Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 03 - The Great Chocolate Scam (4 page)

He was silent for several moments.
“I’ll see what I can do, but tomorrow’s going to be the earliest possible time.”

I sighed.
“I suppose that’s better than
a day or two
. Thank you.”

I went back out to find Clint and Brad laying the charm on Paula. I could have told them they were wasting their expertise. After being married to an abusive jerk who tried to kill me, send her to prison and take her son from her,
Paula’s learned to look out for herself. She does a great imitation of a turtle, just goes inside her shell while her lips continue to smile.

“
You can probably get into Rick’s house tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll help you find a nice motel for tonight.”

Marissa burst into tears. Her sons jumped up from their seats and came around to comfort her.

“I just can’t stand the thought of a lonely motel room with my son dead!” she wailed.

“It’s
okay, Mama. We’ll take care of you.” Clint patted her shoulder and glared at me. His glare was enough like Rick’s that it didn’t bother me in the slightest. I’d become immune over the years.

“
I thought we could comfort each other,” Marissa said before she settled back into disconsolate weeping.

“
Don’t cry, Mama.” Brad did his best to glare me down too. “My brother’s got to be rolling in his grave right now.”

“
I don’t think so. He’s not in his grave yet.” I refrained from adding that, with his body in ten bazillion pieces, he probably wasn’t going to be rolling around a lot anyway.

Marissa’s
hand shot out and grabbed mine, her tear-filled eyes imploring me. “You’re not a mother, so you don’t know how awful it is to lose a son, especially in such a horrible way. I need to be with family to get through this night.”

I knew she was scamming me. I knew she
wasn’t really upset about Rick’s death and I wasn’t really family. But, just like Rick used to do, she was wearing me down. I was tired of hearing it. I didn’t want to argue. And, of course, there were all those manners my mother had force fed me for so many years they’d become automatic.

I threw my hands into the air.
“Fine. You can all stay at my place, but I only have one guest room with one double bed. Somebody’s going to have to sleep on the sofa, and it’s not going to be me or my cat.”

Mama and the boys followed me to my house. The scam business must be booming. They were driving a shiny new Cadillac. Or maybe they stole it. Not that I had any reason to think they were car thieves. Rick had never stolen a car. That would be too upfront and simple. More fun to scam people
out of their vehicles and their property.

I made a mental note of the license plate so I could call Fred and have him check it for me.

By the time I got my older model (but still fast) Celica settled in my detached garage that looked as if it might topple over at any minute, Mama and the boys were waiting on my front porch with their luggage. Designer luggage. The scam business was obviously more profitable than a chocolate shop.

“
This is different from where Rick lives,” Marissa said, sounding disappointed as she looked around at the neighborhood, taking in Fred’s meticulous lawn and house, the unkempt vacant house across the street, Paula’s ordinary yard and, of course, my organic, pesticide-free, fertilizer-free, weed-killer-free, mostly grass-free yard.

“
Yes,” I said, turning the key in my front door lock. “Rick and I are very different people.”

“
What a pretty cat!” Marissa said as I opened the door. She bent down and reached for Henry. He laid his ears back, arched his back, spit and hissed at her then swiped at her hand with one paw. She screamed and jerked away.

“
Be careful,” I cautioned. “He’s part mountain lion.” Yes, that was an outrageous lie, but she started it.
Come to help out with whatever we can
. Give me a break!

Henry kept his distance, making it obvious he did
n’t like the new guests. He slunk around, a series of growling sounds coming from deep in his throat. Feline cursing. This confirmed that these people were related to Rick. Henry had always given him that same treatment.

“
The guest room is upstairs.” I indicated the stairs then waved a hand toward my big, cushy sofa patterned with lots of brightly colored flowers. “One of you can sleep here.” I then indicated the hardwood floor on the other side of the coffee table. “And one of you can sleep here.” Yes, I could have offered to borrow an air mattress from Fred, but I saw no reason to try to make my unwelcome guests comfortable. Even the manners my mother instilled in me have some limitations.

Brad and Clint exchanged disappointed glances. Marissa smiled tightly.
“We’ll make do with whatever you can offer. We do so appreciate your hospitality, and it means so much to be with someone else who loved Rick.”

