Slay in Character
Page 7
“You are kidding, right?” Kelly glanced at the women sitting around the table. “Tell me she’s kidding.”
“She’s kidding. Go write.” Cora patted her arm as she walked to the sideboard for another muffin. “We’ll let you know when we’re gathering in the living room for the seminar. Then we’ll go to lunch and discuss the bank robbery.”
“You guys are awful. No wonder you’re my friends.” Kelly grabbed a couple of cookies and left the room.
Jessi turned back to Cat. “I’ll be ready to go as soon as I finish breakfast. Will that work?”
“Let’s say eight. That way I can get a few words in before my day implodes.” Cat patted her on the shoulder. “Are you feeling better?”
“Still sad. I guess that doesn’t just go away.”
Shauna had come into the room with a fresh pitcher of orange juice. “No, it doesn’t just go away.”
Everyone in the room looked up at her. They, like Cat, had heard the pain in her voice.
Shauna met their gaze and smiled at the group. “But it does get better. With time and some good friends.”
Cat followed her out of the dining room. “Are you okay? I was worried about you last night.”
“I’m fine. I think I’ve passed a turning point. I’m sure I’ll have days, but from this day forward, I’m going to try to be me again. I only needed one last cry. But last night, while I was thinking about Kevin, I realized I was sad for Danielle’s family and Jessi too. It’s not just all about me anymore, at least not in my heart.” Shauna paused at the fridge. “I heard you talking to Jessi. What does your uncle have you doing now?”
Cat explained her assignment as she sipped her coffee. Shauna pushed a plate of peanut butter cookies toward her.
“Breakfast of champions.” Cat grinned as she held the cookie aloft. “It has protein, dairy, fat, and grain. Almost all the food groups.”
“You’ll burn through that fast, but at least you won’t be starving at lunch. Let me know if you want a real breakfast.” Shauna was glancing through a cooking magazine. “I really need to work up some new recipes. That always makes me feel better. Anyway, what exactly does Pete think you’ll find?”
Cat paused. “I have no idea.”
“Hey, I meant to tell you. Toni at the vet clinic called early this morning about the cat. She looked in their files and they don’t have any record of a cat like that being reported lost, but she talked to the vet tech and he remembers Angelica. He says she belonged to an older woman who used to live outside Aspen Hills on Lookout Road. Her name is Mary Davis. According to the records, she missed her last annual checkup for the cat.”
“Did they call the owner?” Cat hadn’t realized until now how worried she’d been about the feline running around Outlaw. Maybe she’d go up and catch the cat and bring it down to this Mary lady.
“They tried, but her number’s disconnected. I called the police station and left a message for Katie. She doesn’t come in until nine, but you know she knows everything. I could have called Mrs. Rice, but that’s my last resort.” Shauna picked up her own cookie. “I wasn’t feeling that strong this morning.”
Laughing, Cat went upstairs to write for an hour before going with Jessi to the dorms. Shauna was definitely feeling better.
Now, an hour into searching through Jessi and Danielle’s room, Cat really had no clue what they were looking for. Jessi had found several articles of clothing that her friend had borrowed without asking and hung in her own closet.
“And this sweater. I’d thought I’d lost it. I even asked her if she’d taken it, but she said no. And I believed her.” Jessi shook her head. “I guess I didn’t really know Danielle as well as I thought. The chick lied to me.”
“Maybe she forgot she’d borrowed it.” Cat opened the final desk drawer she hadn’t look through. This time, her uncle’s instinct had been off. Way off. Danielle seemed like a normal young woman with too much makeup, too many clothes, including the ones Jessi was reappropriating, and too many shoes. Cat assumed Jessi would be pulling some of those as well, since several pair looked too high-dollar for a scholarship kid.
“I don’t think so. If she was taking my clothes, what else did she take?” Jessi sank down on Danielle’s bed and rubbed the silk comforter on the top. “And as mad as I am, I still wish she was alive. I’d yell at her, then we’d make up and go have a spa day. We fought a lot, but we always knew how to make up. Friends are like that, you know.”
