Annabelle Archer BoxSet, page 109
part #1 of Annabelle Archer Series
Richard paused to think about what I’d said then nodded. “You’re right. I’m getting all worked up over nothing. It’s not like we have to add the hats to the repertoire when I get home. If he insists on them, I’ll take him shopping for a nice fedora as a replacement.”
Not exactly what I’d meant, but at least he seemed to be letting it go. I’d take the win.
Fern gave a low whistle as we stepped into the marble-floored living room of the main villa. Cream-colored sofas and chairs were arranged around square beige columns that rose up to the high ceilings. In front of a wide wall adorned with a swirling three-dimensional spiral stood a tall octagonal table of polished wood. On top of the gleaming wood were masses of flickering candles perched on high glass holders over low compotes of lush white flowers. The far wall, a series of sliding glass doors, led out onto a terrace with more neutral furniture.
Three Balinese women in long, embroidered skirts and aqua tops tied with ikat-patterned belts greeted us with smiles, their palms together in a prayer pose. I put my hands together and returned their shallow bows. They swept their arms wide to indicate that the guests were outside.
“This way,” I said, hearing the low buzz of chatter and music coming from the terrace.
We passed through the living room and onto the terrace where most of the guests were gathered, drinks in hand. Kristina and Brett were sitting on an overstuffed couch talking with Alan, and Cliff and Ted seemed to be trapped in a corner with Chatty Cathy on one side and two illuminated decorative cones on the other. I spotted Sasha and Jeremy, heads together in conversation, as they stood at the glass balcony away from the crowd.
“Isn’t this lovely?” Carol Ann asked as she approached us, a waiter following behind holding a tray of premixed cocktails. Her pupils widened slightly as she took in Fern’s outfit.
He winked at her and smoothed the front of his snug-fitting shirt before heading off into the crowd, his black boots rapping against the marble floors. I just hoped his outfit wouldn’t startle an already edgy crowd.
“The villas are even bigger than our suites,” Kate said, taking one of the highball glasses from the tray.
Carol Ann nodded. “These are where the really high rollers stay.”
I eyed the cocktails before deciding that the likelihood an entire tray full of drinks had been poisoned was very low. I took a tentative sip of the drink, enjoying the tartness of the citrus blend after so many fruity tropical concoctions over the past few days.
“Have you met Topher and Seth?” Carol Ann asked as she waved over two men I didn’t remember seeing before. “Their flight out of New York got delayed, then they got stuck overnight in Amsterdam, so they just arrived today.”
The taller of the two men had brown hair touched with gray at the temples and a stylish amount of stubble. He extended his hand. “Seth with Saint Events.”
“And I’m Topher.” The other man had chocolate-brown wavy hair and eyes that matched behind square-framed hipster glasses. “The T in the Saint.”
“I get it. S plus T is the abbreviation for saint.” Fern swatted at Seth’s arm. “Very clever, boys.”
The two men smiled warmly and laughed. I liked these guys already.
Topher watched Carol Ann as she flitted away to another group, then he leaned in to us. “I heard things haven’t been going so well.”
“Not unless you consider a body count to be a good thing,” Richard said.
“Poor Carol Ann,” Seth said. “She’s been working so hard to launch this FAM trip business.”
“Who do you think is behind it?” Topher asked Richard.
Richard had been eyeing the men warily since they’d walked up, but I could see his usual reserve and competitive nature thawing when Topher asked for his opinion.
“We’re letting the police handle things,” Richard said, giving me a pointed look.
“But the two women were friends, so it’s hard to imagine the deaths are unconnected,” Kate added, hooking her arm around Topher’s as a waiter invited us downstairs for dinner.
“There’s a lower level?” Fern asked, following the crowd down an outside marble staircase.
I put a hand on Richard’s arm when we reached a landing in the stairs. “Look at the pool!”
