FORTY-FOUR

NIGHT dropped her veil on Manhattan, turning the bright maze of city streets into a shadowy underworld. As I rolled home, the tall, spotless windows of my coffeehouse shone like welcoming beacons in a wine-dark sea. The golden glow cheered me for a moment—but only a moment.

“Where’s Mother?” Matt asked from behind the counter.

“Safe with Otto. I dropped her at his gallery. Don’t worry.”

“Worrying is all I’m doing, Clare. All I’ve been doing.”

“That makes two of us.”

Feeling down but not out, I settled in at my own marble-topped bar. I still hadn’t heard from Quinn—and Joy hadn’t heard from Franco, or so she had informed me the last time I’d phoned her.

Matt slid me a fresh ristretto, took the stool next to me. “Find out anything that will help Alicia?”

I held up a finger, knocked back the strong elixir. “We found out plenty. It will help Sherri, too.” I brought Matt up to speed on what we’d discovered.

He sat dumbfounded a moment. “You have been busy.”

“The ride home was just as productive. Your mother drove part of the Grand Central so I could have a long cell phone conversation with Lori Soles.”

“Wait. Didn’t Lori cut you off at the dock last night?”

“She did, but I don’t blame her. All the evidence pointed to Alicia—except for one thing. And that’s why she listened to me tonight. This morning, the crime scene people finally came up with a solid forensic image off a hidden security camera. The date and time stamp made the evidence irrefutable.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Remember those fake Greek columns at Rock Center’s Garden? They were lit from inside.”

He nodded. “I remember.”

“Well, their glow turned the rain puddles into mirrors—and one of the building’s hidden cameras picked up a clear reflection of the killer’s legs as she moved to and from the podium to bludgeon Patrice Stone.”

“You’re telling me a photo of legs will ID the killer?”

“No, but they are exculpatory for Alicia because she wasn’t wearing opaque red stockings that night, and my killer was—or, rather, the young woman I believe is really Olympia Temple.”

“So what’s Lori going to do?”

“She and Sue Ellen are starting to run background checks, follow up on that thread. I hope they come up with something, before Olympia strikes again. . . ” I dug into my bag for my cell, checked the messages. “Why won’t she call me back?”

“Who?”

“Aphrodite. She’s next on Olympia’s hit list. I’m sure of it. What I don’t know is what she’s planning—an outright murder or another frame job. And if she’s planning a frame job, I can only guess who she’s going to kill.”

“I take it you called Aphrodite to warn her.”

“Of course. I warned Lori Soles, too. I don’t know if the police have gotten in touch with her yet, but so far Aphrodite is ignoring me, just like she ignored Gudrun.” I closed my eyes. “Mike hasn’t called me, either. Not since leaving a message last night.”

“You need a cop that bad?”

I need Mike that bad. I took a breath, tried not to ache for him, and opened my eyes. They felt wet.

“Clare?”

“It’s a cinch,” I said, swiping at my cheeks. “My own personal cop would come in handy right now.”

Matt touched my arm. “Look, as long as Dudley Do-Right is MIA, I’ll be your cop, okay?” He formed a gun with his finger and thumb, took aim, fired, even blew on the finger barrel. “No kidding. I’ll help any way I can.”

“Help!” Esther squeaked, eyes wide.

Matt and I turned to find her hanging up the store phone.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nancy has gone off the deep end!” Esther came at us, hands flying like the Scylla monster. “That crazy girl drugged Dante!”

“What!” Matt’s eyes bugged. I covered mine, and Tucker misplaced his latte pour. Half the steamed milk ended up on the work counter.

“Is this your typical day, Clare?”

“Esther,” I said, “who exactly was on that phone?”

“Dante,” she replied. “Calling from Beth Israel’s ER.”

“Is he poisoned?”

“Dante’s fine. Apparently, it was Nancy who got sick.”

“Explain, please!” Tucker demanded, wiping up the latte foam. “Narrative, narrative!”

Esther folded her arms. “Dante went over to Nancy’s place to show her more tattoo designs. He told me he knew she was crushin’ on him, but he figured it would be okay because she has two roommates. But, of course, Nancy arranged to be alone when he arrived, and she slipped him a massive dose of Mocha Magic in a mug of hot cocoa!”

