Body Bags & Blarney (6 page)

“Do you think
so? It’s not like her business was really booming.” Kathy said without much
sympathy in her voice. “She’s raised her prices up so much lately.”

“And how did
you know this?” Vivienne raised her voice in mock concern. “Have you been
cheating on me?”

Kathy laughed.
“I was simply doing what any good businesswoman would do. I shopped around and
researched my options.”

“Good.”
Vivienne walked back into the living room, shutting off lights as she passed
through. “So, did she raise them ridiculously high?”

“Well, well,
well.” Kathy teased back. “Look who wants to know what the competition is up to
all of a sudden.”

Vivienne
double checked that the dead bolt on the front door was locked and peeked out
one of her front windows. “I’m simply doing what any good businesswoman would
do.” The street outside was quiet and some tiny snowflakes, looking like
diamond dust, swirled in the frigid night air.

“She was
pricing herself right out of small jobs.” Kathy replied. “Corporate functions,
they can handle that sort of thing. But as for small private events, I think
people were skipping her and just going to the warehouse club to buy what they
needed for much less.”

The shower
turned off and the ceiling creaked overhead as Joshua walked around the
bathroom. Vivienne switched off the last floor lamp in the living room and then
dashed into the kitchen to turn on the dishwasher. “Maybe they’ll just take the
money and put it in the bank?”

“Or move
away.” Kathy added. “Property taxes are driving people out of the state.”

“That’s true.”
Vivienne made her way back to the living room and climbed the stairs. “Listen,
I need to get to bed because I have a bunch of king cakes to bake tomorrow
morning for a certain jewelry party at the fabulous Trade Winds Clothier.”

“Can I pick
them up around two?”

“Sure.”
Vivienne replied as Joshua opened the door to the bathroom and a cloud of steam
rolled into the hallway.

“All clean.”
He grinned, wrapped in a large blue bath towel.

“I’ll see you
then. Goodnight Kathy.” Vivienne ended the call and walked over to her handsome
boyfriend. She ran her fingers through his thick chest hair, still wet from the
shower and smelling of Irish Spring body wash. “Fancy meeting you here,
Deputy.”
 

He took her
free hand gently in his and led her into the bedroom. “No more business for the
night.”

“Whatever you
say.” She cooed back, setting her phone on the dresser. “I would never go
against the advice of the town’s Deputy.”

*
           
*
           
*

When she awoke
the next morning, Joshua had quietly left for work as he usually did, allowing
her to sleep. As per his routine, she found a good morning message scrawled on
the small white board on her refrigerator. ‘Fed the cats. Have a wonderful day.
Love you, sweetie.’ As she poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot he had
brewed an hour earlier, Tommy and Sammy curled around her legs and meowed. “Oh
no, you aren’t getting a second breakfast from me today.”

They both
followed her over to the kitchen table where Joshua had left the morning
newspaper. There was a picture of Suzette’s burned down business and a story
about the fire. Vivienne sat down and read the article, but as usual, there was
nothing all that interesting to be learned. There was no foul play suspected,
no victims killed tragically. The photograph was the most compelling part, with
a nice action shot of orange flames leaping high into the air as a stream of
water from the firefighters battled it down into submission.

The morning
flew by at break-neck speed as she and Stephanie worked on getting the king
cakes ready for Kathy’s jewelry party.

“I’m excited
to see what she has to offer.” Stephanie dusted a handful of green sugar onto
the frosted sweet bread, adding the final color to the purple and gold already
in place.

“I saw a
little preview of a ring. I would never have known it was a fake.” Vivienne
loaded one of the finished cakes into a box and tied it up with twine.

“Not that I
have many glamorous events to wear jewelry to between work and classes.”
Stephanie handed her the next cake to box up.

“I’m not
exactly a party girl here either.” Vivienne winked as she boxed the second cake
and cut a piece of twine off the spool. “Still, it’s nice to flash a little
sparkle with an everyday outfit. Especially when those tour buses start rolling
into town this summer with visitors from New York and the Hamptons.”

“I agree.”
Stephanie handed her the final cake and then walked over to the computer to
close out the order. “There’s only one thing I’m not looking forward to at the
party tomorrow night.”

“What’s that?”

“Alexis Warner
is going to be there modeling some of the jewelry.” Stephanie rolled her eyes.
“She’s been telling everyone on campus who would listen about it.”

“Well, the
world does revolve around her.” Vivienne chuckled. Kathy had worked hard to get
Alexis to model for her store ever since before Christmas. She spent a good
amount of time at Clara’s, where Alexis waited tables part time, buttering her
up with outrageously high tips for lackluster service. She was vapid,
narcissistic, and always had a way of making people feel she was better than
them in every way. Vivienne was surprised that Clara kept her on staff, but the
obscene amount of men who packed the diner during her shifts couldn’t be argued
with. The beautiful girl brought people in, made people notice. It really wasn’t
much of a mystery why she was still employed.

Vivienne knew
that Kathy had a love/hate relationship with Alexis from a business standpoint.
Yes, whatever clothing she modeled looked amazing and enticed women to buy.
But, she had become more and more demanding for higher pay and special perks
with each new job that Kathy hired her for. The jewelry party was probably
going to be their last endeavor together. Alexis didn’t know that yet, but
Kathy was going to play hard ball with her to take her down a peg or two.
Cayuga Cove was a small town, and there simply wasn’t room for two queen bees
to hold court. Much like Elizabeth II, she was going to hold onto her crown for
a very long time.

