Mobbed
Page 19
It was Winston.
79
Why doesn’t anyone like me?” Winston screamed as he was being led off in handcuffs. “All I do is try and help people.”
Regan’s cell phone rang. She cringed when she realized it was Kit calling. I’ll never hear the end of this, she thought.
“Hey, Kit.”
“Regan, are you busy?”
“Kind of.”
“I’ll make this quick,” Kit said. “I was about to pick up the phone to call Winston a few minutes ago. I’d been debating since this afternoon when I bought a women’s magazine with a headline that said you’re too picky if you’re not married. You know, basically you’re a picky loser.”
“Right.”
“But then I remembered something that struck me as weird. Winston said he came from a large family. I was so bored on our date that my mind was drifting in and out in an effort to protect my sanity. He was completely obsessed by the invertebrates …”
“Uh-huh.”
“Regan, I’m almost positive he said he didn’t have a sister. I think he was lying to you, for some reason. So I decided not to call him.”
“Good move, Kit. He would have been too busy to talk.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kit, Jack and I found Cleo.”
“That’s great! Where?”
“At a log cabin camp in New Jersey. Winston was here, too. We arrived in the nick of time. Winston was about to stab her.”
“What? Oh my God, Regan! Is Cleo okay?”
“She’s shaken up, but she’s fine. We reached Cleo’s parents and her best friend who are out of their minds with relief. They’ll all be in New Jersey tomorrow. Turned out Winston tried to come to Cleo’s aid when she got knocked over by a wave on the beach when she first got to Edna’s. He offered to walk her home but she refused. It seems his obsession turned from invertebrates to Cleo. We don’t know much more yet.”
Kit hurled the magazine across her living room. “Reilly, the people you set me up with!”
“I know, Kit. Why don’t you come down to the Shore this weekend? It’s my mother’s birthday Saturday. Something tells me we’ll be having a big celebration.”
Saturday, August 6th
80
In the Reillys’ backyard in Spring Lake, Jack and Luke were slaving over a sizzling grill, every square inch filled with steaks, chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers.
“Whatever happened to dinner for four at a quiet restaurant?” Luke muttered, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement.
Jack laughed. “You know Nora likes any excuse for a big party.”
Regan and Nora came from the kitchen carrying trays stacked with hot dog and hamburger rolls.
“What are you two laughing about?” Nora asked.
Luke put his arm around his wife, then kissed the top of her head. “We were talking about how relaxing it is to barbecue.”
“Oh, you, I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday.”
“I’m just kidding,” Luke said. “This is wonderful.”
“Dad, tomorrow Jack and I will take you and Mom to brunch at the Breakers. You can relax and be waited on.”
Luke’s eyes twinkled. “Party of twelve?”
Regan shook her head. “I think you’re just jealous you missed all the excitement.”
“I am. While you were solving crimes, I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Garden State Parkway.”
Jack winked at Regan. She glanced around at the crowd. “Everyone is having a great time.”
Cleo and Dirk were standing with their arms around each other.
“You know, Cleo,” Dirk’s mother said for the twelfth time, “when I spoke to you on the phone the other day, your voice sounded so familiar. I should have guessed it was you. I could kick myself. I saw My Super Super three times! You deserved to win the Academy Award. They stole it from you, they really did!”
Cleo smiled. “Thank you.”
“What movie are you doing next?”
“I don’t know. I’m waiting until the contract with my current agent runs out next week. Then I’ll see what I’m offered.”
Daisy groaned. “Good riddance!” She turned to Dizzy. “Whatever you do, don’t sign with the Flake Agency!”
“I won’t,” Dizzy promised as Monique looked at him adoringly. Their kids were running around the yard, croquet mallets in hand, whacking the colorful, heavy balls with great vigor. Judson was trying to teach them how to play. The video of Dizzy putting up the beach umbrella had gone viral overnight. He was now entertaining several movie offers. “But whoever I end up with, I’m going to tell them I’ll only do comedy. No more drama!”
“You said it,” Monique agreed, smiling. “Cleo, you’re sure that guy on the motorcycle who left the flowers is harmless?”
