Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 03 - The Great Chocolate Scam (12 page)

“
Lindsay, it’s me!”

I halted my hair dryer in the middle of my second swing. Confusion replaced my fear.
“Rick?” It couldn’t be his ghost. That first swing had hit a solid object.

He climbed out of the tub and reached back to turn off the shower.
“First you scalded me and then you gave me a concussion!”

This could not be happening. I must be hallucinating. Maybe somebody sneaked something extra in my last batch of brownies when I
wasn’t looking. “You’re dead! What does a little hot water and a concussion matter to a dead man?”

He grabbed a red towel from the rack and began wiping his hair. One of my best towels, and now
I’d have to burn it. “Is there blood?” he asked, examining the towel.

“
How can there be blood? Dead people don’t bleed!” I was desperately trying to hang onto his death.

“I’m
not dead!”

I tossed my dryer into the sink in disgust.
“Damn! I might have known! What are you doing here? Why did you pretend to be dead?”

He spread his hands, looking down at his soaked clothes.
“Why did you turn on the shower without looking inside?”

“
Because I always turn on the shower without looking inside! Why did you hide in my bathtub?”

“
You always shower in the mornings! I thought I’d be safe here until you went to sleep. Why were you going to shower in the evening?”

I threw my arms into the air.
“I had no idea there was a ban on evening showers! Had I but known, I’d have just continued to stink for the rest of the night!”

“
So you’re worried about how you’ll smell for the rest of the night? That cop’s coming over, isn’t he? That’s why you were going to take an evening shower!”

“
What difference does it make? You’re dead and we’re not married any longer!”

“I’m
not, and we are!”

“
Are you all right, Lindsay? I heard a scream.”

I turned to see Fred standing in the bathroom doorway.
“No, I’m not all right! Rick’s not dead!”

“
That explains the lack of male DNA at the scene of the explosion,” he said calmly.

I glared at him.
“At a time when I could use a little consolation, all you do is spout off about DNA!”

“
So the cops know I’m not dead?” Rick asked, his voice suddenly subdued.

“
They’re not certain yet,” Fred said, “but they’re beginning to speculate.”

“
Damn!” Rick sank down onto the toilet and put his head in his hands.

“
Why didn’t you warn me he might not be dead?” I demanded of Fred.

“
I didn’t want to upset you unnecessarily. I kept hoping they’d find something.”

Rick lifted his head.
“You’re ghouls, both of you!”

“
Well, you’re a…an undead, a zombie, maybe a vampire,” I said. “That’s about as ghoulish as it gets. What’s going on? Why aren’t you dead?”

“
Julia pulled the car out of the garage while I went back inside to get my wallet. I came out just as everything blew up. Scared the beejezus out of me, I can tell you! But I was thinking fast. I threw my wallet out into the rubble so they’d think I was dead, then I went inside, ran out the back door and kept running.”

“
To the condo you own in Prairie Village?” Fred asked.

“
The condo he owns in Prairie Village?” I repeated. Prairie Village is an upscale suburb on the Kansas side. That condo probably cost at least twice what my little house cost. “What condo is that?”

Fred frowned.
“Did I forget to tell you about the condo? Sorry. I just found it last night. I was going to tell you today, but then we got off on Marissa and Bryan.”

Rick shot up from the toilet
seat. “Marissa and Bryan?”

I shoved him back down.
“A bank account and now a condo? How many more assets were you hiding from me? I told you I didn’t want any of your stuff, so why were you going to all the trouble to hide it? Do you think I’m as despicable as you are? Is it true what Fred told me, that you judge everybody by your own immoral code?”

“
Do you think I could have some dry clothes and we could talk about this someplace other than the bathroom?”

“
Dry clothes? I haven’t got—sure. Stay right here and I’ll bring you something to put on.”

Fred walked out of the bathroom with me.
“I’m locking the door so you can’t escape until I get back,” I called to Rick.

“
Like I’m going anywhere soaking wet!”

Fred studied the ancient knob.
“There’s no lock on this door.”

“
I know. And I don’t have any dry clothes for Rick. How long do you think it’ll take him to figure all that out?”

We headed downstairs.
“Long enough for a fresh batch of cookies, at least,” he said.

“
Speaking of locks, how did you get in here?”

“
Through the front door.”

“
That door does have a lock, a strong deadbolt, and I locked it when I came in.”

“
I know.”

“
You heard me scream?”

“
Yes.”

Super hearing as well as x-ray vision.

I checked the front door as we went past and found it unlocked. Apparently he wasn’t able to walk through walls. “Easier to unlock them than relock them?” I asked as I flipped the lock mechanism.

“
Takes more time, and I was worried you were in danger since I heard you scream.”

“
Good call.”

We went to the kitchen where Henry was still snoozing happily.

I took out some frozen cookie dough and a pan. “Apparently during the term of his demise, Rick’s been spying on me,” I said, tilting my head in Henry’s direction. “He gave Henry catnip.”

Fred sat down at the table.
“Remember that night Marissa and her boys were here and I thought I saw one of them outside looking in the window?”

I shuddered.
“Yes, I remember. Oh! You think it was Rick?”

He nodded.

