| |
Arden glanced back to the vases of red roses around the room and shuddered. “He called you by your character’s name?”
“Obviously, he was a touch confused,” Savannah said applying her lipstick.
“Obviously,” Arden agreed.
“What did he mean about this time you’ll stay dead?” Paige asked.
Savannah laid her lipstick on the table and fluffed up her hair. “The guy was crazy. Who knows what he was thinking.”
“What did the police say?” Arden asked.
“The police ruled it an accident,” Savannah said, “faulty wiring or something. I just know that when I walked into my dressing room the day before and saw all those roses and the writing on the mirror, I got the chills.”
“I can imagine,” Arden murmured as she gestured to the vases of red roses surrounding them.
Savannah shrugged. “I’ve received roses before and after. As long as they don’t come with any threatening message, I just assume everything’s fine. Besides, whoever was stalking me back then must have moved on to someone else by now.” She balled her hands into fists. “What I wouldn’t give to find out who it was though.”
“Did he ever bother you again?” Arden asked.
“No, never. That was always the strangest thing for me. He only bothered me when I was on the set. I never got any roses or creepy messages at home. Then once I left for good, that was the end of it. He certainly hasn’t bothered me since.”
Arden plucked a single rose out of the vases. “That you know of.” She ran her thumb over the soft velvet petals.
“It’s a good thing they cancelled the series,” Paige said, rubbing her hands down her bare arms. “It gives me goosebumps just thinking of someone watching me all the time.”
Savannah made a face. “If I wasn’t pregnant I would have stuck around Hollywood and tried to figure out who he was. Part of me wishes I had stayed. I still regret the way the show ended.”
“Me too,” Arden said retuning the rose to the vase.
“How did it end?” Paige asked.
“Horribly,” Arden said with a groan. “It ended with a cliffhanger. Sunny and Clay got into a fight, then Sunny was kidnapped and taken to this creepy mansion in the middle of nowhere. The show ended with her locked in a basement and Clay thinking she was dead.”
Paige curled her fist under her chin and leaned forward. “What was supposed to happen?”
Savannah stood and adjusted the spaghetti straps of her royal blue silk dress. “Clay was supposed to find her, confess his love for her, and they were supposed to kiss.”
“That would have been so nice,” Arden said. “A lot better than that horrible TV movie they made ten years ago.”
“What TV movie?” Paige asked. “I didn’t know you redid the show ten years ago.”
“I didn’t.” Savannah looked at Arden with a twinkle in her eye. “You want to answer this question? You probably remember more about it than I do.”
“It was awful. They had a brand new cast. None of them acted like they should have. Sunny came back from the dead and discovered that Clay was the one who tried to kill her. I turned it off at that point.”
Savannah slipped her feet into a pair of silver high heels. “Oh, you missed the best part. Sunny ended up killing Clay in order to save Luke. I thought Clay’s funeral at the end was nice,” she said wryly. “The eulogy Sunny gave for him was very touching. I especially liked the part where she called Clay a psychopath and then admitted she had always loved Luke.”
“Talk about character assassination,” Paige responded under her breath.
The sound of static from the intercom by the door, followed by Haskell’s voice announcing dinner, brought them to their feet.
Savannah stepped in front of the full-length mirror, turning this way and that as she examined her appearance. “Do you know,” she said, tucking an errant blonde curl behind her ear, “they asked me to reprise my character for that movie. I turned them down when I found out Zeke wasn’t involved and that they weren’t going to ask Kevin to reprise his role. I knew right then that something was wrong. I could sense it the moment I spoke to Dennis and Yvette.”
* * *
WITH HER SHOULDERS back and Savannah’s red sparkly evening gown swirling around her legs, Arden strutted into the banquet hall. She stopped at the door and gazed around at the elegantly dressed diners seated around the large table as every eye turned towards her.
Dennis caught her attention first, or rather the large picture window behind him caught her attention. He and his gray suit faded into the background as the ominous looking sky behind him took center stage. A big rattling boom of thunder sounded overhead causing the chandeliers to sway, momentarily silencing Savannah’s greetings and for a moment, Arden wished she were back in Cloverleaf Cove in her pretty little house safe and sound from the storm.
