The Diva Steals a Chocolate Kiss (11 page)

Dear Natasha,

I know I’m supposed to melt chocolate in a double boiler, but I end up with a grainy mess every time. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong!

—Inept Chocolatier in Double Trouble, New Jersey

Dear Inept Chocolatier,

Water and steam make chocolate seize. It’s possible that your double boiler isn’t the right shape. Use a bowl that’s larger than the bottom pot, preferably with sides that slant outward. When melting chocolate over a double boiler, wipe the water off the bottom of the top bowl as soon as you remove it so the water won’t drip into your chocolate or other ingredients.

—Natasha

“Mars? Natasha?” I shouted. They had a key and were known to let themselves in. Mars would never let Mochie out but Natasha might.

At first glance, everything seemed normal. I tried to unglue Mochie from my shoulder. Nothing doing. He sank his claws into the fabric of my dress.

Leaving the door open in case I wanted to beat a hasty retreat, I peered into the foyer. The closet door wasn’t completely closed. I could have left it that way but I usually closed it. I debated calling for help. 911 seemed kind of silly, though. They had real emergencies to tend to. I stood still and listened for a moment. The house was blissfully quiet. Maybe I was overreacting.

I lifted the wall phone and called Mars. If he was home, he could come over in a jiffy. Luck was with me.

Three minutes later, Daisy bounded into my kitchen, and Mars followed. “What’s up? You sounded so worried.”

I patted Daisy and told Mars about finding Mochie outside.

“That’s not like you at all. Have you looked through the house yet?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“Okay.” He lifted a cleaver out of my knife block.

I made a face at him.

“What? We need a weapon. Where’s the Taser I gave you?”

“In the console by the front door.” Mars pulled the drawer open and found it. “Okay. Let’s see what’s going on.”

With Mochie still clinging to my shoulder, I ventured into the dining room and living room, which appeared perfectly normal. In my little home office, a light was on. I didn’t think I had left it on but that was the sort of thing that one easily forgets.

Mars led the way into the sunroom. “Looks okay in here, but the door’s not locked.”

“I came in from the garden that way earlier. I guess it’s possible that I left the door unlocked.” It wasn’t like me, but at the moment, I was embarrassed. “Thanks for coming
over, I feel pretty foolish.” I unsnagged Mochie’s claws and set him on the love seat.

He looked up at me and yowled again, ruining my moment of calm.

“Mars,” I said, looking around, “that door might have been unlocked but it was closed. How did Mochie get out?”

We trudged upstairs, Mochie clinging to my shoulder again. We didn’t find anything out of place. We even checked out the basement.

When we were done and back in the kitchen, Mars sighed. “Sorry, Soph. Either you’re getting forgetful or Mochie has figured out how to open doors.”

“He can open cabinets and drawers, but I really don’t think he’s figured out doors. Besides, can’t you see how upset he is?”

“Soph, did you notice anything missing? I didn’t.”

He had a point. “Could it have been Natasha? You know how she loves to let herself in.”

Mars groaned. “What’s next from her? Soph, I swear it’s one calamity after another. She gets so focused on something that she just can’t see anything else. She’s not like you, Soph.”

“Yeah, well, I
hope
I’m not like Natasha. If I ever am, you better straighten me out.”

“I’ll leave Daisy with you. If anyone comes around, she might alert you. Maybe I should stay over for a few nights. Just to keep an eye on things.”

I burst out laughing. “Mars, are you that eager to get away from Natasha?”

He frowned at me, not at all amused.

“Oh my gosh. If it’s that bad, you know you’re always welcome to stay here. I’m sure Bernie would be happy to have you, too.”

“No, she’s just driving me nuts with her latest project. She wants to make her own chocolate.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t think you understand. She doesn’t mean melting chocolate and pouring it into molds. She wants to buy the raw chocolate beans and process them herself to create her own personal line of chocolate.”

“Doesn’t that require major machinery?”

