A Fatal April Shower Read online

  “Oh.” What else was there to say?

  “When would this be?” Ted was trying to be serious. “Before or after they have, you know…” He whispered, “Sex.”

  My mother stopped chewing and seemed to take a moment to think about it. “I would think after,” she said at last. “Dominick could let Justine in, they’d kill her, and roll her body out on the wheelchair.” She nodded to herself. “That would be the best way, I think.”

  “Gosh, Mom,” I said. “You seem to have spent an awful lot of time thinking about this. Have you warned Roberta?”

  She looked shocked. “Oh, Ellie, no. Of course not! I would, of course. I mean, it’s the Christian thing to do, but she’d think I was crazy.”

  Yes, there was that.

  Cal carefully pushed his plate away. “That was delicious, Leona. You’re lucky to have such a great kitchen prepare you such amazing meals.”

  Mom shuddered. “It’s only because you three are here. When there are guests, they put on quite a show. Most days, it’s stale bread and cold soup.”

  “Mom,” I said, “you know that’s not true.”

  She made a dismissive gesture. “Believe what you want,” she said. “I know what you think about what I have to say.” She pointed a fork at me. “But just remember, when Roberta ends up in the Passaic River, I told you so.”

  “Is she going to drown?” Ted asked, openly laughing now. “I thought you said a gun was going to be involved?”

  She shot him a stern look. She’d never scold him, of course, but she might show a bit of irritation now and then. “They’re going to have to get rid of the body,” she said slowly. “And where else would they put it?”

  Of course.

  I pulled out my phone and scrolled quickly through. “Mom, you put both Dominick and Roberta on the guest list for your party. Are they coming?”

  “Why, yes. Dom has a car. A big, black Lincoln.” She frowned. “That’s how they’d move the body, of course. In the trunk.” She shook her head, as if to chase away a gnat. “He’s taking Roberta and Connie. And maybe Peggy, if her back doesn’t hurt too much.” She smiled brightly. “I’m so lucky to have such good friends.”

  “Yes, Mom,” I said, “you certainly are.” Connie was in her eighties, sharp as a tack, with the mouth of a longshoreman and hair dyed a defiant red. I didn’t know Peggy well, just that she was blind in one eye and walked with a cane. I’d never met Roberta or the villainous Dominick.

  “So, we’re having a hit man and his mark at your party?” Cal asked. “How festive.”

  My mother shot him the Look of Death. “I am sure,” she said slowly, “that none of my guests would be so impolite as to murder someone at my birthday party.”

  Cal murmured his apology. Ted started choking and had to reach for his water. I slapped him on the back, and several of the other diners looked our way.

  Dominick the Don smiled politely.

  Roberta the victim waved.

  Justine the accomplice barely moved her head.

  Mom looked around the table and sighed. “I do hope you will all behave yourselves,” she said. “I’d hate to be embarrassed at my own party by your bad behavior.”

  With that, we all sat up and finished our meal in silence.

  * * *

  Sam came for dinner that night.

  Sam Kinali was a big man, tall and broad shouldered, and very sexy. He had gray hair and full, soft lips, and a way of looking at you when he spoke like you were the most important person in the room.

  He was a pretty terrific guy.

  He hugged both Ted and Cal, then gave me a very nice kiss. He had also started giving Tessa a kiss every time he came over. She had become quite attached. She was at an age where I was the stupidest, most boring person on earth, but Sam…well, he was perfect.

  I was getting used to it, knowing that, sometime in the next ten years, I’d stop being such an idiot in her eyes.

  Ted and Cal were relating our lunch with Mom. Cal had an uncanny talent for mimicry, and he took on the roles of Dominick, Roberta and Justine with hilarious results. Cait had tears running down her cheeks. Sam leaned back in his chair, laughing, causing the whole house to shake. Even Tessa cracked a smile.

  “I hope your mother is not too upset,” Sam choked, “if nobody gets knocked off this Saturday.”

  I shook my head. “No, she made it quite clear that no one would be so insulting as to do it in front of her. Besides, I’m sure Enza wouldn’t allow something like that to spoil her party.”

