Wedding Belles

by Beth Albright

  Everyone looked so festive. Bonita was in a lemon-yellow sleeveless top with her collar popped up, lime-green pearls tight around her neck. Mother and Meridee wore different shades of pink. I had been at a Preservation Society meeting early that morning so I was still a bit dressed up in my sleeveless wraparound lavender silk top that tied with a sash that dripped down the leg of my cream-colored pants.

  Vivi, though, was just stunning. She was in a strapless white sundress with purple polka dots and a satin purple sash tied in a bow under her breasts. We looked like little wedding cakes ourselves, and everybody was in a great mood. When you’re fixin’ to eat that much cake, who wouldn’t be happy?

  “Oh, I am so excited,” Bonita said. “Blake, thanks so much for including me. I just love me some good desserts. I’m helping Arthur with a few new recipes for cobbler right now.” She shifted her plump rear end in her seat at the end of the table near the door to the butler’s pantry. Kitty and Meridee took the two chairs by the stove, and I sat with Vivi on the other side near the sink.

  “Now, ladies, we are happy to have y’all sample our delicious array of cakes for all of the upcoming events,” Jean-Pierre announced as he and Coco presented the first of the sweet confections. And one after another, we stuffed ourselves with their amazing recipes. Strawberry, chocolate, red velvet, lemon, peach. The flavors were endless and all of them delicious.

  Just as we were at the peak of our sugar high, a loud crack exploded from outside. The sound seemed to come from near the willow tree where all the construction was happening, followed by cries of “Oh, shit!” from the various workmen. We all jumped up and looked out the window to see a geyser was shooting up like Old Faithful from the center of the hole they’d been digging for the pond.

  “Oh, my God, what in hell have they done to my pond?” Vivi headed out the back door, all of us running after her in our pretty cake-tasting clothes.

  “We’ve hit a water main,” the worker screamed.

  “No shit!” Vivi screamed back, her hands in the air.

  “What can we do?” Jean-Pierre stepped up, feeling responsible I was sure, since he had insisted on the pond for the ten swans that were coming.

  “I’ve got a great idea, Vivi!” Coco announced. “How ’bout we make a fountain in the middle of the pond?” He was trying to mitigate the damages, but I appreciated his attempts to smooth things over as best he could.

  “Very funny.” Vivi turned her attention back to the construction worker. “Now turn that water off before you flood my whole damn house.”

  The man ran up to the side of the house and shut the water off. We all stood looking at the humongous mud puddle that was supposed to be swan lake.

  “You know, maybe there’s a silver lining here. I do sorta like that fountain idea,” Kitty said. “Don’t all royal castles have some sort of extravagant water feature? Seems to me Coco’s right. This fits right in with your theme, doesn’t it?”

  “Hey,” shouted a construction worker, running up from the pond. “A bunch of odds and ends washed up from the dirt when that main broke. Most of it was just random junk, but we found this and thought you might want to see it.” The man handed Vivi her daddy’s ring, muddy from where they found it.

  “Oh, my goodness. Daddy’s ring! Thank y’all so much.” Vivi clutched the dirty heirloom to her chest, holding it tight in her fist. “That damn dog. He’s taken everything that’s not nailed down and buried it out there in the yard. No tellin’ what else they’ll find by the end of this.”

  “Oh, sweetie, I am so happy you have that back. Lewis is gonna just love it.” I hugged her.

  “See?” Kitty said with her eyebrows up. “Silver linings. They’re everywhere.”

  * * *

  We made our way back up to the house and all of us stuffed ourselves with more cake. About an hour later we were all full and on a sugar high.

  “Oh, my Lord, I am gonna go into a diabetic coma if I have one more bite,” Bonita said, patting her ample belly.

  “I have never eaten so much cake in my entire life, and I could keep goin’ here if they let me,” Meridee said, sliding her index finger alongside her saucer for the last bit of icing.

  “Me, too. This has been fabulous! I think I want them all,” Vivi said, laughing.

