“Yes, Giles. How is June?”
“That’s why I called, Eugene. She’s dead.”
“Dead! Are you sure? What happened?”
“You’ve got to come right away, Eugene. Please.”
“I’ll be right there.” And he thought the Green Parrot Lounge had been exciting. He drove faster and faster, struggling to squelch the suspicions rising in his gut. He didn’t want to believe his feelings. After all, he had no basis for accusations, no proof of foul play, and yet… deep down, if he trusted his instincts, he knew something was awry. He should have kept her in the hospital; he knew he shouldn’t have let June Senior go home where it wasn’t safe. Dr. Hart hadn’t murdered her, yet still, he wondered.
Was he to blame?
Seventeen
After grabbing a rubbery hamburger in the hospital cafeteria, Dan trudged to the parking lot behind Ivymount Medical Center. A weary looking maintenance worker labored in the chilly December air, twining ropes of twinkling white lights around the wrought iron fence that surrounded the hospital. Distracted and tense, Dan ignored him, and admired the twinkling white lights. It’s holiday time, that special time of year when The Magic happens. The shrill whine of an ambulance siren reminded him—magic discriminates. When it came to magic, only the chosen few were ever chosen. At least it seemed that way to Dan, especially these days. Something else bothered him, too.
Why did some people seem to taste the sweetness of Magic, while others simply dreamed of it? And some, like the unlucky soul who just arrived DOA in that ambulance there, just gave up, stopped believing, stopped hoping—time for an overdose of reality. Or, maybe he just never had a Plan.
Maybe, thought Dan, while he slid behind the steering wheel, Plan was just another word for magic. Maybe, there was no such thing as magic, or angels, or miracles, or “love at first sight.” Only carefully laid, rational plans that either worked or didn’t. Maybe June had been right all along, spouting her grim philosophy of life from her hospital bed. Happiness had escaped him.
He pulled onto the highway, headed for the Dingwerth compound. Dammit, he refused to surrender to Fate. Maybe June didn’t believe in magic, but after Leila, he did. After his brush with the Angel of Hope, Dan still believed in miracles, despite the recent change in Leila’s demeanor. No matter what she said, the magic between them had waned. Was it Giles or Carlos, or had she simple grown bored with him? Had Luther mentioned anything to her? He should have known better than to talk to someone he hardly knew about personal business. Now, a tangled mess loomed on his horizon. Perhaps Rocco knew something he didn’t. He usually did, after all. He would call him tonight and he would know what to do. Now, he felt better. He had another Plan.
When he approached the Dingwerth residence, a stark reality emerged. What were all those cars doing there? If he didn’t know better, he’d think June had died. Suddenly, his stomach felt bloated and heavy. He opened the car door and maneuvered his way through the mishmash of cars, parked on the winding drive to the front door.
He wondered if Bunny had arrived. He didn’t see her car. Well, she just hadn’t made it yet, that’s all. Then, he heard it-the screech of tires behind him. He turned, and couldn’t believe his eyes. Why was Leila driving Bunny’s BMW? His heart racing; he felt frozen in place. The minute she opened her mouth, he knew.
“Danny, what do you think? Surprise!”
It certainly was, in so many ways.
“Lei—,” he began, “I mean, Bunny, how is your mother? Did she make it home alright? I mean, why are all these cars here?”
Bunny shrugged. “Mommy likes to do things in grand style, Danny, you know that. Let’s go in and see what she thinks of my hair. I’ll bet she doesn’t even know me. I don’t even think you did. But, I’ll bet Daddy will.”
Giles! After what he’d overheard in Leila’s hotel suite today, he would have to face Giles. At the mere suggestion, he began to sweat. In fact, despite his ambiguous feelings toward June, Giles’ adulterous behavior disgusted him.
A passing glimpse in the ornate foyer mirror grounded him in the sobering reality. His recent performance ratings in the husband category were no better. If he included the contract for Bunny’s murder, well, they were worse, much worse—horrendous at best. Felicity dragged into the foyer, wearing a longer face than usual. She ought to at least pretend she was glad to see June. After all, everyone else did.
“Felicity,” Bunny said, “is everything alright?”
“Did you not hear?” Felicity looked like she had just seen a ghost. Dr. Hart appeared behind her.
“Hear what?” Bunny said.