  “Enza?” Cait asked. “She the party person?”

  I nodded and sat back. “Yes. I have complete faith in her. She’s one of those people who take everything personally. I’m sure the whole day will be a success.”

  “What kind of food?” Tessa asked. It was the first question she’d raised about the entire affair.

  “Tomato salad, stuffed shells, meatballs and ziti, chicken and something, mushrooms? Whatever. Baked salmon and scalloped potatoes. And for dessert, cake and Italian pastries. Sound good?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

  I sighed inwardly. She’d been in a bit of a funk for days now, and I couldn’t get anything out of her as to why. Of course, she barely talked to me about everyday things, like the weather or what was for dinner, so I shouldn’t have expected her to bare her soul, but…

  “Is there someone you’d like to invite to Gramma’s party?” I asked her.

  She shrugged again. “Why would I want to invite somebody to some dumb old grown-up party?”

  “So you could have a friend to talk to?” I suggested.

  She rolled her eyes and slumped back in her chair. “No.”

  I took a breath. “Okay, then. Can you clear off the table? Please?”

  She stood with the same attitude as a soldier standing to face the enemy, unarmed. “Sure.”

  I glanced at Cait, who bounced up. “I’ll help you, Tess. Let’s go.”

  Ted waved a hand. “No, Cait. I’ll help Tessa. What do you say?”

  She almost smiled.

  I had the best brother in the world.

  Chapter 2

  My first fear went unrealized. We did not get snow on the morning of the party. However, those fabled April showers were on the way. The sky was dark and there was a strong breeze. I hoped the rain would hold off until after the party began.

  Ted and Cal had offered to get Mom, so I could help Enza and her crew up at the clubhouse. I saw her Mercedes drive by, followed by two white panel vans with a tasteful logo painted on the back of each. ‘A Luxe Affair’, mounted on a Tiffany blue rectangle, with the phone number discreetly printed below. A rental truck brought up the rear.

  The clubhouse had been unlocked earlier that morning, so there was no rush to get there. I left Tessa and Cait at the house and walked up the drive.

  Josiah Abrams had built the clubhouse as his summer home, in an age when more of something meant wealth. Consequently, it was everything you could have wanted in a grand Victorian summer home, and then some. The porch wrapped around the entire front and side, there were plenty of bay windows with leaded panes. There were porches on the second floor, turrets on every corner and gingerbread galore. It was quite beautiful in an overdone, slightly vulgar way. I loved it.

  Inside, there was a grand foyer and a sweeping staircase to the upper floors. To the left were the parlor and the dining room, a space that ran the whole length of the house, two grand rooms with high ceilings, crown moldings and ornate fireplaces. The front room had a massive bay window overlooking the lake, and the dining room opened to a sun porch in the back. It was there the Luxe staff was setting up for the party.

  The flurry of activity was heartening. The four members of the Luxe staff were recognizable by their white jackets, each with the Luxe logo on the pocket. There were other young men, from the rental company, I guessed, who did most of the heavy lifting — unloading the tables and chairs from the truck and setting them up around the
room. Enza tottered over in mile-high heels.

  “Let me introduce you,” she said, looping her arm through mine and leading me to a tiny redhead who was setting up round tables. “This is Joanne Collins. One of my partners. She’s in charge of the decorating and all the set-ups.”

  Joanne looked up from her work and flashed a grin. “Yeah. The hard work.”

  Enza snorted delicately. “She has an attitude because she’s so short. Come on back to the kitchen.”

  The original kitchen had been completely redone sometime in 2003, and it was all shiny stainless steel and white tile. There was a rather tall, incredibly thin woman lifting the lids off various trays and sniffing.

  “That’s Phyllis. She’s our chef. The third partner.”

  Phyllis looked up. “There may not be enough,” she said in a low voice.

  “Swear to God, you say that at every event,” Enza scolded. “Don’t alarm the client. We could feed the all the guests and have enough left over for the entire defensive line of the Green Bay Packers.”

