Diva 03 _ Diva Paints the Town, The (11 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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“Count me in.” Posey studied her piece of puzzle. “Although I probably ought to search on my own. I always beat you guys in Mordecai’s class.”
Mike shot her a doubtful look. “You wish! It was Kurt who always figured out stuff first.”
Chuckling about getting a head start on Kurt and Nolan, the three discussed a methodical search strategy. I was about to slip away to clean up when the doorbell rang. It had to be Kurt.
NINE
From “THE GOOD LIFE” :
Dear Sophie,
 
What on earth is a kitchen triangle? My neighbor says mine is all wrong, but I don’t have the foggiest idea what she’s talking about.
 
—Lost in Bermuda
 
Dear Lost,
 
The three points of the kitchen triangle are your stove, refrigerator, and sink. When we use our kitchens, we constantly move between these three objects. The farther they are from each other, the more steps we have to take. Even if you want a big kitchen, be sure the fridge, sink, and stove are relatively close together, because that’s your work triangle.
 
—Sophie
I rushed to the door. Much to my dismay, Kurt’s wife, Earl, waited on the porch.
“You?!” She smacked her open palm to her forehead. “I should have known he was having an affair with you because of the peculiar things you said.” She lowered her hand and scrutinized me. “Though you’re really not his type.
She’s
his type.”
I followed the direction of the finger she pointed—to Nina, whose shapely figure made a simple button-down blouse and jeans look sexy. For once, bold Nina looked afraid.
Earl stepped inside, crossed her arms over her chest, and said to me, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself ?”
“What’s going on?” Natasha wedged herself in front of Nina.
The effect was magical. Earl almost swooned. “You’re Natasha.
The
Natasha. I love your show!”
Natasha beamed. “Thank you. Which was your favorite episode?”
“Last year, when you showed how to beam a picture onto the ceiling and paint it, I talked Kurt into making us one. We almost divorced over it”—she giggled—“but it turned out fabulous, and now we have a huge mural on our ceiling that makes it look like it opens to a Roman sky with fabulous columns and statues. Like Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.” She gazed around and held out her empty hands. “I can’t believe I don’t have anything for you to sign.”
“You’re Kurt’s wife? You’re so lucky. I bet you have a fantastic kitchen.”
I shifted away to fetch paper from Mordecai’s desk for Natasha to autograph, but that must have reminded Earl that I was there. “Do you know this woman?”
Natasha looked around. “Sophie? Of course. We’ve been friends for years.”
“Well, your
friend
is playing around with my husband.”
Natasha broke into laughter. “
Sophie
? Are you kidding?”
I smiled, thankful that Natasha would defend my character.
“I admit she’s desperate to find a man, but look at her. No makeup, hair pulled up with a plastic clip because she won’t take the time to fix it, and today, for some reason, she looks sallow, don’t you think? Honestly, she can’t even keep her own boyfriend. She’s hardly a threat to the rest of us.”
I didn’t know whether to be glad or to lash out at Natasha. Only a few months ago, she was afraid I had designs on Mars.
Earl seemed puzzled. “It’s just that my husband isn’t answering his cell phone, and he didn’t show for work this morning. I found this address jotted down on his office calendar.”
Natasha waved a hand through the air. “Not to worry, honey. He’s redoing the kitchen for me.”
More likely he’d jotted down the address where he would receive a bequest from Mordecai. But after my outburst earlier, when I’d spilled the beans about seeing Kurt in the window seat, I thought it best to keep quiet about the bequest. Earl struck me as the sort of person who would demand Kurt’s bequest, and I didn’t know if I was allowed to give it to her.
I took advantage of Earl’s starstruck rapture with Natasha and slipped away to begin cleaning up. Ted, Mike, and Posey had migrated to the family room, and I could hear Posey saying, “How are we supposed to find anything in this mess?”
When Earl left, Natasha joined Nina and me in the kitchen. While I washed dishes and Natasha dried them, Nina huddled in a corner, snarfing the leftover Brie and quiche like she hadn’t eaten in days.
“I’m inclined to agree with Nolan—Mordecai wasn’t operating on all cylinders anymore,” said Natasha. “I mean, really, leaving this mansion to his dog?”
“That little dog meant a lot to him, Natasha. He wanted to be sure that Emmaline would be taken care of after his demise.”
“Like a dog could tell the difference between a house and the concrete floor of a dog run.”
“Of course they can!” When Mars and I split, we agreed to share custody of our dog, Daisy. At the moment, Daisy was staying with Mars and Natasha. “Where is Daisy?” I asked, worried.
“Mars took her for a ridiculously long walk this morning. She’s probably asleep in his den.”
I sighed with relief. It wasn’t easy knowing my sweet Daisy had a wicked stepmother who didn’t like her.
I returned the last plate to its proper place in the butler’s pantry. “Are you going to be here for a while?” I asked Natasha. “I suppose someone ought to hang around while Mordecai’s heirs snoop.”
Natasha checked her watch. “I have to stay anyway. Two designers are coming to check out bedrooms.”
Uh-oh.
“What if a designer finds the thing Mordecai’s heirs are supposed to receive?”
Natasha made a dubious face. “Look around. It can’t be anything valuable or important. He clearly didn’t spend a cent in the last twenty years.”
I wasn’t so sure. I pulled out my cell phone and called Adam Swensen, Mordecai’s lawyer. He laughed when he heard what the heirs had received. “I should have known Mordecai was up to tricks.” Fortunately, his lawyer also understood the urgency of fixing up the place, and suggested he draft an agreement with the decorators. I passed the phone to Natasha so they could work out the details.
Nina perched on a chair at the kitchen counter, pulling bits of bread off the hollowed-out loaf that had held dip. She nibbled at them mindlessly.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Where could he be?” she whispered. “I don’t know what else I can do. I felt terrible when Earl came barging in saying you were having an affair with Kurt. Soph, you believe me when I say I didn’t sleep with him, don’t you? It was completely aboveboard. In fact, if I hadn’t rejected him and pushed him away, none of this would have happened.”
