Caught in the Frame (6 page)

“Try one of these,” she handed one to Chloe, who rolled her eyes heavenward in appreciation at the first bite.

“Yum. Mom, you have to serve these. They’re amazing.”

Lila tasted, hummed with pleasure, and made a note on the pad provided her by the chef.

Fifteen bites later, the appetizer menu expanded to include pan seared steak in lettuce cups; toasted brioche with creme fraiche and caviar; bacon-wrapped oysters; and crostini with a variety of toppings. It took another hour to sample their way through all of the entree and side options.

Some quick, albeit approximate, math told Chloe this much food would feed far more people than were expected to attend the wedding.

“Mom, the entire castle staff is going to be taking home leftovers if you order all that. How many people did you say RSVP’d?”

Lila stared blankly at Chloe for a moment before responding. “What difference does that make, Dear? We want people to have choices, don’t we? After all, our guests are coming from all over the world.” She tilted her head slightly to one side, the gesture a mimic of Chloe’s own expression. “Oh, for crying out…Antoine? Come here a moment!” The little man nearly hopped over a table in his haste to do Lila’s bidding. “Can you ensure that the leftover food from the wedding will get eaten by someone, and not thrown away?”

“Of course, Miss Lila—” He was cut short by Lila’s impatient sigh, and without another glance at the simpering man, she turned back to Chloe.

“Happy, daughter of mine?” Lila’s raised right eyebrow indicated that anything other than confirmation would not be tolerated.

“Fine, fine, do whatever you want. Your guests’ high cholesterol is all on you, though. Speaking of—when we’re done here, I’d say we’d all better hit the gym.” Chloe rubbed her stomach and stifled a yawn.

“After this, we’re going to choose place settings and party favors,” Lila reminded, exasperation filling her voice at her daughter’s obvious unfamiliarity with the itinerary she had emailed to Chloe and EV just this morning. “Cake tasting tomorrow. Ring any bells?”

“And a partridge in a pear tree…” Chloe sung under her breath, just loud enough to force a poorly-stifled giggle from EV.

* * *

After a day spent in the backwash of Lila’s wake as she barreled through her list, EV thought if she saw one more china pattern—and for the love of tiny pickles, what difference did it make if the edge pattern on one white-on-white plate was a quarter inch wider than another—she might just toss something. Maybe her cookies, or maybe the china. Or maybe Lila herself.

Several times during the day, her phone had signaled incoming texts. Each time she pulled it out to check, Lila ordered her to put it away. To keep peace, she humored the bride-to-be, but not without a silent, narrow-eyed look of protest.

Owing to a town-wide commitment to honor any and all forms of religious and secular observations, Ponderosa Pines put on a Yule celebration incorporating a diversity of symbols—without rhyme, reason, or the least nod toward political correctness. Santa and his sleigh topping the manger scene was probably the least offensive mixing of traditions, but their hearts were in the right place, and it was all meant in the spirit of love and acceptance.

Now that she finally had a minute to look, she found a series of texts from Allegra. Expecting multiple requests for putting out fires, EV was pleasantly surprised to see images and terse descriptions of everything moving along exactly as laid out in her notes. With a low whistle, she called Chloe over to check it out.

“Allegra’s got the Yule under control, take a look.”

“Is that Lottie setting up Rudolph? Check out the look on her face. She’s not happy.”

“There’s an email here from her as well,” EV grinned. “It’s a very restrained tirade. I’ve decided not to respond.” She did, however, shoot off a missive complimenting Allegra on her organizational skills. The woman had untapped depths, of that EV was now certain.

Chapter 6

Spread like a deflated balloon over a lounge chair, EV never even twitched when Chloe settled into the adjacent seat with a sigh. Though the winter air here was warmer than Ponderosa Pines at this time of year, EV had draped a blanket over herself while relishing the crisp, clean air.

Several minutes passed before Chloe spoke into the silence, “I never thought it was possible to dread seeing another bite of cake.”

