Deadly Décor (A Caprice De Luca Mystery) (16 page)

He started walking, and it was easy to see he was a person with high energy who liked to make use of it. “The first thing I want you to redo is the pool area. I want bigger tables with colorful large umbrellas around the pool instead of those little ones. Give me color in the chaises, and of course I’ll need a lot of chairs. Bright color there too. There are enough animal prints inside.”

She didn’t want the pool area to be garish or decorated in something that would clash with the inside. Her mind started clicking with ideas. “How about if we give the pool area a Sea World theme? Inside is kind of wild creatures on land. Outside could be wild creatures of the sea. I can go with bright blues and greens, and incorporate some black and white to coordinate with inside.”

They were standing on the patio now, and Ace stared at the pool and the surrounding area as if he were trying to imagine it. “Not bad for off the top of your head. You are good.”

“I try to be,” Caprice gibed.

Ace laughed. “I’ll leave the details up to you, and Alyssa, of course. Maybe you can consult with her. She’ll handle laser and holographic lighting over the pool, that kind of thing. How about the pool house?” He quickly headed that way. “What do you suggest there?”

A few minutes later, he threw open the door and they peeked inside. Caprice stepped over the threshold. There was a daybed with a tawny gold coverlet, club chairs in tan leather, a powder room, and two dressing cubicles. A wet bar seemed out of place, but there it was. On one wall, a grouping of framed prints told a story about the African veldt.

“Do you want this space to match the pool area?”

Ace nodded. He also waved to the wall above the daybed. “Can we do something different in here? I get tired of pictures and metal sculptures.” He was observant and obviously cared about his surroundings.

Caprice studied the space once more, particularly the wall he’d pointed to. She remembered her conversation with Sharla Flannery at the community center fund-raiser. “What would you think about a mural on that wall? Maybe of dolphins? I can possibly find someone to paint it for you.”

Ace narrowed his eyes and squinted at the wall. Then he nodded. “I like that. Yeah, go for it.”

“We have to talk about a budget,” Caprice said.

“We will. But I have to show you everything I want you to do first. There’s one room upstairs that’s going to be special.”

He didn’t say any more until they’d made their way inside and up the staircase. He stopped at the room next to the master suite.

Caprice wondered if he was going to put up a paramour there. After all, he did have a reputation in that area. Right now, the room was staged with a brass bed covered with a green patterned comforter.

“This will be my daughter Trista’s room,” Ace explained. “Here’s what I want. I want a canopy bed and white furniture. Do lots of pink and frills on the bed and at the windows too.”

Caprice thought that sounded more like a bedroom for a four-year-old than an eleven-year-old, but she didn’t know Ace’s daughter.

“I don’t want you to spare any expense. It has to be ready in time for the party. Trista will be here with me then, and so will my parents. It’s going to be one big open house, not a wild party, so keep that in mind.”

“Do you have any idea when you’re going to have this party?”

“I’m thinking August nineteenth.”

Caprice went still, and Nikki gave her a look. “You want me to do all this in ten days?”

“Is that a problem?” he asked, with an amused, quirked brow. Apparently he snapped his fingers and what he wanted immediately happened.

She’d have to put other projects on hold, contact Danny, check into suppliers, and expedite delivery on everything. But she could do it. She would do it.

“No problem.” She turned to Nikki. “Are you free on the nineteenth?”

Nikki laughed. “You’re lucky, Ace, I’m free. What kind of menu are you thinking of?”

“I want it good. I want it tasteful. I want plenty of help here. Hire who you have to. Just be sure you can trust them not to sell photos to the paparazzi.”

“Got it,” Nikki assured him.

“Got it,” Caprice repeated, wondering how she was going to arrange everything in ten days.

One of the things Caprice had learned was that when she was busiest, that was when she needed to take deep breaths. She dropped Nikki at her house so she could pick up her car, then she spent some time with Shasta and Sophia, giving her feline an extra rub of catnip on her scratching post. While she did that, she let her mind pull ideas from wherever she could find them. The Cupcake House was closed on Saturday evening. Fortunately, she found Sharla’s home phone listing and reached her there. Caprice ran her idea by her, and when Sharla approved, she spoke with Danny.

