by Leena Clover
“Ethan’s place is like the café,” Petunia snorted. “That’s not a date.”
“If he’s not ready…” Star said softly. “The time isn’t right, girls.”
“Don’t you ladies have anything better to do than planning my dates?” Jenny grumbled. “I’m going in to start lunch.”
The group broke up after that.
Jenny wrote down her idea about concerts on the beach on a piece of paper. She thought of special discounts the local shops could offer for the concerts. It could be a big boost to business.
She whipped butter and sugar for frosting, thinking about Adam. She wanted to know what Wayne had shared with him.
“Why don’t you eat something?” Petunia asked a few hours later.
The lunch crowd had dwindled and they finally had some time to themselves. Jenny placed two plates loaded with sandwiches and chips on the small table and poured sweet tea for the both of them.
“I’m going to drop these off for Mandy,” she said shyly. “I know I’m not really a resident but I want us to win that contest.”
“What are you saying, dear? You are one of us now.”
Jenny walked over to the town office and asked someone for the suggestion box. Mandy waved at her from a conference room.
“Got some ideas for me?” she asked cheerfully.
Jenny explained her concept.
“I like that. I really like that. But I’m not sure it falls under beautification. It’s more like cultural enrichment.”
“Isn’t that a kind of beauty too?” Jenny asked uncertainly.
“I’m not rejecting your suggestion, Jenny. We can discuss it during the meeting.”
“I was thinking a bit higher than fresh paint.”
“Fresh paint is important,” Mandy said. “Have you looked at the places on Main Street? Really looked? Most of the places are crumbling. They haven’t seen a coat of paint in years.”
Jenny opened her mouth to object.
“Your café is one of them,” Mandy went on. “It’s an eyesore.”
“The Boardwalk Café is the most popular spot on Main Street. Locals and tourists both flock to the place. We are already rushed off our feet and it’s not even Memorial Day.”
“That’s because they don’t have a choice,” Mandy said glibly. “If a spanking new place opened next door, no one would step into that derelict café.”
“Now you’re insulting us.”
“I’m just saying it like it is. It’s my job.”
“Being rude to people and attacking their livelihood is what you do for a living?”
“Come on, Jenny! That’s not what I meant. Offering suggestions for improvement is why the town hired me.”
“You won’t find many takers for your suggestions with that attitude,” Jenny fumed.
She stormed out and walked to the police station. Adam Hopkins was next on her list.
“How are you, Jenny?” Adam asked her with a smile.
Jenny was taken aback. In the few months she had visited him at work, Adam Hopkins had rarely greeted her pleasantly.
“I guess you are here to volunteer some information about the crime.”
“Are you feeling alright?” Jenny asked. “You don’t sound like Adam at all.”
“Ha ha!”
“I did want to share something with you.”
“Fire away.”
“Wayne Newman came to talk to me yesterday. Have you questioned him yet?”
“We talked to him once,” Adam admitted. “Twice actually. The first was on the day of the wedding, or murder.”
“Wayne thinks the tampered parachute may have been meant for him or Crystal. The earlier plan was for both of them to dive off that plane. Crystal refused because she is afraid of heights or something.”
“We thought of that. I have asked both of them to give us a list of anyone they suspect. But I don’t think anything will come of it.”
“But why?”
“You develop a gut feel about these things. I am convinced Bella was the intended target.”
“She’s not even famous. Both Crystal and Wayne are more popular than Bella. They must have more enemies.”
“We will follow all leads. I’m going to check the list they give me, Jenny.”
“Anything new about Bella?”
“Nothing I can tell you.”
Jenny hesitated. She wanted to stay and talk to Adam some more.
“That Mandy James is something else. She says the café is an eyesore.”
“How dare she!”
“You can laugh all you want. I am worried she’s out to get me.”
“Don’t be paranoid, Jenny. She barely knows you.”
Jenny shot herself in the foot before she could stop herself.
“What about grabbing dinner at Ethan’s tonight? I fancy some fried fish.”
“Sorry, can’t.”
Jenny wished a sinkhole would appear next to her so she could disappear forever.
“I was just kidding,” she giggled nervously.
Adam leaned forward and took her hand in his. His eyes softened as he looked at her.
“Jenny, I would love to go to Ethan’s with you. But I can’t tonight. I have to work.”
“Okay.”
“There’s a town hall meeting tonight. Aren’t you going with Star?”
“I’m not sure I am allowed to go.”
“Why would anyone stop you? Almost everyone in town turns up for the meetings. They can be quite entertaining.”
“Somehow I can’t picture you enjoying a meeting of that kind.”
“I don’t! But I’m working tonight. They have a couple of cops on duty at these meetings. It’s my turn.”
“I see.”
Jenny made some more small talk with Adam. She asked about his leg, asked about his twin daughters and talked about the weather. Finally, she could think of nothing else.
Adam looked at his watch and sighed.
“I hate to break this up, but I’m expecting someone.”
“It’s high time I left. I have to go to the seafood market before I go home.”