I decided to let that last comment pass unchallenged, though if they knew so much about me, I was pretty sure
they’d know it wasn’t true.

I led them upstairs to my guest room with its small antique bed that barely held a double sized mattress.
Marissa’s smile got even tighter, but she set her bags down. “Where is the guest bath?”

“
Down the hall. It’s the guest bath and the master bath all in one. When this house was built, indoor plumbing was considered an extravagance. Nobody even thought about having more than one bathroom.”

“
Thank you so much. We’ll be just fine, won’t we, boys?”

“
Yes, Mama,” they both mumbled. I could tell they weren’t at all certain they were going to be just fine.

“
While you get settled in, I need to feed my cat. If he doesn’t get his dinner on time, he’s been known to attack the nearest food source.” I looked pointedly at Marissa’s tanned arm that Henry had lashed out at already. She nodded vaguely. I think she wasn’t sure whether to believe me but decided it best to err on the side of caution.

I went downstairs and filled
Henry’s food bowl. I debated whether to give him some catnip. He loves that particular herb, and it would alleviate his anxiety about having those people in his home. But I didn’t trust Rick’s relations. I needed Henry on full alert, my guard cat. He’d just have to tough it out and get through the evening sober.

Henry finished his food and asked to go outside. I opened the back door.
“You’re on curfew tonight,” I warned him. “Be home before dark.”

He looked up at me, gave a short meow and slipped out the door.
He’d be back when he got good and ready. We both knew it.

My phone rang, the
landline . I cringed. My mother always called on that line. She refused to have anything to do with “those awful cell phones that can give you brain cancer.” And it didn’t matter if the cell phone was only on the caller’s end.

I really did
n’t want to talk to her at that moment. Or any moment in the next few hours, for that matter. But I lifted the receiver. “Hello?”

“
Are you all right?”

Fred. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re
not answering your cell phone, and there’s a car sitting in front of your house that’s rented by a woman who doesn’t exist.”

Silly me, thinking
I’d have to ask Fred to find out about Marissa’s Cadillac. “Couldn’t hear the cell phone over the people talking, and that woman definitely exists, just probably under another name. Or several other names.”

“
Marissa Malone?”

I laughed.
“Yeah. Rick’s mom.”

“Rick’s
mother?” I’d finally managed to surprise Fred.

“
Who knows what her real name is? She and Rick’s two brothers changed their names after dear old Dad departed.”

“
Brothers?” I loved it. He was totally confused for once. “Rick’s father really is dead, not in prison somewhere?”

“
You know all those lies Rick told me about his family? Seems he had good reason to keep them hidden. I don’t know if Dad’s dead or just hiding from Mom. Guess it doesn’t matter. He’s gone somewhere, as opposed to the rest of the family who are right here in my house.”

“
What are they doing at your house?”

“
Spending the night.” I sighed. “They planned to stay at Rick’s house, but it’s got that awful yellow tape all around it.”

“
Yeah, the cops have a habit of doing that when somebody gets blown to bits. I don’t like the idea of their staying with you.”

“
Neither do I and neither does Henry. But it should be just the one night. I talked to Lawson, and he’s going to try to get Rick’s house released tomorrow.”

“
Are you sure they’re really Rick’s family members?”

“
Probably. They look like him, and Henry reacts to them the same way he reacts to Rick. They’re here to grab his estate, and I’m more than happy to let them have it, whoever they are.”

“You’ll
be leaving at four in the morning to go to work. Are you going to leave them alone in your house?”

I thought about that for a moment.
“No. They’ll be leaving at four o’clock too.”

“
Let me know if you need anything.”

“
Thanks, I will.”

“
I mean it. Anything. Like a mad man coming through the door with a machine gun.”

I burst into laughter, remembering when
I’d asked Fred to do that to get rid of Rick, never expecting he really would. He really did.

I hung up then went into the living room to retrieve my cell phone from my purse where
I’d left it on the coffee table.

Mama was sitting on the sofa between the two boys while Brad flipped through the channels on my nineteen inch TV.

“No cable?” he asked.

Further proof this was
Rick’s family.

