Ganache with Panache: Book 2 in The Chocolate Cafe Series (6 page)

The pages depicted a stylized plan for a simple, but stunning wedding gown. More bohemian than princess, it reminded Mac of the turn of the century Pre-Raphaelite paintings she had studied in her first year at Harvard. With the controlled chaos of the garden and Amelia’s copper hair, it was absolutely perfect.

“It’s beautiful,” Mac breathed, passing it to Brie.

“Wow. She’s just as talented as her brother.” Brie said, equally impressed.

She passed the sketches to Vanessa, who seemed to freeze as soon as she saw them. Her eyes widened and she looked up sharply at Amelia.

“These. Did you say his sister did these?”

Amelia nodded, puzzled at Vanessa’s intensity.

“Yes. Last night. What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Vanessa forced an awkward laugh. “I’m fine. I’m great. I’m a designer, too. Just professional jealousy, I guess.”

“Vanessa just opened a boutique downtown,” Brie explained. “She’s pretty talented herself, you know.”

Amelia wasn’t buying it. She was about as intuitive as Harper was affected, and she could easily see that whatever was troubling Vanessa, it wasn’t jealousy.

“No. That’s not sour grapes. There’s something else. What’s wrong?”

Vanessa hesitated. She looked at each of the women staring at her expectantly, and took a deep breath

“These aren’t his sister’s designs,” she told them, warily. “These are his.”

“What?” Mac said, “That’s not possible.”

“Exactly,” Amelia cut Mac off in her excitement, “She told me she did them last night and Zach died over a week ago now.”

“I swear to you, I’m not lying. Look…” Vanessa practically bounded over to the table and laid the images out. She took her phone from her pocket and began furiously typing something into the search engine.

The other girls gathered around her, breathless, as images began popping up.

“I only remember this because one of the first reports I did in design school was on Zach Lau. I didn’t do too well, but I did my research. Look…” She held the phone so that the others could get a clear look.

Amelia gasped.

There on the screen was the exact same design. Under it was the date and the name of its creator…Zachary Lau.

“But…why would she do that? Why would she try to pass her brother’s work off as her own?”

“Maybe she needs the money?” Brie said, shrugging.

“Maybe she couldn’t come up with her own design?” Vanessa suggested.

“Well, that ends it then.” Amelia said. “There’s no way I’m paying her that kind of money for something that she copied.” She crossed her arms, freckled and warm from an afternoon in the garden. She stared over their heads for a second, then her face lit up with a sudden, apparently wonderful idea.

“Would you be able to come up with some ideas?” she asked, turning to Vanessa. “I mean, I haven’t seen your work but if you’re friends with these two, I can only imagine that you’ve got some pretty impressive skills.”

Vanessa was taken aback. Brie wasn’t. She whooped with enthusiasm.

“Fantastic idea. This girl is gifted! You won’t be sorry.” Vanessa, obviously embarrassed, shot Brie a pained look.

“I mean, if you don’t mind, I’d love to. I can get some drawings to you by tomorrow if that’s all right.”

Amelia embraced her again, as if she had just found a new best friend. “Tomorrow is more than all right. Everything happens for a reason. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

“Speaking of that…” Brie took the cooler she had been carrying and placed it firmly on top of the forged drawings. “You’ve got some more chocolate tasting to do, young lady. And we’ve got to start thinking about broadening the theme to suit this amazing garden. I’m thinking herbs. We need to do something with herbs.”

As Vanessa, Sabrina, and Amelia set to work brainstorming, Mac found herself wandering away from the group. It was starting again. She could almost feel the gears in her head begin to engage at a speed that would be nearly impossible to contain.

Why would Lau’s sister try to pass off her late brother’s work as her own? Grief? Possible. Greed? More likely. But what if it was something blacker, something more insidious than even the lust for money. What if it was something that came from a darker place entirely?

The gears had already ramped up their pace. She did her best to remember her stalwart detective’s pre-sleep pleas. She had managed to be dutiful this long, why couldn’t she keep it up?

Because you’re not the dutiful girlfriend type.
Her inner voice cut through the noise of the turning gears with a sudden burst of truth.
You never have been and you never will be. You’re the type that climbs over fences and jimmies locks.

Mac sighed and looked at the happy trio next to the lilac bush. She didn’t belong there either. There was one place she belonged right now and that place was only going to get her in a ton of trouble.

Mac counted her footsteps as she ran. Every third step she took a ragged breath in and every sixth step she exhaled. Sometimes the force of her own exhalation sent droplets of sweat on her face fanning outwards.

Nothing made her stop thinking quite like exhausting her body.

She had left early enough in the morning to be assured that the streets would be empty. There was always a moment of guilt when she passed other people where she felt she had to break her concentration and make eye contact. Those social skills were so deeply ingrained in her that the shame when she didn’t do it often knocked her off her running game.

Not today, however. Today she was on fire. No Toby to slow her down, no tourists or news vans to distract her, she had made her way down the hills to the main thoroughfare and was now on her way to the beach.

Mac was concentrating so deeply on her steady cadence that she didn’t hear the almost noiseless hum of the car engine behind her. It was only when the tank-like Range Rover pulled into the crosswalk directly in front of her that she even noticed it. How long had it been following her?

Annoyed, Mac came to a stumbling halt. She yanked her earbuds out and glared at the tinted windows.

“What the h…” She stopped her imminent curse-filled tirade when the window rolled down to reveal Harper Hood’s lineless face. Harper attempted what should have been a smile.

“Good morning, Catharine,” she said. There was a click as Harper opened the side door. “We’d like to take you for coffee.”