“See? You have a brain! Yes, they have to be roasted, then a machine has to break out the centers, and then they have to be ground. It’s a major process.”

“I feel kind of sorry for her.”

Mars glared at me.

“All she wants is to be successful at something, but everything she tries is so big and weird that she never succeeds. That must be hard on her. It’s one failure after another.”

“You’re feeling sorry for the wrong person,” Mars grumbled. “I’m going home to ask her if she came over here. It would put both our minds at ease if we knew it was Natasha who thoughtlessly locked Mochie out.”

He left by the front door, and I checked my e-mail. I had just finished when Daisy howled.

“Do you hear something?” I listened for a siren.

Daisy ran to the front door and barked. Had my intruder returned? I picked up the Taser, just in case, and latched a leash on Daisy so she wouldn’t run outside the second I opened the door.

Cautiously, I swung it open. I didn’t see anyone but I heard shouting, and Daisy leaped with such force that the leash tore out of my hand. I ran after her. She didn’t go far. She ran across the street and straight to Mars’s house.

When I caught up to her, she was kissing Mars’s face. He lay on his back, sprawled on the brick landing at the top of the stairs just outside his front door. One of his legs was bent at an unnatural angle, like a broken doll. Gold bathroom fixtures lay around him.

“Mars!” I kneeled beside him. “Daisy, sweetie, back up.” I gently pushed her aside. “Are you okay?”

“No! A box of something fell out of the air.”

The front door opened. Natasha held her hands over her mouth, aghast. “Mars! Can you ever forgive me?” She bent over him and sobbed.

“Did you call an ambulance?” I asked.

Natasha looked at me wide-eyed. “I’m sure it’s not that bad. You’re not bleeding. Are you in pain, Mars?”

“Ow, don’t touch me.”

“I think you’d better call for help, Natasha.”

The second she went into the house, Mars grabbed the neckline of my dress and pulled me toward him. “Come with me to the hospital. I can’t take Natasha’s drama.”

It would have been cruel to remind him that
he
chose to live with Natasha. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I promise I’ll take Daisy home and drive over as fast as I can.”

Natasha reappeared. “They’re on the way.”

“What happened?” I asked.

Natasha swallowed hard. “I can’t stand having gold fixtures in the bathrooms. They’re so outdated. I have an image to maintain. I was taking them out and the box was just too heavy to carry down the stairs, so I . . . I pitched it out of the window.”

Mars growled, “Are you insane? You could have killed me!”

“I thought you were downstairs in your office!”

“Didn’t we talk about that anyway? Didn’t we agree that gold would do just fine? I hate it when you replace perfectly serviceable items.”

“Well, you’re just wrong about that,” Natasha snarled back. “I can’t live with them anymore. They’re embarrassing!”

I was enormously relieved when the ambulance arrived and the squabbling stopped. I kept my word to Mars, though. After taking Daisy home, I drove to the hospital.

Fortunately, he had a simple fracture. The doctor put a cast on his leg, recommended bed rest with an elevated foot, and sent him home.

It was nine o’clock in the evening when I left Mars under the dubious care of Natasha.

The last I saw of them, he was negotiating the stairs on crutches.

I took Daisy out for a walk. The air had turned lovely, like the gentle kiss of a summer night. It soothed me after the commotion with Mars.

Nina was outside with a darling puppy, who sniffed my feet, her little tail wagging nonstop. I crouched to pet her and immediately received puppy kisses. “Who is this?”

“Truffles. Isn’t that the cutest name? She’s a
chocolate
Lab.”

“She’s adorable. You better not get too attached. Someone will adopt this little cutie right away.”

“I must be getting too old to deal with a puppy. She slept for a couple of hours and now she’s like a little tornado.”

“Why don’t you walk with us? Maybe it will help wear her out.”

I told Nina about Mars’s accident and about finding Mochie outside. “When I left just now, I made doubly sure that all of the doors were locked. It’s the oddest thing.”

