The Voluptuous Vixen (A Nick Williams Mystery Book 9)

by Frank W. Butterfield

  Looking at her, I asked, "Did you know Mrs. Strakova was a famous chef in Paris before the war?" The two of them had grown up together in what had become Czechoslovakia. But Mrs. Kopek had been in San Francisco since 1935, so she might not have known about any of this.

  She looked up at me in wonder and shook her head. "No. I know none of this. So strange she no tell me. But, then again, we no talk about the war much. Too many bad memories."

  Mr. LeBeau nodded and said to Mrs. Kopek, "She was in the resistance. It is said that she murdered several German officers through her cooking. She could make it look like a heart attack.

  Mrs. Kopek smiled wanly. "Now this." She wagged her finger. "This does not surprise me."

  . . .

  Once the uproar in the kitchen had settled down, I found my way over to Carter. He was still munching on his personal set of pastries while talking with Jeff, the groomsman who was a police sergeant at Mission Station.

  "Where you there the night he came in?" That was Carter.

  Jeff nodded. "No. But I heard about it after he was murdered. You two were the ones who caught the men who did it, right?"

  Carter said, "Along with our friend Mike Robertson, who used to be a lieutenant at North Station."

  I looked around for Mike but couldn't see him. I wondered if he'd taken his date upstairs for a "tour of the house."

  Jeff took a drink of champagne and nodded thoughtfully. "I never heard what the whole story was."

  Carter said, "These two brothers were trying to be mobsters. One of them had done a job for us back a few years ago when we put a safe in our basement."

  "That was over in Eureka Valley," I added.

  Jeff took another sip.

  Carter continued, "So, one of them was working for the construction company that's building Nick's new office building."

  Looking at me, Jeff asked, "And you own that construction company, now, right?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. The second brother, the one who worked for them, murdered the President of the company. The board wanted to sell out and it looked like a good deal."

  Carter shook his head. "Don't let him fool you. Nick isn't a businessman. He just wanted to put one of our friends in her own company. And, of course, he was right. She's already got more work than she can deal with."

  "She?"

  I nodded. "One of the gals who lived next door to us over on Hartford Street."

  Jeff's eyes boggled for a moment when he realized I was talking about a "lady couple." That was a term that Carter liked to use.

  Picking the story back up, Carter said, "So, these two clowns end up burning down our house to cover for the fact that they looted our safe. And then they try to get the playwright next door to us to admit he did it. That part is still fuzzy to me."

  I looked up at Carter. "They threatened to burn down his house."

  "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

  Jeff shook his head. "And then I heard the lieutenant at North Station, who was in charge of the case, resigned as soon as it was over."

  I nodded but didn't explain that he had done so before he was exposed in a blackmail scheme. And that he now worked for us. And was that he was Mike's date and was probably upstairs involved in some highly unnatural relations. I figured Jeff would find all that out later from Alex. Or most of it, anyway.

  . . .

  The time had come for the happy couple to get on the road. By the stretched smile on Marnie's face, I could tell she was ready. They had both changed into more comfortable clothes. Marnie was wearing a pale green skirt under a coat of the same color and a frilly white blouse. Alex was in light brown trousers and a checked coat with big shoulders and a wide lapel. They both looked worn out and happy, all at the same time.

  The party moved out onto the sidewalk on Sacramento Street. Alex's Ford was running and ready for them to jump in and go. But Marnie still needed to throw the bouquet. Standing on the edge of the top step of the stairs leading to the front door of the house, Marnie called all the unmarried gals to gather around. There weren't that many, but they made a show of it. She reached back and threw the flowers up in the air.

  Since I was standing by the car, I didn't see what happened next, but apparently, in tossing the flowers, Marnie's right foot slipped down the edge of the step and, in an attempt to catch herself, she twisted her left ankle, which then crumbled underneath her. As she fell, she managed to collapse onto her cousin Charlene who then fell onto one of the gals from the department store. She tried not to fall too hard on anyone and stuck out her left hand. In doing so, she broke her arm as it hit the marble step below.