  “All?” repeated Jean-Pierre. “We showed you fifteen kinds.”

  “Why not have all fifteen, then? No one should go through life without a chance to taste all these. We can have the strawberry pink for the main wedding cake for me, and, for Lewis, the red velvet with creamy frosting, so the groom’s cake will be in Crimson Tide colors. I want it to be done in the shape of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Lewis will be so excited. Then we can have several smaller cakes for the shower, and a few extra at the wedding and the Brooks Mansion grand opening.” She might regret that order once the effects of the sugar wore off, but the Fru Fru boys were all over it in a hot second.

  “Honey, we can so do that,” Coco responded, dollar signs flashing before his eyes. “Just make a list of where and when.” He nodded over to Jean-Pierre and started taking up the plates while we all sat in a sugared stupor. Jean-Pierre’s pink feather note-taking pen was flying again.

  “I need some caffeine. All this sugar’s gonna make me sleepy,” Vivi said.

  “Yes, that’s a great idea. A sugar high followed by a caffeine chaser, while pregnant. I don’t think so,” I said. I got up and grabbed the pitcher of ice water from the counter and poured her a glass.

  Once Meridee, Kitty and the Fru Frus had left, Vivi went to freshen up while Bonita and I did the last of the dishes. As we were finishing, her cell phone rang. “It’s Sonny,” she said as she pulled it out of her bag to answer it. She went into the hall and spoke quietly into the phone, but she looked excited when she returned.

  “Some tests are back from that fast-food bag you found, Blake. And there might be some more information waiting at the station, too. I’ve got to get over there now.”

  Just then Vivi came out of the powder room. “I heard y’all and I’m ready,” she said.

  “We’ll be right behind you,” I said to Bonita.

  Bonita got up and kissed Vivi on the cheek. “Thanks for having me be part of this. What an afternoon! I’ll see y’all later. The new information should be there by the time y’all arrive.”

  31

  We parked in back of the police station and went in quickly. Bonita was already in Sonny’s office and they had pulled in two extra chairs for us.

  Lewis was busy at the Brooks Mansion overseeing the renovation and the hiring of employees. Sonny had an undercover officer watching him for protection, but I was worried about how much stress he was under.

  Lewis was one of those people who always looked like he had it together, but he was such a good actor that he could be falling apart and no one would know. Well, no one except for Vivi. She was a genius at making people talk. She could read you and know if something was bothering you and then she’d get it out of you before you even realized what you were saying. They were good for each other.

  Vivi and I sat down and Sonny poured us some water from his bar on the credenza. Bonita pulled some drawings from a manila envelope.

  “So, one of the things I’ve been looking into is who exactly was working on the barge the day Walter Aaron died. As it turns out, the company had hired a day worker for the day Walter disappeared. Only trouble is, the arrangement they had with him must’ve been something under the table, because they didn’t have a record of who he was or where he lives or anything like that. It all sounded a bit fishy to me, so I brought along our police sketch artist to draw up some facial composites based on our interviews with the other staff. Here’s the renderings from the descriptions the tugboat captain gave our artist.”

  I sat silently, staring at the face in the sketch in front of me.


  “Seems the barge company hired day workers on a regular basis,” Bonita continued. “And on the day Walter was pushed off, this is the man they had hired. He was stocky, broad-chested like a bodybuilder.”

  There was something familiar about him.

  “That looks a little like that manager from the strip club,” Vivi blurted out.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” I agreed. “I mean, if we remove the hat and add that mustache he was trying to grow.” I moved my hand over the drawing, careful not to touch the pencil marks. “This is that guy Dwayne who texted me yesterday to say Tressa wasn’t gonna show up to sign the papers. He called himself her manager.”

  “Yep, looks just like him.” Vivi leaned back in her chair. We were all silent for a second as we put the pieces of the puzzle together in our heads.

  “We’re also doing another swipe of the boat to see if there’s anything we can run against the samples we get from Tressa and Dwayne. So far we can’t find anything out there but Walter’s prints and they’re on everything. He fought for his life,” Bonita said.

