Annabelle Archer BoxSet, page 153
part #1 of Annabelle Archer Series
“Too bad we didn’t require children performers today,” I said.
Richard shifted Hermes from one arm to the other. “Children aren’t Lilliputians, Annabelle. Even a costume for a child would be too big for a tiny dog.”
“I can wear him in the baby carrier again,” Leatrice said.
“No,” Richard and I said at the same time.
“It wouldn’t go with your costume,” I said, my voice softer. “And we want you to blend in with the rest of the performers.”
“Good thinking.” Leatrice nodded at me. “Shall we join the search? I may not know this Tina woman we’re looking for, but how hard can it be to find a blonde with a boy-cut hairdo dressed up like a waiter?”
My eyes drifted to the rack of costumes and the two garishly outfitted performers reclined on the sofa. “Unless she’s no longer dressed like a waiter.”
Richard followed my gaze. “You aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking?”
“She could easily have found a costume and be sneaking around the property as a performer and not a waiter,” I said. “It would be a better disguise, especially since she’s been made.”
“To be clear,” Richard held up a finger, “you’re the only person who made her.”
“She doesn’t know that. She only knows we were both chasing her.” I gave my best friend a pointed look. “She has no idea my friends would doubt my word and judgment.”
Richard put both hands over his heart. “You wound me, darling.”
“I believe you,” Leatrice said, bouncing on the balls of her feet and her bells ringing. “Your instinct has been right on cases before. If you say your nemesis is here and is behind Kate’s disappearance, then I say we go after her.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer to me. “I’ve been reading up on advance interrogation techniques when we get to that point, dear.”
“Heaven preserve us,” Richard said under his breath.
“If you think Tina will be in her waiter uniform,” I told Richard, “why don’t you take the lead on checking with your wait staff? Ask them if they’ve seen someone who fits her description, and see if she’s hanging out in the catering kitchen or the tents. It will make more sense coming from you anyway.”
Richard tucked Hermes under his arm like a football. “You’re right, of course. If anyone should question my waiters, it should be me. And being in the catering kitchen and tents will keep me and, most importantly, Hermes out of sight of the family.”
He left the pool house with Hermes’s tail poking out from under his arm and swishing back and forth like a furry windshield wiper.
“What about me?” Leatrice rubbed her hands together.
Not only was Leatrice unfamiliar with the house and grounds, she had a propensity for getting herself in trouble when left alone. I did not want her wandering around by herself since multiple people were now missing and one person had been attacked.
“You and I are going to look for Sidney Allen,” I said. “If he really is missing, he could be in danger.”
“Who is Sidney Allen?” Leatrice asked, following me outside the pool house.
I pulled the French door closed behind me and immediately missed the air conditioning. Even though it was now late afternoon, the heat was slow to dissipate, and I felt beads of sweat gather on my upper lip.
“He’s the man who provided all the costumed performers. He owns a specialty entertainment company and is the person to see if you want Cirque du Soleil-style acrobats or royal family impersonators at your event.”
Leatrice scratched the side of her head where her hat had slipped down. “And people want those types of things at weddings?”
“Not usually,” I admitted as I led the way across the pool deck toward the house, casting a glance down the hill at the empty ceremony tent. “It’s a niche market, but he does a good corporate business. Big companies love splashy entertainment at their galas. At weddings, most brides don’t want anything that will upstage them.”
“So you don’t work with him often?” Leatrice hurried along behind me and jingled as she ran, giving me the uncanny feeling I was being chased by Santa’s sleigh.
“No. He’s a bit of a handful himself, so he’s not one of my usual vendors.” I paused at the door leading into the house, peering into the kitchen and casual dining room for any family members. “But this wedding called for it.”
Leatrice glanced back at the reception tent with the hanging chandeliers and towering floral arrangements rising from the tables to meet them. “I can see that. Is the bride famous?”
I shook my head. “Her father is wealthy.”
“And that’s why she was kidnapped?” Leatrice asked as I opened the glass door and stepped into the house. “For the money?”
“Not exactly,” I said. I knew Leatrice was dying to know all the juicy details, but now that Tina Pink was in play, I wasn’t even sure Mr. Hamilton’s nerve gas had anything to do with it. “If I’m right about Tina Pink, everything will make sense soon enough. Right now we need to find Sidney Allen and make sure he’s okay.”
“Why do you think he wouldn’t be?” Leatrice said as we passed through the kitchen and into the expansive marble foyer.
“Sidney Allen isn’t someone who’s easy to miss,” I explained. “If he was here, we would know it. He would be squawking about us running late or complaining about his missing costumes or something. He’s extremely detail oriented and lets you know the second something isn’t perfect. The fact that no one has seen him and we can’t hear him means something is wrong.”
“Maybe we should try to retrace his steps.”
“Good idea,” I said, opening the heavy front door and poking my head outside to the empty driveway. No Sidney. “Except we have no idea of his steps.”
I closed the front door and wondered if I should bother searching upstairs. I doubted Sidney would have ventured to the client’s private bedrooms. Sidney might have been high-maintenance, but he worshipped at the Southern altar of propriety and good manners.
