by Lotta Smith
“What do you mean?” he asked, looking puzzled.
“You have the body of a total alpha male. I can see it without you undressing. Still, I’m always looking for my latest muse, and you’re definitely qualified to be one of them,” she said, giving him a head-to-toe once-over. “Look, it’s an easy gig. All you’ll be doing is visiting me at my residence and letting me sketch you and shoot some photos and videos of you in your birthday suit. My residence is located on—”
“Park Avenue row, right?” Rick cleared his throat. “Actually, I was there when you installed the latest USCAB security system.”
“Oh.” Kathryn’s crimson lips shaped an O. “Oh my… I thought you looked familiar, but now I know why! You’re Dan’s son. Wow, it’s so true about the saying that time flies.” Then her eyes moved toward his ring finger. “Oh my God, are you married?”
“Yes, I am.” Winking at her, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Kathryn, this is my wife, Mandy. Mandy, this is Kathryn, the hotshot graphic novelist. I’m aware that you already know her, but introductions can’t end without everyone being formerly introduced.”
Kathryn’s eyes widened. “Mandy, you have to tell me how you met him, how he fell in love with you, and how he popped the question to you and everything. All right, I’ve gotta go.” She uncrossed her legs and stood up.
Rick didn’t stop her. Perhaps that was because her alibi seemed solid enough so far, and indeed, she seemed to be telling the truth. Of course, her alibi had to be checked when needed, but that could have been done without her presence.
“I’ll walk you to the door.” Frank jumped up and followed her.
“Kathryn, would you like to join us for tea?” Holly offered, but Kathryn shook her head.
“Thank you for the kind gesture, but I’ve really got to go.” Kathryn offered a proud smile. “I have a date with this cute little thing.”
“Oh, okay.” Holly nodded.
Kathryn seemed ready to leave, but then she turned back to Holly. “Oh, where are my manners? I haven’t offered my condolences.” Her heavily made-up face turned suddenly serious. “Look, I’m so sorry for your loss, and the loss is all mine. I miss her, and if possible, I want to call her back from death. She died immediately after beating me on the popularity ranking, and that’s so unfair. I deserve another round to beat her back. Don’t you think so? Anyway, I hope she’s free from all the pain and suffering and having a good time in a better place.”
“Thank you.” Holly sniffled.
As we saw Kathryn to the door, she hopped into the shocking pink Lamborghini again and blew us a kiss, saying, “Ciao!”
“I’ve never seen a car louder than her Lamborghini,” I muttered.
“I know,” Jackie agreed. Then she gasped. “Oh my God, Mandy! She’s gone before you asked her for an autograph for me!”
I sucked in air. “I’m so sorry! I don’t know how it slipped my mind.”
“What are you talking about?” Holly looked at me warily, and I realized I’d just answered Jackie. Talk about being stealthy….
“Oh, that’s nothing,” Rick interjected. “She has this tendency to have conversations with herself.”
“I see. Eve used to do that often.” Holly looked up at the sky, as if she was searching for something, anything that might have reminded her of her sister’s presence. Then she turned on her heels and went inside. Frank followed her.
“So, Kathryn didn’t seem to be guilty,” I said to Rick when we were alone. “Could it be a random killing?”
“Could be. But she’d been stabbed four times.” He crossed his arms.
“Under normal circumstances, the motive should be grudge.” I nodded.
The remaining suspects were Brian and an army of hardcore fans of Shane, and the latter community had enough population to form a small to midsize city.
We exchanged glances and agreed it was too cold to stay outside any longer.
CHAPTER 9
Fifteen minutes following Kathryn’s exit in her flashy sports car, Brian arrived at the Wellington residence in a taxi, with his assistant Fiona in tow.
His 6’5” frame was wrapped in his signature black suit made from glossy fabric, and as usual, he’d completed his look with a black top hat.
“Hey, Mandy! Long time no see. How have you been?” Fiona came running toward me and air-kissed me.
“I’m great! So, you like working with Brian, don’t you, Fiona?” I air-kissed her back.
