Diva 03 _ Diva Paints the Town, The (12 page)

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Authors: Krista Davis

Tags: #Murder, #Winston; Sophie (Fictitious Character), #Mystery & Detective, #Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #General, #Dwellings

BOOK: Diva 03 _ Diva Paints the Town, The
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“We’re not going to do anything, Humphrey. We’re all adults.”
“But you belong with Wolf, and I know Tara’s the one for me.”
“Tara? The policewoman?” That was why she looked so intimate with Wolf when I saw them having coffee.
He smiled dreamily. Oh no! It was worse than I thought. He was really smitten. I couldn’t imagine svelte Tara with the raccoon eyes being interested in Humphrey. She had to be at least ten years younger than us. Why couldn’t he find someone less flashy? Someone like Natasha’s new assistant.
“But we can’t just stand idly by and allow their misconceived relationship to flourish.”
“Interfering isn’t going to make them come running back to us. It could have the opposite effect and bring them closer together.”
I could tell he didn’t like my advice, but I wasn’t going to do anything sneaky. Besides, I was having a difficult moment myself, trying to cope with the news that Wolf was dating Tara. Why couldn’t it have been someone older and less attractive? Was it always going to be like this now that I was over the age of forty? Would younger and more vivacious women appear to continually whisk men away?
Since it was the final evening that the show would be open to the general public, the doors didn’t close until eight. Most of the fires had been put out days ago, so the remaining hours dragged by, and I wallowed in my misery, trying to reconcile the charming Wolf who’d helped me cook last night with the man who was chasing after Tara.
Nina found me at the latte stand, swilling coffee to stay alert. “I’m not making any progress here on the Kurt situation. I’m headed out to look for Emmaline, and then”—she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath—“I’m going home to do some yoga to calm my nerves.”
When the exhibit hall closed, I trudged home, debating whether to bake a cake for Wolf. I knew I was overly tired because I wasn’t even planning to raid the refrigerator.
But as I approached my block, a police car eased into an empty spot in front of Nina’s house. The streetlights gleamed on Tara’s long ponytail when she stepped out. As she had in the morning, she gazed up and down the street. Her eyes stopped on me briefly, but she didn’t acknowledge me. She shut the door to the car and walked up to Nina’s front door.
There was no way this could be good. I ran to Nina’s, arriving just as she answered the door with Hank on her shoulder.
Tara said, “Are you Nina Reid Norwood?”
I saw fear in Nina’s eyes when she nodded.
“Ma’am, I’ve received a report that a Kurt Finkel has gone missing. May I come in?”
Nina threw me a wide-eyed look and stepped aside.
Puffing, our elderly neighbor Francie ran up to the door with her dog Duke. “What are the cops doing here?”
Nina motioned for us to come inside. She closed the door and showed us all into her living room. The lavish use of sumptuous sky blue fabrics reminded me of Iris’s booth at Rooms and Blooms. I made a mental note to ask Nina if Iris had been her interior decorator.
Tara acted like a human camera. She took in everything as though she were snapping mental pictures of details. “Ms. Norwood, are you acquainted with Kurt Finkel?”
Hank the parrot shrieked, “Kurt!”
Nina shuddered. “Yes.”
Tara frowned. “When did you see him last?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer any questions.” Nina spoke softly, almost like she didn’t want to offend Tara.
“You can’t tell me when you last saw him?”
“Look, my husband testifies at murder trials for a living. I know I’m not supposed to answer any questions. I’m sorry.”
Tara licked her lips. “Ma’am, no one said anything about murder.”
Nina looked to me, but I didn’t know how to help her.
Tara’s gaze followed Nina’s to me, and then she quickly looked back to Nina. “Ma’am, Mr. Finkel’s cell phone records indicate that you phoned him repeatedly after one o’clock last night.”
“Kurt! Your cheatin’ heart.
Awwk.
Kurt, answer the phone.”
Hank’s timing couldn’t have been worse. Nina closed her eyes slowly, like she figured she’d been caught. Blinking them open, she said, “Excuse me while I put my parrot in his cage.”
We waited in painful silence, and even though Nina shut the door, we could hear Hank singing “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”
Nina appeared to have regained her confidence, though. “If I thought Kurt was dead, why would I bother calling him?”
Francie, who’d been silent, chose that moment to speak up. “Unless you called him so it would look like you thought he was alive.”
Nina and I glared at her.
But it was Tara who began to look uneasy. She stared at me like she meant to pierce my thoughts. “That’s why you were cleaning that house this morning—you were cleaning up the murder scene.” She pointed at Nina. “You killed him, and then your friend came and tried to hide the evidence.”
“Then why would I have called the police?” I asked, smug in my ability to poke a hole in her theory.
She paused. “I haven’t quite figured that out yet, but I think it probably had something to do with Wolf. Maybe you thought they would send Wolf if you said you’d found a dead man. But then I arrived and messed up your little scheme—whatever it is.” Her dark eyes blazed like they would bore a hole right through me. “Maybe . . . maybe you planned to use him as an alibi of some sort.”
Francie shook her head like we were idiots. “I don’t know what happened, but I think you’d better tell Police Barbie, because it’s beginning to sound pretty bad.”
Nina opened her mouth, and the torrent of words that followed stunned me. She spewed the entire story, including the fact that Kurt hit his head when he fell.
When Nina finished, Tara turned an accusatory expression toward me. “Why didn’t you tell me all this earlier?”
I shrugged. “You didn’t believe me when I said I’d seen him in the window seat. You just lectured me about false reports.”
Anger and embarrassment stormed across her face.
Great, Sophie—make her mad.
“I’d like to see his car, please.” Tara’s words were polite, but delivered in an icy manner.
The four of us and Francie’s golden retriever, Duke, walked the three blocks to Kurt’s SUV. When we reached the spot where he had parked, Nina froze. A new Cadillac occupied the spot where Kurt’s SUV had been parked. His car was gone.
ELEVEN
From “THE GOOD LIFE” :
Dear Sophie,
 
If I had a fortune, I could have a gorgeous house. But the prices of furniture are unbelievably high, especially on the antiques I love so much. How can I get the same look for less?
 