  As Lettie said later at the hospital, "If this is the worst that happens, they'll do just fine."

  Chapter 1

  Lanai Suites 128 & 130, Upper Deck

  S.S. Hilo at Pier 35

  Wednesday, August 11, 1954

  Around 2 in the afternoon

  I looked at Marnie and sighed. She was resting on the sofa in the sitting room of Suite 128 aboard the S.S. Hilo which was scheduled to depart for Honolulu by 4 that afternoon. Her bandaged left foot was propped up on a stool. Her left arm was in a cast and hanging in a pink sling. Her husband Alex was kneeling next to her and feeding her bits of pineapple by hand.

  Lettie nudged me and asked, "May I have a word, Nicholas?"

  I nodded and followed my stepmother into the connecting suite. She sat down on the sofa in that suite's sitting room and patted her gloved hand on the cushion next to her. I sat down and looked at her. She was a handsome woman somewhere north of 50. When Lettie showed up in my father's world, he came back to life and was now tolerable to know and to be around. Anyone who had the benefit to know her or the misfortune to cross her knew what a force of nature Lettie was.

  She looked at me for a long moment and said, "I'll be honest, Nicholas. I think this is the best thing that could have happened."

  I opened my mouth to speak and she raised her hand. I nodded and closed my mouth. Lettie had that effect on everyone.

  "You and Carter need this. You need to get away from the City and spend some time alone." She took my hand in hers. "Your house burned to the ground, two inept gangsters tried to murder you both, you moved into that 'big pile of rocks,' as you so colorfully refer to your grandfather's house, and you spent ten unfortunate days in jail. Do you realize all of this has happened in less than sixty days? You look tired, my dear boy. As does Carter. You need this trip. And, most of all, you need to stop sighing every time you look at Marnie. For heaven's sake, she barely realizes she's on crutches, she's so in love with Alex. I'm sure you see it, since you're the sensitive one in the family."

  I sat back, reeling from everything she just said. Lettie could be very direct. And, of course, she was right. I was tired. Carter and I had both been having trouble sleeping. It wasn't any particular thing. To be honest, I didn't know what it was. But hearing Lettie's description of the last two months of my life, I realized maybe it was nothing in particular and everything all together.

  But, sensitive? I had no idea what she meant although it was as obvious as anything that Marnie and Alex were in love. I sighed one more time.

  Lettie stood up. "Now, stop it. And, would you please get out of that coat and tie and put on some of the clothes your Mr. Evans picked out for you?" Robert Evans managed my real estate properties but also had a real eye for clothes. He'd put together a trunk of shirts, trousers, shorts, and swimming trunks along with white tie and black tie for Carter and me for this trip. And, even though the room was air conditioned, I was a little warm in my usual get-up.

  I stood up and smiled at Lettie. She hugged me and said, "I want you and Carter to have a wonderful time and don't worry about a thing. Go to the beach, climb up the side of a volcano, do whatever your hearts desire. Just go have fun. And, when you come home, I promise I will have everything sorted out with Louise and Velma."

  Louise was Mrs. Jones, Carter's mother. She and her sister Velma had decided in the last month, af
ter the death of Velma's husband, to move to San Francisco. But then they'd changed their minds. And now they were on the fence. This situation was another thing to add to the list. It was definitely more stressful for Carter than for me. He had a long, troublesome past with his mother and, although at first he'd wanted her to move to the City, he was now as much on the fence about it as she was.

  I nodded and said, "Thank you, Lettie. I needed this."

  She beamed, patted my arm, and said, "Let's go join the others, shall we?"

  I followed her back to the party. Mrs. Jones and Velma were standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at the bay. The summer had been warmer than normal and we'd had a lot of blue-sky days, just like what could be seen outside the window.

  Carter walked in the door right then. "Champagne is on its way, folks."

  I met him halfway across the suite, right in front of the two twin beds. "Come with me," I said.

  He followed as we walked into the other suite. I closed the connecting door and locked it. He grinned at me and knocked my hat off my head as I began to undo his tie.

  As he kissed me soundly, I said, "We need to change into more suitable cruise-ship clothes."

