Megan and Aiden exchanged glances, and she assumed he had found something else out, something they would not want to hear. They let the others talk for a few moments and Aiden broke back in again, holding his hand up to get their attention.
"Colonel Heart, our investigation has tied you to almost every person on the blackmailed list through your associations, your business, and casual friendships. I hate to tell you this, but Detective Carson has picked up on it too and is worrying over it like a dog with a bone.
Kim gave a gasp and grabbed her grandfather's hand as if to reassure him. The older man simply patted her hand and gave her a smile. He wasn't worried, he knew he was innocent and was positive the facts would come out.
Charlotte was just as appalled as Kim, and she turned to Megan, looking for confirmation that her young friend would do something about this. Megan smiled reassuringly before she spoke.
"Charlotte, I've been thinking all day. The one thing we know that links everything together is the party planning business. I think I have a plan. Somehow, we must convince James there is a client out there who has something to hide and will pay for his silence. But I'm stumped, I do not want to involve anyone from Citrus Beach. Not only do I not want to hear their secrets, but I don't want to put anybody in any danger. So, I'm open for suggestions, people."
For the first-time Adele spoke. She had been quiet, as was her nature, listening to all that was being said. She quickly caught on to what Megan was thinking and understood why Megan wanted to lead the party planner away from Citrus Beach.
"You know Megan, with all my connections down in Palm Beach I might be able to come up with something. I think we all agree this has to be acted upon fast, which means we have to somehow convince someone to book a party with James and go through with it so he’s not suspicious."
Kim was following the women and their train of thought, but she was doubtful.
"Who would plan a party with short of notice at the level we need to convince James it’s legitimate?" She looked around at the others waiting for an answer. "Doesn't a party of this magnitude need weeks if not months of planning and organizing?"
Adele and Charlotte exchange conspiratorial looks. They had been around the block a lot longer than the other girls and knew a thing or two about entertaining. Laughing out loud, Charlotte answered the worried reporter.
"Some of the best parties I've been to have been spontaneously arranged in under a week. It's a matter of having your contact list always ready and organized. You also need to be able to convince your vendors you’re having an emergency and they need to come to your rescue. It works every time. You might have to pay a little more to get the results you want, but where there's a will, there's a way."
"And Palm Beach is notorious for having outrageous parties at the drop of a hat," chimed in Adele. She reached into her handbag and pulled out her day timer. She looked up at the others with a grin on her face, and Megan knew she had a plan.
"I think if you give Charlotte and I until tomorrow morning, we could come up with something. I have a friend in mind I’m sure would love to help us out, it just might take a tiny bit of persuasion."
Megan jumped in, hastening to remind the older women it wasn't just a party they needed to plan.
"Adele this person you're thinking of, is there a reason James could blackmail them? It should sound legitimate enough that James will take the bait. But I don't want to expose any of your friends."
Adele nodded her head, indicating she understood what Megan was saying, but she was smiling a rather saucy grin, and Megan knew her friend well enough to realize she was thinking ahead and had the perfect person in mind.
Aiden spoke up, having watched the interchange between the women, offering his own advice.
"Adele, I'd like to work with you on this as closely as possible. I'll want to get undercover agents in posing as guest. I'd like to remind you: keep it simple. The more elaborate your plan is, the more things can go wrong. Only tell those who absolutely need to know about the real purpose of the party."
He then moved on to tell them of other, less pertinent things he had found out during the day, knowing the women would handle their end of things and there was nothing he could do about it. As he finished speaking, the others joined in making comments and observations about the facts that lay on the board. While everybody else was talking, Lucy, who was sitting next to Megan, leaned over and spoke gently.
"Megan, if I was talking about taking this out of the county, I won’t be able to do much to help. I have to be here to get the shop open and take care of the kids." Megan heard the distress in her voice and hastened to reassure her friend all would be well.
"Lucy, you need to take care of your family first. I’m sure if we need you, or Paul, you're only a phone call away. It's more important things here in Citrus Beach run as smoothly as possible and as normally as possible. Plus, I'm hoping you can run interference with Detective Carson. I'm banking on the friendship we have with Sean Young. If you and Paul can get as much information about the case from him without jeopardizing his job, or our friendship, it would be a big help. Hopefully, this way we can stay one step ahead of the detective."
Lucy nodded her head in agreement thankful she could contribute to the investigation in some small way. Then her attention was drawn to the sound of arguing out in the kitchen and she realized her two tired children needed to head home. They rarely fought with each other but when they did, it was a sign they were overtired and getting on each other's nerves. Paul also heard what was going on and stood up, holding his hand out for his wife. Together, they told the others they needed to leave.
It was a signal for everyone to break up the meeting. Megan walked over to the doors and pushed them wide open so people could move freely out of the living room. She was pleased to see the kids had cleaned up the dining room and put the leftover food away. Emma was running referee between the two younger kids who were arguing over walking the dogs. Before the adults could say a word, Jake calmly walked over to the two kids and took the leashes from their hands.
