Truffled to Death (A Chocolate Covered Mystery) (22 page)

“Here, Coco,” I cooed, but she could probably sense the worry in my voice and stayed in her hole.

An enterprising kitten, the one I’d named Truffle, stepped
on his sister to catapult himself out of the box and escaped out the door. Erica went after him just as Coco stuck her head out again. I moved faster this time, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, but let go when I heard something terrible in the hallway, a loud
thunk
followed by the sound of something falling.

“Erica!” I rushed out of the storage room.

Erica was slumped on the floor.

Gary stood over her holding a crowbar. “I knew those cats would ruin everything.”

“E
rica?” I rushed toward her.

“Stay back,” Gary warned, lifting the crowbar with both hands as if to hit her again.

Erica moaned and moved her legs.

She was alive. The white-hot panic that paralyzed me lifted just a little.

I took a deep breath and decided to act dumb. “What is wrong with you?” I said. “Call 911. You know we’re not here to rob you. Just to get the kittens. You didn’t need to hit her.”

He made a scoffing sound and shook his head. “Right. The police. That’s just what I need.” He stared at me intently as if trying to figure out what to do next.

I tried again. “Gary. You can fix this. Just get Erica an ambulance.”

“Give it up,” he said. “I heard what you guys said in there. You know about the pottery, so you know about the professor.”

“What are you talking about?” I was grasping at straws.

“I
can
fix this,” he said. “I just have to get you two out of the way for a little bit.” He pointed toward the dining area with his chin. “Go sit in one of the chairs.”

When I didn’t immediately follow his order, he tapped the crowbar in his hand. “Do you want to see what happens to her special brain after another hit?”

I walked sideways to the dining area, sneaking a peek at the box full of kittens in the storage room. Coco was attempting to settle them and paid no attention to me.

My heart lurched when Gary grabbed Erica by one arm to drag her along the linoleum with him. “Sit,” he ordered.

He stayed a safe distance, giving me a wide berth until he reached the counter. With his eyes on me, he dropped Erica’s arm. The only light came from the hall, shadowing half of his face.

He looked down behind the counter for one second and reached for something. I stood up, ready to lift the chair and throw it at him, but before I could even get it in the air, he brought out a gun.

Another freakin’ gun.

I sat back down, and he smiled.

“I still don’t understand,” I said. “Why did you need to steal the display if you were already working with the professor to sell all that art?”

He scowled. “Your precious professor screwed me over. He went around me to my brother to get that donation. Adam
didn’t even notice that stuff in the house until Moody told him some crap about how important it was. Like Moody cared about that. He just wanted money and prestige.”

Erica’s phone rang and Gary’s eyes widened. “Shit.” He reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and turned it off. “Give me yours.”

“It’s in the van,” I said.

“Right,” he said. “Empty your pockets.”

I realized that even with the gun, he didn’t want to get close to me. I stood up and reached into my pockets, pulling out notes for a recipe I’d forgotten to give Kona, a few dollars and change, and my keys. Then I turned around to show him that my back pockets were empty, hoping my secret spine pocket still hid my phone.

He looked like he didn’t trust me. What was he planning to do with us?

Maybe I could get him talking and someone would come and find us. “How did the professor steal from you? You know, he wasn’t my favorite person in the world either.”

“He shortchanged me, but I got him back, didn’t I?” He rustled around in another shelf and pulled out black straps that might be used to tie surfboards down on a car roof.

“What are you doing?”

He walked toward me. “Put your hands through the back of the chair.”

“No,” I said.

“Do what I tell you, and you’ll both get out of here. I just need to get my stash to my car and eventually, someone will find you.”

If my hands were behind my back, maybe I could get to
my cell phone. I did what he said, feigning reluctance. “Why did you leave stingray spines on your own doorstep?”

“They wouldn’t suspect me then, right?” He wrapped a strap around my wrists, yanking them tighter than I expected.

“Ow!” I felt totally helpless. “Is that vase really worth all this?”

“You have no idea.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him go back to the storage room, shoving Coco’s box out of the way.

I maneuvered my fingers into my pocket and felt the outline of my phone. I pushed the button to turn it on and tried to aim toward where I knew the phone icon was located on the screen.

Gary appeared in the hall, carrying a small bottle. He went to the counter and dropped a pill into a cup of water, mixing it with a spoon. Then he walked over to grab my chin, and I could see the sheen of perspiration on his face.

“What are you doing?” I yelled, wrenching my face away.

I ended up tipping over the chair and falling heavily on my side.

