Wine, Dine and Christmas Crimes by Maria Swan (brene brown rising strong .txt) 📕

“I don’t see any message. I see a...Fiat.” I needed a drink of water, my throat too dry to function. I heard a raspy laugh, Brenda’s signature. “I guess you just answered your own question.” Then a little louder. “She found the Fiat.” I heard clapping and laughing.

“It was Tristan’s idea,” Brenda said. “My friend Bob was there to let the delivery people come in and set it up. And we are all so happy that you like it. Aren’t we girls?” she said to her background chorus. “Make sure to thank Tristan, we were just the cheering section. Hey, you swallowed your tongue?”

“N-no. I’m sooo, humbled and...this is so nice...and...wait. You all knew about this? Whaat? It was all a trick to get me out of the house? I can’t believe this, I—”

“Zip it kid. We wanted to cheer you up, and by the pitch of your voice and your sudden burst of energy I’m guessing we succeeded. Go to sleep. We’ll chat in the morning...that was a good one. We need to let Tristan know...” I could hear Brenda talking to someone as she shut her phone.

To whom? Angelique Dumont and Lois? They all conspired to make me less lonely? Mission accomplished. I felt guilty for not being nicer to them, for second-guessing their good intentions.

And now I understood why Tristan was in a hurry to get out of the way. I kicked off my boots and walked around the tree. Walked? Waltzed around it. But regardless, my eyes always returned to the little pink Fiat. How long had he been planning this? And I thought my book was so special...I had to call him. Had to.

My cell chimed, I rushed to get it from the chair where I dropped it. “Hello...” Breathless.

“Where the hell have you been all day?” Kassandra?

“Is that really you? You sound...well. I was down at the ranch, just got home. How are you? I really, really need to talk to you.”

“Oh yeah? I was at the office all day, I didn’t see your face around.”

“Kassandra, that’s great, you’re back. You’ve been missed. I’m guessing you’re better?”

“Maybe. Let’s just say today I had a good day, and I may even have a good day tomorrow. Just making sure I don’t miss out on my Christmas bonus. You know how it works, out of sight out of mind.”

“I had to go down to the ranch, the Dumont property. Brenda is there, she needed stuff.”

“Oh. Wait. Where was the handsome Mr. Dumont?” I felt my face on fire. Well, she couldn’t see my face. “Mr. Dumont was driving.” I kept my tone as void of feelings as possible, not an easy task for a very emotional Italian who’d spent ten minutes glaring at a glitzy miniature pink car.

“Ah-ha! I knew it. I heard all the hoopla-la about the condo at The Nest. Leeann Brown called Sunny. I could hear the crazy chick screaming all the way to the front office, and Sunny had the door closed. Have no clue how she still has a real estate license. So, you coming here in the morning?”

“I guess, don’t have much going on, and I’m not allowed to go near that condo. Plus I never got a single call on the Brown sisters’ other 2 listings. By the way, was Kay at the office today?”

“Didn’t see her. Most of the day it was Sunny, me, and Scott who came by to drop off two posts. Oh, and the mailman, of course. I forgot to give him the bottle of bourbon we give him every Christmas. Tomorrow.”

“Damn, I haven’t bought any presents yet. The first time I actually have some money, and I can’t get myself motivated. Well, except for Kay and Tristan.”

“Wait, you gave presents to those two? And you call Mr. Stud by his first name?”

“It’s not what you think. Okay? If it wasn’t for the Dumont commission I wouldn’t have the money, and Kay helped me a lot. So there.”

“Yeah, sure. So what you gonna get me?”

“I was thinking a mani-pedi at that place you like at the mall?”

“Huh, a gift card, I see...oh, wait. Did you hear about Double Wide?”

Need to tell Kassandra we must stop with the nicknames. “What about him?”

“You don’t know? It made the six o’clock news. Cops arrested Mr. Dale Wolf for the murder of Ana Martin, you know, the naked chick in the pool at The Nest?”

FIFTEEN

AFTER KASSANDRA DROPPED the bomb of Double Wide’s arrest, I spent an hour sitting and staring at the wall, convinced that somehow, somewhere, I should have known. I even missed the evening news and never called Tristan. One minute the Christmas tree held the answers to all my wishes, and the next minute I blamed myself for all the miseries of the world, starting with the death—no, the murder of Ana Martin, a young woman I had never met and never would unless I believed in the afterlife.

It was now the morning after, or Tuesday morning to the world, and I headed to Desert Homes Real Estate office in the hope of running into Kay Lewis and perhaps having a nice visit with Kassandra. Tristan’s name kept popping into my mind, and my degree of guilt grew accordingly. The fact that the Christmas tree in my living room was a group effort did not help my mood. On the contrary, it made me feel like dirt. Once again, I was poor little lonely Monica to the outsiders.

The parking lot looked more or less like the last time I was there. The only exception, Kassandra’s Kia, as grimy and beat-up as ever, but it gave me joy seeing it. Maybe instead of giving Kassandra a gift card for mani-pedi, I should get her a car wash, the one with all the extras.

I pushed open the front door with grand fanfare and found her front desk empty. Ah! I headed for the kitchen. And there sat Kassandra, sipping