I came up with more details as I walked to the hotel. A strong wind was blowing out of the north and as it blasted me in the face it literally took my breath away. I had to turn and face the other way just so I could take in some air. I would tell Sally I wanted to put on a birthday party for my aunt who was turning sixty. I decided to call her Julia and came up with a back story. There was a touch of truth to it. I did have an aunt and she was probably close to sixty. She was my mother’s sister and lived in Seattle. She’d married someone the family hated and cut herself off from everyone after that. I’d never even met her or knew her name. All I’d heard her called was ‘the one who married that jerk.’
The wind died down for a moment and I took the opportunity to unwind the scarf that the blasting air had kept plastered against my face. What had I gotten myself into? I was making up stories about fake relatives to find out if Evan had a chance with Sally. Someday maybe I’d learn not to get so involved with my clients’ lives.
I cared too much about the booklet for Rachel. I regretted the whole idea of gathering stories from people who’d known her, now wondering if I’d have enough. I certainly couldn’t use what Talmadge told me. The wind whipped up again as I crossed the river. I heard a couple talking as they walked behind me. The woman commented on the wind and the man reminded her that Chicago was called ‘the windy city.’ I chuckled to myself thinking what Tizzy would do if she was with me. She’d turn and tell them that was not why Chicago had the moniker, and that it referred to the hot air bellowing from politicians.
The couple quickly got to know something else about Chicago. The weather was fickle. There was a saying that if you didn’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it would change. The sun had disappeared behind heavy gray clouds. The wind had come to a dead stop and it began to rain. I pulled out the umbrella I’d stashed in my bag and walked faster.
It was really coming down by the time I reached the Bellingham. I was glad to step under the overhang while I collapsed my umbrella. I went inside hoping for the best.
I asked the desk clerk for the location of Sally’s office, prepared to give him my birthday story. But he simply pointed me in the direction of the other side of the lobby. ‘Though I just saw her going up to The Top of the Town,’ he added.
I headed to the elevator, wondering what she was doing up there. Hanging out with Luke? Poor Evan if it was true.
Not wanting to be seen, I borrowed from the playbook of Derek Streeter and edged against the wall when I got off the elevator and peeked into the bar. Luke was behind the counter, talking to a woman. I leaned a little closer to see if it was Sally and was relieved to see it wasn’t her. I felt even better when I saw that Sally was standing near the windows talking to an older woman. I slipped inside the bar and stepped behind a decorative drape that hung across the windows where I could watch and eavesdrop.
Luke was too busy at the bar to notice. What I’d thought was one woman was actually two and I noticed they had that polish of wealth about them. He was certainly being cordial and appeared to be listening with interest to whatever they were saying. The women seemed to eat it up and were offering him seductive smiles over their wine glasses.
I turned my attention to Sally. ‘We need a place for an intimate breakfast,’ the older woman said to her. She was dressed in ‘expensive casual’: fancy jeans and designer heels. She didn’t seem very happy about whatever she was planning. The woman shifted her weight a few times and glanced around at the room. ‘I might just as well level with you. My daughter is insisting on getting married next to Buckingham Fountain in the park. She didn’t think it through. They’re shutting off the water for the winter. That’s why the rush.’ She shook her head with dismay. ‘It’s only going to be family and a few friends, but I want to at least offer them a nice brunch after standing around outside. This seems perfect.’ She glanced at a plaque on the wall I hadn’t noticed before. It read: Candace’s Refuge. ‘Good name for the place,’ she said. ‘It will certainly be a refuge after standing outside getting sprayed by a fountain.’
Sally had a tablet and been swiping at the screen and taking notes. ‘We could certainly do that here even with such short notice. Depending on the time, you could have the whole space.’ She eyed the patio. ‘And if your daughter changes her mind, we could have the wedding out there. It’s officially closed for the winter, but we could make an exception.’ The woman followed her gaze and then stepped closer to the windows to look outside.
