I did the introductions. “Hi, Karen. This is Temple Donavan. Temple, Karen Bastille.”
Temple smiled genuinely and held out her hand which Karen clasped after only a split second’s hesitation. “I’m so glad to meet you. Thank you for coming.”
“I was a bit surprised getting the invitation,” Karen admitted. “Hi Rick. You look good in your disguise. At least we won’t have any bucket guys rushing us tonight. I found a Sam and a piano, partner. This guy’s super, and he loves having just the one night gig on Fridays.”
Wow, that is very cool. I turned to Temple. “Karen has been looking for a piano playing Sam for our Casablanca night. We’d practically have a full cast with a Sam, and some musical entertainment. You and Karen both sing. Maybe we could have a surprise duet if you two think it would be fun. It’ll make every entertainment sheet in the entire area, and probably nationwide exposure. That’s outstanding, Karen.”
“I’d love to do it,” Temple enthusiastically stated. “If no one knows in advance, it would be fabulous, because we could do it in front of your regular crowd.”
I could tell Karen was a little taken aback with Temple’s down to earth candor and excitement. I think she was so used to the usual Hollywood idiots being about as deep as a puddle of rain water on the sidewalk it would take some getting used to. Casablanca night with these two couldn’t be done on any other basis but a surprise once in a while, because we’d need an auditorium to seat everyone otherwise.
“Let’s go in,” Temple added. “We mingle around for an hour before they serve, talking shop, and supposedly generating excitement for the movie.”
“I admit I like your Sally Waters character,” Karen said as we walked along together. “I don’t often watch TV, but I do watch your show. I like the chemistry between you and your teen costar, Alex Winton.”
Temple leaned into Karen, her head resting on Karen’s shoulder for a moment. “Oh, if only you knew what a complete asshole he is to be around, you’d be nominating me for an academy award when you see the movie adaptation.”
Karen laughed. “Been there, done that, girlfriend. I guess I’ll get a first hand glimpse of him in person tonight. Does he leave you alone in a public setting like this or try to pretend like he’s already slept with you?”
Temple gasped and then giggled. “You sure do know what I’m talking about. Alex paws the shit out of me in public like I’m his servant girl mistress. I hate it. I don’t know how long our show will last, and now with it being adapted to movies, I may have to endure him being near me indefinitely. I was hoping having Rick with me would dissuade him from pulling his usual crap tonight. Any chance of that, Rick?”
Yeah, that would be all I’d need, getting videoed doing an attitude adjustment on a narcissistic teenage boy. “Uh… that would be a no, Temple. It would only make things worse for you both on the show and off.”
“Rick’s right,” Karen agreed as we stopped inside the get together room with waiters circulating carrying drink trays. “Have you flat out told Alex in specific terms how uncomfortable you are with him doing it? Maybe he’s a little thick headed.”
“I’ve done better than that Karen. I smacked him upside the head when he did it in a private setting near where we were filming. He played the outrage card, and claimed I had been leading him on. The dork went right back to doing it at every opportunity when a crowd was around. He’s got little man syndrome. They have to put lifts in his shoes so he can be a hair taller than me, and I haven’t ever been able to wear heels.”
Karen and I both laughed at her description of dissuading the young Alex. I noted Temple got a perturbed look. “Oh great, here comes the midget now. I thought wearing heels tonight would intimidate the twerp. No such luck. It will just make it easier for him to feel my ass up.”
I love a challenge. “Introduce us formally, Temple.”
“Sure, Rick.”
Karen smiled over at me as Alex Winton approached us, his smug smile not helping his small stature. He had his lifts in, but he looked to be about five foot, two inches without them. I’ve known many guys, in the service and out, small in stature, but better to have at your side than guys a foot taller. Alex was not one of them. Karen and I moved closer to Temple so she would not receive a mugging when Alex said hello.
