“That’s quite a story,” Dan muttered. “Bud didn’t tell me about the restraining order. I found out about that when I looked into his background.”
“There’s also his claim about being an expert at putting up the cameras but one fell on you,” Amelia added. She tucked her legs beneath her after taking a sip of wine and snuggling closer to Dan on her couch. “So what do you think?”
Dan took a sip and stretched his arm behind Amelia.
“I might go visit Bud again. You said you had tea with him?”
“Yes, it was quite delightful. Considering we were discussing surveillance cameras and strangers climbing on roofs and murder.”
“Plus, Luann Jameson threatened to sue you over what again?”
“Ten cupcakes,” Amelia stated flatly.
“Sounds like you had a very interesting day.”
“To say the least. I kind of wish the kids weren’t at their friends’ houses tonight. I would have liked to hear the plain and simple high school gossip about this popular girl or that jock or the teacher who smells like butter.”
“Do they have a teacher who smells like butter?” Dan asked, as if this were a major concern.
“I don’t know. There is always some teacher who smells like something, real or imagined. Isn’t there? Usually one of the not-so-popular teachers.”
“I don’t remember any that smelled, but I did have a teacher who chronically picked his nose,” Dan offered proudly.
“Eww. I could have gone the rest of my life not hearing that.”
“It could have been worse.”
“How?” Amelia shook her head. “Wait. Don’t tell me. I think the worst I can remember is Miss Sleeve. She always had spit in the corners of her mouth. She was a nice lady, but it was hard not to focus on the spit when talking to her.”
“Now look at us.” Dan scoffed. “Little did we know the Miss Sleeves of the world would turn out to be normal compared to some of the people we’ve encountered.”
Amelia giggled.
They finished their wine, and Dan promised he would let her know what he found out on his visit to Bud’s place. He adjusted his arm that was still in a sling.
“Be careful,” Amelia said as she smoothed his lapel. “Just because he served tea doesn’t mean he might not be unstable, and you are about as ready for a fight as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.”
“Thanks.”
“Just giving it to you straight, Detective.” She looked up at him lovingly. “My way of saying be careful.”
Dan looked down at her, and she felt the jitters in her chest when he winked.
A couple of kisses later, Dan was in his car, heading home, and Amelia was grabbing her purse to head to the store and get some milk and eggs.
After getting her supplies, she contemplated grabbing some fast food for herself, but before she could decide, she slammed on the brakes and almost screamed.
“I know that car!” She gasped, her heart pumping madly in her throat. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
Luann Jameson drove a red Lexus with REALS on the license plate for her real estate business. Amelia was sure Luann didn’t intentionally cut her off. She had no way of knowing Amelia drove an old sedan.
“Don’t take it personally, Amelia. It’s her road, and she needs to get where she’s going. You’re just a minor inconvenience.”
Amelia watched the Lexus zoom ahead. Without thinking, Amelia hit the gas and began to follow.
Stop signs were just suggestions. Yellow lights meant go faster. Wherever Luann was headed, she was in a real hurry. But Amelia kept the car in sight and was surprised that after fifteen minutes of a high-speed tail, the Lexus pulled into the Four Seasons Hotel parking lot.
“This is interesting,” Amelia muttered. She knew that John had several meetings a year at this particular hotel. She also knew it was one of the places he’d taken Jennifer to before the whole sordid affair came into the light. John was still a face recognized by some of the managers.
Keeping a safe distance, Amelia watched Luann drop the car with the valet. As usual, she was dressed like a pin-up model, and all eyes were on her as she sashayed into the lobby.
Amelia didn’t want to tip the valet, so she parked her car. Carefully, she walked up to the revolving doors and looked in the lobby. Luann was nowhere to be seen, so Amelia entered.
“Did she go to a room?” Amelia pondered. “I could ask at the front desk. That would be pretty ballsy. But maybe I’m feeling ballsy. She did cut me off, after all.”
Squaring her shoulders, Amelia strode up to the check-in desk.
“Hi. I was wondering if a friend of mine had checked in yet. Is there a reservation for Luann Jameson?”
The man behind the counter was very tall and thin, and it was obvious he didn’t like having to wear a tie, as he continually tugged at his collar.
“I’m sorry. Can you spell that name for me?”
Amelia spelled it out, but the man shook his head and said there was no reservation under that name.
“She must have checked in under her friend’s name, and I don’t know how to spell it. I’m just going to wait in the lobby. Thanks.”
“Sure. You might want to enjoy a drink in our Signature Bar. It’s just around the elevator bank to the right.”
“Thanks. I think I will.” Amelia smiled. If Luann went to a room, Amelia was out of luck. But maybe she’d hang around for a little while and see what happened.
The Signature Bar was an elegant room. It had dark wood along the bar and several tall table and stools scattered around the room. Along the far wall were much more intimate tables for two that were like scalloped clamshells, allowing their occupants to sit intimately close to one another.
In one of those cozy seats, Amelia saw the back of Luann’s long blond mane. She was by herself. Amelia quickly glided as close to the booth as she could without being noticed and took a seat perched high up on a stool at one of the tall tables.
She watched the back of Luann’s head, and it looked to Amelia as if she was texting on her phone. Every man who walked by looked at her, but she didn’t seem to notice. She had to be extremely used to it by now.
Just then, a guy came stomping in, wearing tight-fitting jeans and a Harley-Davidson T-shirt. He looked completely out of place among the starched white collared shirts and crisp polos the other men were wearing. Even the waitstaff was dressed better.
“Hi. Welcome to Signature Bar.” Speaking of waitstaff. The toothy waiter shocked Amelia out of her surveillance mode and made her jump. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shock you.” He chuckled pleasantly. “My name is Pi. I’ll be your server. Can I start you off with some water or perhaps a cocktail?”
