“I know what I said, but it’s been long enough,” Peter said in an irritated tone. “If there was anything to find, you should have found it by now. I’m running out of excuses why I can’t give him an answer.” Peter stopped and glanced out the front window at the street, where a couple was taking a Sunday morning stroll with a pair of large white dogs. “I have everything on hold until I lock in the money.” He let out his breath and seemed conflicted. “But at the same time, I can’t afford to have something come up about him once he’s connected to me.” We were sitting in my living room watching Marlowe roll around in the playpen. The dogs were spread around the room with Princess cuddled next to Peter. He was trying to appear indifferent, but I saw how tenderly he stroked the poodle mix.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said. I had not told Peter about Lily Langford hiring Adele for the kids’ party, but finally broke the news to him. “I’m sorry.” He sputtered like a shaken-up bottle of soda. Words came out in a jumble and his eyes closed.
“I thought you were going to make sure she didn’t hire Adele,” he said.
“What can I say? She liked the ridiculous idea I came up with and she’s got a time problem.”
I looked at my son as he considered what I had said. I could only imagine how much worse his reaction would be if he knew that not only had I talked to Barry, but he had confirmed that I was a person of interest in what happened to Daisy Cochran. Ignorance was definitely bliss in this circumstance.
“You have to go with her and make sure nothing goes wrong,” Peter said, like it was a command. “Maybe I should just reject his investment now and see about finding someone else.”
“You’d be in the same bind,” I said, and Peter let out his breath as he realized I was right. “You don’t have to worry, Adele has made me part of her party business and I will be there for Alexander’s party.”
“Alexander?” Peter said with a puzzled look, and I explained he was Lily and Miles’s son. “Going back to Miles,” I said. “Do you have a feeling in your gut that there’s something hiding in his past?” I asked.
Peter let out a sigh. “He seems like another rich guy who wants to say he’s in show business, but I don’t know—that’s why I got you into it. I thought the mommy group got you a perfect entry.”
“You’re right. They all gossip about each other, but so far the worst I’ve heard about Miles is that he’s thin-skinned.”
“It would help if you got an example of what they meant,” Peter said.
“Did you know that Gabby and Taylor go back to the days they were both production assistants?” I said, changing the subject. Peter nodded like it was old news. “Do you know how she ended up married to Andrew Palmer?”
My son gave me a hopeless look. “I am not going to gossip with my mother,” he said with a decisive shake of his head.
Everything got dropped then because more of the family joined us, ready to go. Peter had invited the whole crew to Sunday brunch as a thank-you for all the help with Marlowe. In the old days before his business exploded, it would have been to some fancy place where it would be good for him to be seen. The kind of place that Daisy had spent a lot of time at when her column was hot. But due to how many of us there were and his reduced circumstances, we were going to a café on Ventura Boulevard where you ordered at a counter and they brought you the food.
It took two cars to get us all there. Marlowe in her car seat and the whatnot bag of essentials we had to take along just in case took up the whole backseat of Peter’s car. I didn’t think much about the location until Peter was looking for a parking spot on a side street and I realized we were a block from Mason’s house. The wood-paneled restaurant was busy and we took up the whole community table. My father got a high chair for Marlowe while Peter took over ordering for everybody. The plan was he’d order a bunch of different dishes and we’d all share.
When I say he invited the whole crew, I meant everybody. My mother and her two She La Las backup singers, my father, Samuel and Beth, the babysitter who filled in when the rest of us weren’t there. Though actually she seemed to stay on when my mother and the “girls” were practicing and my father would have been fine looking after Marlowe. It felt like Beth was adopting the family and I suspected that she and Samuel had a connection. I just hoped she didn’t have any pets to leave behind. I was already up to my ears in family and at the legal limit for dogs.
The food came and was placed in the center of the table and we all got plates and started to help ourselves.
There was a lot of passing plates around and serving food to each other. The place was noisy and it was hard to say much more than will you pass me the lemon ricotta pancakes. I was holding out Marlowe’s sippy cup of juice when I saw someone come in. There was no mistaking Mason, and since it was near his house, it made perfect sense why he would be there. I watched him go to the counter and pick up a to-go order. He had a great house that I’d been too many times. It was not one of the cookie-cutter white farmhouses. The dark brown wood exterior looked mysterious, but inside it was warm and comfortable, like Mason. Or at least how he used to be. The clerk packed the order in a big shopping bag and it was clearly for more than one. I let out a sigh. What did I expect? That he would stay alone forever? He was a catch. Nice-looking, fun, a successful lawyer at a big Century City firm. He loved animals. Even now, his toy fox terrier Spike was tucked in his arms as he reached for the shopping bag.
It was then that Peter noticed Mason and went over to talk to him. I knew Peter still had some contact with him, and why not. Mason had been great about helping my son pick up the pieces when the last production deal fell apart. Peter had been devastated. Who could blame him? He had a commitment for shows, had hired a whole crew and was ready to go into production when the bottom fell out because of the sexual misconduct of the creator, chief writer and star.