“Is June here?” Dan said. “Did she make it home?”
Dr. Hart stared through weary, soulful eyes. “I’m afraid she did.” His shoulders slumped in submission.
“Wait till she sees my hair,” Bunny said. “I just can’t wait.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to,” Dr. Hart said, gazing past her into the street, at the waiting ambulance. “Bunny, I’m afraid there’s a problem.”
“But those guys don’t seem to be in any big hurry,” Bunny said. She glimpsed at two young paramedics strolling up the driveway.
Giles appeared in the arched doorway. “Bunns, Mommy isn’t doing well at all. In fact…well, she may not be coming back.”
“But she already did, didn’t she? I don’t get it, Daddy. What’s going on?”
Looking back, the details of the following minutes would be blurred in Dan’s mind. One thing he would never forget was his wife’s hysteria: the wounded wail that escaped from her perfect mouth, the way she hugged June’s limp body with determined strength, and finally, the way she implored him, Danny, to “…do something now, this minute, before Mommy dies.” But someone, and Dan was convinced he knew who that somebody was, had beat him to the punch. In his jaded opinion that someone, this minute, could at least pretend to be grief-stricken.
Instead, Giles joked with the paramedics, holding the bedroom door for them, even—had Dan heard this correctly?—offering his casual commentary regarding the unseasonably mild winter. Once in June’s bedroom, with Dr. Hart in command, Dan watched Giles excuse himself from the room. Felicity did the same, though Bunny asked the doctor if she might stay, and to Dan’s amazement, he agreed.
Dan was more than happy to excuse himself, ostensibly for June’s privacy, and this was not entirely unfounded. For, once he tiptoed out into the hall, and into the shadows, he observed Giles passing an envelope to Felicity. Dan’s instincts told him to remain unnoticed. His instincts proved to be correct.
“I’m afraid this is the end, Felicity,” he heard Giles say. “With June gone, I won’t need you anymore.”
“But Mr. Dingwerth, what about Miss Bolivar? Surely, she will need me.”
“In all honesty, she doesn’t like you. I know, I know, it’s not fair. But, it’s true. There’s enough cash in that envelope to see you through for awhile. Now please, don’t make this harder than it already is.”
A scuffling sound in the hallway ended their conversation. It was the paramedics, toting a loaded stretcher. The lifeless mound that was once June Dingwerth now rested beneath a rumpled white sheet. The two men simply nodded as they nudged their way through the front door with Dr. Hart close behind.
“I’ll meet you at Ivymount,” he said to the driver. He gave the front door a slight shove and stepped onto the porch. “Goodbye Giles,” he said, without turning to face him. I’ll be calling you.”
Giles simply nodded. Only Felicity displayed the slightest sign of distress. Did her tears belong to June or Giles?
Dan couldn’t help but feel that Giles had picked a very bad time to fire Felicity. Besides, what was the rush? The sudden sight of Bunny, sporting her new Leila-inspired hair color, both alerted and sickened him. How much did Bunny actually know? Had she changed her hair color on a whim, as she had been known to do so many times before, or had someone, like that obnoxious reporter or her two meddlesome friends tipped her off?
Perhaps worse, did Bunny know about her father’s “engagement?”
He was almost certain she did not, and wouldn’t believe him if he told her. No, if anyone would come out of this looking badly, it would be him, Dan Hunter. Giles would see to that, of that he was certain. He couldn’t let that happen. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a sobbing Felicity. She was making her way toward the front door. Hastily, he scribbled his cell phone number on the back of his business card. “Hey, Felicity,” he whispered.
Startled, Felicity turned toward him. “Sí?”
“Give me a call, okay? I might know of a job for you.”
Though she accepted the card, Felicity shook her head, even as she checked the street, presumably for a waiting car to take her home. “I think I will be leaving the city. And Mr. Hunter, so should you. Mr. Dingwerth, he is a very powerful man.” She opened the door and the tiny woman trudged down the long driveway toward Rocco’s waiting Mercedes.
Where was Giles? Where was Bunny? From the side hallway, he heard Giles’ low voice. “Look Leila, Rocco will pick you up in a matter of minutes. Just be waiting for him. Don’t make him wait. Right, Felicity is taken care of. Anyone who knew anything about us will be gone now, you know that, don’t you? I didn’t get where I am today by being careless.”