“Hi, Pi,” Amelia said awkwardly. “Um, I’d like a water and a menu, please.”
“Absolutely, coming right up.”
Amelia picked up the drink card that was underneath the pretty crystal votive candleholder on the table and held it slightly in front of her face while she studied Luann.
The shabby young man flopped into the booth across from her with a greasy smile on his face. He wasn’t ugly, but he had sort of an oily sheen to him that made Amelia wince.
“Waiting long?” she heard him ask. She couldn’t hear Luann’s answer, but judging from the guy’s reaction, Luann was not impressed.
“What are you talking about?” He leaned in toward Luann. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it before.” He licked his lips.
“Here’s your water and a menu,” Pi interrupted again. “I see you’ve had a chance to look at our drink menu.”
“I’d just like a couple more minutes,” Amelia smiled pleasantly.
“Sure, take your time. I’ll be back.”
Pi whisked away like a feather on a breeze. Amelia looked down and saw a cosmopolitan on the drink menu. It was twenty-one dollars.
“They’ve got to be out of their minds,” she mumbled before putting the small drink menu down and swapping it out for the larger food menu. She peeked over the top, still watching Luann and her guest.
“No one has said anything to me,” the man answered. “No one has called.”
Then Luann said something.
“I’m positive. Lu, you’re just being a little too paranoid. The hard part is over.”
Amelia leaned even farther toward Luann’s booth. Of course what she was hearing sounded dubious. Of course this stud was talking about landscaping or refurbishing or some other custodial project. It was only from hanging around Bud all afternoon that it sounded like murder.
“Babe, it’s done. Now, what do we do next?”
The stool Amelia was sitting on was just too far away. She’d have to take the booth next to Luann’s in order to hear her, and that was just too risky. As she thought of her next move, she didn’t realize she was staring right at Luann’s companion.
He looked her straight in the eye then let his gaze blatantly feel her up. He smirked and gave her a greasy wink. It wasn’t anything like Dan’s wink. Not even close.
But Amelia blushed. Not from the wink but from embarrassment. What was worse was that the man seemed to enjoy it. But Luann didn’t. She whirled her head around and clenched her teeth.
With all the drama of one of Meg’s classmates, Luann pushed herself out of the booth and stomped up to Amelia.
Fearing the worst, Amelia picked up her glass of water and took a long gulp then set it out of Luann’s reach.
“How funny to see you here.” Luann snarled. “Todd, this is the woman I told you about. She owns the Pink Cheesecake or something. Totally ruined Greg’s luncheon.” She started to get choked up. “A businesswoman taking advantage at a funeral luncheon. There is no name for it.”
Amelia’s heart was racing. What did this woman expect her to do? Did she want to fight? Was this going to have to move outside?
“Don’t worry, Luann. Your daughter paid your bill for you,” Amelia replied with as much kindness as she could muster. “As far as I’m concerned, the matter is closed.”
Judging from Luann’s response, Amelia knew that she had no idea Colleen had done this. The tears managed to stop rather quickly.
By now, the entire bar was staring at them as though they were watching a hornet buzz around, waiting to see who it would sting first.
“You need to quit following me, Mrs. Harley!” Luann shouted. “It’s really pathetic.”
“Miss, is this woman bothering you?” a man in a lovely gray suit and name tag that read “Nigel Frange, Manager” asked Luann.
“Are you kidding?” Amelia choked. She was at least a whole foot shorter than Luann and wasn’t the one who started shouting.
“Ma’am, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Nigel said before Luann could properly answer him.
“You’re asking me to leave?” Amelia almost laughed. She couldn’t control the smile of disbelief on her face. Wait until she told the kids their mom got tossed out of the Four Seasons Hotel. “This woman approached me.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, you need to leave.” Nigel took a step toward Amelia while Luann stood behind him for safety reasons, of course.
“Fine.” Amelia was mortified that everyone was looking at her, yet she felt like a rebel. She’d never been thrown out of a place before. Plus, the fact that her ex-husband still utilized the hotel and would probably find out about this made it even more exciting. For a second, she contemplated knocking her glass to the floor or kicking over her chair. But she changed her mind.
Keeping it classy, Amelia.
She walked out of the Signature Bar and out of the Four Seasons lobby with Nigel trailing close behind. Once outside, she fished in her small bag for her keys when she noticed a Harley-Davidson motorcycle parked near the front entrance. The license plate read TODD.
“There are no coincidences,” Amelia said to herself as she wrote down a quick description of the bike and the plate name. “I should go buy myself a lottery ticket. It might be my lucky night.”
She never imagined getting thrown out of a five-star hotel would be lucky, but she sure felt it. Luann was definitely up to something. That guy was the complete opposite of the man who was in all those pictures on the wall. His hands were permanently dirty. That Harley was not new and looked as if it had seen its fair share of Sturgis weekends. Plus, it had a set of metallic men’s testicles hanging from the hitch. Talk about keeping it classy.
It was also a polar opposite for Luann’s Lexus. Yes, Luann and Todd were as odd a pair as Colleen and Greg were. But up close, Colleen and Greg looked happy. She wasn’t dragging him into an environment that he didn’t fit in like a silk hat on a pig.
Turning around, she saw Nigel The Manager talking on a cell phone, staring out of the glass lobby windows at her. Nigel The Manager sounded like a pitiful superhero name. But his superpower was probably summoning the police with one quick call, so she hurried to her car and left.
On the way home, she called Dan but got his voicemail.
“Hi. It’s me. Well, my night was just as thrilling as my day. Call me when you get a chance, and I’ll tell you all about it.”