Below us stretched a long rectangular pool with the words ‘Eat,’ ‘Pray,’ and ‘Love’ bobbing on the surface in brightly colored letters. Lights shone from above, illuminating the blue water and the floating words. I knew that Bali’s tourism had surged since the popular memoir had been published, so a nod to the famous book set in Bali didn’t surprise me.
“That must be the pool decor Buster and Mack mentioned,” Kate said, twisting around in front of me.
“How did they match the font from the book cover?” Richard asked, clearly impressed.
“And what are they made of to float like that without drifting off to the side?” Fern said.
I leaned over the staircase. “They must be tethered to the bottom with weights. What a fun idea.”
Topher turned around and caught Seth’s eye. “We should try something like this in New York.”
“Way ahead of you,” Seth said. “I’m already figuring out how we’re going to find the designers and get all the details.”
“We can hook you up,” Kate said. “The guys who are doing all the design work are friends of ours from DC.”
“Really?” Topher said, looking over the top of his glasses. “I always forget that DC has decent talent.”
I put a hand on Richard’s arm as I felt him bristle next to me. “Take it as a compliment,” I whispered. “You know New York is usually ahead of the curve.”
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we walked to an open-air terrace much like the one above us. While the one we’d come from had been filled with lounge furniture, this one was set with a single table stretching from end to end. In contrast to the neutral decor in the cocktail area, the long table was covered in an orange cloth with a lush runner of hot-pink-and-orange flowers filling the center and spanning the entire length. As I got closer to the table, I could see that each place setting featured a gold-beaded placemat and a pink napkin wrapped with an ornate gold ring. Miniature gilded birdcages sat above the napkins and held orange tags with names written in gold.
“No wonder Buster and Mack were so excited about tonight,” I said, running my fingers over the smooth beads of a place mat. “They’ve really outdone themselves.”
“Would your designer friends consider coming to New York for an event?” Seth asked.
“We’re getting bored of the New York designers,” Topher added.
“If they traveled to Bali, I’m sure New York wouldn’t be an issue,” Kate said.
“Buster and Mack used to work in New York,” I reminded Kate as I bent down to look inside the small cages for my name. “Until Jeremy ran them out of town.”
Topher grasped my arm. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
I looked down at his hand, surprised at the firm grip. “That our friends used to have a floral design studio in New York.”
“Not that part.” Topher shook his head. “Who ran them out of town?”
“Jeremy Johns,” I said. “Do you know him?”
Topher released my arm and exchanged a dark look with Seth. “Oh, we know him all right. He spread some not-nice rumors about us a couple of years ago. The best thing that ever happened to us was when he disappeared from the event scene a little less than a year ago.”
I did some mental calculations and figured out that Jeremy must have left the New York event market after our disastrous experience with him during our yacht wedding in DC. “Then you’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you.”
“He’s here,” Kate said, glancing around her.
I ignored the fact that Kate had stolen my thunder as Topher and Seth gaped at Kate then back at me. “It’s true. He’s on this trip with a Long Island planner called Sasha.”
Topher’s hands clenched into fists by his side. “Then he’d better hope he doesn’t run into me because I will wring his neck.”
I gave a nervous laugh as people looked over at our group. Topher’s outburst had not been quiet. “It’s probably not the best idea to joke about killing someone after everything that’s happened.”
“He’s not joking,” Seth said, his face as contorted with anger as Topher’s. “Jeremy Johns had better watch his back.”
19
“Why is it that the only two people we’ve ever known to like Jeremy have been brassy women with crazy red hair?” Kate asked, referring to Jeremy’s former client and our former stepmother-of-the-bride.
“We do seem to know a lot of people who despise him,” I admitted, running my eyes down the table to locate the hated designer. I saw an empty seat beside Sasha but didn’t see Jeremy.
We’d taken our seats at the table after a thorough search of the small gold birdcages. Kate sat next to me with Richard across from us, while Fern was at the other end of the long rectangle between Carol Ann and Topher. Seth and Topher had managed to calm down enough to be seated, but one glance down the table at Topher told me he wasn’t over it. Seth was seated next to Chatty Cathy a few chairs down from me, but his chair was also vacant. Not that I blamed him for taking a few minutes alone before Cathy talked his ear off the entire dinner.