“The definition of date rape,” Matt said, rubbing his goatee. “It’s also a felony.”

I held my head. “Oh brother.”

“Dante claimed he was in control of his libido—and then he wasn’t,” Esther said. “But Nancy got dizzy before they got very far and threw up all over him.” She rolled her eyes. “Serves Baldini the Barista right. I warned him to steer clear of that lovesick girl! Now she’s just sick.”

“Wait,” I said. “Why is Nancy sick?”

“Apparently she drank the stuff, too—and it gave her a temporary bout of hypertension,” Esther tapped a finger on her chin. “Or was it hypotension. Anyway, the doctor said it was a reaction to siden-daffodil, or siden-dafquil—”

“Sildenafil,” Tuck said a bit sheepishly. “That’s in Viagra. You know, the little blue pill.”

“If that’s what Aphrodite put in our Mocha Magic, it’s definitely a controlled substance,” I said. “I can’t believe she jeopardized people’s health like that. What was she thinking?”

Matt spit an ugly word about Aphrodite. Then he cursed in French, long and hard.

“So where’s Nancy now?” I asked.

Esther took a breath. “Dante stayed with Nancy at the ER for three hours, but he had to leave her—he’s late now for a gallery event with some of his own paintings.”

I reached for my sweater. “I’ll go get her—”

Esther stopped me. “Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Boss, but it gets worse. Nancy is convinced Gudrun Voss is responsible for that crap in the Mocha Magic. She told Dante that as soon as she’s discharged—which is any minute now—she’s going to hop a train to Williamsburg and give the chocolatier a piece of her mind.”

I reached for my cell and speed dialed Nancy. After several agonizing rings, an electronic voice told me to leave a message.

I turned to Matt. “I couldn’t reach her. She must be in the subway already. There’s no signal down there.”

Matt had calmed a bit—or at least he’d stopped cursing.

“Listen,” I said, grabbing his arm. “We have to go to Voss Chocolate. I feel partially responsible for this. That poor girl is lovesick and just plain sick. She’s not thinking straight, Matt. We have to get to Nancy, explain it’s not Gudrun’s fault, and bring her home.”

Matt began a new string of curses, this time in Portuguese. I had no clue what he said, but it sounded very rude.

Esther waved her hand. “Take me! Take me! If you’re going to Chocolate World, I will be happy to ride shotgun. Mr. Boss can stay here.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Matt said. “I’ve been slaving away all day behind that counter. Even a drive to Brooklyn in Breanne’s crappy hybrid sounds like a vacation.”

“Fine,” Esther said folding her arms. “But I’m giving you both my chocoholic shopping list.”

 

 

“MATT! That’s Aphrodite’s town car. I recognize the vanity plates.”

“Eros, huh?” Matt snorted. “That woman is a walking cliché.”

My ex-husband’s foot was as heavy as Esther’s list was long, and we’d made it to Williamsburg in record time. But progress slowed in the maze of narrow, one-way streets in this waterfront district, so it was after ten when we arrived.

A Voss Chocolate banner hung like a medieval standard from the walls of a century-old, three-story building on the edge of the river. It was past closing time, and all the doors and windows were shuttered with steel gates, including the tiny retail outlet on the ground floor where Aphrodite’s car was parked.

Matt edged our sedan into a spot next door, in front of a plywood-walled construction site. I jumped out before he cut the engine.

My heels echoed hollowly as I ran to Aphrodite’s vehicle. A boat whistle sounded, the lights on the towering span of the Williamsburg Bridge winked between a pair of ancient marine warehouses, newly transformed into trendy stores and pricey co-ops for the affluent hipster.

The windows on the late-model town car were tinted, but I could see a Mocha Magic press kit on the back seat.

“Oh, yeah,” I said, “this is Aphrodite’s ride.”

“So?”

“So I’ve been trying to reach her all evening, warn her she’s in danger. Obviously, she’s inside now with Gudrun.”

“We’re here to find our wayward barista. Not rescue a drama queen.”

“Calm down, Matt. You’re getting angry again.”

He grunted.

“This is a working factory,” I told him. “Deliveries arrive at all hours, There has to be a way in . . .”