“Are you interested in a job where you’ll get paid for your art?”

Silence met the question until finally he asked, “Seriously?”

She might be taking a risk with Danny, but not just anyone could paint designs on sneakers . . . or a mural. Her instincts told her this was a risk worth taking, for both her and Danny. “Did you ever hear of Ace Richland?”

“The music guy?” Danny asked.

“That’s one way to put it. Yeah. He bought a place outside of Kismet, and he needs a mural on his pool house wall. I was thinking the ocean, dolphins, something like that.”

Again there was silence. “This would be a wall like at the community center?”

Could she count on a seventeen-year-old to pull this off? Thinking again about Danny’s talent, she realized, yes, she could. “Yep. Are you interested?”

“What’s the money like?”

She named a sum.

Danny whistled. However, he asked warily, “What’s the glitch?”

“It has to be complete before the nineteenth.”

Finally he said, “It’s a good thing I don’t have school. I’d have to cut class.”

Caprice smiled.

“Do you want to see a sketch first?”

“That would probably be best so Ace knows exactly what you’re going to do. Is that the way you work?”

“I can. I’ll work on it tonight and have it for you by tomorrow.”

“That sounds good. Call me when it’s done, okay? I’ll pick it up.”

“I will, but . . . Miss De Luca, why are you doing this for me?”

She didn’t hesitate. “A couple of reasons. One of them is that I like your art. The other is, I think you’ll like Ace. From what I hear, he didn’t feel like he fit in anywhere when he was a teenager because of his music. He had brothers, but they weren’t into it. His music kept him out of trouble.”

“Okay,” Danny said, understanding her broad hint. “I’ll call you.”

After Caprice ended the call, she fed Shasta and Sophia, then told them both, “I need some exercise to wind down. I’ll feel better about myself, and it will get my energy up for next week. So you girls have to entertain yourselves for a couple of hours. But I’ll be back soon and we’ll snuggle, okay?”

Shasta barked. Sophia licked her lips and started eating.

Caprice swung her duffel by her side as she entered Shape Up, remembering her conversation with Patrick. Was Jeff Garza involved in Bob’s murder? She’d called Vince about him, and her brother was supposedly looking into the businessman—his background and financial dealings. Would he uncover anything?

In the locker room, as she slipped off her shorts and top, revealing her swimsuit, she realized she liked coming in here on Saturday night the best. The gym was busy, though not as busy as during the week, and the pool was practically deserted. She was grateful for that. She really didn’t like an audience. The pool closed at eight, so she had forty-five minutes to swim laps.

She tied her hair back in a ponytail so it was out of her way, slipped on her swim shoes, grabbed her water goggles, and headed into the pool area. The humidity was high. Out of the water, the atmosphere was almost stifling. She’d just gone down the steps and decided to use the end lane when the lifeguard waved at her and came around the pool. She knew Brenda. The teenager had graduated from high school in the spring and had been one of her mom’s students. She’d been thrilled about her job here.

She said, “I have to go to the laundry room and take the towels from the dryer. It hasn’t been working right, and I’m afraid it’s going to burn them. Will you be okay?”

Caprice had been swimming since she was a kid and was comfortable in the water. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to swim laps.”

“I won’t be long,” Brenda assured her.

Caprice slipped her goggles on and adjusted them. Then she pushed off from the edge of the pool and began her lap session.

Swimming laps could almost be hypnotic. Although physical exertion was involved, after a few laps gliding through the water almost became a Zen experience. She reached, she breathed, she kicked. Momentum pushed her forward.

On her third lap, she suddenly felt pressure on her back . . . something pushing her deeper under the water.

That pressure again. Harder now . . . and it hurt!

It took a few moments for her to realize something out of the ordinary was happening. She was in the deep end, and she couldn’t simply let her feet drop to the pool floor. In the deep end . . .

She panicked. She tried to do anything to get away from the debilitating push on her torso. She couldn’t raise her head out of the water. Her breath was running out. Instinctively, she twirled and ducked deeper, slipping out from under whatever was pressing her down.