Cat was reading in a journal she’d found in the bottom drawer. She barely heard Jessi’s words. Finally, she looked up. “Jessi? Who’s Max?”
“He’s my boyfriend. We’re on a break right now. He’s going back east in the fall for law school, and he wanted to focus this summer on a few classes he’s taking to prep. He didn’t really get serious about school until last year. Then his folks gave him the beatdown. Get his grades up or he would have to work in their restaurant instead of going to law school.” She had lain down on Danielle’s bed and now she sat straight up. “Wait, how did you know about Max?”
“I think you’re going to be mad at Danielle again.” Cat held up the diary. “Apparently, they’d been seeing each other for over a year.”
By the time they got back to the house, Jessi had left no fewer than fifteen messages on Max Trandor’s voice mail. Most of them were not repeatable, and Cat had to give her credit for using words she didn’t think a hardened lifer at the Denver prison could use without blushing. The girl was mad.
Walking through the door, Cat took her arm. “I know you’re upset. Do you want to take the day?”
She nodded. “I’m going for a run. It always calms me. But if I go too far, can I call and get a ride back? Apparently, my limo service is not accepting my calls.”
Cat gave the girl a hug. “Are you sure you don’t want company? Seth loves to run.”
“No, I won’t go far.” Jessi sighed. “I really just need to be alone for a while.”
Watching her go upstairs to change, Cat hurried into the study and locked the door. No need for anyone to overhear this conversation. “Uncle Pete, it’s me. What do you know about a Max Trandor?”
As her uncle ran the kid’s name in his system, she told him what they’d found. That Danielle had a habit of taking Jessi’s stuff. And apparently, that habit included her boyfriend.
“Are you sure Jessi didn’t know?” Uncle Pete’s question surprised her.
She stopped paging through the diary. “Of course she didn’t know. The girl was devastated. And she called this guy and let him know she’s done with him.”
“You let her call him?”
“And how was I supposed to stop her?” Cat responded but then realized she was talking to dead air. Her uncle had hung up on her, probably to track down Max to check his alibi. Maybe he had gotten tired of Danielle and wanted to break it off. She could have threatened to tell Jessi. Apparently, faithfulness was one of her requirements in a life partner. Max had blown that relationship up as soon as he slept with Danielle the first time.
Cat started reading the diary, then, checking the clock, thought she had just enough time for one more call. She set the journal down and picked up her phone. Her call was answered on the first ring.
“Well, Catherine, I’m glad to hear from you, but I’m hoping this isn’t bad news.” Dante’s voice was warm and comforting.
Cat shook off the glow from his tone. “Look, I wanted to ask you about Jessi’s money manager. What do you know about him?”
“Darryl? He’s been handling the kid’s fund for years. He’s very involved with Jessi’s family and has several of their trust funds under his care. Why?”
Cat went on to tell him about the car service and Jessi being stranded. The more she talked, the quieter it got on the other side of the line.
“I’m not going to ask how she actually got out of the house without you knowing.”
Cat interrupted him before he could go further. “Hold on, buddy. She told me they
were going to Denver for lunch. That’s not unusual. And she was with four other adults. I never thought they would go to Outlaw to investigate Danielle’s murder.”
“Okay, I understand. But this stranding her, I’m going to have a talk with Darryl. And I’ll get back with you if I find anything unusual. He’s such a nice man. This must have been some sort of a mistake.”
The line went dead before Cat could ask how Dante was going to look into the man’s financials, but she thought it was probably for the best. The less she actually knew, the better off she was.
And with that favor done, she locked the diary in Michael’s desk and slipped the key into her pocket. She’d give it to her uncle as soon as possible. There was no way she wanted Jessi to read even half of what it said. Danielle was a horrible person. Or had been a horrible person and a worse friend. She’d used her friendship with Jessi for all of the perks she could get and then laughed at her behind her back. No wonder the kid needed to run to blow off steam.