What she needed was a nap, but I suspected that she was too agitated to sleep. I couldn’t leave her like this. “Come with me to Rooms and Blooms. I could use some help.” It was a fib, but maybe it would take her mind off of Kurt.
Natasha grabbed me as we put on our coats. “Would you stop by my booth and check on Beth Ford? She’s new to the area and doesn’t know anyone. I just hired her, and I hate to leave her alone all day but I had no choice.” I readily agreed and Nina and I left, with Nina munching on blondies during the short walk to the hotel.
At the convention hall, our first stop was Finkel’s Kitchen and Bath. The redhead was slouching in a chair and looking sullen, even though potential customers were opening cabinets and exclaiming over the clever storage inserts. They ran their hands over the rich woods and glossy granites on display, but she ignored the customers entirely.
“No word from Kurt?” I asked.
“I didn’t even get a lunch break.” She folded her arms over her chest and pouted.
Poor kid. “You have exactly fifteen minutes. Go get some food.”
“Are you serious?”
“Go!”
Nina grinned at me. “That was a smooth move. I’ll be in the back, nosing around.”
I didn’t think she would find anything helpful in the booth, but it wouldn’t hurt to look. I moseyed toward the back, where Nina opened display cabinets and drawers. The countertops held brochures and samples of tile, but there was nothing that would help us understand where Kurt had gone.
Nina turned toward me and said with resignation, “Nothing personal.”
As I thought about Kurt, I wondered the same thing I had wanted to know about Wolf’s wife. Did he have a reason to disappear? His business seemed to be booming, but his personal life was clearly a mess. If I could believe his wife—and why not?—Kurt had brought on problems in his marriage. But a lot of people had affairs and worked through them to save their marriages.
A frustrated Nina now slouched in the chair where the redhead had sat. I asked if Nina would mind waiting for her to return.
She brightened up. “Maybe she knows something.”
I doubted it, but it would help Nina feel like she was doing something. I took off in search of my staff but made a quick stop at Natasha’s booth to check on her new employee, Beth Ford.
With remarkable patience, the blond woman in Natasha’s booth explained to an earnest couple that a well-planned kitchen triangle between the stove, sink, and refrigerator would make cooking easier. “You don’t want to walk half a mile just to get the milk and eggs from the fridge,” she said. “And think how easy it would be if the sink were behind you and the stove were in front of you. To fill a pot with water, you’d only have to turn around. And dirty pans could go straight into the sink, without having to carry them across the kitchen.”
I guessed Beth to be in her mid-forties. A plain beige sweater clung to her ample hips. Not the best choice of clothes for her figure. Not that I was in any position to criticize anyone’s figure, since I needed to shed weight myself. Besides, her round face and easy smile would make anyone comfortable. She needed to rethink the big, blond perm, though. I’d been down that road myself—not my best look. I couldn’t believe that no one had told me I was too short and chubby to pull it off.
I was impressed with Beth’s responses about the couple’s kitchen problems. It appeared Natasha had made a good selection. As soon as the couple left, I introduced myself.
“You’re Sophie Winston? Don’t tell Natasha, but I
love
your column. I like hers, too, of course, but I never miss yours. My twins graduated from high school last year, and my dolt of an ex-husband refused to contribute to a graduation party. Your hint to throw an afternoon party at a local lake with hot dogs and burgers saved the day. With college costs looming, I just couldn’t see spending a lot on a party, and the kids had more fun swimming and boating than they would have had at a stuffy party in some restaurant.”
I thanked her, glad that I had helped someone through a problem. “Looks like you have everything under control.”
She handed a brochure of Natasha’s new line of tools to a man who perused them. “I thought I’d be doing things behind the scenes at her TV show, but I don’t mind filling in here at the convention. It’s an easy way to start the job. I like talking to people.”
I wanted to get to know Natasha’s new assistant a little bit better, but at that moment Humphrey found me and pulled me away.
“I asked her out.”
“That’s great, Humphrey.” I reminded myself to be patient with him. He didn’t know about the problem with Kurt, and this was important to him. I walked in the direction of Ted’s glass cottage to be sure the pond wasn’t leaking again.
“But we have a problem.”
We? I didn’t think so. I had enough problems without taking on Humphrey’s.
“She already has a date to the Design Guild banquet—Wolf.”
TEN
From
“Ask Natasha”
:
Dear Natasha,
My husband thinks our gorgeous tone-on-tone pastel blue living room is boring. He wants to ruin it by mounting an antelope head over the fireplace. Ugh!
 
—Fighting in Fishers Island
 
Dear Fighting,
Satisfy hubby’s need for the exotic by covering one chair in an animal print and adding a zebra throw rug. Animal prints are classic decorating devices that will give your room pizzazz.
 
—Natasha
“Wolf ? My Wolf ?”
“The very same. How do we stop them?”
His news shook me. It wasn’t like Wolf and I had a committed relationship, but our date had gone so well that I thought we might be headed in that direction eventually. Apparently not. On the other hand, Wolf might have made his date with Humphrey’s heartthrob months ago. I should have asked Wolf to the banquet myself, but I’d learned long ago that dates and work didn’t mix. If I spent time with my date, I wasn’t paying attention to the event the way I should be. And if I hopped up from the table and worked, I was ignoring my date. And then my heart and hopes plummeted. He’d asked this other woman to the banquet on Valentine’s Day. It didn’t get more obvious than that. I had planned to bake him a Black Forest cherry cake for Valentine’s Day, but now I wasn’t sure if I should.

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