Swindled (7 page)

Chapter 13

Twenty minutes later Bee rang Beth back. “So how are you?” she asked with a note of sympathy in her voice. Bee, ever the pacifier, had obviously been nominated to neutralise the neurotic murder suspect Beth thought.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied quietly. She had been sitting here surrounded by the most amazing variety of colours and textures unable to get her mind around a single creative idea. Her thoughts kept bouncing back to the night before and she felt warm and bothered. Beth tried to get herself pulled together so she would stop thinking about him but David kept haunting her thoughts. The problem was, when she wasn’t thinking about David, she was thinking about Brian and who murdered him. And what she was going to do about the detectives who thought she did it. Consequently by the time Bee called, Beth was not in a good mood.

“He sounded nice and he liked you, I could tell, Beth. Maybe he’ll call you again and you can go out or something,” Bee said earnestly before she could say a thing. Not only did Bee always see the best in people, she was sure that everyone would love each of her friends as much as she did. If one of those friends liked a guy then of course he would like her. Things just worked that way in Bee’s life. Meet someone, fall in love, get married - how hard could it be? Beth closed her eyes. Put like that it even sounded easy.

Not long ago Bee’s parents had arranged a meeting between her and a ‘suitable’ man. Much to Bee’s surprise that man, Ken, had turned out to be someone she could relate to. Three months after their initial meeting Ken took Bee out for dinner, dropped on one knee after dessert and popped the question. Apparently he had asked Bee’s father’s permission two days after meeting Bee. The wedding was planned to take place in three weeks and in typical Bee fashion it was completely arranged. Flowers, outfits, venues, seating plans proved to be no match for Bee’s organised mind. No last minute plans were needed.

Now though, with time on her hands until the actual wedding day arrived, Bee was focused on helping her poor single friends find salvation or at least dates for the big day. Beth knew that if they ignored Bee it would be at their peril. She had a way of sneaking up on you when you least expected it.

“I don’t even want to contemplate the idea. I never want to see this guy again. And nothing the three of you can cook up is going to change that!” Beth said with a pitiful wail. It was hopeless. No matter what she said Bee was going to be planning some way of throwing David and Beth together. Not only that, Beth realised that Charlotte and Karin were no doubt in on it as well.

Charlotte, unlike their friends, did not believe in the one man for everyone theory. No, she felt there were lots of men out there and all of them should be sampled. Her ambition in hooking Beth up would merely be to ensure that her friend was living life to the fullest. Charlotte wouldn’t care if Beth kept him or not as long as she enjoyed him while she could. Beth shook her head. She was doomed.

“Best not watch any rugby then,” said a voice from the door making Beth jump. Speak of the devils. Charlotte and Karin had let themselves in with the emergency key kept under the flower pot outside. They stood framed in the doorway looking like angels or demigods. Beth wasn’t sure which. Both were blond with fair skin. Karin was a tiny petite china doll like woman while Charlotte was a more curvy Barbie type. They were desperately trying to keep the smiles off their faces. Neither one looked like they were going to let her sit here and stew all day. Demigods, definitely demigods Beth thought rubbing a hand over her forehead

“What do you mean ‘don’t watch rugby’?” Beth asked confused looking up again. How did rugby feature in this

“You should have stuck around Beth,” said Karin with a grin as she pressed speaker phone so that Bee could hear as well. “Charlotte gave him the third degree,” she had sauntered up in her high heels and perched herself on the edge of the desk. Despite the fact that her home was no doubt in shambles, Karin looked perfectly turned out. Not one hair was out of place. Beth groaned her frustration. She just had to look at a packing box and a nail would break. How did Karin do it?

“You really should have stayed on,” Bee added through the phone. “We found out all about him.”

Beth looked at Karin and Charlotte. It looked like her fate was sealed. David had passed the friend exam. Okay, with Charlotte that didn’t take much nor Karin for that matter but if Bee was also on the bandwagon it didn’t bode well. They were going to pester her forever Beth decided. David had defiantly convinced them. She had slept with a guy and her friends knew more about him then she did. Beth shook her head. Meeting David coupled with the Brian situation was mind boggling. How did she get herself into these predicaments?

“He’s a captain of one of the biggest rugby teams and you didn’t recognise him,” Charlotte laughed looking at Beth’s puzzled and frustrated face. “Even Bee knew once he mentioned rugby.” Beth just covered her face with her hands and hoped she would wake up soon. Could this day get worse?

