by Lee Hollis
Rod didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the comment. He was already heading back to the kitchen to start making breakfast.
“He just showed up at my door. He was very drunk. I didn’t know what to do,” Poppy said. “Please don’t be mad. . . .”
“I have no right to be mad, Poppy. We’ve never had any kind of discussion about what it is we have going on between us. From my perspective, at this point until further notice it’s very low key and casual, right?”
“Yes, I suppose so, but—”
“So you can do whatever you want.”
“I understand, but I don’t want you to think—”
“It’s all good.”
Rod interrupted them, calling from the kitchen. “Hey, I’m getting lonely in here. Come have some coffee with me.”
They marched into the kitchen to find Rod wearing one of Poppy’s aprons and cracking open eggs into a glass bowl.
The two men spent the next twenty minutes reminiscing about their time together on Jack Colt, PI; how Rod was still a working actor today and what shows he had guest starred on recently; how the business had so fundamentally changed and was more challenging than ever. Sam wasn’t as chatty as Rod but did talk about how leaving the business saved him from a heart attack and how he had always been a cowboy at heart, which was why living in Big Bear now was the right fit. Mercifully, neither of the men discussed their history with Poppy back in the 1980s as they took their trip down memory lane.
Rod poured on the charm and Poppy was in awe at his uncanny ability to shake off the effects of all that alcohol from the night before. She knew Rod had been downing cocktails at the bar working up the nerve to come over to her apartment and ask her to marry him. She just prayed he wouldn’t bring that up again over omelettes with Sam.
“You married these days, Sam?” Rod asked, winging the frying pan upward to flip the omelette up into the air over the stove.
“Naw, I’m kind of a loner,” Sam said, stealing a quick glance at Poppy.
“I’ve been single a while, too,” Rod noted. “But I’m hoping that might change one of these days.”
He winked at Poppy.
And of course Sam saw him do it.
Poppy wanted the floor to open up and swallow her at this point.
Luckily the topic of conversation eventually steered toward sports for a while as Rod finished making the omelettes and hash browns and sliced up some tomatoes and they all sat down at the kitchen table to eat.
Poppy ate her food at record speed, hoping to end this little buddy reunion as soon as possible, but neither Rod nor Sam seemed to be in any kind of hurry.
In fact, after they were done eating and Sam helped Poppy clear the plates since Rod had done the cooking, the two men exchanged numbers with promises to keep in contact. That was the last thing Poppy expected or wanted to happen.
Sam finally said, “I’d better get going. I have an appointment at the bank in fifteen minutes.”
“You heading toward Palm Canyon?” Rod asked.
“Yup,” Sam said.
“Would you mind giving me a lift to my car? I left it parked out on the street in front of a bar last night,” Rod said, rubbing his eyes. “What a night.”
Sam looked at Poppy with a knowing smile.
“He was in no condition to drive home and needed a place to crash for the night so he walked all the way here.... I wasn’t expecting him,” Poppy said, feeling the need to explain again.
“But she couldn’t have been more welcoming . . . the perfect hostess,” Rod needlessly added, winking at her again.
She just wanted him to stop talking.
Poppy could tell Sam wanted to say something and it was killing him not to, but he was being a gentleman and kept his mouth shut.
As Poppy ushered the two men out the door, Rod turned to her and said, “Thank you for everything, Poppy. I’ll call you later.”
He went in for a kiss, but she deftly avoided it and patted him on the back and practically pushed him out the door.
Sam, on the other hand, didn’t even make any kind of attempt at physical contact with Poppy. He just nodded, smiled, and thanked her for breakfast. She knew she would have a lot of cleanup to do later, and she wasn’t thinking about the dirty dishes in her kitchen sink.
Rod threw an arm around Sam’s neck as they headed for Sam’s car and said, “It’s so good seeing you again, buddy.”
“Same here,” Sam said.
Poppy shut the door, spun around, and leaned up against it, relieved they were both gone, and at a total loss as to how she was going to handle any of this.