“Temple! How are you? Karen Bastille, so nice to make your acquaintance.” Alex shook Karen’s hand with what looked like the famous ‘dead fish’ handshake. It’s cold, no grasping pressure, and feels as if you’re shaking hands with a dead tuna.
“Hello, Alex.” Karen tried to keep the distasteful look off her face as she gripped the tuna, and failed. “Nice meeting you.”
“And who would this be?” Alex glared at me and chuckled. “Is he auditioning for one of the thug roles?”
“Alex, this is my escort and bodyguard, Rick Cantelli. Rick, this is Alex Winton, my costar on ‘Dark Waters’.
I smiled and gripped the dead tuna long enough to see the smirk flee Winton’s face to be replaced by open mouthed pain. Then I released him. “Glad to meet you, Mr. Winton.”
Alex rubbed his hand with a rueful expression as both Karen and Temple refrained from open amusement just barely. “You trying to break my hand?”
“Sorry Alex. When I get a dead tuna handshake, I have trouble hanging on to the pesky thing without a good grip.”
A big, dark haired dude in a black tuxedo was making his way in a line toward us. He had the features of a pro, and the scowl on his face made me think he didn’t like my treatment of Alex. He never took his eyes off me on his way over.
“Any trouble, Mr. Winton?”
“Only this clown trying to break my hand. This is my bodyguard Norton Ambers, Cantelli. Maybe you should try that shit with him.”
Ambers face changed when he heard my name. “Cantelli? Rick Cantelli?”
I held out my hand. Norton shook it, and it was a good one. “Yes, I’m Rick Cantelli. Nice meeting you, Mr. Ambers. I didn’t try to break your employer’s hand. I simply shook it just as I did yours. Perhaps I should have just waved.”
Ambers guided Winton out of hearing range for a quick sidebar. At first Winton was irritated, but as Ambers spoke to him in animated form, he glanced back at me with something resembling fear. They walked away together.
“Wow, what do you think Ambers said to him?” Temple’s pixie type smile curling the corners of her mouth.
“He just told Alex that Cantelli here killed seven guys in the last few months,” Karen replied. “If he had catalogued all of Rick’s adventures these past few months, Alex would have needed to change his pants.”
“The plus side is that I didn’t get felt up today,” Temple added.
“Karen, do you have any problem with Temple working out with us, hopefully incognito?” I decided now would be a good time to shift the subject.
“I think it would be great. I’m not sure how Jadie will like it. She’s trying to break down Rick into making the beast with two backs, but Rick has been showing great resistance to it. Just between you and me, she may definitely be wearing him down. Jadie may take exception to what she might deem even younger competition.”
Temple shook her head. “Rick would never do something like that, and I’m sure once Jadie understands I’m just working out with friends, she won’t mind. If I sing at your joint venture a few times, she’ll really like the added publicity. I was more worried about how you’d feel about it.”
Karen seemed surprised. “I have no objection. If I have to compete with a teenager for Rick’s attention, he and I are both in trouble. Besides, the surprise duet at the piano would be a real kick. What do you think, Rick?”
It sounds like a hit to me. “I can’t wait. You two will be a real star studded attraction. We’ll have to have extra security, and a getaway car for Temple at the back. These things can get rough if we don’t cover all our bases. Will you be okay with your costar, kid? He won’t try to mess with you on the job, will he?”
&nb
sp; “No more than the upstaging he already does. This has already been the most fun I’ve ever had at one of these things, and we haven’t even sat down to dinner yet. Doesn’t it bother you that Rick’s killed seven guys in a few months, Karen?”
Karen shrugged after hesitating for a moment. “Not particularly. It’s like two different planes of existence. Rick jokes about them all the time. There’s Cantelli land, a place of shadows and darkness, but also a reality where he jokes around, works out in a gym full of women, and pretends he’s Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca. Sometimes the worlds collide like when he dropped two kidnappers in the middle of our restaurant with two shots into each one’s head. If I’m there when it happens like the other night, the world of shadows and darkness scares the shit out of me.”
