The Diva Steals a Chocolate Kiss (23 page)

“Eggs Florentine. I can make some for you.”

He poured himself a mug of coffee and joined us at the table. “No thanks, I’ve eaten.” He checked his watch. “Isn’t it a little late for breakfast?”

“We had a late night,” said Mars.

I could almost see Alex’s amiable mood melting away. “Did you? Just the two of you?”

Under the table, I kicked Mars’s good foot and passed Alex the croissants, saying, “Coco brought these. Won’t you have one?”

Alex had seen exactly what I did. I really had to start dating men who weren’t so clever.

“Thanks.” He picked up a croissant.

I passed him a napkin and a plate.

“I just stopped by with great news,” he said. “I don’t think Wolchik will be bothering you anymore.”

Dear Sophie,

I wanted to bake a layer cake and use frosting only between the layers and on the top. You’ve seen those cakes, I’m sure. The sides don’t have frosting. It’s such a cool look. But the flour from greasing and flouring the pan stuck to the sides of my chocolate cake and it wasn’t pretty! Is there a way to avoid that?

—Frustrated in Side Lake, Minnesota

Dear Frustrated,

There’s a very easy fix. The next time you grease the pan, “flour” it with cocoa powder!

—Sophie

I tried to keep my cool, but on the inside, I was leaping for joy. Maybe the cops had nailed Mitch, and Joe was out of hiding!

His elbows on the table, Alex leaned forward, excited once again. “Yours are not the only fingerprints on that box. They found matches for Arnaud, who probably made the chocolates, and for Randy, who obviously ate some. For some reason, they have your fingerprints on file, so they were able to establish that one more person handled that box.”

“So Sophie’s off the hook?” asked Mars.

“Not completely, but that’s certainly enough to establish reasonable doubt.”

The day was looking far better than I expected. “Speaking of which, you can keep the huge retainer I paid you, but I officially decline to be your client anymore. I think Stella Simpson might call you.”

Coco’s eyes grew wide. “Heavens, yes! Nonni told me all about it this morning. I don’t think she would ever have admitted it if you hadn’t noticed the fake invitation.” Coco proceeded to tell the entire sad saga to Alex.

At the end, I added, “Stella claims she didn’t kill Arnie. She wanted to, but she says she didn’t do it.”

I could see a spark in Alex’s eyes. To him, poor Stella’s case would be a fascinating challenge—if, as she claimed, she didn’t kill Arnie.

Mars rooted through the gift bag. He popped an Amore baseball cap on his head. “Hey, cool! We didn’t get one of these in our bag. Or maybe Natasha hid it from me. I hate it when she does that!” He drew a necktie from the bag.

A print of yummy chocolates adorned a cream-colored background. I recognized it immediately. Surely more than one tie had been made from that fabric but one exactly like it had been worn by Arnaud the night he was strangled.

I almost choked. “Put that back in the bag and set it on the table. Stop touching it!”

The three of them gazed at me as though I had lost my mind.

My words came out in a raspy whisper. “That could be Arnaud’s tie. It might have been used to murder him.”

Mars dropped the tie in his lap like it was a hot potato, but he couldn’t jump back because his broken leg was propped up on a stool. “Ack! Soph, give me a hand!”

“Not a chance. They’re not finding my fingerprints on that tie. Wolchik would throw me in the slammer.”

It wasn’t easy, but Mars used a napkin to pinch it between his thumb and forefinger, and dropped it into the bag in short segments, not unlike a snake.

I hopped up, grabbed the phone, and called Wolf’s personal cell phone.

I could hear the wariness in Wolf’s voice. “I hope you’re behaving.”

“We might have found the murder weapon—a tie that looks remarkably like the one Arnaud was wearing that night!”

“Sophie,” he growled, “you promised!”

“I didn’t even leave the house. It came to me. I swear!”

“Like I believe that. I’ll be there in a few.”

I hung up. “He’s on his way. Nobody leave. I need witnesses, and Wolf will want to know where the bag came from.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to release me as your lawyer, Sophie,” said Alex. “Where
did
the bag come from?”

Coco looked like she might burst into tears. “It was Randy’s. I picked it up at his house this morning.”

I voiced what the others were probably thinking. “Could Randy have murdered Arnaud?”

A bad move. I should have been more sensitive. It opened the floodgates. Coco bawled.

I fetched a box of tissues. “Coco, I’m sorry. I know you were close to Randy but—”

She scooted out of the banquette. “Excuse me. I need a moment alone. Where’s the powder room?”

