“Miss Meadows, my Edna had her heart set on the wedding of her dreams. Neither of us has ever been married. Mae Belle flubbed the plans, taking way too long to get colors, payment, that sort of thing to the companies we’d chosen.” Hubert folded his arms. “No one could meet the deadline.”
“If she managed to do any planning at all, it’s less work for you to do. I’m sure I could get any notes she might have made.” I gnawed my lower lip. The tension in the air threatened to suffocate me. Hubert seemed nice, but I detected the layer of steel beneath his pudginess. Edna’s demeanor chilled the air.
She handed me my card. “I’ll never forgive that woman. I’ve looked forward to my wedding my entire life.”
“She’s dead.” I slipped my insurance information back in my purse. “Forgiveness would be for you—not Mae Belle. My suggestion to you both—if marriage is your dream, then get married.”
With a flick of my hair, I marched out of the office, thankful I’d managed to make it half a day without getting a threat against my safety.
Around the corner, leaning against the car beside mine, Renee Richards and Mason White stood close in conversation. For someone engaged to another man, Renee looked cozy. She giggled at something Mason whispered in her ear. He moved closer. If I searched hard enough, I might be able to find light between the two of them.
They jerked apart when I hit the panic button on my car fob. “Sorry. Wrong button.”
Mason grinned and folded his arms. “If it isn’t Little Miss
Sleuth.”
“Yeah, Summer, how’s the detective work?” The two roared with laughter.
“Going great. The two of you are at the top of my suspect list.” And with those unwise words, I opened my door and slid behind the wheel. Renee and Mason gaped like a couple of beached bass.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Lord needed to bang me in the head. Knock some sense into my hard noggin. Why did I tell them they were suspects? Did I have a death wish buried so deep into my psyche that I couldn’t find it?
I turned the key in the ignition, left the couple standing in the alley where I’d foolishly chosen to park my vehicle, and headed to the store. Aunt Eunice would be waiting to grill me for details. Wasn’t enduring pain at the hands of a maniacal dental assistant enough punishment for one day?
A glance in my rearview mirror caused me to press harder on the gas. Mason White followed in a silver Mercedes. His white grin shone like a jack-o’-lantern’s.
Lord, please don’t let me wreck another Sonata
. Not that I wasn’t tired of driving the same style of car for the last three years. But the last time my car came face-to-face with a tree, I’d spent the night at the hospital. Still had the scar to show for it. Thank goodness for swoop bangs.
Maybe it was just a coincidence Mason followed so closely. So what if he lived in the other direction. I sped up. He copied. I stomped the brakes and whipped the wheel to take the car to the side of the road. Gravel flew as I stomped on the brakes. Mason did the same.
I rolled up my window and locked the door, keeping my gaze on my rearview mirror. Mason sat and stared straight ahead. After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled back onto the highway, gave me a little wave, and headed in the direction we’d come.
Taking deep breaths, I willed my heartbeat to slow to normal. A tap on the window startled me. I yelped. Joe stood there, brow creased, hand still poised to tap his high school class ring on the glass. I pushed the button to lower the glass separating us.
“Car trouble?” Joe removed his hat. “Pop the hood. I’ll take a look.”
“Mason White followed me from town. Scared me to death.”
“What makes you think he was following you?”
“He doesn’t live in this direction, and I just had an altercation with him and Renee Richards.”
Joe sighed. “That doesn’t mean anything, Summer. You’re overreacting, as usual. What kind of an altercation? They aren’t going to come to me to put a restraining order on you, are they?”
“Forget it. When I wind up dead, you’ll be sorry. Watch your vR
ddt="feet.”
I stomped the gas pedal and spun gravel. He jumped back as I sped onto the highway.
Restraining order indeed.
When I entered the candy store, Aunt Eunice stood frowning over a tray of just-dipped creams. “Why don’t mine look as nice as yours?”
The dark chocolate looked milky with grayish white streaks in the swirls. “They’ve bloomed. Did you check the temperature of the chocolate before you dipped?”
“I turned the machine on, then we had a rush of customers. I can’t do everything.”
“The machine should have kept it tempered.” I checked the thermostat. “Did you turn it up? The chocolate is too hot.”
She planted her fists on her hips. “I might have. I don’t know how to use that thing. With you being gone all the time, we’re getting backed up.”
“I’ll redip them. Let me put on my apron and clean out the machine. I’ll stay late tonight.”
“Then I have to stay, too.”
“Why?”
“I promised Ethan and Joe. They don’t want you alone. Not after you received that letter.”
Hadn’t anyone heard of locking doors? Even I could manage to turn a dead bolt. I slipped the apron over my head and headed to the sink to wash my hands. “No clues as to who sent it?”
“Nothing.” She dumped the tray of creams in the trash. “Joe’s frustrated. No clues to the letter and none regarding who murdered Mae Belle.”
“Hey! I said I would redip those.” Did she think chocolate grew on trees?
“Sorry.” Aunt Eunice plopped on the stool. “How did your dentist appointment go?”
“Horrible.” I plunged my hands into the ruined chocolate. If there had to be a mess to clean up, what could be better than this? The silky softness covering my hands soothed me, erasing the tension of my morning. “But things are getting better.”
The chocolate dropped into the bowl beside the machine. “Why do you think Edna canceled the wedding after Mae Belle messed things up? It’s plain to see she still cares for Hubert, and he’s nuts about her.”
“Edna is a strange bird. Wants things a certain way. If it doesn’t happen, she’s finished and doesn’t want to put any more effort into it. Everyone around her has to pay for someone else’s mistake.” Aunt Eunice wiped around the dipper with a damp towel. “She’s been that way as long as I’ve known her. She ought to feel lucky that some man wants to spend his life with her. You should’ve seen her back in the day. She was a lo ~R
dcouldoker once upon a time. Had all the boys crazy about her.” My aunt giggled. “Although I managed to have my own following.”