The window rolled down so that Mac could see Olivia in the backseat, the same forced smile on her face. The two of them reminded Mac of crocodiles and she immediately regretted leaving Toby back at the mansion. Olivia patted the leather seat in front of her with her bony hand,

“It’s a beautiful morning. Come for a ride,” she said. Her voice had a forced friendliness that sent warning bells ringing loudly through Mac’s head.

“I’m not a big coffee fan, but thanks.” Mac said. She stuffed her earbuds back in hastily and made to move around the front of the Range Rover to cross the street. Before she could take more than a few strides, Harper lurched the vehicle forward, blocking Mac’s path once again.

Mac frowned. She was more than a little annoyed now and was starting to get a little nervous as well.

“Really?” she asked. “Harper? Are you serious?”

Olivia leaned forward more, those big white teeth of hers glinting in the dark of the backseat. “We won’t keep you. We swear,” she said.

Harper lowered her sunglasses and looked at Mac coldly. It was clear she wasn’t going to try to charm Mac into anything.

“Just get in.”

How dangerous could these two Botoxed, carbohydrate-starved women be? Not only could Mac outrun them, but she could probably knock them both on their flat backsides with one well-timed slap. She had nothing to worry about, right? What could they be up to?

Murder?

Mac pulled her earbuds out again and stuffed them into the interior pocket of her running pants. She hastily wiped some of the sweat off her brow and shrugged.

“It’s your leather upholstery, not mine,” she said to Harper, fighting the temptation to flick the sweat at her smug little face. Maybe she’d get a chance to really try that one slap theory. That was reason enough to get in.

Harper made a disgusted face as Mac wiped her wet hands on her tee shirt.

Mac stepped into the vehicle and slid her moist back against the camel-colored seat. She pulled the door closed, and she heard the automatic locks engage.

“You’re up early,” Mac said, facing Olivia in the backseat. “Is this official wedding business or is stalking joggers at sunrise a new hobby for the two of you?”

Olivia attempted another warm smile but once again, failed miserably.

“I’m afraid our wedding plans have been more than a little derailed,” she said.

“Murder will do that.” The smile that crawled across Olivia’s face at Mac’s comment was much less forced and considerably more sinister.

“What can a person expect?” she said, “Conducting your business in that manner, refusing to listen, and throwing little tantrums. It’s the basic tenet of customer service: one does what the customer asks. You ignore those basic principles…”

“You never work again, right? Isn’t that what you said to Mr. Lau that afternoon? That you’d see to that, isn’t that right?”

This whole situation—the pseudo-kidnapping mid-jog, the giant sunglasses, the drama—Mac was tired of it already. She had been tired of it before she had even climbed in the SUV. Olivia’s little speech had been on her mind since that afternoon. Yes, she had promised not to interfere but really, wasn’t it self-defense at this point?

Olivia’s tissue-thin cheeks drained of color. Her mouth, a slash of red lipstick, became tight and she leaned closer to Mac.

“Now you listen to me. I have had enough of the inconvenience caused by this whole fiasco. I spent eight hours in the police station this week. Me! They took me from my home to question me; they questioned my daughter.”

Mac was pleased to see Olivia’s chin shake with the memory of her indignity.

“I said I would be sure he wouldn’t work again and I meant it. That little deviant needed a comeuppance and I’ll be the first to say it. I said the same thing to the police and I’ll say it to you. Good riddance.”

Harper looked at Mac sideways. The smugness in her eyes was back, making Mac fight the urge to slap the back of her icy blonde head.

“I now want your designer friend, Vanessa, to design my gown.”

The urge to slap intensified to a need. Mac was speechless, looking between the two women for some sort of explanation. “How?—”

“It’s a small town, sweetheart. You of all people know that. We know that you and your little biker friend introduced Vanessa to Amelia yesterday. We know she’s agreed to do her dress and do you know what? That just won’t do.”

Mac couldn’t help but burst into sarcastic laughter. “Oh my gosh. This is like a bad mafia drama but with washed-up socialites. Look,” it was her turn to turn toward Olivia, her wide-set eyes narrowed with disgust, transforming her from kitten to tiger. “I don’t control Vanessa. You want her to do the dress so badly, ask her your own self.”

“She won’t take our calls. You two must have said something to her.” Harper whined.

Mac groaned and dropped her sweaty head back onto the headrest. “Just stop the car. Stop. This little game you’re playing is over.”

Olivia’s claw-like hand suddenly clamped on to Mac’s arm. Her nails bit into her skin, pressing through the tee shirt fabric.

“I don’t play,” she hissed. “The Hoods don’t play. Not only will you get your friend Vanessa to design Harper’s gown, but you’ll have your little girlfriend Sabrina focus on our event entirely.”

“Are you kidding?” Mac tried to pull away from Olivia, but the older woman only squeezed harder.

“The
only
wedding party getting catered by your company is ours and the
only
gown getting custom made in this little hick village is Harper’s. That is the end of the discussion.”

Olivia nodded at Harper who pulled the Range Rover to the side of the road. Harper reached across Mac, opened the door, and unlocked Mac’s seatbelt. A gust of ocean air filled the car. They were so far down the beach at this point that it would take Mac at least half an hour to get back to town.

“It would be in all of your best interests to take this seriously,” Olivia announced. “And I am most certainly NOT kidding.”

Harper suddenly pushed the speechless Mac from the car. Mac tumbled awkwardly out, almost twisting her ankle on the ledge at the side of the car. She stared, dumbstruck, at the two triumphant immobile faces as the passenger door swung shut.

“Enjoy the rest of your run” Harper said sweetly. She slammed the tank of a car into gear. Gravel from the roadside exploded from the wheels, showering Mac’s still-sweaty body with shards and dust.

As they drove away, leaving Mac abandoned on the side of the road, Harper rolled down her tinted window. The sunrise glinted off her engagement ring as she waved a graceful goodbye.