Gasping, she rose to the surface. When she did, she heard the clang of the door.

Had someone just tried to kill her?

Someone had tried to kill her. Someone had tried to kill her. Someone had tried to kill her.

Holding onto the rail along the side of the pool, Caprice caught her breath and attempted to calm down. Her back not only hurt from the pressure, but it burned, too. Had she been cut? Adrenaline still raced through her body, and she suspected if she hadn’t been holding onto the rail, she’d be shaking.

Hand over hand, she pulled herself along the side of the pool until she stood in the shallow end.

She heard the door leading to the gym area open and close.

Brenda appeared, carrying a stack of towels. When she spotted Caprice leaning against the side of the pool with her head down on her arms, she ran over and asked, “Are you all right?”

Caprice shook off the remainder of her panic and fear. She had to find out who’d tried to drown her!

“Do you know who was in here with me, Brenda? Someone came in while I was swimming . . .” She stopped.

Brenda gave her an odd look. “Someone came in to swim?”

Caprice wasn’t sure what she should say. Maybe it was better not to say exactly what had happened. “Someone came in. Do you know who it was?”

“I didn’t see anyone. I was in the laundry room the whole time. Paul was helping one of the clients. So was Netta.”

Thinking more clearly now, Caprice checked at the side of the pool, looking for something in particular. The skimmer was usually propped near the corner, but now it was lying next to the edge of the pool. Shape Up personnel used it to fish out small floaty hand weights or toys from a kids’ class that floated out of the shallow end. They sometimes used it to guide someone who was suddenly afraid of being out in the middle of the pool over to the side. The basket that hung at the end of it was made of some type of net material. The pole attached to the basket was about six feet long. The end of that pole near the basket could have been used on her back to push her down and hold her. Something on the skimmer must have scraped or scratched her.

Goose pimples prickled all over her arms, and if she let herself, she’d go into full panic all over again. But she wouldn’t let herself. First she asked Brenda to check the workout area and ask if anyone had been seen coming into the pool.

Ten minutes later, Brenda reported to Caprice that no one had been seen entering the pool area. Caprice had quickly changed, but her skin still gave off a strong aroma of chlorine because she hadn’t showered. Taking her cell phone in hand, she realized she was shivering. That was probably just shock setting in. Her legs wobbled a bit, and she sat down on the bench and speed-dialed Seth’s cell. If he was at the clinic, he wouldn’t answer. But if he wasn’t . . .

“Hey, Caprice. I got off fifteen minutes ago. I was going to call you to see if you wanted to drive out to that new place that opened up. It’s supposed to be like the fifties, with waitresses on roller skates.”

“Seth, someone tried to kill me.” To her dismay, her voice shook a little.

“Where are you?” His tone was worried and sharp.

“I’m at Shape Up, in the locker room. I’m safe here now. I was doing laps. Brenda left to get towels. I felt this pressure on my back. I think someone used the skimmer on me and tried to hold me underwater. I don’t know if they actually wanted to drown me, or just scare me.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No.”

He hesitated for only one beat. “I’ll be right there. Don’t move.”

“I’m in the women’s locker room.”

“Don’t move. Just stay there until you hear me outside the door. Got it?”

“Okay.”

Not even ten minutes later, there was a loud knock on the door, and she heard Seth’s voice. “Caprice? Are you in there?”

She pulled open the door and stepped out into the gym.

He put his arm around her. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll get you all wet.” Her hair was still sopping, but she really didn’t care. She was so glad to see him, she could kiss him right then and there. He looked as if he wanted to kiss her too, but other Shape Up customers were still working out, and neither of them wanted to cause a spectacle. Though if she had drowned in the pool, there would have been a real spectacle.

Seth kept his arm around her as she dropped her key at the registration desk and he guided her outside. “If I take you home in my truck, can you pick up your car tomorrow?”

“Sure. Mom or Nikki can bring me over. But you really don’t have to . . .”

He took her by the shoulders and held her firmly. “You’ve got to stop.”

She blinked. Stop? Stop liking him so much? Stop wishing he wouldn’t get the fellowship?

“Stop asking questions. That’s what got you into this mess.”

