by B A Trimmer
~~~~
The door to the street opened and the client came in. She was a pleasant-looking woman, somewhere in her mid-forties, with short brunette hair and subtle makeup.
She was dressed in designer labels and had a high-end bag but otherwise didn’t go out of her way to display her wealth. The only jewelry she wore was a wedding set, but the center stone must have been close to three carats.
“I’m Jessica Palmer,” she said as she walked up to Sophie’s desk. “I have an appointment with Leonard Shapiro.”
We made introductions, then Sophie went into Lenny’s office to let him know the client had arrived. She came out a few seconds later. “Mr. Shapiro can see you now.”
The three of us went into the office. The client took the chair directly in front of Lenny’s oversized desk while I sat to the side. Sophie took the chair near the door, in case she had to answer the phone or greet someone coming in off the street.
We really need to get someone in to help Sophie run the office.
“Mrs. Palmer,” Lenny said. “Thank you for coming in. How can I help you?”
“It’s like I explained to you on the phone,” she said, her voice was a little shaky. “I believe my husband, Michael, is having an affair. If it’s true, I’d like to divorce him.”
Lenny looked her over and turned to Sophie. “Would you make me a Beam on the rocks? Mrs. Palmer, would you like a cocktail or perhaps a glass of wine?”
The client blew out a breath. “It’s early, but thank you. A glass of wine might help.”
Sophie got up and poured the drinks. By now, I was used to not being offered one. In fact, if Lenny did give us a drink at one of these client meetings, I’d be a little worried.
Sophie placed Lenny’s Jim Beam on his desk and handed Mrs. Palmer a glass of chilled pinot grigio. Our client took a couple of sips and it seemed to relax her.
“Mrs. Palmer,” Lenny said. “Go ahead and tell us what’s going on and what you’d like us to do.” He was using his concerned lawyer's voice. I’m sure he practices it in front of a mirror.
Our client took a deep breath and started speaking. “My husband, Michael, is head of surgery for Scottsdale General Hospital.”
“Would that be the main hospital campus on North Hayden Road?” Lenny asked, making notes on a yellow legal pad with his black Montblanc pen.
“That’s right. Three or four times a month, when my husband comes home from work, he seems distant, almost angry. When I ask him about it, he always says it’s nothing. If I press him, he’ll say he had a hard case in surgery, that sort of thing. But this has been going on for several months and I’m starting to become concerned.”
“When did you start to suspect he was having an affair?”
“It was a couple of weeks ago, right after Thanksgiving. He came home in a foul mood. When I asked him about it, he snapped at me. He said everything was fine, but he’d had a long and crappy day at work.”
“What did you do then?” Lenny asked.
“All of the surgeons are scheduled through a central office. I happen to know someone who works there. I called her the next day to find out if he’d had a tough case or if he’d maybe worked on something unusual the day before.”
“What did she tell you?”
Our client’s voice became quiet and she looked down at her hands in her lap. “She said he hadn’t been scheduled for anything past noon. In fact, he’d listed himself as unavailable every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for the entire month of December.”
“Did your friend see that as unusual?” Lenny asked.
“Not really,” she said with a laugh. “Several of the surgeons there have standing times off during the week. Most of them use the time to play golf.”
“Did she say how long he’s been taking Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off?”
“He’s been doing it since early in the summer. That makes it almost six months.”
“I take it he told you he’d been working on all of these days?”
“Yes, like I said, whenever I’d ask him what was wrong, he’d blame some difficult case that day. He’d then sit in his den and watch television until he decided to come to bed.”
“What would you like us to do?” Lenny asked.
“I’d like to find out for sure. If he’s started seeing someone new, I’d like to start divorce proceedings, right away. We have two boys in their early teens and I’d like custody.”
“Is there a prenup involved?” he asked.
“No, back when he proposed to me, he said he wanted one. But I refused.”
It’s always at this point I hope Lenny will suggest marriage counseling. Whatever problems couples are having in their marriage, there might still be a chance they could work things out if they could openly talk to each other about it.
Instead, Lenny’s lips curled up in a smile. Looking at him, I could almost hear the sound of an old-fashioned cash register bell ringing.
“Very well,” he said, again using his lawyer's voice. “Not having a prenup will simplify things and help us out considerably.”
Our client visibly relaxed and took a big sip of her wine.
“Sophie will have some paperwork for you to complete,” Lenny continued. “We’ll also need a twenty-thousand-dollar retainer to get started. After that’s squared away, we’ll get right on it.”
Jessica seemed a little put out by the retainer’s high-dollar amount. She raised an eyebrow, sucked in a breath, and was about to say something, but instead, she let out a deep sigh and took another long sip of her wine.
Our new client stood and Sophie walked to the wet bar to refill her glass. They both then went out to work on the paperwork while Lenny asked me to stay behind.
As they left, I marveled at how, once again, Lenny had judged precisely how much the client would be willing to pay. He’d then pushed it to the limit.
“Twenty thousand seems a little high for a couple of days of surveillance,” I said, not being able to help myself.
