Body Bags & Blarney (11 page)

“Yes.” Nana
Mary agreed. “Given the handful of times it has been given out, that should
tell you just how hard it is capture one.”

“Thank you,
Nana.” Vivienne walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the right cheek. “I
wish I could stay longer and visit.”

“You have work
to do, young lady.” Nana Mary chastened her with a pointed index finger. “Don’t
waste another minute here.”

“I’ll let you
know how things are going.” Vivienne promised as she grabbed her purse and coat
from the sofa.

“Be careful,
my darling.” Nana Mary pleaded.

Vivienne blew her
a kiss and hurried out of the apartment.

CHAPTER
NINE

She had made
it back to the bakery in time to help Stephanie with the closing tasks and she
apologized profusely to her for leaving her solo for most of the day.
Stephanie, as usual, had been completely in control of the day and insisted
that Vivienne, as owner, was entitled to have time away from the business.

With her shop
closed for the evening, Vivienne had expected to have some time before dinner
to grill Joshua about the death of Father William. She was certain that Sheriff
Rigsbee had already informed him of her presence at the church and the
discovery of the body in the baptismal pool. At least Joshua couldn’t blame her
for sticking her nose into police business where it didn’t belong. She had
every reason to be at the church this morning and it was just a stroke of
misfortune that she happened to be the one to make the horrible discovery.

Yes, she was
actually looking forward to being able to talk about what had happened as she
pulled her car into the driveway. But that moment of anticipation was ruined
when she saw Kathy’s car parked behind Joshua’s Grand Cherokee. Normally, a
visit from her best friend was just what she needed when she had a bad day, but
today wasn’t like any other. She needed to talk about what could be really
going on in Cayuga Cove and that just happened to include magical details that
Kathy was blissfully unaware of.

As she opened
the front door, her sense of smell was overwhelmed by the enticing scent of
baked chicken. “Hello?” She called out as she shut the door and hung her coat
on the wall rack.

Joshua stepped
into the living room, out of uniform and dressed in his usual attire of a
button-down flannel shirt and a pair of jeans. “Hi honey.” He walked over to
her and opened his arms. “I heard about what happened this morning.”

“Was it on the
news?” Vivienne asked him as she let his arms wrap around her in an embrace.

“Yes.” Joshua
replied. “I’m so sorry you had to be the one that found him like that.”

Vivienne
hugged him back. “We tried to save him but he was too far gone.”

“Do you want
to talk about it?” He asked.

She released
herself from his embrace. “Well, yes and no.”

Kathy emerged
from the kitchen wearing Vivienne’s botanical citrus-patterned apron that she
had found on sale after Christmas at Williams-Sonoma. “After hearing about what
happened, I knew the last thing you needed to do was worry about making
dinner.” She had a glass of red wine in her grip.

“Oh, you
didn’t need to go to all this trouble.” Vivienne worked hard to hide her
annoyance that she was now obligated to entertain for the evening.

“It was no
trouble at all.” Kathy sipped her wine.

“I tried to
tell her that you’d probably just want to have a quiet night.” Joshua tried to
explain.

Kathy glanced
back into the kitchen. “Which I completely disregarded and proceeded to force
my way into your home so I could make my famous Coq au Vine.”

“That was
really nice of you to do.” Vivienne smiled back.

“Do you want
me to pour you a glass?” Kathy asked.

“Sure.” Vivienne
looked at Joshua and shrugged. “I could certainly use some.”

“Be right
back.” Kathy disappeared back into the kitchen.

“I know that
look.” Joshua frowned.

Vivienne
rolled her eyes. “Why does everyone keep saying that to me?”

“Who else said
that?”

Vivienne
sighed. “Nana Mary.”

“Is there
something going on that I should know about?” He kept his voice low.

“Yes.”
Vivienne whispered back. “But we can’t talk about it with Kathy here tonight.”

“So, I’ll ask her
to leave.” He offered. “You go upstairs and I’ll tell her you said you have a
terrible headache and are looking for some aspirin.”

“You won’t be
able to send her away that easily.” Vivienne answered.

