by Susan Harper
“Listen, Felicity,” Jefferson said, and his tone suggested he had something important and revolutionary to say.
The door to the shop opened and they both stood, expecting to see a customer. Instead, it was Mrs. Overton. “I come bearing gifts!” she sang, and Felicity saw that her mother was carrying to-go boxes.
“Food!” Jefferson exclaimed happily, seeming almost relieved that they had been interrupted.
“Mom, you didn’t have to do that,” Felicity said, but Jefferson was already readily accepting her gift of a warm meal.
“You went to the Irish pub! You are officially my favorite person,” Jefferson said.
“Wasn’t I always, dear?” Mrs. Overton said with a laugh and then handed Felicity her own box of to-go food. “Your father told me that on Saturdays, you skip lunch half the time, so I thought an early dinner would be welcomed.”
“It is,” Felicity assured. “Thanks for this.”
“And I have something else for you,” her mother said, finding herself a seat around the coffee table. “I bought some gossip magazines. There is an article in this one about our suspect, Ronnie.”
“Whoa, Ronnie?” Jefferson questioned. “As in the villain of Zombie Zone? You really think someone that high profile is behind this?”
“He did leave before the body was discovered,” Felicity said. “And there was a note found on Bridget signed Ronnie saying they needed to meet up. It’s not really looking good for him right now, but I think I have learned by now never to jump to conclusions. As of right now he looks suspicious, but there is no motive. What did you find in the gossip magazines, Mom?”
“Not a whole lot, but one article seemed to suggest that Ronnie and his wife Alisha, the one who plays the show’s female lead alongside that Phillip guy, have been having a rough time lately. Fighting a lot, and get this: they rented two separate houses while they’re in town shooting.”
“Living separately is kind of normal for those Hollywood types, right?” Jefferson asked.
“Not if they’re working on the same job in the same town,” Felicity said. “Sounds like they’re having some marital issues… You know what? I did see Ronnie and Phillip and Alisha get into it at the party. Bridget and Jasmine seemed to suggest that that was normal between the three of them.”
“Sounds like Alisha might have gotten a little close with the co-star she’s not married to,” Jefferson suggested.
“That makes sense, but I don’t know what that would have to do with Bridget,” Felicity said. “I wonder if Bridget has been in anything with one of them before? Maybe she got caught up in a lover’s quarrel.” Felicity headed over to the counter where her shop’s desktop computer sat. She did a quick internet research on Bridget Princeton, but she quickly became quite puzzled. “Weird.”
“What did you find?” Jefferson asked, and he and Mrs. Overton both stood to come see what had Felicity stumped.
“I found…nothing…” she said. “No social media page or anything.”
“You’re saying she doesn’t have any sort of digital footprint?” her mother asked. “Unusual for an actor. Even your father has a Twitter now.”
“So weird,” Felicity said, but she finally came across something. “She has her own website with a list of past gigs. It’s not much. Just some modeling jobs. Looks like she only made the website about eight months ago… Kenneth told me she has only been with them about eight months.”
“You think Bridget only made the website to try to book an extra gig on set?” Jefferson asked.
“Maybe,” Felicity said. “Hold on.” She ran a quick web search of the modeling company listed on her resume. It didn’t exist. “She has never done any acting or modeling before this job. The whole resume is fake.”
“Okay…so she lied to get herself an audition. Not really something worth killing over,” Mrs. Overton said.
“Fake name probably,” Felicity said. “Fake name, fake website, fake resume—all to get herself on set. Was she maybe a super-fan of the show or something?”
“Possibly,” Jefferson said. “Something is fishy here.”
“So what’s our next step?” Mrs. Overton asked.
Felicity thought for a moment and then said with confidence, “Find Ronnie.”
Chapter 7
Felicity rose early the following Sunday. Sundays in Senoia were slow. The people were slow to move as hardly anything was open, including Overton’s Events. With the shop closed for the day and no party bookings to worry about in the upcoming week, Felicity decided to dedicate herself entirely to Bridget’s case.
She strolled downstairs to see that her mother was dressed and ready to head off to her early morning Bible study, but the woman had prepared a breakfast for the two of them to enjoy before she had to head out. “Where’s Dad?” Felicity asked, surprised that her father was not dressed and ready to go with her mother. They never missed a church service.
“Oh, um,” her mother sputtered as she plopped two plates of freshly made ham and cheese omelets down on the kitchen table. “He is helping out the tech guys this morning at the church, so he left before me.”
“Dad…is helping with the techies?” Felicity questioned, recalling how Iris always had to correct the settings on the man’s cell phone every time she was home from school.
“Um, yes,” her mother said and then abruptly added, “they just needed help carrying some things inside. Got some…new equipment to set up. And he is ushering…”
Felicity had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt like her mother was lying to her, but it seemed like such a strange thing to lie about. “Thanks for breakfast,” Felicity said as she bit into her omelet.
“Of course!” her mother said, perky as ever. “I did manage to dig up some dirt for you. I called up my friend Irene, you remember her, right?”
“Hard to forget the woman that ran over four of my bikes growing up,” Felicity said.
“She replaced them each time she did it,” her mother said.
