Catharine Bramkamp - Real Estate Diva 04 - Trash Out (25 page)

The caterers and our famous chef arrived in a convoy.  Emily greeted them and
after only a few minutes hesitation,
allowed them in.  Carrie and I watched for a minute or two and then cautiously backed away from the whole scene.

“No, the
kitchen
is over there, yes, the
counter
with the oven.”

“Thi
s place is adorable.” 
Rod Nelson swept in
to the 10,000 foot home. He was clad in the expected
bright colored baggy pants patterned with chili peppers
topped with a
white chef’s jacket.  His thin hair was scraped back in a ponytail.  He was only 5 foot 6.
He looked bigger on TV.
  The rest of his crew were taller and better looking, which was an odd choice for a star
, they usually preferred to be followed by decidedly lesser mortals, kudos for Rod’s self-esteem
. 

“We should film here!”
he crowed, delighted.

“O
v
er my dead body
,
” Emily announced grimly.  I smiled, she probably
wasn’t even
kidding.

The noise from the caterer set up was deafening.  Rod issued orders
that were called down the chain of syncopates as i
f they were performing a
comedy routine.  The
covered stainless serving pieces clattered
, the metallic sounds echoed around the tile floor and tile backsplash.
I wasn’t sure if the man was cooking here or just warming and I didn’t want to risk stepping into the scene to find out.  Emily had disappeared to change her outfit.

“I
could
buy a house and a car with th
is
ring.
”
Car
rie
stood in the center of the patio and
stared at her coveted prize
.  “But I will never have to.
  I don’t have to do anything.  For
the rest of my
life.
”

She was right, but now was not the time for a career discussion.
To distract her, I described my early morning
visit to Prophesy Estates
.
“
This Beth seems
suspicious
about something.  I wonder if it’s the paper work. You know that will bring you down faster than a hundred
tumbling
cases of wine
.  I watched her with Mark
and
Peter
.  But you know, she wasn’t really looking at
Mark,
it was more like she was casing him. He invested in the winery as well, did you know that?” 

Carrie toyed with
one of the elaborately patterned knives positioned
– like every knife
-  exactly
two inches from the edge of the exquisitely appointed head table.

“Why
bothe
r with
Mark?
”  I continu
ed my monologue. I had a lot of
material. If this
subject
didn’t
distract
her, I
was ready to launch into
the whole Claim Jump saga. 

“
We could break into
the winery
.” Carrie suggested with a straight face.

“And what good would that do?”
  I glanced at my watch. I should change into
my
appropriate
bridal shower
costume pretty soon.

“
You know, go through the paper work, no one would notice, the office is a mess.  We can find out what Cassandra isn’t telling O’Reilly and Ben.  Because.”
She set the knife back and ran her hand over the top of the bright pink and
fuchsia
mums gathered in the center of the table.
“Because she is hiding something.  I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

“I thought she was hiding her attraction to Ben.”

“She’s not hiding that at all.”  Carrie confirmed.

I examined my manicure, it remained as perfect as fifteen minutes ago when I checked it last.  When you are showing off your engagement ring, the nails must look lovely as well.  I glanced at my friend’s hands.  Her nails were trim but too short.

“You’ve been biting your nails.” 

She hid her hands behind her back.  “No
, they
are just short.”

“Sure
,
you decided to trim them
to the quick
because of
all the heavy lifting and outdoor work you do.” 

The sun moved to the top of the second floor and started to flood the patio in light.  We didn’t have much more quiet time before the guests arrived.

“
Okay, h
ere’s
what we’ll do
;
ask Chris Conner
to
find out
.”  I
focused on
Carrie’s
poor hands carrying the heavy weight of the diamond ring
. “Not in so many words
,
” I amended.  I didn’t want to go on record or anything.

H
er eyes widened and
her face began to relax in a smile.
“Oh my GOD, you are a genius.  And it won’t be you who broke the story, it will Chris
Connor
, and Ben won’t be mad at you.”

“And we’ll have our answer and can move forward
and enjoy
the wedding
with a clear conscious
.”
Well, someone will have a clear
conscious,
I think it’s too late for me, on so many levels.

I pulled out
my phone and hit Chris’ number.
No, I’m not
that special
, everyone
has her number.  

She picked up immediately and I explained most of what I had in mind.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you
,
”
Chris
retorted. 
“
Fred’s family is not
pressing charges, the police closed the case as an accident.”