Fiona is my BFF from college. She was my bridesmaid at the wedding. Following a murder case and her divorce from her ex-husband, she became Brian’s assistant.
“Of course,” she said. “Actually, we’re talking about living together.”
“Wow, that’s fabulous!” My eyes widened, and Jackie fanned herself. “Oh my God, talk about love being in the air!”
Brian’s eyes registered on Jackie, and then on me. “Did you talk to the victim?” he asked me.
“Yes, we did. She’s at the crime scene.” I nodded. Holly was in the kitchen and Frank was helping her, so I didn’t have to worry about being stealthy regarding my communication skill with the deceased.
“So, what did she say about the killer?” he asked. “Does she remember who killed her?”
“No.” I shook my head. “According to her, she had a glass too many of vodka that night, and she didn’t have much sleep the night before. So her memory is hazy, and she doesn’t remember anything. Indeed, she suspected that Rick and I could be ghosts instead of herself.”
“Seriously?” He groaned, but a flicker of amusement crossed his face. “But somehow I’m not shocked to hear that.”
“Hey, Brian, where were you on the night of the murder?” Rick interjected.
“I was visiting Boston,” he replied. “We had a TV show shooting about a famous alley where many ghosts have been spotted.”
“You can ask the producer if you want to confirm it,” Fiona chimed in. “Do you want his phone number?”
“Thanks but no thanks. Hell, you have a solid alibi. That’s boring.” Rick snorted, crossing his arms. “So, did you find any ghosts in that alley?”
“Yup. There were so many of them that I lost track.” Brian shrugged. “You wanna check that out, bring Mandy with you.”
“That’s not necessary!” I said before Rick found it a good idea. Unlike Brian, I wasn’t an exorcist, and I had no such skill like getting rid of evil ghosts, so encountering menacing spirits wasn’t my cup of tea.
“Oh, I have a better selection of potential places to go for a romantic getaway.” Rick shrugged. “Okay, so you didn’t kill her.”
“Of course not!” Brian snapped. “Are you insane? Hell, the project getting turned into a TV series had huuuuge potential. Maybe it could have been turned into an international blockbuster series, and I could have scored millions!”
Seeing his reaction, I had a hard time resisting the urge to bust out laughing. On the other hand, Rick was practically laughing his ass off.
“Fine,” he said between guffaws. “I know you didn’t need to stab her multiple times to kill her. Besides, if you really wanted to kill someone, you could do that without employing physical power, right? You could have summoned some evil spirits and had them kill her, or—”
“Stop talking about me like I’m an evil, crazed warlock scheming to overthrow the government or something!” Brian barked at his old pal.
“Don’t be so upset. I was just kidding,” Rick said nonchalantly.
I cleared my throat. “Look, it’s Eve who said you might have a grudge against her because she’d ignored so much of your advice and suggestions. Then again, you’re not the only one she’s named as someone potentially hating her enough to kill her.”
“Aha.” Brian nodded. “She had this tendency to play off being a drama queen.”
“Then again, why did she name so many people as potential suspects?” I tilted my head to the side. “I’m beginning to suspect that she’s trying to st
eer the investigation away from the truth or something.”
“I don’t think so,” Brian and Jackie said in unison.
“You go first, Brian. Your voice can be heard by more people,” Jackie said.
“Okay, thanks.” Brian raised a hand at her and went on. “Like I said, Eve had some traits of narcissism, and she tended to be withdrawn in her own universe. Of course, everything about that tendency wasn’t bad as apparently her habit was what made her good at doing what she did, and she was such a successful storyteller and artist.”
“Exactly,” Jackie agreed. “I think she said what came to her mind.”
“Hmm, that’s probably true.” Rick nodded before I relayed Jackie’s words. “Even the assistants were talking about her narcissism.”
“According to Frank, there is a smorgasbord of people like Eve in the field of graphic novel creators. So perhaps it’s safe to assume about half of her story to be valid and the extra half is something coming out of her wild imagination.”