During Karen’s recital of the Cantelli dimension, Temple actually gripped her hand, glancing at me in wide eyed innocence every few seconds. At the end, I wondered what Lois thought of the conversation. She was probably laughing her ass off, thinking if these two ever found out what we had done for Lois’s daughter, they would both be filing a restraining order… or maybe not.
“I’m going over to see Rick at his beach house tomorrow. Want to come spend the day with us, Karen? Please?”
Karen turned to me. “Would that be okay with you, Rick?”
“Sure, but can I come and get you both rather than having limousine drop-offs?”
“That would probably be for the best,” Karen agreed. She pointed at Temple with a stern look. “Remember, I’m not your Mommy. I’m your older sis, like Lois is my older sis, okay?”
“Sounds good, Sis,” Temple replied with a mischievous look. “Rick can be Grandfather Cantelli.”
“That sounds good to me, you young whippersnapper.”
* * *
I drove to Temple’s house first before driving to Karen’s place. She enthusiastically recounted all of her acquaintances’ geezer escort evaluations, especially the smartass one liner I’d fired off when being interrogated at the dinner table by an arrogant ass-wipe associate producer. He asked me if I made it a habit to date teenage girls a third my age. I asked him if he’d ever had all his teeth knocked out after insinuating someone was a child molester. He started backing away from the table and said no. I told him that’s good, but if he wanted to keep his record and teeth intact, he better shut his pie-hole. Karen and Temple both laughed, which drew the rest of the crowd into uneasy amusement too, except of course for the producer and me. It made for a more respectful night.
“Everyone called wanting you as an escort, Rick. They loved the way you handled Chas Hargreaves last night. I told them I have an exclusive on you, but I can pimp you out if you’d like.”
Now that was funny. This kid was growing on me. She handled everything last night with a maturity way beyond her years. Lois, of course, came by the beach house to make sure I hadn’t broken my word about sleepovers with her sister. The unrepentant busybody listened to the whole evening. She even had a few nice words about Karen. I told her I was disconnecting her for the day. She was not happy, but she refused to just come over too. Lo didn’t like my day at the beach house with her bikini wearing sister either. I offered to make her wear a burka, but all I got was a smack to the back of my head.
Temple wore jeans and a pullover white blouse, and had brought her beach bag with her. She looked like sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. When we reached Karen’s place, Toby gave me a wave. Toby’s her bodyguard, and he looks like one of those Russian heavyweight boxing champions. I waved back.
“Hey, Toby, how you doing?”
“I am fine, Rick. I hear you have not been so good.”
“I think the Cantelli Titanic is finally turning away from the iceberg.”
Toby laughed as he held the door for Karen. “Let us hope so, Rick. No more nights in jail cell, right?”
“That’s my mission. I’ll have Karen back before ten, okay?”
He shook his sausage finger at me. “You be good, young man.”
I saluted. Karen got in the back. She did not go for the lollipop/rainbow look. If Lois was here, she’d be calling her sister-slut. Karen wore a black string bikini with a transparent powder blue beach robe. Holy moley, she looked good. Temple giggled and elbowed me. I took the hint, turned to the front, waved again at Toby, and drove with a quick hello to Karen.
“That’s quite an outfit, Karen. I bet you can guess what your sister would say about it.”
“You just had to mention Lois. Yes, I know what my beloved sister would say. She’s not here though, and I’d like to keep her out of the conversation for the day.”
“By your command. Temple told me I was a hit last night, and there were no dead bodies. That’s a win.”
Karen laughed. “Yeah, Rick, I guess that would be an unusual night for you lately.”
“I plan on making it a routine. No more shootings. I’ve been kill free for two wonderful weeks. You two aren’t expecting me to entertain you today, are you? I’ll show you around the beach house and the beach, but then it will be relax time for me.”
“Rick didn’t even have a drink last night,” Temple told Karen.