“So, what do you think?” Mack slid into the open chair beside me and the delicate bamboo groaned from his weight.
I was about to tell him I didn’t know what to think about Seth and Topher’s feud with Jeremy, but then I realized Mack wanted my opinion on the decor he and Buster had created for the dinner.
“Stunning,” I said, meaning every word. “You and Buster have outdone yourselves.”
Kate leaned across me. “Seriously gorgeous.”
Mack smiled and his face flushed so that it nearly matched the red of his goatee. “The pool decor was my idea.”
I put my hand over his and squeezed. “It’s inspired.” I glanced down the table and saw that Seth had reappeared. “You don’t happen to know two planners from Saint Events in New York do you?”
Mack slipped his pink napkin out of the gold ring and draped it across his leather pants. “Topher and Seth? Sure, they were rising stars when Buster and I were closing up shop and moving to DC. Nice guys.”
“Well, they’re here,” Kate said, motioning to where they were sitting. “They had some flight issues getting here, but they arrived today while we were up in Ubud.”
Mack craned his neck to see to the end of the table. “I wonder if they remember us after all these years.”
“I’ll tell you who they do remember,” I said. “Jeremy.”
Mack’s face darkened, reminding me that he and Buster still held a grudge against Jeremy Johns for trashing them all over New York and forcing them to leave town. I knew that if the Christian biker florists allowed themselves curse words, they’d use them all on Jeremy.
“He did the same thing to Seth and Topher that he did to you and Buster,” Kate said. “But more recently, so it’s still fresh in their minds.”
“Jeremy is a cockroach.” Mack spat out the words. “No matter what happens he manages to survive, even though he should have been squashed years ago.”
Kate shook her head. “It really is amazing someone hasn’t pushed him in front of a bus by now.”
I shushed Kate, hoping no one had heard her. I didn’t want the story of how we knew Jeremy and why we had such bad blood with him to circulate through this crowd since it involved us and another murder investigation.
I sat back in my chair as a waiter placed a white bowl with a wide flat rim in front of me. The ceramic rim was punched with small holes, leaving a small depression in the middle. I read the menu card explaining the glistening golden jelly topped with tiny black orbs: king crab ice jelly topped with caviar. I glanced across the table at Richard who already had a bite of the first course in his mouth, his eyes closed in apparent pleasure.
Mack nudged me. “You don’t think all the courses will be this small, do you?”
I eyed the elaborately arranged bite of food in my bowl. “I’m not sure, but there are ten of them.” I’d wondered how I’d manage to eat ten courses when I’d first scanned the menu card. Now I knew. “Haute cuisine is about the design of the food and the flavors more than the volume.”
Mack scooped up the crab jelly and caviar onto his fork. “Down the hatch.”
I followed suit, placing the entire course in my mouth. The sweetness of the crab combined with the sharp saltiness of the caviar as I chewed. I swallowed, taking a sip of cold white wine to wash it down. I was surprised by how much I liked the dish, despite the congealed texture.
“Where is Buster?” I asked Mack as I set my fork in the empty bowl.
He leaned back so I could see Buster’s large form a few seats away wedged between Kristina and Brett. I tried to catch his eye, but he was deep in conversation with the two LA planners. I ran my eyes over the rest of the guests, noticing a few empty chairs. Chatty Cathy wasn’t at her seat, and I felt relieved for Seth that he’d get a few minutes reprieve while she powdered her nose. I couldn’t find Alan in the group but I thought I’d spotted him at cocktails. The seat next to Sasha remained empty. I wondered if Jeremy had decided to skip dinner after realizing Topher and Seth had arrived. It wouldn’t have been hard for him to overhear them threatening him.