I waved a hand at the built-in oak bookcase that covered most of one wall of the room.
“I have plenty of reading material.”

The boys looked at each other then at their mother as if for guidance about what to do in
such a strange situation.

She smiled. Of course she did.
“Let’s sit down and talk. We have so many plans to make, the funeral and everything.”

I sat in the recliner and checked my cell phone. Five calls from Fred and three from Trent. I needed to call Trent back, but I might as well get this conversation with Marissa out of the way first. It would
n’t take long.

“
Do whatever you want about the funeral,” I said. “If he hadn’t been killed, Rick and I would be divorced. I’d have this house, Paula’s rental house next door, my restaurant and all accounts that are in my name only. Unless he left a Will, and I can’t imagine that he did since he thought he’d live forever, all the rest is yours.”

Marissa blinked rapidly a couple of times.
“I see,” she said, her voice a couple of octaves lower than it had been before. “However, as his wife, you’re entitled to half of his estate even if he didn’t leave a Will.”

“I’m
entitled to
my
half of
our
estate. But I told you what I want. Take everything else and welcome to it.”

For the first time, Marissa really smiled. So did her sons. The atmosphere lightened considerably.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s order a pizza, have dinner and then go to bed. I get up at four o’clock to open the restaurant, and we’re all leaving when I leave because I have to set the security system.” No, I didn’t have a security system, but it sounded like a good excuse for getting them out and keeping them out.

“
Order a pizza? You don’t cook?” Clint asked. “You have a restaurant, and you don’t cook?”

“
I make chocolate desserts. If you’d like brownies for dinner, I can fix you right up. Otherwise, we’ll have pizza.”

His mother patted his leg, and he shut up.

I picked up my cell phone to call in the pizza order, but it rang before I had a chance to hit the speed dial. I didn’t recognize the number, but it wasn’t blocked like a sales call so I answered.

“
Lindsay, it’s Bryan Kollar.”

Like I would
n’t recognize that compelling baritone voice from his commercials. Even though I’d decided I didn’t much like the guy, I could have listened to that voice for at least an hour or two. Maybe he was descended from one of the Sirens. “Yes, Bryan. What can I do for you?” In the siege of relatives, I’d forgotten about my earlier conversation with Beautiful Bryan. I had my hands and my house full at the moment and didn’t really want to deal with him, exquisite voice notwithstanding.

“
If you have a minute—”

“
I don’t, actually,” I said, interrupting him. Rude of me, I know. My mother would be mortified. “I’m in the middle of something, very tied up right now.”

“
No problem. I can come by your restaurant tomorrow.”

“
What? No. Why would you do that?”

“
I took the liberty of having my attorney draw up some papers about our intent to do business,” he said smoothly.

“
Oh, yeah. Your parents’ property. About that, I don’t know if I can sign those papers—”

“
You said it wouldn’t be a problem, that you’d be happy to return the property to me.” He interrupted me that time. We were even.

“
I said I’d give it back to you as soon as I’m legally able to do so. Well, something’s come up, and I may not be legally able to give you back that property.”

“What’s
come up? Why wouldn’t you be able to give me back that property?” His voice was no longer so compelling. In fact, it had become downright scary. Threatening.

“
Turns out Rick’s family didn’t die in that horrible plane crash after all. His mother and two brothers are sitting right here in my living room.” I kept my gaze focused on the floor. I should have gone into the kitchen to take the call.

“
I see,” Bryan said.

“
Okay, look, I’ll get back to you when we get this sorted out.”

“
May I come over and talk to Mrs. Kramer?”

“
Not tonight.”

“
When?”

My phone beeped for call waiting and showed a call coming in from Trent.

“I’ll get back to you as soon as I can set up something. Gotta go now. Cops are on the other line.”

I accepted
Trent’s call, cutting Bryan off.

“It’s
about time,” he said. “I was getting worried. I’m on my way over there.”

“
By all means, come on. Party’s at my place. BYOP, bring your own pizza.”

“
I can do that. What’s this Lawson’s telling me about Rick’s mother and brothers arriving in town?”

“
Oh, yeah. We’ll discuss that later.”

“
Later? Why? Are they there now?”