I'll be posting a chapter from "Murder in Half Moon Bay" every day until the end of the month. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 14
Getting ready for the ball just happened. It was
like a miracle. I don’t remember. Going through the motions of showering, doing
my hair and putting on my make-up felt like a strange someone-else dream. My
emerald green velvet gown with small rhinestone buttons and a satin sash slipped
easily over my head.
The hotel had arranged for Teddy to have a sitter
for the evening, a request I had made far in advance of my arrival. I greeted
her, and after giving instructions, I left.
“Jillian,” Ann called from the Club Room with a forkful
of quiche poised. “I wanted to catch you.”
“Ann?”
She swallowed quickly, “Oh, Jillian, have I got
news for you!”
Her smile curled cat-like.
“Come with me, quickly.”
I took her arm and headed toward the nearest table,
eager for the news. Luckily, it was in a far corner near the door farthest away
from the food and consequently, the people.
“I found out from Celeste that Evelyn is the power
behind the throne, not only at home but in their nursery business as well.” Ann
sat back very satisfied with herself at the information she had received.
“And….”
She widened her eyes, giving me a meaningful look,
but finally resolved to use words after I didn’t immediately get her meaning.
“Well, don’t you see?”
“I’m trying.”
“It means that Evelyn Westover ran the business,
fired Walter’s father with no feeling whatsoever, and I think she would
probably be bold enough to kill Regina if she thought Regina was after Thomas.
Or if she was just plain sick of Regina being around. Things like that have happened
before.”
Then she seemed to realize what she’d just said.
“Wow, I can’t believe I just said that...I….”
I cut her off. “Evelyn might have a motive if
Regina was after Thomas, or even if Thomas was interested in Regina, but do you
really think Evelyn would leave her room at two o’clock in the morning, go to
Regina’s room and strangle her?
“Don’t you think Thomas would notice Evelyn leaving?
Wouldn’t he wonder where she was going at that time of the morning?”
“It doesn’t make sense, but Evelyn did hate
Regina…according to Celeste anyway, and there’s something about Evelyn that
just doesn’t fit.” She leaned forward, drumming her fingers on the table in
thought.
“What doesn’t fit?”
“Well, Celeste said she had never seen Evelyn and
Thomas drink as much as they did on Saturday night. She said Evelyn was too
happy and was treating Thomas too nicely, and then she said, ‘I wonder
who they’ve decided to get rid of, now?’ That was a very strange thing to say,
don’t you think, Jillian?”
“Ann, you’ve done well. There’s something there we
need to look into–who the Westovers got rid of. It could have been a client, an
enemy or someone they didn’t like as you said. Have you seen Nicole or
Dominique?”
“Nicole stayed in her room with her computer all
afternoon. I haven’t seen Dominique. Oh, look, here they come.”
I took the opportunity to select some hors ‘d’oeuvres
from the buffet and a glass of Cabernet. “Hello ladies, tsk…tsk….” I shook my
finger teasingly at them. “It’s 7:04. Why so late?”
“Perhaps some of us are not a human pocket watch,”
Nicole pouted.
Dominique chuckled.
They both scrunched in around the table in their
ball dresses. I set my plate on the table. “Nicole, Ann tells me you’ve been on
your computer all afternoon. Did you find anything?”
“I’m getting there. Everything looks legitimate,
except one account called The Venus Flytrap.” She shook her head a little and
furrowed her brow. “I still need to check for an address.”
I took a bite of my stuffed mushrooms and sipped my
Cabernet Sauvignon. I grinned. “I’ll test the waters with that name and see
what kind of reaction they give me.”
“Jillian…” Ann took a deep breath, obviously
shocked at the idea of confronting them so openly.
“It’s time to put on the pressure.”
I suspected I sounded like the Chief of Scotland
Yard.
“Ahem.” Dominique interrupted that pleasant thought.
“You haven’t questioned me yet, Jillian. And I’ve really found out something…I
think.”
“Good.”
Things were looking better by the minute.
“You asked me to shadow Marianne and I did. She
said that she had known Regina, ‘as well as anyone could, poor thing’.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Did she elaborate on the
‘poor thing’?”
“Marianne said that Regina never had a chance. She
was smart, pretty, and just enough of a damsel in distress to have men wrapped
around her little fingers.” Dominique smiled sarcastically.
I furrowed my brow. “Did Marianne mention the men
Regina had wrapped around her little fingers?”
“Marianne just said that she had the same effect on
any man. It didn’t really matter who it was.”
Ann chimed in. “Dominique, how did Marianne talk
about Regina? Was she hateful or jealous?”
Dominique looked at Ann with a sober expression. “Marianne
pitied her!”
“How long did Marianne know Regina?”
“She knew Regina as a young girl–since grade
school. Marianne talked about how Regina teased the boys. She said that she was
always ambitiously working to improve herself. I think Marianne also admired
her from the way she talked.” Dominique smiled and looked at the three of us.
“Nicole.” I sat up straighter in my chair. “Regina
wrote horticulture articles that were plagiarized by Spencer Hausman. We need
to find out what she wrote. See what you can come up with.”
“I’ll check on it right after the ball, Jillian.”
Nicole stood and cast a furtive glance around the room. The crowd around us seemed
to be stirring and they were too close for confidentiality now. “It’s almost
time.”
Too bad Regina, the resident ‘Cinderella’, wouldn’t
be attending. No, I supposed that in real life, most of the Cinderella’s out
there weren’t so virginal and many of them probably ended up dead. Jealousy was
a powerful thing.
“Ladies, shall we go?” I motioned to the door where
others had started to exit.
Stuffed into the elevator in all our finery, we
descended.
On entering the ball room, I couldn’t help but make
a rough head count. It looked like around two hundred. The funny thing was that
out of all those two hundred people only two really stood out.