She grabbed her notes for the talk and went into the kitchen to fill up her coffee cup. No one was there. Not Seth, not Shauna. She really wanted this week to be over. She ran a hand over a picture of a smiling Shauna on the back of her horse that Kevin had taken last summer. The look of pure joy on her face made Cat smile. Shauna was strong. She’d get through this.
Everyone sat in the living room chatting. Cora, Connie, Lisa, and even Kelly were already there. The only guest missing was Jessi. Cat glanced at her watch. She should have been back by now. She tried to keep her voice casual as she asked, “Anyone heard from Jessi?”
“I saw her leaving about forty-five minutes ago for a run. She said she’d be back for the session.” Cora looked worried now. “Should I call her?”
“Yeah, give her a jingle. We’ll hold off starting if she’s on her way back.” Cat didn’t want to worry. She felt like all she’d done since the retreat had started was worry.
Cora hung up her phone and shook her head. “It went straight to voice mail. But my phone does that if I’m playing music and I put it on do not disturb. I’m sure she’ll be back shortly.”
“I’m going to grab a quick sandwich before I start. I didn’t have breakfast.” Cat left the room and was just starting to dial Uncle Pete’s cell when Jessi burst into the lobby. Relief filled her body as she watched the young girl hurry toward her.
“Sorry, I know I’m late. I had a call from my mom.” Jessi wrapped her ear buds around her phone. “I’m drenched from the run back. Do I have time for a quick shower?”
“If you make it quick. Everyone’s waiting on us.” Cat gave her a reassuring smile.
“No more than ten, I promise.” She started toward the stairs, but paused at the bottom. “Tell everyone I’m sorry for being late, and first round at Bernie’s tonight is on me.”
Cat slipped her cell phone back into her pocket. She was jumping at ghosts. Between Dante’s cryptic warning and Uncle Pete’s scare tactics, she was on her last nerve. The guests wouldn’t be the only ones having a few adult beverages tonight. She moved toward the kitchen to grab a soda and met Seth in the hallway.
“I thought you had a thing.” He held one hand behind his back.
“You mean a session with the group? I do, we’re just waiting for Jessi to get cleaned up after her run.” She tried peeking around him. “What do you have behind your back?”
“If I wanted you to know, I would have shown you.” He held the kitchen door open for her. “Go on, get in there. I’m heading down to the basement, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t follow me.”
“Why would I want to follow you? I’ve got work to do.” She moved toward the doorway.
He leaned in and kissed her. “Thanks for not questioning me.”
As the door closed after her, she shook her head. “Everyone is stark raving mad around here.”
“Maybe it’s the lead pipes.” Shauna came out of the pantry with an arm full of canned hominy. “They say old houses like this have bad piping. Isn’t that why Lizzie Borden went all hacky?”
“Lead poisoning? I’ve never heard that theory. Besides, she was . . .”
“Back east, I know.” Shauna sat the cans on the counter and checked her recipe. “I just can’t stop making soups. Every time I think I can move on, another soup pops in my head. I’m doing pozole tonight, if that’s all right.”
“I don’t care. Soup’s fine for dinner. Especially if we have those dinner rolls you made up last week.” Cat grabbed a soda out of the fridge. “I guess I better go entertain the others while we wait on Jessi.”
“Cornbread. I think we’ll have green chili cornbread with the soup.” Shauna turned and went back into the pantry.
As Cat left the kitchen, she was beginning to wonder if Shauna’s lead poisoning theory wasn’t spot-on.
In the living room, there was a rousing discussion on the use of boning in petticoats. Cora was shaking her head. “Seriously, Kelly, how would someone ride with that kind of crap surrounding her? The women out here were more rugged, more basic. I think what you’ve read was for woman back east or maybe in European cities.”
“I’m sure I’ve read that frontier woman wore the exact same dresses.” Kelly tapped her finger on the table. “I’m willing to go ten on it.”