The thunder passed, as did the feeling, and conversation quickly resumed.
Yvette smiled at Savannah in greeting, and then turned to the rough looking man next to her.
The man glanced up at them as they walked towards the table and that’s when Arden noticed the bruise under his eye and his broken fingers.
Yvette touched his arm and leaned closer to him. “Savannah and her entourage,” she whispered under her breath but loud enough for Arden to overhear.
“Some things don’t change,” Walter said gruffly, turning his attention away from Yvette and towards the man seated across the table from him.
Reese Laramie, the epitome of the tall, dark, and handsome Hollywood leading man, looked around with a bored expression on his face. His gaze lingered on first Savannah, then Arden, his gaze roving up and down their bodies, watching with an appreciative smile as they approached. He reluctantly tore his gaze away, when Dennis shook his arm, demanding his attention.
Following Savannah around the table, Arden wondered how long it had been since she had seen Reese on the silver screen. Two years? Three? In some ways, it seemed like it was only yesterday, but Arden realized with a shock, it must have been more than five. As Savannah neared Reese’s seat, Reese gracefully rose to his feet and gave her a big hug, greeting her like a long lost friend.
Arden forced a smile to her face, reminding herself that she shouldn’t hold the types of smarmy characters he generally played against him. He was an actor. She was sure he was vastly different from the characters he played.
Still holding Savannah in his arms, Reese caught her gaze from over Savannah’s shoulder and winked at her.
Maybe her first impression was correct, Arden decided, turning away and looking down at the other end of the table where Zeke Tapper sat alone and apart from the rest.
Upon spotting Zeke, Savannah gave Reese one last hug before making a beeline straight for her old friend.
Arden noted in anger that as soon as Savannah’s back was turned, Reese’s smile was replaced by a look of scorn and derision. With an expressive roll of his eyes, Reese returned to his seat where his bad manners and hateful attitude were instantly rewarded by Yvette who laughed.
Savannah didn’t notice their reactions as she slid into the chair next to Zeke and scooted it as close to him as possible. He smiled softly at her, reluctantly accepting her hug before turning to glare at the group seated at the other end of the table.
Paige who had entered last walked up to Arden. “Is Kevin Harper here yet?” she whispered into her ear.
“I don’t think so,” Arden whispered back, her shoulders sagging slightly in disappointment. “I hope he makes it here okay.”
Gasping, Paige reached out and grabbed Arden’s arm. Dropping her voice low, she said, “Oh my gosh! Is that Reese Laramie?”
Arden gave her friend a sidelong glance. “Yeah. Why are you so surprised? We’ve been talking about him all day.”
“I didn’t know you were talking about Reese Laramie,” she said sliding into the seat next to Savannah. “Do you think he’d give me an autograph if I asked for one?”
“According to some supermarket magazines I’ve seen, he’s liable to take your head off if you try,” Arden said quietly before walking around Zeke and taking the chair next to him.
Zeke smiled politely as Savannah introduced them both to him, welcoming them both to Cliff House before asking them if they had ever played a mystery game.
“Arden’s an expert,” Savannah said to the table. “She won a bunch of money playing mystery games. She’s like the world champion.”
Blank stares and furrowed brows followed Savannah’s announcement.
Arden felt uncomfortable as several pairs of eyes stared at her with a kind of bored curiosity. “I wouldn’t call myself a champion,” she mumbled.
“No, no,” Savannah said encouragingly, “you are.” She turned back to the table. “She’s really good at this. That’s why I wanted her and Paige to come. They both are really good at solving mysteries.”
Paige froze like a deer in headlights as everyone turned to her. “Uh... Savannah is too. We solved a real one not too long ago.”
Yvette lifted her glass in the air. “Well, I guess everyone needs a hobby,” she said before taking a drink.
Thunder rumbled, drawing their attention to the window just as lightening lit up the night sky.