“What else?” she asked finally giving in to her curiosity. Okay she may not want to see him again but she couldn’t stop herself from asking. She wanted to know more about him. Maybe it would stop her from thinking about him all the time. Anyway she told herself it was ludicrous not to know at least the bare essentials.

“Well he is solvent, has two brothers and a sister, is about to retire and is planning on settling down in the area,” Karin cheerfully told her, practically bouncing with glee. She just loved Beth being in the firing line. Usually it was Karin that did something silly, at Charlotte’s suggestion, and had to be hauled over the coals. It was no doubt refreshing to have the shoe on the other foot.

“Oh god … you really did give him the third degree,” Beth sunk low in her chair. She should be happy she thought. There was really no way David was going to go anywhere near her again. In fact he was probably frantically changing his identity in a bid to avoid any chance of her tracking him down. Well on the plus side of things, she wouldn’t need to hide in her bedroom for the rest of her life. Not that her so called friends would let her of course.

“Yup, though to be honest, he stopped being so interested in answering once he figured out you weren’t on the call anymore,” Charlotte said peering at her impeccably pink painted nails. In true Charlotte fashion she was wearing a pale blue silk wrap top with white trim over tight blue jeans. Her shoes were an intricate weave of multicoloured ribbons. She looked every inch the elegant sophisticated fashion editor that she was. She appeared delicate, model-like and far too smug for Beth’s tastes.

“Think he likes you,” sang Bee on the other side of the phone. Charlotte and Karin shared a grin. Beth put her elbows on the desk and dropped her head into her hands. She groaned. They really would never let this one go.

“Guys this isn’t the time,” she muttered into her palms. “There are police out there trying to prove that I killed my brother. Trying to make a one night stand turn into something is really not my priority.”

“It should be,” Bee said quietly, “The police will get the bottom of it, Beth.”

“And if they can’t, we will,” Karin said with an elegant shrug of her shoulders.

“So,” Charlotte said nonchalantly perching on the other end of the desk to Karin and studiously avoiding being drawn off topic, “Care to tell us about last night?”

Beth looked up at the two faces beaming down at her and groaned. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Either discuss the savage murder of her brother or how she managed to throw herself, naked into a strangers arms. She could tell Bee was holding her breath on the other end of the phone. They were like vultures waiting for her to reveal all. “No I don’t think I do,” she said looking back at her friends and shaking her head to emphasis how determined she was to keep her mouth shut.

“Come on,” Charlotte begged. “He wouldn’t tell us anything,” she sounded disgruntled. It was rare for a man to refuse Charlotte. In fact this was probably the first time it had happened since Charlotte grew into that sultry Barbie doll figure of hers.

“I can’t believe you asked him,” Beth shook her head in despair. Maybe they should go back to talking about Brian.

Karin pushed away from the desk heading to the table to play with a piece of ribbon. “Bet he was really hot,” she said over her shoulder as she played the ribbon between her fingers trying to look innocent. In her fiery red sheaf dress with its loose chiffon trim she looked anything but innocent. She grinned wickedly back at Beth. “Rugby players have such nice sexy bodies. Not an ounce of fat anywhere. It must have been joy pure joy to be in bed with him,” she ended with a sigh and a far away look in her eye.

Bee was giggling over the phone. No doubt she could picture exactly what was going on in Beth’s study. Beth sitting trapped between two very curious, very determined and very single-minded blonds. There was no escape. They really should go back to taking about the murder.

“No, I’m not telling any of you anything. This has all just been a nightmare and I am going to pretend its all not happening,” Beth said firmly. She pushed the pattern she was working on to the side and leaned back in her chair. There was no way she was going to get any work done today. There was no way that they were going to leave her alone so why fight the inevitable?

“That good huh?” Charlotte said. She and Karin then set about wheedling Beth out of her office, dragging her to lunch. Beth was surprised that she was hungry; she didn’t think she would be.

She grabbed her scarf, following Charlotte and Karin out the door. Why not take a break from all the stresses and what better way to get her mind off David. And enjoy her freedom until they locked her up.

Chapter 14

The three of them ended up going around the corner to a local Italian restaurant. It was filled with the family running the place. The teenagers waited on tables, the grandparents rushed into the kitchen to prepare meals and everyone else snatched quick conversations with one another by the till as they helped out. There was a relaxed atmosphere and, to Beth’s super charged nerves, it was just the break from reality she craved. She just needed some normalcy in her life for even the briefest of minutes.

