Death by Chocolate

nodded to the circle of Eleanor’s immediate family and friends who
were sitting in chairs at the gravesite.
    Savannah’s eyes went
automatically to Gilly, who sat between her mother and Sydney Linton. The
little girl seemed bewildered by all that was going on around her. Savannah’s
big-sister persona longed to hug the child, give her a glass of milk and some
chocolate chip cookies, and read her a story.
    Louise had a dazed look on
her face that Savannah suspected was pharmaceutically induced. Nerve pills, no
doubt. She wasn’t likely to do that cookie/story routine tonight, no matter how
badly her daughter might need it.
    But the chauffeur seemed to
be concerned for Gilly. He was holding her hand and whispering to her from time
to time. Whatever he was saying appeared to be helping. She would look up at
him, nod, and smile just a little.
    A minister appeared, walked
to the head of the grave, and opened his prayer book. The crowd fell silent as
the familiar “dust to dust” and “ashes to ashes” passage was read, followed by
the Lord’s Prayer.
    Savannah watched Martin
Streck, who stood behind Louise, his hand on her shoulder, trying to read his
face and demeanor. It would have been nice to pick up a sense of guilt or fear
from him, but she didn’t. Other than a mild concern for Louise, he seemed
pretty unaffected by the whole thing.
    Marie sat on the other side
of Sydney. She was the only one present—other than Gilly—who seemed to be
genuinely distressed. Although she was wearing dark glasses, she was constantly
wiping her eyes and nose with a lace handkerchief she held, knotted, in her
hand. Her black dress made her seem even more pale and gaunt than usual.
    Savannah didn’t recognize
the good-looking blond fellow who sat on Louise’s other side. But from his age
and the resemblance between him and Louise, Savannah assumed he was Louise’s
father, Burt Maxwell.
    Eleanor’s ex, she thought.
Hm-m-m... definitely cuter than she had been.
    Standing behind Burt was
Kaitlin Dover and several others that Savannah recognized from the crew that
had been taping in the studio barn.
    They were all wearing long
faces, and Savannah wondered if it was because Eleanor had died or because they
had lost a steady gig. From what she had heard, jobs in Hollywood were few and
far between these days. Even a difficult boss like Eleanor Maxwell was better
than no boss at all.
    The minister had finished,
and, one by one, they were filing past the closed coffin, each person dropping
a single red rose onto the highly polished top.
    Louise carelessly tossed
her flower onto the casket, then turned to her daughter, whose rose was pale
pink. “Go ahead,” she told her.
    Savannah’s heart ached as
she watched the little girl kiss the face of the flower, then gently place it
on her grandmother’s coffin.
    Sydney laid his down next,
then took Gilly by the hand and led her across the lawn after Louise. They made
their way to the classic Jaguar parked nearby. Sydney opened the door, assisted
mother and child inside, and took his place in the driver’s seat.
    Nearby, more than a dozen
reporters’ cameras clicked and whirred. Savannah saw at least three TV news
crews filming the proceedings. Lady Eleanor was a hot story, especially now
that word was out that she had been murdered.
    They all focused on the
Jaguar as it pulled away.
    “It just occurred to me,”
Savannah said. “You know who’s not here?”
    “Who?” Tammy asked.
    “Anybody who even looks
remotely like Eleanor. And she’s supposed to have an identical twin sister
named Elizabeth.”
    Dirk shrugged. “Maybe she
lives out of state and couldn’t make it.”
    “Nope. She lives in Twin
Oaks.”
    “That’s only fifteen
minutes down the freeway,” Dirk said. “Wonder why she didn’t show?”
    “Maybe she didn’t like her
sister,” Savannah suggested, trying not to think of Cordele at the moment she
muttered the words.
    “Or,” Tammy said, “maybe
she didn’t want to show up and have everybody critique her manner of grieving.
I sure wouldn’t.”
     
     
    Against her better judgment,
Savannah invited Cordele to go to the mall with her. Ordinarily, she would
never have taken anyone but Tammy when she was hoping to do an interview. But
Cordele’s face had fallen when Savannah suggested that she might want to stay
at home and finish her mystery. So she had caved and asked her to come along.
    After the funeral, Dirk had
said he weis going to go