“Really?” he asked, surprised. “I had been about to ask for twenty-five. But I decided to pull myself back a bit. It’s pretty obvious what’s going on with the husband. Plus, I had Sophie check out her finances.”
“And?”
“She comes from a wealthy family and her husband pulls down almost a million a year as head of surgery at the hospital. They have two kids in their early teens, so the divorce will drag out for at least a year. Maybe more, depending on how hard he wants to fight it. I can easily see pulling another twenty-five or thirty thousand from her before this is over.”
Hearing this was disheartening. Sometimes I really do hate my job.
“Look,” Lenny said, speaking slowly as if to a child. “This one should be simple. Tomorrow’s Tuesday. The guy’s going to be in the hospital all morning. Sometime around noon, he’s going to take off. He’s a doctor, so he’ll likely be driving something flashy. Even I could tail someone like that. Follow him around, figure out if he’s nailing some broad. If he is, take some pictures.”
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “More pictures of naked people having sex.”
“Why are you complaining?” he asked, genuinely confused. “It’s like I keep telling you. You’ve got the eye for it. Some of your pictures lately have been quality work. As good as anything you can find on the internet.”
“Eeeewww.”
“Hey, if you don’t like your job, you could always go back to bartending. You said you enjoyed doing that.”
“Fine, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.”
I went out to reception in time to see Sophie run the client’s credit card. The signed paperwork was already sitting on her desk.
“Jessica,” I said. “Do you have a few minutes? I’d like to get some basic information from you.”
She said she did and we went into the conference room. After about thirty minutes, I had everything I needed for my day of surveillance.
~~~~
Gina, Sophie, and I wa
lked down the street for tacos and a Corona. The weather was a little cool, but several heaters were scattered in the seating area to keep the chill off. After my last assignment kept me busy for so long, it was great to catch up with them.
“What’s going on with you and Jet?” I asked Gina. “You’ve been dating him for over a month already.”
“It’s been almost two months,” she said, smiling. “We get along so well. As soon as I get a few days off, we’re planning on going up to Page. I want to take him hiking up Antelope Canyon. He’s also never seen Horseshoe Bend. I thought we’d get there for the sunrise.”
“I went up there with my family when I was a kid,” Sophie said. “It was a freaking long drive from California, but my parents let me spit into the Grand Canyon, so that was pretty cool.”
“In the movies, John Wayne threw a beer bottle into the canyon from there,” I said.
“They’d probably arrest you if you tried to do something like that now,” Sophie said.
“What about you?” I asked Sophie. “How is it having only one boyfriend at a time?”
“It’s harder than I thought it would be,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, Milo’s a great guy and everything. But when I go out with the cougars, and all of those hot guys start buying me drinks? It’s been a challenge not to go home with at least one or two of them.”
“Here’s to taking home hot guys from the bar,” Gina said as she held up her beer.
“Hot guys from the bar,” we both said as we lifted our beers and clinked our glasses together.
~~~~
We went back to the office, and I was thinking about going home, when Lenny popped his head out and walked to reception.
“I’m glad you’re all here,” he said. “There’s something I want to ask you about.”
From his tone, we knew what he wanted to talk about. I heard Sophie moan and I looked at Gina. I knew they both felt as uncomfortable as I did.
Ever since Lenny started dating Elle, he’s been asking embarrassing personal questions about dating and relationships. The only reason we kept humoring him is that we were the ones who had nudged him into dating Elle in the first place.
As usual, Lenny ignored our moans and sideways glances. “I’ve been dating Elle for almost two months, and it’s been great,” he said. “But all we ever seem to do is go out to dinner and then head to her place. I want to ask her to go with me somewhere, like maybe for the entire weekend. I was thinking Vegas.”
“That seems reasonable,” Gina said, clearly relieved the question wasn’t about a disgusting personal hygiene issue. “How can we help?”
“Every time I bring up the idea of doing something more involved than a dinner date, she shuts me down. I don’t know if I’m being too subtle or somehow asking wrong.”
“I don’t know if there’s a wrong way to ask someone out,” I said. “Tell her you think it would be fun if you spent the weekend together and offer to take her to Las Vegas.”
“I could do that,” Lenny said. “But I’ve been thinking…”
Sophie barked out a short laugh. She then quickly tried to hide it by pretending to cough.
“Anyway,” Lenny continued as he looked down at Sophie. “I was thinking maybe the reason she doesn’t want to do anything more than an evening at a time with me is that she doesn’t know how I really feel about her.”
I started to get a bad feeling about where this was going. “And how do you feel about her?” I asked.
“I’m in love,” he said, a big stupid smile on his face. “I’m thinking about asking her to marry me.”
“No!” we all shouted at once.
Sophie started to laugh nervously and I could tell Gina was getting annoyed, so I stepped in.
“Um,” I said. “You’ve only been going out for seven or eight weeks. Perhaps you should give it some time, like maybe six months or even a year, before you tell Elle you love her. It’s the sort of thing that can spook a woman if you hit her with it too soon.”
