Cooking Spirits: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries) (15 page)

“That’s what we’re here for.
Details.
You just tell us what you want done, and we’ll do it,” Lara repeated, clapping
her hands.

Next, Kara showed how over-the-top bubbly she could be.
“Don’t worry, you’ll think of everything eventually. Our brides always do,
don’t they, Lara?” Both nodded and smiled so broadly Angie could see their
molars.

“But do you offer help or suggestions?” Angie asked.

“We can, but for some reason most of our brides don’t seem
to like that, no they don’t.” Lara glanced at Kara and both women shook their
heads vehemently.

“They want us to do what they want us to do, nothing more,
nothing less,” Kara chimed, forcefully jabbing her forefinger on Angie’s coffee
table.

Lara folded her hands together. “And that’s what we do.
That’s why we’re…”

Suddenly the two hooked arms, leaned their heads towards
each other and sang out,
“
Briiides
little
hellllpers
!”

Angie gawked. She was already getting a crick in her neck
going back and forth from one person to the other. No way in hell could she
tolerate these two over the next four
months.
She
stood and tried to sound calm as she said, “I’ll call you.”

Angie shut the door on them and returned to her sofa where
she sat and miserably stared at the far wall. The one that was empty. No
Cezanne, no nothing. Just like her wedding.

What was wrong with her? She couldn’t find anyone she liked
to help with her wedding; she couldn’t find a house for Paavo and
her
to live in that wasn’t potentially haunted; and she
hadn’t even found a wedding dress. Was her taste so completely out of step with
the rest of the world? Other people found wedding planners; other people found
houses to buy.

Other people found jobs they managed to keep!

Why couldn’t she?

 
o0o

Angie wasn’t the only one agonizing about life choices and
the future. Paavo’s involvement with the dysfunctional
Wyndom
family caused him to think about and fret over the upcoming changes to his
life.

He, who had never really had a family, would soon become
part of an enormous one. He had to admit he found it somewhat horrifying.

But most horrifying of all was the wedding Angie planned. It
sounded like a cross between “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the battle scenes
from “Saving Private Ryan.” It was enough to give a 6’2”, 180 lb., strong and
tough death cop palpitations.

He left Homicide early and went straight to Angie’s
apartment.

o0o

Angie opened the door and greeted Paavo with a kiss. He set
her from him and stepped backwards, his expression troubled. “Angie, I’ve been
thinking.”

She stiffened as a thousand possibilities of what could be
wrong flooded her mind, starting with “
Stan was right! He’s going to call
off the wedding!”

He continued. “Isn’t it going to be a bit weird to have a
wedding with so many people from your family, and my side of the church has no
one but Aulis? Why don’t we let your side have the whole church and let Aulis
sit with your parents?”

She blinked a couple of times.
Is that all?
“I don’t
think your side will be that empty, but that’ll be fine. I wouldn’t want Aulis
to feel alone.”

“Good,” he said with a nod.

She knew there was something more, and expected it might be
a subject they had put off talking about. But the time had come for her to
broach it. “Since we’re on the subject of the wedding,” she said, “have you
chosen your best man yet?”

He shook his head, walked over to the sofa, and eased
himself onto it. She understood the problem—the person he wanted, Matt
Kowalski, was dead. He also told her Matt’s wife had started dating. Life went
on, but sometimes it was much more difficult than others.

She sat beside him. He once said he thought loneliness
preferable to loss. He had suffered too many losses in his life, and she
watched how, after Matt’s death, he never allowed himself to grow close to
anyone else in the homicide bureau. With his job keeping him busy, he had
little time to socialize and make friends outside the force. It was, frankly,
amazing he was engaged.

She took his hand. “
Yosh
?” she
suggested.

“We’re partners and I like him a lot, but we rarely see each
other outside work. He might feel odd being a best man because of that. If I
ask, he might want to say ‘no’ but feel stuck. The whole thing could be
uncomfortable.”

 “What about Calderon? You always seemed to like him.”

“Calderon hates weddings, and hates marriages.”