Jenny almost collided with someone on her way out.
“Jenny!” a pair of arms grabbed her.
“Hey Jason!” she smiled back.
“I’m glad I ran into you. Are you going to the town hall meeting? Why don’t we go together?”
“Do you want to have dinner with us? I’m going to the market to get some fish.”
“That sounds lovely! I’ll see you then.”
Jenny wondered what Jason was doing there.
“Got a meeting with Adam,” he told her himself.
A young man stood next to Jason, scratching his head with a pen. Jenny rightly guessed he was a new client.
Dinner was light hearted with Jason regaling them with gossip from the city courts. They decided to walk to town.
“Who’s your new client?” Jenny asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Jason bought some ice cream for them from the Pelican Cove Creamery. He handed over the plastic cups loaded with three large scoops of ice cream.
“Raspberry and chocolate!” Jenny exclaimed. “Yum!”
“Wait till you try their peach.”
The room where the meeting was being held was packed when they went in. Petunia had saved seats for them. Heather and Molly sat next to her. Jenny spied Betty Sue sitting on a small raised platform, next to Barb Norton and a few other people. One of them was Ada Newbury, the richest woman in town. There was an old man Jenny recognized as Heather’s grandpa. He and Betty Sue had been separated for several years.
“They are life members,” Heather whispered to Jenny. “Barb may be the chairman of this particular committee but she can’t totally ignore the rest of them. According to the guidelines, they have a vote anyway.”
“And your grandma has veto power?”
“She kind of does,” Heather said seriously, “although she hasn’
t exercised it in decades.”
“Let’s hope she doesn’t have to make an exception this time.”
Jenny told Heather and Petunia about her run in with Mandy James.
“How dare she!” Heather fumed. “She’ll be attacking our inn next.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Jenny nodded.
According to her, Heather’s inn was more vintage than the café.
An old man seated in the first row started grumbling about the time.
“That’s Asher Cohen,” Heather told Jenny. “He’s a hundred years old.”
Mandy James opened the suggestion box with great pomp and began reading the chits of paper one by one. People argued about every idea like their life depended on it. Jenny had never been to a meeting of this kind.
“Repaint the light house,” Mandy read the next one. “The light house is not on Main Street, is it? Why are we even talking about it?”
A man in the front row struggled to his feet. He swayed on his feet, trying to maintain balance. Jenny guessed he had imbibed a bit too much as usual.
“Jimmy’s here too?” Molly asked.
Jimmy Parsons was the town drunk. He lived in a small cottage next to the light house. Funnily enough, he owned the light house and the land it sat on.
“The light house is a Pelican Cove landmark, missy. It’s what makes the town pretty.”
Almost everyone present agreed to that. Mandy wasn’t ready to consider it though.
“We’ll table this for the moment. There are other places that need immediate attention, like the Boardwalk Café. It will have to go.”
Chapter 9
The girl called Rainbow paced the verandah of the Pelican Cove Country Club. The meticulously maintained emerald greens of the golf course stretched before her. An inland creek meandered its way through the grounds. Birds twittered, roses bloomed and a cool breeze softened the glare of the bright sun. None of this made an impression on the girl.
Rainbow’s career was finally looking up after she had spent months sucking up to Crystal Mars. One word from Crystal and Rainbow had bagged a cameo in the new reality show Crystal was a star in. Was it worth giving it all up for the sake of doing the right thing?
Raised in a devout Catholic family, Rainbow had flouted many tenets of her faith since she reached Hollywood. She had lied and cheated to get ahead. She had coveted what someone else had and she had frequently refused help to those in need. But she had never actually harmed anyone.
Bella Darling’s face swam before her eyes. The poor girl had barely known life. She was like a younger sister to Rainbow. At least she had been until Rainbow jumped ship and joined the Crystal Mars camp. She had braved Crystal’s ire and met Bella once. Tried hard to talk some sense into her. Blinded by love, Bella had turned her back on Rainbow.
A couple of restless hours later, Rainbow came to a decision.
Jenny slammed a plate of soup on the counter and got some change from the cash register. She avoided looking up at the café’s latest customer.
“Don’t take it personally, Jenny. I’m just doing my job.”
Jenny placed her hands on her hips and glared at Mandy James.
“This café has been around longer than you have, missy. Think twice before you make plans to tear it down.”
“Who’s talking about tearing it down? You have it all wrong.”
“I was there at the town hall meeting last night. I know what you said.”
“All I meant is you need to fix up this place.”
“Look around you. We are bursting at the seams. Most locals eat here twice a day. Tourists visiting town come and eat at our café year after year. Surely that means something.”
“The town wants to win this contest. That’s why they hired me. This particular contest calls for a pretty town. Face it, your café isn’t pretty.”
“Enjoy your lunch,” Jenny spat and went into the kitchen.
Jenny had been smoldering since the town hall meeting. Mandy James and her vendetta against the Boardwalk Café had been the main topic of discussion among the Magnolias that morning. They had banded together and vowed to do anything they could to protect their café.
