was so needy.
By now Benjamin had segued into his campaign pitch and he’d rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. I’d seen enough of these campaign things to know they would probably just use the visual of him looking hardworking and concerned and mix it with a voice-over.
I glanced toward the front of the bookstore as more people came in, but one person in a blue doctor’s jacket grabbed my attention. Dr. Arnold Bullard. I started toward him. This was my big chance to talk to him and I wasn’t going to miss it. I’d already figured out what to say to trap him. It was Basic Sales 101. You didn’t ask somebody if they wanted to buy something or not—you asked if they wanted it in red or blue. I was going to use the same logic with him. Instead of asking if he’d been at the Cottage Shoppe, I was going to ask him if he was there to buy or sell something.
As I got closer, I noticed he’d stopped. Patricia had taken the spotlight and was beginning her spiel. He watched intently for a moment and then began to move around the edge of the crowd. I trailed behind him and when I’d almost caught up realized I might have been mistaken about who he was watching. Pixie was talking to Eduardo and Bob was next to her.
“Excuse me,” I said, trying to get Arnold’s attention. Fat chance that a jealous husband was going to be distracted by me when his wife was in the middle of two men.
Patricia was at her grand finale. She threw the red wine on Benjamin’s white shirt and held up the bottle of special spot-dissolver potion, mentioning the recipe was in the book. This was her big moment. When she got the wine to disappear, the audience always gasped in surprise and applauded enthusiastically.
Bob put his hand on Pixie’s arm, no doubt asking for her verdict on the drink. Pixie suddenly saw Arnold, and as he got closer, she put up her hands as if to stop him from doing something.
I sped up and tried to block Arnold, but it all happened too fast. There was some yelling—something about “paws off my wife” and Pixie screaming, “Don’t!” And then I heard the sound of a fist hitting a jaw. Bob had stepped back, and I saw that Arnold’s fist had landed on Eduardo’s face.
Pixie started shouting. “Stop, Arnold! Stop before you do it again!”
Then all hell broke loose. In a flash, Benjamin’s handlers rushed him out the door, leaving Patricia at the table, still holding the magic-potion bottle.
If I were her, I’d think twice about tying up with a man who left me out to dry when stuff hit the fan. But it was none of my business. I wondered if Eduardo would hit back, but Pixie hustled Arnold outside before he had a chance.
I was left facing the crowd. Adele came up behind me. “Pink, you better do something.”
I had an idea, didn’t know if it would work, but figured it couldn’t make things worse.
I grabbed the microphone. “We’re trying something new here at Shedd & Royal. I hope you all enjoyed our first evening of performance art.”
My words hung in the air for a moment as all eyes stared at me. Then someone said, “So you mean that was all planned, kind of like
Suddenly everyone got it and applauded.
“YOU DIDN’T,” DINAH SAID. ON MY WAY OUT I’D called her on my cell to give her a recap. “I miss everything,” she said with just a tiny whine in her voice.
“I did,” I said with a laugh. “And despite everything, it turned out to be a good night. Even without her grand finale, Patricia sold out all her books. People thought Bob was part of the show and complimented him on his acting as they bought drinks and cookies. Adele got an ice pack for Eduardo. A cover model can’t very well go around with a bruise on his chiseled jaw. And all I want to do is go home and collapse,” I said before clicking off and getting in my car.
CHAPTER 21
I OPENED THE BACK DOOR, GLAD TO BE FINALLY home. But when I walked into my living room, I jumped. It wasn’t just that the room seemed in disarray. It was who was on the couch. Barry and Jeffrey were asleep sitting up. Jeffrey was leaning against his father’s tall frame, and there was a dog on either side of them. Blondie, who never cuddled for long, was nestled against Jeffrey. Cosmo was drapped across Barry’s lap with his legs in the air.
Once I got over the shock of seeing them, I started to get annoyed. This was taking it too far with the dog thing. Barry must have been sleeping with his eyes only half shut, because he awoke before I could take another step in the room. I supposed it was from years of getting calls at odd hours and having to function, but he was immediately alert.
I was about the make my comment about the dog care, but he stopped me.
“Now, don’t worry, Molly,” he said, which was like a green light in my worry department. If there wasn’t something wrong, why would he even need to caution me? He extricated himself from Cosmo and sat forward. He had way past a five o’clock shadow on his face, his tie was pulled lose, but he was still wearing his suit jacket. Without Barry to lean against, Jeffrey fell into a prone position behind his father.
I glanced around the living room again. Something had gone on. Things had been knocked off the coffee table, and an easy chair had been moved along with the table next to it.
“Sorry, they had to move that to get the gurney in.” He got up and started picking up the books and doodads that had fallen and putting them back on the coffee table.
“Gurney, like in the thing they roll you into an ambulance with?” My voice sounded a little hysterical. “Who went to the hospital?”
Thanks to his job, Barry was an expert at giving bad news. First he got me to sit down and take a few breaths to calm myself, then in an even tone he told me what happened.
He and Jeffrey had just pulled up to spend some time with Cosmo when the ambulance arrived. “I was afraid it was you and practically broke the door down,” Barry said. “When we came in, Morgan was passed out on the floor and Samuel wasn’t handling it well.
“The paramedics wanted to know what happened, but Samuel kept walking in circles, muttering something about her being dead.” Barry saw me go pale and touched my arm. “She’s not dead. Remember, I said not to worry. I wouldn’t have said that if she was dead.” He went on about Samuel barely holding it together and how he’d taken over and told Samuel to sit down with Jeffrey. The gist was that Morgan had passed out, probably from not eating. She had come to and said she was fine, but when she tried to stand, she collapsed again. “I told Samuel he better man up and take care of her.”
My mother protector came out and I told him again that Samuel was still having a hard time with Charlie’s death, and seeing his girlfriend sprawled on the floor probably brought it all back. Before I could ask about Morgan, Barry said he’d already checked with the hospital and some of her levels were low and they were keeping her overnight. “Samuel called her mother in Phoenix, and she’s coming to take her back there. He said he’d come by and pack up her things.”
“I’d say that’s taking care of things pretty well,” I said a little too defensively. I sank into the chair as the weight of the evening and the adrenalin rush from the news sunk in. Barry asked if I needed something.
“No, just a few minutes to collect myself.” Then I told him about my evening at the bookstore. He shook his head with disbelief when I got to the punch part. “You really should tell Detective Heather she ought to check out Arnold Bullard. He obviously has a problem with impulse management, and he was angry at Drew Brooks. He could have easily smacked him on the head.”
“What was Bullard so angry at Drew Brooks about?” Barry asked.
“I don’t know.”
Barry put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re staying out of it, right?”
I just looked at him. His cell phone rang, interrupting us, and his face grew stern. Phone calls this late usually weren’t good.