"I think it's time you two kids head home from the looks on your parent’s faces. So, that means Lynn and I will walk the dogs before we leave and there won't be any more arguing."
Sammy and Toby gave in without much of a fight, which was the sure sign they were tired. Holding Lynn's hand as well as the dogs’ leashes, Jake walked out the door, and Megan wondered how long it would be before she saw her dogs again. As she looked around, Megan saw Taylor and the deputy had already left. She looked over at her daughter who simply shrugged her shoulders.
The others were also getting ready to leave as well. Charlotte and the Colonel were standing by the chalkboard looking over Megan's notes. While they were, busy Adele walked up to Megan.
"Let's get together in the morning. By then I will have my answers for you and we can plan our little trap for James." Before Megan answered, Kim butted into the conversation.
"Please, don't exclude me from any of this. I want to be in on every meeting and every interrogation, this is my grandfather we're talking about, not a stranger."
Before Megan answered Kim, Adele assured her she would be included. Gathering both her purse and Charlotte's, she told the younger women they would meet at Charlotte’s for an early morning breakfast. Then she walked over to her friend and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her away from the chalkboard and the Colonel. Megan had to smile. Normally, it was Charlotte who was the forceful one, but it was obvious her friendship with Adele was on equal footing.
Within 15 minutes everyone was gone, and the house was quiet again. The dogs were returned and were now sleeping in their beds by the fireplace. Aiden had opened a bottle of wine and was pouring two glasses before he led the way to the couch in front of the fireplace, ready to finally relax and unwind for the evening.
Chapter 18
Tuesday
Aiden was gone the next morning when Megan opened her eyes. She was stiff and cramped. Something that often
happened when she slept on the couch. She didn’t remember falling asleep or hearing Aiden leave, but when she stumbled out to the kitchen for two aspirin, she found a note from him on the counter.
Sure enough, he had left while she slept. He was aware of her meeting with Charlotte and Adele, so he had taken the dogs to spend the day with him. Megan smiled at the I love you at the bottom of the page, and stretched her arms and back, trying to loosen up the kinks.
Admitting to herself that a hot shower would work wonders, she programed the coffeemaker and headed to her bedroom to get ready for the day. She was due to meet the others in a little over an hour, so there was no extra time to lounge around like she wanted.
When Megan emerged from the bathroom she found a message on the answering machine. Checking the number, she saw it was from Charlotte.
"I'm sorry for the short notice, but I would like to move our breakfast back a couple hours. Something has come up, but you'll be pleased with it. So, let's meet around 11 and we'll eat an early lunch and get things rolling. I've already called Kim and let her know the same thing. We'll see you later, love. Bye."
Megan looked at the answering machine as if it held answers for her. This was very unlike Charlotte. When she made an appointment, she kept it. She was never late – she was never early. Charlotte was prompt, on time, and extremely organized. Something important must have come up to change the time.
Megan didn’t mind, it gave her an opportunity to run over to the office and check in with Janice. After making sure that everything was running smoothly at the office and that the project she and Paul were coordinating on was still meeting its deadline, she said goodbye to the others in the main office and headed back to her private office. There she had a couple of landscape plans on the drawing board and she added a few touches to them she had thought of last night. Before she realized it, it was time to head over to Charlotte's.
Charlotte didn't consider Megan a guest, she was like family. And because of that if there was an unspoken rule that she didn't go to the front door, she came around to the back – to the kitchen door and let herself in. Once inside, Megan found Ruth Carter, Charlotte's housekeeper getting the luncheon together.
"Good morning, Ruth. That smells wonderful. Can you hear my stomach growling already?" She asked the older woman as she gave her a warm hug while sneaking a piece of fresh fruit that Ruth was chopping up at the same time. The woman slapped her hands away and told her to get into the other room. Charlotte was waiting for her, Ruth scolded Megan like little child.
Megan didn't need to be told what room Charlotte was in, she could easily follow the laughter coming from the sunroom that Charlotte had added to the house. As she entered the sunroom, Megan found she was the last to arrive. She said a general good morning to everyone before she realized that there was another person sitting on the couch next to Adele. The woman was just about impossible to ignore. She was older than Megan, but not as old is Adele. Her spiky black hair had puffs of purple in them. She wore gorgeous jewelry that Lucy would love, and her outfit screamed Palm Beach. The woman was overweight, but she carried the look like a runway model. Megan grinned spontaneously at Charlotte's guest. Adele looked up, smiled and made the introductions.
"Megan, I would like you to meet one of my dearest friends. This is Gwendolyn—"
But Adel didn't need to finish the introduction. Megan knew exactly who the woman was, she been a fan for years. There, on the couch, in all her glory, was a world-famous mystery writer that Megan had been reading for years and admired.
"Gwendolyn Johnson, it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm going to embarrass us both by gushing, but I've read every one of your books and loved them!"
The author leaned forward with a smile and a conspiratorial wink.
"You just go ahead and gush away. I love to hear that my readers like my books—"
Adele broke in before Gwendolyn got carried away. She put her hand up to stop the flow of conversation, and redirected Megan and Gwendolyn back to the reason they were there.