Chapter 24
Poppy had not expected Iris and Violet to be waiting for her, arms folded, stern looks on their faces when she breezed into the garage office. She stopped dead in her tracks. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
Violet, who rarely got upset and always put a positive spin on things, instantly melted at the sight of Poppy’s worried look. “No, of course not, dear, no one can blame you really. . . .”
“I can,” Iris insisted. “We are trying to run a business and make money and you are preoccupied. . . .”
Poppy suddenly felt nauseous. She knew what this must be about. “I’m trying to remain professional, but it’s Rod. He’s the one who thinks he is in love with me. I swear I am not encouraging him in the least!”
Iris turned to Violet. “What is she talking about?”
Violet shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“I may have crossed the line allowing him to stay over last night at my apartment,” Poppy sputtered.
“Wait. Who stayed at your place last night?” Iris demanded to know.
“Rod,” Poppy said before quickly adding, “He showed up drunk and clearly couldn’t drive himself home. What was I supposed to do?”
“Our client, our only client, spent the night with you?” Iris asked, incredulous.
“On the couch! He passed out! Nothing sordid took place!” Poppy cried.
Iris and Violet exchanged curious looks, not sure how this conversation had taken such a wild and unexpected turn.
Violet stepped forward. “Can we back up just a bit, dear? Did you say Rod Harper thinks he is in love with you?”
Poppy nodded. “Yes, and frankly it’s making me very uncomfortable. He will not leave it alone, but luckily he passed out after he proposed to me. . . .”
Iris and Violet exchanged stunned looks.
“Rod Harper proposed to you?” Violet gasped.
“What did you say?” Iris asked.
“Of course I said no. At least I think I did. It was all a blur. I was very nervous,” Poppy howled.
“I thought you were dating Sam,” Violet said.
“I am! And he showed up at my door this morning when Rod was still there!” Poppy wailed.
“What happened?” Violet gasped again.
“Rod made us all breakfast!” Poppy said, not quite believing it herself.
There was a long pause as Iris and Violet stared at her blankly.
Poppy suddenly realized that the two women had a lot of questions for supposedly already knowing what was going on. “I cannot imagine what went through Sam’s head when he saw Rod in my apartment this morning. Did Matt say something to you? He was probably suspicious when he saw Rod fawning over me at his house in LA.”
“Matt didn’t say anything to us,” Violet said.
“Then how do you know about Rod?” Poppy asked.
“We did not know about Rod,” Iris huffed.
“Then why were you upset with me when I came in?”
Iris and Violet moved apart to reveal Wyatt sitting at his desk, his chair turned around so he was facing her. He had a silly grin on his face and said in a singsong voice, “Poppy has a boyfriend!”
“Why didn’t you tell me Wyatt was here? He shouldn’t be hearing about things like this!” Poppy scolded.
“You did not give us a chance!” Iris snapped, indignant.
“If this has nothing to do w
ith Rod, then what is this all about?” Poppy asked.
“Show her Wyatt,” Violet said gently.
Wyatt excitedly picked up a box from the floor and excitedly thrust it out toward Poppy, who had absolutely no clue what it was except that it seemed to have a picture of a lot of metal parts on it.
“I’m totally lost here. What is it?” Poppy asked.
“It’s a robot arm–building kit!” Wyatt exclaimed. “It has six axes of movement and up to two hundred and seventy degrees of rotation from all the different parts! Once I assemble it, it will be able to vacuum and pick up objects!”
“Impressive,” Poppy said, still thoroughly confused about what any of this had to do with her.
“It’s actually quite educational,” Violet said with a bright smile. “It will help him learn about the power of hydraulic systems.”
“I see,” Poppy said, turning to Wyatt. “Is it your birthday? Did I forget?”
Wyatt shook his head. “My birthday’s not until November.”
Poppy turned to Violet. “Did you give it to him?”
“No,” Violet said, shaking her head. “You did.”
“Me? No, I most certainly did not,” Poppy said. “I’m sure I would remember giving him a robot arm!”