He was sounding just like everybody else in her life—Grant, her brother, her dad too, if she gave him the chance.

“I’m obviously onto something or this never would have happened.”

“Do you know exactly what you’re onto?”

“No, but . . .”

“There are no buts. You want to save Bella and Joe, but you can’t put your own life in danger while you do it.”

Her mind had been spinning while she was in the locker room, thinking about where she’d asked questions, who she’d talked to, who might feel threatened.

“I must have rattled somebody’s cage. At the community center fund-raiser, I was asking questions about Bob, who he palled around with, who his friends were. I also found out that Jeff Garza was skimming money from the building fund and that Bob confronted him. But I don’t think anyone knows I know that.”

“You’re not going to stop, are you?”

She looked into Seth’s very blue eyes and told him the truth. “I can’t. Not until I know that Bella and Joe aren’t Detective Jones’s number-one suspects.”

She’d never seen Seth angry before, but he looked angry now. However, unlike the De Lucas, who usually vented vocally, his lips compressed, and he simply said, “Let me get you home.”

At her house, Seth insisted on seeing her to her door and coming inside. Shasta ran around his legs and sat on his foot, and he patted her, noticing Sophia high on her cat tree.

After Seth stood, he concluded, “I don’t think Shasta’s such a great watchdog. She’s too friendly. And Sophia’s not the type to claw anybody’s eyes out. Maybe you need a bodyguard.”

“Are you applying for the job?” Wouldn’t that be a hoot? Seth staying here watching over her.

“I’m not sure that would be the best thing for either of our reputations. If Kismet was bigger, nobody would notice. But it’s not. I know you won’t let me hire a bodyguard, but how about if Nikki stays with you for a few days, or you stay with her?”

“The animals,” Caprice said, as if that said it all.

“All right. So ask her to stay with you. I really don’t think you should be alone.”

“Let me think about it.”

“How long are you going to think about it?”

“This house has sturdy locks. I have a baseball bat upstairs that Vince lent me earlier this summer for a game in the park. You might not think Shasta’s a good watchdog, but she hears everything. If anybody would try to get in, she’d know before they even thought about it. Really, Seth.”

“Maybe you should buy a gun.”

“I have pepper spray.”

“Maybe you should buy a gun,” he repeated somberly.

“I’m not going to overreact. The more I think about it, the more I think it was just a scare tactic—a warning.”

He gently touched her face and pushed her wet hair behind her ear. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to me, either,” she assured him with a weak smile. Then because she didn’t want to think about what had happened or buying a gun, she asked, “Why don’t I make us something to eat?” She started rubbing her arms, “Though I think I better take a shower first. I’m starting to itch from the chlorine.”

“Then why don’t
I
make us something to eat. I make great BLTs. You do have bacon, don’t you? Every good cook does.”

She laughed. “Of course I have bacon. He’d told her he made great BLTs during one of their first meetings at Grocery Fresh. She hadn’t had a BLT in a while.

“Could you let Shasta out while I get that shower? Then we can give Sophia her nightly dollop of cream and make the BLTs together.”

“We’re going to make more than BLTs, Caprice, because I’m not leaving here until very late. I want to make sure no one’s going to surprise you tonight.”

“I just happen to have a couple of old movies we can watch.”

“Such as?”

“
Roman Holiday
with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. What do you think?”

“I think you’re trying to distract me from the real reason I’m here, but I’ll let you. Watching
Roman Holiday
will be a lot better than me imagining what could have happened to you tonight.”

“Oh, Seth.” He almost made her want to cry.

He pointed to the stairs. “Go get your shower. I’ll give Sophia her cream and let Shasta out. Then we’ll replace eau de chlorine with eau de bacon.”

Turning toward the stairs, she said over her shoulder, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here.” Then before she thought about the fact that he might not be here the next time, she hurried up the stairs.

Seth left after midnight and only then because Caprice promised she’d keep her cell phone beside her on her pillow, and she’d call him if she heard any unexpected noise. In spite of what he’d said about their reputations, he’d offered to sleep on her sofa. But she wasn’t a damsel in distress who needed to be rescued. Yes, she’d be practical and cautious, but she was not going to cower and expect someone else to save her.

