The Diva Steals a Chocolate Kiss (19 page)

I had no answers. “It must have been hard on Dan when his mother was injured.”

“I think he would have killed Arnaud himself had he known who he was.” She gazed up at me in horror. “Not that he did! I don’t mean that at all. Dan is so kind.”

“What do you know about Kara?”

“I’ve never met her. Dan speaks angrily about her. He blames her for . . .” She stopped abruptly.

“It’s okay. Dan told me what happened that night.”

“Then you know how angry he is. But I think part of him would still like to have his sister back.”

“I heard you lost your parents quite young. That must have been awful for you.”

“My mother died when I was only three months old. I never knew her or my father. But I had a wonderful grandmother who raised me. And I’m so lucky because Joe
Merano has been like a dad to me.” Stella’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“What do you think happened to Joe?”

She answered in a whisper. “Whoever killed Randy murdered Joe first.”

“And you fear Dan is next?”

“What would you think?”

I had never considered that possibility. “Why not Mitch?”

Her mouth drew tight and her eyes grew wide.

“You think Mitch killed them?”

“I never said that.”

I asked her to call me if she thought of anything that might shed light on the murders, paid for my purchases, and left the store. When I reached the sidewalk, I realized I was still holding the pink sale flier. I folded it to tuck it into my shopping bag and stopped dead.

On the back were three little dots, exactly like the ones on the back of the fake invitation to Arnaud.

Dear Natasha,

I am a huge fan of your show. I love that you’re always a step ahead of the other lifestyle divas. I’m baking brownies for my book club, and I wondered if I should add bacon like you do in your fab chocolate chip cookies.

—Your #1 Fan in Browns Corner, Maryland

Dear #1 Fan,

Why not surprise them with something new? Chop up some mouthwatering jalapeños, and toss them into the brownies for the delicious kick that everyone loves.

—Natasha

I turned around and gazed through the store window.

Stella waved at me.

I raised my hand, but she no longer seemed such a sympathetic person. Had she created and mailed an invitation
to Arnaud? I walked away slowly. Why would she want him to be at the chocolate tasting? Did she have anything to gain by his presence? She had spoken so fondly of Joe and Dan. Why would she risk upsetting the family if she knew who Arnaud really was? Maybe, just maybe, she thought it appropriate to invite the chocolatier who was new to town, and had taken it upon herself to do so. It could have been a simple act of generosity. Or not.

I stopped by Mars’s and my favorite barbecue place for pulled pork. Armed with coleslaw, baked beans, and pork, I headed for home.

Daisy and Mochie rushed me at the door. I petted, hugged, and kissed both of them. There was no sign of Natasha or Wolchik.

From the other room, Mars shouted, “I hope you brought food. I’m starving.”

I carried the takeout into the family room, where he sat on the sofa bed working on his laptop, his leg propped up.

“Natasha didn’t make lunch?”

“She did.”

“Then why are you hungry?”

“Because Natasha cooked lunch.”

“It’s in the trash?”

“Bingo! You better take out the trash before she comes over again.”

It sounded like an order but I knew he meant well. Neither of us wanted to hurt her feelings. I spread out the food and fetched iced teas for both of us. When I sat down to eat, I asked, “What are you going to do about her? She wants to rent the chocolate shop that Célébration de Chocolat was going to occupy.”

“I’m not cosigning a lease. If she gets herself into a mess with a store, I can’t help her. Where were you off to so fast?”

I told him about my meeting with Stella.

“You mean that bag is full of chocolates?”

I laughed at his excitement. “It’s dessert, but also a test.
I totally agreed with you about the Amore chocolate this morning. I just didn’t want to offend Alex. Something isn’t right.”

When we finished the barbecue, I made hot coffee with fair trade coffee beans from Colombia. Caffeinated for me and decaf for Mars.

We set the chocolates I had bought at Stella’s store on a tray. Boxed chocolates on one side and individual gourmet chocolates from the store on the other. Mars read the sign on the cover of the box and lined up similar chocolates boxed and fresh. I cut each one in half, and we sampled them.

Neither of us spoke except Mars, who said the name of each as we tried them. “Champagne truffle, raspberry, Grand Marnier, Irish cream, and salted caramel.”

It was the most gloriously, ridiculously indulgent thing I had ever done. When we were finished, neither of us had finished our boxed chocolate versions but we had gobbled up the individual fresh gourmet chocolates.

Mars examined the tray. “I think we have our answer.”

I nodded. “Something’s not right with the boxed chocolates. They taste less chocolatey and feel kind of waxy.”

“I couldn’t have said it better.”

“So what do you make of it?” I asked.