Iris, tired of beating around the bush, stepped forward. “But you did. He bought it with the hundred dollars you gave him to find out information about Alden Kenny.”
“Oh . . . ,” Poppy mumbled, the subject of their displeasure finally coming into focus. “I meant to tell you both about that.”
“Well, clearly you did not,” Iris huffed. “We are supposed to be finding Rod Harper’s AWOL daughter and you are completely distracted with that young man from your jury whom you found facedown in his swimming pool!”
“Someone drowned him. It’s only natural that I’m curious to find out who did it!” Poppy said, lamely trying to defend herself, but she knew in her gut that Iris was right.
“That’s perfectly reasonable,” Violet said, rushing over and squeezing her arm. “Nobody can blame you for wanting to know!”
“Stop saying that, Violet! I am blaming her! She should not be bribing your grandson to do a background check when she should be focused on a case that is actually making us money!”
“To be fair, she did spend the whole night with our client!” Violet said.
“Please don’t say it like that, Violet,” Poppy said.
“I’m just trying to help you, dear,” Violet said quietly.
“I know and I appreciate it. But you make it sound like Rod and I have a thing and we don’t. He is just a client and I am determined to keep it that way,” Poppy cried.
“What about after the case is closed?” Iris asked, folding her arms again and glaring at Poppy.
“Well, then we will see where we are at that point,” Poppy stammered, now totally discombobulated.
“Poor Sam . . . ,” Violet whispered, shaking her head.
“Nothing has changed with Sam!” Poppy cried.
“For the record, I did come up with some stuff,” Wyatt sighed, tired of hearing about Poppy’s romantic travails.
“Like what?” Poppy asked.
Wyatt picked up a folder from his desk and handed it to Poppy. “Alden Kenny was the co-owner of a carpet-cleaning business in Rancho Mirage. Now that he’s dead, his partner gets full control of the company.”
“That’s not necessarily a strong motive for murder,” Poppy said, flipping through the pages of Wyatt’s research.
“But since he was Alden’s business partner, he probably knows a lot about him. He might be able to point us in the direction of someone who did have a strong motive,” Wyatt suggested.
Poppy nodded. She really liked this kid.
Her phone buzzed.
She pulled it from her pocket and grimaced.
“Who is it?” Iris asked.
Poppy hesitated, not wanting to share the identity of the caller.
Wyatt put his robot arm–building kit down on the floor and chuckled. “It’s her boyfriend!”
“He is not my boyfriend!” Poppy snapped before catching herself. “Look at me. I’m arguing with a twelve-year-old boy about my love life. When did it come to this?”
“Please don’t keep the client waiting,” Iris said.
Poppy threw Iris an irritated look and then answered the call. “Hello, Rod.”
“Hey, babe,” Rod said.
She wanted to ask him not to call her “babe,” but she decided to let it slide this one time. “What can I do for you?”
“I just received a call from Lara,” he said.
Poppy gasped. “What?”
“Yes, she’s fine. Apparently she went off to Nepal to find herself. That’s why she fell off the radar. She said she was in a bad place and needed to figure some things out, but now she is back and is willing to see me. . . .”
“Nepal? But that doesn’t make any sense,” Poppy said tentatively.
“Actually it does,” Rod said. “Her mother used to take off all the time and disappear for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. She could be a little too independent, which is one of the myriad reasons we’re not married anymore. I suppose Lara takes after her in a lot of ways. . . .”
“No, Rod, what I mean is, we have credit card receipts showing Lara has been in the Coachella Valley recently, and I talked to her new agent in Hollywood, who claimed she was recording an album. For whatever reason, she’s lying to you.”
“I’m sure she has her reasons and hopefully she will tell me when she sees me,” Rod said.
Poppy could tell from his tone that he didn’t really believe what he was saying. “Rod, I think there is something else still going on here—”
“Maybe, but she’s back in touch with me, and that’s all I ever wanted,” Rod said. “The end goal has always been to repair my relationship with her and now I have hope it might happen.”