  He gently bit my ear and whispered, "What's with the high-hat talk, son?"

  I laughed and said, "Let's get out of these city-slicker duds and into the Aloha spirit. How's that?"

  He kissed the side of my neck. "Better."

  There was a gentle knock on the connecting door. "Carter?" It was Aunt Velma. "Nick? The champagne is here."

  Carter ran his hand under my chin, grinned, and then walked over to the door. Without opening it, he said, "We're getting in our new clothes. Be with y'all in five minutes."

  "That's fine, Carter. Take your time."

  We did. But not too much.

  . . .

  I wasn't sure about the clothes we were wearing. Marnie, still seated and with a champagne coupe in her hand, said, "Nick! You look so handsome!" She then looked up at Carter and her eyes widened. "Oh my," she said.

  Carter's mother, his Aunt Velma, and Lettie were looking both of us up and down.

  My father frowned and asked, "Is it comfortable?"

  Alex said, "Yeah. It looks, well, tight." He visibly reddened which made Marnie giggle.

  John, Carter's cousin, was leaning against the far wall of the sitting room next to his squeeze, Roger. John shook his head while Roger looked a little too interested in both of us.

  I had a strong desire to run into the other room and change back into my normal trousers. And I hardly get embarrassed.

  Carter crossed his arms. "If this is what Robert says is the latest, then it's good enough for me. Besides, I like how Nick looks."

  My father shook his head and said, "This is out of my league. Alex, care to take a walk around the deck, my boy?"

  "Sure thing, Dr. Williams." They both escaped just about as fast as they could. After a long moment, Mrs. Jones said, "Yoo hoo! Wait for me." She practically sprinted across the room, her handkerchief covering her face, trying to hide her laughter.

  Roger smirked and said, "I don't understand what all the fuss is about. This is what they wear on the Riviera and in Acapulco."

  Aunt Velma shook her head. "That's as may be, but there really is nothing left to the imagination."

  We were both wearing snug-fitting trousers made of some sort of new fabric. The shirts, in bright tropical colors, were tight as well, certainly tighter than I'd ever worn. They had wide collars and only buttoned up to the middle of the chest.

  When I'd seen Carter pull on his trousers, I did a double-take as well. The snugness of the trousers was just like the Count Dracula costume he'd worn at Halloween. At the time, I'd told him it reminded me of seeing the Flying Wallendas in their tights.

  "Maybe if you didn't tuck in the shirts?" That was Lettie.

  Roger clucked his tongue in disagreement and got a forceful nudge from John. I pulled out my shirt. As it fell forward, I noticed it didn't appear to be wrinkled, which was surprising. Carter did the same thing. I looked up and could see Aunt Velma and Lettie both visibly relax. Marnie was looking up at me, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

  John said, "Those shirts didn't look right tucked in, anyhow. Now you won't scare elderly matrons."

  Aunt Velma turned and exclaimed, "John Custis Parker! Are you calling me elderly?"

  We all laughed.

  . . .

  We said our goodbyes as everyone left to disembark. After they were gone, we made our way up to the starboard side of the Promenade Deck to wave as the ship was pushed back from the pier.

  I waved at Marnie down below as she stood on one crutch and with her left arm in that big pink sling. As she leaned into Alex, I could feel a big wave of affection for my wonderful stepsister and secretary. I was happy to see her married to a man who genuinely loved her and that she loved and adored in return. I sighed one more time.

  Carter leaned down close to my ear so I could hear him over the ruckus of the crowd. "No more fucking sighs, got it?" He poked his finger in my ribs, which made me jump. As I did so, I jostled the woman standing to my left.

  She harrumphed and said, "I beg your pardon, young man."

  I stood up and turned. "Sorry about that."

  Carter leaned over me and said to the woman, "Don't let my friend bother you. He gets a little nervous at sailings. Kinda jittery, if you know what I mean."

  The woman's stout face softened. "Well, that's just like my Howie. He's in the cabin right now. Already seasick and we haven't even left port!"

