One last glance at my wife, and I walked down stairs and over to the dining room. As usual, Norma and George had already finished their breakfast, and George was reading the entertainment section of the newspaper, while Norma was sipping her coffee. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were a married couple.
“Good morning,” I said gleefully, and walked over and kissed Norma on the cheek.
“Good morning, dear,” Norma replied. “You look positively radiant this morning. There’s nothing like a little exercise to put some color in your cheeks.”
I blushed. Oh my God! Did she see us? “Well, um, no, that’s what a good night’s sleep will do for you.”
George looked up from his newspaper. “Uh-huh,” he grunted knowingly. No, not George too!
I laughed nervously and walked over to the buffet table. Konani walked in carrying a tray with Charlotte following behind her carrying a fresh pot of coffee.
“Here, Ms. Chris,” Konani said. “I made this special for you and Ms. Melinda.”
She lifted the lid off a plate of crispy French toast with crushed pineapple jam lathered on top. The plate was garnished with strawberries, bananas and blueberries, with toasted coconut and a chocolate sauce drizzled across the fruits. Heaven!
My mouth watered and my stomach growled. It had been over twenty-four hours since I had eaten and I was completely ravenous. “That looks wonderful, thank you so much, Konani,” I said, lifting the plate from the tray. “What’s the special occasion?”
“Oh, um. No reason. I’m just in a good mood this morning,” she replied.
“Me, too, Konani,” I said.
Konani blushed. She set Melinda’s covered plate on the table and hurried out of the room.
“What was that about?” I asked Norma, as Charlotte turned my cup over and poured coffee into it.
“She was worried for you, dear. For you and Melinda,” Norma answered.
I looked at Norma and over at Charlotte, who was too professional to say anything, but she nodded her head slightly.
“That is so sweet of her,” I said. “I forget sometimes that what I do can affect others who are dependent on me for a paycheck.”
“It’s not just that, dear,” Norma stated.
“It’s not?” I was confused, but then, I was still tired from the sexual exertion throughout the night, so my mind was pretty sluggish this morning. I took a sip of coffee hoping that would help.
“No, ma’am,” Kate said, walking in on our conversation, followed by Baylee-Ann, the maid.
“It’s because you are our family now, and it’s important to us, your staff, that you are happy.”
“I reckon she’s right, y’all deserve to be happy,” Baylee-Ann chimed in with her deep Southern accent.
“That is the sweetest thing to say,” I said, wiping the moisture from my eye.
Charlotte walked over to George and as she refilled his cup, she looked at me and nodded.
“Damn.” Melinda stood in the doorway, scratching her head. “What did I miss?”
“That we have the best staff anywhere,” I gushed.
“Well, I know that already. I handpicked them myself,” Melinda bragged.
“Excuse me? I believe I was there also,” I countered.
“As was I, dear,” Norma added. “Well, I was there for Charlotte at least.”
Charlotte smiled at Norma.
“See, that’s just what I mean,” Kate interjected. “Like a real family.”
“Speaking of family, Kate,” I said. “You’re flying home today, aren’t you?”
I knew it was probably past time that she went home to be with her baby, but she was so reluctant to go, so I thought that perhaps now was a good time to approach her about moving in with us.
“I don’t have to, if you need me here?” she said almost pleadingly.
I looked at Melinda and then at Norma and nodded.
“Kate,” Melinda said. “Chris, Norma and I have something that we want you to consider,”
She looked at me to continue, but I thought since it was Norma’s idea, she should be the one to ask.
“Norma, want to do the honors?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, thank you, dear,” Norma replied, and then stood up. “Kate, the three of us would like for you to move into the mansion with us in Memphis. You and the baby will have your own room and the best part is, you can bring your baby to work with you.”
Kate’s eyes turned to liquid, and she slumped down in the nearest chair. I couldn’t tell if she was happy about our offer or not.
“Oh, my, God. I just won the lottery!” she exclaimed.
We all laughed. Yes, she was happy with our offer. I glanced over at Charlotte, who quickly turned away, wiping a tear from her uber-professional eyes.
“Uh, does that mean you’ll move in?” Melinda asked.
Kate muted her celebration and cautiously asked, “Are you sure, Blackie? I mean, I know your, um, concerns with babies.”
Again I laughed. What a polite way of saying that babies scare the shit out of Melinda.
Melinda laughed also. “Yeah, I’m sure, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure that I don’t get in the way when you change his diapers.”
Kate laughed and clapped her hands together. “I don’t know what to say. You all are so wonderful.”
“Yes, I know, but does that mean you’ll move in?” Melinda repeated.
“Absolutely! What a blessing you have been to me,” Kate cried.
“Good deal,” Melinda replied, satisfied with her answer.
“So book yourself a flight home today,” I instructed. “Then when you’re ready, hire movers to move you in. However, I want you living in that house before we get back.”
“I won’t need movers, Chris. I only have the baby’s toys that you bought for him, and some clothes and a few knickknacks.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, and she nodded. “Okay, well, take your pick of one of the guest rooms.”