‘I’ll certainly mention it to her, though I don’t know that she’ll listen.’ The woman rolled her eyes. ‘I suppose I should be glad she doesn’t want a really big affair considering who she’s marrying. You’d think by thirty he’d have a job.’
‘We can do something very nice,’ Sally said reassuringly. ‘Let’s go down to my office and I’ll put together a proposal for you.’
‘I’ll have to talk to my daughter first,’ the woman said. ‘When’s the latest I could let you know?’
The event planner closed the cover on her tablet and flinched. What a job she had. The woman was talking about the upcoming weekend. As they went to the elevator, I watched to see if she’d make any contact with Luke, but she never looked his way. So did they know each other or not?
SIXTEEN
I waited until the elevator door closed before I came out from behind the drape. I was hoping to slip out unnoticed, but Luke looked up just then and when he saw it was me offered a friendly smile. Even though he wasn’t my type, I could see how he would have appealed to Rachel and, apparently, other women as well. He was looking at me as if I was the most important woman in the world.
‘Becoming a regular,’ he said with a lift of his eyebrows. ‘At the bar or at a table?’
‘The bar is fine,’ I said, sliding onto one of the comfortable upholstered seats. He’d caught me and I couldn’t very well leave without an explanation. The easiest thing to do was to sit. Besides, Sally was still busy with her potential client. I glanced at the two women out of the corner of my eye and they didn’t seem happy that I’d taken Luke’s attention away.
‘As I recall you’re not into alcohol,’ he said.
I was going to say it was a little early for it, anyway, but I realized the two women sipping wine might hear me and take it personally. ‘Maybe some juice. I just came from the dance gym.’
‘Ah,’ he said with understanding as he took a pitcher of fresh squeezed orange juice and poured some in a wine glass. ‘Did you take a class?’
‘I’m trying them all so I can write up descriptions. The tap and ballet were pretty much what I expected, but this morning’s was folk dancing. Well, actually the class is called Serendipity One and it was a lot of fun. I’m going back this afternoon, but this time I’m just going to watch.’
He seemed puzzled. ‘Fun? Wow, I never got that impression from Rachel. She always came home seeming worried.’
‘Really?’ I said, surprised. Then I remembered what Talmadge had said about her trying to get private lessons. ‘I think she might have been concerned about getting the steps wrong.’ I thought about what Luke had said the last time I’d seen him. It had seemed like a warning. I asked him about it.
‘I just meant that as much as you seem to care about doing a good job with the booklet you’re putting together, it might be better to stick to pleasing Camille Parker and just skim the surface. Put in a few heartwarming stories and that’s it. You could change the story I told you and just make the pink squirrel the focus. She’s like a lioness when it comes to protecting Richard Parker. I think he’s considering getting into politics. I suppose that’s another reason they want Rachel’s death ruled an accident.’ He was slicing a lemon as he talked to me. ‘I think it’s great what you want to do with the memory book and how you are delving into what was going on in Rachel’s life, but I think it might cause you problems in the end.’
The tone was softer this time, but it still seemed like a warning.
Just then my phone b
egan to ring. I pulled it out of my bag and looked at the screen. It was Evan. ‘Excuse me,’ I said with a smile. ‘I have to take this.’ Luke nodded and went to check on the two women.
‘Have you found out what happened yet?’ Evan asked. He sounded like he was pacing, and I felt for him. And I worried that he was trying for something that wasn’t going to happen. I had a way with words, but it could go only so far.
‘I’m working on it,’ I said, not wanting to say too much. I didn’t want to tell him where I was or how close I was to seeing Sally.
‘Call me as soon as you know anything,’ he said. ‘And anything you could do to put in a good word for me would help.’
I promised I would and clicked off. Luke came back to my section of the bar just as I put the phone on the counter.
He looked at my almost empty glass. I hadn’t meant to drink it so fast, but it was delicious. ‘Would you like another?’