Leatrice tapped her foot and the ringing echoed off the floor. I noticed her matching shoe had an upturned toe topped with a bell. “If you wanted to stash something in this house, where would you do it?”
I thought for a moment. “There are a ton of closets. I’d probably throw it in one of them.”
Leatrice stuck one hand in the air. “Lead on to the closets.”
I made my way down the hallway leading to the garage, opening a coat closet and finding nothing but coats and a substantial collection of golf umbrellas. I passed the open door to Sherry’s office where Daniel sat next to the injured woman, along with Aunt Connie and the brunette bridesmaid I now knew was Sherry’s daughter. I rushed Leatrice by the doorway when she slowed to get a better look. “I’ll explain later,” I whispered.
I flattened Leatrice against the wall as a procession of half a dozen performers in burgundy cloaks and white masks passed us coming from the garage-turned-catering-kitchen. “Three more closets on this hall,” I said once they’d passed. “Then we can check the garage.”
Leatrice didn’t respond, and I could feel she was no longer behind me, so I turned to see that she’d fallen in step behind the row of masks and was following them toward the foyer. What on earth was she doing? I hissed her name, but she didn’t seem to hear me. If I spoke any louder, everyone from Sherry’s office would hear me, so I ran on tiptoes to catch up with Leatrice, hoping to reach her before any of the masked performers noticed a jingling jester behind them.
As I reached her and was about to grab her by the arm, Leatrice stepped down on the hem of the last masked performer’s cloak. The wearer jerked back, and I heard a distinctly female string of curses emerge from underneath the shiny white face mask.
I gasped as I recognized the voice, stepping past Leatrice and pulling the mask off to reveal Tina Pink. Her face was flushed, and her eyes burned with hatred. She caught me off guard with a hard slap to the cheek, and my eyes watered from the impact.
“Cheese and crackers!” I couldn’t see Mack, but I’d recognize his own version of expletives anywhere. “Annabelle was right. It’s Tina Pink.”
“And she’s making a run for it,” Leatrice said.
I blinked a few times until I could focus on the still-cloaked figure dashing through the doorway to the kitchen. “Oh, no you don’t.” I took off after her, holding my stinging cheek and wondering how many rings she’d been wearing when she hit me.
I heard Mack behind me, as well as Leatrice’s tinkling bells, as we ran through the kitchen, around the table, and out the French doors. Tina Pink had dropped her cloak in a pile on the pool deck and was only a few feet ahead of us, but her long legs were gaining ground as she tore around the pool. I pumped my legs harder as I tried to catch her, grateful my black dress did not have a straight skirt.
I saw a flash of black-and-white stripes as Fern opened the door to the pool house, and it smacked Tina square in the face, sending her flying backward with her hands clutching her nose. She stumbled back and fell onto a lounge chair, blood gushing from between her fingers as she let out a string of profanity. Hermes scampered up yipping wildly, and I turned to see Richard crossing the reception tent after him.
“What on earth?” Richard was breathing hard when he reached me. “Hermes heard something and jumped out of my arms.” He looked at the bloody blonde and his eyes widened. “Is that?”
“Tina Pink.” I put my hands on my knees and sucked in air. “Like I told you.”
Hermes circled the lounge chair where she sat moaning and holding her clearly broken nose. He growled at her when she made a move to get up, and Mack clamped a heavy hand onto her shoulder.
Reese appeared at my side, breathing like he’d been running as well. “I saw you all from an upstairs window. Is that who I think it is?”
“I caught her disguised as a masked something-or-other,” Leatrice said, beaming up at the detective.
“How did you know it was her?” I asked.
“She was taller than the other people in the line,” my neighbor said. “If your friend Sidney is as precise as you say he is, I didn’t think he’d have one person stick out so much from the rest.”
“Good eyes.” Reese patted her on the back. “You would have made a decent detective.”
Leatrice’s cheeks turned pink, and I thought there was a fair chance she might faint from the compliment.
Reese looked at me. “What happened to you?”
I put a hand to my cheek again and felt a trickle of blood. “She hit me, and I think this is courtesy of a big ring.”
Reese brushed his thumb against my cheek. “I don’t think you’ll scar.”
“You still came out ahead.” Richard looked at Tina and the blood dripping down her face.
“It’s too late, you know.” Tina looked up at us, her words coming out in angry bursts. “It’s already done.”
“What do mean ‘it’s already done’?” I asked, meeting her angry gaze. “Did you kill them?”
Her eyes flickered. “Kill them? What are you talking about?”
“Kate and the bride,” I said. “You kidnapped them. What have you done with them?”
“I didn’t kidnap your stupid assistant.” Tina struggled fruitlessly under Mack’s grasp.
“Kate is not stupid,” Richard said, reaching down to pat Hermes on the head and quiet him. “She’s unencumbered by intellectualism.”
I wasn’t sure that was the compliment Richard thought it was.
“I don’t believe you,” I said. “You want me to believe you just happen to be here when Kate is kidnapped?”
“Believe what you want, but my goal for today was to make this wedding one no guest would ever forget,” she said, her voice muffled by her hands. “Especially when they all got violently ill with food poisoning.”