“Oh, I know. I was riding the second one when she hit it, though,” Felicity said, recalling that her first broken bone as a child was due to her mother’s partially blind friend who somehow always managed to pass her driving test. “Poor Irene cried harder than I did. Why did you mention her?”
“Well, she is one of those crazy fandom followers of Zombie Zone. She and her grandkids are just well informed, so I gave her a call this morning to see if she could tell me anything useful,” her mother said.
“And?” Felicity beckoned.
“You know that little bar and grill in Senoia that one of the show’s writers owns?”
“Yeah… What is it… The Zombie Diner?” Felicity questioned.
“Yes, that one,” her mother said with a smile. “Well, according to Irene, Ronnie goes there almost every Sunday for lunch because Main Street is less crowded on Sundays.”
“Mom, that’s awesome!” Felicity exclaimed. “I can try to nab him for an interview there.”
“Glad I could help,” her mom said, finishing up her breakfast. “You watch yourself while you are out today.”
“Will do,” Felicity said. Her mother left, and she had the house to herself. She took the time to study up on the names of the actors and crew members of Zombie Zone that morning, reading what she could about all the employees. Most of them had flawless records apart from some of the show’s bigger name stars, but it was mostly just a few non-violent offenses. Phillip, the show’s lead, had on his record an incident of indecent exposure after he had urinated outside of a bar, and that had taken place years ago.
The most recent criminal offense was a double doozy done by Ronnie alongside Alisha, but the charges had been quickly dropped. A cameraman for a paparazzi group had snapped a picture of Alisha’s cleavage when she had bent over to pick up some trash from the sidewalk, and when he had refused to delete the photo, Ronnie smashed the camera and held the man’s arms back while Alisha got in a few very weak punches
. There was even a video of the confrontation, and when Felicity watched it, she found herself giggling a bit and watching it a few times for her own amusement.
Before she knew it, lunchtime had rolled around, so she hurried to the event van and headed to Main Street. With the town being pretty deserted that Sunday, she was able to get a parking spot right up front. She headed inside the small bar and grill style restaurant where she immediately spotted Ronnie sitting by himself in the window seat behind the hostess stand. Felicity started to make her way around the hostess, but she was stopped. “Can I help you?” the young woman asked, and Felicity could tell the woman was used to fending off Zombie Zone super-fans from the celebrities who came in to eat.
Felicity spoke loudly so that Ronnie would hear. “My name is Felicity Overton. I have been hired as a private investigator, and I need to speak to a Mister Ronnie Tosh about a Miss Bridget Princeton.”
Ronnie stood up, looking over the hostess at her. “You can come sit with me,” he said politely, and the bodyguard hostess stepped aside.
“Thank you,” Felicity said and went to sit across from him. He was enjoying the restaurant’s famous salmon dish.
“So, you’re the PI that Kenneth hired to look into what happened to Bridget?” he asked.
“So, you heard what happened then?” Felicity asked.
Ronnie sighed heavily. “Yeah, I got a call from the police a couple hours ago asking me to come to the station. I asked them if it was okay if I came in around one so that I could grab lunch, and they said that was fine. Honestly, I was a little hungover this morning. After a weekend of drinking, I didn’t think going to the station in that state would be wise.”
“You didn’t seem intoxicated at the event Friday night,” Felicity said.
“Yeah, I didn’t start drinking until after the party. I’m not much of a drinker, but after what Bridget told me that night, I got a little upset and left the party early to go drown my sorrows by myself.”
“So you and Bridget spoke Friday night?”
He nodded and took a bite of his lunch before responding. “I figured you already knew that. Kenneth told me they found the note I slipped Bridget. I’m guessing that’s why the police want to talk to me. It probably looks a little suspicious, I’m sure.”
“You seem pretty confident that they’re not going to suspect you for too long?”
Ronnie reached into a bag he had sitting under the table. “I have proof of what Bridget and I talked about. I’m about to blow their minds over at the station.”
He handed Felicity a thick manila envelope. “What’s this?” she asked as she opened it up to reveal the contents.
“Evidence of Alisha and Phillip’s affair. The woman who was killed last night, her real name is Eleanor Elliot. I hired her as a private investigator to look into Alisha. No one else knew she wasn’t really an actress. I got her the job as an extra and introduced her to Alisha. They became friends, and Eleanor proceeded to get evidence for me for when I take Alisha to court.”
Felicity blushed at some of the images of Alisha and Phillip that Eleanor had managed to gather. Some were incredibly intimate moments in the bedroom likely taken by hidden cameras, and some were mere casual dating experiences. There was one of Alisha doing what looked like a line of cocaine off Phillip’s chest. “Oh dear,” Felicity muttered.
“Yeah, that one should help when this turns into a custody battle. We have two kids,” he said.
“I’m so sorry,” Felicity said as she returned the photos to the envelope.
“You can see why I left the party early. After Eleanor confirmed everything that I had suspected for a long time, I was ready to just curl up and go to bed and pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Do you think it’s possible that Alisha or Phillip found out about who Bridget…Eleanor really was?”