I moved the roast to one side of the oven and slid the cookies in beside it then sat down on a chair next to Fred. “That’s disgusting, but it explains some things. I’ve had this creepy feeling whenever I’ve been with Trent that Rick was watching us. Like one night we were on the porch, and I heard an animal hissing in the bushes. I thought I was just being paranoid, but I’ll bet that was him, spying on me!” I slammed my fist onto the solid wood of the table. “I’m going to kill him. Everybody already thinks he’s dead so I should be able to get away with it.”

Fred shook his head.
“You probably shouldn’t do that. The police have doubts about his being in that explosion. They can’t be far behind me. They’ll find that bank account, discover that he took out money after he was supposed to be dead, and track him to that condo before long.”

“
That sucks.”

“
I know.”

I had just taken the cookies out of the oven when we heard Rick pounding on the bathroom door. The cookies were cool enough to transfer from the pan to a rack before he figured out the door
wasn’t locked and came downstairs wearing his wet clothes and a frown.

“
Very funny.” He plopped down into a chair at the table.

“
About as funny as you spying on me.” I eyed the marble rolling pin sitting on the counter. If I were to whack Rick upside the head, I was pretty sure Fred wouldn’t tell.

“
I was looking out for my interests,” Rick protested. “You’ve been hanging around with that cop like you were a single woman!”

“
I was until a few minutes ago!” I leaned forward, wishing my words were bullets.

“
No, you weren’t! I didn’t sign the divorce papers, and I wasn’t dead!” He leaned toward me, looking smug.

Fred pushed us both back.
“Entertaining as it is to listen to you two argue, I’d really like to ask you some questions, Rick, beginning with, who tried to kill you?”

Rick ran a hand through his damp hair and blew out a long breath.
“I don’t know. It could be one of several people.”

“
No surprise there.” I rose and transferred the still-warm cookies to a plate. I thought about dividing them on two plates, one for Fred and one for me, but my mother’s manners kicked in, and I set the single plate in the middle of the table. Of course Rick took one. With any sort of luck, it would be the cookie that contained the one chocolate chip that had been infused with a deadly poison before leaving the factory. But if I’d had that sort of luck, he’d have stayed dead in the first place.

“
Are you making a roast?” Rick asked. “Something sure does smell good. I haven’t had a decent meal since I’ve been on the run.”

“
Pizza Hut still delivers.”

Fred cleared his throat.
“I understand a lot of people probably wanted you dead, but do you have reason to suspect anyone in particular? Have there been threats?”

Rick shrugged and took a bite of cookie.
“Sure. I get those a lot. It goes with the business.”

“
Who threatened you recently?”

“Julia’s
husband, of course.”

“
Of course,” I said. “It goes with the business.”

“He’s
a jerk. Abuser. Used to beat the crap out of her. Hey, a woman doesn’t cheat on her husband if she’s got a good relationship at home.”

I lifted an eyebrow but decided
I’d just file and save that comment for the next time he accused me of cheating on him with Trent.

“That’s
why Julia came to me with the information about the highway extension. She wanted to divorce Akin, but when she talked to a lawyer, he told her she wouldn’t get anything. Akin made her sign a pre-nup, and he was really careful to keep his money hidden. Seems his first wife got a big settlement and he was determined that wasn’t going to happen again. So Julia and I had a business deal that she’d give me the information, and I’d split the profits with her.”

I arched an eyebrow.
“A business deal?”

He shrugged.
“We got involved personally too. It just happened.”

“
Who else?” Fred asked, interrupting the discussion of Rick’s love life.

“
Bryan Kollar.”

“
Because you wouldn’t sell him back his parents’ property?”

“
Yeah. He said I’d be sorry if I didn’t sell it back to him. Said his parents wanted it because it’s been in the family for generations, but I’m no fool. He must have found out about the…” He stopped in midsentence and looked at each of us in turn.

“
The shopping center,” I finished for him. “Old news. Go on.”

“
Albert Mayfield.”

“Who’s
that?”

“
Oh, we were involved in a project that didn’t work out, and he got all upset about it.”

“
Let me guess. He threatened you when he lost a lot of money but somehow you made a profit.”

“I’m
good at what I do. Not everybody is. If they don’t know what they’re doing, they should stay out of the game.”

“
Who else?”

“
Franklin Murdock.”

“
Wife or business deal?”

Rick shrugged.
“Both.”

“
What about your mother? She ever threaten you?”

“
Marissa?” He gave a short, cynical laugh. More of a snort, actually. “On a regular basis.”

“
How about more recently when you wouldn’t let her in on your shopping center deal?”

“
Oh, that. Sure, she carried on and made all kinds of threats. But she would never try to kill me. Would she?” The last bite of cookie seemed to stick in his throat. “Can I have a glass of water?”

“
Get it yourself. I’m sure you know where I keep the glasses if you know where I keep the catnip.”

He glanced at Henry.
“I had to do something! That cat acted like he was going to tear me apart.”

“
He would have if you hadn’t drugged him. You just need to be sure you aren’t still here when those drugs wear off.”

“
About that. I need to stay here until they catch my killer.”

“
You don’t have a killer because you’re not dead, and you’re not staying here.”