‘I’m good,’ I said, thinking about the price of the juice. ‘Just the check, please.’ He slid a folder holding it toward me. I almost choked when I saw the bill. I put my credit card in the folder with it and said I’d be right back. I pulled out the tiny purse inside my tote bag and left everything else there. ‘And now where is …?’ I glanced around and he figured out I was looking for the ladies’ room and pointed to the other side of the elevator. The powder room was old-school elegant. It was pink with soft lighting designed to make everyone look great. Well, almost everyone. I caught a look at myself in the mirror. I’d rushed out of the dance gym and never thought about what the class and the wind had done to my appearance. I understood now why a lot of people pulled their hair back into some kind of top knot or ponytail. My shoulder-length brown hair had managed to get snarled in the back. I combed it with my fingers but it could only do so much. The exercise and outdoor air had left me with a nice glow, but I still added a little lipstick to give me some color.
When I returned, I passed the plaque that the woman and Sally had looked at.
‘I thought this place was called The Top of the Town,’ I said, pointing toward the plaque.
‘The new owners decided to call it The Top of the Town,’ he said. ‘Before that it was named after Rachel’s mother.’
‘What?’ I said surprised. ‘Why would a bar be named after her mother?’
‘Her family used to own the Bellingham. She helped design the bar as a quiet place to get away from it all.’
‘So, that explains why she stopped here so often with Rachel,’ I said processing the information. ‘And why Rachel came here after her mother was gone. It was a family place.’
He nodded. ‘She told me it was always comforting for her to come here. Particularly after her father married Camille. She had a very hard time dealing with her stepmother, who apparently is nothing like her mother. So much for the idea that people are attracted to the same kind of person over and over again.’
‘You seem to know a lot about psychology,’ I said.
He nodded with a knowing look. ‘You learn a lot being a bartender. You’d be amazed at the things that people tell me. It’s true that people who come in here alone often just want someone to talk to. It’s part of the service.’ He dropped his voice as he took another lemon and began to slice it with precision. ‘As I told you, Candace died before I met Rachel, but Rachel talked about her a lot. Her mother had a lot of emotional issues. Rachel never gave a name to her mother’s problems, but what she described sounded as if she went through periods when she just fell into the kind of deep depression where she was unreachable. But when she wasn’t that way, she was warm and fun.’
I was a little surprised by the way he talked about Rachel. ‘You seem to be doing OK,’ I said. I was trying to be diplomatic, but I was actually a little surprised at how well he was handling Rachel’s death.
‘There was no choice for me to get it together and keep going,’ he said. ‘The Parkers didn’t wait a beat before they started pushing me to sell the boat and asking when I could move out of the condo.’ There was a touch of anger in his voice.
‘Luke, we need some refills here,’ one of the women at the end of the bar called. When I looked in their direction, they both shot me looks of displeasure, apparently unhappy that I’d taken over his attention.
‘Time to go,’ I said, draining the last of the orange juice. I figured that by now Sally ought to be free and there was the dance class I had to get to. The folder with the bill and my credit card was still there and I pushed it toward him. He turned away so no one could see him and tore up the check before handing me my credit card.
‘The prices here are ridiculous,’ he said with a friendly smile. ‘Remember what I said. Stick to the heartwarming and most of all, nothing that makes it seem like she was losing her mind.’
It wasn’t until I was riding down in the elevator that I remembered the DVD. I’d meant to ask if Luke knew anything about it. It was too late now, and I had to focus to Evan’s problem, anyway. When I reached the lobby, I remembered the clerk’s direction and went looking for Sally’s office. I found a sign that said Event Planning and looked inside the open door. The small office was empty.
I thought back to when I’d written the mystery and wondered what I would have had my detective Derek Streeter do in this circumstance. He was a fearless detective, so of course he would have looked around. I’d followed his lead at the bar, and it had worked, so why not continue. The door was open after all, and Sally’s desk was easily accessible. I took a quick look around me to make sure there was no one watching and went inside. I expected she’d be back any minute, so I got busy.
