Chapter 7

Key rooms to stage include entryways, living rooms, kitchens, and master bedrooms.

The next morning, Ernie Phillips parked his truck in my driveway ready for us to load the furniture stored in my garage. The truck was hard to miss. On the side of it Ernie had painted Window Wizard in bright neon green, using a wide paintbrush. Not the most professional job, but no one would miss it.

I had a list of items we would be taking to the staging site and started to check off the carefully wrapped items as Tyrone, Ernie, and Will Parker loaded them. My current inventory wasn’t large enough to fill a house, but between what we had stored in my garage and at Nita’s place, we had enough to make a house look cozy and attractive. Getting a large storage area would enable us to expand our inventory.

The owners of the home we were staging thought my idea of having the windows cleaned was a good one, so I hired Ernie for his window cleaning capability, the use of his truck, and his loading skills. We would have to make more than one trip, but it would work out.

When Nita arrived, I knew something was up. Her sparkling eyes and wide grin usually meant she had news to share. “I saw Neil. Guess what I learned?”

Poor Neil. Even as a grown policeman, he could never stand up to his older cousin, Nita, especially when she was seeking information. He frequently ended up spilling police news he shouldn’t be sharing.

“What were you able to wheedle out of him this time?” I asked.

“They found Ian Becker’s phone at the funeral home—under a chair. Maybe it flew out of his hands when he was struck down. His phone records showed he’d made calls to his aunt’s attorney, Warren Hendricks, Anne Williamson—one of his aunt’s friends from the arts group—and Emily Thompson. He dated her during his last summer here.”

“Interesting.”

“So what are we going to do about it?” Nita asked with sudden interest. “If the police arrest Warren for the murder, we need to help him.”

“What do you mean what are we going to do? Nothing. We aren’t getting involved in this. We didn’t even know Ian Becker. And I don’t think the police are seriously linking Warren to the murder.”

“But it’s all so intriguing.”

“As intriguing as it sounds, we have a house to stage today. Let Detective Spangler handle it.”

We made quick work of the staging. Ernie, standing on a ladder to the upper floor, yelled down, “Laura, I hate to say it, but I think these are the dirtiest windows I’ve ever cleaned. I don’t know how the homeowners could distinguish morning from night.”

“Do your wizardry, Ernie, and make them sparkle. We need to brighten the inside of this house, which is really dark. Clean windows will help, especially as dirty as these are.”

We opened all the shades and blinds, and removed window dressings that overpowered some of the windows. It did a lot to brighten the rooms.

“Where do you want these, Laura?” Will Parker stood in the doorway holding rolls of area rugs. It was good seeing him well recovered from a hit-and-run accident that had almost killed him months ago. I directed him where to put them. After everything was in the appropriate rooms, we arranged the furnishings and added some artwork, making sure not to make holes in the freshly painted walls.

This was a much simpler job than some since our contract with the homeowners had us bringing in minimal furnishings. After setting up some furniture in the living room and kitchen, Nita and I made up the bed in the master bedroom, added a bedside table and lamp, and some accessories. Fresh white towels in the bathrooms gave them a spa look. A few accessories completed the job.

I stood back and looked at the results—simple but elegant.

Now that the feverish pitch of activity to get the staging work done was over, I thought more about the phone calls on Ian Becker’s phone. Who was Emily Thompson?

Asking around out of curiosity wasn’t the same thing as getting involved, right?