Read Online Death by Chocolate by G. A. McKevett - Free Book Online

just
been to the beach.
    “So, what is it?” the woman
asked, pointing to the bag in Savannah’s hand. “Arsenic?”
    “Chicken livers and garlic.
Dogs love it. At least, my granny’s bloodhound in Georgia does. Figured it was
worth a try.”
    “Lace it with rat poison
next time. Do us all a favor.” Savannah folded the plastic bag and placed it
back into her purse. ‘Your mother? You must be Louise, Gilly’s mom.”
    “You know my kid?”
    “I met her last night just
before midnight. She was sitting in the gazebo alone.... crying. I spent a few
minutes with her, seeing if she was all right.”
    Savannah hoped Louise
Maxwell could hear the heavy subtext in her words, but although she was
extremely attractive in her Hawaiian print bikini with her golden,
shoulder-length hair and perfect tan, she didn’t appear particularly
intelligent or perceptive and only mildly concerned.
    “Well, was she.... all
right?”
    “She was pretty upset, but
we talked, and I think she felt better afterward.”
    “Good,” she said flatly,
not looking particularly grateful or even interested. Then a sudden look of
anger crossed her face, giving her a flush of passion that took Savannah by
surprise. “Crying, huh? Just before midnight? That’s about the time she goes
down to hang out with my mother. I’ll bet the bitch said something rotten to
her again.”
    Savannah’s eyes narrowed.
“Yeah, it’s sad when a child hears harsh, ugly things. It wounds their
spirits.” Again, her pointed barb seemed to sail over Louise’s head. Most
unfulfilling, she thought, and decided not, to waste her breath. One of Granny
Reid’s favorite sayings came to mind: “Don’t try to teach a pig to sing. It’s a
waste of your time, and it irritates the pig.”
    Nothing she could say here
and now would improve Louise Maxwell’s parenting skills.
    “Wait a minute,” Louise
said, taking a few steps toward her, “I know who you are. You’re the private
detective that Eleanor hired to protect her.”
    On closer examination,
Savannah decided that Louise’ had spent too many years in the California sun
without serious sunblock. While she appeared to be in her twenties from a
distance, she looked older up close, due to the webwork of squint wrinkles
around her eyes that could no longer be classified as “fine.” And the skin on
her abundant cleavage had turned mottled and leathery.
    “That’s right,” Savannah
said. “I’m here to watch out for your mom. Do you know anyone who might want to
hurt her?”
    “"Well, duh....”
Louise replied, rolling her eyes like an adolescent. “Who wouldn’t? She treats
everybody like crap and has for years.”
    “Even you?”
    A more astute person than
Louise Maxwell might have seen the suspicious glimmer in Savannah’s icy blues,
but the blonde prattled on, clueless.
    “Oh, especially me! Can you
imagine having a drunken witch like that for a mother? She messed me up good. I
mean, I have major issues because of her.”
    “Did you send her those
threatening letters, maybe as a means of working through some of your issues?”
    That time even Louise got
it. She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin a couple of
notches. “I did not. I haven’t said a word to my mother—or written anything to
her either—for three years. And I won’t, until she apologizes for messing me up
so bad. And, of course, we all know that won’t happen because Lady Eleanor
doesn’t apologize for anything to anyone. She’s much too high and mighty for
that.”
    “It must be pretty
stressful, living here on her estate and not speaking to her.”
    “Not really. We’ve learned
how to avoid each other.”
    “And meanwhile, your mother
supports you and your daughter?” Savannah asked evenly.
    Louise’s nostrils flared.
Savannah thought she might start snorting fire any minute. ‘That’s the least
she can do, considering what she’s done to me! The very least! My shrink bills
alone are $3,500 a month,