“They don’t have a clue. No one does,” Ronnie said. “And they still don’t. The only person who knows now is Kenneth, and he only found out this morning when we talked. He called all of us to let us know he hired a PI. I told him about Bridget really being Eleanor and that she had given me evidence about Alisha and Phillip.”
“What did Kenneth have to say about that?”
“A mouthful,” Ronnie moaned. “He warned me about making a big deal of mine and Alisha’s inevitable divorce to the press. Wants me to play it off like we just grew apart or whatever. Basically, he doesn’t want the show’s audience to start to dislike Phillip and Alisha and get sympathy toward me. I’m the show’s villain. They play the heroes. It’s not the best kind of publicity for the show. He told me to tread lightly or they would kill my character off.”
“Well, that doesn’t seem fair to you,” Felicity said.
“He has to look out for the well-being of the show,” Ronnie said. “I get that. I signed on to be the villain. People don’t want to know that Phillip is the one who is a total tool.”
“Sounds like it,” Felicity said.
“Here, let me write my information down for you. Eleanor was a sweet woman, and she was good at what she did. If there is anything you need to know that might help you with the case, just call me.”
Felicity smiled. “Thank you, Ronnie. That is so helpful of you. Just to confirm, you really don’t believe anyone knew about Bridget really being Eleanor the PI until this morning?”
“I am one hundred percent confident in that,” he said. “And while I would love to throw that creep, Phillip, under the bus after everything Eleanor found out for me, I don’t think he or Alisha could be the one behind this. As far as they knew, Eleanor was their friend. A good, close friend. When Eleanor handed me the information, she even admitted to me that she let herself get too close to Alisha and Phillip. From what I heard from Kenneth, they’re both pretty torn up about Bridget. She, as far as they were concerned, was their friend.”
“Thank you for your honesty,” Felicity said.
“Wish me luck. I have to go repeat this conversation with the police,” Ronnie said as he threw some money down on the table.
Felicity headed out as well. As she was climbing into her event van, her phone starting buzzing to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. “That’s weird,” Felicity said out loud. Yankee Doodle Dandy was the tune she had set for her phone’s calendar reminders. She could not recall any sort of event or scheduled appointment she had.
She pulled out her phone and could see the alert, “Start Getting Ready Now!!!!” pop up on her screen.
“For what?” Felicity pondered out loud, laughing slightly at her forgetfulness. Then it hit her suddenly and painfully. “Oh my gosh, Dawn’s bridal luncheon! I’m going to be late!”
Chapter 8
By some miracle, Felicity managed to get back to her parents’ house to change, do her makeup, and still leave in time to make it to all the way to Fayetteville where Dawn’s bridal luncheon would be taking place. Dawn’s wedding was only a month away, and as both a bridesmaid and the official wedding planner, Felicity’s plate was quite full. The plans were finally coming together, so Felicity didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize these upcoming weeks. She wanted everything to go just right for Dawn.
Thankfully for Felicity, Veronica was the one handling the bridal luncheon, bridal shower, and bachelorette party since Dawn had selected her as her maid of honor. But, that was the fun stuff. The planning for the actual wedding was a whole other ball game. The luncheon would be taking place at the former Fayetteville Train Depot that was now used strictly as an event location.
She pulled into the tiny parking lot and jumped out of her car, feeling as though she was later than she actually was. Autumn, Felicity’s closest female friend, was hopping out of her car the same time as Felicity. “Felicity!” Autumn called excitedly. “Wow, and I thought you would be the first one here.”
“I would have liked to be so that I could help Veronica set everything up,” Felicity moaned as she climbed out of the car and took a moment to straighten the hem of her dress. “Let’
s get inside. I bet the party is already getting started.”
“I’m sure,” Autumn said with a slight chuckle. They hurried up the three steps at the main entrance of the train depot and entered the building, smiling to see that Veronica and Brittany were already hard at work putting everything together. The decorations were all white and pink. A long white tablecloth covered the long table in the center of the room, and Veronica had put out plenty of light pink flowers all over the table.
Veronica and Brittany were putting out little white plates as Felicity and Autumn entered. “Hey, ladies!” Veronica called out. “You ready to get this party started?”
“Of course,” Felicity said.
The rest of the guests slowly trickled in. When Dawn arrived, she was positively giddy about the decorations and the food Veronica had had delivered from one of Felicity’s catering contacts. Dawn’s mother arrived with her, and the woman was all smiles as she chit-chatted about Dawn’s future husband, Monte. Right behind her was Dawn’s future mother-in-law, and finally, a little girl named Natalie and her mother. Natalie’s mother was Dawn’s cousin, and Dawn had selected little Natalie as her flower girl. Officially, all the women of the bridal party were present and the celebration could begin.
They played a few silly games and of course talked about Dawn and Monte’s relationship that had seemed to sprout out of nowhere. They had become friends in college, and they had never really dated until about a year ago. The couple had kept it a secret from the friends for a while, so it felt a lot faster to Felicity and the others.
It seemed like everyone but Felicity was in a relationship now, but she was okay with that. Dawn was marrying Monte. Autumn’s boyfriend Nick had just moved in with her. Brittany was dating Felicity’s ex, Jack. And, apparently, Veronica had some sort of guy she was keeping a secret.