Shaking her head, Melinda said, “But not the ones on Chris’ and my floor, all right?”
Kate laughed. “Okay, as far away from Blackie’s bedroom as I can get. Got it.”
“Whew,” Melinda exhaled. “Thanks.”
“And, Ms. Norma, I won’t use the bedrooms on your floor either. I don’t want anyone to regret making this fantastic offer.”
“Thank you, dear,” Norma said. “I think we will all be very happy together, and I for one can’t wait to change a diaper again.”
Melinda looked like she had just seen a diaper full of poop, and I put my hands to my cheeks to cover the flush of happy tears rushing to my eyes. I am so bless. Thank you, Jesus.
You Want Her to Do What? — Meg, Chris and Melinda
Charlotte announced my arrival, and I said hello to everyone. Then I asked Chrissie and Blackie if I could speak with them alone. I needed Blackie to do something that Chrissie was not going to like. Not now that she had just reconciled herself with what she saw between Blackie and Tori. We went into the empty living room and Chrissie closed the door behind us.
“Chrissie, I need to borrow your wife for a few hours this afternoon,” I stated without preamble.
“Oh… um, sure. Of course,” she replied. “I’d like to go with you, if that’s okay?”
“Let me tell you what I have planned and you tell me if you still want to be there for that. We’re going to stake out the pizza joint and when Blackie sees Tori, or I see her friends, we’re going to go question them.”
“You already questioned her friends, what’s the point of doing it again?” Blackie asked.
“Because this time you will ask her friends where Tori lives, because you want to hook up with her again. And if Tori comes in, I want you to play it up like…, and I’m sorry about this Chrissie, but Blackie should play it up like she enjoyed that little tête-à-tête and wants more.”
Chris gasped. “No. Absolutely not!”
Blackie looked at me and shrugged. She was not go
ing to go against Chrissie, no matter what. Not that I blamed her, but it left me confused.
“Do you want me to close the case then? Because that’s the only way I’m going to be able to get the next lead to the reason behind the set up. Tori is involved, but I don’t think she is the brains behind it. And she is the only one who can lead us to the one who is. Something else I want you both to consider is that I think the same person set Blackie up in college. If that proves to be true, he will probably try again in a few years, if not sooner.”
“Do you really think it’s necessary for Melinda to be there, Meg?” Chris asked.
“I’m sorry, Chrissie. I know this must be hard for you, and I promise, if there was any other way, I’d do it. But I don’t know anyone in this town, like the police, or other detectives that I can pull information from. I’m flying blind here.”
“Chris, baby, we can drop the whole thing right now, if you want,” Blackie said. “It doesn’t matter to me now that I know you believe me.”
Chrissie looked at her crossly. “Well, it matters to me, honey. I admit, I don’t want those tits anywhere near you, but I don’t want them trying to come between us ever again.” She turned to me next. “Meg, I trust Melinda implicitly, but as the saying goes, I don’t trust Tori. You won’t let them be alone together, will you? She’s very devious and my sweetheart can be too trusting.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Blackie said. “Any trust I may have had with her is completely gone. She’s been an albatross around my neck for too long now, and I would like…, uh, never mind.”
“What?” Chrissie asked. “Tell me what you want to do, Melinda. You have just as big a stake in this as I do. Bigger, in fact.”
“What I want is to never fear losing you again like that. It felt like a shotgun blowing a hole through my heart, and it still twinges whenever I think of almost losing you. So what I want is to break that albatross’ hold on me, once and for all.”
“All right, we’ll do this together,” Chrissie said. “Well, except that I should probably stay home while you and Meg bait the trap, as it were. If I saw her I’d probably rip her heart out and stomp on it, like she did mine.”
“My wife, the tigress,” Blackie bragged.
Chapter Fifteen
Hanging at the Pizzeria — Meg, Melinda and Tori Wilson
We’d been sitting in my rental car for an hour, and I could tell that Blackie was already bored. I reached back to the cooler filled with snacks and drinks that I had stored in the back seat. I pulled out a couple of sodas and handed one to Blackie.
“So, we’re just going to sit here in the car all day and hope that Tori walks through that door?” she asked, nodding at the pizza restaurant’s doors.
“Yes, that’s pretty much it,” I answered. “Unless you know another way to find her?”
“No, like I said, that was the first time I had seen her since college.”
“Do you think she knew that you would be here the other day?” I asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” she replied. “I mean, she bought me a beer, and all, so I guess she could have known I was there. I just thought it was a coincidence, but I take it that you don’t?”
I shook my head. “If it was, it was a one in a million coincidence. The only thing that stops me from saying it was pre-arranged was her friends, who told me that they hang out here every week.”
“And you believed them,” Blackie asked.
“I have no reason not to. Listen, Blackie, are you going to be cool about this? If Tori feels threatened by you then she’s not going to open up to you, and that’s the only reason you’re here. To get her to talk.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Blackie said. “And I’ll try to control my temper, but damn it, Meg, she almost took something very precious away from me. I can never forgive her for that.”