The terrace buzzed with the sounds of people talking and silverware hitting china as waiters cleared the first course. Now would be the perfect time for me to talk with hotel security about Jeremy’s connection to the two victims. Especially since Jeremy wasn’t around to overhear me.
I stood up, setting my napkin to the side of my beaded placemat since I intended to return, and made a beeline for Carol Ann. She and Fern looked up as I approached.
“Annabelle!” Fern’s face was slightly flushed, and I noticed a waiter in a black vest refilling his empty wine glass. “Carol Ann may let me take her blondee.”
My eyes flitted to the woman’s curly brown hair, and I cringed at the thought of her as a platinum blonde. I’d seen the transformation of my nutty neighbor’s hair from Wayne Newton black to electric burgundy to Marilyn Monroe blond, each change more shocking than the last.
“But Carol Ann has such pretty hair,” I said, touching my hand to her bouncy curls.
Fern waved away my protest. “She’s ready for a change. Something bold and life changing.”
Having Fern bleach her hair until it was the texture of cotton candy would definitely change her life.
I grasped Carol Ann’s hand and pulled her up. “Before you boldly go where no hairdresser has gone before, do you mind if I steal her for a moment?”
Fern made a pouty face but took a swig of wine and turned to talk to Topher and Dahlia.
“Is everything okay?” Carol Ann wore a worried expression. “I tried to seat you next to your friends.”
I smiled at her. “Everything’s great, and the first course was actually delicious. Mack may need a dozen more to get full, but that’s another matter. I wanted to see if you could introduce me to the head of hotel security.”
“Why?” Her eyes grew wide. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing’s happened, but I wanted to tell him some things I’ve learned that might help with the investigation. I don’t want to be accused of withholding important information.”
Carol Ann let out a breath. “Of course.” Her eyes scanned the open terrace. “I know he’s around here somewhere, but he’s probably trying to be inconspicuous.”
“Is he the guy in all black over by that marble column?” I asked, pointing at a Balinese man with a somber expression.
Carol Ann nodded as she led the way over to him and made introductions. One of his eyebrows went up when Carol Ann explained that I had evidence in the murder cases.
“Not evidence,” I corrected her. “Some information about the victims and someone who might have wanted to get revenge on them.”
The man motioned for us to walk further out of earshot of the dinner, and I noticed a few of the guests shooting curious glances our way. I laid out what I’d learned about Jeremy Johns and his relationship with Dina and Veronica. I closed by relaying what Jeremy had said to me when I’d confronted him about knowing the women.
“He really said they got what they deserved?” Carol Ann put a hand to her mouth and shook her head. “It does sound like he was glad they were dead.”
The head of security unfolded his arms. “Where is Mister Jeremy now?”
“He should be at the dinner,” Carol Ann said.
I shook my head. “I don’t think he ever sat down. The chair next to Sasha has been empty the entire time, and I didn’t see him after cocktails.”
Now it was Carol Ann’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Why would he disappear?”
“He might have overheard Topher and Seth,” I admitted, although I didn’t want to say anything that might make the two New York planners look bad. “They weren’t too thrilled to find out Jeremy was a fellow attendee.”
Carol Ann sighed. “This is a mess. I never should have allowed Sasha to bring him. Actually, I didn’t allow it. I had no idea until he showed up with her. I never should have allowed Cliff and Ted to add Sasha to the list. Come to think of it, they added Dina and Veronica, too. If I hadn’t taken any of their additions, none of this would have happened.”
I didn’t respond to that since I was almost certain the Insider Weddings guys were the ones who’d gotten my crew added to the list.
“We’ll track down Mr. Jeremy and take him to the police for questioning,” the head of security said, his dark eyes holding mine. “I’m sure he’s still on property. Perhaps he returned to his room.”
I felt relieved at the prospect of Jeremy being taken into custody. Neither Richard nor Reese could be upset with me now. I’d given my information to the authorities so they could handle it, and I planned to let them take it from here on out. I thanked the hotel security officer before Carol Ann and I returned to the dinner.