Mars sipped his coffee. “Ahh, invite me any time you need to taste chocolates.”

“Seriously.”

“I’m not in the business, but I’d say someone is cutting corners on the ingredients in the boxed chocolates.”

“That’s my take, too. Would that be reason to murder someone?”

“Mitch?” Mars asked.

“I doubt that Randy ordered the ingredients.”

“So, you’re suggesting that Mitch got rid of Joe?”

“Then why would he have come over here to ask me to look for Joe? You’d think he would have been thrilled that the family was keeping it so low key.”

“Good point.”

I filled him in on Stella’s fake invitation to Arnaud. Mars sat up straighter. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid she’s up to her pretty little neck in this mess. But a notion crossed my mind earlier today.” I checked my watch. Just enough time. I cleaned up the chocolates, made a cute little packet of some of the extra gourmet ones, and stashed the rest safely out of Daisy and Mochie’s reach.

I hurried back to my computer. A quick search brought up a picture of Stella with Dan at a social event. Just what I hoped for. I printed it out.

Peeking in at Mars, who was comfortably snuggled with Daisy and Mochie, I told them I was heading out again and left.

I hoofed it over to the hotel to check in on the winners of the chocolate contest. They had the day off tomorrow and then a gala farewell dinner in the evening with the Merano family at Bernie’s restaurant.

Many of them lounged in the foyer when I arrived. I paused to chat, and they shared humorous stories about their television appearances.

All in all, it sounded like everything went well. I excused myself and was about to go downstairs when I saw Jack, the hotel’s detective, outside on the terrace by the swimming pool.

“Did you bring me more cookies?” he asked.

“Not this time. But I do have some chocolates for you.” I handed him the package of truffles I had wrapped.

“What are you buying this time?” he joked.

I handed him the photo of Stella and Dan.

He looked at it. Without moving his head, he eyed me from the side. “You want to know if I’ve seen her?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Hard to miss that pretty little lady. She’s the one who was watching Arnaud here in the hotel.”

“You’re absolutely sure?”

“Positive.”

“Thanks. Enjoy the goodies.”

I walked home convinced that Stella knew a whole lot more than she had told me. Arnaud had a reputation for chasing women. Surely he hadn’t dumped her and broken her heart. Had she traveled to Belgium or England? Where had she met him? At a chocolate conference? In any event, she had her eye on him.

Maybe she planned to jump ship? Had he contacted her about managing his store? I felt better. That made perfect sense. Slimy Arnaud may have wanted to steal the competition’s manager. That explained everything, including her reason for sending him an invitation. Maybe he even asked her if she could wangle an invitation for him. Given his reputation, it wouldn’t have been unlikely that she heard something about what a jerk he was. Maybe she was watching him to see for herself before she signed on with him. And it only stood to reason that she wouldn’t want to tell the Merano family. They’d been so good to her.

Still, Wolf had to know about the invitation. I pulled out my phone. Why did I feel like a traitor when I dialed his number? Probably because I wanted so much to like poor Stella. When Wolf answered, I told him about finding the invitation and how the ink blots on the back matched Stella’s printer.

I blew out a huge breath of air when I hung up. Stella seemed so sweet and kind. I didn’t want the poor child who had lost both her parents at such a tender age to be a killer. Still, I didn’t know that he had tried to steal her to manage his store. I couldn’t jump to that kind of conclusion.

But if it wasn’t Stella, who was Arnaud’s killer? Which member of that family finally reached a breaking point?

I paused at the entrance to the B and B where Kara was staying, wondering if she would ever reconcile with her family, when she bounded out.

“Have you heard something about Daddy? Did they find him?”

“I’m so sorry, Kara. No. I don’t have any news about him at all. I was just on my way home.”

Her crestfallen expression tugged at me. How would I feel if it were my dad? “It must be so hard on you, being out of the loop and not knowing if anything has happened.”

“It is. I can’t reach Marla anymore, either. Do you know anything about that? Has she shut me out like the rest of my family?”

I felt for Kara. Even though her family was in Old Town, she couldn’t go to them. She must have felt very alone. “You’re not being shut out. It’s kind of a long story. Let’s get out of the sun. Could I interest you in some iced tea? It’s hot out here.”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

When I started for home, she stopped me. “Aren’t the shops and restaurants that way?”

“They are. I thought you could come to my house.” I grinned. “I have chocolates!”

Kara laughed. “The one thing in the world I never had enough of growing up!”

She fell in step with me, and we were home in no time. I opened the kitchen door. “Mars! We have company!”

Daisy and Mochie gave Kara a warm welcome, leading me to believe she couldn’t be all bad. Little Truffles waggled head to tail on seeing Kara.

