Chapter 15

Home stagers offer various levels of home staging—from giving homeowners a list of things they can accomplish themselves; to staging a vacant home by bringing in furniture; to arranging for work to be done by painters, plumbers, landscapers, etc.

“Thank goodness you’re here.” Jaime was pacing on the front sidewalk as we drove up. Her red eyes showed she had been crying. When she saw us, she patted her hands together like a small child anticipating a surprise. “I couldn’t believe it when Aunt Nita said you were willing to help me.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “Sorry. This has been a terrible day.”

I felt sorry for the young woman. To have such highs and lows in one day would be almost too much for anyone to handle, much less someone left handling the sale and purchase of a home while her young husband was away. The timing couldn’t have been worse for her. And learning about Damian Reynolds hadn’t helped.

I used my most soothing voice—the one I used with clients who are desperate to sell their homes and have become stressed. “Let’s sit down and talk about what needs to be done.”

“Everything,” she wailed. “The house Frankie and I have been watching finally came on the market. I have his power of attorney, so our agent put in a bid for us. The homeowners accepted our contract, but it’s contingent on our selling this place first. And they’ve only given us a few days to sell it. To make it look good enough to sell quickly, I have so much to do. And with Frankie away, it’s all on me. And now, hearing about Mr. Reynolds, I’m so upset I can’t function.”

I was surprised the homeowners were willing to give Jaime and Frankie time to sell their house and wasn’t sure they could sell it within the short time allowed. But Nita and I would do everything we could to make it happen.

Jaime went to get a Kleenex to wipe her eyes.

“What do you think, Nita?” I surveyed the living room while Jaime was gone.

“I recommend we remove some of the oversized pieces. Right now the rooms look too crowded, making the place look smaller than it is.”

“Good idea, but what I meant was why do you think she is so upset about Damian?” It felt strange calling him by name since I had never had any dealings with him. But I didn’t want to keep referring to him as that famous artist. “Is she just super emotional and cries easily at someone’s death?”

Nita shrugged. “Sometimes. It’s hard for young people to deal with death.”

“It’s hard for any of us, especially when the person was murdered.”

When Jaime returned, Nita didn’t hesitate to question her. “Jaime, why are you so upset about Mr. Reynolds? You weren’t involved with him were you?”

Jaime’s head jerked back. “Aunt Nita. Of course, I wasn’t.”

“Your aunt is only teasing you.” I frowned at Nita. Would she ever learn to be subtle? If she wanted to know something, she’d ask direct questions without any subtlety. Like the time she’d asked Sister Madeleine, our second-grade teacher, what kind of underwear she wore beneath her habit. She hadn’t improved with age.

“Did you know Damian Reynolds well?” I wondered how broadly she’d interpret my question.

“I provided admin assistance to him at the college. He’d only been there a short while, but I found him to be very nice. Except for the last time I saw him. He was preoccupied with something, and I had to keep calling his name to get his attention. That seemed to annoy him. It’s just so sad that he was murdered. And no, Aunt Nita, I wasn’t involved with him. He was seeing a lot of that interior decorator he hired. She used to wait for him outside in that red convertible of hers.”

Apparently, Jaime hadn’t heard about Monica’s involvement in his death.

“I once saw him get in the car and kiss her,” Jaime said.

So as we suspected, Monica and Damian had more going on than business dealings. I wondered if I should tell Detective Spangler or let him figure it out for himself. But he probably already suspected Monica had killed Damian during a lovers’ quarrel.

It was a relief to know that Jaime hadn’t been involved with Damian. Now it was down to business getting her house ready for sale.

“Who’s your agent?” In the short time I’d been in the home staging business, I had met many of the agents in town and received referrals from them.

“Doug Hamilton at Hamilton Real Estate.”

Doug Hamilton and his movie star good looks. A stunning lookalike for a young Robert Redford, Doug had been involved in the sale of the Denton mansion Tyrone and I had staged. He was a nice enough person, but I still had a deep-seated aversion to handsome men, or perhaps more a wariness. Let’s just say that based on my experience with good-looking men, I steered clear of them. Doug had retired from the Navy and had come home to help his ailing father with his real estate agency. Since then he’d obtained his real estate license.

“Doug is a nice guy. I think you are in good hands.” I pulled out my tablet and checklist to make notes. “Okay, let Nita and me tour the house on our own, and we’ll work out a plan.” It was better to look at the house without being escorted by the homeowner, who often would talk throughout the tour and be distracting—especially when the homeowner was extremely upset and worried about the sale, causing us to miss things.

Jaime’s house was typical of one owned by a young couple. A bit bland, too cluttered, and lacked cohesiveness. Fortunately, following Nita’s advice, Jaime and Frankie had recently painted the walls a neutral dove gray and made needed repairs.

In each room, we noted what we could do immediately, what things we recommended Jaime purchase, and what we recommended she remove. Some of the things we would help her with and others we would make recommendations, and it would be up to her to decide how she wanted to proceed. Nita took before photos.

After that, we got busy rearranging furniture, boxing up items Jaime didn’t need until after they moved, rehanging prints on the wall that had been hung too high, switched a rug from one room to another, and did myriad things. At the end of the night, we were exhausted but pleased with the result. It was a cute cottage and would appeal to a young couple or a single person. I was hopeful someone would fall in love with it in the next few days.

As we drove home, I thought again about what Jaime had said about Damian. What had he been so preoccupied with the day he was murdered?