The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,56

perhaps give Walter a little time to go into his technical expertise, which included bragging. I guess it’s not bragging if you can do it, however.

“I’ve continued tapping in on telephone conversations. Franklin is pretty slick; he bought a new cell phone, but he’s not fooling anyone.”

“Do you have any proof of this?”

Walter smiled and reached over to a switch on his dashboard and flipped it. What came over the speakers were the voices of Dr. Franklin Burke and, from what I could tell, Susan Lovely.

“You haven’t called me in the past few days.”

“Things have been busy down at the hospital. I’m always on call; I’m a doctor, you know.”

“I was worried you’d forgotten about our little Caribbean cruise getaway…”

“I hadn’t forgot, baby. Things just got a little hectic at work. Say, that reminds me. You haven’t been talking to anybody about us, have you?”

“No, nobody. I know what secrecy means to you.”

“Well, good. I need to tell you something… something strange. This might move our schedule up a bit, but… I’ve been found out.”

“By your wife? The hospital? Who?”

“That’s the strange part. I don’t know who. I was hoping you could give me some clues.”

“What happened?”

I reached over to the switch and flipped it to “off.”

“Don’t you want to hear the rest?” asked Walter.

“I’ve heard enough. Franklin’s still got a girlfriend on the side, and after I’ve told Helen and her daughter Mindy that there was nothing to worry about.”

“Wow, guess you talked to her too soon. So what happens now?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not sure what else we can do. We’ve tried going to the source, tried to talk some ‘sense’ into Franklin…”

“I’ve already done something.”

I looked over at Walter, who was grinning ear to ear while driving his huge vehicle in the dark. We were entering the city again, and lights were beginning to appear, which showed Walter’s teeth; he must have been really pleased with himself. I started to worry.

“Uh-oh, what have you done?”

“Well, I got to figuring. Franky’s a hard-working doctor who wished he could have saved a little of his dough for a comfortable retirement, but his wife is a high-maintenance dame, see? Boy, you really missed the bullet there, Randall!”

He looked over at me for a second; I wasn’t laughing.

Looking back at the traffic, he said, “Anyhow, I got to thinking that this chocolate bikini model probably had so much appeal to him because…. Why do you think?”

“Because she’s so good-looking?” I guessed.

“Well, yeah, she’s good looking; there’s no doubt about that,” concurred Walter. “But his wife is just as good looking, even if she is a little bit older. Try again.”

I was growing a little annoyed, but this was Walter’s game. Eventually he’d make sense.

“Because of her family business?”

Walter laughed. “Close, but no chocolate cigar. You wanna know why?”

“Why?” I asked. I’m sure I already knew.

“Because she’s so dang rich, that’s why! If he married this broad, he’d have no financial worries for the rest of his life, even if Helen Ceraldi-Burke sues him for every penny he’s got.”

“It’s doubtful that he’s got any pennies left to sue; it would cost her more in lawyer fees than what she’d get out of him.”

“Well, perhaps,” said Walter. “So, do you wanna know what I did?”

“Okay, Walter,” I said, “what did you do?”

This is what Walter lived for. He could now explain to me his ingenious plan and its execution for my wonderment.

“I’ve been watching the news and listening on the phones and internet, and today was the day that the will from Old Man Chocolate, that’s Cornelius Lovely,” he said as he looked over at me, ”was to be read and probated, all within a few hours of each other. As everybody thought, Mr. Lovely left his granddaughter Susan the big prize, the bulk of his estate. She’s worth billions! Or at least, she was.” Then Walter stopped talking. Apparently I was supposed to ask questions.

“She was?” I said. “You’re using past tense, what do you mean, ‘she was’?”

Walter started laughing again. “Well, she was worth billions, but now she’s worth only bikinis!”

“Walter, what did you do?”

“I did a little internet banking, Randall-boy. When they transferred the wealth out of the old man’s estate to her bank account, I intercepted the money, and it’s all safely hid in anonymous bank accounts in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, even in the former U.S.S.R….”

Interrupting, I said, “Walter, don’t tell me anymore.”

He looked puzzled. This seemed to take all the fun out of his story