Seven Deadly Samovars (18 page)

Goldie extended her hand for a little shake. “That would be me, Nellie. Goldie Silver. Thanks for agreeing to meet us. Belle has spoken so highly of you that I just had to meet you.”

As if on cue, the hostess called “Silver, party of three. I can seat you now.”

They requested a table in the Courtyard. Goldie admired the way the soft light filtered in from the glass-domed ceiling and cast a special glow on everything. She spotted a few celebrities discretely eating lunch, and noticed her sister looking here and there to see if anyone recognized her. Godiva was in her element.

As Belle suggested, the sisters plied Nellie with an excellent California wine, and by the second glass she had gotten quite chummy. “Godiva, I must tell you, I love your column. I’ve read it in the
Beverly Hills Blabbermouth
every week since it started, and just look at you now. A national celebrity.”

“Thank you so much, Nellie. I was just in the right place at the right time. Maybe some day I’ll be thought of in the same class as Ann Landers and Dear Abby, but for now, I’m just learning the ropes.” Goldie was astounded by her sister’s uncharacteristic modesty. Surely it was Godiva’s way of getting Nellie on board.

The police captain’s wife laughed and the ice was broken. “Godiva, you’re in a class all by yourself. Forget about those old stick-in-the-muds Ann and Abby. Your answers are way better. By the way, weren’t they twins too?” She turned to Goldie. “How about you Goldie? Gonna write anything for the
Juneau Fishwrapper
?
I’ll bet Belle could help you out.”

Goldie shook her head vehemently. “Oh no, Nellie! Dishing out advice is not my thing. One of us is quite enough. Now, Belle, that’s another story.”

The server scooted between them and delicately placed the food on the table. Goldie admired the spread. “Look at this meat loaf platter. My mouth is watering.” Godiva picked delicately at Stevie T’s sliced chicken while Nellie attacked her Chinese chicken salad.

“Nellie, Belle said your husband is a police captain in West L.A. That’s so exciting! Do you ever help him solve cases?” Goldie said.

Nellie sipped at the wine glass that Godiva had refilled. “Well, sometimes the cases my Harley works on are pretty interesting, he likes to bounce ideas off of me.”

Goldie’s eyes lit up as she snapped her fingers and faked a sudden brainstorm. “Hey, we’re working on a case right now that’s a real doozy. Want to hear about it? Maybe your husband would have some advice for us.”

Nellie put down her fork and leaned forward, “Well, I...”

Without hesitation, Goldie jumped in and gave her the basics from the time the samovars were lost in shipment. They had a bit of a chuckle over how overbearing Dora and Nora had become.

“I never thought those church ladies would get so pushy,” Goldie said. “They just about drove me crazy.”

“If that happened in Los Angeles,” Nellie said, “they could have just gone to a few dozen other stores until they found a substitute. But I suppose it’s more difficult in an isolated little town like Juneau.”

Goldie nodded and continued the story. By the time they got to a description of Caesar’s office being broken into, Nellie was sitting on the edge of her chair.

The twins swore Nellie to secrecy before sharing some of the information Angel researched, leading them to the theory that each of the samovars concealed one of the Seven Stars of Siberia. Godiva finished by saying that if they couldn’t stop the Dumkovskys, Taku would go on trial for a murder he didn’t commit and the two louts would get away with a set of priceless gems.

“So let me get this straight. You think these Russian killers are here in L.A. and you guess they’ll be going after Caesar Romano, the famous TV chef to get the samovar that he doesn’t have because he sent it to his mother?”

“That’s about the size of it, Nellie, and we’re afraid they’ll hurt Caesar and maybe even Goldie’s daughter, Chili, since she works for him.”

Goldie twisted her napkin nervously at the mere mention of her daughter’s name. “We’ve seen the two bodies they left in their wake. Two innocent people. When they go after Caesar, my Chili could be caught in the crossfire.”

Nellie thought for a moment, tapping a French manicured fingernail against her chin. “Hmmm, I’d like to get Harley involved. Of course, he can’t do anything officially because at this point it’s all speculation.” She cleared her throat. “I do know a little about these things. You see I studied criminal law and took the bar before I married Harley. I passed, but I’ve never practiced.” She winked at Godiva. “Frankly, keeping up with my husband is a full time job.”