I knew Mason would look our way as soon as Peter met up with him. I stared down at my plate as if the lettuce garnish was the most fascinating thing on the planet. I stole a glance up after a moment and saw that Mason was heading toward the table. He and my parents had become quite chummy, which was why my mother still had not gotten over me breaking up with him. It made sense that he’d come over to talk to them and to see Marlowe. And when he looked at me there would be the stone face again. I couldn’t take it and slipped away to the bathroom.
When I came back, he was gone and the family was passing around the platter of desserts that Mason had sent over. On top of all my other regrets, I realized that Mason probably knew about the Palmer house, and since he specialized in naughty celebrities, probably knew a lot about Daisy Cochran, too.
• • •
Seeing Mason again was still on my mind the next day and I was anxious for the Hookers to get together to tell Dinah about it. I knew she would understand my ducking out since she saw his reaction when we ran into him at the pet store. There were a number of conversations going on when I sat down and it all came across as a jumble of chatter. Dinah hadn’t arrived yet. CeeCee was helping Elise fix her granny square striped blanket, which involved unraveling, as Elise had forgotten that she needed to alternate the two basic rows. Rhoda was pointing out the difference in the rows from her own work. Eduardo was talking to Sheila, who was showing him a piece she was working on. The mixture of blue, green and lavender was stunning as always. When she lifted it, I realized it was one of Lily Langford’s cocoons.
I was going to compliment Sheila on the cocoon jacket, but Adele slid in next to me and demanded my attention. “Pink, uh, I mean Molly, we have a problem.” She flipped open a file and scanned a clipboard that was in it and immediately started sputtering complaints. “This isn’t the one I need,” she said, reading it over. “It’s the new list of story-time kids. The names these parents choose. What happened to Bob and Barbara? Now it’s all Ezekiel, Rance, Aire, East, Bertha.” Her eyes went skyward and she reached around in the tote bag hanging on the back of the chair and pulled out another file. “The only thing you can say about those names is that there is only one kid per name.” She put the right clipboard on the table. The heading said Langford Birthday. “That woman keeps calling with another change. I knew it was too good to be true that she went for your idea so quickly.”
I wasn’t surprised that Adele was ready to dump everything on me and I had actually expected it. Now that I’d gotten past trying to get Lily not to hire Adele, I had the new chore of making sure it was a success, and I asked about the changes. It wasn’t so bad. Lily had rethought the menu. She nixed using common hot dogs and a grocery store sheet cake. The hot dogs had to be organic with a vegan option. She preferred a cake created out of cupcakes so that there could be different kinds to suit everyone. She wanted some to be gluten-free, sugar-free, and all the ingredients to be organic. She had questioned pin the tail on the donkey since it might foster cruelty to animals and wanted it changed to pin the hat on Blippi, the host of a popular kids show. The cups of ice cream had to be custom-made on-site with something that would work for everyone no matter their dietary issue. Dinah came in at the end of Adele’s diatribe and looked at me.
“You could just opt out. It is her business,” my friend said, pulling me aside.
“No, I can’t. I promised Peter I would help her with it. He’s worried about her making a mess of the party and somehow it coming out that I’m his mother who he asked to investigate his potential investor.” Dinah winced at the thought of me being uncovered and I was about to delve into recounting the brunch when Mrs. Shedd came up to the table. She had a light in her eyes and seemed excited about something. She greeted everyone first and admired their work before zeroing in on me.
“I just talked to Leslie Bittner, Daisy Cochran’s assistant and podcast producer, and she had a wonderful idea. We could do the Were They Murders podcasts live from here. It would draw people to the bookstore and get interest in the podcast.” She looked over the group. “Of course, I said yes.” She turned to me. “Since it comes under events, I’ll leave it to you to make all the arrangements.” She started to go and then turned back. “Mr. Royal and I will be leaving for our dance lessons.” She did a little demonstration of the cha-cha and gushed that it was so much fun.
I was letting it all sink in when Samuel came up and grabbed my shoulder. “I’m sorry to do this.” He had Marlowe in his arms and handed her to me with her whatnot bag. “I have to drive to Rancho Cucamonga for a gig. It’s an important one.” It took a moment to register and then I asked about Beth, the babysitter. He said she went home not feeling well. My mother and the girls were performing at a charity luncheon and my father was acting as their roadie. “I’ll just call Peter,” I said, shifting Marlowe so I could get to my phone, but Samuel shook his head.
“I tried that,” my younger son said. “He’s in a meeting.” Samuel’s voice dropped before he continued. “With Mason.” He gave Marlowe a snuggle and backed away. “Got to go.”
I put her on my lap and was considering my options when CeeCee leaned in to me, ignoring that I was holding an eight-month-old. “I know I said I wouldn’t host the podcast, but having it here and live makes it all different. Maybe I should do it. I’d look contemporary and have an audience. You have to talk to that woman and tell her I’ll do it before she finds someone else.”