EV groaned. “Five cake flavors, seven types of icing. That’s thirty-five different combinations. Thirty-five. By the end of it, I couldn’t tell the difference. I think I’m suffering sugar shock.”

“It was all I could do to keep from screaming,
just pick one
.”

“But not the rum cake.” They said it in unison then laughed at themselves for thinking alike.

“I actually think I’m a little buzzed from it.” Chloe said. “I’m surprised it didn’t slosh onto the plate.”

“And what about the one with the raspberry preserves between the layers? With that much rum in the cake, it tasted like cough syrup.” A shudder ran though EV. “Your mother is certifiable.”

“Could you believe the way she acted toward that poor florist? I had just been thinking how I hadn’t seen her blow up yet, and then…BOOM!” The first glimmer of Bridezilla-type behavior out of Lila had slipped through when the castle’s resident florist crashed the cake tasting by wheeling in a cart of fresh-cut flowers heavily laden with scent.

“She really ripped that lady a new one. As if a florist doesn’t understand that strong odors affect taste buds!” Lila’s condescending tone had driven the woman to tears, and only softened infinitesimally when it became clear that Lila herself had double-booked the two appointments.

Through the open balcony doors, they heard the shrill sound of the phone in their suite ringing.

“You get it, it’s probably your mother wanting us to taste forty different kinds of candy for the wedding favors.” Just thinking about it made EV feel nauseated.

“You get it, then. I can’t say no to her; you’ll have to do it.”

“We could just ignore it,” EV suggested.

“No! If we don’t answer, she’ll just show up here and drag us back to wedding hell.”

Not wanting to face that option right now, EV levered herself off the chair to go pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Miss Torrence, I have a gentleman here who insists he must speak with you immediately. Please hold the line.”

She hardly had time to run through the possibilities before Dalton’s voice rang in her ear. “EV, I had to come.”

Her pulse sped up; maybe from the edge of anxiety in his voice, but mostly from knowing he was here.

“What’s happened? Is something wrong back home?”

“No, it’s not that. Bring Chloe and come down here. Nate’s already on his way.” He hung up in her ear without providing any more info.

Pitching her voice to be heard on the balcony, EV said, “haul your lazy butt in here.” Given the urgency in her voice, Chloe wasted no time.

“What’s going on?”

“That was Dalton. He’s here.”

Chloe’s mouth dropped open. “He’s here? Oh, that’s so sweet. He couldn’t stand to be without you.” EV did an internal double-take as Chloe, ever-suspicious and generally skeptical, jumped to the most romantic of conclusions.

Could that have been part of his decision to come? A little flare of satisfaction washed over EV at the thought, yet she maintained an even, dry tone when she said, “He asked for you and Nate on his way downstairs as well, so I’m thinking he had another motive for flying halfway around the world.”

“That’s a load of bull, and you know it. If there was a break in the case, he could have picked up the phone. If he’s here, he’s here for you,” Chloe smirked.

EV scrunched her face into an exaggeration of Chloe’s smirk, “Let’s go find out.”

Nate beat them to the lobby by a good five minutes. His banishment to the farthest possible spot from Chloe’s suite put him on a more direct route to the front desk. Once there, he helped Dalton sort out the problem of not having a reservation when every room would be booked for the wedding. Antoine stepped in, swapping them to a larger suite with a second bedroom. Someone else would get bumped to a smaller room, but Antoine assured Nate he would make it work.

So much for Chloe embarking on any late night visits. He watched her walk down the stairs toward him and, even now, knowing only something major would drag Dalton here so quickly, all he could think about was kissing the breath out of his beautiful girlfriend. He did his best to banish the thought, at least for the time being.

“What’s going on?” Chloe demanded.

“Not here,” Nate hissed. “We’ll talk about it upstairs.” He pocketed the new room keys Antoine handed him, and led the way.

The door opened into a shared seating area of sorts. A pair of sofas in subdued, cream-colored upholstery flanked a black lacquered coffee table. Beyond them, a four-seater table sat in front of the stationary half of a sliding door leading to a balcony. Unlike EV and Chloe’s room, there was no kitchenette. Just a pair of bedroom doors opposite each other at the far end of the room. On the right, a coat closet took up the space behind the door, and on the left was a small, but elegantly appointed bathroom.