  “If we can directly tie these two to the boat, this case will wrap itself up in a pretty tidy bow,” Sonny said.

  “Except,” Bonita interjected, “it’s looking more and more like Tressa might be in real danger from this Dwayne character. It’s clear they’re somehow working together, but I’m thinking he’s the one pulling the strings. And if he did the actual killing, he can’t afford to let Tressa talk, which is probably why she was a no-show yesterday.”

  “If we can’t place either Tressa or Dwayne at the boat, I’m afraid we have a dead end,” Sonny said, getting up and pouring himself some of the water.

  “But we can prove Tressa married Walter,” I protested.

  “Tamlyn married Walter, and she doesn’t exist. We don’t have a strong enough case to prove that Tressa actually stole her sister’s identity. At least, nothing strong enough to stick in court,” Bonita said, putting the drawings back in the envelope. “We haven’t been able to track down the person who married the two of them or anyone who actually knew them when they were together, so all we have is a couple of pictures on his cell phone and a license that may or may not be valid. Even more interesting—no one, not Tressa/Tamlyn or anyone, has applied to receive Walter’s benefits yet. We’re still waiting to hear.”

  “What about the annulment?” Vivi asked, visibly upset.

  “I think Tressa is looking for a way out of her arrangement with Dwayne,” Sonny said. “Maybe she was hoping to score some money off Lewis and skip town.”

  “So that’s why she was sneaking off down here by herself?” I surmised. “She told me no one could know she was coming here to meet Lewis, that no one could know T was really Tressa. Maybe Dwayne has no idea about any of that. She’s hoping she can swing this deal with Lewis quietly and then slip away with the cash before Dwayne can catch her. It fits.”

  “I’d love to talk to her myself, see if she’s willing to spill any dirt about this guy to save her own hide,” Sonny said. “But I’ve gotta make sure her manager is nowhere around when I do.”

  “Well, clearly it’s not safe to text her,” I pointed out. “He has her phone now, remember? How are you gonna do it?”

  “Looks like I’m off to Birmingham tonight. Dwayne and Tressa have no idea what I look like, so I can hang out around Puss and Boots without drawing any suspicion. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak a little alone time with Tressa without Dwayne breathing down her neck, so long as he thinks I’m just a regular customer.” Sonny got up and grabbed his suit coat off the back of the chair.

  We all stood up and said our goodbyes, but I hung back in Sonny’s office as Vivi and Bonita headed up the hall to talk to the sketch artist. “Please be careful,” I said to him as I gazed deep into those familiar dark brown eyes. “These people are dangerous. They killed Walter.”

  “Don’t worry, baby. It’s all in a day’s work for me. I’m a homicide investigator, remember? Careful is my specialty.” He smiled and winked at me, gathering his things. I began to think he lived for moments like this. His excitement was palpable.

  He leaned down and kissed my lips. “I love you, Blake. Don’t worry. I’ll be back tonight.”

  I was counting on it.

  32

  I barely slept that night while I waited for Sonny to call and let me know when he was on his way home. By 3:00 a.m. I couldn’t take it anymore. I called his cell. Voice mail.

  “Call me, text me. Something. I’m a wreck.”

  I got up and walked through the silent darkness to the kitchen. Harry The Humper, asleep in his bed, barely stirred when he saw me. He’d probably lick the burglars on their way out of the house with the goods before he’d let out a bark. Unless they had one of his bones. He wasn’t exactly watchdog material.

  A thunderstorm had crept up, and the lightning ripped the darkness open like a horror movie, illuminating the kitchen in shadows and stark light. I pulled my robe across my chest a little tighter and sat down at the big kitchen table, fingering my cell phone. Where could he be? I needed my own police scanner if I was gonna be with Sonny. Something, anything, that would help me keep an eye on him and know that he was all right.

  I grabbed my laptop from my bag on the chair next to me and decided to check if there was any breaking news from Birmingham. What if Tressa or Dwayne had recognized Sonny? Tressa did have ties to Tuscaloosa, so it wasn’t a big stretch to think he could be in real danger. The anxiety choked me.