“Perfect weather for a murder mystery,” Zeke said with a grin.
The door to the kitchen opened, banging against the wall, startling everyone into silence.
Haskell appeared at the door pushing a cart with one squeaky wheel in front of him.
“Bout time,” Walter grumbled. “I thought we were going to starve to death.”
Haskell merely acknowledged his statement with a grim smile and nod before setting a bowl of soup down in front of Savannah first, then Paige. Taking his cart, he wheeled it down towards the opposite end of the table.
Walter shook his head as Haskell started to place a bowl in front of him. “Get that away from me. I don’t want soup. It’s like eighty degrees outside.”
“Yes, sir,” Haskell said bobbing his head as he returned the bowl to his cart. “Of course, sir.”
Walter narrowed his eyes as he examined the butler’s back. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”
“I don’t believe so, sir,” Haskell said wheeling the cart forward.
Another boom of thunder shook the chandeliers above them again. Arden glanced toward the window with a worried frown. “Has anyone heard from Kevin yet?”
Paige leaned forward with an amused grin. “Goodness, this guy must be something. I’ve only seen you act this way with Max.”
“The weather is getting bad,” Arden said defensively, “and he’s lost. I’d worry about anyone in those circumstances. His being my favorite actor in the world—no offense,” she said turning to Savannah, “has nothing to do with it.”
Reese glanced over at her, incredulously. “Your favorite actor? Seriously?”
“Why not?” Savannah responded. “Kevin was very popular. In fact, he got more fan mail than any of us.”
“She’s right,” Walter said. “I used to help drag bags of mail into his dressing room every week. I couldn’t believe all the letters he’d get.”
“Yeah,” Reese said with another roll of his eyes, “all from teenage girls who didn’t know any better. Look, don’t get me wrong. I like Kevin. He just wasn’t a serious actor.”
“He didn’t have to be,” Dennis said staring down at his soup with a dubious expression on his face. He took a tentative sip, and then nodded to himself before taking a larger sip. “The girls loved him anyway.”
“I’m just saying,” Reese said waving his spoon around, “if he was a serious actor, he wouldn’t have given up acting after the show was over. Although, I guess, he didn’t have much choice. I guess you can’t consider yourself an actor if no one is willing to hire you actually to act.” He glanced over at Yvette. “You know what he’s doing now? He’s doing commercials. I was in Vegas a few months ago, and I turned on the TV one night and there he was in a horribly cheesy commercial selling some used cars. Can you believe it?”
Savannah stiffened. “His father owns that car lot and Kevin’s very proud of those commercials.”
Reese nodded. “Like I said, he’s not a serious actor.” He glanced at Yvette and with a regretful sigh said, “I think you’re going to have to do this without him, darling.”
“We can’t do it without Kevin,” Yvette said with a regretful sigh.
There was a moment of furious whispering between husband and wife at the other end of the table, then each one turned to look at Savannah.
Savannah leaned closer to Zeke. “Just what is going on?”
“Honestly,” Reese said. “I think we should just go forward without Kevin. We don’t really need him.”
“Well, I’d like to see him,” Savannah said offhandedly. “I haven’t seen him for over a year...”
Zeke placed his hand over her arm silencing her. He addressed the group at the end of the table. “I need Kevin here for the game.”
Dennis suddenly laughed. He exchanged an amused glance with his wife. “The game? Yes, of course, by all means, we must have Kevin here for the game too.”
Yvette pushed her untouched bowl of soup to the side. A concerned look crossed her face as she addressed her brother-in-law. “Help me understand something, Zeke. Why are you so insistent that Kevin be here tonight? We certainly don’t need him to play your silly little game.”
Zeke spread his arms out wide, exposing ruby cufflinks which sparkled under the light. “You’ll see. Just have patience, Yvette.”
Yvette angrily threw her napkin down on the table and turned to her husband. “He’s up to something.”
“Yvette,” Dennis began wearily.
“No,” she said through gritted teeth, “he’s been acting weird for weeks now. All I wanted to do was have a simple reunion and he’s ruining it.”