“I’m glad you’re standing up for me, Jenny,” Petunia said emotionally.
“I don’t understand why she is picking on us.”
“That Mandy James has come up with a long list. We are not the only ones on her radar.”
“She’s being too literal, don’t you think? I love the idea of repainting the light house. It will give the whole town a face lift.”
“She’s got a bunch of ideas for Main Street. Fresh flower beds at every corner, murals on building walls, Victorian lamp posts…she wants to color code the trash cans and benches and provide free bicycles for everyone.”
“Bicycles?”
“She wants to keep the cars off Main Street. People can either walk or borrow one of these bikes.”
Jenny rolled her eyes, making her disdain clear.
There was a knock on the kitchen door and a blonde face peeped in.
“Can I come in?”
“You are from Crystal’s wedding party, aren’t you?” Petunia asked the girl.
“I’m Rainbow,” she said, looking at Jenny. “We met the other day.”
“Of course! Come on in. Do you want a table on the deck out back?”
“I’m here by myself,” Rainbow said hesitantly. “Can I talk to you?”
“Have you had lunch, dear?” Petunia asked, ladling thick tomato soup into a bowl. “Jenny and I were just sitting down to eat.”
Rainbow admitted she had missed lunch.
“Can we eat first?” Jenny asked.
Rainbow nodded and began slurping the tomato soup. Petunia served them hot grilled cheese sandwiches off the grill.
“I never get to eat carbs,” Rainbow exclaimed. “Crystal would kill me for this.”
“How does it matter to her?” Jenny asked. “You can eat anything if you are blessed with a good metabolism.”
“Which I am, thankfully,” the girl said, bringing her palms together and closing her eyes for a second. “It’s all about image. Appearances mean a lot in Hollywood.”
“I’ve heard. But where does Crystal come in?”
“Crystal has allowed me in her inner circle. I have to toe the line if I want to stay there.”
“You mean you’re part of some elite posse which Crystal rules over?”
“The entire wedding party is,” the girl explained. “Other than you and Heather, we are all ‘her girls’. We dress a certain way, and eat according to a diet plan her nutritionist comes up with. Her stylist tells us what to wear.”
“That’s great. So you get free fashion advice from a pro.”
“It’s not fashion advice exactly. We can only wear certain colors, or certain styles on a given day. It’s all coordinated to make Crystal stand out.”
“She’s a star. Isn’t she supposed to be a notch above the rest anyway?”
“That takes work,” Rainbow said.
She clammed up after that, realizing she had spoken too much.
“You are so beautiful,” Jenny praised. “I’m sure you have great things in store for you.”
Rainbow blushed like the young girl she was. She looked longingly at the cupcakes Jenny offered her but refused to taste them.
“What brings you here, Rainbow?”
“You were going to find out what happened to Bella.”
“That’s right.”
“What if it’s someone connected to Crystal?”
Jenny’s face clouded as she looked at Rainbow.
“Is there something I should know?”
“I’m not sure how much you have found out.”
“I’m just starting out, Rainbow. If you know something about Bella, I suggest you come clean. You can talk to the cops directly. Or I can go with you.”
“No cops,” Rainbow said immediately. “I need to keep this quiet.”
; “Why don’t you tell me what it is first?”
“Wayne was having an affair with Bella,” Rainbow blurted out.
“What? But he said he didn’t know her.”
“He knew her very well. A bit too well.”
“How long have you known about this?”
“Three months or so.”
“Does Crystal know this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“I’m not sure, Jenny.”
“Was this after Crystal and Wayne were engaged?”
“Oh yes.”
“How did you find out? Did you come upon them somewhere?”
“Bella used to be my roommate. I moved out when Crystal picked me but I continued to meet Bella.”
“She told you about Wayne?”
“Wayne has a reputation with the ladies. I warned her about him but she ignored me.”
“Did she know about Wayne and Crystal? I understand their engagement has been hush-hush.”
“She did later. But she refused to stop seeing Wayne.”
“What was she doing up there on that plane?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out. Maybe she wanted to talk Wayne out of it.”
“Do you know her parachute had been slashed? Who would do that to her?”
Rainbow suddenly looked frightened.
“I just wanted to tell you about Bella and Wayne. Can you promise you’ll keep this between us?”
“You need to tell the police about this. According to Wayne’s statement, he did not know Bella at all.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Do you have any proof about this?”
“We went out to dinner once,” Rainbow remembered. “We took some selfies but Wayne made us delete them.”
“He knows you knew about him and Bella?”
Rainbow nodded fearfully.
“We never talk about it, especially around Crystal.”
“Does Wayne love Crystal? Why are they getting married?”
“Wayne Newman will do anything to further his career. So will Crystal. They are made for each other.”
“So neither of them actually loves the other?”
“I’ve said too much,” Rainbow said, picking up her bag. “I just wanted to tell you about Bella.”
“Thanks for coming here,” Jenny nodded, giving her a hug. “And don’t worry. I won’t go telling tales to Crystal.”