Read Online The Chocolate Jewel Case: A Chocoholic Mystery by JoAnna Carl - Free Book Online

had happened—I remember that for a long time I’d ask Mom when he was coming home. Then she’d cry. I didn’t understand why.” He smiled ruefully. “She used to be happy when he came home.”
    I took his hand. “It must have been awfully hard for a little guy.”
    “Like I said, my grandfather fooled withme a lot. He explained that my dad wasn’t coming home and why, but he had to do it several times before I caught on.” Joe squeezed my hand. “But I assure you, Lee, that my father was actually, definitely dead. I remember the funeral a little.”
    “Gina says it was open-casket.”
    “I guess so. Mom must have whisked me out before the rest of the family. Anyway, I remember standing around outside afterward,waiting for my grandmother and Aunt Gina and a lot of other people to come out.” He stared into space a moment, then gestured with the hand that held mine. “Okay. We know who didn’t come to the door this morning. Now we’ve got to figure out who did. Was he driving?”
    “Yes. A blue pickup. A Ford.”
    “Then it definitely wasn’t my dad. The Atkins-Woodyard relatives are strictly GM.”
    We both chuckled.The American penchant to give the brand of the family cars and trucks the same weight as the family religion has always amused both Joe and me. True to his heritage, Joe drove a Chevy pickup.
    “I don’t suppose you got the license tag?” Joe said.
    “I was so bumfuzzled I nearly didn’t ask him for the phone number he refused to leave. But I’m sure it was a Michigan tag.”
    “A Michigan tag.” Joe staredat the ceiling and slid his arm around me. I snuggled close to him, and we sat silently for at least sixty seconds.
    “You know,” I said, “you might have a good idea with that plan to have our first quarrel so we could make up.”
    “Hmm.”
    “This is the first time we’ve been alone in a week.”
    “Hmm.”
    “And Aunt Nettie did provide her break room with an awfully comfortable couch.”
    I snuggled evencloser and gently nibbled Joe’s ear.
    “Scar!” He spoke so suddenly that I jumped. Then he whirled toward me. “Did you say the guy had a scar?”
    “Yes, Joe. It ran down the side of his face. An old scar. It made him look kind of rakish.”
    “Ha!” Joe jumped to his feet. “Let me out the front door, okay?”
    “Sure, but—”
    “I thought of something I’ve got to check out.”
    So much for romance.
    I didn’targue. Joe had been oblivious to my charms—not the usual state of affairs. He obviously had been struck by an idea. And when Joe gets an idea, I get out of his way.
    So I let him out the front, then let myself out the back, feeling slightly miffed because he’d walked Brenda and Tracy to their car, but forgot to be chivalrous when it was my turn to leave. I didn’t want him to turn into a male chauvinistpig like Pete, but still.
    As I drove out onto Peach Street, I felt hungry, and that reminded me that I was going out to dinner the next day, but my houseguests would have to be fed. Luckily, the Superette had begun summer hours that week, so it would be open until eleven. That was enough time to get stew meat, carrots, and tomato soup for a simple Crock-Pot meal. Surely Gina could manage instantpotatoes to go under it and ice cream for dessert. I got those items, plus two cartons of coleslaw from the deli. If ice cream wasn’t enough for dessert, I’d snagged a few more chocolates from the discard tray. They’d gotten too hot and developed bloom, but the double fudge insides (“layers of milk and dark chocolate fudge in a dark chocolate coating”) ought to satisfy anybody’s sweet tooth.
    I had to park at the Baileys’ house and walk through the woods carrying my big brown bag of groceries and a small plastic bag holding Gina’s paperback books, but I had a hand left for my flashlight. I found the living room empty. In fact, the whole house seemed empty. Joe’s truck and Pete’s SUV were there, but there was no sign of either of them.