“I know you
don’t care for mushrooms, so I left them out.” Kathy appeared with a fresh
glass of red wine in her hand. “I only alter my recipes for the best of
friends, you should know.”

Vivienne
accepted the wine and took a seat on the sofa. She sipped gingerly and closed
her eyes. “What a day.”

Kathy joined
her on the sofa. “The best way to deal with tragedy is to talk about it.” She
took a big swig of her wine. “We’re here for you.”

“Yes, we are.”
Joshua affirmed and lowered himself into the loveseat facing them both. “But if
you need time to process what you’re feeling, we understand that too.”

“I’m fine now,
actually.” Vivienne explained. “At first I was kind of in shock about the whole
thing, but afterwards I realized that there was nothing I could have done to
change what happened.”

“Oh, it must
have been awful.” Kathy empathized. “The news said that the police were
treating the entire thing as an accident.”

“It looked
like an accident.” Vivienne played along. “There was a fallen ladder next to
the baptismal pool.”

“How awful.”
Kathy took another sip of wine. “I don’t know if I would have handled it as
calmly as you seem to be taking it.”

“Oh, I was
upset at first.” Vivienne spoke up. “Mother Superior and I tried to revive him,
but it wasn’t going to work.”

“Well, I think
that you just secured your ticket to heaven by trying.” Kathy nodded.

Joshua shifted
uncomfortably in the loveseat. “Are you sure you want to talk about this?”

Vivienne
shrugged. “Actually, I’d rather talk about anything else.”

Kathy set her
wine down on the coffee table by the sofa. “Oh, whatever you want.”

“How did you
make out with jewelry orders after the party?” Vivienne changed the subject.

“Not as many
as I hoped.”

“I’m sure
things will pick up for you when the summer tourists come back.” Joshua reached
for the television remote out of habit and then proceeded to fold his arms
across his chest. He glanced sheepishly at Vivienne who had witnessed the
near-faux pas, yet kept her composure.

“Well, I’m
sure I would have more orders if that little cretin and his hired goon hadn’t
created such a scene.” Kathy added as she inspected her freshly-manicured nails
for chips and cracks.

“That was a
hot mess.” Vivienne agreed. “Did you ever find out who the mysterious stranger
was that saved the party?”

Kathy glanced
up at Vivienne. “No. I was going to just ask you the same question.”

“Mysterious
stranger?” Joshua piped in from the loveseat.

“He was as
tall as you, only not as broad-shouldered and handsome as you are, honey.”
Vivienne teased as she sipped some more wine.

“Well,
naturally.” Joshua winked at her.

“There was
something about him though.” Kathy fumbled for an adequate word to finish her
sentence. “Charismatic, I’d have to say.”

“That’s a good
way to put it.” Vivienne agreed. “Something that just drew your eyes to him.”

“Shifty?”
Joshua offered.

“Not at all.”
Kathy was quick to dismiss the word. “Johnny Guido, now he fit the shifty
description hands down.”

“Oh, what a
creep.” Vivienne continued. “It just goes to show you that money can buy many
things, but class isn’t one of them.”

“I don’t know
what Alexis saw in that guy.” Kathy grabbed her wine and sipped some more.

“She’s not a
dumb girl.” Vivienne countered. “I think that she saw him as a stepping stone
to get out of Cayuga Cove and onto the fashion runways of New York.”

Kathy finished
her wine and smiled at Joshua. “All I know is that my business with her is over
for good after that stunt last night.”

“I’d like to
know more about this mysterious stranger.” Joshua interrupted them.

“Oh, sweetie,
you’ve got nothing to worry about with this one over here.” Kathy tapped
Vivienne on the shoulder. “She wouldn’t stray from your little nest if you paid
her.”

“Thanks.”
Vivienne rolled her eyes at Kathy. “That was such a glowing endorsement of my
fidelity.”

“I’m serious.”
Joshua pressed on. “I think it would be a good idea to know if we have some new
people floating around town, that’s all.”

“Father
William slipped and fell, according to the news.” Kathy continued. “It was an
accident.”

