Free Sally Berneathy - Death by Chocolate 03 - The Great Chocolate Scam by Sally Berneathy Page A

important than getting rid of the rabid relatives. At least, that was Henry’s opinion.
    “ Are you aware you have a screaming horde on your front porch?” Fred asked.
    “ I do recall seeing something like that, and I need you to help me get rid of them.” I poured food into Henry’s bowl.
    “ The machine gun again?”
    “ Only if you have bullets in it.” Henry dove into his food with enthusiasm. It took so little to make him happy. Much better son than Rickie.
    “ I would really enjoy that, but I don’t think it would be a good idea. Your buddy Trent would be upset. He’s so narrow-minded about things like that.”
    “ Some friend you are, won’t even kill a few people for me. Fine, at least go with me to Rick’s house and pick the lock so I can get them inside.”
    “That’s actually what I called about.”
    “ Really? You knew I didn’t have a key?”
    “ I didn’t know, but it doesn’t surprise me. Threw it in Rick’s face when you left, didn’t you?”
    Sometimes Fred scares me with how much he knows. Or guesses. “Hit him on the nose.”
    “ Good for you. I’ll get you in the house now that the crime scene tape’s gone—”
    “ How did you know the tape’s gone?” See what I mean about the things he knows?
    “It’s public information. I’ll get you in, but we have to search that house before you let that barbarian horde in there to destroy evidence.”
    “ What evidence? The cops have been all over that house the last few days. They won’t have left anything.” Henry finished the last morsel of food, looked up and asked politely to go outside. Grace should have got a cat instead of having a son.
    “That’s possible, but we need to look anyway,” Fred said. “The police found pieces of a computer in the wreckage, but they didn’t find a backup drive in the house or at his office.”
    “ Maybe he didn’t have one.” I opened the back door and let Henry out.
    “ Maybe. But that’s unlikely considering all the details he had to keep track of for his business. If anything had happened to his original files, he’d have had some real problems. I feel certain he left a backup somewhere. You need to sneak out your kitchen door then go down the alley, and I’ll pick you up at the end of the block.”
    “ What about the horde?”
    “ Be sure all your doors and windows are locked. If they get bad enough, maybe somebody will call the police and report them for disturbing the peace.” He hung up.
    I looked at my inert cell phone. Rick’s relatives were strange, no doubt about it, but my friend was a little strange too.
    Nevertheless, I headed out the back door, locking up carefully behind myself. At least I’d get to ride in Fred’s 1968 vintage white Mercedes. He was very picky about that car and would probably complain later about finding long red hairs everywhere. Like I pulled them out and dropped them on purpose.
    Okay, maybe a couple just to annoy him.
    I skulked across my back yard and through the bushes. Henry was lying on his stomach in the weeds, watching some creature intently. He gave me a quick, frowning look when I stepped on a stick and made a noise, then went back to studying his invisible prey. Sometimes I wondered if he had hallucinations, but I never brought it up.
    Fred was waiting when I got to the end of the alley. I slid in, sank onto the soft leather seat, and we drove away, going exactly the speed limit, not one mile over. That was enough to drive me crazy. I consider speed limits to be suggestions for people who do n’t drive very well. Those people annoy me when they get in my way. And just for the record, Trent has steadfastly refused to fix even one speeding ticket for me. We’ve had a few discussions about that and will, I’m sure, have a few more.
    “There’s no evidence Rickie is Rick’s son,” Fred said as he eased around a corner. “The father on his birth certificate is listed as unknown .”
    “That’s interesting. So all that