Officer Obnoxious pulled his patrol car behind mine just as I maneuvered to the curb in front of the mansion. Trying not to look suspicious, I angled away from the curb and accelerated just enough to escape the spotlight he aimed in my direction.
My quick left turn at the end of the block had Cameron hanging onto the strap for dear life. “Good Lord, Kimberly. This isn’t the Indy 500. Who were you running from—your boyfriend the security guy from the other night?”
“Right and he’s a complete idiot.”
“Well, from the little I could see in the glow of his spotlight, he’s sort of cute— that is, if you like Neanderthals.”
“Know what I think? If he’d caught up to us he would have called the real cops. Come to think of it, I hope he didn’t report my license number. I’m absolutely certain he decided I was up to no good the other night and probably recognized my car tonight. Maybe that’s why he hit the spot so fast.”
I was beginning to discover when one plays sleuth in real life it’s tricky business—not cut and dried like it is in the movies. My pounding heart and shaking hands made me wish I was out of this whole situation.
Cameron gave one of her little giggles. “Look on the bright side. With security like that, at least if this really is Julia’s house, she can feel safe when she’s here. I’ll bet that isn’t the case when she stays at her rental in Paradise. What a dichotomy—Tobacco Road one day, lap of luxury the next.”
After cruising through the neighborhood where Julia had owned a perfectly nice house, then seeing the splendor of Medina and the new one made my blood boil. An angry heat spread from my toes to my forehead. It wasn’t fair to put up with so much nonsense on a day-to-day basis just to keep our jobs, then get cheated out of money while she enjoyed such luxury.
Finally Kate said, “Even if she has to spend so much time at the prison and live in a dump while she’s there, it isn’t such a bad deal if she can come back to something like this. I can see why you wanted us to see the comparison. How much is the contract to rent that place for three days?”
I answered immediately. “$6,500 a day. That’s a little under $20,000, and the more I learn, the more certain I am it’s going straight into her own pocket. If the escrow company hadn’t made that mistake, no one would have been the wiser.”
Cami groaned and made a face. “So, CRS throws a party we don’t need, and shells out $6,500 a day, just to rent a mansion Julia owns. What a joke.”
“Well, according to Matt, Bruce wants to butter these people up and justifies it as a way to get more business. I’ll bet they hated the fact the contract had to come across my desk for the deposit, and I hated making the check out to the catering company knowing they would take a small cut and pay Julia the rest.”
Cami said, “She’s a clever bitch. No one except maybe Matt knows it’s her house, and she collects $20,000, less a commission! I don’t know about you, but I’m sizzling.”
We alternated between ranting and scheming until we reached my townhouse. “The last few days were like reading an espionage novel. Poking around to see what I could uncover. Orders appearing that I didn’t even know existed—and in all honesty, I still think they may not. And those commissions payable to a coded account. What next? This is a real mess. It should be a very interesting weekend.”
When Ryan pulled his disappearing act and stuffed every piece of furniture he could into a rental van, he took all of the exercise equipment as well. He didn’t even leave the upright scale for me—as if I dared step on a scale after drowning my sorrows in sweets. During my shopping excursion for new furniture, a convertible den/second guest room had seemed like a better idea than another home gym.
Cameron and Kate deposited their bags in the newly-furnished guest rooms, then joined me downstairs in the living room. Kate had kicked off her spike heels and now wore a pair of fuzzy light blue bedroom slippers. Cami had gone one step further and shed her business suit for a beautiful turquoise blue caftan decorated with gold swirls that offset her blonde hair. Her feet were bare, toenails painted fire engine red.
Cami and I plopped down on my new sofas, and Kate took the chair. She put her feet up on the ottoman and took off one of the slippers so she could massage her foot. “Boy, whose bright idea was it to force women’s feet into shoes with spike heels and pointy toes? They look sexy, but man, my feet hurt.”
Cami giggled. “Definitely designed by a guy. I’d like to see them wear these torture devices all day.”
Continuing to rub, Kate said, “By the way, have you seen Stuart Weitzman’s new line?”
I shook my head and waggled my finger at her. “You’re too much. One minute you complain and the next you’re willing to spend more than you can afford for another pair.” I picked up a lined pad from my cocktail table and said, “Okay, let’s figure out where we go from here. I know we talked about it quite a bit in the car, but it always seems to help to get it down on paper.
“You’re right. We have to have a plan. Here’s what I think. Kimberly, during the party maybe you and Kate should make sure Julia, Bruce and Matt are occupied, while I snoop around. Everyone thinks I’m a bit ditzy, so if I get stopped I can act confused and say I was looking for a bathroom. They’ll believe me unless they catch me doing something suspicious. We shouldn’t all be skulking around at the same time.”
I made a note. “Maybe we should switch off, so none of us are gone for too long. Lord knows what we’ll find. The bathroom excuse is good—something each of us could say.”
“Look you two, I don’t think we should do anything more than look around during the party. We can’t risk really getting into trouble. Sure, you can open a few drawers and stuff like that, but be careful. If you do see anything, we’ll have to figure out how to get back in.”
They were excited about this, and I was trying to keep the lid on.
Kate, always thinking three moves ahead, said, “Sounds reasonable. By the way, anyone know what we’re looking for?”
I took a moment to picture the scene with Cami upstairs. “Maybe you should check the master bedroom. With those Size 20 frocks Julia wears, if the closets are filled with her clothes it’s a pretty sure bet she’s actually living there.”
“If that’s the case, she probably has a home office. Maybe that’s where she keeps things she doesn’t want anyone to see. She could even have another computer—one with the records and documents we’re trying to find.”
We threw around ideas until past midnight when we wrapped it up, but by that time we had filled several sheets with the semblance of a plan. I couldn’t resist saying, “We’re kinda like Charlie’s Angels and we’re definitely on the job.”
Kate said, “I don’t know. It feels more like the First Wives Club plotting their revenge.”
Cami insisted we were more like Nine to Five, out to trap the boss.
The truth was, with the final revenge yet to be determined, we were probably a combination of all three!