“But he enjoys talking to my sister,
Frannie
,
I’ve heard,” Angie said with a wry smile followed by a shudder.

“I couldn’t ask Calderon instead of
Yosh
,”
Paavo said. “That wouldn’t work at all.
Yosh
would be
hurt. We should ask both to the wedding, although I doubt either will come.”

Angie thought he was wrong about that, but said nothing.

“What about Cat’s husband?” Paavo asked. “We got along well
when we went to Rome together.”

“Charles? But he’s so boring! We’d have to hold a mirror
under his nose to make sure he’s alive. Besides, he has to walk Cat down the
aisle since she’ll be a bridesmaid.”

“Can’t Stan walk her?”

“Why not make Stan your best man?” Angie suggested. “That
way he’ll have a role in the wedding.”

Paavo didn’t even respond to that. Okay, even she had to
admit that was a stretch.

Paavo looked despondent. “I never realized I’m such a
loner,” he said. “My work has taken over my life, cutting out friendships. I’ve
got to do something about that.”

Angie wracked her brain; seeing her groom so unhappy hurt.
“Who do you talk to at work?”

“
Yosh
, mainly.
And Rebecca.
Say, shouldn’t Rebecca be in the wedding
somewhere?”

Angie thought about his tall, buxom, beautiful co-worker;
the one who wanted to marry Paavo herself; the one—she had been told—everyone
in homicide thought was perfect for him. Angie would feel as if she were
standing in a hole if Rebecca were in the wedding party. She could just imagine
Paavo looking right over her head into Rebecca’s big blue adoring eyes. The
idea was horrible!

“That’s not going to work. I’ve got way too many sisters to
have room for anybody else. It’s only through juggling that Connie fits in as
my maid (or matron, since she was once married) of honor. And she’s my best
friend!”

“Well…maybe I can find myself some friends before you finalize
the wedding line-up,” Paavo said more dejected than ever. She had no idea this
wedding would put such a strain on him.

Chapter 17

STAN, YOU WERE right,” Connie said
into the phone the next morning. She was bursting with excitement over her clever
idea, and couldn’t wait to share it.

“What am I right about?”

Connie could hear that he sounded sleepy. “Did I wake you
up? It’s eleven o’clock. Are you sick?”

“No. I just didn’t feel like going to work today. I’ve got a
lot on my mind with Angie’s wedding and all. I worried so much about who my new
neighbor will be once she
moves,
I must have dozed off
again.”

“I’m calling about Angie, so wake up and listen to me!”
Connie said. “It’s important!”

“Let’s go back to me being right,” Stan muttered.

“Angie is going too far with this house business. She’s
hardly rational. She told me her sister Maria wanted to have an exorcism done
on the house, and Angie doesn’t even realize how crazy that sounds! She’s
losing it, Stan.
Too much pressure between house-hunting and
the wedding.
We need to help her.”

“An exorcism?
Are you joking?”

“No, but at least it’s not going to happen. I’ve got an
idea, however, about something that can happen. I know a woman who performs
séances. I called her and she’s available tonight.”

“A séances sounds even goofier than an exorcism,” Stan said.
“I don’t want anything to do with a séance! You’re more insane than Angie!”

“Me? You’re the one who’s the spoils sport!” Connie spat out
the words. “My idea is perfect! I’ll get Angie to hold a séance with Madame
Hermione, and invite her sister Maria to attend. Now, here’s where it gets
clever. Angie will think Madame Hermione is there to convince Maria that the
house isn’t haunted, but in fact, she’ll do the
opposite
. She’ll act like
it is! That way, Angie will be forced to drop the whole idea of buying a house
that scares her.”

“And she just might stay in her apartment,” Stan said
hopefully.

“For a little while, at least.
Anyway, I think we’re on the same page,” Connie said. “Now, you and I need to
meet with Hermione this afternoon. She’ll brief you on scary ‘ghostlike’ things
to do. I think if you hide outside in the back yard and work with Hermione to
make noises and what have
you,
it’ll appear that she’s
conjuring up spirits. Then she’ll announce that the house really is haunted,
and Angie will drop any ideas about buying it!”