As I let out a sigh, Rick wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Pulling me close, he said, “Don’t be so discouraged. We’ll get to the bottom of this mess eventually.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” Leaning on him, I closed my eyes.
Then Jackie said, “Oh!”
“What?” I opened my eyes and looked at her.
“I think Eve wants me to come back to her. Perhaps she’s recalled something about her murder.” Waving at me, Jackie said, “I’ll go and see how she’s doing. See you later!”
Then she disappeared.
“Jackie thinks Eve wants to talk to her, and she’s left,” Brian informed Rick as I waved back at her.
“Okay.” Rick raised an eyebrow. “Being a ghost is so convenient. And the biggest perk is the part about you not needing phones or something, right?”
“That’s true,” Brian agreed. “Maybe they develop some kind of telepathy following their death, or they might have some hidden communication devices in themselves.”
“Nana has never mentioned anything like having a phone or computer, but I think it’d be fabulous if she could send me texts.” Fiona smiled fondly. Her grandmother had passed away years ago, but she’d contacted her granddaughter over a year ago, trying to warn her about the danger coming into her life. Fiona didn’t have the skillset like Brian and me to communicate with deceased people, but somehow she was able to chat with her Nana. Maybe that had something to do with the bond they had before her granny had departed for a better world.
“Good.” Rick nodded. “Eve says she didn’t see the killer, but it’s possible that her memory is playing tricks on her, making her believe she didn’t when she actually did see the killer. Let’s hope for the best.”
Within a minute, Jackie came back to my side.
“What was that about? Did she recall anything?”
As I peppered her with questions, she furrowed her eyebrows. “Indeed, she’s got something she wants me to tell you,” she said, sounding like she was choosing the right words.
“What is it?” As I leaned forward, Jackie shook her head a few times, as if she was attempting to shake off some feeling.
“It’s about getting the delivery,” Jackie said. “Eve says a package is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning, and she wants to make sure Holly receives it.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll pass on her words to Holly.” I nodded, breaking into a smile. There was nothing funny about this conversation, but looking at her confused expression, I couldn’t help it.
“Great. Thanks!” Jackie gave me a thumbs-up. “I was afraid you might be disappointed to learn that it’s nothing related to the case. Anyway, Eve says the package is something she’d ordered stealthily without Holly noticing.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I nodded and relayed her words to Rick.
“When did she order it?” he asked.
“She doesn’t remember, but she says it was recently,” Jackie said.
“Thanks, Jackie.” Rick raised his hand as I told him what she’d said. “So, are you staying here?”
“I’m afraid not. Eve says she wants company, so I’m gonna stay with her for a while,” Jackie explained. “When you’re newly dead, you tend to need some moral support, especially from fellow dead people.”
When I said, “Take care,” she was already gone.
Soon after Jackie’s exit, the tea was ready, and Holly called the three assistants. The table at the salon was large enough to accommodate all of us, and a late-ish afternoon tea was started.
Frank had brought pistachio ganache cakes from the Plaza.
“Frank, do you always bring cakes?” Brian asked abruptly.
“Oh yes.” The editor nodded. “I usually drop by Deems’ Bakery, but tonight I decided to go with something fancier.”
“Frank, you totally rock!” Jess gave him a thumbs-up. “This is so yummy.”
“Right.” Frank offered a smile, and for a moment, he seemed to have forgotten about his star creator’s death.
“Wow, you drop by Deems’ Bakery?” Brian sounded impressed. “That’s a detour. You’re always tired, and you’ll be even more tired.”
“No way. I don’t even sweat from extra walking.” Frank chuckled lightly. “Holly feeds me nicely whenever I drop by here to talk to Eve, and bringing something cute and yummy was the best I could do. Brian, you’ll want to taste Holly’s signature country pie. That’s totally eclectic.”
“Oh yeah?” Brian stared at the midair like he found something interesting. I looked carefully in case he’d found a ghost or something, but I couldn’t see anything significant. “Why didn’t Eve use a taxi home? Why did she decide it was a good idea to walk in the rain in the middle of the night?”