“Speaking of, I saw Renee and Mason in a very intimate pose in the alley where I parked my car.” The chocolate plopped from my hands into the pan.
Aunt Eunice stopped her cleaning. “Why’d you park in the alley? Isn’t there any sense in that head of yours? Do you remember what happened the last time? You were kidnapped and locked in a trunk.”
“I didn’t want to have to hunt for a parking space.” And I’d parked in the alley lots of times since then.
I think Aunt Eunice called me crazy beneath her breath. She moved to light the flame on the gas stove. While I finished cleaning, she measured the ingredients for peanut brittle. We couldn’t seem to keep the candy on the shelf. A blessing, really.
“Renee always has been a fickle little filly. With her man in Iraq, she’s probably just playing around.” Aunt Eunice poured corn syrup in the large copper vat.
I dropped chunks of fresh chocolate into the dipper. “I said something I probably shouldn’t have.”
“That would be a first.” My aunt glanced at me. “What did you say?”
“I told them they were on my suspect list.” At her incredulous look, I added, “She was being mean.”
“You poor baby.” She shook her head and muttered something about me being empty-headed.
I measured the raw Spanish peanuts into a bowl and set it on the table next to her. “She gets into my craw sometimes. I couldn’t help myself. Besides, if you’d help me like you said you would, I might not get into as much trouble.”
“Don’t lay this on me, missy. I’m a busy woman.”
Folding my arms, I leaned against the marble slab. “Mason White followed me halfway here, and Joe didn’t do anything about it.”
“Mason was just heading in the same direction.”
“Then why did he turn and go the other way after I pulled over?”
“Probably just playing a game. He’s a bit of a bully.” She adjusted the flame on the stove. “That’s what happens when your family’s the richest in town.”
The bell over the door rang, and a boy around the age of ten strolled in with a cardboard box under his arm. “Delivery.”
I glanced at my aunt. She shrugged. We hadn’t placed any orders, and the shoe box–sized package was too small for supplies. Besides, who would send a child to bring it? I handed him a piece of chocolate cream candy. Th ~R
das e boy grinned and skipped out the door.
Using a pair of scissors, I cut into the box. Nestled inside sat another smaller replica of the one I’d opened. I smiled. Ethan must be up to his pranks. Loving surprises, I ripped into the second box. My hand paused in midair. I gasped and dropped the container.
In the center of a pile of chocolate that looked like it had been melted and reset, lay a dead rat.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Now we’ll have the health department here
. I would need to sanitize the entire store with about a million gallons of bleach.
Get control of yourself, Summer. Don’t let Aunt Eunice see it. She’ll freak
. I slapped the box closed before she peeked over my shoulder, tucked it under my arm, and sprinted for the bathroom. My first instinct was to throw it away, but I knew I needed the dead animal as evidence to prove my case to Joe.
“Summer?”
I kicked the door closed. “Be right out.” The tiny room contained a pedestal sink and a toilet. I stuffed the box behind the plumbing, flushed, then washed my hands. With a deep breath, I opened the door.
Aunt Eunice waited, arms crossed and foot tapping. “What are you doing?”
“Uh, using the restroom?”
“Fastest time ever recorded if you did. What was in the box?”
“Nothing.” Well, the first box was empty, kind of, except for the thing inside. I glanced to where the outward packaging still rested on the counter.
“Summer, you’re a terrible liar.” She pushed me out of the way and stepped into the small space. I closed my eyes and waited. Before I counted to five, my aunt screamed and dashed back out.
“I tried to hide it from you.”
The odor of burnt peanuts permeated the candy store. “The brittle!” Grabbing a hot pad from a nearby shelf, I darted to save my candy. The mixture had moved past the greenish tinge of perfectly cooked peanut brittle to the dark brown of scorched nuts. This obviously wasn’t a candy-making day. I turned off the gas and started scooping for the second time.
“I’m calling Jo ~R
danice waitee. This is getting out of hand.” Aunt Eunice marched to the phone hanging on the wall, punched in some numbers, then demanded to speak with her nephew. After disconnecting, she turned to me. “He’s on his way. Said not to do anything with the box. He also said not to touch it. He isn’t talking about the rat, is he? He doesn’t think we’d actually touch that thing, does he?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m sure it’s the box he means.” Joe would be furious to know I’d carried then tucked the offending item behind the toilet. It wouldn’t help that Aunt Eunice’s fingerprints were also on it. We couldn’t leave it out front for a customer to see. My throat constricted at the thought of Ethan’s reaction. How much could he take and still be supportive?
Maybe things
were
getting dangerous, but I could handle it. The few times I’d gone to my self-defense classes would help. I could do a roundhouse kick with the best of them. Maybe. If I had to.
I poured boiling water over the sticky mess on the sides of the vat, washing the gunk to the bottom. After covering the congealed mess, I lit the fire to steam the last of it from the copper sides. If only life were that easy. Light a fire, and steam away the hardest part.
The bell over the door jingled. Joe stormed in. Aunt Eunice bustled to meet him. I stayed right where I was.
“Joe, we got us a chocolate-covered crime. Right in there behind the toilet.” Perfect. After getting over her fear of the dead rodent, Aunt Eunice grew witty.
Joe’s eyebrows rose so high that if he’d had bangs, they would have disappeared. “You said you received a threatening package. What’s it doing in the bathroom?”
My aunt planted her fists on her hips. “Summer put it there. Tried to hide it from me so I’d find it and be surprised. I almost had a heart attack.”
“I did not. I wanted to keep you from finding it and freaking out. My heart was in the right place.” Where did the ideas in my aunt’s head come from?