Goldie felt a giggle escaping even though she tried to stifle it. “I’ve got to confess, Nellie, we know a little bit about your Harley. You see, we went to school with Ricky Thompson and…”

Nellie broke in. “Oh my God! You know crazy Ricky?”

Godiva smiled innocently. “Can you believe it? He was my boyfriend in high school. He told me how Harley got his nickname, and how you saved him from a wild life. Actually, I’ve hired Ricky and his team to guard Caesar and Chili.”

Nellie nodded. “Well ladies, he’s the best…except for my Harley, of course. Tell you what; I really want to help with this. I’ll mull it over and maybe we can meet at your place tonight, Godiva. Where do you live?”

Godiva gave her the address. They ordered some mocha cappuccinos, discussed the situation a little more and then agreed to meet at seven o’clock.

TWENTY NINE

       While the twins were having lunch with Nellie, Flossie went into action. After she wished them good luck “antiquing” she stomped up the path to Sterling’s cottage where she found him taking a snooze in one of the Adirondack chairs next to his beloved rose garden. She shook him gently, waiting for him to wake up.

Sterling blinked at her in the dazzling sunlight, a puzzled look on his face, while she prattled on about her plan. “Hold your horses, Flossie. What in tarnation are you babbling about?”

“Catching those murderous thieves, that’s what I’m babbling about. I’ve been plotting while you’ve been sleeping on the job.”

Fully awake now, Sterling bristled defensively. “Now, hold on a minute, old girl. I most certainly am not asleep at the wheel. You know I do some of my best thinking in a semi-conscious state.”

Flossie waggled an accusatory finger. “Hogwash, Sterling, you’re semi-conscious half the time. Listen, the girls aren’t taking this seriously enough.” She leaned closer to him. “Know what they’re doing right now? They’re off antiquing while those bozos are plotting God-knows-what. It’s up to us to save Caesar.”

“So, Mrs. Sherlock, just how do you propose to do that? And what makes you think Caesar will go along with it?”

Flossie threw her hands up in the air, exasperation coloring her wrinkled face. “Why must you always be so skeptical? Maybe that’s why my Harry was the star of the show. He was a man of action and you always get mired in doubt. You need every single thing guaranteed before you jump in. Sometimes I wish you were more like your brother.”

Sterling’s mouth was set in a firm line. Finally he said, “Well, I got news for you, Flossie. Your Harry has transmogrified to the great beyond and left me holding the bag. So you’ll just have to take me as I am. Think of me as your voice of reason.”

“Voice of reason, my foot. Just keep that voice quiet and listen to what I came up with while you were off in dreamland.” After Flossie laid out what she had in mind, Sterling had to agree that Caesar would definitely go along with it. He would probably love the theatrical flair. It never occurred to them that Flossie’s scheme could place all three of them in real danger.

They huddled together, plotting and planning how they could turn Flossie’s inspiration into reality. Sterling said, “Good thing Goldie solved the problem of the samovar Caesar sent to his mother. One less thing to worry about. Maybe we’ll actually get to see what all the hoopla is about.”

Flossie stretched to ease an arthritic crick in her back. She smiled. “She’s a clever one, my Goldie. Leave it to her to convince that Burrito woman to send the darned thing back to her at Godiva’s house. All she had to do was suggest the samovar had historic significance and she needed it back to get her a proper Certificate of Authentication.”

Sterling nodded. “Yeah, she couldn’t get it to the FedEx office fast enough. Should be here this afternoon.”

“You bet, Sterling. Goldie said Rosario asked why she should send it to Godiva’s house instead of Caesar’s, so my clever daughter told her that way she could work with it as soon as the samovar arrived.”

“Okay,” said the Voice of Reason, “let’s keep on track. You know how you tend to go off on side roads. So, we know the Dumkovskys will go to Caesar’s house looking for the samovar—”

“Of course, they got his address from the break-in at Goldie’s shop.”

“We just don’t know when they’ll make their move, but it’s safe to bet they’ll wait until dark. They may not even try tonight. Maybe they’ll wait till tomorrow.”

“See, there you go, waffling again!”

“I was pretty surprised that they went to Food Broadcasting, but maybe they’re not as dumb as we think.”

Flossie agreed. “Elementary, Dear Watson. Caesar is on TV every day. How hard is it to figure out he has an office at Food Broadcasting? Even they could figure that out. Those
gonifs
probably thought that since he’s a chef, he would take the
farstunkener
thing to work. Who knows, maybe they thought he bought it to serve some fancy tea on his show.”