“If it’s Natasha, tell her he’s not here.” Nina’s voice came from Mars’s quarters.

“I apologize,” I said to Kara. “He broke his leg and he’s a little cranky.”

Kara followed me to the family room.

At the sight of her, Mars sat up straight. “Good heavens. You’re the image of your sister!”

“So I’m told.”

Francie was visiting with Nina and Mars. Comfortably
nestled in an armchair, she peered over her glasses. “I would have taken you for Coco any day.”

I fetched tea and chocolates while they talked.

I placed five tall glasses of iced tea on a tray with the most adorable napkins. They reminded me of Arnaud’s tie because they were printed with images of all kinds of chocolates. I located the bag of chocolates I had stashed away and carried it into the family room along with the tray.

“Mars was just telling us about your experiment.” Nina eyed the bag. “Can we try?”

“Sure. I don’t know if I’m up to another round of taste testing, though.”

“If anyone knows how Amore chocolates used to taste, it would be Kara,” said Mars.

Kara held her hands up in protest. “It’s been a long time. They may have altered the formulas over the years.”

Mars re-created the experiment on the tray.

One bite of a boxed chocolate and Kara recoiled. “They’re adding some kind of waxy substance.”

Nina savored them. “I think they’re heavenly. But the gourmet ones are better. The chocolate on top of the filling is richer. It has a deeper chocolate flavor.”

Kara nodded. “This is more like what I remember from my childhood.”

Francie tried one of each and concurred with their assessment.

“I can’t imagine that Daddy would allow the quality to suffer like this.” Kara studied a chocolate, breaking it open. “We’ve always prided ourselves on a top-notch product. This is edible but hardly Amore quality.”

Nina didn’t care. She happily selected chocolates to try.

Francie focused on Kara. “So where have you been living all these years?”

“Colorado.”

“Seeing as how Arnie turned into Arnaud of Belgium, I guess things didn’t work out between you two,” said Francie.

I froze. Francie might be pushing it. I didn’t want to frighten Kara away.

Kara stared at the chocolate in her hand for a few seconds before responding. “He dumped me for a blonde. Two weeks—that’s how long we lasted. It took only two weeks before he was interested in someone else. I hung on. I tried to make it work but two weeks later, he left us both, me and the new blonde. I don’t know where he got the money, but he flew back to England and that was the last I ever saw of that miserable rat.” She paused as if remembering. “I was eighteen, waitressing, and couldn’t even cobble enough money together for rent. I was out on my bottom in no time.”

“But, sweetheart, why didn’t you come home? Or at least call your father for money?” asked Francie.

“How could I? I was a stupid foolish child to leave my mother in her time of need. She wasn’t even out of the hospital when I left. I missed my own grandfather’s funeral just to be with Arnie. It took me a few years of growing up before I came to grips with how everything could have happened the way it did. I finally realized that Arnie didn’t care about Coco, or me, or the blonde. He didn’t love any of us. Nonno
died
, but Arnie didn’t care. I doubt that he ever really loved anyone.”

We sat in painful silence for a moment.

“Did you find a nice man, I hope?” asked Francie.

I marveled that she could get away with asking personal questions of someone she had only met half an hour ago.

Kara took a deep breath. “I never trusted another man. I don’t think I ever will.” She smiled. “But I’m not unhappy! I have an active life with a lot of friends, who are like family to me.”

“Child,” said Francie, “you make up with your family before someone else passes, and it’s too late.”

“I’d like to see my dad. I’d like to apologize but, just as you said, Francie, it’s probably already too late. It breaks my heart to know that I waited too long. Was too involved
in my own shame and anguish to reach out to him. And now, my only contact isn’t taking my calls. Sophie, do you know what happened to Marla?”

“I wish I did. I stopped by Amore yesterday. Marla seemed fine, if a little anxious. Right about the time I was leaving, she said she’d go with me to pick up some lunch. But I could see her lunch in her office. And then she took off in her car like she was afraid of something.”

Francie’s brow wrinkled. “Think harder, Sophie. You must have said something that upset her.”

At that moment the kitchen door opened. I rose and took the three steps to the kitchen just in time to see Natasha close the door behind Coco.

“Mars!” Natasha sang. “You have company!”

A knot lodged at the base of my throat. “How thoughtful of you to drop by, Coco. Natasha, this isn’t a good time.”

“Nonsense. He’s just lying around like a slug.”

“No, really!” I sought anything that might stop them. “He’s not decent.”

Natasha blinked at me. In an accusatory voice she demanded, “Why would Mars be undressed, Sophie?” She barged past me into the family room.