The building was unadorned and had few windows. It housed a full-scale chocolate factory, along with facilities where Gudrun mixed her cocoa with the Blend’s coffee beans and Alicia’s powder to create the Mocha Magic syrup. The mocha concentrate was then bottled and sent to Long Island City where another facility freeze-dried and packaged it.

As I hugged myself against a chilly wind whipping off the water, I noticed a hand-scrawled sign beside one of the smaller gates: Late-Night Deliveries. Over that sign I found the doorbell and intercom. I hit the button and a buzzer sounded deep inside the building.

“What are you doing, Clare? Let’s go back to the car and wait for Nancy to show up.”

“But Nancy is probably inside already.”

“Clare, she took mass transit. You know how lousy subway service can be at night. Nancy might not even be in Brooklyn yet.”

“She’s had plenty of time to get here.” I said, buzzing again. Stubbornly, I pressed a third time, then a fourth. Finally, I reached for my purse and phone—only to discover I’d left them in the car.

“Matt, go back to the car and grab my purse from the front seat. I have Voss’s number on speed-dial. I’ll call Gudrun and tell her to stop ignoring the doorbell.”

Matt was halfway to the car when the intercom crackled. “Who is it?” The voice was soft and electronically garbled.

“Gudrun? Is that you? It’s Clare Cosi.”

“You’re looking for Nancy, your little lost barista.” I heard a sound. Was that a giggle? “Nancy is here with us. Would you like to come in?”

Matt heard the intercom and turned. But Gudrun sounded odd and I sensed there was something wrong, so I waved him back.

The noise of grinding metal startled me as a hidden mechanism raised the shutter. I glimpsed movement through the glass door. Two figures were silhouetted against the blinding lights inside the factory. Blinking against the glare, I realized one of the figures was pressing a very large handgun to the other’s head.

“Come in, Clare Cosi. Now, or your little friend Nancy dies,” the soft voice taunted through the intercom.

Gudrun Voss is Olympia Temple? Good God, how could I have been so wrong?

Matt saw me tense and moved forward. I swung one hand behind my back and made a gun out of my thumb and index finger, pumping the thumb a few times to stress my point.

Please, Matt, see my finger gun! Figure it out!

As I moved toward the door, I risked a sidelong glance at my ex. He watched, openmouthed, until I was almost inside. Then he turned and ran back to the car with an urgency that told me he’d gotten the message.

Matt will call the police. He’ll tell them there are hostages, and they’ll send a SWAT team. Everything will be okay . . .

I’d hardly pushed through the glass door when the steel gate descended again. My heart took off, my brow grew damp with perspiration.

Heaven help me, I’m locked in with a stone-cold killer . . .

The scent of chocolate permeated the air. A machine roared dully somewhere on the factory floor. I watched Gudrun remove a Blue Tooth headset and toss it aside.

“Step forward,” she commanded in a voice louder than Gudrun’s usual meek tone.

I took three steps—not quite lunging but fast enough to rattle my adversary. She stepped backward, onto the factory floor, dragging her silent, struggling hostage with her. Was it Nancy? I couldn’t see the girl’s face! A burlap sack covered her head. I couldn’t see Gudrun’s face, either. I recognized her signature black chef’s jacket, but her features were obscured by her long, dark, loosely hanging hair.

Nancy (if it was Nancy) hardly struggled and never spoke. The burlap hood muffled her frightened whimpers as she docilely followed Gudrun’s lead.

Piled up around me were large, fat burlap sacks, all stuffed with dried and fermented cacao from Madagascar, South and Central America, and the Ivory Coast of Africa.

Gudrun had hollowed out the center of the building, and I could see all the way up to the roof and its massive glass skylight. Roasters, winnowing machines, grinders, mixers, and vats of chocolate liquor lined the brick walls.

“Where’s Aphrodite?” I demanded. “I know she’s here.”

“You know, do you?”

Gudrun’s voice was much too forceful, and I finally realized that I’d been played—and I’d been right.

“I know a lot of things,” I told the killer. “I know you’re not Gudrun Voss, for instance. And I know you’re not Daphne Krupa, either. Your name is Olympia Temple.”