—Antique Lover in Paris
 
Dear Antique Lover,
 
Learn from the expensive stores, but take your business to secondhand shops, yard sales, and flea markets. Try to see past fabrics and finishes, because they’re easily changed. Look for pieces in good condition with classic lines, then get to work with fresh fabric and paint.
 
—Sophie
I breathed more easily. “I guess that settles it. Dead people don’t drive.”
Under the glare of the streetlight, I could see Tara was
not
amused. Her mouth twitching from side to side, she scanned the block. “Nice try, ladies.” She focused on Nina. “I don’t know why you lied about his car and dragged me out here. It appears that your story is falling apart. It will go easier on you if you come clean.”
“I’ve had about enough of you!” The words burst from my mouth before I could control myself. “Wolf knows all about the reason I was cleaning over at Mordecai’s. And I’m sure somebody on this block noticed Kurt’s SUV parked here. Maybe if you would do your job, you’d find out that we’re telling you the truth.”
A gentle wind blew, but I knew my goose bumps came from fear, not the cold.
“Leave Wolf out of this. Maybe you thought you could use him as an alibi while your friend committed murder, but he has his own dark history and doesn’t need more black marks against him from being associated with your despicable crime.” Tara stepped closer to me and her voice became husky. “Leave Wolf alone.”
She’d invaded my personal space, and I took two steps back as it dawned on me that she had a major thing for Wolf. Their date for the banquet wasn’t a coincidence. No matter how much I wanted to imagine there was nothing between them, Tara had just proven her dedication to Wolf. Nina and I would be fighting a losing battle if she wanted me out of the picture. I tried anyway. “Maybe you ought to take a closer look at Kurt’s wife. She was supposed to be out of town, but she marched into Rooms and Blooms this morning, demanding to know where he was.”
“So? That seems logical to me.”
Maybe Police Barbie wasn’t all that bright. “When the cat’s away?” The blank look on her face indicated that she still didn’t get it. “Clearly, Kurt thought his wife was out of town, and he could play around. But either she lied about being gone, or she came back early and caught him carousing.”
“I see, and now you’re going to tell me that he thinks it’s fun to hide in a box, and then disappear.”
Well, there was that. It didn’t make sense to me, but some people had peculiar ideas about what might be funny.
“All I know is that the three of you are knee-deep in it.”
“Not me!” Francie protested.
“Maybe. Maybe not. I do know that I plan to get to the bottom of this.”
Nina, Francie, and I left Tara standing on the sidewalk, looking angry. Even though Tara was clearly on the wrong track now, I hoped she would clear up the matter of Kurt’s disappearance. We would all feel better if we knew what had happened to him.
When I returned home, I curled up in my kitchen with a mug of decaf English breakfast tea and mulled over my situation with Wolf. Why were men so complicated? I tried to shove away my emotions and think clearly about facts. I’d seen Wolf and Tara being very familiar in the café. They had a date for the banquet on Valentine’s Day. Wolf knew I would be at the banquet, didn’t he? It didn’t seem like him to flaunt another woman in my face. But Tara clearly had a crush on Wolf. I sank to a slouch in the chair.
On the other hand, I knew how attentive and loving he’d been right here in my kitchen only last night. Not many guys would help cook. In the end, I decided to go with my instincts and bake a cake for Wolf anyway. If it turned out that he and Tara were indeed an item, I could always drown my sorrows in chocolate cake, whipped cream, and cherries.
The next morning, I arrived at the hotel bright and early, feeling much better after a decent night’s sleep. The fact that it was the last day of Rooms and Blooms also boosted my spirits. All the exhibits would remain in place for the banquet that evening, and then exhibitors would have a day to remove everything. I could hardly wait. I usually enjoyed Rooms and Blooms, but Kurt’s disappearance had cast a pall over it this year.
Still, in the light of day, the mystery about Kurt didn’t seem so awful. The guy was clearly a creep, and was avoiding his wife. He’d meant to spook Nina when he crawled into the box. I probably gave
him
a scare when I opened it.
A guard waited for me at the entrance to the exhibit hall. “Are you Ms. Winston?”
Even though I assured him that I was, he demanded to see identification. “I have strict instructions not to leave until you’re here.”
I thanked him for being so conscientious, and was willing to bet that I wouldn’t find any empty booze bottles this morning.
As usual, I walked the entire hall. Everything seemed to be in order.
But midmorning, Natasha barreled toward me with a steamed expression. “It’s your turn to babysit the fortune hunters at Mordecai’s house. That Mike is determined to find something and won’t leave. But I have to be here because I can’t beat Iris Ledbetter for Best in Show unless my booth is perfect and I talk people into voting for me.” She leaned toward me and whispered, “It wouldn’t hurt me to kiss up to the other exhibitors—I know Iris has been.”

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