Murder at the Pool Party

by Sandi Scott

  “That would be a nice gesture.” Aleta said.

  “That would also be a suspicious one.” Stan interrupted.

  “Only you would think taking a sad person a loaf of banana bread was suspicious. There isn’t a boogeyman behind every corner, Stan.” Georgie huffed as she poured Stan a little more coffee. The last thing she wanted to do was tip him off that she was going on her own fishing expedition at Beth’s.

  “Speaking of boogeymen. Did you meet anyone at this swingers’ party?”

  “Gross, Stan. It wasn’t anything like that.” Georgie tugged at the collar of her blouse as if she were revealing too much cleavage. “You sound just like Aleta. She was hoping it was that kind of party.”

  “Right.” Aleta said as she set the timer for the loaves in the oven. “I look like a swinger.”

  “What does a swinger look like?” Stan asked.

  “Why do you want to know?” Georgie replied.

  “Both of you need to get your minds out of the gutter.” Aleta said seriously, “Stan, I blame this on you. Georgie and I were enjoying a nice morning innocently baking banana bread until you came in here with all your innuendo. Shame on you.”

  “Yes. Shame on you, Stan. A woman died there. Well, after leaving there she died. But she was terribly sick there.” Georgie didn’t want to give up too much information to Stan right away. “There was no ‘swinging’ there. At least not as far as we know.”

  “Is there anything you can tell me about the party? Anything that stands out in your memory?” As usual, Stan wanted more details.

  “Maren said she’d just returned from Europe.” Georgie offered. “She’d spent time in Austria, and France too; I know she specifically mentioned Tuscany. She was very well travelled and judging from her accessories she was pretty well off.”

  Stan took another sip of coffee and nodded as he listened to Georgie’s description.

  “She didn’t mention a man or children.” Aleta offered. But, then again, neither Georgie or I mentioned we had kids either.”

  “I mentioned Bodhi to Sean, Beth’s partner.”

  “You mention the dog but not your three children?” Stan teased.

  “Don’t act daft, Stan. You know the dog is better behaved than any of our brood. Those urchins take after you.”

  “But they’re good-looking like their mama.” He said, pushing himself up from the kitchen table. “I appreciate the coffee. It’s getting late in the morning. I’ll need to get back to the station later this evening.”

  “Stan, if you want to you can take a shower and sleep a few hours here.” Georgie offered. “If you’re that tired you don’t want to drive home.”

  “Are you worried something might happen to me?”

  “Of course. You’re coming from my house. Everyone knows you left me for a fishing hole. They might think I had something to do with it if you get in an accident.” She used her fingers to make air quotes.

  “You know I always liked it when you talked sassy like that.”

  “Keep the shower on cold. You know where everything is.” Georgie shook her head and didn’t smile. “Sleep in the spare room.”

  “Thanks, Georgie. I wasn’t looking forward to the drive home.” Stan admitted. “Come on, Bodhi. You come sleep by Daddy.”

  The pug happily hopped up from where he’d been sleeping on the couch and followed Stan down the hallway.

  “That was nice of you.” Aleta looked at Georgie.

  “I don’t want him to drive home like that. You saw how tired he looked.”

  Aleta nodded.

  “Besides, I didn’t want him to think I was trying to get rid of him.” She crept toward the hallway and listened. After a few seconds of Stan talking baby-talk to the dog she finally heard the shower kick on. “Am I the only one who thinks the idea of Maren accidentally eating belladonna is a whole lot of hooey?”

  “It’s possible she did.” Aleta rolled her eyes. “But I don’t think a woman who travels alone to other parts of the world would wander out in her own yard and suddenly have a hankering for some strange berries.”

  “Exactly.” Georgie pointed at her sister.

  “So?”

  “So, I think that Beth Bonomolo probably feels terrible about all of this.” Georgie looked at the timer on the counter and then her watch. “I think she’d really appreciate some homemade banana bread.”

  “That is a very nice gesture.” Aleta smirked. “So was the Trojan Horse.”