Dennis patted her arm. “It’s fine, honey.”
“Don’t tell me it’s fine. I...”
The kitchen door banged open and Haskell, who had obviously disappeared from the room at some point, walked back in wheeling his cart now laden with trays of roast beef, roasted potatoes, carrots, and gravy.
They all fell into an uncomfortable silence as Haskell served their dinner. Savannah tried to lighten the mood several times but the storm brewing outside, and Yvette’s anger cast a pall on the dinner table and other than a few comments about the weather, not much more was said for several minutes.
“Nasty outside,” Dennis muttered. He glanced up as the lights flickered. “I hope we don’t lose power.”
“It’s supposed to storm every night this week,” Zeke said after a few minutes of silence. “That’s why I chose this weekend for our little game.” He glanced out the window with a gleam in his eye. “It’s the perfect weather for a murder mystery.”
“This house is perfect too,” Paige said. “It’s like the ones in those old black and white movies. You know the ones. Monsters under the bed, skeletons in the closets, and bats in the secret passageways. Does this place have secret passageways?”
“Of course,” Zeke said. “No mystery mansion is complete without one or two.”
Yvette glanced back up at the giant chandelier with a sour expression on her face as it dimmed. “Perhaps we should light the candles...”
Just then, Haskell appeared at the kitchen door with a lighter in hand. They watched as he lit first the candelabras on the table and then on the buffet. When he was gone, Yvette smiled. “I swear I’m going to steal him for myself when this is all over. He’s just so efficient. Zeke, where in the world did you find him?”
Thunder rattled the mansion causing the chandelier to swing above their heads.
Zeke muttered something about a temp agency and then a quiet sort of uneasiness descended on the table once again. For a long time, the only sounds they heard was the roaring of the wind, the relentless tapping of the rain against the windows, the thunder booming above them, the scraping of silverware across the china, and every so often, the sound of Haskell’s cart from behind the kitchen door moving.
The hair on Arden’s neck began to stand up on end and she looked around the table, wondering if everyone felt as uneasy as she did. She noticed that only Haskell and Dennis Tapper seemed calm and relaxed. Everyone else looked as if they were on pins and needles. She was just about to say something when someone banged on the front door causing several people to jump in surprise.
They all turned their heads towards the hallway, waiting, listening as Haskell answered the door. There was a slight murmur of voices too far away to understand. Then Haskell appeared, followed by a tall man with sheepish smile on his handsome face.
The explosion of relief in the room was palpable as Kevin Harper walked in still shaking rain droplets off his hair and clothes. “Sorry, I’m late,” he said running a hand through his wet blond hair. “I had the devil of a time finding the place.”
Arden unconsciously reached up to tuck her hair behind her ears as she stared at him with a giant smile on her face. He hadn’t changed much in twenty-five years. He was older to be sure, but that just made him look more dignified. As Savannah jumped to her feet to greet him, all Arden could think about was that she was in the same room as Kevin Harper, the smartest, bravest, handsomest, and most charming man she had ever laid eyes on.
Paige lifted a single shoulder as she turned back to her meal. “He’s okay.”
Arden’s mouth dropped open. She was just about to respond that he was more than okay when she realized that only Savannah had rushed to greet Kevin.
Of those that continued to sit at the table, only Walter and Dennis seemed truly happy to see Kevin. Yvette and Zeke seemed disinterested at best. Reese on the other hand seemed annoyed. He barely looked at him as Kevin clapped him on the shoulder, and then rolled his eyes as Walter and Kevin hugged like long lost brothers.
Once Kevin was done greeting everyone, Savannah took him by the hand and led him to the chair next to Arden. Pushing him into the seat, she winked at Arden as she swept past on her way to her chair.
Arden felt her cheeks reddened slightly, but that didn’t stop her from introducing herself.
To her surprise, Kevin took her hand in his and pumped it vigorously, shaking water droplets from his sleeve all around her and dampening her arm and face.
“Oh sorry,” he said reaching for a napkin and wiping down her arm. “I’m so sorry. You should see it outside. It’s an absolute mess. I’m shocked I made it here alive.”
