The Chocolate Cat Caper Read Online Free PDF Page A

a chance to talk to Lindy.”
    “I just don’t like the thought of you working for the woman who was responsible for your uncle’s death!”

Chapter 3
    I stared at Aunt Nettie. When Uncle Phil, my mother’s brother, had died eighteen months earlier, that left Aunt Nettie as sole owner of TenHuis Chocolade—an expert on chocolate, but a little hazy on the business side. Uncle Phil had been killed by a drunk driver. But the guy had been tried and sentenced to jail, and this was the first time I’d heard that Clementine Ripley had anything to do with it.
    “What do you mean, ‘the woman who was responsible for Uncle Phil’s death?’ ”
    “That was the reason I didn’t want to do all that chocolate!”
    “But you had the chocolate cat mold.”
    “Oh, I ordered that two years ago, and it got here too late to use. When Clementine Ripley called the order in, it was your first day. I wasn’t here, but I guess somebody told you about the cat mold.”
    “Yes, I asked one of the ladies, and she said the special mold was available. But what’s this about Clementine Ripley’s connection with the wreck that killed Uncle Phil?”
    “She kept that terrible Troy Sheepshanks out of prison.”
    “Troy Sheepshanks? Wasn’t that the driver?”
    “Yes! He killed your uncle Phil. But it was the second time he’d been involved in a fatal accident. The first time he hired Clementine Ripley, and the district attorney wouldn’t even file charges.”
    “Then the evidence must not have been good.”
    “It would have been good enough if Troy had had any other attorney. The district attorney was simply scared to face her in court. So he dropped the case.”
    “That’s terrible. But . . .”
    Aunt Nettie sat down in an office chair and pursed her lips. She looked as solid as ever, and she hadn’t burst into tears. Only someone like me, who’d known her a long time, would have realized that she was extremely upset.
    “Because Troy Sheepshanks was never charged in that first case, he got his license back and was on the highway—drunk again—when he killed Phil.” She sat back and folded her arms across her solid bosom. One lonely tear ran down her cheek. “I’ve always blamed Clementine Ripley as much as I blamed Troy Sheepshanks. If she’d been responsible at all, she would have seen that he shouldn’t be driving. You don’t know how often I’ve longed to kill that woman.”
    I was sitting in an office chair that was on rollers. So I dug in my heels, grabbed the end of the desk, and scooted across the floor until I was knee to knee with Aunt Nettie. Not graceful, but I got there. “Why didn’t you tell me all this?”
    She shrugged, sniffed, and shook her head silently.
    “If I’d known, I’d never have urged you to fill that order for chocolates.”
    “No. You were right. We can’t refuse to sell chocolates just because we don’t like the customers who want to buy them.” Aunt Nettie sniffed again, but this time she smiled. “I hate Hawaiian shirts, but I’m glad to sell chocolates to people who wear them.”
    “We could put up a sign on the door: ‘Hawaiian shirts? No service.’ ” That made her laugh, just a little, and I gave her a one-armed hug. “Listen, I’ll call Mr. Herrera and tell him I can’t serve at the party after all.”
    “No! No! He’s counting on you now.”
    I could have predicted that reaction, I guess. The Warner Pier business community is not large, and the merchants help each other out. “I won’t make a habit of being backup help for Mike Herrera,” I said. “But Mom didn’t tell me a thing about all these problems with Clementine Ripley.”
    “She probably didn’t know. For the last few years your uncle and I haven’t had much contact with her. And you were having your own problems when Phil died.”
    That was true. Uncle Phil had died a month after I left Rich and when I was hitting my lowest point financially. My mom is notorious for never saving a cent. She is