was gorgeous.
'That was one of the first things I crocheted,' she said as I examined it.
Dinah walked over to the fireplace. The mantel was decoratedwith six gold statuettes representing different TV awards. 'You won all these?'
CeeCee smiled and nodded and waited until we noticed the wall of photos. There were rows and rows of framed eight-by-tens with pictures of CeeCee with everybody from Elvis Presley to Al Gore.
When CeeCee was satisfied that we were suitably impressed,we moved on to the kitchen, which was too adorable to be true and looked as though not much cooking went on in it. Our last stop was the dining room, where she suggested we do our crocheting. I recognized it from the show, too. The TV family had always had their powwows around the dark wood trestle table. Only the lacy crocheted runner and the bowl of oranges were new. The Yorkies ran around CeeCee's feet, barking with excitement as she took the plastic top off the cake carrier.
She had snagged a bit of icing off the cover and tasted it. Her eyes went heavenward. 'Oh, but that's good. You made this from scratch?'
'It's the only way I bake.' I explained that cake mixes never worked for me, but CeeCee didn't seem to be listening.She was already getting plates and silverware. Though nobody had said anything, apparently it was cake before crochet. I had to admit, the cake did look pretty good. The strawberry halves were still in place along the top and the buttercream icing might not have that swirly gloss the stuff out of the can did, but it more than made up for it in taste.
Dinah was curious about how I'd learned to make it, and I explained it was the first cake I had learned to bake. 'I alwayscall it Helen's Pound Cake, since that was my grand-mother'sname and she's the one who taught me.'
CeeCee did the honors, and as soon as she'd served us, she started on hers with relish. Between bites she raved. 'It practically melts in your mouth. That icing is heavenly, and the strawberries give just the right contrast to the sweetness and creamy texture. I'd ask for the recipe, but I don't bake. If I need a cake, I'll just ask you for it, okay?'
Dinah and I rolled our eyes at each other. The Yorkies had jumped onto the chair behind CeeCee, and their heads were poking out from under her arms. It looked as though they knew the drill. 'Oh, Tallulah and Marlena, you girls are so naughty,' she said, giving each of them a bite of cake. I suppose I should have taken it as a compliment that they both licked their lips and went looking for more.
I gave Dinah a secret little nod, hoping she'd realize I was going to start trying to direct the conversation as the criminal investigation book suggested. She winked back.
'What are you going to do for publicity now that you've left Pink Sheridan--excuse me, Pink Sheridan Shaw?' I asked.
'Actually, it's PSS PR now,' CeeCee corrected. 'Though I still don't know if you're supposed to say the letters or say the sound.' She wrinkled her nose. '
'You mean taking over for Ellen?' I asked.
CeeCee looked at me. 'I thought you knew how Ellen operated.' She cut another piece of cake and put it on her plate. 'I was with Ellen for years, and I saw her do the same thing over and over. She would hire someone like Natalie who was ambitious and a hard worker. She'd dangle the promise of making the person a partner in the firm and then get them to work cheap. Ellen always maintained the relationshipswith her clients and directed things, but the person in Natalie's position did most of the work. Everything was fine for a while, but eventually they'd start asking about the promised promotion. That's when they'd get fired and she'd hire a new person. Natalie is the first one who actually got her name on the firm, even if it's only an initial.'
Something about what CeeCee was saying rang a bell. Charlie had complained that he didn't like some of the ways Ellen did business. He had never gone into detail, but I guessed this was the kind of thing he'd been talking about. She and Charlie had been so different; it was amazingthey'd managed to stay partners all those years.
'Natalie must really be thrilled,' I said. 'So, are you goingto hire another firm?'
'Actually, dear, I'm thinking of staying with Natalie. I have the face cream thing coming up, and it doesn't seem like a good time to make a change. Plus, Lawrence is going to be involved now, too.'
I tried to contain my excitement. I had moved the conversationjust where I wanted it. CeeCee was all primed and ready for me to get her to talk.
'It's probably a good idea to stay with Natalie. I'm sure you have secrets that need to be handled,' I said.
'Secrets? What makes you think I have secrets?' CeeCee asked, suddenly wary. 'And why are you so interestedin what I'm doing for publicity?'
Maybe she wasn't as primed as I'd thought. I was suddenlyspeechless, but Dinah came in for a save.
'Remember, Molly might be working with Natalie?' Dinah said, winking at me.
'Right. And I . . . I . . .' I struggled to think of where to go from there. I suddenly remembered something Charlie had used with new clients, and it seemed perfect for now. 'And if there's anything you want to keep out of the media, you probably ought to tell me in the event she has me work on your account.'
'Okay, then, there is one thing you might help me with.'
'You probably don't understand, because when you shop at one of those warehouse stores, nobody cares. But when CeeCee Collins is seen pushing a cart with fifty rolls of toilet paper, people look. I know they think I should be dashing out of a limo on Rodeo Drive, but I'm just a real person like everybody else, looking to save a few bucks. Someone took a picture of me with their cell phone, dear, and I'm afraid it's going to end up in the tabloids. I was thinking, is there was a way you could put out some kind of media release that gave me some other reason for shopping there? Like maybe I was undercover, studying for an upcomingpart?'
All my anticipation fizzled. No need to worry about which way her eyes were supposed to glance if she was lying. I knew she was telling the truth. Just not the truth I wanted to hear. But CeeCee was right about the tabloid thing. She might not be Angelina Jolie, but a photo of her pushing a cart full of toilet paper was just the kind of thing someone would run. CeeCee seemed disappointed when I suggested she talk to Natalie about it. Then she cut herself another sliver of cake. She gave the girls their share and polished off the rest, then began to clear the table.
'I suppose you want to take the rest home with you?' She looked at the more-than-half that was left.
'Why don't you keep it?' I offered. She was on her way to the kitchen with it before I had finished the sentence.
A few minutes later she returned with my empty cake carrier and set it on the table. After that she became all crochetbusiness, and I realized any chance of getting her to tell me about the secret in the file was lost.
We took out our hooks and yarn. I had brought some green sueded yarn for the middle of each square, some blue fuzzy stuff for the next part and finally some black worsted for the final rounds. CeeCee didn't look pleased with my selection.
'Dear, it's not a good idea to mix yarn types in a square. Only a master like Ellen could pull it off, and the only reasonshe did it was because the yarn in the middle was from her daughter's Siamese cat.'
'What?' I said. 'Yarn from her cat? How do you do that?'
CeeCee explained that there were places that spun the yarn for you. You just sent them the fur, and they sent you back balls of yarn. 'I did it once. My husband had a golden retriever he adored, and I thought something made from the dog's fur would make a nice present.' She left and returned with a small lap blanket. Sure enough, it was golden retriever-colored, and the texture resembled mohair.CeeCee pointed out all the fluff around the yarn and called it a halo.
All of a sudden I understood the bag of poodle fur at the groomer's.
'But we're getting off the subject,' CeeCee said. She put the throw off to the side, along with our yarn and hooks, gave us each two colors of cotton yarn and a G hook, and announced we were going to make granny-square washcloths.
'I like the idea of making something instead of just a sample.'
I was very excited about the prospect of learning to make a granny square. I'd always loved them, but