  I began to think, This is what my life with Sonny is going to be like. Every single time he goes out on a call, I’m going to be eaten up with worry. I could see it all playing out, me sitting up till all hours of the morning by the phone with a knot in my stomach. Just like right now.

  My mind began to fill with doubts. Maybe I’m not cut out for this. Maybe I’m too selfish. Maybe I’m too much the nervous type. The more I love him, the more I worry. What kind of life will that be for either of us?

  The thunder crashed and made me jump in the still hush of the wee hours.

  My cell lit up.

  “Oh, my God, I’ve been worried sick,” I said as I answered.

  “I’m okay. It took a little longer than I thought. Dwayne never left her side,” Sonny said. “But I followed them home. Dwayne is staying right there with her, though from the look of it I don’t think it’s by her choice.”

  “I have been so worried,” I said, exhaling.

  “Blake, baby, I told you, this is what I do. C’mon, if I know you’re at home falling apart it makes it harder for me to get my job done. I need to know you trust me not to be stupid enough to take unnecessary risks.”

  “Okay, I know. It’s all still new to me, that’s all. And I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard.”

  “I know, baby. I just hate to think of you upset.”

  “So, what happened tonight?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.

  “I met Dwayne. He’s an interesting character. I can’t wait to see what his prints reveal, probably a secret rap sheet a mile long. He was very curious about me, though, especially after noticing I tried to talk to Tressa alone.”

  “That must have pissed him off.”

  “He was like a pit bull guarding her. I think you’re right. She’s under his control.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Wait for her to get back in touch with you about signing those papers and getting the money from Lewis. That’s all we can do.”

  “I’ll get the Aarons up to speed in the morning and tell them we’re still investigating. That will keep them feeling like they are in the loop.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Now go get some sleep, beautiful. It’s all gonna be okay. We got this. And we’re doing it together. Although, I can think of better things to do togeth
er.”

  “’Night, handsome.” I hung up, smiling. God, I did love this man. But for the first time I realized that, even once we were able to go public, this relationship wouldn’t be trouble free. Eventually, Sonny and I would have to have a talk.

  * * *

  The next week was hectic for me. I was so busy with clients and the wedding that I wasn’t able to see Sonny at all. We were still waiting for any developments on the Walter Aaron case and even Dallas seemed to be making herself scarce. I had several appointments at the office this morning, and the Fru Fru guys were coming over to finalize the last few details of the bridal-baby-bash, which was happening tomorrow.

  “I’m here, Wanda Jo,” I said, coming in the back door.

  “Good. Those boys from A Fru Fru Affair called to say they’re on their way.”

  “Great,” I said. “I’ll be in my office.”

  I walked up the hall and closed my door. I sat down in my desk chair and stared at my red Chanel bag on the credenza, thinking about my cell phone inside. I wanted to call Sonny so badly. This whole issue was still bothering me, gnawing away at me almost constantly this whole week. I knew I was seeing him in just a few hours, but I was reaching the point where I couldn’t think of anything else. I didn’t want to mess up this relationship. But I also never wanted to see Sonny in danger. And I knew I couldn’t keep all that worrying locked up. Besides, he could always read me. I pulled out my files and began to work, my purse staring a hole through me as I typed on my laptop.

  Then I heard my cell ringing. I pulled it out, and the caller ID read Sonny. I took a deep breath and decided now was not the time to have a deep talk with him. It would just make him worry about me. No, the timing was off. I decided to play it cool and light.

  “Horny Hotline, do you have a passion?” I answered in my most seductive voice.

  “Why, yes, I do as a matter of fact,” he said, playing along.

  “How can I be of service?” I asked.

  “Well, I’m craving a sexy little thing, about five foot four, with the most beautiful blue-green eyes and long dark hair. Her breasts should be magnificent, and her skin like silk. I need her right now, this second,” he said. “What can you do?”