Trick or Deceit (13 page)

Roscoe looked alarmed, Rufus chewed faster on his mustache, Jeremiah nodded wisely.

“And if Mrs. Marlton-Crosby rescinds her donation, then we'll be back to square one, with the addition of a lot of hard feelings and uncertainties about our ability to move forward on the community center. Plus, many others donated money to the fund-raiser itself. Who's going to tell the townspeople that their money won't be used for the community center but to pay for all those suits that will be lining up at your door?”

Liv was amazed. Chaz looked a little dazed.

“The representative of the VanderHauw Foundation has already arrived and met with Liv today,” Ted said.

The mayor looked from Ted to Liv.

“He wasn't supposed to be here until this weekend,” Janine said.

Ted shrugged. “He's a very busy man and he fit us in where he could. He's interested, but not if we throw in the towel. We'll become the bad risk among funding organizations. Is that the kind of reputation you want Celebration Bay to have?”

The mayor shook his head. He seemed to be stuck for words. He looked around the table and stopped at Liv.

“Liv, can you guarantee that Barry's museum will be up and running in time for the Halloween kickoff next week?”

Janine stood. “Of course she can't.”

For a nanosecond Liv thought Janine might be sticking up for her.

“Liv's the reason we're in this mess to begin with. Whose idea was it to have this official haunted house? Hers.”

“I suggested a fund-raiser for a new community center. The board came up with the idea of the haunted house contest.”

“Not me,” Chaz said.

“And what have you made? Twenty thousand dollars? Get real. That's not even a down payment on a building. This is just another one of her harebrained schemes to land us in trouble. She's obviously out of her expertise. She was a party planner before she came here.”

Liv had had enough. She stood. Ted pulled her back down, and he stood instead.

“Janine, you're just spewing venom. We've all seen Liv's résumé, and we know what she's done for this town. You couldn't find a more experienced event planner. And I'm getting a little sick of your sour grapes.”

“Ted,” Liv said. She tugged at his sweater, telling him to sit down.

Janine rounded on him. “And you know less than she does! I don't know how you got this job.”

Ted opened his mouth and started singing “I'm Still Here” from the Sondheim musical
Follies
.

The members of the board stared openmouthed.

Liv clamped her hand over her mouth. She'd never seen Ted so outrageous before.

Chaz wore an expression of unholy glee. He looked at Liv and mouthed,
Holy sh—

Janine snapped her head toward the mayor. “He's out of order!”

“Be quiet, Janine,” Roscoe said.

“Everyone just stay calm,” urged Jeremiah.

Gilbert tried banging on the table with his palm to no avail.

Chaz held his sides, laughing.

Ted stopped singing; Liv took a deep breath. “Mr. Mayor. Barry is certainly doing everything he can to get the museum in shape for the opening. He has quite a few volunteers helping out. Let's give him a chance to restore the displays before we do something we can't undo.”

The mayor looked from Liv to Janine, who shook her head, and to the other three board members, who nodded in unison.

Gilbert huffed. “Okay, but Liv, make sure it gets done. No more screw-ups and no more murders.”

As if they were Liv's fault.

“Do you understand?”

“But—”

“We won. Let's go.” Ted grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her out of the room. “Good night, all.”

Liv pulled away. “I've had it with their petty, incendiary—”

“Party of the first part,” said Chaz from behind her.

She turned on him. “Just be quiet. I don't need you making fun of me on top of everyone else.” She yanked her arm away from Ted. “Great speech,” she said, and stormed off down the hall.

Ted and Chaz were still standing in the hall when Liv emerged from the events office a minute later, carrying the clothes she had changed out of to the ladies' room to change back into them. It had been stupid to change anyway. Janine would always be better dressed than Liv unless she pulled out her NYC wardrobe and those shoes she'd relegated to the back of the closet. And Liv wasn't willing to do that. For dinner with Jon maybe, but not to impress Janine.

Ignoring the two men, she slipped into the ladies' room, changed back into her day clothes, and pushed the door open.

Chaz was standing on the other side. “Better than a phone booth.”

“Are you comparing me to Superman?” Liv snapped.

Chaz yawned. “No. I was comparing the bathroom to a phone booth.”

“Aargh.” Liv pushed past him and strode down the hall in her bare feet.

She made it to the events office door before she realized she was holding her shoes in her hand.

Shoes. You took off your shoes and carried them when . . . it was raining or muddy, at the beach, when you were in hurry to get someplace—or to run away. Why had Lucille Foster taken off her shoes? Where had she left them? Where had she gone after the award ceremony?

They'd searched the vacant lot twice, looked around the outside of the museum. Even ventured into the neighbors' yards. It was the end of October. Cold. Wet. Not a time to be barefoot.
Where were Lucille's shoes?

She stopped at the office door, dropped her own shoes to the floor, and shoved her feet into them. Ted's hand appeared before her and turned the doorknob. The door swung open and Liv went inside, followed by Ted and Chaz.

She went straight to her office and began hanging up her clothes.

“You must be tired,” Ted said. “You don't normally let Janine get to you like that.”