“And I won’t blame you if you lose your temper. God knows I would. But I believe that Tori is a puppet, and someone has been pulling her strings. We need to find out who that is, and then you can lose your mighty temper down on all of them,” I said half-jokingly.
“Lose my mighty temper,” she repeated with a smile. “I like that.”
“All right, but just remember, I promised Chrissie that I’d keep you out of trouble,” I said.
“No. You told her you’d make sure I’m not alone with Tori,” she reminded me.
“Same thing,” I retorted.
“You know, we’ve had our differences,” Blackie commented, “probably because we don’t like each other much, but we do love Chris, and that means we will always be in each other’s life. So, uh, I mean it when I say thanks for helping me on this.”
“Well, you got part of that wrong,” I said.
“You mean you do like me?” Blackie joked.
“Uh, no,” I replied. “The part about helping you out. I’m doing this for Chris.”
“Well, too bad, because when you help Chris, you help me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind the next time,” I jibed. For some reason that I will never forgive myself for, I looked at her and winked. She laughed.
“Look, here she comes.” Blackie pointed toward a woman sauntering up the sidewalk.
She was the type of woman who wanted to be seen, wearing a fake leopard skintight dress that clashed with her cotton-candy pink hair. We had a name for women like her back in the South… Saturday night whore.
“Okay, she doesn’t know me, so if her friends aren’t waiting for her inside, I’ll just sit close by and let you ask the questions. Remember, we need to know who the boyfriend is, and—”
“Yeah, yeah. I know what to ask,” Blackie snapped.
“So then, you know not to ask why she drugged you, right?”
“Uh, no.”
“We already know why, to blackmail you. No sense risking putting her on the defensive with needless questions,” I said.
“Okay, I get it. By the way, the lab called this morning, and I tested positive for Flunitrazepam,” Blackie reported. “So the bitch did in fact drug me.”
“And what, you forgot to mention it earlier?” I asked disbelievingly.
“I was going to, but got sidetracked,” she replied. “It’s been a crazy week, you know. Besides, Chris came back to me, so the test doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Of course it matters. If we go to the police with what we know, it will go a long way to prove our case.”
“Do we have to go to the police?” Blackie asked. “That’s a lot more red tape than I want to deal with right now. I want to take my bride on a honeymoon, not sit in a court for months on end.”
“No, we don’t have to, if it’s just you that they’re blackmailing. If they’ve done this to others, I feel it’s my duty to report it to the police.”
“So noble. Okay, if it’s just me, let’s keep it out of the courts. Besides, I have my own punishment in mind.”
“Don’t be stupid, Blackie.”
“What you consider stupid, I consider revenge,” she quipped, and opened the car door.
We both got out and walked in the restaurant. There weren’t that many patrons in there, and Blackie spotted Tori right away. Tori was alone, so I sat down with Blackie across from her. She looked shocked, and started to get up, but Blackie stopped her.
“Where you going, toots?” Blackie asked in a casual tone. “I wanted to thank you for the other day.”
“You remember that? Um, I mean, you liked it?” Tori questioned.
“Yeah. In fact, I told my friend here all about it, and we were wondering if you’d be interested in a threesome?”
Blackie knew just what to say to distract Tori. If she could keep the charade up, Tori might relax enough to trust her. There’s also another way to help people loosen their tongue.
“Excuse me, Miss,” I called to the waitress. “Can we get your best Scotch all round times three, please?”
The waitress nodded and left to get our drinks. Blackie gave me a fierce stare and I smiled at her.
I knew about the promise she had made to Chris, but I was hoping she’d realize that she didn’t have to actually drink the hard stuff, just fake it.
“Oh, the good stuff,” Tori exclaimed. “Well, do tell. Blackie, sugar, where are your manners? Introduce me to your rich friend. I want to know who I’m jumping into bed with.”
“Oh, you tease,” I said flirtatiously.
“Tori Wilson, meet Meg Bumgartner. She’s a little goofy, so don’t take offense if she blurts out the first thing that comes to her mind. You’ll get used to it.”
The waitress brought over nine whiskey glasses, and sat each one down on the table.
“This place has been holding out on me,” Tori said, as she picked up the glass of scotch and looked at it.
“Mind if I do the honors?” I asked, holding up my glass for a toast.
“Here’s to new friendships and better sex.” One didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the other, but I knew if Tori heard anything, she’d hear the word sex. I knew this because her foot was rubbing up my leg as soon as I said it.
“Here-here,” she said, and we clinked glasses.
Tori gulped her drink, I sipped mine, and Blackie held the glass up, but coughed instead, to distract from the fact that she wasn’t drinking. It was a good ploy.
“Tori, do you still have some of those date rape pills left?” Blackie asked.
Oh shit. Now she’s blown it.
“What?” Tori practically spit her drink out. She looked like she was caught red handed, which was not the way I wanted this to go.
Separating Riches Page 18