The hostage began to struggle, and her captor cuffed her with the butt of the gun. Alarmed, I stepped forward, and Olympia leveled the weapon at my heart. With a sharp laugh she tossed her head, and the black wig fell away, revealing her pixie hair.

“I know everything, Olympia. And Soles and Bass—the policewomen I’ve been helping—they know everything, too.”

“Everything?” she cried. “What do they know? What do you know?”

I know the SWAT team is on its way, I thought. Only a minute or so had gone by, and I had three or four to wait, maybe more. The police wouldn’t be using sirens, so I wouldn’t hear them coming, but I needed time for them to get to us, and that meant I’d have to keep this maniac talking.

“I know you used an ice sculpture to fake your suicide,” I told her. “The ice hit the water like a body, then melted away so authorities would find shreds of your clothes and no sign of an artificial dummy. You used the same trick on the yacht—with our missing Venus ice sculpture—to fake your own murder.”

“How can you know that?” Olympia said, her tone clearly shocked.

“I know that—and I know how you got off the boat without getting caught . . .” While I spoke I searched for a way out, or a way to strike back. “Like the nymph in Ovid’s Metamorphoses , Daphne transformed into a laurel—not a tree this time, but a man. You became John Laurel, the reporter whose press pass you got from Susan Chu.”

“Poor Susie, she never figured anything out, never saw it coming when I hit her. I would have killed her, too, but I needed a witness to tell everyone I was dead. So I hit her from behind, painted the name Rufina, then screamed to get everyone’s attention before throwing the ice sculpture overboard and slipping away to transform again.”

I nodded my head, feigning admiration. “A stroke of genius. You had us all fooled. You were too smart.”

“You figured out a lot—for a glorified deli-counter girl.”

“But not everything,” I said, reigning in my fury. “I never figured out where you hid that umbrella. The one you used to bludgeon Patrice to death. Or the raincoat that kept blood splatters from staining your party clothes.”

“You actually helped me that night,” she said. “You and Mrs. Dubois knocked over that fiberglass Greek column and broke the interior light. The hollow tube was dark, so I stuffed the umbrella inside, along with my raincoat.”

I nodded again, like an impressed protégé. “You played us all.”

Olympia flashed a twisted smirk. “People are fools. Tell them what they want to hear, show them what they want to see, and they’ll follow like lemmings.”

“Is that how you lured Aphrodite tonight? Did you tell her what she wanted to hear?”

“Close enough. I waited for Gudrun’s closing time and took her hostage. Then I used Gudrun’s e-mail account to send a message to Aphrodite. ‘I’m going to the press with the truth about the drug in Mocha Magic unless you meet me at my shop at once.’ Worked like a charm. Dressed as Gudrun, I waved her inside and slammed the gates. Aphrodite and her little golden-haired assistant, Minthe, walked right into my trap.”

I was walking, too. Every few seconds I’d take a small step forward. Without realizing it, Olympia was backing away from me.

“But your plan tonight,” I said, desperate to keep her talking. “I can’t make sense of this . . .”

“Because you’re too stupid,” she said. Olympia squared her shoulders, clearly proud and pleased to have an audience, someone who could appreciate her masterful plan. “These women, these Sisters, condemned my mother to a cage, like some kind of animal. A place so horrible there was only one escape possible—”

“Suicide.”

“Now Alicia and Sherri will spend the rest of their days caged like animals, too.”

“And Aphrodite? Will she spend the rest of her life in prison?”

“That whore? The one who ruined my life?” Olympia shook her head. “Oh no. She dies here. Tonight. Thanks to the e-mail I sent, the police will think Aphrodite came here to murder Gudrun.”

“Why?”

“Because she threatened to reveal the truth about that drugged-up mocha powder of yours. And after Aphrodite shoots Gudrun, she’ll burn this place to hide the evidence. Of course, some of you will be trapped here in her fire—and because Aphrodite didn’t count on your interference, she’ll be knocked unconscious before she can escape, too. The police will find the gun still in her hand.” Olympia smiled. “Death by fire—a fitting fate, don’t you think? A whore on her way to Hades.”

As I continued moving slowly forward, Olympia kept backing up. Now she stood beside a metal shelf holding cellophane-covered buckets of dark mocha syrup.