Poppy wanted to tell him that she strongly suspected Lara had called him only because she wanted something, probably money, to keep bankrolling her, maybe this new album. He had threatened to cut her off previously, and now here was her chance to become Daddy’s Little Girl again to make sure the coffers remained full. It was a cynical theory, but one that made sense.
“I will mail a check to your office. Tell Matt and the ladies I appreciate all they have done,” Rod said.
“But we didn’t solve anything,” Poppy muttered.
“Yes, but it was worth every penny because it brought you back into my life. Now that I am no longer a client and you no longer have to keep a professional distance, I think a romantic dinner is in order.”
“Rod . . .”
“I have to go. My agent is on the other line. I’ll call you tonight.”
He hung up.
“Well?” Iris asked.
“Lara called Rod. They’re back in touch. Our services are no longer required,” Poppy said.
“That’s it? The case is over?” Iris said.
“It would seem so,” Poppy said. “I think there are more unanswered questions about what is going on with her, and I suspect that she might be playing him for some reason, but for our part, we are apparently done.”
“Well, now that he is no longer a client, you no longer have to see him,” Iris said, staring at Poppy. “Right?”
“Right,” Poppy answered halfheartedly.
“But you will anyway,” Iris added.
“He wants to have dinner,” Poppy moaned.
“Poor Sam,” Violet murmured.
“Stop saying that!” Poppy cried.
Chapter 25
What Jay Takamura lacked in stature, he certainly made up for in exuberant personality. The energetic twenty-something Japanese American with his toothy smile and sparkling eyes was a born salesman who wasted no time in talking Iris into adding on the Scotchguard and deodorizer services to her simple initial order of cleaning two area rugs and the carpet in the walk-in closet in her bedroom.
“You won’t regret it! The deodorizer is especially strong against typical pet odors,” Jay pitched excitedly.
“I don’t have any pets!” Iris bellowed.
“Well, you never know when a friend might drop by with her dog or cat in tow,” Jay reasoned.
“I don’t have any friends!” Iris insisted.
Poppy couldn’t help but snicker as she sat in the kitchen, sipping coffee, pretending to be Iris’s sister who was visiting her from Duluth. She took an immediate liking to Jay when he had first shown up at the door bearing his elaborate powerful carpet cleaner machine.
Poppy had initially suggested they make an appointment to visit Jay Takamura, Alden Kenny’s partner in his Fresh Scrub Carpet Cleaners business, at his office, but Iris had been complaining about her dirty, ragged carpets for weeks and decided Takamura might talk more openly if he believed they were actually paying customers instead of private investigators pumping him for information.
What neither of them expected was for the diminutive Jay Takamura, who barely cracked five and a half feet, but was packed with charisma, to be such a charmer and a big fan of older women. Within just a few moments from the time Iris had first opened the door to greet him, he had complimented her hair, her outfit, her decorating taste, and her sense of humor although Iris had yet to crack a joke. Jay took his sweet time assembling his equipment as he flirted shamelessly with the impenetrable Iris Becker.
“Stop smiling at me like that. You’re making me nervous,” Jay said playfully.
Iris stared at him, stone-faced. “I am not smiling.”
“Sure you are. I can see the corners of your mouth curling up. It’s very distracting,” Jay said with a wink.
Poppy could see the scene unfolding from her vantage point in the kitchen and had to cover her mouth to stop from bursting out laughing.
“You are being ridiculous!” Iris barked.
“What can I say? You bring out the worst in me!” Jay said as he finished putting together his carpet-cleaning machine.
“Do you think you can get those stains out of that area rug by the fireplace?” Iris asked, trying desperately to change the subject.
Jay stood up and walked over and stood close to Iris. He was a few inches shorter than her, barely up to her collarbone. But his size hardly deterred him from his mission to melt her heart. “I promise I won’t leave this house, Iris, until that carpet is as good as new. If you’re not satisfied, I won’t charge you a penny.”