Bee arrived about ten minutes later glowing. Her forest green A-cut skirt swirled around her knees as she pulled up a chair. Throwing her matching suit jacket over the wooden back of the chair she gave Beth a comforting smile. The friends were all together again and even if they teased her unmercifully, Beth felt comforted by their support.

After placing their order, they discussed the visit from the detective that morning. While Brian’s death was difficult to come to terms with, it was a nightmare to even conceive that Beth and her family were suspects. From what the friends could figure out, the detective must have gone from Beth’s to the hotel to speak to David and then directly to Karin’s house. It made sense as Karin’s new home was about ten minutes from there.

“I was vacuuming so didn’t hear the door at first. I can tell you they weren’t too pleased when I finally did let them in. What a shock. When I first saw them I thought for a minute someone had died,” Karin said and then thought for a minute. “I mean someone important, not Brian,” she amended after a few seconds pursing her lips.

“I know what you mean,” Charlotte agreed nodding. “Seeing those two standing on my doorstep made me think something horrible had happened. I was scared witless that I would have to identify one of your bodies. Don’t ever do that to me guys. Just don’t okay?” After getting what information they could from Karin, the detectives had ended up on Charlotte’s doorstep about one hour later. Bee on the other hand had been phoned by someone from the station around the same time that Karin was being interviewed. All they wanted from her was a brief background on her relationship with Brian.

“It seems like they just went through Brian’s black book and interviewed everyone in it,” Charlotte mused as she dug into her meal.

“It does seem strange doesn’t it? I wonder why the book was so important,” Bee frowned thinking about it. Beth worried that if they were desperate enough to be trolling through all of Brian’s old flings that there were no other leads. That did not bode well for her or any of the other potential suspects.

“I don’t care,” Beth lied, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. “I just want them to leave me and everyone around me alone. The police spent all morning canvassing our neighbourhood. Talk about overkill. There must be a real suspect out there. Someone Brian pissed off somewhere, anywhere. Why can’t they chase that person?” How could this be happening? Why them?

“Don’t worry Beth,” Bee said looking sympathetic. “They have to look into all sorts of potential scenarios. There is no way it could be you or anyone of us for that matter.” She gently patted Beth’s hand trying to make her feel better. Beth opened her eyes and looked at her three friends. All of them looked earnest and were trying their best to put her mind at rest.

“Look that detective seemed like he actually had a brain so he’s bound to find the killer,” Karin agreed as Charlotte nodded. “It must be routine to ask you. They need to make sure of everyone’s alibi.” There was a quiet pause as they thought about it. She continued, “Enough of worrying about it, there is nothing we can do for now so …”

“Enough stalling,” Charlotte interrupted leaning forward. “You need to tell us a little more about David. It is imperative that you tell us everything about how you met him, where you met him and what you did with him.” She gave a cheeky grin that looked out of place with her squared shoulders and model like pose.

Beth smiled back and looked at the eager faces sitting around the table. “I think you know more then I do,” she replied slowly with a teasing smile willing to let them drag her away from her panicking thoughts. Charlotte waved Beth’s comments away, she wasn’t going to get out of it that easily.

“Yes, yes we know all the boring mundane stuff,” Charlotte said. “We want the dirt!” She and Karin looked like two kids staring in the window of a massive candy store. No doubt they were going to try and commit the entire conversation to memory in order to regurgitate it at the most embarrassing moment possible.

“Leave her alone,” Bee said exasperated. “We don’t need all the details,” she continued watching Beth closely with a gleam in her eye. No doubt she was planning how she could orchestrate getting David and Beth face to face again. Beth wondered briefly how Bee might manage to get David to visit her while she was in jail.

“That’s right,” Karin agreed with mock sobriety. “We don’t want all the details. All we want to know is how she met him,” Karin gave Bee an exasperated glare. Charlotte and Karin were not about to give up on a good story that easily. Bee shrugged back. She had obviously been trying for a more subtle approach.

“And it seems there is a story to tell,” Charlotte agreed. They started laughing as Beth’s face turned a dark red. Beth thought about it and realised that if they didn’t get the story from her, they would get it from Vickie. These three had a special talent to getting the truth out of their victims. Finally relenting, she gave them a brief outline of what happened, refrained from going into detail. Once she explained how she had literally fallen at his feet there was no need to say much more. Beth had given them enough to dine out on for the rest of the year, she decided as they laughed themselves silly.