“What?” Richard’s voice was almost inaudible.
Tina focused on Richard. “That’s right. I’ve been in your kitchen all day adding special ingredients to your food.”
Richard let out a high-pitched shriek. “My historically accurate canapés! My squid ink risotto!” He took off running for the garage, arms waving over his head and Hermes on his heels.
Tina met Reese’s eyes. “I remember who you are, handsome. You can arrest me for tampering with the food, but I had nothing to do with the kidnapping. Not that I don’t want to tip my hat to whoever did it.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but I also didn’t know if I truly believed she could have pulled off the kidnapping solo. I felt a wave of panic as I realized we were back to square one. If Tina didn’t kidnap Kate and Veronica, who did?
26
“Do you believe her?” I asked Reese as we traipsed back to the house, Mack still prodding Tina along in front of us.
“She looked genuinely surprised to be accused of kidnapping, although she could be an excellent actress,” Reese said. “And I don’t know why she’d orchestrate a kidnapping and ransom drop and still be here. Either she’s part of a multi-person plot, or she’s doing what she says she was—trying to sabotage the wedding.”
“That reminds me,” I looked toward the tents and garage, “I should check on Richard at some point. If all his food really is ruined, he’s going to be beside himself.”
Leatrice slow jogged beside us to keep up, and her bells shook with every bounce. “If the food is ruined, what will he do for the wedding?”
I spread my arms wide. “What wedding? We still don’t have a bride, and her father paid the ransom a while ago. Either something went wrong with the drop, or our suspicions were right and this wasn’t about the ransom in the first place.”
Leatrice slowed. “What does that mean for Kate?”
I bit the edge of my bottom lip and told myself crying wouldn’t help anything. Reese took my hand in his and squeezed.
“It’s past time to bring in the police,” Reese said, holding up a hand when I opened my mouth to say he was police. “In an official capacity.”
My shoulders slumped as the reality sank in. Kate and the bride had been missing for hours. The ransom had been delivered, yet they hadn’t been returned. Tina Pink probably didn’t have anything to do with it, even though she was the reason no one would be eating. The wedding I’d worked on for over a year was a total disaster and would be the only wedding to date we’d have to call off. I prided myself in never having had a bride or groom left at the altar or even a wedding canceled at the last minute. Now that was probably out the window, along with my assistant’s chances for being returned safely.
I pressed a hand to my mouth as I felt the tears I’d been holding back all day spill out onto my cheeks. Reese wrapped me in his arms, stopping outside the French doors and letting everyone else go ahead in without us. His arms felt solid around me, making me feel safe and making me cry even harder. I felt my resolve slip away as fear and regret washed over me.
“This is my fault,” I said through sobs. “I should have listened to you at the beginning and let the cops come in. If something happens to Kate . . .”
Reese shushed me and rubbed my back. “You were going along with what the kidnappers said. You did what you did because you were trying to keep her safe.”
“But what if I was wrong?” I gazed up at him through blurry eyes. “What if it put Kate and Veronica in more danger? You’re right that I’m always trying to fix things myself, which is exactly what I did here.”
Reese brushed a few tears off my face. “Not exactly. You called me in right away.”
“And convinced you not to call in backup.” I wiped at my nose.
“But I didn’t listen to you and called my brother.” He grinned at me. “See? We’re both pretty stubborn and used to doing things our own way.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I promise if we get Kate back safely, I will never try to do your job again.”
Reese laughed. “Bold words from someone who’s been poking her nose into my cases since the day we met. I don’t think you could stop yourself if your life depended on it.”
I started to argue with him, realized he was right, and felt myself smiling despite my best efforts not to. “You don’t have much faith in my ability to change.”
“Why would I want you to change?” he asked. “I love you exactly the way you are, crazy meddling and crazy friends included.”
I stopped breathing for a moment as I realized he’d just told me he loved me for the first time. Not quite the romantic setting I’d envisioned for such a declaration, but nothing about our relationship had been as I’d have planned it. Maybe having something in my life I didn’t plan wasn’t such a bad thing.
I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I love you too. Despite the fact that you don’t have any crazy friends.”
“I’ll share yours. You have plenty to spare.” He ran a finger along my jawline and tilted my face up to his, leaning down to kiss me lightly. My pulse quickened, and I felt like I was in danger of crying again. Happy tears this time.
Throat clearing from the French doors pulled me back to reality. I opened my eyes and looked behind me to see Fern smirking at me with his arms crossed. “I hate to interrupt, but what are we doing with Tina? She’s not exactly keeping a low profile in here.”
I could hear her loud voice from outside. Even if she wasn’t responsible for the kidnapping, she was responsible for sabotaging the wedding and needed to be questioned by the authorities. We would have to call the police, and I would have to explain things to the Hamiltons. I drew a breath to steady myself.
“Can you call the cops to come get Tina while I break the news to the parents?” I asked Reese.
“Sure.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “But are you sure you don’t want me to talk to them with you?”
“You’re supposed to be a sommelier, remember?” I grinned at him. “I don’t want to have to explain that lie along with everything else. Besides, you and Richard are such a cute couple.”