  “What? If Beth doesn’t feel like talking I’m cool with that. But I’ll bet she will be. I’ll bet that she’ll have quite a bit she’ll want to get off her chest to a person she doesn’t know all that well.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “I know if someone died after coming to my house I’d blather on to anyone who listened. You can’t hear it’s not your fault too many times at a time like this.”

  “Georgie, sometimes you really amaze me.”

  “I’ll call you when I get home.”

  “What about Stan?” Aleta asked.

  “Just let him sleep.” Georgie waved as if shooing away a fly. “If he asks where I went tell him I had to go to the art supply store. He hates that place and knows I could spend a couple hours there. Tell him I was out of Titanium White or Alizarin Crimson.”

  “What are those? Georgie, it’s like you are speaking in some kind of weird artist code.”

  “Exactly.”

  Chapter 6

  “How did you know I love banana bread? This is so sweet of you.” Beth said after Georgie handed her a still warm, tinfoil wrapped loaf.

  “I wanted to tell you thank you for inviting my sister and I on such late notice to your event. I also hope you aren’t taking this thing with Maren too hard.”

  Beth waved Georgie in and led her through the same hallway, living room and dining room she had been in yesterday. The house seemed even more massive without the crowd of people milling around in all corners.

  “Wow.” Georgie gasped. “I’m sorry but this is amazing. I’d never leave the kitchen if I had one that looked like this.”

  “I’m so glad you like it.” Beth smiled. “I love to cook but you’d be surprised at how little time I have to do anything but run the business. I hate to admit it but I think my counter has seen more fast food containers than it has any real cooking.”

  “Life has the tendency to get in the way sometimes.” Georgie said as she looked around. There were copper pots of all shapes and sizes hanging from a rustic looking rack over the stark white counter. The walls were composed of the same big stones as the previous two rooms had been. There was a stone island in the middle of the kitchen that was so spacious it accommodated seven barstools.

  Beth’s china and fine crystal stemware were showcased on either side of the farm style basin that was her sink.

  “Can I get you something to drink? I have champagne, water, coffee, pink lemonade, milk...”

  “A pink lemonade sounds lovely.” Georgie said as she took a seat at the island. Beth bustled around to the fridge and poured them each a tall glass, topping the glasses off with a sprig of mint and a long straw.

  “So, are you doing all right?” Georgie continued. “I will say your event was so much fun. Aleta and I really enjoyed ourselves.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Beth took a sip of lemonade. “Truthfully, I didn’t know Maren all that well. I hate to admit it, but I knew her more by reputation than anything else.”

  “Really?” Georgie leaned in closer and sipped her lemonade.

  “I’m sure she told you she’d just gotten back from Europe.” After taking a seat, Beth took a deep breath. “But she didn’t tell you what got her there.”

  “She said it was a little bit of work and a little bit of pleasure.”

  “Yeah. That’s one way to put it. Now, I can’t be sure of the fact so if you repeat this I’ll deny having said it. But Maren was known to be quite popular with her late husband’s business associates.�
��

  “Oh?”

  “According to what I’ve heard she was never shy about loving the finer things in life. Her late husband Morice was almost thirty years older than her. He also wasn’t her first husband. She was married to another fellow who was big in oil. I can’t recall his name. Doesn’t matter.” She sipped her lemonade. “But in her case, lightning not only struck twice, meaning she landed two millionaires in a lifetime but I heard it was about to strike a third time. Someone in Tuscany. I don’t know the details.”

  “She did mention going to Tuscany. It sounded beautiful.” Georgie sighed at the thought of fields of sunflowers and forests of olive trees and the food; especially traditional Tuscan Panforte, a Christmas cake that she would sell one of Aleta’s kidneys for and have no regrets.

  “Yes, I’m sure it was. How could it not be when someone else is footing the bill?” Beth replied. “But, I can’t help it. The few times I spoke to her I found her charming. She was full of life and with all of her own wealth, regardless of how she came by it, she wore her jewelry, her gaudy expensive clothes like you and I would wear jeans and a t-shirt. There is something endearing about a woman like that.”