  Phyllis shook her head and motioned to one of the Luxe people.

  “She’s a diva,” Enza whispered in my ear. “But she’s an amazing cook.”

  I nodded sympathetically. It sure smelled amazing. They were moving trays into the ovens. My mouth watered.

  Joanne brushed by, realized it was me, and grinned before shaking my hand. “Hi, Ellie. Great old house! This is going to be a fun party.”

  She was quite a contrast to Enza, tiny and cheerful, with an open, freckled face and curly red hair she had held back with a pink flower.

  “I’m counting on all of you for that,” I said. “Looks like everything is under control.”

  Joanne nodded. “Yep. The bartender is running a little late, but he’s new, so I’ll cut him some slack. The wine and beer is already here, so even if he doesn’t show, we’ll be fine. I tended bar for years before Enza and I started up.”

  “How long ago was that?” I asked, curious.

  “Almost five years now,” Enza said. “We started out with kids parties. Swear to God, there is nothing worse than an over-privileged mother who thinks her kid is perfect. The stories I could tell…”

  “But you won’t,” Joanne cut in smoothly. “Phyllis joined us two years ago. By then we were doing parties like this, and larger, and we realized we were losing money on the food side of the operation. We found Phyl, invited her in, and the rest, as they say, is history.” She looked past me into the main room. “There he is. The bartender. See you later.”

  I looked at Enza. “Kids parties?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me started. Seriously. Worst years of my friggin’ life. If you got kids, you know.”

  I laughed. I liked her. “I’ve got a twenty-four year old and an eleven year old. Both girls.”

  She muttered under her breath and made the sign of the cross. I laughed again and walked away.

  People would start arriving in about forty minutes, and everything was looking great. I took a final walk around the front parlors, then headed for home.

  * * *

  The party officially started at one o’clock. By twelve fifty-five, people filled the room, standing, sitting, sipping wine, and waiting for my mother to arrive. I heard thunder, but the rain had held off. So far, so good.

  Sam, standing beside me, leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Is she going to show up?”

  I jabbed backwards with my elbow. “It’s still early, so don’t even think that,” I said between clenched teeth. “You have no idea how real a possibility that is.”

  I kept glancing down at my phone, waiting for a text from Ted saying they were on the way. Or explaining why they were not on the way. Nothing.

  I had seen Carol and her boyfriend Leon arrive with Maggie and her husband Derek. And Shelly. They were all sitting together with my ex-husband, Marc, and Lou Lombardi, my neighbor and sorta friend, his new girlfriend. I’d lived in Mt. Abrams long enough that all my friends had gotten to know my mother by her appearances at parties and cookouts, the Mother’s Day Brunch and Founder’s Day festivities. They were all laughing as I walked over to them.

  “Hey, guys, good to see you,” I said, somewhat breathlessly. I focused on Shelly. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

  Shelly clutched her wine glass and smiled. “I wouldn’t miss it,” she said. “You know how much I love Leona.”

  That was true. I’d known Shelly a long time, and she’d first met my mother when she was a vibrant, charming woman, before her body and mind had begun to betray her.

  “I know she’ll appreciate it,” I said, still looking at Shelly. “I know I do.”

  There was an awkward silence, something I had never encountered with Shelly before.

  “Is Ted bringing your mom?” Carol asked.

  I glanced at my watch again. “Yes. Like, right now. See you all later.”

  I spotted Connie, who had planted herself by the bar and was talking a blue streak to my mother’s old neighbor, Mr. Silvio. She was also clutching a mug of beer as though it was the last drop of moisture left on earth.

  “Mr. Silvio, hello,” I said, kissing him on the cheek. “Do you remember me?” Like my aunts, he was still living in the same house he’d grown up in, and had known my mom and her sisters their whole lives.

