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“I suppose there’s a remote possibility that Carly was working in partnership with one of the crew members,” Theodosia said.
Delaine pointed a finger at her. “That idea sounds cray-cray, but it’s actually smart thinking, Theo. Carly Brandt could easily be a coconspirator. I wonder if the police have considered that angle?”
“My guess is they already have,” Theodosia said.
Delaine made a lemon face. “Still, I’m going to call and give them a gentle nudge.”
Theodosia sighed. “I’m sure that will be greatly appreciated.”
17
After such a busy morning, afternoon at the Indigo Tea Shop was almost relaxing. Miss Dimple puttered about, serving a scatter of guests while Theodosia hung out at the front counter with Drayton. She had a notebook open in front of her and was working on names for their new line of handmade artisan chocolates. So far she liked Church Street Chocolates, Celestial Chocolates, and Fleur Chocolates.
“Those are all good names,” Drayton said. “But have you considered Dolce Chocolates?”
“Not bad,” Theodosia said as she wrote it down. “It sounds both sweet and elegant.”
Then Haley sauntered out with a pan full of lemon scones and said, “What are you two doing? Oh, working on our chocolate project?”
“Working on names, anyway,” Theodosia said. “That’s step one. I still haven’t thought about actual product.”
Haley placed the scones in the glass pie saver, then said, “The way I see it, maybe we could kick things off with three different chocolate products. You know, start small, kind of dip our toes in the water and test the market.”
“Now you sound like an ad guy instead of a chef,” Theodosia said.
“Maybe a few remnants of your old marketing career have rubbed off on me,” Haley said.
“Do you really have ideas for three different chocolate products, Haley?” Drayton asked.
Haley bobbed her head. “Remember when I took that candies and confectionaries course at the Culinary Institute?”
“I do indeed,” Drayton said. “After you started whipping up wonderful desserts like lime sugar madeleines and brown sugar meringues, I gained something like eight pounds.”
“Hah,” Haley said. “I had you frosting at the mouth.”
Drayton had to chuckle at Haley’s remark. “Indeed you did.”
“More to the point,” Haley said, “I learned lots of different techniques and recipes in that class. One of them being how to make caramel-pecan turtles. You know how much Southerners adore pecans, right? So that could be one of our candies. There are dozens of pecan farms around here, so it’d be a cinch to source ingredients.”
“Turtles,” Theodosia said. “What a great idea.”
“Who doesn’t love turtles?” Drayton said. He patted his midsection and said, “Oh my.”
“Then maybe we could do a milk chocolate and sea salt bar,” Haley said. “You know, just a straight-ahead chocolate bar.”
“With a fun, artsy wrapper,” Drayton said. “Maybe designed by one of our local artists.” He was brewing three different pots of tea but listening carefully.
“And then maybe try our hand at a small line of truffles. For starters I was thinking chai truffles, cinnamon truffles, and amaretto truffles. Or we could do tea-infused flavors.”
“All of which could be sold separately or gift boxed,” Theodosia said. “I think those are all delightful ideas, Haley.”
“You’re quite the little chocolatier,” Drayton said to Haley. Then he held up a finger. “But we still need to come up with a memorable name.”
“We’ll keep working away on names,” Theodosia said. “Now that Haley’s given us a preliminary game plan, maybe the name will come about organically.”
“Or in a wild burst of creativity,” Drayton said.
“Actually,” Haley said, “I have a name.”