“Have it your way,” Gary said, and sat down on the floor. This time he held on to my chin tight as he poured something medicinal from the cup into my mouth.

Erica groaned and shifted, and he looked at her.

I silently spit out as much as I could but could tell I’d swallowed some from the medicinal aftertaste in my throat. Was he trying to poison me or drug me?

I obviously hadn’t spit out enough, because soon I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride of spinning colors.

Gary moved toward Erica, and I watched helplessly as
he repeated the process with her. Then he walked back to the storage room and brought out a wide bowl, a padlock hooked onto the belt loop of his jeans.

I recognized that bowl. It had been in the display case at the reception. Gary hid them in his storage room?

Then time became a kaleidoscope of scenes that flashed into my brain and slipped away before I could make sense of them. Sensations of panic and fear crested like waves and then receded, replaced by a tidal wave of sleep.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

I
woke up in the dark. I heard a car engine, and realized I was in the trunk of a car, with a red light in my face taunting me. I moved and the back of my head bumped into something. Something that moaned. The brake lights flashed and I saw Erica’s face. A bunch of small boxes were lined up behind her. I thought about pulling the wires out from the light. Someone might notice.

I willed my hands to move and realized they weren’t tied. I reached out and yanked. And my eyes closed.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

V
oices woke me up. My spine tingled as the phone vibrated in my secret pocket. I struggled to pull it out and hit it against the top of the trunk, knocking it from my grasp. I fumbled around in the darkness to find it, feeling like I was moving through Jell-O.

The voices moved closer. I tried to yell but only a croak came out. So I kicked as hard as I could. The sound echoed in my head.

Nothing.

I kicked again.

Tears came to my eyes. It was hopeless. I closed my eyes, unable to fight the drugs.

Lightning flashed and rain fell on my face. Gary stood outside the trunk, the rear red lights illuminating one side of his face. A policeman stood beside him, looking stunned. His face hardened and he spun Gary around and out of my sight.

And then I saw more red. A lot of it. I heard endless deafening sirens.

Bobby and Leo’s worried faces appeared in front of me, and I gave in to the drugs.

T
he next time I woke up, I was in a clean, dry and way-too-bright hospital room. I turned my head and saw Erica in the next bed.

Bean dozed in the chair against the wall, his arm in a sling. He must have heard me stir, because his eyes popped open immediately. “You okay?” he whispered and grabbed my hand.

I nodded and then regretted it. A wave of nausea came over me.

Bobby stood from where he’d been waiting on the other side of Erica’s bed, in full uniform.

“Is Erica okay?” I whispered.

“She will be,” Bobby said. “She has a mild concussion.”

“What happened?” My throat felt as dry as a desert.

“Gary hit Erica on the head and drugged you both.” Bean’s voice was angry.

A memory of being trapped in the car flashed through my mind. I winced and the machine I was attached to started beeping faster.

Bean said, “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

I tried to breathe deeply, and the machine beeps slowed.

“That’s my girl,” he said. He pushed the nurse call button and said, “She’s awake,” when the nurse answered.

“I’ll be right there,” she said.

“Coco and the kittens?” I asked.

“They’re all fine,” he said. “Back with May.”

Then Leo appeared in the doorway with two cups of coffee at the same time as the nurse.

“One of those mine?” I asked him, my voice hoarse.

He smiled, losing the worried squint between his eyes. “It is now.”

The nurse played along. “Oh no, it’s not.” She moved Bean aside to take my blood pressure and temperature. “You girls are sure popular.” She took the thermometer out of my mouth and patted me on the arm. “The doctor will be in soon.”

“Can I sit up?” I asked.

“Sure, dear.” She raised the bed and plumped my pillows, while both Bean and Leo looked a little helpless. The movement made me feel light-headed and I closed my eyes.

“Worst day?” Leo asked, with more urgency than usual.

It was all I could do to shake my head once before I was out.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

I
woke again, feeling more like myself, in time to hear Bobby talking to Erica. “I’m so, so sorry.”

From the glassy look in her eyes, she was still under the
influence of something. Even in my state, I could tell that he should save whatever he was trying to tell her until she could understand him.

“It’s okay.” She sounded hoarse like me.

“No,” he insisted. “It’s not. I get it now. You’re smarter than me. I’m okay with that.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I’ll apologize. I’ll do anything.” He was beginning to sound desperate. “Anything you want.” Finally he focused on her and seemed to realize she wasn’t taking in what he was saying.

Then Bean walked in. Our eyes met and I felt light-headed in a whole new way.
Anything you want
, my heart whispered.

