“Why not?” Mom asked.
“Dad needed a home healthcare worker or at the very least an experienced personal assistant. This guy was some kind of artist and comedy flunky. He’d never held a steady job in his life,” Ford said.
“So why do you think your dad hired him?” Mom asked.
“Sylvia’s recommendation,” Ford answered.
“Why are they so close if they got divorced?” Wenling butted in.
“When did she buy the house next door?” Mom added.
“She didn’t buy it. She inherited it,” Ford said.
“Was she close to the neighbor?” Mom asked.
“Very, they got married,” Ford answered. “You see, Dad and Sylvia’s marriage was on the rocks, but Dad didn’t want to divorce Sylvia because he was worried about the alimony. Well, Sylvia started taking care of the old man next door. They fell in love, and she moved in there and agreed to a very reasonable divorce from Dad. So they all stayed friends. Then the neighbor dies and Sylvia inherits the house, but her husband’s nephew sues the estate and loses. And guess who the nephew is?”
“Rhett,” Mom said.
“Hey, you’re good,” Ford answered. “So for some crazy reason, Sylvia gets Rhett a job working for Dad. Then, after just six months of being my dad’s assistant, this Rhett guy is involved in all of my father's affairs. And then things started to go a little crazy at the dealership.”
“What did Rhett do for money before this job?” Mom asked.
“From what I can tell, he sponged off of relatives and girlfriends since his art wasn’t working out,” Ford said.
“Is he in your dad’s will?” Mom asked.
“No,” Ford said. “But I just found out this morning that the will was altered last week to add Lexi. Maybe Rhett was in a prior version. And to make everything more suspicious, a week ago, Dad ordered an internal audit of the Sherman Oaks, San Fernando, and Riverside lots. And suddenly, he’s found dead in the pool.”
“Let’s look around for clues,” Wenling suggested. I could tell from her tone of voice she was getting antsy.
“By all means,” Ford said, standing up. “I’ll take you to where we found him, and of course, you can search the entire house.”
Wenling whipped out her phone. “And we can take pictures, right?”
Ford nodded as he led us to the sliding glass doors and unlocked them. “If you don’t mind, I’ll stay in here.” His pained expression tugged at my heart.
Wenling rushed out to the pool area and took pictures. Dar-dar and Briana followed Wenling, but Briana was polite enough to shut the sliding glass door behind them.
I stayed with Mom and Ford in the dining area.
“You mentioned you would’ve liked your father to have hired a home healthcare worker,” Mom said. “Was he in poor health?”
Ford sighed. “He was getting forgetful. He was on several medications he’d never remember to take.”
“Did any of those medications cause dizziness or drowsiness?” Mom asked.
“The police asked the same thing,” Ford said, sighing again. “And yes, we’d had an incident with Dad and the pool. He promised to not go out there anymore, even though he loved to swim. We would’ve drained the pool, but we wanted it for when we rented the place out.”
I listened to the conversation while watching the rest of the gang by the pool, glad that Ford’s back was to the sliding glass doors. Wenling gestured wildly, and I could tell even from inside that she was ordering everyone around.
“It really could have been an accident,” Mom said. “But we’ll look into it.”
“I appreciate that,” Ford said. “When my mother died, I wasn’t really thinking straight. So I understand that I might look like a son who’s just grieving. Dad was 77. I knew this day was coming, but not like this.”
Briana had backed away from the pool, holding her phone as if to take a photo. Dar bent down to unbuckle the straps to his scrappy, high-heeled sandals. I suspected what they were going to do, but I hoped I wasn’t right.
“Even when you’re expecting it, the end is…” Mom paused to think. “What do you call it?” she said, turning to me like she often did when she needed to search for a word in English.
“Uh,” I stalled, not expecting to be included in the conversation so suddenly. I replayed the last few seconds and ventured a couple of guesses. “Surprising? Final?”
I could tell by Mom’s faraway expression that I hadn’t guessed right.