"The two of you can get to know each other later. Right now, we're on a time crunch. There’s a lot of work to go over before 1:00."
Megan looked around at the other women in the room and realized she was missing something. She looked at Charlotte for an explanation; what was going on at 1:00? Her old friend saw her confusion and, handing her a glass of iced tea, motioned for her to sit down. She then filled her in on what had transpired since they had seen each other last night.
"This is all Adele's brainstorm. And it’s the perfect solution. After we left your house last night, we continued to talk about how we could trap the party planners. I think Adele had an idea in the back of her head even before we talked. By the time we got home we had a rough idea sketched out in our minds and Adele had the perfect person to call to help out."
"That would be me," chimed in Gwendolyn.
"That's right, I was sure I could count on my old friend." Adele picked up the story and continued with it.
“We needed to come up with a party quickly, but we also needed it to be a legitimate party. We want pull in the party planner and make him feel confident, that nothing is unusual about this event.” Adele looked at Megan, making sure she understood their plan. Megan gave a nod to show she followed her train of thought and motioned for Adele to continue.
"Like I said the night before, it’s not at all unusual down in Palm Beach for a party to be planned and executed within a week. Lucky for us I was aware Gwendolyn had just finished her latest book and was thinking about a launch party. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. As soon as I got back here, I called her and filled her in on what was happening."
Gwendolyn was nodding her head, agreeing with all that her friend had said. As she nodded her head, Megan couldn't help but to notice that the purple puffs of hair seem to stick up straighter than the rest of her hair as she nodded. It was an odd sight, yet Megan had a feeling that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the character of the author.
"Of course, we had to stress the part about a potential blackmail scheme so that Gwendolyn knew of the possible media nightmare from it." Charlotte interjected into the conversation.
"Well I told them that any kind of publicity can generate book sales, it’s just a matter of how you spin it. Adele has helped me out numerous times and if she needed to help on this, I was more than willing to give it."
Kim had been quiet but now she spoke up, confusion clear on her face.
"You three sound very excited about your plan but I don't understand how a book launch could provide the potential for blackmail."
Gwendolyn all but twittered in her amusement. She was enjoying the spotlight, and the other two women let her enjoy her moment, and she continued to explain.
"You to remember all the secrecy when the Harry Potter books came out? The publishers kept the manuscript hidden from view, not wanting to let any secrets out about the plot line. Now I am not saying that I am anywhere nearly as successful as J.K. Rowling, but I do have a large fan base. And a couple of publishers are trying to get me to move my account over to their firms."
Kim and Megan caught on to where the story was going. Exchanging looks, Megan added her two cents.
"So, you’ll use your newest manuscript as bait for the blackmailers."
With a smug smile the author picked up her glass of iced tea along with a snickerdoodle cookie and took a bite before she answered. She washed down the cookie with her tea and delicately used her napkin on the corners of her mouth and then began to lay out some of the details that the three older women had come up with together.
"We thought if we laid it on thick about how valuable the manuscript was to other publishers and how concerned we were about it leaking to the press that we would catch the blackmailer’s attention."
"But Gwendolyn, aren't you worried that your manuscript will get out?" Kim asked with real concern.
"Oh sweetie, I would never jeopardize my work. But like a
ny other author there are multiple versions of my work in progress. I will simply leave an older version in a place where the blackmailers can find it easily. But don't you worry my publisher has the edition that will be released. And there's no way they could get access to the digital formatting of the book, it would take an FBI agent to break the code to get in my books."
Her comment about an FBI agent started all the other women laughing until tears were running down their faces. Gwendolyn looked confused until Adele told her about Megan's fiancée being an ex-FBI agent, and then she joined their laughter.
"When this is all over, I want to talk to you and that fiancée of yours. I've been hearing too many stories about your escapades."
Megan grinned back at the author, nodding her head in agreement. But then she got serious. She reached out and picked up a calendar on the table in front of her before she pointed to the others.
"How in the world are you going to pull off having a launch party in a week? That is what I heard you say you're planning, isn't it?"
Gwendolyn reached over and took the calendar from Megan's hands. It was her own calendar, and she turned the page to a list of notes she had. She handed the calendar back to Megan for her to read and waited.
"This looks like the beginnings of a guest list, as well as a media announcement list."
"Exactly. My publisher and I always have all the details worked out a good month before I finish a book. It just so happens that I finished this one three weeks ahead of the deadline, and I’m sure she will want to get it out as soon as possible. She has been dying to do a media launch party so she can drop all kinds of hints about what the book’s storyline. This is perfect timing, providing we can bring the party planners on board."
Now Megan had a clear idea of what the women were planning. It made sense, but whether they had enough time or not, she couldn’t tell. Charlotte seemed to read her mind and assured her they had things well in hand.
“Ladies, we have exactly two hours to get all the details worked out. I've already contacted James and he will be here to go over the party details and confirm that he can do the party. We need to be subtle, but also make sure he understands about confidentiality of the book.” Turning to Kim, she continued.
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