I glanced over the top of her desk which was perfectly arranged. Even the papers in her in basket were in absolute alignment. There weren’t any stray sticky notes or paper clips lying around. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. Derek Streeter might have had nerves of steel, but I didn’t. I suddenly had cold feet and wanted to get out of there. In my haste, I dropped my tote bag and of course the contents spilled. I was on the floor trying to grab everything quickly and managed to send my favorite pen rolling under her desk. As I went to retrieve it, I saw a piece of paper under there. I reached for it and saw that it was Evan’s note.
I threw everything back in my bag and slapped the paper on Sally’s desk. I considered making a run for it, but I heard someone coming down the hall. I slid into one of the seats and tried to act nonchalant as Sally came into the office. She looked at me with surprise.
‘You’re Evan’s neighbor, Veronica,’ she said. ‘What can I do for you?’
In my head I was thinking fall in love with Evan so he hires me to write his proposal and then probably write his part of your wedding vows and then who knows – baby announcements, but out loud I said, ‘Sorry for just coming in, but the door was open. I understand you’re the person to talk to about arranging parties here.’
She shut the door behind her, and it created a whoosh of air and the paper I’d just put on her desk sailed off and landed on the floor. I held in a laugh as I realized why Evan hadn’t gotten an answer.
‘Let me get that for you,’ I said, diving to the floor and then putting it on her desk.
She glanced at the paper. ‘What a coincidence, it’s a note from Evan.’ She stopped to read it over and then got a puzzled expression. I felt my stomach clench, worried that the next thing she was going to say was that she wasn’t interested in him in that way and then ask me if maybe I could break the news to him, since I seemed to be his friend. But then she smiled and pulled open one of the drawers and produced the toy boat. ‘Now it makes sense. I wondered why somebody left a boat on my desk. Funny that the note just showed up now, though,’ she said. She showed it to me and I read it over, even though I knew exactly what it said.
‘Sounds like a nice afternoon. Cute touch with the boat, but then you know Evan – he’s just full of fun,’ I added with a friendly smile. ‘Maybe he sent the boat first to fire up your curiosity.’ I watched her face to see if I
could get a hint of what her answer would be. At least I knew why she hadn’t said anything. She hadn’t seen the note. Suddenly she looked up at me and I thought, Here it comes.
But she smiled and said, ‘So what kind of event was it you wanted to discuss?’
SEVENTEEN
‘Did you come to the morning Serendipity class?’ Darcy asked. She was behind the reception counter greeting people as they swiped their cards to check in.
‘Yes, and that’s why I’m only going to be observing now. One class a day is all I can handle.’
‘What did you think of the class? Different, huh?’ she said.
‘Definitely different. And fun.’ I moved aside as more people came in.
Darcy pulled out a small bench and offered it to me. ‘You might as well be comfortable,’ she said. ‘Did you go home and come back downtown?’
‘No, actually, I stopped by the Bellingham Hotel about something else I’m working on,’ I said. ‘It’s all about romance.’
‘For you or someone else?’ she asked.
‘It was for a client,’ I said with a smile. ‘No romance for me right now.’ I didn’t mean to, but I told her about my divorce and how it had left me gun-shy about anything serious. ‘And it’s hard to meet someone when you spend most of your time alone with your computer.’
‘Maybe you’ll meet someone here.’ We both looked out at the crowd which was mostly women and then she rolled her eyes. ‘Or maybe not.’
‘But I do like the social aspect of this place. I’m going to include that in what I write. I’ll make it clear that it’s more about friendship than romance.’
Debbie went to the front of the room and announced that today’s class was golden oldies with music and dances from the past. She led them through a brief warm-up before turning on the music. Everyone watched as she did a demo of the different dances. There was a lot of laughter as some of the steps were pretty funny. She turned up the volume and had everyone join in.
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