“It’s like, you can’t believe it’s real and everything stops,” she said. “And your mind is numb, like frozen.”
I knew what she meant. “Stunning.”
“Yes, but not in the regular way. Do you know what I mean?” she said, looking back to Ford.
He nodded but didn’t speak.
“It can really affect your mind,” Mom said half to herself and half to Ford. “No matter how smart you are.”
My gaze returned to the scene just outside. Dar-dar had stripped down to his boxer shorts. Yup, they were going to reenact the crime. Oh boy.
“You’re right, Mrs. Murphy,” Ford said. “And I’m smart enough to know that my thoughts could be a reaction to grief, but I know in my gut there’s definitely something up at the dealership. I’ve known for a while, but Dad just wouldn’t listen to me until recently. He was so stubborn.”
Mom thought. “Is there anyone else there who could mismanage funds or embezzle?” she asked.
I tried to not look distracted, but the violent way that Wenling launched Dar into the pool caught me off guard. The insulation of the sliding glass doors impressed me. I didn’t even hear the splash.
“Why do you ask?” Ford asked Mom.
Continuing to watch the scene outside, I could see that Cal Warrington wasn’t pushed into the pool. There was no way his head could’ve hit the edge if he were pushed.
“Rhett sounds like a contender, but he’s also just an assistant,” Mom explained. “Does Rhett have check signing authority or the ability to log into the accounting systems?”
“I don’t think so, but he could’ve stolen Dad’s passwords or something like that,” Ford suggested.
I stepped a little to the left so I could see things more clearly, but continue looking like I was paying attention to the conversation. Dar had swum to the side of the pool. As he attempted to get out, Wenling tried to push his head under the water.
“Do you know your Dad’s passwords or a good way to steal them?” Mom asked.
“You have a point there,” Ford said. His gaze drifted toward outside but he stopped short of looking out the glass.
“We’ll still look at Rhett, but can you think of any other suspects for the stuff going on at the dealership? Who would have the authority to do the things you worry about?” Mom asked.
“TJ Kowalski, the LA manager. He was brought on about three years ago. He has the access, but he came highly recommended. I’m not sure.”
I looked away from the mock drowning scene and made a note of the manager’s name on my phone.
“Anyone else?” Mom asked.
“I’m not as involved with the business as I should’ve been. I went into engineering,” Ford said.
“Engineering!” Mom exclaimed and made an impressed face. “Your parents must be so proud. What type of engineering?”
In Filipino culture there are three career fields you can choose to make your parents proud: engineering, education, and medicine. Since I’d tested high in science and math and had gotten all As in school, Mom had high hopes for me. Let’s just say she’s had to make peace with that dream.
“Aerospace,” Ford answered.
Mom’s eyes grew wide. “JPL? Northrup? Boeing?” Mom asked. I wasn’t surprised she knew the biggest employers in aerospace.
“Northrop Grumman,” he answered. “Dad was not as happy about it as you are, but he came around.”
“Parents don’t always realize their dreams for their children can be more like
prisons,” Mom said.
That response caught me by surprise.
“Are you the owner of the business now? Or part owner? ” Mom asked.
“Probably a partial owner. As of the version of the will Dad’s lawyer had this morning, I am. But Dad was in the middle of changing things. He’d already changed it to include stuff for Lexi, but he said he might need to add more. He even told his lawyer he might use someone else if he couldn’t get an appointment soon. It’s so suspicious.”
“It is suspicious,” Mom agreed.
Uh-oh. I could tell from Mom’s expression that she really did suspect there was some kind of mystery here. Maybe not murder, but something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark.
Mom glanced down at her watch. “We have to get going soon. We need to get to the cake place before they close.”
“Of course. The Lexi and Sylvia incident made this all take so much longer. So how does this work?” Ford asked, looking at his watch. “Can I have the pool area cleaned? How do we handle payment?”