“She dropped by a bakery called Sugar and Spice,” Rick informed him.
“Oh, did she?” Frank’s eyes widened. “It’s strange… Joe’s Bakery is way closer to here.”
“That’s because Evvie was in love with their VV cake, perhaps?” Beverly said, but it sounded more like a question than a statement.
According to her, said VV cake was short for the violet velvet cake, which was the purple version of red velvet cake. It had a particular flavor and scent that came from the use of real violets in the purple cream covering the cake, which some loved and others hated. Eve was definitely the former, and she was practically addicted to the purple sweets.
“It wasn’t a VV cake she purchased that night,” I said, recalling the info regarding the receipt. “She only bought a strawberry éclair, nothing else.”
The strawberry éclair was another hit on the menu at the bakery. This one came with fresh strawberry and cream, topped with pink chocolate coating with crushed strawberry.
“Strawberry éclair? Why did Evvie buy that?” Beverly tilted her head to the side. “She wasn’t a huge fan of fresh cream. Was that the last remaining item at the store?”
“I don’t think so. Sugar and Spice is open till much later,” Kylie chimed in. “Perhaps it was for Holly. She didn’t get to join us for the party and the after party. And if I remember correctly, Holly adores strawberry, and she likes fresh cream better than cheese cream. And Evvie was cutting down on eating sweets in an attempt to watch her weight. She was going to attend another party hosted by the Hollywood agency, and she was determined to be stick thin for it.”
“In retrospect, she wasn’t good at sticking to her dietary regimen,” Beverly said, chuckling.
“Strawberry éclair uses a lot fresh ingredients, right?” Jess cupped her face in both hands.
“Right. I purchased it once, and….” Beverly paused for a second. “Now I remember, I was told to eat it as soon as possible since it contains so many fresh ingredients. And one of the cutest guys manning the register told me never to eat it if more than five hours had passed since purchasing it, fearing food poisoning. He wasn’t sure if it was safe to eat an older-than-eight-hours éclair even if it had stayed in the fridge.”
“Holly, did you ask Eve for the écl
air?” I asked, prompting her to shake her head.
“I had no intention of staying up until she came back, and I didn’t ask her for that,” she said. “Whenever she stayed out until really late at night, I always wished she’d stayed home and gotten some sleep, but even if I told her, she never listened. I was concerned about her health, but I wasn’t prepared for a murder.”
“Okay.” I nodded and asked the assistants if any of them had suggested Eve bring a gift for Holly, but no one seemed to have the slightest clue as to why she decided to purchase that particular dessert with such a short shelf life.
Asking Eve herself seemed like the best option. I wished Jackie stayed with us a little longer, as she was capable of going back and forth between Eve and here, relaying the words and asking questions.
Brian stood up abruptly and approached the window.
“What’s up?” Rick asked him.
“I don’t know.” The exorcist cocked his head and crossed his arms. “I thought I saw something, but…. Holly, do you mind if I open the window?”
“Of course not. Go ahead.” Holly nodded.
“Is it a ghost? Or is it Evvie? Wouldn’t it be fabulous if she visited us and we could talk to her?” Jess rushed to the window and opened it. “Oh my God! Framboise has escaped!” she exclaimed.
“What? Why is he out there? I made sure to lock him in the work studio.” Kylie frowned, standing up.
“Perhaps we’ll have to rename him Houdini.” Beverly shrugged, joining them.
From the open window, cold and damp air creeped into the salon. I stood up for a better look, seeing the white, fluffy rabbit jumping in the garden, sniffing the ground, and heading for the corner.
“Oh my God! He’s digging something!” Beverly gasped. She didn’t seem like a gasper, but perhaps her usual nonchalant, bordering on blasé demeanor might have been just a façade.
“Is he gonna poop?” Jess said.
“Maybe digging up the worms,” Kylie analyzed.
While the assistants were observing Framboise, Holly had run from the salon. She returned carrying a melamine tray and a spoon. “Let’s retrieve him,” she said breathlessly.