“I’m sure
that’s all it was.” Vivienne finished her wine and set the glass down. “But
it’s sweet how protective of the town you are.”

The timer in
the kitchen went off.

“The chicken
needs to rest for about five minutes.” Kathy started to get up. “I also need to
warm the dinner rolls in the oven.”

“I’ll get it.”
Joshua leapt up from the loveseat. “You two stay here and swoon over the
mysterious stranger.”

“Swoon?”
Vivienne teased.

“I could swoon
over him.” Kathy leaned back against the sofa and kicked off her designer
heels. “I could swoon over any good man, at the moment.”

“I thought you
were taking a long weekend to meet that new guy?” Vivienne asked. “The one that
lives in Chicago?”

“The
businessman?” Kathy raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

Kathy curled
her legs up under herself and leaned toward Vivienne. “That would be Dean.”

“Yes.”
Vivienne snapper her fingers. “He looked like a nice guy. Tall, handsome, and
had a beautiful penthouse.”

“Oh, he had
all of those.” Kathy nodded. “We finally exchanged cell numbers and we talked
for hours at night.”

“You never
told me that.”

“He was a
great conversationalist.” Kathy reminisced. “I could bring up almost any
subject and he was like an encyclopedia of information.”

“Wow.”
Vivienne marveled. “Brains and good looks.”

“Oh, he was
smart.” Kathy agreed. “You don’t get to start your own business and then sell
it two years later for a couple of million being dumb.”

Vivienne
whistled in astonishment. “So whatever did he do to screw it all up?”

“It wasn’t
what he did, per say, it was what he didn’t do.” Kathy clarified.

“Which was?” Vivienne
rolled her hand in anticipation for Kathy to give up the secret.

“Divorce his
current wife.” Kathy replied briskly.

“You’re
kidding?”

“Oh, you don’t
know how much I wish I was.” Kathy lowered her head in shame. “I almost agreed to
a long weekend with a married man from Chicago.”

“How did you
find out?” Vivienne asked.

“Well, last
week I happened to call his phone and leave a sexy little voice mail.” Kathy
confided. “Somehow, someway, his wife happened to discover it and she returned
my call.”

“Ugh.”
Vivienne felt terrible for her friend. “Was she rotten?”

“Not really. I
mean, I could tell she was mad, but I think it was more directed at him rather
than me.” Kathy explained.

“Well, that’s
a stroke of luck.”

“Yeah.” Kathy
sighed. “I think I used up all my good and bad luck for this holiday with that
mess.”

Vivienne
reached out and gave her friend a hug. “This too shall pass.”

Kathy pulled
away from her. “Hey, I was the one who was supposed to be comforting you in
your time of need.”

“Well, you
looked like you needed it more than I did.”

Joshua stepped
into the room. “If we don’t eat this chicken soon, it’s going to be stone
cold.”

“Oh, I almost
forgot about dinner.” Kathy jumped up from the sofa. “Did you put the rolls
in?”

“They’re all
heated and put into the basket.” Joshua added with a grin.

“Oh, thank you
honey.” Vivienne pulled herself off the sofa and followed Kathy and Joshua into
the kitchen where the table was set for three. Tommy Cat and Sammy happily
munched away at their respective food dishes which Joshua had been thoughtful
enough to fill with wet food to keep them from begging too much for pieces of
chicken throughout dinner.

“It all looks
so wonderful.” Vivienne gushed as Joshua pulled out her chair and allowed her
to sit down.

Joshua struck
a wooden match and lit a pair of white taper candles that were flanking the
bread basket. “Can’t forget the ambience.”

“Joshua, the
table looks amazing.” Kathy marveled. “I didn’t know you had such homemaker
skills.”

He pulled out
a chair for Kathy. “If you please, mademoiselle.”

“Does he
moonlight at Bistro Parisian?” Kathy asked Vivienne as she sat down.

“Oh, he never
moonlights.” Vivienne giggled. “Doesn’t agree with him.”

Joshua gave
her a little smile and sat down at the table. “I have to second what Vivienne
said, this all looks amazing.” He reached for Vivienne’s plate and piled some
chicken onto it.