'This is all for the shoot of the 'before' part of the face cream infomercial.' CeeCee glanced nervously toward a coffee table another set of movers was hoisting to remove. 'Be careful there. That's irreplaceable.' I noticed the movers didn't seem happy with her comments.
A slightly better-dressed woman with a clipboard came up to CeeCee. 'I appreciate your concern, ma'am, but don't worry. Nothing will be damaged, and if it is, we'll make sure it's fixed.'
CeeCee didn't seem placated, and the woman sighed and grimaced. 'Generally the owners aren't here when we're setting up, ma'am.'
'Well, that doesn't matter to me. I am here, and I am concerned. Those young men handled my couch recklessly. And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me
The woman swallowed her annoyance and put on an artificialsmile. 'Let's move you and your friends into the other room. I'm sure you'll all be more comfortable there.' To ensure that we moved, the woman took CeeCee's elbow in a studied gracious manner and steered all of us into the dining room. 'The makeup person will be along any minute. Why don't you wait in here?'
The dining room looked the same, and CeeCee sank into one of the chairs and indicated for us to sit, too. 'I've been on lots of locations and never thought twice about the owners' furniture and house. It's a little different when it's your place and your things.
'Okay, let's see what's going on,' CeeCee said as we brought out our poor, misshapen granny squares. The worry went out of her face, and she laughed her musical laugh. 'Oh, my dear, you did make a mess. They can't be fixed. You'll have to unravel and start again. Do it quickly,' she said, looking toward the hall.
Two women came in, carrying a bunch of supplies. They continued into the kitchen. CeeCee followed them, and we followed her. The women set up plates, cups and coffee. Another woman came in, carrying a box of donuts and jugs of orange juice. As soon as the women set their things down, they all headed back out, taking no notice of us.
As if in a trance, CeeCee headed right for the donuts and lifted the lid on the box. 'They've got Bavarian cream- filled,' she gushed. When she turned back toward us, she had a donut along with plastic silverware on a plate. 'Go on. Help yourself. It's for the cast and crew, but they always bring way more than they need.'
We passed on the snacks, but CeeCee fixed herself a cup of coffee with double cream and sugar before we all went back to the dining room table.
'I always buy the fat-free half-and-half,' CeeCee said, taking sip of the coffee.
Fat-free half-and-half? That was an oxymoron if I'd ever heard one. Personally, I only bought the real stuff.
CeeCee cut into the donut with the plastic knife and fork, and the cream oozed out. She took a bite and smiled at the taste. 'You don't know what you're missing,' she said. That's where she was wrong. I knew exactly what I was missing--somewhere around a zillion calories and a sugar overload. Between bites, she explained that we'd left out some stitches in beginning of our squares, and she told us to start on new ones quickly. The pressure made me nervous,and I had trouble joining the beginning chain.
CeeCee watched us both and waved her hand. 'There's your mistake,' she said, stopping me when I left out one of the chain twos in an early round. She caught Dinah as she finished the first round with only three sides. CeeCee gesturedfor us to work quickly, and we'd gotten to the third round with no apparent errors when the woman with the clipboard returned.
'Makeup's ready,' she said to CeeCee. We followed along as she led CeeCee to her own front door. A trailer was parked in the driveway, which appeared to be our destination.We followed, still hanging on to our squares-in- progressand crochet hooks.
Natalie Shaw arrived along with a man and woman, and stopped the procession. She hugged CeeCee and noddeda greeting to Dinah and me before introducing Jeff Rogers, a human-interest columnist for the
So CeeCee had definitely changed her mind about terminating.I wondered how Natalie had gotten her to stay. Was it really the promise of doing a great job, or did it have something to do with the file CeeCee wanted so much and which Natalie apparently had seen? Whatever was going on, it seemed to be taking a toll on Natalie. She had lost the confident, in-charge look I'd noticed at the funeral. Each time I'd seen her since, she'd looked a little more harried. Though she was dressed in a power suit and heels, with not a strand of her chin-length brown hair out of place, there were circles under her eyes even her perfectly done makeup couldn't hide.
What was the old saying about getting what you want and wanting it when you get it? Maybe, as much as Natalie might have wanted to be in charge, the actuality of it had turned out to be a bigger bite than she could chew.
Natalie was staying close to Jeff Rogers, as if she was afraid he would bolt if given the chance. It quickly became apparent that the hook for the interview was 'CeeCee Collins: The Legend Continues.' Calling CeeCee a legend seemed a little over the top, but it wasn't my business, though Jeff Rogers seemed to be having some trouble with it, too.
'Ms. Collins, your sitcom was groundbreaking. Am I to understand this face cream is going to be the same?'
The woman with the clipboard was moving us en masse to the trailer. CeeCee was definitely in her element and enjoyingevery second of having an entourage and being the center of attention.
Natalie didn't look happy. This interview obviously wasn't going as she had hoped. When we had all been herded into the trailer, she suddenly looked less worried. 'If you are looking for human interest, what could be more human or more interesting than CeeCee's charity work?'
CeeCee listened to what Natalie was saying, but clearly hadn't a clue what she was talking about.
'Your crochet group,' Natalie prodded.
Finally it clicked in. 'Oh, yes, dear,' CeeCee trilled. 'I've taken over leading the Tarzana Hookers. We hook for charity,' she said with her trademark giggle.
Jeff Rogers looked more interested, particularly when CeeCee explained whom she was taking over for and what had happened to her. He was taking furious notes and more than once had checked to make sure his tape recorder was working.
'Hearts and Barks was Ellen's favorite charity. They're expecting the blanket to fetch a high price, partly because of the sentimental value and partly because my name is connected with it. Of course, with Ellen gone, I'm the mastercrocheter on the project.'
Nobody could accuse CeeCee of being humble.
'I suppose the blanket's connection to a murder would generate some interest. Have they any leads on who did it?' the columnist asked.
I held my breath, but nobody looked my way. Natalie sensed the direction of the interview and stepped in.
'These are two of the crocheters on the project.' She pushed us close to CeeCee, and we held up our partially completed squares. My hook clattered to the ground, and I bent to pick it up. When I stood, the photographer was aimingher camera at us.
I was curious about how they would do the makeup for the 'before' section of the infomercial, but never got to find out. Once they'd gotten our photograph, Dinah and I were quickly dismissed.
As Dinah and I headed back to my car, we passed the back of one of the trucks. CeeCee's couch was upended against the inside wall.
'CeeCee wouldn't be happy if she saw that,' I said. I glanced back toward the house. 'If it was making her so upset, I wonder why she let them use her house.'
Dinah rubbed her fingers together. 'Moola. Do you know how much they pay to use your house as a location? Down the street from me, there is a couple whose house gets used all the time, though I think it's for porn stuff. I asked one of the crew what they were shooting, and they just gave me a weird look.'
'Hmm, shopping at warehouse stores and renting out her house for productions. Could she be short on cash?'
CHAPTER 14
I was deep under the water and couldn't see where I was going. It was a scary, exciting feeling, but this