“I’ll take that action.” Connie tapped the table as well.
Cora blew out a breath. “You could have waited to see if I was going to take her challenge.”
“Why? I know she’s wrong. It’s an easy ten bucks for me. You don’t need the money, you have a contract.” Connie shrugged. “So how are we going to verify?”
“You could check in with our librarian. Miss Applebome knows everything about this area, especially during the Old West time frame.” Cat glanced around at the group. “Were you all betting on a fashion accessory?”
“Last time it was on the estimated annual amount of snowfall Denver got in 1860.” Lisa shook her head. “Welcome to our world.”
“What? It keeps research interesting. Thanks for the idea about your librarian, Cat, but the challenger has to prove her point. So now Kelly’s going to have to go to the library and find three sources that prove her challenge. She may not get any more writing done this week. She’s kind of stubborn and won’t just accept defeat.” Cora patted her friend on the shoulder. “We’ll drop you off at the library after lunch. No need for you to go into this with an empty stomach. You never know when you might eat again.”
“Man, you guys take your research seriously.” Jessi strode into the room. Her hair was still wet, but her makeup was touched up and her clothes looked brand new. “Sorry I’m late.”
“We were entertaining ourselves.” Cat motioned toward an empty chair. “What do you want to talk about?”
After a few minutes of brainstorming, Cat glanced at the paper in front of her where she’d been taking notes. “Okay then, we’ll start with these, and if we have time, we’ll do a second brainstorming session for any additional items.”
As usual, Cat started the story at the beginning. How a frustrated English professor had sent off a novel that would never get her tenure to an agent her new husband had met once. “Michael wasn’t happy with my choice of proposals. He wanted something more literary, but this was what I liked to read and what I wanted to write. So I sent it in to her.”
“Literary snobs. That’s what we call those types when we’re alone and wanting to make ourselves feel better.” Cora nodded her approval at Cat’s younger self’s actions. “She loved it, right?”
“Surprisingly, yes. It was just what she was looking for.” The agent had signed her that day, then took her outside where she could show her joy without letting anyone else know. She had a signed contract in hand before she even mentioned the sale to Michael. Even longer before she’d admitted to herself that she was a published author. By the time she had claimed the word, she was going through a divorce, and what her professor husband thought about her career wasn’t any of her business.
The bell over the front door jingled and a tall man in a suit walked into the lobby. The man looked like he’d be better off in a polo shirt and Dockers. She realized with a start that he looked like her fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Stewart. She’d loved the guy, especially since his class schedule included an hour of reading every day. Maybe he was the reason she’d fallen in love with stories.
“Can I help you with something?” She leaned on the desk as she appraised him. The suit he wore was expensive, and the cuff links sparkled like there were real diamonds attached. So not like Mr. Stewart. He turned toward her, and Cat was surprised to see the man was probably in his fifties, a touch of gray on his temples giving his age away.
“Yes, thank you. I’m here to see Jessi Ball.” His deep baritone made her smile. Now he really reminded her of her teacher.
“Sorry, Jessi just left for lunch. Anything I can do to help you?” She frowned, wishing she hadn’t spoken so quickly “How did you know she was even here in the first place? Who are you?”
The man reached in his pocket, and instinctively, Cat tensed. Feeling stupid when he pulled out a small metal case, she took the business card he offered her.
“Sorry, I should have introduced myself. Darryl Taylor. I’m her money manager. I came to apologize for the mix-up earlier this week. I can’t believe I put that sweet girl in danger.”
“Well, you stranded her and four other women with your action.” Cat knew it was petty. The guy was here to apologize, and she was making it worse.
“I know. The police officer who called told me the implications of my actions. That’s why I flew out here specifically to apologize to Miss Ball. She’s been working really hard on advancing herself, and I can’t believe what happened.” He looked around the lobby. “This is a really nice home. The retreat must be costly. I wonder, if you could tell me, is she paying for this week?”