“Hey,” he said. He dropped his backpack, took my hand and kissed my forehead. “You look like hell.” He looked at me as if I was unbelievably precious. Maybe I should get drugged by a killer more often. Wait. Maybe not.

I noted his drawn face. “You’ve looked better yourself.”

I was pretty sure the smile on my face was as goofy as his.

The nurse bustled in. “Everyone out but my beautiful patients,” she said. I couldn’t believe how great it felt when she put ice chips in my mouth.

“Do you remember anything?” Erica asked when the nurse had gone.

I shrugged. “Not much.”

“I don’t either,” she said. “Retrograde amnesia, just like Farley.” She scrunched up her face as if she could force herself to remember.

“That asshole drugged us,” I said.

When Bobby, Bean and Leo came back, we demanded to know what had happened while we were unconscious.

Bobby seemed the most reluctant to talk, but Leo filled us in. “From what I can piece together, you were breaking into the Big Drip to pick up the kittens, not your best move, I might add, and Erica got a call from Zane that made her think puny little Gary was the big ol’ bad guy.”

“Oh right,” Erica said as if she finally remembered something important. “Zane kept digging. Somehow, he was able to . . .” She paused and looked up at Bobby. “See something about the Big Drip bookkeeping. He figured out that the coffee shop’s income increased right after some of Carlo’s sales.”

Leo was enjoying himself too much to let Erica take over the storytelling. “So instead of being as smart as she supposedly is and calling the cops, she followed you into the bad guy’s store to make you leave.” He settled himself into a chair. “Lucky for you, Zane
is
smart. When he couldn’t get either of you to answer your cells, he called Bean. And then Bean used some kind of creepy phone app that allowed him to track you. Which you both owe me an explanation for, by the way.”

Bean cut in. “I called Bobby to tell him you might be in trouble at Gary’s, but you were gone when he got there. On the app, I saw that you were moving, so we tracked you.”

“Bean was too candy-ass weak to be useful.” Leo smirked as Bean looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. “So he called me. And because police cars are slower than a snail in peanut butter, I almost beat him to you.”

“You rode your motorcycle in that storm?” I asked.

Leo waved away my concern. “It was a good thing I did, because Lieutenant Bobby was pounding the crap out of ol’ Gary.”

Erica’s eyes shone with a little bit of hero worship.

“Wait,” I said. “I remember another policeman.”

“Yep,” Leo said. “A rookie traffic cop. He pulled Gary over for his brake light being out and heard you kicking inside. Then Bobby arrived and lit into Gary. If I hadn’t pulled him off, he’d have killed that scum for sure.”

Leo sounded a little regretful he hadn’t let Bobby finish the job.

“Where was Gary heading?” I asked. “What was he planning to do with us?”

Bobby’s eyes narrowed. “Bluebird Park,” he said. “Where he killed Dr. Moody.”

That sobered us all up.

“And then the whole freakin’ cavalry arrived,” Leo added cheerfully. “Chief Noonan, state police, ICE, FBI. It was an acronym free-for-all.” He patted my hand. “All to save your sorry asses.”

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

I
t didn’t take long for the nurse to hustle everyone out so that we could sleep. I was suddenly so tired that I didn’t even complain. I woke up in the hospital in late afternoon and Erica wasn’t in her bed.

But Adam was in the room, staring out the window. He turned around, his brilliant blue eyes on me. I noticed how much like Gary’s they were, and I couldn’t help the flare of alarm I felt. I fumbled for the nurse call button.

“It’s okay,” he said and kept his distance. “Erica just went for a walk up and down the hall.”

The room now had a bunch of flowers and balloons. I
must’ve been asleep for hours for all these deliveries to happen. Erica walked in holding on to Bobby’s arm. She looked like she was feeling a lot better.

“You okay?” she asked, meaning,
okay
enough to deal with our visitor.

Bobby added, “You don’t have to hear about this yet if you don’t want to.”

I shook my head and this time it felt normal. “I’m good.”

Adam cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. “First, I want to apologize on behalf of my entire family for what Gary did to you. Last night and, before.”

I nodded.

“It seems that Rose had mistaken him for Bertrand at some point and told him about the many boxes of Bertrand’s antiquities hidden in a secret room in the basement of our home. And, to get back at me for trying to control his trust fund, he began selling them on the black market.” He took a deep breath. “Gary has had . . . issues with honesty in the past, but we all thought, or hoped, he was outgrowing them. But apparently, he has not.”