Stepping into the cozy suite, EV sensed undercurrents of strong emotion. She took in Dalton’s ramrod-straight back, tense shoulders, and clenched fists, along with Nate’s flat-eyed cop face, and jumped to the most obvious conclusion.

“Remy’s coming to the wedding.” Nothing else would have caused Dalton to leave Ponderosa Pines unprotected. Not that the job was enough to occupy anyone on a full-time basis; should anything happen, Gilmore PD was one quick phone call away. No, EV knew something else had brought him here. Despite their agreement to put their relationship on hold while dealing with Remy, he would have come in the first place, if she had asked.

“According to Marjorie.” Dalton deadpanned, his haggard face matched a voice clogged with fatigue. In the past twenty-four hours, he’d managed to spend only a scant three in sleep on the plane. Turbulence and the intense desire to protect EV from having to face Remy alone brought him alert far too often for the nap to be considered restful. Now, his eyes drank her in, while also searching for signs that this new development was too painful for her to bear.

EV went silent for a moment while she flipped through an internal catalog of her own emotions. Anxiety over having to face her ex again after all this time—check. Dread of having to tell Lila the whole sordid tale of her past—check. Worse, having to possibly hash that out with Remy—check. And finally, a deeply-seated satisfaction over playing avenging angel for her town—big fat check.

That last didn’t exactly cancel out the rest, but cushioned them enough to spread a savage grin over her face. “What’s the plan? Whatever you need me to do, I’m in.”

“If I’ve never said it before,” Dalton walked over and kissed her soundly on the lips. “You’re one hell of a woman, Emmalina Torrence.”

Chloe, delighted at seeing the kiss, let out a loud
whoop
that forced Nate to crack a smile. With the tension released, Chloe ordered a couple of pizzas from room service—hoping to counteract the threatening sugar coma—and the four of them sat down at the table to hammer out a plan for getting to the bottom of Remy’s vendetta against Ponderosa Pines.

“I could see him coming back to take some sort of revenge against me, though for what reason, I have no idea. But what could he have against an entire town?” EV frowned. “And more importantly, why now? He’s been nothing but a bad memory for thirty years. Something must have triggered him. And Marjorie still has no clue? I don’t get it.”

“That’s been the problem all along. Without a clear motive, we’re struggling to make what evidence we do have fit any kind of actionable reason for what he seems to be trying to accomplish. Best we’ve got now is several counts of identity theft.” Nate snagged the last piece of pizza. ”Even if he’d managed to get Evan to convince the town to throw in the towel and combine with Gilmore, I can’t see any profit in it for him. He has no financial stake in Gilmore that I can find. They’ve been very helpful over there, by the way. Not just the police department; the entire town management team.”

His comment pulled a raised eyebrow from EV. In her experience, the leaders of the town of Gilmore had always looked down on the residents of Ponderosa Pines. It was easy to forget the fact that Nate had been top dog back in Portland; his foray as a small-town lawman seemed natural to her, but perhaps his status legitimized Ponderosa Pines in the eyes of Gilmore’s officials.

Dalton took up the narrative. “Nate’s investigator friend dropped off everything she’s found so far.” He twisted in his chair to grab the briefcase he’d brought with him, and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

Jumping up to clear the pizza leavings from the table, Chloe brushed past Nate. The momentary touch raised goosebumps on her arms, and for a second she considered kicking Dalton out of his own room.
Love ya, Dalton, but you’re blocking me pretty hard right now.
Just as Veronica and Mindy had suggested, it looked like skulking around the castle for some alone time was their only option.

As Dalton laid out the papers, EV snatched each one up, scanned it quickly, then placed it back on the table. What she saw was enough for her to know Remy was the culprit. There was even enough evidence that Nate had been given the green light to officially reopen the investigation, but no judge would issue a warrant based on what they had amassed so far.