I led her to the foyer and pointed down the hallway.

When I returned to the kitchen, Alex was saying, “Brilliant, just brilliant. Everyone got an identical bag. So no one
would find it odd that Randy left with one. All he had to do was slide the tie in the bag and walk out. No one would be the wiser.”

Mars tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. “Anyone could have tucked it in a random bag. Most of the people in attendance wouldn’t have realized what it was when they unpacked it. They would have assumed what I did, that everyone received a tie. After all, there’s a cap and a T-shirt.”

“True,” mused Alex, “but that would have left a lot to chance. How much more clever to walk out with it in his possession. Then all he had to do was wait until the fuss cleared. He could have taken it on vacation and tossed it in the ocean. Or driven out in the country and left it in the woods to deteriorate.”

“He had no reason to kill Arnaud.” Coco had pulled herself together and spoke from the doorway. “Randy would never have hurt anyone. It wasn’t in his nature.”

Wolf knocked on the door and walked in with a guy I didn’t know. After greeting everyone and shooting me an annoyed look, he asked, “Where’s the tie?”

Mars and I pointed to the bag on the table.

Wolf peered inside but didn’t touch anything. “Pretty distinctive pattern. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a tie like that before.” He turned to Coco. “Have you?”

Coco swallowed hard. “No.”

“So this was not the tie Randy wore to the tasting?” Wolf pressed her.

Coco appeared to take a minute to think back. I had to resist the urge to shout that it was the tie Arnaud had worn.

“I think he wore an Amore T-shirt that night, not a shirt and tie,” said Coco. “He was helping set up.”

“Mars and Alex, you were there,” said Wolf. “Did you notice the tie?”

Alex cleared his throat. “I only stayed a few minutes.”

Mars turned the color of beets. “I’m not even sure what I wore that night, much less anyone else.”

Wolf turned to me. “Are you certain that Arnaud wore this tie?”

“Absolutely. I noticed it because of the chocolate theme. It seemed so appropriate. Who happens to have a tie like that? Probably only someone addicted to chocolate or someone in the business.”

Wolf nodded to the other man, who slid the entire goody bag into a large paper bag.

“Hey!” said Mars. “What about the other stuff in there?”

“For pity’s sake, Mars. You can have mine.” What was he thinking?

The man with the bag departed but Wolf sat down.

“Coffee?” I asked.

“No thanks, I won’t be here long. If you didn’t leave your house, how did the tie happen to arrive?”

Coco braced herself against the kitchen counter. “I saw it at Randy’s house. They’re cleaning it out and were going to throw the bag away.” She shrugged. “I rescued it. No point in throwing out perfectly good chocolates. I was on my way over here so I just carried it with me.”

Wolf stood up. “How did we miss it when we collected evidence from Randy’s house? I apologize, Sophie. Thanks for calling me. Coco, would you mind walking over there with me? I’d like to have a word with the people who are cleaning.”

“Yes, of course. But you understand that someone must have hidden the tie in a random bag, and Randy just happened to get that bag.”

“I appreciate that that’s a possibility.”

Coco gulped and her brow furrowed. “I, um, I guess I should tell you that you probably missed it because it was behind a hidden panel in his closet. Even if you moved the clothes, you would never have known it was there. Some previous resident must have had something to hide. His son told the movers to check it, in case Randy had stashed anything valuable there. I guess that makes Randy look guilty, doesn’t it?”

Wolf was kind. “Let’s get going. I’d like to see this.”

“Sophie,” said Coco, “you’ll be at the farewell dinner for the winners tonight, won’t you?”

“Sure.” She was big enough to have pushed her anger away and apologized. I was back in the saddle.

The two of them walked out, taking the oppressive air of tension with them. Alex, Mars, and I all heaved breaths of relief.

“Why is she so determined to protect Randy?” asked Alex.

“Because they had an affair.”

“Mars! That was confidential,” I exclaimed.

Alex frowned. “But very interesting. So Stella allegedly invited Arnaud, planned to murder him but didn’t, and then Randy strangled him? Is that how it looks to you?”

“That does seem to be how it’s shaping up. But why would Randy do that?” I asked. “He didn’t have any connection to Arnie that I know of.”

Mars poked a finger under his cast to scratch. “What if he knew Arnaud’s real identity as Arnie and was afraid he would hurt Coco again?”

“Oh come on. In the first place, lots of years had passed, and in the second place, wouldn’t you just talk with him? Give him a verbal warning to stay away from Coco?”

Alex stood up fast. “I’d better go. I’ll draw up a release for you to sign, Sophie.”