  I smiled. Carter stuck out his hand. "Carter Jones of San Francisco, ma'am." He was pinging at about a four on his scale of five when it came to oozing southern charm.

  She smiled and said, "I guess we shouldn't stand on ceremony here." She offered her hand and said, "Mrs. Howard Ruggles of Sacramento. Please call me Mary."

  I stuck out my hand. "Nick Williams."

  She shook and then tilted her head. "Williams? Have we met? Are you a member of the state Republican Party?"

  I shook my head. "No, ma'am." I didn't offer more than that. If she didn't know who I was, I wasn't going to tell her.

  Carter said, "Excuse us, ma'am, we have some friends we need to wave goodbye to before the ship departs. A real pleasure." He smiled his dazzling smile.

  Mrs. Ruggles turned her head coquettishly and said, "Oh my. Well, of course. I'm sure I'll see you around the ship. Ta ta!"

  I turned back to the railing and looked down at the crowd. Lettie and my father were waving and I waved back. Aunt Velma and Carter's mother were crying, for some reason. I wanted to shout out, "We'll be back in three weeks!" but I knew they wouldn't be able to hear me, so I just waved at them as well.

  Chapter 2

  Lanai Suites 128 & 130, Upper Deck

  S.S. Hilo at sea

  Wednesday, August 11, 1954

  Late afternoon

  We sat on the couch and watched the ocean roll by. The horizon was empty and the sky was blue. It was a magnificent view from our room.

  I snuggled under Carter's arm. "You don't feel bad about going on this trip, do you?"

  Carter sighed. "We're gonna talk about this one more time and then no more. Got that?" He squeezed me for emphasis.

  "Sure."

  "No, I don't feel bad. I would feel bad if we were still in San Francisco and wishing we'd used the tickets and gone anyway. I'd much rather someone be in these rooms than they go empty."

  I nodded. "I know. I just feel bad about what happened to Marnie."

  "She seems to be taking it better than you and she's the one on crutches and in a cast."

  "You're right." I got out from under his arm and stood up. I turned to face him. "And that's it. No more talking about Marnie's nearly disastrous wedding."

  Carter grinned at me and grabbed my hand in his. "There you go. Now come here, son. We have more necking to catch up on."

  . . .

  That night, we were inv
ited to the Captain's Champagne Party, which was held in the Lounge on the Promenade Deck before dinner. We were both in black tie. Carter always looked particularly swell in his penguin suit. And I always received one or two whistles from him, so I knew he liked what he saw when I was in mine.

  As we entered the lounge, we passed along a line of officers and shook everyone's hand. Most of the men were in their 30s and 40s. When we got to the captain, he smiled and reached for my hand. "Mr. Williams. I'm Captain Angus Stratton. It's a real pleasure. I was surprised to see you as a last-minute replacement on the passenger list."

  I nodded. "I'd bought the tickets for my stepsister as a wedding present, but she fell on her wedding day and couldn't make it."

  A frown passed over the man's handsome face. "She's not unwell, I hope?"

  "She'll be fine. And will probably be on board in a few weeks for her honeymoon."

  He looked at Carter and asked, "Mr. Jones, is it?"

  "Yes, Captain. Fine ship you have here."

  "Well, I understand you have one yourself. Or is that Mr. Williams?"

  I said, "The Flirtatious Captain belongs to both of us."

  He smiled. "Of course. I'm sure you know that your Captain O'Reilly takes a lot of ribbing over that name."

  I wondered that they would know each other but nodded anyway. "I warned him before he came to work for us. He takes it all in stride."

  "Yes. Now, Mr. Williams, I have you and Mr. Jones at my table for dinner each night we're at sea. There's another couple I'd like for you to meet." Looking over my shoulder, the captain called out, "Miss Kilgore?"

  A pretty gal of about 25 and wearing a dress in the style of sailor's outfit walked over. "Yes, Captain?"

  "Miss Kilgore, these are the two gentlemen I told you about. Could you please be sure to introduce them to that other party?"

  She looked at Carter and a wave of disappointment quickly washed across her face. "Of course, Captain."