Liv turned on him. “I don't know how you stand it. We work our butts off with practically all volunteers. We've tripled festival attendance and pulled this contest out of a hat. And they're not even nice. No ‘thanks, Liv and Ted, for letting us have a stupid idea and then making it work.' Hell, we could have raised money raffling off a car or something simple. But no, we had to oversee judging of a hundred houses, and what do we get?”

“Nice work? If you can get it?”

“Not funny.” Liv leaned against her desk. “Sorry. But there's a lot riding on this next weekend and I don't need the mayor and his hench . . . woman stirring up panic.

“It's bad enough that Lucille Foster was murdered. I'm sorry about that. But Jon and Amanda already knew all about it. I could see that Jon is already waffling. He was asking all kinds of questions about the murder. If we blow this . . .” She bit her lip.

“Liv,” Ted said. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing. I don't know. Something. I'll figure it out.”

Chaz pulled away from the doorframe that had been holding him up. “Stay out of it, Liv.”

“Out of what?”

“Don't be dense. You spend your energy charming your city boy and let Bill take care of the investigation.”

Liv stared at him. “If I said what I'm thinking right now, Ted would be shocked.”

“I doubt it,” Chaz said. “But spare us. I can imagine. Stay out of it.”

“Fine.” Liv reached over the desk and closed her laptop, pushed away from the desk, and stood. “Good night.” She lifted her coat and messenger bag off the coat rack and left the room.

Rufus, Jeremiah, and Roscoe were still standing at the end of the hall talking. They looked up as Liv came out of the office. She raised her hand and hurried toward the door to the street.

She knew she was reacting out of proportion. It was so unlike her.
Cool under pressure
was her middle name. But for some reason, tonight she'd just had enough.

For some reason?
Liv thought she knew the reason, though she didn't want to admit it. Seeing Jon had been like a shot of excitement from her past life. She'd been tired of the constant stress of that life; that's why she took the job in Celebration Bay.

Normally she loved her job, but sitting at lunch today dressed in country corduroys with Jon in his designer suit made her wonder if she was losing her touch.

She crossed the street more slowly, the anger and the aggravation dissipating and leaving her feeling limp.

She cut through the park on her way home. She hardly ever brought her car to work. Walking was a surefire de-stresser, reinvigorator, helped to sever the work frustrations from her home life.

Tonight it wasn't working.

She slowed as she reached the middle of the park where all the paths converged. To her right, store lights were just beginning to go dark. To her left at the far end of the park, the band shell was lit by a Victorian streetlamp on each side and one security light on the stage.

What had happened between Friday night and Saturday morning? Instead of going toward home, Liv veered toward the band shell. Several benches were placed facing the band shell, though most people sat on the grass on lawn chairs brought from home. There was a narrow strip of pavement where folding chairs could be placed if needed.

Liv sat on one of the benches. Imagined the scene Friday night. Everyone had been there. Where had Lucille gone after she left the square? Why hadn't she just gone home with her husband?

An extra ten thousand dollars. It had seemed like manna from heaven. Now it might be snatched away. The whole effort to house a new community center could be killed by one slash of Jonathon Preston's pen.

“Ugh.” She covered her face with her hands. She needed to fix this and she didn't have a clue how.

“Can anybody join this pity party or is it a private affair?” Chaz stood over her, hands in his pocket, looking serious.

Liv slowly looked up.

Chaz exhaled. “Whew. I was really afraid I'd caught you with red eyes and a runny nose.”

“Ha. What would you have done?”

“I'd have had to loan you my sleeve because I don't carry a hanky.” He sat down.

Liv sniffed. “And it isn't a pity party. I'm pissed.”

“At Janine? At the mayor?”

“That somebody trashed all of Barry's hard work, jeopardized the community center's future, and murdered one of the judges.”

“Oh, is that all.”

“Grr.” Liv started to stand up.

Chaz pulled her back down. Put his arm around her shoulders. “Don't worry. I'm not making a pass; I'm just making sure you stay put while we have a little chat.”

“About what?”

“Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?”

“Do I need something else?”

“I thought maybe you were worried about your grant rep.”

“I am. If we look like a bad investment, they'll bail. We'll become the pariah of the not-for-profit world.” She slumped against him. “And I was sure I could get it.”

Chaz smiled.

“What?”

“Ted said he came in early. You had lunch with him.”

“And the Marlton-Crosbys. So?”

“And you're having dinner later this week?”

She gave him a look. “What are you, my social secretary?”

“Ted told me. Said he was very distingué.”

“He is.”

“Missing your old life just a little bit?”

Liv frowned at him.

He shrugged. “Thought so. It's only natural. But don't let him lure you back to the city.”

“Everyone's lives would be a lot easier without me. Yours certainly would be.”

“Yeah, but it would be so boring.” He moved a little closer.

“Lure,” Liv said distractedly. She turned abruptly to face him. Jumped back when she found herself nose to nose with him. “Do you think maybe someone lured Lucille to Barry's museum?”

Chaz sank back to his side of the bench and started laughing to himself. She knew he was laughing because his breath was making like puffs in the night air.