“He doesn’t drink on the job,” Karen informed her as if I weren’t there. “I bet he makes up for it today, right Rick?”
“I may have a couple of beers. You, Temple, can have a chocolate milk. Karen… I don’t care what you have. Just don’t throw up inside the house.”
Yeah, I elicited a few laughs with that line. Man, I felt good today. I parked the GMC, led my lady guests around our four bedroom, two bath, beach house, complete with enclosed porch in the back. Karen had already been here, but she went along for the tour anyway. Temple liked it. She made perceptive comments about lighting, décor, and the escalating cost of buying anything like this. I then made sure everyone had the items they wished to drag down to the beach. Today, we’d be admiring the beach from the actual beach, rather than kicking back under my small table with umbrella ensemble in front of the enclosed porch.
We positioned our beach chairs, umbrella, and sound system. I brought down the ice chest with a quick second trip, along with a couple of floats. A slight cooling breeze blew in from the ocean. The waves lapped at the sand in a mesmerizing give and take so soothing as to be balm for nearly anything mental. The sky seemed a panorama of wispy shape shifting clouds in unending paths. These times must be absorbed, especially by geezers like me, to be held in storage for black days we know are on the horizon. It’s a give and take world. I’ve been in the game long enough to know how fleeting good times are.
“Damn, Rick,” Temple suddenly exclaimed as we had all stripped down to our beach attire. “You look good.”
“Yeah, he does,” Karen piled on, giving me the secret smile of familiarity.
I can take a compliment with aplomb. Mostly because that too will end. I try to maintain all the working parts so I can put off retirement or death as long as possible. “Thank you, kid. You both look very good too, and I am an appreciative geezer when it comes to nicely toned beach bodies. Okay. Now that the preliminaries are out of the way. Do both of you know how to swim? And if so, how well?”
“What the hell does that have to do with anything,” Karen asked.
“Because if we don’t know how to swim competently, he won’t even drink, right Rick?”
“Correcto, kid. I never underestimate the ocean… ever. If I know you two can handle yourselves in the waves I won’t worry so much and sip a couple. If you have trouble staying afloat or you look helpless out there, I will enjoy the day without adult beverages.”
“Yes, Mamma Cantelli,” Karen replied in monotone form, her head genuflecting.
“You’re up, Fluffy. Show me what you got.”
Karen pulled the outrage card, made less effective by the black string bikini. “I’m not doing a swim test like some 4th grader at the public pool!”
Temple was enjoying it all. Her attention went from Karen to I with nearly wide eyed e
njoyment of the spectacle. “I’ll go first, Rick.”
Temple hit the waves with practiced expertise. Karen and I watched with objective interest. I may have begun subtle touches and strokes over what I was already familiar with. In the moments it took Temple to stroke back in, Karen was gasping for breath, and I needed a towel cover. Temple giggled as she approached us.
“You guys!” Temple laughed and pointed at Karen. “You’re up, you little minx.”
Karen did a little glare, including a hands on hips silent stance for a moment. Then she giggled, covering her mouth. She ran into the surf, stroking expertly out beyond any doubt she was competent in the ocean. Temple applauded as Karen exited the waves and trekked toward us.
“You were excellent, Sis!”
Karen hugged Temple. “You are so new. It’s so refreshing being around you, I may have trouble even interacting with you at times, Sis. Don’t let that stop you! I am so taken with your freshness, I’m thinking of kicking Grandpa Cantelli to the curb, so I can only see things through your eyes rather than contaminating my life’s experiences with Grandpa here.”
Temple giggled once again. “That’s not what I saw from the ocean, Sis.”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t an able lecher with working parts of impressive action.”
I waved a hand. “I’m right here. You know that, right? It’s impolite to speak of me as if I were a chair. Well, you two know how to swim, so I’m going to have a beer, and kick back.”
“I want a race,” Temple announced. “I’m pretty sure I can whoop you, Rick.”
Rick Cantelli, P.I. (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 1) Page 22