Dan eavesdropped in the hall, disgusted. No, your birthright into the Dingwerth Dynasty got you where you are today. What a lot of skill that required. And, what do you mean, they’ll all “be taken care of?” Paid off? Eliminated? Just what is your plan, Giles Dingwerth IV?
Bunny emerged from June’s bedroom, sporting Leila’s long, dark hair. In Dan’s eyes, she suddenly appeared much older, less innocent, much sadder, less of a Bunny, and even less of a Leila. He simply did not know this stranger. The clock in the hall chimed eight times.
“Bunns,” Giles said, slipping his cell phone into the breast pocket of his navy blazer, “you changed your hair color.” His face wore a bemused expression, nothing more. Apparently, he saw no resemblance between his daughter and his lover. A chilly smugness infused his attitude. Dan found it abhorrent.
“Oh Daddy,” she said, hurling herself into her father’s arms. “What are we going to do now?”
For a second, Bunny’s reaction puzzled Dan. He even felt a bit wounded. He wondered why his wife had not turned to him at such a distressful moment, and then, he demurred. Perhaps Bunny knew the kind of deceitful non-husband he had been during those past months. Her new hair color indicated as much. Could she have discovered his plans to end her life? The very thought chilled him to the core of his soul.
No, he decided, he didn’t deserve Bunny’s loyalty. If he wanted anything from her, he would have to earn it. What did Bunny think about Giles? Whatever nonsense was he spouting now?
“Well, Bunns,” Giles said in a decidedly cool fashion, “we’re going to have to carry on, just as the Dingwerths have always done. We have to be strong, the way Mommy would have wanted us to be. Remember her favorite saying?”
Bunny looked up at her father and wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re as happy as you make up your mind to be—is that the right one?”
Giles nodded. “We have to make up our minds to be happy. Right, Daniel?”
Dan stared at the floor, but he couldn’t help himself. His thoughts were focused on what June told him just hours before she died. Now, her words were etched indelibly in his mind: “I should be happy. People tell me I should be, so I suppose I am.” Was June ever really happy? No, not in the way he wanted to be, Dan decided.
“Daniel? Are you alright? You know, I think it’s a great tribute to the Junebug that you miss her so terribly. Why, I believe you miss her as much as Bunny and me.”
“Do you miss her Mr. Dingwerth, sir?” Dan didn’t know what had gotten into him. Like a bonfire, a fury blazed inside of him. Had Bunny not been present, he’d have spilled everything—Leila, Felicity, Rocco, and, of course, the engagement ring. Under the circumstances, how could he? The timing had been impeccable on Giles’ part. Had he simply hoped June would die, or had he helped things along? Giles glared at him now, with an icy, judgmental glare on his lined face.
“You’re very distraught right now. You know that, don’t you? I’ve been meaning to ask you something for awhile now, and well, this might not be the perfect time for it, but here goes. How would you like to be the new President of Dingwerth Distinctive Designs?”
“Daddy!” Bunny said. “At a time like this…”
“Well, Bunns, life goes on, and like it or not, I’m not going to live forever. Daniel is as close to a son as I have, and while he’s not a Dingwerth by blood, I know he’ll stay right here and take good care of my daughter and my business, even after I’m gone. Isn’t that right, Daniel?”
Trapped again. I’m trapped and should be happy, that’s me. He searched Giles’ face for a hint of shrewdness. Like a mask, an impossible-to-read mask, his face remained expressionless. “You talk as if you’re leaving us, Giles.”
“Are you going somewhere, Daddy?” Bunny said.
Giles barely flinched. “This has all been very sudden. I’ll need some time to think. A man has to have a Plan. Don’t you agree, Daniel?”
Dan considered Giles’ smooth reply. “Of course.” Somehow, he felt that Giles had arranged his Plan long ago, and the events of the day had unfolded on cue. It may have been sudden, but he had a sickening sense that June’s death had been very much expected, at least by Giles. He couldn’t explain it, but Dan felt an urge to protect Bunny from her father. They should return to their own home to consider Giles’ most generous job offer, an offer that the patriarch seemed most anxious for Daniel to accept.
“Well, Daniel my boy, what do you think of my offer? You know, I really expected a more enthusiastic response from you. I am a bit disappointed. Bunns, tell him what a chance this is for him to rule the Dingwerth Dynasty from the top!”