“Could be,” Sterling shot back. “But how did they know? I wonder if a couple of thugs from Russia even watch TV cooking shows. Anyway, from what Godiva said, they didn’t get anything there, so they’ll show up at Caesar’s house soon. Better for us if it’s not too soon. Ricky and his men will be there waiting. But so will we.”

Flossie sighed. “I wish Goldie had never ordered those blasted things. Stick to American junk, I say! Look how it’s complicated our lives, not to mention leaving a trail of bodies along the way.” But there was a twinkle in her eye.

Sterling smiled at her, knowing what the old sparkle meant. “True, but I’ve gotta say, you outdid yourself. Your plan is brilliant and we can pull it off with our eyes closed. Wait till Caesar hears what you’ve cooked up. He’ll love it. Still, I’m a little worried about how the girls will react.”

She shook her head back and forth like a wind-up toy. “Are you kidding? Do you have chicken
schmaltz
for brains? We can’t tell them…not if we want to bust the bad guys. If we tell them, we’ll get our wings clipped. Pulling off the illusion will be easy. The trick will be sneaking away from our jailers tonight and making it over to Caesar’s.”

Sterling rolled his eyes feigning confusion while Flossie snorted. Then a smile broke across his face and he said, “Okay, but stop calling your daughters ‘the jailers’. You know they’re just looking out for us.”

“Oh, Sterling, it’ll be so exciting to pull a caper.”

“Yeah, when we save the day we’ll be back in the limelight again, old girl. Real heroes with interviews on TV. That is, if Caesar doesn’t spill the beans to those nieces of mine.”

“I think he’ll play along. Caesar loves drama and this’ll be like a movie of the week.” Flossie held her finger up to her lips. “Quiet, I think I hear the girls coming. Think of an excuse for us to be out tonight while I keep them busy.” As Goldie and Godiva came up the path, she called out, “Find anything you two?”

Seeing the look on Flossie’s face, Goldie shot Godiva a look.
Better keep an eye on them. I think they’re up to something.

“Good thing you didn’t come, Mom,” Godiva said. “Watching Goldie paw through all that old junk is almost pitiful. Thank goodness we finally took a break and had a nice lunch. How was your afternoon?”

The oldsters locked eyes. Sterling said, “Oh, you know. Nothing much going on. I took a little nap in the sun.”

“Well,” Goldie said, “we just wanted to check in with you and let you know we’re back. I’m going to see if FedEx came yet.” She started back toward the main house.

Godiva started after her and said over her shoulder, “By the way, let’s have dinner early. About five-thirty. A friend of ours is stopping by at seven and we have lots to talk about so it’s better if we get dinner out of the way early.”

Sterling called after his nieces, “Don’t worry about us girls. We’ll eat dinner at the Daily Grill. Your mother wants to see that new movie that’s playing across the street at the Beverly Center. Good thing I can still drive at night.” He turned and whispered to Flossie, “See, sometimes things just work themselves out. Now, let’s call Caesar and tell him we’d like to come over tonight.”

As the twins disappeared behind the rose bushes, Flossie and Sterling went into his cottage to call Caesar.

THIRTY

Goldie hustled up the path to the main house. Godiva, always competing for first place, put on an extra burst of energy. With her Prada pumps pounding the pavers she passed her sister. As soon as they set foot in the marble entry hall, they saw the large FedEx package strategically placed on the French ormolu console table.

“Well, Sis, I guess this is your accursed samovar,” said Godiva. “Let’s take it into the study and open it.”

Guadalupe stood at the doorway between the entry hall and the living room. “Ah,
Senora
, I see you find the package. I tell the man to put it on the table so you see it when you come in.”

Godiva nodded. “I appreciate that, Lupe. I was hoping it would arrive today. Could you please tell Martina that we would like dinner ready by five-thirty? I have a friend coming over later.”

“And,
Senora
Flossie and
Tio
Sterling
, tambien?”

“No, no, it will only be us tonight. The old folks are going to eat out and see a movie.”

The maid smiled. “Oh, they so full of pep for two
viejos
. I hope I be like that some day. What about your kids?”

“Torch has a date and Chili said she was eating out with some friends from the studio, so it will just be the two of us.” The maid trotted off toward the kitchen to talk to Martina.