“Think about it,” Liv said. “We all thought she went home with her husband, but he says he wasn't at the ceremony. So either he's lying or she didn't meet him. But maybe she met someone.”

Chaz stood up, pulled Liv to her feet. “I give up. Let's go over what happened Friday night.”

“We went up to congratulate the finalists and winners.” Liv walked toward the stairs at the side of the band shell. Chaz followed her. “Everyone was gathered at the front, talking. I went to thank Amanda Marlton-Crosby and you went to flirt with Lucille Foster.”

She cut him a look.

“Really, Liv, I did not lure her to her death.”

“I wasn't thinking that.”

“Were you jealous?”

“Annoyed.”

“Then what happened?”

“Amanda met Rod. Exit stage left. And the mayor and I went over to Barry, Lucille, Janine, and the others.”

“Maybe Janine lured Lucille to her death.”

“Get serious.”

“I am serious. And if we got rid of Janine, your life would be calmer; mine certainly would.”

“I was standing about here with Ted. You were there between Lucille and Janine. Two really well-dressed women, though Lucille had it over Janine by a long shot. I would practically have killed her myself for those Louboutin heels.”

“Definitely hot. I'm envisioning you in the four-inch red soles and nothing else but lipstick to match.”

“Don't you ever get tired of giving me grief?”

Chaz's mouth twisted. “Alas, that's not what I was thinking about giving you. “

“Friday night?”

“I was standing talking to Lucille and Janine.”

“Looking like you just hopped off a freight train.”

“I did not.” He shrugged. “Then Ernie got testy and stormed off, knocking into Lucille—”

“And knocking off her shawl.”

“Did he?”

“Yes, you guys were all so busy fawning over Lucille, and yelling at Ernie, nobody noticed it lying on the ground. It was beautiful, pashmina wool, really beautiful. I handed it back to her.”

“I remember. She called you
hon
. I thought you were going to deck her.”

“It was rather dismissive. But—wait a minute.”

“What?”

“Shh.” Liv thought back. “Saturday morning. I remember running to see why Marla Jean screamed. I could see a bit of Lucille's off-white trench coat and I knew it had to be her. Everyone moved back, and Ted knelt down to check her pulse. I didn't notice at the time that her shoes were missing. Other people were in the way. But I did see her face and shoulders. There was no shawl there.”

“She might have been lying on it.”

“Possibly. Or she left it in her car.”

“Which was found on the other side of the square,” Chaz said.

“But her shoes weren't in her car. And I'm sure Bill would have said something if they'd found the scarf. His words were, ‘Nothing.'”

“But she was wearing it when she left?”

“Yes, she threw it over her shoulder and the mayor asked if she needed a ride and she said, ‘No, there's Carlton.' She waved and hurried off that way.” Liv pointed to the south side of the park.

“But Ted said— Where is Ted? Is he okay? I've never seen him lose it in a meeting before.” Actually she'd only seen him lose it once before and it had been a frightening experience. “Is he still upset?”

“He went to the play rehearsal. Now, can you please focus?”

“Right. Ted pointed out that Lucille said, ‘Oh there's Carson,' but we didn't actually see him. Did you see him?”

Chaz shook his head.

“You know . . .”

“Uh-oh.”

“We've all been thinking that Lucille's murder was because of the vandalism. But what if it was something different altogether?”

“Like she wasn't meeting her husband, but rather a lover?”

“Ted said she had affairs but no one ever talked about it.”

“Pretty much true. Either out of respect for Carson or because he holds the lien on the house or business of half the people in town and they're petrified of offending him.”

“So
is
she having an affair with someone now?”

“How should I know?” He took her elbow and maneuvered her away from the band shell.

“What are you doing?”

“Preventing you from going off on another tangent without following through on the information you need.”

“Which is?”

“Was the scarf at the crime scene or not?”

“Oh, right.” She reached in her messenger bag and pulled out her cell. Called Bill. The call went to voice mail and she left a message for him to call her back.

Chaz took her arm. “Let's go.”

“Where are we going?”

“I'm walking you home.”

“You don't have to,” Liv said.

“Fine. You can walk me home.”

•   •   •

Chaz walked her home. They didn't talk much and Liv hoped it was because he had his investigative reporter brain on and not because he was thinking of provocative things to say to her once they came to her door.

Fortunately, she'd have to stop at the sisters' to pick up Whiskey and they would put the kibosh on any of Chaz's ulterior motives. Not that Liv didn't want someone to have ulterior motives on her, but she didn't know how she'd ever even go on a date around here, knowing the eyes of Celebration Bay were on her and second-guessing the outcome of the evening. She loved her new hometown, but it was hard to have a social life when the residents had their ears to the ground and their CB radios.

At least Jon was from out of town.

Miss Edna came to the door when Liv rang the bell. Chaz had followed her up the steps. She didn't understand why he was being so overbearing. It wasn't like she was in any danger. At least none that she knew of.

“Well, come on in,” Edna said. “Ida,” she called. “We have company.” She opened the door and Whiskey came trotting out of the parlor to say hello. Liv stepped inside and turned to see if Chaz was coming in.