  His family owned a little store down on the corner of my mother’s old block, and when we’d visit my aunts on a Saturday, my brother and I would each get a whole quarter to spend there. We’d walk down together, which in itself was something of an adventure, going past the neighborhood kids and their games of stickball and jump rope. The tiny store was an Aladdin’s Cave of wonders—a candy counter that ran the whole length, books and magazines, a corner for things like balsa wood airplanes and jump ropes, and an espresso machine in the back. This was before there were espresso machines in every Starbucks, and Ted and I thought it exotic and mysterious, almost as fascinating as the silent, taciturn men that sat at the round tables in front of the store, sipping out of their tiny cups and speaking Italian.

  Mr. Silvio lived in an identical four-family house as my aunts, and they shared a common drive. If we visited on Sundays, he would not be at the store, but rather in his tiny garden, tying up his tomato plants. Back then, his towering height and bushy eyebrows had terrified me. Now, he was a bent old man, smiling tiredly from sad, bleary eyes.

  “Of course I remember you,” he said. “Playing hopscotch in the street. You and your brother and your Snickers bars. You look just like your mother.”

  “Thank you. You’ve met Connie, I see?”

  Connie took a gulp of her beer. “Henry and I were practically neighbors back in the day.”

  “Really? Oh, that’s right.” Connie was ten years older than my mother, and had met her at The Manor. They immediately connected, because they had grown up four blocks from each other in Newark.

  He licked his lips. “It’s a very small world.” Something flickered in his eyes. Maybe he wasn’t as thrilled to meet Connie as she was to meet him, which was understandable. Connie looked good for her age, but with her bright red hair and outlandish outfits, she could come on a bit strong. Today she was dressed in a hot pink dress about twenty years out of date, with a long brightly colored scarf wrapped several times around her neck, thick white stockings and clunky black platform shoes, with blue eye shadow, red lipstick, and earrings that looked like hot pink golf balls.

  “I’m so glad you could make it, Mr. Silvio. I know my mother will be thrilled to see you again.”

  He smiled. “I remember your mother when she was a spry young girl. She was a looker. Every boy who met her wanted her. But she held out for your father. She was a smart girl, Leona.”

  “She still is. Ah, can I borrow Connie for a second?” I grabbed Connie by the arm and drew her away, leaning in to whisper.

  “Connie, did you talk to my mother today? Was she…okay?”

  Connie immediately understood. “Yeah. She seemed fin
e. She even knew it was her birthday, which is a good thing, ’cause yesterday she wasn’t so sure.”

  “Did you see Ted and Cal?”

  “No, but ask Dom or Roberta. I was running late and flew down the stairs at the last minute.”

  I couldn’t imagine her flying anywhere in her thick stockings and wobbly shoes, but…

  “Say…” She elbowed me. “That Henry Silvio…”

  I fought down a grin. Connie had a reputation back at The Manor as being a woman in constant search of a husband. “He’s never been married, if you’re interested.”

  She looked at him through narrowed eyes. “I’m always interested. He’s a fine-looking man. I don’t think he was so distinguished back in the day.”

  “He’s a bit older than you, I think. He went to school with Aunt Rose. His family owned that little corner store on Alexander Street. You remember him, then?”

  She looked thoughtful. “Bits and pieces are coming back. The store. I remember that. Interesting.”

  “Why? I don’t think he made a lot of money, and I think you’re a woman who likes a little cash in someone’s pocket.”

  She nodded slowly. “That’s the truth. But…”

  I laughed. “Go for it, Connie. But I need to figure out where mom is.”

  She looked serious and determined. “I think I need to ask him a few questions. Good hunting. To us both,” she said, and sashayed back over to Mr. Silvio.

  I looked around until I found Dominick and Roberta, sitting next to Peggy and her cane, all sipping red wine

  I walked around and came up behind Roberta and Dominick. “Hi, I’m Ellie. I know Peggy, a bit, but you’re Dominick? And Roberta? I thought I should formally introduce myself.”

  Dominick immediately stood and took my hand in both of his. “A pleasure,” he said. “Thank you for including us to this special celebration.”

  Roberta smiled up at me. “Yes. We’ve seen you, of course. With your mother. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  “Yes,” I said. This was awkward. “Did you happen to notice my brother before you came out here? He was supposed to pick up my mother, but…” I was a rotten liar. “He may have gotten lost?”