“You can definitely clean the pool area, and we’re not licensed investigators, so we don’t take payment. Usually we cater a party and charge a hefty premium,” Mom said. “But I’m not in the catering business anymore.”
My attention snapped to Mom’s face. What did she mean about not being in the catering business?
“Well, how about you can use the house for free for the week of the wedding? Would that be a fair trade?”
Free! DC would definitely go for the house if it was free. I fought to control my excitement. Mom drove a hard bargain, and I didn’t want to spoil it.
“That should cover the initial investigation. Remember, it might be an accident, but we’ll look into the dealership stuff.”
“Absolutely,” Ford agreed.
“We might be back to look through your dad’s room,” Mom said. “Actually, do this. Go through the whole house and his personal things if you can. See if there are indicators of a new will.”
Ford nodded in agreement.
Mom knocked on the window of the sliding glass door to get Wenling’s attention. Wenling turned to look at us, but didn’t stop trying to drown Dar in the pool. Mom made the wrap-up motion with her finger.
“Can I trouble you for a towel?” Mom asked Ford.
“Not a problem,” Ford said, rushing off without questioning what they were doing in the pool. It surprised me that he didn’t care about them being in the pool. I figured Ford was either distracted by his grief, or he thought what they were doing was normal.
Mom slid the door open and said, “We have to get to the cake place.”
I noticed Briana wasn’t with them.
“Where’s Briana?” I asked.
“She went to take pictures of the back and the sides of the house,” Dar answered, trying to get out of the pool.
Wenling turned back to push Dar-dar’s head under water one last time.
“Stop,” Dar said, splashing Wenling with water and smacking away her hands.
“Cut it out,” Mom said to her best friend. “You’ll fall in without Briana to save you.”
So Mom had seen everything.
“See,” Mom said, stepping out into the pool area to take a glance around. I followed her. I couldn’t tell if Mom was checking out the scene of the crime or the scene of the wedding. “It’s hard to keep someone in the water from the sides without falling in yourself. And Ford’s dad was tall like Darwin.”
“That just means the killer had long arms and was taller than me,” Wenling said and finally let Dar out.
“Cal was already so tall, though,” Mom said.
“Or maybe the murderer was in the pool with Cal,” Wenling suggested.
“Then get in and try,” Mom said.
“We don’t have time,” Wenling said, walking over to the statue of the tiger and pretending to look at it. Dar emerged from the pool shivering.
Ford joined us outside with a towel in hand. “I wish I’d known you were going to be in the pool. I would’ve turned on the heater,” he said.
“Not a problem,” Dar said, taking the towel from Ford. I hadn’t realized how close in height Ford and Dar were.
“Was your dad as tall as Dar?” I asked Ford.
“I think so,” Ford said, stepping closer to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dar. Dar straightened up. “Yup, almost exactly. I was an inch taller than my Dad, and I’m about the same height as—” Ford paused. “Is it Tar?”
“Dar or Dar-dar,” Darwin corrected. “It’s short for Darwin.”
“Like the scientist, but you emphasize the second syllable,” Ford noted.
“What do you mean?” Darwin asked.
“When you say it, you emphasize the second syllable ‘win’ harder than the first syllable ‘Dar,’ but when Americans pronounce Darwin, we accent the ‘Dar,’” Ford explained.
“Oh yeah,” I said after mentally saying ‘Darwin’ in my mind. It didn’t sound the same as Charles Darwin. I looked around.
“I don’t get it,” Dar said.
“Me neither,” Wenling concurred.
“It’s because you can’t hear your accent,” Mom explained.
Dar looked over at Ford.
“You are tall,” he said. “It’s hard to find men taller than me. I usually have to wear flats on dates.” Dar motioned to his high heels and returned the towel.
“That’s a shame. They’re great shoes,” Ford said. “How did you find them in your size?”
“I have to special order—especially since I wear a size twelve wide,” Dar said, bending over and straightening up and slipping his dress back on.
