Death by Chocolate: a Candy Land cozy mystery

Chapter 10

The sheriff and I made a detour to the M.E. to drop off the shingle bit from Gramma Nut's roof so we could have it checked against the brittle found in Knave's hand.

"My preliminary examination says that these pieces came from the same place," Mint announced, holding the pieces aloft in his gloved hands, which fit together like puzzle pieces. "But I'll test their chemical makeup to make sure."

Licorice's eyes grew wide. "We need to get over to Gramma Nut's house right away. I have a bad feeling."

I couldn't agree more. We double-timed it to the patrol car and sped toward Nut's house. If my hunch was correct, Gramma Nut was in serious trouble. As he drove, Licorice popped onto the patrol car's radio and called for reinforcements. His crew of Licorice Bites few into action.

We hopped out of the car as it skidded to a stop and raced to the glossy peanut brittle cottage. The sun hung low in the sky, our investigation running into the evening. Long shadows made the cheerful house appear sinister and foreboding.

Licorice banged on the purple tear-shaped door. "Gramma Nut, we need to ask you a few questions." His voice boomed with authority. Finally, I thought.

"Just a moment, dearie," Gramma Nut called. We waited as she shuffled to the door and opened it. All the vim and vigor from our meeting by the sheriff's office was gone.

When she opened the door, Nut angled her body so that she blocked the door from opening. "Hello, Sheriff. How can I help you?"

"I need to ask you a few questions about the Knave case. Can you please accompany me to the station?" Licorice said, placing his hand on the door so it couldn't be closed.

As Lirocire and Nutt spoke, I dipped around the side of the house. From the rear of the cottage, I heard shuffling. I peeked around the corner of the peanut brittle cottage and found another Gramma Nut pulling a drop cloth off a brand new motorcycle leaning against a small shed. A shock of white hair peeked out from under a light brown wig affixed to her head by a blue bonnet. I could see the saddlebag emblazoned with the Pat-a-Cake logo, and it looked to be stuffed full of something. Most likely three dozen lollipops.

I watched as she mounted the bike and tried to start it, but the engine only wheezed and wouldn't catch.

"It's probably clogged with molasses from the swamp," I said, stepping around the corner of the house.

The Nut imposter shot me a wide-eyed look over her shoulder, launched herself from the bike, landed with the grace of a panther's, and pulled a chocolate gun from her apron.

"If you made that from the same chocolate that killed Knave, you'd be lucky to get off one shot before it crumbled," I said with false confidence.

She sneered at me, ran away around the other side of the cottage, and smacked into Licorice. The sheriff promptly grabbed the villain and cuffed her with enough red vines to choke an elephant.

The imposter Nut struggled against her restaurants and tried to bolt past Licorice, who snagged her shoulder and held her tight.

"You're strong for an old woman," Licorice commented. His voice filled with admiration. "Just out of curiosity, do you work out? I've been looking for a good regiment. Any suggestions?"

The murderer spat at Licorice, the glob of spittle landing with a firm plop on the tip of his shiny black shoe.

I strolled up and pulled the bonnet and wing off, revealing Gramma's Gooey's white curls. "The jig is up, Gooey." Then, reaching into her apron pocket and retrieved my coffee-stained business card. "Your sister carries a binder for all of her business cards. You should have studied her before trying to frame her for murder."

Gooey snarled. "And here I thought you'd never solve it without Jack to carry you. I see you're the brains of the operation. We could use someone like you in Fairy Tale Land, Jill."

Licorice shot me a puzzled look as he passed Gooey off to a uniformed officer who dragged the old villain away.

I returned to the bike and discovered Knave's EpiPen and the missing lollipops. What a waste, I thought. All this bother over money.

"Hey, Sheriff," called one of the officers. "We found these in the shed." She held up a pair of blue shoes with thick wooden heels already secured in an evidence bag.

"May I?" I asked. The officer nodded and handed me the shoes. I brought up the image Mint had texted and checked it against the soles of the shoes. The bruise left on Knave's back appeared to match the shoes.

I thanked the officer, handed back the evidence, and told her to take good care of them before entering Gramma Nut's house.

"I was so frightened when Gooey showed up this morning," Gramma Nut said, sipping a piping cup of tea.

"She's been here longer than a day," I said, observing the older woman. "All those moments you thought you'd forgotten were Gooey masquerading as you."

"More than a day?" She whispered the words like they weren't real. "But where?"

"In your back shed. One of the officers found what appears to be a camp, food, sleeping bag, clothes." I answered. "From the state of the shed, it looks like she's been here at least a couple of weeks."

"Oh, my," Nut said, setting her tea on the table. "But why? I thought she was dead."

"She faked her death so no one from her former life would ruin her new gig."

"What gig?" Gramma Nut looked like she might faint. I felt terrible for the old gal.

"She was running a chocolate ring, selling crappy dark chocolate as the high-end stuff. She'd made quite a reputation, selling it on the black market to other towns and villages. Knave used to run shipments for her and then ran off with a fat stack of cash, and she came looking for it."

"And she killed him because of it, dressed like me, and planted my shingle at the scene to frame me." Nut covered her face with her hands and wept.

I couldn't imagine what she was going through. Sure, Jack had double-crossed me, but he was my lover, not my flesh and blood. Jack had left me, taking our car, our dog, Spot (a gift from Dick and Jane when we'd moved in together), and emptied our bank account. But he hadn't set me up for murder.

Lollipop burst in then and took Gramma Nut in her arms. "There, there," she soothed. "You don't have to worry about anything. We'll take care of you."

I turned to see the whole of Candy Land had come to rally around Nut. Tears burned in my eyes, and I took my leave.

The sun had ushered away the moon and stars as I caught the streetcar back to Nurseryville, and I had a lot to ponder. I pulled my cell from my coat pocket and dialed.

"Three Pigs Printing, you dream it, we make it. Sticks, speaking."

"Hey, Sticks, it's me, Jill. I need to order more business cards."

"Sure thing, Jill. Same order as before?" Sticks asked. I could hear him scratching the order on a purchase form.

"Not exactly. I'm dropping Jack's name." My heart fluttered at the decision.

"You got it. The cards will be ready in a day or so. I'll give you a call when you can pick them up."

"Thank you, Sticks."

"Oh, and Jill, for the record, it's about time." Sticks hung up, and the fluttering in my heart migrated to my stomach, where it turned to excitement. Jill's Detective Agency had a fantastic ring to it.