She did call Nikki Sunday morning, though, and Nikki said she’d be right over to take her to get her car. While she waited for her sister, she gave Sophia a dollop of cream—she was one of the fortunate felines who could digest it—and then sat at her desk to read e-mails. After finishing her cream and daintily washing, Sophia climbed on her lap. Handling a keyboard with a cat on her lap wasn’t always the easiest thing to do, but sometimes Sophia liked to be close, and Caprice liked that closeness too. So she managed. After a morning run in the yard, Shasta was contenting herself by gnawing on a chew toy close by.

While Caprice was reading her e-mail, her program dinged and an incoming correspondence flashed on the screen. It was from Derrick Gastenaux. She opened it. After she read it, she wanted to give a cheer, but she knew that would scare Sophia, so she grinned instead.

Mr. Gastenaux wanted her to sign an agreement. He was hiring her to decorate three model homes, or stage them, however you wanted to look at it. That would bring in a nice chunk of change. Although she put back a reserve every time she did a job, not only to pay taxes but also for savings, she knew she was set for the rest of the year. But she still worried. Hers wasn’t a stable income. She’d been fortunate so far, but she knew that, like anyone else, she could have a dry spell eventually, and she wanted to be prepared for that.

When Nikki rang the doorbell, Sophia gave Caprice a look that said,
I know you’re going to disturb me, aren’t you?
Normally Caprice didn’t have her door locked and Nikki could just walk in. But this morning was different.

“Sorry,” she said to Sophia as she picked her up and set her on the office chair she’d just vacated. Shasta, of course, followed her to the door. The dog was getting rounder, and her pregnancy was supremely evident now.

When Caprice opened the door, Nikki rushed in and hugged her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Except for a little water up my nose and some scrapes, scratches, and a little bruising on my back, I’m fine.”

“Why didn’t Seth stay until I got here?”

“Because I told him to go home last night. He has to get some sleep, too.”

Nikki gave her one of those sisterly, knowing looks. “You’re afraid to depend on him.”

Caprice sighed. “It’s too early in the morning for sisterly therapy. Let’s just go get my car and go to ten o’clock Mass. I told Vince I was going to stop by his place around noon.”

“To talk about what happened?”

“No, to talk about Jeff Garza.”

“Do you think he tried to drown you?”

“I don’t know. Either the person who did it belonged to the gym and no one noticed them, or they followed me and snuck in.”

“Is that possible?”

“Oh, sure. The receptionist at the desk is busy. She’s often away from her desk in the evening too, because it’s slow, and she wanders around, talking to the clients and to the trainers who aren’t busy.”

“No answers there,” Nikki determined. “So let’s go.”

After Mass, Caprice headed for Vince’s condo, while Nikki went home to get ready for a catering gig. She’d be back at Caprice’s tonight with her travel bag.

Sitting in Vince’s first-floor condo in the refurbished school building, Caprice glanced up at the tall windows with white grids, then at the living room decorated in masculine comfortable style with leather and nubby-fabric furniture. Vince had asked her to go over again what happened at the pool and she had.

He looked worried. “Nikki’s going to stay with you tonight?”

“She’s going to stay with me for a few nights.”

“Do you have that ‘being followed’ feeling today?”

“Not really. And tomorrow I have two appointments in the morning, another in the early afternoon, and one in the evening. Nikki can’t be with me when she has catering jobs. I figure as long as I’m with other people and driving on a main street, I’ll be fine.”

“You aren’t going anyplace out of the way?”

“My last appointment tomorrow is at Ace Richland’s.”

“Not many cars on that road.”

“No, but once I get through his gates, I’m safe. Vince, I have my cell phone.”

“I don’t like this, Caprice. I don’t like it at all.”

“There are a lot of things in life we don’t like, but we get through them. Now what did you find out about Jeff Garza?”

“I looked into him. He looks clean.”

“Then I’m going to talk to him.”

“You’re not going to talk to him alone. Why don’t I set up the appointment with him, tell him it’s about community center business. Then it will seem a little more . . . official. He won’t be expecting the questions you want to ask.”