I would do it for ten. Kidding. Mostly.
“Marcus was on a cruise during the festival, right?” Obviously alibis need to be verified even when they involve bachelor parties and international waters.
“It’s his brother’s bachelor party cruise,” Muffin confirms. “They left from Boston on Friday and won’t be back until Sunday. He’s been sending me pictures of sunsets and complaining about seasickness.”
“Alibis can be bought,” Lenny muses grimly. “Check the cruise manifest. Make sure he’s actually on that ship.”
“What about the family business troubles?” I continue, becausefinancial stress has a way of bringing out the worst in people, especially when millions of dollars are involved.
Muffin’s expression darkens further. “Duncan had been... creative with the company books. Moving money around, hiding losses, making it look like we were doing better than we actually were.”
“Embezzlement?” I ask bluntly. This corroborates what Gina told us.
“More like creative accounting,” she hedges. “But Fairbanks was getting suspicious. He’s very tech-savvy, always running numbers and analyzing financial patterns. He’d been asking uncomfortable questions.”
“And Bunny’s wellness campaign was hurting chocolate sales,” I add.
“Oh, that woman,” Muffin says with a grunt. “Her entire business model is based on convincing people that everything delicious is trying to kill them. Do you know what that does to a chocolate company’s bottom line?”
“I bet it’s not good for business,” I’m quick to point out. In fact, Gina told me as much.
“It’s devastating,” Muffin confirms. “Sales dropped thirty percent after her book came out. Duncan was livid. He kept saying she was going to destroy everything our family had built.”
“Sounds like everyone had a reason to want Dunky-poo dead,” Carlotta says with a shrug. “Talk about a family that really believes in multitasking.”
“Carlotta,” I snap, because even though she’s not wrong, there are tactful ways to point out that an entire family had murder motives.
“I’m just saying, it’s impressive how many people benefited from his untimely demise,” she continues cheerfully. “Usually, you’ve got to work harder to find this many suspects with this many good reasons.”
It’s so true.
Muffin stares at Carlotta as if she just realized she’s dealing with a woman who operates by completely different social rules.
“Speaking of your books,” I say, steering the conversation toward what might be crucial evidence, “I heard your latest manuscriptfeatures a chocolate empire heir who dies mysteriously.” Okay, so I heard something in that arena. But if what Gina said was true about those books reading like a diary, then maybe, just maybe…
Muffin’s face goes pale in a way that suggests I’ve just hit a nerve with surgical precision.
“That’s... that’s just a coincidence,” she stammers. “Fiction written months before Duncan’s death. Authors write about what they know, and I know the chocolate business.”
“Did you kill him off the same way Duncan died?” Carlotta blurts with her eyes bugging out. “Because honey, that’s either some serious foreshadowing or the universe staging an intervention.”
“Of course not!” Muffin protests, but she’s avoiding eye contact in a way that suggests Carlotta might have stumbled onto something.
Lenny roars my way, “Get a copy of that book, Lottie.”
I’m already on it. Mentally, at least.
“Authors often practice their crimes on paper first.” Lenny gives a dark yowl. “It’s easier to work out the details when you can edit and revise without consequences.”
“What about Luke Lazzari?” I ask, switching topics to see if I can catch her off guard. “He was at the festival. Did Duncan know him?”
Muffin’s expression shifts to something that might be relief at the subject change or might be nervousness about a different kind of trouble.
“Luke’s been a business associate for years,” she admits. “The chocolate company has various arrangements with his organization.”
“What kind of arrangements?” I press.
“Import and export facilitation,” she says each word as if it were its own sentence. I can tell she’s walking through this one as if it were a landmine. Her lips invert for a moment. “Luke helps us navigate certain regulatory challenges with our international suppliers.”
