Read The Chocolate Jewel Case: A Chocoholic Mystery for Free Online Page A
Authors: JoAnna Carl
comfort that summer.
But the comfort didn’t last long. As I walked into the big, clean kitchen where the fabulous TenHuis chocolates are made, I was confronted with a red-haired giantess looming near the ceiling.
“Oh, no!” Now I realized that the humidity was high, despite the coolerair inside. “Is the air-conditioning out again?”
Dolly Jolly, Aunt Nettie’s second in command, was standing on a folding chair and holding her hand in front of the vent. She looked as if she were going to cry. “I’m afraid so,” she shouted. “And they swore they had it fixed yesterday.”
Dolly is a food professional who had come to work for TenHuis Chocolade a year and a half earlier and who hadtaken to the chocolate business with the ease of a kid biting the ears off an Easter bunny. Dolly is even taller than I am and is broader, too. She has brilliant red hair and a face to match. With Aunt Nettie abroad, Dolly and I were in charge.
“Have you called Vandemann?” I said.
“No!” Dolly speaks out at a shout. “I’m afraid the young guy can’t handle it!”
“I’ll try to get hold of Mrs. Vandemann.His mom runs the business side.” I held up my hand, offering Dolly support as she climbed down from her precarious perch.
“We’ll have to move stock around!” she yelled.
The skilled chocolate crew, the wonderful women I call the “hairnet ladies,” were already beginning to move boxes of chocolate and racks of bonbons into the front half of the big kitchen. Having our air-conditioning out wasn’tjust an inconvenience. It could shut us down completely.
TenHuis Chocolade is completely air conditioned, of course. It has to be. Heat and humidity are the enemies of fine chocolate. People say, “I’m melting,” when it gets hot and humid. That’s just a metaphor. But it’s a fact for chocolate. A bonbon—or any other kind of high-quality chocolate—will get soft at eighty degrees and will actuallylose its shape at ninety.
And high-quality chocolate is expensive. The finished product is expensive, and the ingredients used in it—chocolate, sugar, cream, butter, flavorings, and fondant—are expensive. Heat and humidity can ruin all of them except the flavorings. So a heat wave is a potential disaster for a chocolate company, and problems with the air-conditioning are a guaranteed disaster.
TenHuis Chocolade has three separate air-conditioning systems. One cools our retail shop and my office, and two cool the big workroom, the storage rooms, and the break room. If even one of them goes out, it’s a problem. But now, faced with a terrible heat wave, both the work-area AC systems had been acting up.
“Did you turn it off and on?” I said. Sometimes that helps.
Dolly nodded. “I tried!No use!”
I shook my head and headed for the telephone. I had Vandemann’s air-conditioning on my speed dial, and I put in a panic call to Mrs. Vandemann. I pointed out that her son had worked on our AC only the day before, and hinted that if he couldn’t fix it, we’d appreciate his recommending someone who could.
We try to patronize local businesses, but there is a limit.
Mrs. Vandemann madesoothing noises and assured me her son would be there immediately. Or almost immediately. He was fighting a similar emergency at the Warner Pier twenty-four-hour clinic, she said.
I refused to be intimidated by sick people. They could live with fans; my chocolate couldn’t. I hung up, then reported Mrs. Vandemann’s assurances to Dolly, who was standing in my door.
“But I’m going to call Barbaradown at the bank,” I said. “First, if worse comes to worst, and we have to replace that unit, we’ll need credit. Second, she may recommend some other air-conditioning company.”
Dolly frowned. “I hate for you to have to bother with this, Lee, when you have so many other problems.”
“You mean the houseguests? Don’t worry. I make them wait on themselves.”
“No, I meant Joe’s mom.” Dolly loweredher voice to
But the comfort didn’t last long. As I walked into the big, clean kitchen where the fabulous TenHuis chocolates are made, I was confronted with a red-haired giantess looming near the ceiling.
“Oh, no!” Now I realized that the humidity was high, despite the coolerair inside. “Is the air-conditioning out again?”
Dolly Jolly, Aunt Nettie’s second in command, was standing on a folding chair and holding her hand in front of the vent. She looked as if she were going to cry. “I’m afraid so,” she shouted. “And they swore they had it fixed yesterday.”
Dolly is a food professional who had come to work for TenHuis Chocolade a year and a half earlier and who hadtaken to the chocolate business with the ease of a kid biting the ears off an Easter bunny. Dolly is even taller than I am and is broader, too. She has brilliant red hair and a face to match. With Aunt Nettie abroad, Dolly and I were in charge.
“Have you called Vandemann?” I said.
“No!” Dolly speaks out at a shout. “I’m afraid the young guy can’t handle it!”
“I’ll try to get hold of Mrs. Vandemann.His mom runs the business side.” I held up my hand, offering Dolly support as she climbed down from her precarious perch.
“We’ll have to move stock around!” she yelled.
The skilled chocolate crew, the wonderful women I call the “hairnet ladies,” were already beginning to move boxes of chocolate and racks of bonbons into the front half of the big kitchen. Having our air-conditioning out wasn’tjust an inconvenience. It could shut us down completely.
TenHuis Chocolade is completely air conditioned, of course. It has to be. Heat and humidity are the enemies of fine chocolate. People say, “I’m melting,” when it gets hot and humid. That’s just a metaphor. But it’s a fact for chocolate. A bonbon—or any other kind of high-quality chocolate—will get soft at eighty degrees and will actuallylose its shape at ninety.
And high-quality chocolate is expensive. The finished product is expensive, and the ingredients used in it—chocolate, sugar, cream, butter, flavorings, and fondant—are expensive. Heat and humidity can ruin all of them except the flavorings. So a heat wave is a potential disaster for a chocolate company, and problems with the air-conditioning are a guaranteed disaster.
TenHuis Chocolade has three separate air-conditioning systems. One cools our retail shop and my office, and two cool the big workroom, the storage rooms, and the break room. If even one of them goes out, it’s a problem. But now, faced with a terrible heat wave, both the work-area AC systems had been acting up.
“Did you turn it off and on?” I said. Sometimes that helps.
Dolly nodded. “I tried!No use!”
I shook my head and headed for the telephone. I had Vandemann’s air-conditioning on my speed dial, and I put in a panic call to Mrs. Vandemann. I pointed out that her son had worked on our AC only the day before, and hinted that if he couldn’t fix it, we’d appreciate his recommending someone who could.
We try to patronize local businesses, but there is a limit.
Mrs. Vandemann madesoothing noises and assured me her son would be there immediately. Or almost immediately. He was fighting a similar emergency at the Warner Pier twenty-four-hour clinic, she said.
I refused to be intimidated by sick people. They could live with fans; my chocolate couldn’t. I hung up, then reported Mrs. Vandemann’s assurances to Dolly, who was standing in my door.
“But I’m going to call Barbaradown at the bank,” I said. “First, if worse comes to worst, and we have to replace that unit, we’ll need credit. Second, she may recommend some other air-conditioning company.”
Dolly frowned. “I hate for you to have to bother with this, Lee, when you have so many other problems.”
“You mean the houseguests? Don’t worry. I make them wait on themselves.”
“No, I meant Joe’s mom.” Dolly loweredher voice to