“
What about Trisha Gault?  She was there.  Why?”

  “Guest?” 
S
he hazard
ed
.

“She didn’t approve of Cassandra taking over the old Von Gr
affen place, that much I know.
Why else?
You know, it’s never just one thing.” 

“Maybe I’ll look into it
,
”
s
he
was reluctant, but she loved a reason to investigate anything
.  “Trisha is still in the hospital
.
I can’t get in to see her.” 
She was already debating the points of the story and her magnificent role in the coming expose.
 

“Make sure you give me credit for the lead
,
” I kept my tone as severe as I could.

“Oh, yeah, sure
,
” I heard the sound of a keyboard being abused as she signed off.

“I thought you wanted to stay out of it
,”
Carrie
pushed a flower arrangement
an inch to the left, studied it and then pushed it back again. 

“The surest way to convince her to ignore
me
is for me to ask for credit.”

Carrie nodded. Considered
my comment
for a minute, then frowned. “Is that okay, to use people like this? 
I mean, isn
’
t
it
like she’s working for us, doing our work?”

“We must delegate
,
” I stated flatly.  “We are busy
, there are gifts to open and people to greet
in less than
two h
ours.  Let
Chris
Conner
break into
the
winery in the dead of night,
let her figure out how to disarm the
alarm,
and avoid the
police and possibly guard dogs.” 

“That sounds like more fun
,
”
Carrie said mournfully.

She did look a little droopy.
She
had arrived wearing baggy jeans and her hair simply
pulled back into a severe ponytail, she wore no make up at all, which wasn’t terrible, Carrie had good natural
color, but still, a little blush wouldn’t have hurt.

“You
aren’t
doing your bridezilla thing very well
today. You
need to get wrapped up in this more.”  I chided her, but I also knew her well.  She’d rather give all the money spent on food, drinks and tents to the homeless.  Or to the
F
orgotten Felines, still a favorite
charity
of hers.  That’s who she is
: a rescuer of feral cats, not the doyen of extravagant
public
events.

“You could elope and be married by Elvis in Las Vegas
,
” I suggested, just to break her concentration.

“Oh don’t be silly, who does that anymore?”

I glanced at my watch and glanced at the blue sky above us.  The sun was
full over the building. The
patio is marvelously warm in the winter, but can become quite hot in the late
fall;
Emily wanted to keep the guests in the courtyard and not overrunning her house
. Our goal was for the shower to end at four to avoid the worst of the late
afternoon heat.
If all went well, the increasing heat would actually help drive out the guests. Emily and shared a very bad attitude.

“Why don’t the Furies have babies?”
  I herded Carrie upstairs to Ben’s apartment where our
official wedding shower
outfits waited.

“They don’t want babies. They don’t want husbands.  They have a perfectly good time just the two of them.
”  She drew in a breath.  “
I can’t figure it out.”

“Well, then don’t. Can you an
d
Patrick live somewhere not on the family
compound
?”
  I pulled my pink dress over my head and shoved my feet into platform,
rose
patterned Madden shoes.

“Like what you and Ben are doing?”
  Carrie turned and I zipped her into
her
cobalt blue
dress, silk
with an
irregular hem.  She wore flat sandals
so
I towered over her.

I was not living
with
Prue
.
I was living down the hill and across a number of streets
;
t
otally different
thing
, we just share
a town
. 
“Why do
n’t
you buy Penny Master’s house?”
I took the offensive.

“Ewwww, Penny died in that house.”
 
Carrie
preceded me back down to the patio.  Getting dressed only used up a few minutes.
Now I had to think of something else to distract her.

The sounds in the kitchen escalated. 
I prevented Carrie from plunging into the fray of the kitchen and kept
her
and her
pretty
dress safe from damage.
For something useful to do,
I cranked open the first table umbrella, it
squeaked
and protested. Where had I rented these? 

“Technically it was off the balcony
,
” I corrected.  The second umbrella crank jammed and pinched my thumb.

“Hmmm, still.”  She walked over to an umbrella and
cranked it open with one hand.  She easily secured it and
moved on to the next one.  Maybe there was a technique I was unaware of.

“Come on,
k
iller views, get away
from the family.
No cell coverage
.  Think about it.”  I
tried to open
a third
umbrella but this one stuck, just like the other two.
I worked hard not to
chip
my nails in the effort.

“Then I’d have to deal with you.”  Carrie quickly unfurled three umbrellas to my next one.

“But of course.”