I held back a laugh at her self-absorption. Rhoda came and took Marlowe from my arms and walked around playing peek-a-boo with her. But when Marlowe got squirmy, she handed her back to me.
Needless to say, I never got to tell Dinah about Mason, or spend any time crocheting. I took Marlowe to my cubicle and let her loose while I called Daisy’s assistant and pitched her CeeCee’s change of heart.
A meeting between them was set up for the next day.
• • •
Even if CeeCee hadn’t demanded my presence, I would have wanted to go along since it involved the bookstore, despite it being my day off. We met at Daisy’s condo, which had also been her office. It was located in Encino and surrounded by beautiful grounds with lots of trees. I glanced around the interior as we went in. The walls were lined with photos from Daisy’s glory days. She was in all of them with an assortment of famous people, movie sets and award ceremonies. The furniture was off-white and the only color came from some red-toned oriental rugs.
Leslie did not seem concerned that I’d come with CeeCee. “I’m using this place while I straighten everything out with Daisy’s affairs.” She took us into the dining room and invited us to sit at the table. “I’ve turned this into my office,” Leslie said. “By the way, I don’t want to be referred to as Daisy’s assistant anymore. My title is podcast producer. I was thinking I’d do the podcast from here before I came up with doing it live from the bookstore.” She looked at CeeCee. “So, you changed your mind. I already have several other people who are interested. You’re going to have to convince me why I should choose you.”
I didn’t want to listen to her making CeeCee squirm. I knew that I would end up jumping in and try to smooth it all over. It was really up to the two of them. I walked back into the living room and checked the view out the front window at the trees and grass. It looked so bucolic; it was hard to imagine that Ventura Boulevard was on the other side of all the greenery. Peter had been pushing me to move to a condo before it had become convenient for him that I had the big house. I had never thought about it seriously, but if I had, I would have considered a place like this.
I was curious about the kitchen and went to have a look. It was better than I expected and open to the den area with a breakfast bar separating the two spaces. There were a few dishes sitting in the sink along with a long, serrated knife just like one I had. It was great for cutting bread and watermelons. They were not supposed to be left soaking that way. I’d probably never get a thank-you for it, but I pulled it from the sink and was wiping the blade off with a paper towel when I was startled by something brushing against my ankle and the knife slipped out of my hand and fell on the counter.
When I looked down, a tan and white long-haired cat was working its way around my legs. Its fur felt silky as I gave its back a stroke, and when I stopped the petting, it rubbed against my leg again and began to meow. I gave it a few more strokes, thinking that’s what the meows were about, but then the cat started to walk down the hall, meowing as it went. I knew enough about animals to recognize that the cat was telling me it wanted something. I followed it down the hall and into a bedroom that Daisy must have used as her office and apparently a cat feeding station as well. The bowl had a few crumbs of dry food and the water bowl was empty.
“You poor kitty,” I said. “You must have belonged to Daisy and now she’s gone.” The water bowl was easy to take care of in the bathroom, and then I looked around the room for a bag of dry food. The cat food was in a drawer of the desk, and as I pulled out the bag I saw a folder marked Podcasts. I tucked it under my arm as I filled the bowl with the dry morsels. The cat immediately started noisily chewing after lapping up a lot of water.
Now that I’d seen the podcast folder, I couldn’t ignore it. Since I was getting dragged into it, it seemed like it would be okay to have a look. As I thumbed through the pages inside the folder, I realized these were the infamous notes that Leslie had been looking for on the computer. How funny that it hadn’t occurred to her to look for written ones. The first page had a heading that said Case 1. The House.
The cat jumped on the desk wanting attention and I knew that at any moment Leslie might come looking for me. I used my phone to capture images of the pages, and as a concession to her left the folder on the desk where she would be likely to find it. Then I slipped back into the living room just in time as I could tell that their conversation was winding down. The cat had followed me and was at my side when the two women walked in from the dining room.
“I’ll let you know,” Leslie said, clearly enjoying having the upper hand with the well-known actress.
I could see that CeeCee was perturbed but knew how to hold it in. I was going to get an earful when we got in the car. As we started to leave, the cat walked with us.
“You better keep an eye on him or her,” I said, “or it will try to go out with us.”
Leslie shrugged indifferently. “So what. I’m going to take it to the pound anyway.”
I looked at her, horrified. “You can’t,” I said. “That poor cat will wonder what happened and why it’s in a concrete enclosure.”
She shrugged again and I got it. She didn’t care. “I’m not an animal person,” she said finally.
“Then you don’t mind if I take the cat,” I said. I admit to not thinking it through, but it was an emergency and what difference would one more cat make?
“Be my guest.”
“I certainly will.” I asked if there was a carrier and Leslie went off to find it.
She came back with the carrier and the bowls and bag of food. “If you want the litter box, it’s on you to get it,” she said.
I assured her I already had one and packed up the cat, only asking what its name was.
“It’s a she and her name is Buttercup,” she said, barely giving the cat a glance.