to pay her the rest of the settlement. And don’t think they don’t know you’re here. There were three other cops at Al’s bar tonight.”
“I must be getting sloppy,” admitted Asa. She smiled sweetly at him.
Kelly’s eyes grew soft. “Asa. Asa.”
Asa leaned forward and kissed Kelly, holding onto him tightly.
He passionately returned her kiss, winding his arms about her. Asa pulled Kelly into the back seat and mouthed to her driver – GO!
“Where’re we going?” asked a bewildered Kelly.
“Shut up,” replied Asa tenderly. “Just shut up and kiss me.”
Epilogue
The story has a happy ending. Ethel’s pastor redeemed the lottery ticket on her behalf. When the money came through, Ethel immediately threw ten thousand at Jubal, and put in her will that he was receive two million after her “natural death.”
I never told Ethel that her only living kin had tried to harm her. Jubal would never be a problem to Ethel again – not with the deacons from Ethel’s church looking on. There was no point in destroying their relationship. Let sleeping dogs lie, I say.
I’m not a fan of total honesty. There is no point in telling a woman who’s in love with a new dress that she looks hideous in it. She will never forgive you for that honest review. I wish I had kept my mouth shut more during my marriage. If I’d had that philosophy then, I might have kept my husband.
Just a little side note – two days after Jubal received his ten thousand dollars, he got drunk as a skunk and crashed his car into a hundred-year-old white oak tree on Posey Ridge Road. He arrived at the hospital D.O.A. – Dead On Arrival. Poor greedy Jubal.
“That’s a bright spot,” declared Lady Elsmere upon hearing the news. “I never liked the man. He was always a cheat.”
I concurred. “She’s better off without him mudding up the works.”
After Jubal’s funeral, Ethel gave her church a spanking new roof, a new furnace, new paint job and fancy cushioned pews.
The rest of the lottery money was given to the church in the name of Ethel’s deceased husband and son as an endowment to do “good deeds” regardless of race, creed or religion. Just heal the sick and feed the hungry like in the Good Book. Ethel’s pastor became her adopted son and took wonderful care of her. She and Petty lived another five years in happy contentment. When Petty died, Ethel followed her beloved tabby two days later. They were buried together.
When the pastor inherited Jubal’s two million, he donated half of it to his church so that Ethel’s money would continue to do “good deeds” for a long time.
Then the pastor gave his two weeks notice to the church board. With his other million safely tucked away in a bank in the Bahamas, he tipped his hat, waved goodbye and retired to some tropical island, never to step inside a church again.
Walter Neff continues to work as a shamus. He crosses the street when he sees me. Walter should have been more of a stand-up guy.
Like I said – you win some. You lose some.
PROLOGUE
Linc and I were chopping nuts for Thanksgiving when someone began banging the front door and ringing the doorbell.
My heart jumped into my throat. I told Linc to take Baby and go into my bedroom and lock the steel door. He was not to come out until his grandmother told him it was okay.
Linc, thrilled at the prospect of danger, did what he was told.
So did Baby, who was thrilled at the prospect of being alone with Linc, who fascinated him. I think Baby thought Linc was his pet.
I had had several panic buttons installed in the house and was sitting next to one, ready to press, when Eunice exclaimed, “Why it’s Ginny Wheelwright! She looks fit to be tied. You want me to tell her you’re home?”
“She must have news about her boy,” I replied. “Let her in, by all means.”
Eunice barely opened the front door when Ginny swept passed her.
“Josiah. Josiah!” she called, looking in the kitchen.
“I’m over here.”
Ginny looked a mess. Her face was blotchy and her one good eye was red from crying. To make her look totally alien, her glass eye had flipped over, showing only the gold side but then would flip again when she twitched.
I guess my face showed my astonishment at her appearance.
“I know I look a mess. Can’t help that now.”
“ Ginny. They’ve found Dwight’s body?”
“If only. That would give me some peace on the matter. Oh, Josiah. That wife of his has petitioned to have Dwight declared dead.”
“You have be missing seven years in order to be declared dead.”
“That’s what I thought but if she can prove extenuating circumstances, then the courts will give an earlier approval.”
“What’s the rush? Dwight’s only been gone five months. Give the detectives a little longer to work the case. Dwight might be stumbling around somewhere with amnesia. It’s been known to happen.”
“That’s what I said, but she said she wanted to get on with her life.”
“Her childhood sweetheart goes missing for only five months and she wants to forget about him?”
“My sentiments, exactly. I think it’s awfully cold of her.”
“What else did she say?”
“She told me to mind my own business.” Ginny began crying. “My son is my business. Where is he, Josiah? Where can my baby be?”
Eunice brought a tray of coffee, tea, cookies and a box of tissues. Then she discreetly vamoosed into my office, giving Ginny some privacy.
I’m not a touchy-feely person. I’m not given to hugs or kisses, but I did reach out and pat Ginny’s hand.
Ginny grabbed it and tugged. “Ya gotta help me, Jo. This investigation is going nowhere.”
Shaking my head, I said, “NOOO. I’m not going to get involved with issues like this anymore.”
“This isn’t some issue. This is my boy who used to play with your girl right there on that patio. You babysat him. You cooked for him.”
I tried to pull away.
“When Asa went to trial, who
was there for you? Me. When Brannon left, so did most of your friends, but I stuck by you. Now it’s payback time. You gotta help me.”
Jumping Jehosaphat. Why did I have to stick my hand out to her? I was in no shape physically or emotionally to solve another mystery. That’s what police and shamuses were for. I should have thrown Ginny out right then and there.
Instead, I asked, “What do you want me to do?”
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE:
PROLOGUE