“I know the feeling. I have to have all my shirts and jackets special ordered because my arms are so long,” Ford said.
Ford’s reaction to Darwin impressed me. Sometimes people who aren’t used to Dar-dar could be pretty judgmental.
Briana returned. “I photographed the perimeter of the house and the side alleyway,” she said. “What’s next?”
“We have to go to the cake place, and then we’re going to swing by the dealership in Sherman Oaks,” Mom said. “We’re going to look at cars. I’m thinking of buying one. Could you arrange a discount for a car or two?”
It stunned me that Mom had just come out and said that.
“Not a problem. Let me know which one you pick out,” Ford said. “Should I tell them you’re a friend of mine or do you want to keep it under wraps?”
Mental note: I needed to get better at just asking for what I wanted.
“Don’t tell them yet. We can save that for later if we go back to learn more,” Mom said.
Mom got the address for the dealership from Ford, and then we all made small talk as we cut through the house and returned to the van.
“Remember, we’re not licensed private investigators,” Mom said to Ford when we all got to the front walk near the van. “I’m just a friend looking to buy a car who met you because of my daughter’s wedding. And don’t tell the police. Christy’s fiancé doesn’t like us doing any of this.”
Ford nodded that he understood, and he went back inside.
I took a deep breath as we walked to the van. We were definitely on another case. DC wouldn’t be happy about this. Would the free wedding venue cushion the blow?
I unlocked the back door of the van so Dar, Wenling, and Briana could hop in the back.
“We gotta hurry,” Mom said. “We’ve got to get to Sherman Oaks in a half hour before the cake place closes.”
“No!” Wenling said. “It’s scary enough when she’s not in a hurry.”
I would have been insulted if I didn’t agree with Wenling.
7
I pulled into the parking lot of the bakery. My nerves were shot. Mom had been encouraging me to “go faster” the entire time. Sure, we’d only gone five miles over the speed limit on the freeway, but in this rickety van, we felt every mile per hour.
“Great driving, kid,” Mom said as she opened the
window to the back of the van.
“I feel sick,” Wenling said. “This van is not meant for fast.”
“I wouldn’t describe it as a high performance vehicle,” Dar agreed.
I knew it must’ve felt pretty scary back there when Briana remained silent.
“We have another mystery,” started Mom, “and this one serious. The lady here at the bakery will not give me the recipe for this cake. They also say they can’t make me another side cake for the wedding, so—”
Wenling cut off Mom. “What’s a side cake? Aren’t you going to have a fancy wedding cake for your fancy wedding?”
Mom exhaled. “We have the large five-tiered wedding cake, but that only serves a hundred people. I have one side sheet cake, but that only serves 150 people. We have 300 people coming to the wedding.”
Now, I interrupted. “Mom, I thought we were having 250 people come to the wedding.”
She didn’t answer.
“We need another sheet cake, but they say they can’t make us one in time,” Mom said.
“When did it get to be 300?” I pressed.
“I need everyone to focus on this mystery. We are tasting, smuggling out samples, and asking questions. You,” Mom said, pointing to Wenling. Mom rifled in her purse and handed Wenling a Styrofoam container. “Take this. You have to get two pieces of cake, one for you to taste now and one for you to store away in a box. I’m going to take my own piece as well. I’ll need this when I cook up samples to match it against the cake they’re sending us.”
“Mom, when are you going to have time to bake a giant sheet cake?” I asked.
“I’ll have time,” Mom said.
“So not everybody is going to get a piece of cake from the real cake?” Wenling asked.
“It’s all going to be real cake,” Mom said.
“I’ll only take part in this if you guarantee that I get a piece from the good cake,” Wenling demanded.
“They’re all good cake,” Mom said.
Wenling stared at Mom. “Where am I seated at the wedding?”
“You’re in the bridal party. So you’re seated with me,” Mom answered.
Wedding Cake and Widows: A Comedy Cozy Mystery (Mom and Christy's Cozy Mysteries Book 8) Page 5