Celeste looked like a golden goddess, dressed to
the teeth, and dangerously seductive. Her blond hair was piled elegantly on top
of her head, she wore Hollywood quality makeup (false eyelashes and all), and
the gown…my goodness! Strapless, and made of gold lamè, the bodice shimmered
with tiny gold beads. The full, floor length skirt of gold tulle netting
sparkled with the same elegant gold shimmer. A simple diamond tiara, matching
diamond jewelry, and a golden tulle net shawl finished her off–a total ‘belle
of the ball’ sort of sight.
For some reason, it angered me. All of the menfolk
swarmed around her. A cloud of bees guarding the hive.
What would Regina have worn, had she the chance
tonight? No, she was no longer any sort of competition. The more I thought
about it, the madder I got.
Celeste’s attention-loving smirk made me more
determined than ever to find out who killed Regina…and I would find out.
The second most noticeable person in the room was
Evelyn. Her hairstyle remained unchanged from her everyday bob and bangs. Her
makeup consisted of mascara and lipstick.
The dress was undeniably the worst looking formal I’d
ever seen! It was orange and green velour in a paisley pattern. It began
gathered at her throat and cascaded over her matronly figure revealing every
figure flaw she had.
It exposed her flabby upper arms, which were
covered with countless age spots. The fabric rippled over her midriff and then
rested on the shelf of her rather large derriere.
The skirt mercifully fell to the floor covering her
stocky legs. The earrings were large gold discs of African design. One couldn’t
help but stare at them.
Thomas stood by next to her looking very dignified
in his tuxedo. Seeing me, they made their way over.
“Jillian, my dear.” Evelyn sounded quite solicitous.
“I simply love your gown. It sets off your blond hair so nicely.”
“Thank you, Evelyn.” I wished I could have returned
the compliment.
“Good evening, Jillian.” Thomas smiled and took my
hand, covering it with his. “You’re looking lovely tonight.”
I glanced at Evelyn out of the corner of my eye and
noticed the obvious jealousy she felt at her husband’s comment.
“You both are very kind.” I tried to change the
subject. “What a pity Regina couldn’t be here tonight. She worked so hard to
achieve the ball’s success.”
“Yes, it is a pity.” Thomas looked serious. “Regina
always put everything she had into a project. She used to come into the nursery
to deliver orders with the order in one hand and a horticulture book in the
other. She’d say, ‘If you want something badly enough, you’ll do whatever it
takes.’”
I had to ask. “What did she wanted badly
enough, Thomas?”
He appeared rather flustered. “Regina was working
on a project for the government. If she succeeded she’d be set for life.”
Evelyn turned to Thomas and ignored me altogether.
“How do you know about what Regina was doing? I didn’t think you even talked to
that...that....”
“Now, dear.” Thomas patted her flabby upper arm.
“Let’s not speak ill of the dead.”
“Thomas, what sort of project?” I wasn’t about to
allow that comment to go unquestioned.
He considered me and then his wife, then seemed to choose
his words carefully. “The government was working on expanding their knowledge
of biochemical warfare especially in light of the recent attacks on the World
Trade Center. Regina’s field was plant spores. Quite knowledgeable.” He didn’t
look at Evelyn but we both heard her gasp.
“Did she complete the project–submit it?”
“She was close, I know that much. She said that
this weekend really cut into her deadline.”
Evelyn inched closer toward him, but he ignored
her.
“Thomas, dear.” She placed a possessive hand on his
arm. “I really don’t think you should be discussing Regina’s government project
with anyone. They might not like it.” Her saccharine smile tried to
inject a note of humor....
“Or someone else might not like it.”
“What’s that you said, Jillian?”
“Oh, just thinking aloud. Don’t mind me.”
“Jillian, I must say you’re going a bit too far
playing detective.” She chuckled. “I think you should stick to your column and
let the police handle Regina’s case. After all, she was common, so let
the common people handle her.”
With a final ‘harrumph,’ she took a firm hold on Thomas’
arm and led him away.
Quite a difficult person to like. What hold did she
have over Thomas to make him stay with her? On the other hand, if he had plans
to leave with Regina, perhaps Evelyn stopped him by stopping her.
Tricky to
find out.
Perhaps a travel agent could give me information
about whether or not Thomas and Regina had made any reservations for trips out
of the area, hotel stays–plane tickets. I’d get Nicole on it right away.
I actually danced a few dances with Hugh Porter and
one with Spencer Hausman. Spencer had surely only felt obligated. The ball
ended in a final dance with the mirrored ball reflecting prisms of light
throughout the room and ceiling.
For a moment, I thought I saw Regina dancing with
Paul, but her face changed into one who had a golden head of hair. Celeste.
Did I just imagine that?
The barracuda’s face curled in a triumphant smile
of victory. She held him in a hug as they seductively danced cheek to cheek.
If you like to read about lovely places and fabulous cuisine, enjoy the Jillian Bradley mystery series.
Book 1 MURDER IN HALF MOON BAY
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All books are G-rated and contain no profanity.
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See you in my books!
~Nancy Jill
Mystery
novelist Nancy Jill Thames has published Christian fiction since 2010.
The author of seven books in the Jillian Bradley series, she is an award
winning blogger and listed numerous times on the Author Watch Bestseller’s
List. In addition, she won first place in her church's 4th of July celebration for her chocolate cream pie.
When she isn’t plotting her next
book, she spends time with her six
grandchildren, tags along with her husband on business trips, and
plays classical piano for her personal enjoyment. She is an active
member
of the Leander Writers' Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW),
CenTex Chapter-ACFW, and supports the Central Texas SPCA with a portion
of her book sales. She resides with her husband in Leander, Texas.
CONTACT INFORMATION jillthames@gmail.com
