Dying for Chocolate

I shook my head. “I just don’t think she would do it. She’s weird, but not murderous.’ I reflected. “She and Weezie were having a fight about something, though. Did Philip leave anything for Weezie, that was what the argument was about.”

“Leave what, like money?”

“I don’t know. Elizabeth wants to get together. Maybe I could talk to her.”

“Your mission, Miss G., is to find out what the fight was about. Leave Weezie what?”

“This is kind of gross,” I said, “but was he an organ donor or something? I remember Elizabeth yelling he left his body to science. Maybe that’s what he was going to leave.”

Schulz turned the steaks over. Tantalizing smoke rushed out.

He said, “I checked. He was a donor. Contrary to public perception, a death in a car crash means his heart and kidneys couldn’t be donated. Only things that can be, were. Skin and corneas. Both per Miller’s instruction. “ He threw more water droplets on the fire. “No evidence of poison in the autopsy, by the way. I already told you he was negative for drugs. I still can’t figure out that cantharidin. He didn’t have any of the internal inflammation that would have shown he’d been given some.”

“Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. He tucked in the steaks’ sides and came over to sit next to me on the bench. He pulled one foot up on his knee. “You doing okay? Need anything? I got a big salad and some baked potatoes inside. Strawberry pie made by my favorite caterer.”

I smiled. “Not to mention steaks cooked by a great cop.”

He turned, put his arms around the alpaca with me inside, pulled the package close. My inner tightness melted. His facial skin was cool. His sandy hair smelled intensely of steak smoke. I could hear my heart beating.

“I’m worried about you,” he said into my ear. “And I miss you.”

I unraveled my arms from the alpaca, reached out for his large waist.

“Somebody’s driving up,” he said, very low.

Just when things were getting good.

“Mom!” came Arch’s distant voice. “Mom, I changed my mind!” Tires ground into the mud. A car turned around. “Mom! The general brought me! I even remembered how to get here! Where are you, around back?”

Schulz and I untangled ourselves.

Schulz cocked his head at me. Said, “To be continued.”

Arch burst out onto the patio. “Wow, does that smell good! It’s okay for me to come this late, isn’t it?”

17.

Food always tastes better when it’s cooked by someone else. When that someone else was Tom Schulz, you were in good hands. The juicy steaks were redolent of a garlic-Burgundy marinade, the flaky baked potatoes oozed melted butter, and every leaf of the green salad was unabashedly coated with thick guacamole dressing. Schulz confessed to having called Arch to find out how I liked chocolate best. Arch had said, With mint. Therefore, alongside our strawberry pie we had Schulz’s famous chocolate-mint cheesecake. So much for the National Cholesterol Institute.

Arch was happy in Tom Schulz’s company. He felt accepted and it showed; he even called Schulz by his first name. After some initial hesitation, Arch dug in and ate voraciously. Toward the end of our visit he became downright chatty. Did Tom know how to call the wizard to tell him what card was in his hand? He did not. Arch took out a deck of cards and had Tom pick one. Then he called a friend of his, and the wizard announced the card to Tom, who was amazed.

“It’s a code,” said Arch. “Like Mom and I used to have when I was little. If I wanted her to come pick me up at a friend’s house, or if I was having some kind of problem at school or something? I would just call her up and say, ’The seven of spades.’ She knew to come right away, and I wouldn’t be embarrassed trying to explain things. Calling the wizard,” Arch went on, “is a code that a lot of magicians use. The caller knows the card. The wizard is just any one of your friends who knows the trick.” He gave me a wide grin, the first I’d seen in a while. “Even Mom knows it.”

SCHULZ’S GUACAMOLE SALAD

1 head iceberg lettuce

¼ cup grated cheddar cheese

¼ A cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

½ cup chopped scallions

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup crushed corn chips (recommended: Chili Cheese Fritos)

DRESSING:

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and mashed

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

½ cup sour cream

1/3 cup corn oil

1 tablespoon picante sauce

Tear lettuce into small pieces and combine with cheeses, scallions, and tomatoes. Cover and refrigerate in salad bowl until serving time. Combine all ingredients for dressing and mix well. Toss salad with dressing and sprinkle top with crushed chips.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

“Would you teach me?” asked Tom Schulz. “Please?”

Arch hesitated, then said he could use another wizard, anyway. He told Schulz that if someone called and asked for the wizard, to run slowly through the suits, until the caller interrupted him. Then the wizard ran downward from the ace until the caller interrupted him again.