Still a little stunned to be so close to one of her childhood crushes, Arden could do little more than nod politely as Kevin dried off her shoulder then dabbed at a few droplets that had landed on her face. She briefly wondered if he was hitting on her, but the regretful and embarrassed look on his face dispelled that notion. Only when he accidently knocked over her glass with his elbow was she able to shake off the stupor she had felt since he walked in the door. Taking the napkin from his hand, she quickly mopped up the mess before he could do any more damage.
Kevin cringed. “Sorry, I didn’t get any on your dress, did I?”
She quickly assured him that he hadn’t while reaching for another napkin and quickly dabbing at the spots on the dress.
“I guess I’m still a little shook up,” he said running his hand through his hair, sending more droplets of water into the air. He tilted his head to the side and banged on his ear with his hand, trying to release trapped water from his other ear.
She backed up a few inches as more water from his coat and hair flew about. “Why? What happened?”
His face paled as he stared up at her. “Those curves out there...then that cliff...I could barely see with all the rain.”
Hearing the fear in his voice, she slid back into her seat and turned her full attention to him. “But you made it here okay, so everything’s fine now.”
“No, you don’t understand,” he said. “I swear my back tires slid out from underneath me one time. I’m lucky to be alive.”
Zeke turned his attention to Kevin then. “If you had gotten here earlier, you wouldn’t have had a problem. What took you so long?”
“I couldn’t make head or tails out of your directions.”
Zeke snorted. “What else is new?”
“Luckily,” Kevin said with a relieved smile, “I got stopped by the cops for speeding. Nice kid. His father’s a big fan.”
Savannah frowned. “Did he give you a ticket too?”
“No, he gave me directions here,” Kevin said. “Then when I still couldn’t find the place, he gave me a police escort. Good thing too, or I’d probably still be out there looking for this place.” He glanced up at the ceiling, then at the window as lightning lit up the sky above and the ocean below. “Wow, would you look at that? This place certainly is something.”
Haskell returned with his squeaky cart and a tray of food which he set in front of Kevin.
Kevin smiled appreciatively. “This sure looks good,” he said reaching for his fork. “Like I said, I’m sorry I’m late. I hope I didn’t miss too much of the game.”
A small cruel smile crossed Zeke’s face. “It just started.”
Paige glanced around the table. “I’ve never actually played a mystery game before. How does it begin?”
Every eye turned to Zeke.
“The same way every good mystery begins,” Zeke said glancing around the table, “with a murder.” He stood and began walking around the table. “Some of us will have parts to play. Victim, murderer, suspects. Others will play amateur detective.”
Kevin paused from scarfing down his dinner and over a mouthful of food said, “How? There’s hardly anyone here.”
“Oh, we have enough players,” Zeke said glancing back at Arden and then Paige. “More than enough, in fact.”
“So, what’s the mystery about?” Yvette asked.
“Be patient, Yvette,” Zeke said as he passed her.
“Can you at least tell us what time period it’s set in,” she complained. “Is it set in the past? What should we wear?”
Dennis laughed good-naturedly at his wife. “That’s all you’re really concerned about, isn’t it?”
“The time is now,” Zeke said passing in front of the window. “Today. What you’re wearing will be fine for what I have planned.”
“You said it already started,” Savannah said excitement already coloring her voice. “Where’s the body then?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Reese said with a grin. “It always begins with a dead body. Usually yours, if I remember correctly. Come on, Zeke. Let’s get this game started already.”
“How are you going to die this time?” Walter asked with a hard edge to his voice.
Zeke clucked his tongue as he passed behind Kevin and then Arden. “You all are such a blood thirsty group.” He stopped in front of his chair. “How the first victim dies—which is always me—is up to you to determine. They will either be stabbed, shot, or . . .” He reached down, picked up his glass, and held it up. “Or they will be poisoned.” Without another word, he emptied the glass in one gulp.
There was a pause. Then suddenly, Zeke clutched at his throat, gasping for air as he fell to his knees.