Cleo nodded. “Daisy made some calls and found out it’s most likely a guy from our old acting class who drives a Harley-Davidson. He can’t get arrested in Hollywood, so he started pulling those kinds of harmless pranks hoping to get attention. I never reported it, which must have really frustrated him.”
“Good,” Monique said. “That kind of prank isn’t funny.”
“Thanks to Tommy, we were able to figure it out,” Cleo said.
“Show business is so competitive,” Daisy said. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if April Dockton had been the one after Cleo. I heard she retreated to a yoga camp in Lenox, Massachusetts, after hearing from another producer that he wanted Cleo for his movie, not her. I can testify to the fact that she really needs that yoga,” Daisy joked, massaging her throat. “I thought she was really going to kill me when I worked with her. All because I’m Cleo’s friend.”
“Dirk,” Yaya said breezily, deliberately changing the subject. “Cliff and I just love your log cabins. Yours is the best camp we’ve ever been to. And as you know, we’ve been all over the world.”
Dirk smiled. “I hope you’ll visit often.”
“We will,” Cliff stated vehemently. “On Monday we start scouting locations for our museum. It will definitely be somewhere in New Jersey. Mrs. Briggs and Gordy have graciously offered to help us.”
“Absolutely,” Mrs. Briggs nodded.
Edna and Wilbur were sitting at a table with Karen, Frankie, and Rhonda, and several of their cronies from Golden Peaks.
“If I never had the garage sale,” Edna said, “I wouldn’t have met Regan. Which means she and Jack would never have saved Cleo. Despite those miserable cheats, my garage sale couldn’t have turned out better.”
“Mom,” Karen said, “give me some credit, too. I’m the one who sent Nora over to your sale in the first place.”
“Whatever,” Edna shrugged, then picked up her glass. “Rhonda, welcome to the family.”
“Thank you.” Rhonda turned to Frankie who gave her a quick kiss.
“That’s so nice,” Edna said. “You know, Frankie, I could still try and see if my buyer would agree to cancel the deal on the house.”
“No thanks, Mom. We’re fine,” Frankie said quickly. He lifted his glass. “Wilbur, it’s a pleasure to also welcome you to the family.”
Wilbur and Edna had gotten engaged. She’d sealed the deal in the emergency room.
Hayley and Kit were becoming fast friends, comparing war stories about their love lives.
“I still can’t believe that guy Scott,” Hayley said. “He’s nothing but a lying crook. With a fake charity no less! Can you believe he pretended to get engaged to win people’s trust so he could scam them? And then he used pictures taken of himself with celebrities at the events I brought him to? What a sleaze!”
“At least he didn’t try to kill anyone,” Kit muttered. “Can you believe that when the cops went to Winston’s apartment they found pictures of Cleo on every wall and copies of her movies with a receipt from July 8th, when he bought them? That’s the day after he tried to help her on the beach. He certainly got over me fast. And his mother asked the police to h
ave sympathy for him because the only girlfriend he ever had jilted him at the altar!”
“I don’t think anyone’s going to ask for sympathy for Scott,” Hayley said. She raised her glass, “Here’s to the next one.”
After dinner, Regan and Jack carried out Nora’s birthday cake, which was a sheet of flames.
“Regan, half a dozen candles would have been plenty,” Nora protested as the crowd started to sing “Happy Birthday.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Regan said, raising an eyebrow.
At nine o’clock Cliff Paradise called for everyone’s attention. “My wife Yaya and I are thrilled to be with you all tonight,” he said. “We are so grateful for Cleo’s safety. Many of you had a part in her rescue, especially, of course, Regan and Jack Reilly. We can never thank you enough.
“Before this, I wasn’t familiar with New Jersey. Now it will always be a special place for my family. We’ve met so many wonderful people here. Would everyone please come around to the front of the house so we can look out over the ocean and celebrate our new friendships?”
They all followed him.
A moment later the sky was ablaze with fireworks, enjoyed by thousands along the Jersey Shore.
Regan rested her head on Jack’s shoulder. “What do you want to do next weekend?”
“Come back here.”
Regan nodded. “Me, too.”