I heard a moan coming from the other side of that shelf. I risked a peek and saw Aphrodite sprawled on the floor but stirring. Gudrun lay nearby, stripped down to her black brassier and slacks. My breath caught when I spied Nancy, lying right next to them, eyes closed, arms curled.

Oh my God, Nancy! Is she still alive?

I choked down my fear, my rage. “I know something else, Olympia. I know that’s not my barista you’re threatening. Why don’t you let the poor girl go?”

Olympia faked surprise and pushed the girl to her knees. Then she ripped the sack away. Minthe’s puppy dog eyes blinked up at me.

“My mistake,” Olympia said. Before I could react, she pressed the gun against Minthe’s head and pulled the trigger.

The blast was deafening. One second Minthe’s thin, pale face was there—and then it wasn’t. The body flew sideways and struck the plank floor with a hollow thud.

“You crazy bitch!” I screamed.

Then we both heard a crash loud enough to cut through the gunshot still ringing in our eardrums. Shards of shattered skylight rained down. Along with the glass came a figure clinging to a thin black cord

“POLICE! SWAT TEAM! FREEZE! WE’RE ARMED! DROP YOUR WEAPON! GIVE IT UP!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a real SWAT team—it was Matt, all alone. He’d heard the shot, freaked, and taken a reckless chance. For a moment he hung suspended above the factory floor, yelling that he was the police, the army, SEAL Team Six, and whatever else popped into his head. Then, suddenly, whatever he’d used for a rope snapped under his weight, and Matt plunged straight down.

“POLICE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP! YOU’RE UNDER AR—oooph!”

Matt landed on a stack of Madagascar cacao. The hard landing shut his mouth and eyes. The fall knocked him out!

Olympia was rattled, then raging. She approached my unconscious ex, gun extended.

Oh no you don’t! I rushed her. Reaching up, I yanked a pail of mocha syrup off the shelf, dumping it over her head.

As Olympia knocked the pail away, I grabbed her wrist with both hands. She fought me, eyes closed, blinded by the brown goo. She was strong, but I was determined, and it came down to a battle of wills.

As we struggled over the gun, Aphrodite ran by us, on her way to one of the factory’s windows and a fire escape beyond.

“Help me!” I begged. “Grab the gun, Aphrodite! Do something!”

But she kept going, her only interest saving herself! With a single heave, she lifted the big window and crawled through onto the metal fire escape. Night air whipped her flowing dress as the river’s black water roiled below.

Olympia could see by now—enough to realize her prize prey was escaping. Enraged, she kicked me hard, sending me backward.

“Die! Die! Die!” she howled as she pumped three shots into Aphrodite’s back. The goddess swayed in the wind, then tumbled into the water below.

Olympia whirled to face me. But I was ready with another bucket of Mocha Magic—and this time I swung it like a club. Again and again, I bounced the metal pail off Olympia’s head. The chocolate-covered monster finally dropped without a sound, and I kicked the gun out of her limp hand.

“Matt! Matt!”

I ran to my ex and dropped to my knees beside the pallet of cacao beans. He wasn’t moving, and it didn’t look like he was breathing, either. I brushed aside his shaggy hair, touched his cheek—and his eyes opened!

“I think I hurt myself . . .” He moaned.

“You big, dumb, stupid hero! You could have killed yourself!”

“Oh, man, the dog was worse than the fall.”

“Dog?”

“A very fast German shepherd guarding the construction site next door. I climbed that building to jump to this one. But not before that damn shepherd bit me in the butt.”

Tears stinging my eyes, I hugged him—then I jumped and Matt bolted upright when a controlled explosion blew the steel gate off. Ropes fluttered down from the shattered skylight, too, followed by armed and armored men. Boots hit the plank floor all around us. More men stormed through the blasted gate, weapons raised.

A SWAT team—a real one—had finally arrived.

“What took you so long,” Matt groused.

A tactical officer in black armor emerged from behind the metal shelf, Nancy Kelly in his arms. Pale and shaken, my barista touched her bruised head. But her buoyant inner Nancy returned when she saw me.

“Holy smokin’ rockets, boss. What the heck hit me?”