“You didn’t call Wolf?”

“Nothing was missing. The only explanation is that Natasha was snooping around again.” I groaned. “What with Mars breaking his leg, I forgot to ask her!”

“Does Alex have a key?”

“No.”

“Really?” She had a gleam in her eye.

“We’re not there yet in our relationship, okay?” And the way things were going, there was a good chance we would never get to the point of exchanging keys.

“Look,” said Nina, “Truffles is already following Daisy’s lead. I should have thought of that right away. Maybe she should stay with you so Daisy can housebreak her.”

“Good try, Nina.”

We ambled along the brick sidewalks, admiring the colonial-style outdoor lights on the homes. At one narrow beige house, a Maine coon cat sat by a burgundy front door, much like Mochie had waited by my door to be let in.

The cat watched our two dogs walk by without much concern, but Truffles was eager to meet the cat. The puppy wagged her tail and tugged to the left to get a close-up look.

The cat grumbled but didn’t budge.

I unwound as we walked. The last couple of days had been stressful. I hadn’t even known Arnaud. If my nerves were strained, I couldn’t imagine what Coco must be going through.

Nina chattered about Truffles and all the adorable things she had done. And then without any warning, she asked, “Do you think the person who murdered Arnaud also killed Joe Merano?”

I stopped walking for a moment. “It seems like there would be a connection, doesn’t it? I hope not. But the Meranos appear to be knee-deep in this.”

“Could just be a chocolate-hater. Or someone who is allergic to chocolate.”

The dogs tugged ahead. “They’re killing people who make great chocolates? Don’t you think that would be overreacting?” I asked.

“They’re in the same business. What if it’s someone who worked for both of them? Like Lori Speer’s brother.”

“Because he’s the only other chocolatier you’ve heard of? Besides, would she have had the moxie to come to the Amore celebration if that were the case?”

“Maybe she didn’t know her brother intended to kill them,” suggested Nina. “Or maybe she was in on it and helped him.”

“But why would she stick around? Why wouldn’t she get out of town as fast as she could?”

“That would draw attention to her.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “I hope you never turn to a life of crime. I fear you might be very good at it!”

By the time we circled back to our block, energetic little Truffles had slowed considerably. I had a feeling that Nina
might get some sleep that night in spite of her darling companion.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of a text jingling on my phone.

Daisy cocked her head at the phone.

I rolled over and flicked it on. A text said,
Bring food. I beg of you!

Mars was alive and well, if hungry. I texted back,
Okay.

But I took the time to shower and dress first. I had a feeling it was going to be a scorcher. By the time I walked downstairs in a skirt with an abstract azure and white print and a sleeveless blouse of the same blue, Nina was at my kitchen door.

I unlocked it, and Truffles bounded in so fast that she couldn’t stop and slid to a halt at Daisy’s feet.

“No coffee yet?”

“Coming right up. Scrambled eggs and fruit salad?” I filled the kettle with water for French press coffee and spooned a rich breakfast blend into the French press.

“Sounds good. I’ll make the toast.”

My phone jangled again. “That’s probably Mars.”

Nina peeked at my phone and read aloud.
Bring food. Real food. Am starling.

“Starling?” I cracked eggs into a bowl, added salt, pepper, and savory garlic powder, and whisked them together.

“Must mean starving. I’m not surprised. Natasha probably made him eat—” She laughed. “It’s worse than I thought. Natasha brought him ‘eggs poached in grapefruit juice served on top of sea bass with a peanut sauce.’” Nina staggered around the kitchen, laughing. “I shudder to imagine what she did to the coffee.”

While bacon sizzled, I cut a cantaloupe in half and sliced the gloriously orange melon into six pieces. I slid a knife
just below the gorgeous color and cut the fruit into pieces. Fresh blueberries, rosy raspberries, and a spoonful of sugar went into the bowl, and I squeezed lemon juice over top. A quick stir and it was ready to serve.