Adam continued. “We were especially pleased that Gary was making a success of the coffee shop, but even that wasn’t true. He was simply using it to launder the money from the art sales.” There was so much pain in Adam’s voice that I had to stop him.

I raised my hand. “It’s okay,” I repeated. “It’s not your fault.”

He nodded. “Just one more thing. Gary does seem to regret how far it all went. Once he realized how ruthless that . . . man was, he got scared.” He stopped, probably aware of how feeble the excuse sounded.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

W
ith all the nurse and doctor comings and goings, it took forever to get the whole story. The abundance of attention probably had something to do with the Rivers paying for some kind of VIP healthcare for us. But we just wanted to go home.

We talked the doctor into discharging us, promising to rest in bed all day.

Bean volunteered to be our nursemaid so that Leo would go home and rest. He let in Detective Lockett and Bobby.

Erica and I shared the couch, and I hoped the pillows and blankets made us look enough like invalids for them to go easy on us. We
had
told them we were done investigating after all, but perhaps they never believed us.

“Gary is cooperating in exchange for leniency,” Lockett said, sitting back in his chair, seeming a lot less intense now that the killer was found. “Rose told Gary where the pottery was hidden at the same time Jennie was taking a class from Professor Moody. Gary approached him about being the go-between and Moody was desperate enough to set up a meeting with Carlo.”

“How did the professor know about Carlo?” Erica asked.

Bean answered. “Carlo’s well known in the museum world as the go-to guy for anyone who wanted to enhance their Central American art collection and wasn’t too picky about where the stuff came from.”

Bobby took a turn. “But the professor got too greedy. He took a much larger cut than he’d agreed to. Which was working fine until he went around Gary to convince Adam to make the big donation. Moody was attempting to help his
reputation, but with all the attention the pieces were getting, Gary did some research and figured out he’d been shafted for months. So he followed Dr. Moody to his meeting with Carlo. He wanted to eliminate the cheating middle man.”

“So who stole the stuff in our display?” I asked. “Gary or Carlo?” And where was my bowl?

“That was all Gary,” Lockett said. “He had access to the drugs through Jennie’s friends, and he knew the security guard’s schedule. The professor figured it out and threatened to tell everyone, so Gary killed him. He’s claiming it was an accident, but Gary’s the one who set up the meet and he knew what happened to that creek when it rained, like it was supposed to that night.”

And like it did the night he drugged us.

“Why did Gary keep everything at the coffee shop?” Erica asked. “It’s so public.”

“The only business close to that park was the storage facility,” Bobby said. “Gary’s buddy had been letting him use an empty unit and pay under the table, but with the police investigating that area, Gary had to move his stash somewhere.”

I’d finally realized that the padlock on the metal panel inside the storage room was hiding a lot more than old plumbing. “No wonder he was so frustrated about the kittens,” I said. “Especially when Coco kept bringing them back.”

“Exactly,” Lockett said. “Those kittens and that webcam were blocking his access to the pottery, and Carlo was not the patient type. He wanted that vase and put a lot of pressure on Gary to produce it.”

“But Carlo had already left town,” Erica pointed out. “Why was Gary at the coffee shop that night?”

“He was heading to Mexico. He’d told his family he was going to New York for a meeting, but his computer showed a map from West Riverdale to the border,” Bobby said. “He was meeting up with one of Carlo’s guys. And he wasn’t coming back. He just needed to make sure no one raised an alarm for twenty-four hours.”

I shuddered. “Did he admit to planning to . . . ?”

“No,” Lockett said. “He said he was going to hide you in the storage facility so he could get out of town.”

“Do you believe him?” Erica asked.

He met her eyes but didn’t answer.

“Why was Carlo so pissed off at Sincero?” I asked. “And why did Santiago steal Zane’s laptop if he’s working for ICE?”

“We’re speculating, but we believe Sincero was growing impatient with the delay as well,” Lockett said. “He never stayed for long in one place to help avoid detection. Carlo did not want to be seen with him, for good reason, it turns out. Because of you, we now have Sincero.”

“And Santiago?” Erica asked. “What is his story?”

Lockett frowned. “He’s . . . something of a consultant, who doesn’t always do what he’s told.”

“But he’s done a lot of good,” Bean insisted. “Just not always the way ICE would like.”

“What happens next?” I asked.

Lockett stood up. “You two rest. And try to stay away from homicide investigations in the future.”

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

O
nce again, Coco was a hero. She’d delayed the bad guy from selling off national treasures. Of course, if Coco hadn’t left May’s store, we wouldn’t have been in danger in
the first place. But then Gary might have got away with those precious antiquites. And the professor’s murder.