“So formal?”

He ignored my question and eyed Mars, who had slid a knife under his cast. “How much longer do
you
plan on being here?”

Mars didn’t seem to pick up on Alex’s ire. “As long as”—his eyes widened—“Sophie, hand me the phone! We haven’t heard a word from Natasha this morning. There’s no telling what she’s up to.”

Alex waved good-bye and left. I handed Mars the phone and cleaned up the kitchen. As I rinsed the dishes and placed
them in the dishwasher, I wondered if Stella had killed Randy. Maybe she’d had a change of heart about Arnaud. What if she saw Randy coming down the stairs? What if she saw him stuff Arnie’s tie into his goody bag? Might she have taken revenge against the man who killed her father? She had hated him. She thought he killed her mother, yet he was her only close living relative. Maybe blood was thicker than hatred.

Mars was still on the telephone when I left for The Laughing Hound to check on their preparations for the winners’ farewell dinner. Construction noises on the other end of the street made me turn around to look. Natasha walked back and forth in front of her house, the phone to her ear. Someone sawed wood and another guy disappeared into the house. I hoped the repairs would be finished soon.

I passed Randy’s house on the way to The Laughing Hound. Wolf couldn’t yell at me for pausing to look at what was happening. The front door stood open. Two men carried a sofa out and loaded it on a truck parked at the curb. His son probably didn’t have the time to clean out the house himself, and maybe that was just as well. I felt a pang when I looked in the truck at Randy’s belongings, and I’d barely known the man.

It was past noon when I arrived at the restaurant, but the place was still packed. I hunted down Bernie. “Got a minute to go over the details for tonight’s dinner for the chocolate contest winners?”

“I always have time for you, Soph.” Bernie led the way to the outdoor garden. “You’re a little early. We won’t set up until after the lunch rush.”

He handed me a card printed with the menu. “Chosen by Coco herself. Shrimp crostini with nasturtiums, crab-stuffed mushrooms, summer salad with mixed local tomatoes, choice of grilled spiced swordfish, mushroom galette, or seared filet mignon. All served with garlic mashed potatoes, citrus roasted carrots, and asparagus with hollandaise.”

“Wow. Remind me not to eat anything during the day. Dessert? As if anyone will have room?”

“Your favorite. The Laughing Hound’s chocolate mousse.”

“Sounds wonderful!”

“I’m being summoned. See you later, Soph.” Bernie hurried off to someone who waited for him.

I walked out of the restaurant and smack into Nina. Truffles sniffed my legs and wagged her little puppy tail.

“Where have you been?” Nina demanded. “I stopped by for breakfast and not a soul was moving in your house, not even Daisy or Mochie.”

“Mars and I slept in.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Together?”

“Stop that! Of course not. I couldn’t sleep, so we talked—”

Nina grinned at me.

“—about the murders. Okay?”

“Aw, too bad. You have him all to yourself right now, and he’s furious with Natasha.”

“Not as angry as one might expect. Where are you off to?”

“On my way home. We’re just coming back from a training class for Truffles. She was a perfect little inattentive, restless, spunky, wild puppy.”

Laughing, I bent to pet Truffles. “I’m heading home, too.”

We set off together. I filled Nina in on all the developments, except for those involving Joe and Wolf. We approached Randy’s house just as I finished telling her about the tie. The big moving truck was gone.

Nina pushed open the gate.

“Noooo.”

“C’mon, Soph. Maybe just being there will help us figure out something. Maybe Randy’s spirit remains in the garden, and he’ll give us a sign.”

I snorted at her. “Nina, you’re just going to get us into trouble.”

“Don’t be silly. There’s no reason we can’t walk into the backyard.”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot about the special exception that exempts Nina Reid Norwood from all the trespassing laws.”

“Shh. Listen,” she whispered.

No question about it. Voices came from the backyard. “All the more reason to move on. It’s probably his son.”

“Then he’ll be glad we were keeping an eye on the place.” She tiptoed into the passageway, keeping Truffles on a short leash.

“Nina!” I hissed.
I had to find a new best friend.
I glanced around before I followed her, against my better judgment. I was right beside her when we peered around the corner.

Four women screamed simultaneously.

Lori and Cheryl appeared as aghast as we were. All four of us broke into relieved giggles.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Someone’s staying here,” said Lori.

“Probably Randy’s son,” I said. “We’d better get out of his yard.”

“We don’t think it’s family,” said Cheryl. “We saw a light inside last night. But not a normal light. It was more like a flashlight. Like someone looking for something.”