  The ladies sat quietly for a few seconds.

  “Either way, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to dig a little deeper and find out if she was as cunning as people said she was. I like to make my own decisions and not follow the crowd.” Beth said finally. “Some people have their own agenda.”

  “Yes. I agree.” Georgie wished Beth would offer some cookies or pretzels or something with the lemonade. “Was there anyone at the party who knew her well?”

  Beth began to chuckle and shook her head.

  “I don’t know if you saw the man who brought a young woman with him?”

  BINGO! Georgie thought, keeping her answer noncommittal. “Vaguely.”

  Beth cleared her throat and got more comfortable in her seat before she continued.

  “That was Biff Stapleton. He and Maren dated on and off for a short while.”

  “Is that so?”

  “He brought that young girl with him on the off-chance Maren would show up and she’d somehow get jealous. That tells you the guy isn’t the brightest bulb on the tree.” Beth chuckled again.

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “He didn’t have to. The only reason a man would bring a twenty-something woman to an over fifty event is to make someone jealous. But I don’t think it worked. If Maren is as skilled as they say, a seasoned gold-digger is not going to be easily provoked by an up-and-coming gold-digger. Besides, Biff is the kind of guy who likes arm ornaments of all sizes. Wait, I’ll show you.”

  Beth hopped off her stool and walked down a hallway at the other end of the kitchen. She returned with a laptop and placed it on the counter between them.

  “So, here are some of the singles parties I’ve organized over the past year or two.” Georgie took out her glasses and tried to spot any familiar faces. There was plenty of Biff who was rather chummy with a different woman in each shot. Their immediate appearances had several things in common. Manicured nails. Lots of gold jewelry. Perfect teeth. Traces of plastic surgery.

  “It looks like everyone is having a wonderful time. You really have a gift for throwing a fun party.” Georgie said.

  “Yeah, people are just dying to get in.” Beth shook her head as she giggled to herself.

  Georgie gasped. She didn’t dare tell her that Aleta had made that exact joke plus a few more just this morning.

  “I’m terrible. I know. But my mom always told me that if you can have a good laugh when things are bad you’ll survive whatever it is.”

  “Those are good words to follow.” Just as Georgie was about to ask a few more questions about Biff there was a ruckus behind them as if a knight in armor was stomping through the living room toward the kitchen.

  “For the love of Pete!” Beth shouted. “Can we clomp a little louder?”

  Sean Hamill appeared. He no longer looked like the relaxed business partner Georgie had seen on the patio yesterday. His hair was mussed and how he kept his head up with the bags beneath his eyes was truly a mystery. Georgie was positive he was in the same clothes he’d worn at the party. Did he attend an after-party that went on to this morning?

  “We’ve got problems, Beth. Big problems.”

  “Sean, you remember Georgie Kaye from the party.”

  He gave Georgie half a salute then stared at Beth.

  “Can I talk to you, Beth? In private.”

  It was obvious the way Beth inhaled that she didn’t want to talk to Sean at the moment.

  “Can it wait?”

  “No, Beth.”

  Georgie could have excused herself saying something like she’d already taken up enough time or that she had other things to do. But she wanted to see what played out next. Sure it might have been bad manners but Georgie didn’t care. She turned in her seat and leaned closer to the computer screen pretending to really be enjoying the photos Beth had posted.

  “Excuse me a minute, Georgie.” Beth said as she slid off the stool again and stomped toward Sean.

  Georgie pretended to get up to pour herself another glass of lemonade. Carefully, she inched herself closer to the hallway then held her breath.

  “Calm down, Sean. You’re practically hysterical.” Beth hissed.

  “You obviously don’t see the problems here. A woman died at our event.”

  “No, she didn’t.” Beth defended. “She got sick here. The proper people were called and she was taken to the hospital. She died there. It happens, Sean. It’s not the end of the world.”