“Yeah, but what am I supposed to do to sound like a ghost?”

“You can take some heavy chains. Don’t ghosts rattle them?
And bring a horn with a low, deep sound.”

“A horn?
I don’t…oh, I played
clarinet in middle school for a couple of months. What should I blow on it?”

Connie looked heavenward for strength.
“Anything,
Stan!
Who cares? What about the ‘Dies
Irae
’
theme?”

“I don’t know how it goes.”

“Find anything that makes noise or flashes lights. It
doesn’t matter what. It’s the thought that counts.”

Stan remained quiet. “Stan?” she called.

“I’m here. I was hoping I could go back to sleep so when I
woke up, I’d find this was all a terrible dream.”

o0o

Early that afternoon, Paavo and
Yosh
pulled onto the driveway belonging to
Urda
Wyndom
, aka Marilee Wisdom.

Once Paavo learned she might be living in Marin County, he
tracked her to
Lagunitas
, a small community
surrounded by park land and redwood forest preserves.

Urda
Lee
Wyndom
had legally changed her name to Marilee Wisdom when she was only twenty-two
years old. Paavo looked up the proceedings for the name change. She petitioned
the court saying being stuck with “
Urda
” the rest of
her life should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. The judge agreed.

Paavo had worked cases before where someone had their name
legally changed, but records of the earlier name had always remained on the
books. New records came into being, but the old ones hadn’t been deleted. Not
in this case, however. He had no idea how she had pulled that off, but somehow
she had.

Adding to the strangeness, Paavo found
Urda
—or
Marilee as she was now known—had a completely made-up biography on her website
and Facebook page claiming Marilee was British and lived in London, of all
places. He supposed she claimed friendship with J.K. Rowling as well.
Everything about her seemed to be imaginary.

Yet, even knowing this, he found it startling to see a
person open the door who so greatly resembled the picture of the corpse he had
on the murder board facing his desk. Even their hairstyles were the same—side
part, casual, chin length.

“Inspectors Smith and
Yoshiwara
,
San Francisco P.D.,” Paavo said as he and
Yosh
showed
their badges. “Are you Marilee Wisdom?”

“Yes, I am.” She looked confused. “What’s this about?”

“Your sister, Gaia
Wyndom
.
May we come in?”

She let them into the house, a small A-frame with large
windows facing the forest. The interior consisted of a great room with rustic plaids,
comfortable pillows, and leather and wood furnishings. It was a far cry from
the sterile, stiff furniture in Gaia’s home. Upstairs was a bedroom loft.
Marilee picked up two gray and white cats from the back of the sofa, tossed
them out to what appeared to be a covered back porch and shut the door, then
invited Paavo and
Yosh
to sit down.

“When did you last see your sister?” Paavo asked.

Marilee shrugged.
“Some weeks ago.
Why?”

“Did you communicate otherwise?
Texts?
E-mail?”

“Sometimes.
Not recently. What’s
this about?”

“Did she ever mention to you anyone who had threatened her,
or anyone she was afraid of for any reason?”

“No. You two are scaring me. Is she all right?”

“Was there any special person in her life? Someone she may
have been romantically involved with?”

Marilee’s whole demeanor suddenly changed. She snorted.
“Gaia?
I don’t think she’s had a boyfriend since high
school. Oh, wait.” She smirked. “She didn’t have any in high school either.”

Marilee looked them straight in the eye as she announced, “I
went to the prom, not her. Why are you asking such questions?”

Paavo glanced at
Yosh
, who then
took over. “I’m sorry to say, we have bad news,”
Yosh
said, and then gently told her of Gaia’s death.

Marilee showed little emotion, and what she showed was a
combination of surprise and disgust. She took a deep breath then asked, “So, it
was suicide?”

“That has yet to be determined,”
Yosh
responded.

“I see.”

“Is there anything in Gaia’s past that would lead you to
believe she might commit suicide?” Paavo asked.