To Dan’s surprise, his wife hesitated. “I think he needs to think about it first, Daddy. You know, get used to the idea of all that power. Am I right, Danny?”
“Absolutely. It’s a big step, Giles. For us both, really. You know, you should get used to the idea, too. We’ll keep in touch. You ready to go, Hon?” The endearment felt strange on his tongue.
“Hon.”
Dan had never called his wife anything other than Bunny, ever. What was happening to him, to her, to them? He was beginning to see a new future, with a new Plan. Maybe he could even see a life without any Plan, and yet he was feeling, well—happy. He strolled down the driveway to his car. Something else had changed. He hadn’t thought about Leila at all that day, and for the first time since he met her, it just didn’t matter.
Where in the devil was it? Giles tiptoed around the disheveled room, darkened by the dusky shadows. Utter stillness haunted the house, except for the chime of the massive grandfather clock in the grand foyer. Everyone—Eugene, Felicity, Bunny and Daniel—all of them behaved so strangely this afternoon. Why, they almost acted as if they didn’t know him, and by God, they most certainly did. He was Giles Dingwerth IV, heir to the Dingwerth Dynasty and the luckiest widower in the world.
In the very near future, he would marry one of the most beautiful women in the world. He would be the envy of all of his friends at the Cinnabar Club, his aging friends who sat with their aging wives three times a week in silence while they ordered their early dinners. Such would not be his fate. He, Giles Dingwerth IV, had a Plan.
Where had it gone? Giles flung the fluffy, flowery bedspread on June’s comfy queen-sized mattress to the floor. He dug into the mounds of pillows, searching. His heart began to pound faster, then stronger. He needed to find it. Perhaps paranoia had overwhelmed his sense of reason, but he couldn’t allow a careless mistake to steal his future. Where in the devil could it be?
He didn’t find it in the stuffy bedroom. Not until he reached the luxurious marble bathroom did it appear in all of its glory: the gold foil candy box, tied with a pink
satin ribbon, flourished with a single pink polyester rose. He snatched it; its weightlessness shocked him. Lifting the lid, he discovered the reason. It was nearly empty—nearly. A few of the irresistible pink mints still remained.
He wondered if anyone, Eugene Hart for example, had seen the box. Felicity almost certainly had, but he’d been careful not to present it to June in front of her; just as he’d been careful to fill the box with June’s favorite candy, those chalky, buttery pink mints. He never knew what made the pink ones better than, say the green or yellow ones, but Giles never had understood the Junebug. Never did and now, never would. Eugene would do his paperwork and find that June had broken her diet in the worst way, and it had proved fatal, oh well. No one would ever know Giles had asked poor depressed, diabetic June for a divorce just minutes before presenting her with a lethal dose of her favorite candy.
What else could he do? The time had come to tell her about Leila, Leila and his perfect romance, Leila and his perfect engagement. For a moment, Giles wondered how long he and Leila should wait before they married, and then, he remembered Carlos. Well, Leila would have to take care of that complication. That was all part of her part of the Plan.
Still, he thought it best to dispose of the candy box. No use leaving any evidence around for nosy people. He tucked the box under his arm and switched off the overhead light. He actually felt amazed that he didn’t feel more guilt, more remorse, or more grief at June’s passing. He concluded that June and his love for her had died long ago. When Bunny was five, he guessed it was. That was the day Bunny lost her first baby tooth, and he and June had argued, very bitterly he remembered now, about how much the tooth fairy should leave under Bunny’s pillow. The former June Schulz had never experienced the gifts of the tooth fairy, while Giles Dingwerth IV received at least five dollars a tooth, a child’s fortune in the 1940’s to be sure.
It was funny, wasn’t it, how the little things could become so big. Well, one thing had led to another, and June accused Giles of wanting to spoil the young Bunny, while Giles accused his wife of depriving her, and somehow, the dispute melted into a chronic mudslinger regarding their respective and polar opposite socioeconomic backgrounds. From that day forward, money and the blessing of a fictitious tooth fairy divided them. Giles stared at the gold foil box tied with the pink satin ribbon. Well, no matter now. He and Leila would not argue over money, the tooth fairy, or anything else. Their life together would be perfect.
Crazy for You Page 14