  “We need to close up shop.”

  “What? Absolutely not.” Beth said.

  “We do until this whole thing blows over.”

  “Sean, I think you are really blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Look, I’ll cancel our meetings for the next few days. You need to rest and just breathe. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Georgie thought that was enough eavesdropping and shuffled back to her seat staring at the pictures on the laptop. Since it was taking Beth a little longer to rejoin her Georgie quickly tapped into Beth’s email. The blanket notice to the Excellent Over 50 crowd was right there in the sent files. Without hesitating, Georgie forwarded it to herself. It had all the email addresses of everyone in attendance. Including Biff. With a lump in her throat she clicked the tiny “X” button to close out the email just as Beth came back into the kitchen. Her eyebrows were pinched in the middle.

  “What do you do for a living, Georgie?” She asked.

  “I paint portraits of pets.” Georgie’s chest swelled with pride.

  “That’s right. I remember it on your profile. You are so lucky to work alone. Half my job is talking him off the ledge.”

  “Sometimes it’s good to have a partner like that. They keep you alert.”

  “That is true.” Beth smiled.

  Georgie decided it was time to go but asked to use the bathroom before she headed home. Just as Aleta had suspected, the bathroom was breathtaking.

  A monstrous Jacuzzi tub took up the left side of a room that had to be almost fifteen feet long. There was a toilet and a bidet, of course. A double sink with enough counter space for a person to lie on was wedged elegantly into the right corner of the room. But as Georgie stepped further in she was shocked to see the entire right wall was a window that looked out onto a private patio that was enclosed in a bamboo fence with rose and lilac bushes blooming beautifully in between lush greenery. There were copper birdfeeders and a stone birdbath along with red and purple gazing balls perched beneath a proud pine tree that stood like a soldier at the back of the small courtyard.

  “This... what... I’m at a loss.” Georgie whispered shaking her head in amazement. She walked toward the toilet and sized up the bidet. “When in Rome.” She shrugged.

  “HERE. I BROUGHT THIS for you. A souvenir.” Georgie said as she walked into Aleta’s backyard. Her sister was sitting on
her wicker chase lounge reading a book with Bodhi on one side and Freckles on the other.

  “You got a souvenir from Beth’s house?” Aleta looked at her sister. “That means you stole something. That woman isn’t ever going to invite us back. What it is?”

  Georgie handed Aleta a tiny bar of lilac scented soap individually wrapped in the most delicate crinkly paper and secured with a thin line of jute.

  “It’s so cute. Smells like heaven.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever use mine.”

  “You took one for yourself, too?”

  “Yes, and here’s one for Emily.” Georgie handed over another bar.

  “Please tell me you left her silverware alone.”

  “I have my own silverware. Scoot over so I can sit.”

  Aleta did, pushing both animals from their places so there was enough room. Both animals strolled off to find a patch of sunshine to lounge in.

  Georgie told Aleta about Maren’s supposedly scandalous history and her relationship with Biff.

  “So that was the guy she went upstairs with. I wonder if they were “on again” when they did that.” Aleta said.

  “I didn’t ask. Since Beth said she hadn’t known Maren all that long I thought I might look like I was digging if I, you know, started digging.”

  “Who was the tart that was with him?”

  “Beth didn’t know. She assumed that he brought that girl with him in some weird attempt to make Maren jealous.”

  “Didn’t work. If that was his intent from the look on that girl’s face the scheme totally backfired.”

  “Yes. But if he was able to get Maren alone to join him upstairs what did he need the young woman for? Maren didn’t seem to be avoiding him or uncomfortable.” Georgie tapped her chin.

  “I want to know what they did up there.” Aleta blurted out.

  “Me too. Did you happen to notice if either one of them had any of their clothes inside out?”

  “What?” Aleta laughed loudly.

  “Yeah. They get together for a quickie and in their haste he’s got his shirt on inside out or she has her skirt backwards.”