“Really?” Lenny asked. He seemed genuinely perplexed. “I thought all you gals liked it when men fell in love with you?”
“We do,” Gina said in her motherly tone. “But it’s best if it’s felt on both sides before you start voicing it. Otherwise, it can quickly sour the relationship.”
“You’re serious?” Lenny asked. “That seems to fly in the face of what I see whenever I watch a movie on the Hallmark channel. The women there seem to fall in love after three or four dates. But, hey, I’ll take your word on it.”
~~~~
I stayed in the office long enough to finish catching up with both Gina and Sophie. I then drove back to my place to enjoy my last few hours of freedom before things started getting busy again.
As I walked down the hallway to my apartment, I heard the TV playing in Grandma Peckham’s apartment. I hadn’t talked to her for a few days, so I knocked.
I had to knock a couple of times, but I eventually heard the TV volume go down. A moment later, Grandma opened the door. Today, she was wearing her pink jogging suit.
“Why, Laura,” she said in her always cheerful voice. “Come in, dear. How have you been? We haven’t had a chance to do more than say hello in the hallway since you spent the weekend at your new boyfriend’s house.”
“I know. It’s been busy at the office.”
“It’s the Snowbirds,” Grandma said as she shook her head. “Every year, there seems to be more of them. It’s getting to the point where I’m nervous even driving down to the store. Having one old lady driving down the street doesn’t seem to be a problem. Young people have such good reflexes. But when everyone on the street is a senior, it can make driving a challenge.”
“How’s the wedding going? It’s in a little under two weeks.”
“Well, it’s mostly going okay.”
“What part’s not going well?”
“Honestly, I’m starting to worry something’s going to go wrong with the ceremony.”
“I suppose all brides get nervous before the wedding. I’m sure things will go smoothly.”
“Oh, I’m not worried about getting married,” Grandma said. “It’s my wedding planner.”
“I didn’t know you had a wedding planner. I thought your granddaughter Megan was doing all of that.”
“She’s been helpful, but if you remember, we took over a wedding they were going to have at the Scottsdale Barrington for New Year’s Eve. I also inherited their wedding planner.”
“You said the other couple canceled and you were able to use their caterer, their flowers, and their photographer. I know it saved you a lot since you could use the deposits they’d already paid.”
“Yes, I’m saving a great deal, but I’ve been hearing nothing but horror stories about the wedding planner. She seems nice, but when I talked to the people at the Barrington, they said her weddings over the past few months have mostly been disasters.”
“That doesn’t sound good. What kinds of things have happened?”
“Photographers not being on time, limos not showing up, and one where the minister was over an hour late. The worst one I heard was when the caterer tried to serve prime rib at a vegetarian wedding.”
“Wow. Any of those would be enough to ruin the day.”
“Honestly, I think that’s why the other couple canceled. They didn’t want to risk their wedding.”
“Most of those issues seem like bad luck as much as anything else. Have you talked with your wedding planner about it?”
“I did. She’s not sure why the problems keep happening. She seems as angry and bewildered as anyone about the whole thing.”
“How can I help?”
“Well,” she said. “I was thinking. You’re a detective, would you talk with her? Maybe you could find out what’s wrong.”
“You know I’m not a detective. I’m only an investigator at a law firm.”
“Oh, I know, but it’s pretty much the same thing.”
I let out a sigh to sho
w Grandma how I felt about getting put in the middle of something like this. She only looked at me with her little old lady smile.
“Okay, fine,” I said. “I guess you can consider this part of your wedding present.”
“Thank you, dear. I knew you’d want to help.”
“Have you and Grandpa Bob decided where you’re going to live? I know you’d considered moving over to his place.”
“We’d talked about me going over there. We even talked about getting a place in Sun City. But I think he’s moving over here. My place is a little bigger, plus my furniture is so much nicer. And honestly, I don’t want to pack everything up.”
“That’s great news,” I said. “I was really hating the idea of you moving away.”
Chapter Two
“You’re going to investigate a wedding planner?” Sophie asked when I walked into the office the following day.
“She’s doing Grandma Peckham’s wedding and something always seems to go wrong.”
“What kinds of things?”
“According to Grandma, it’s something different each time. Last weekend, a hip-hop DJ showed up for a wedding between two seniors. They wanted waltzes and slow dancing and instead got Snoop Dogg and Grandmaster Flash.”
“What do you think? Is the wedding planner a ditz?”
“I don’t know yet. Grandma says she appears to be okay, but her weddings seem to go to hell. She thinks that’s why the other couple canceled. They didn’t want to risk it.”
“I remember my wedding,” Sophie said. “I was pretty much mental that day. If something crazy like that had happened, I might have lost it in front of everybody.”
“What did you end up doing last night?”
“I went out with the girls. We spent most of the night in the Living Room Lounge. Elle was there and she asked me about Lenny.”
“Oh no. What happened?”
“Lenny said he wanted to ask her about something the next time they went out. According to Elle, Lenny was acting a little squirrely when he told her.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I thought Lenny was going to ask her out for a weekend in Vegas.”
