After her sister left with Dexter, Goldie had taken a delightful Jacuzzi bath and slid between the satin sheets in the luxurious guest room. She was exhausted and decided to enjoy the comforts of Godiva’s mansion while she still could. In a few days she would return to her little house on Starr Hill in Juneau. When she came down for breakfast the next morning, Godiva was already seated at the kitchen table with the old folks.
What’s Godiva doing up at eight o’clock?
A bleary-eyed Godiva looked up from her coffee and grumbled, “Good morning, Little Miss Sunshine. You wonder why I’m up so early? Well, I just couldn’t sleep, that’s why.”
Goldie took in Godiva’s frazzled appearance as she slid into a chair. “Hmmm, I’ve never known you to have insomnia. What’s up Sis?”
Flossie jumped in before her daughter could say anything, “I just don’t get it, with your sister’s looks and all her money you’d think she’d find the prince—not the frog. But, what does she do? She attracts another schlemiel.”
Godiva placed her elbows on the table, then with a woebegone look, rested her chin in her cupped hands. “If I wasn’t an advice columnist, I’d be writing to one. I could use a snappy answer to my own problems instead of handing them out to others. I’d like to know what’s going with Dexter.”
Flossie wagged her finger at Godiva. “I told you. You should have stuck with Caesar but would you listen? No.”
“Leave the poor girl alone about Caesar, already.” Sterling patted his niece’s shoulder.
“Wait everybody. What happened last night?”
Godiva’s expression changed from sad to angry. “We went to one of the most elegant restaurants in Beverly Hills. We were having our coffee after dinner, and I was enjoying the most fabulous dessert—it was chocolate caramel cheesecake—when he suddenly remembered he had to make a phone call. He left the room because he said he didn’t want to disturb other diners. That made sense, but I also suspect he didn’t want me to hear what he said.”
Goldie leaned forward, anxious to hear what happened next.
“Well, the next thing I know, he comes rushing back in with a story about how he needs to meet a globe-trotting client right away to sell him an expensive necklace. And it can’t wait, the guy’s flying to Vienna tonight. He tells me to take a cab home and, whoosh, he’s gone. I tell you, I sat there in shock. It seemed like he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. To make matters worse, he left me holding the check. I felt like I’d been left at the altar or something. It was all I could do to finish the cheesecake and leave. Do you think he has someone else?”
Even though she wasn’t particularly fond of Dexter, it didn’t seem that earth-shattering to Goldie. “It sounds pretty embarrassing, Sis, but I wouldn’t blow it out of proportion just yet. After all, Dexter does deal with clients from all over the world. And maybe that’s what it took to make a big sale. When you see him next time you can ask him point blank if there’s anything else going on. I may not be G.O.D. but that’s my advice.”
“Now there’s the voice of reason.” Sterling waved his fork in the air, and said, “Listen to your sister for a change. No snappy answers, just common sense.”
But Flossie was having none of it. She stood up and glared at her daughter. “Such advice. I put my money on him being a philanderer. Besides, we have more important things to worry about. Like dangerous jewel thieves getting into the estate. Now that’s a real concern.”
“Don’t worry.” Godiva looked up at her mother and said, “Sit down, Mom. You’re making me more nervous than I already am. Trust me. No bad guys are sneaking around here. Ricky has us covered.”
Flossie was about to give a smart answer, when Sterling spoke. “I’ve had just about enough of you hysterical women. Godiva is going wacko over her beau, and Flossie has us practically being killed in our beds. Calm down both of you, you’re building mountains out of molehills. It’s just a lot of nonsense. I’m going out to tend to the roses.” He patted his mouth with his napkin, placed it neatly on the table and left.
“That man really annoys me sometimes.” Flossie pointed to Sterling as he left the room. “You’d think he’d recognize the danger.”
“Listen, Mom, Unk is right. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Why don’t you go back to your little cottage and chill out? Cozy up in your easy chair and watch a TV show or something. And you, Godiva, stop obsessing about Dexter. I’m sure he didn’t mean to upset you, it was just business. Let—it—go.”
***
Flossie went back to her cottage and turned on a rerun of The Golden Girls. This would be just what she needed, a funny show to take her mind off things. She got a kick out of the characters. One of the women, Blanche, reminded her of Godiva. Always looking at how things affected her before thinking about how others might be affected. She settled down in her wing-backed chair and put her feet up on the matching ottoman.
In this episode Blanche was trying to seduce another handsome fellow. Just as the actress sidled up to her prey, Flossie thought she heard a noise right outside her door. She turned down the sound. There it was again.
Darn those girls! We really are in danger. Someone is out there and whoever it is better not tangle with me.
She crept into her bedroom and reached under the pillow for Harry’s trick gun, then posed in front of the full-length mirror, her face set with a menacing glare. She turned this way and that assessing how she looked. Was she holding it just like they did on the cop shows? Did she look like she meant business? Feeling satisfied, she went back into the cozy living room and waited to hear if someone was still outside.
Just to make sure she pulled back the corner of the curtain and looked at the grounds. At first it looked like a shadow, but after concentrating for awhile she realized a large figure dressed all in black was skulking around.
“Aha,” she said out loud. “I was right.”
Flossie flung open the door and stepped out onto her porch. She pointed the gun and lowered her voice. “Stop in your tracks, you big ape,” she shouted. “I’ve got you covered. What are you doing here? Coming back to steal something else?” She wanted to push her glasses up on her nose to see the person more clearly, but was afraid to look like she didn’t have control of the trick gun. If she accidentally pulled the trigger in a nervous reaction and it went off, there would be a puff of red smoke and a little flag that said ‘BANG’ would pop out. The jig would be up.
The figure stopped and turned, then strode toward her, still in shadows.
Oy vey, he’s a big one. Flossie’s hands on the gun began to tremble.
From what she could tell, the man appeared to be well over six feet tall and built like the Hulk. He wore a black knitted watch cap, black turtleneck and black cargo pants. Flossie wondered whether she could make it back into the house and lock the door before he reached her, but she stood rooted to the spot, her bony hands holding the trick gun in a death grip.
“What’s with the gun, Flossie? Are you trying to wipe out your protection?”
It was a familiar voice.
“What are you doing sneaking around like that, Bruno? You scared the living daylights out of me.”
Ricky’s security man let out a loud guffaw. “Wait till I tell Ricky you got the drop on me. Where did you get this gun? They can be very dangerous in the wrong hands, you know.”
He stepped onto the porch and reached for the weapon. “Here give it to me before someone gets hurt.”
She let out a sigh of relief and handed it to him.
Bruno turned the gun over in his hands, inspecting it. “Why this thing isn’t even real, it’s just a circus gun. Shame on you Flossie. Here, let me help you back into the house.”