“She’s
bringing someone along who is almost as self-centered as herself.” Stephanie
revealed. “A guy from Florida that looks like he rolled off one of those trashy
reality shows.”

“Really?”
Vivienne perked up as she tied the last box shut. “I imagine that’s a train
wreck waiting to happen.”

“That’s
putting it mildly.” Stephanie continued. “His family has all kinds of money
because they own a chain of high-end boutiques that caters to media socialites
and society debutantes.

“Let me guess.
He’s tall, tanned, and has a checking account that provides endless capital for
parties.”

Stephanie
nodded back. “His name is Johnny Guido or something stupid like that.” She
pulled out her smart phone. “I found some pictures when I Googled him.”

“Is that his
real name?”

Stephanie
shrugged. “I doubt it.”

“Let’s take a
look at this guy.” Vivienne scooted over to get a better view of Stephanie’s
phone.

Stephanie
tapped her screen and a moment later a picture of a tall, tanned, young man
wearing expensive sunglasses with a mane of dark slicked back hair appeared.
Dressed in a tux with the white dress shirt unbuttoned to reveal a waxed chest,
he was embraced by two statuesque blondes who seemed to be in contest as to
which could show the most cleavage. “That’s him at the Grammy awards.”

“Classy.” Vivienne
rolled her eyes at the obnoxiously posed photo.

“Here’s the
family home.” Stephanie pulled up another picture of a gaudy pink mansion on a
pristine beach. It was oversized, gilded to the point that even made the great
palace of Versailles look modest by comparison.

“Wow, I only
thought flamingos came in that color.” Vivienne couldn’t imagine the obscene
amount of money spent to create that eyesore.

“So, she’s
modeling and he’s going to be there for her to show off.” Stephanie sighed as
she put her phone away. “I guess he enjoys cavorting with the little people
from time to time.”

“How did they
meet?” Vivienne wondered.

“I think when
she flew down to Florida over President’s Day weekend with a photographer she
had met while working at Clara’s a few weeks back.” Stephanie recalled. “He
paid for the trip and got her a job modeling in a fashion show down in South
Beach. As luck would have it, Johnny Guido happened to be attending the fashion
show as his family’s business provided the jewelry for the models to wear. You
know it must be true love because she changed her relationship status on Social
Butterfly to ‘it’s complicated’.”

“Oh, I hate
that status option.” Vivienne rolled her eyes. “If your relationship is that
hard to define, why even mention it?”

“Exactly.”
Stephanie grinned. “She also has this annoying habit of posting pictures of
herself with ten hashtags after it.”

“I don’t even
know what those are for, but that still annoys the hell out of me.” Vivienne
laughed.

Stephanie
paused on one of Alexis’ posed photos on Social Butterfly. It was a still photo
from one of her modeling jobs. “I just wish that I could look that glamorous
for once.” She sighed. “Like Cinderella waiting to go to the castle ball.”

Vivienne
snapped her fingers. “I need you to call Nouveau You Salon for me.”

“Sure.”
Stephanie picked up the phone. “Did they order something?”

“No.” Vivienne
continued. “We’re making two appointments to get some fairy dust sprinkled on
us before tomorrow night’s ball.”

“Oh, I’d love
to but my books for the spring semester ate up most of my rainy day fund.”
Stephanie sighed. “But I’ll make one for you.”

“You don’t
believe in your fairy godmother?” Vivienne put her hands on her hips and picked
up a whisk. “Is my wand not impressive enough?”

“Oh, Vivienne.”
Stephanie gushed. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes I do.”
Vivienne waved the whisk at her. “All you have to do is believe.”

Stephanie
blushed. “You are so kind to me.”

“And you are
the best assistant I could ask for. So, let’s close up early tomorrow and have
a girl’s afternoon at the salon before Kathy’s party.” Vivienne walked over and
lightly tapped her on the head with the whisk. “We all need to believe in the
power of magic.”

“I do now.”
Stephanie replied as she dialed the salon. She excitedly asked about booking
two appointments for Friday afternoon and then her enthusiasm faded. “Well, I
understand. Thank you anyway.” She hung up the phone. “They’re all booked for
tomorrow.”

“No way.”
Vivienne shook her head.

“It was a nice
thought, though.” Stephanie got up from the stool at the front counter. “I
better start another batch of Irish soda bread.”

“I’m sorry,
Stephanie.” Vivienne set the whisk down.

“I still
believe in magic, though.” She gave a little smile and walked back into the
stockroom to get supplies to make dough.

Vivienne
wasn’t about to let their moment slip away so easily. “Well, it’s a good thing
that my magic is real.” She whispered and set the whisk down on the counter in
the work area.

She hurried
over to the computer and moved the mouse pointer over to a folder on the
desktop display named ‘Recipe Backup’. She double clicked on the icon and it
prompted her for the password to unlock it. With a few clicks of the keys she
accessed the folder contents which had several custom recipes stored for safe
keeping and another file named ‘M1’. When she opened that file, the screen
filled with spells she had transcribed into the computer from her magical
grimoire. Beginning with the time reversal spell she had discovered back in the
fall, she made sure to add each newly decoded magical incantation to the
database as a backup, should the real thing ever go missing.

Her magical
homework was often ignored in lieu of running her bakery, but over the past few
months she had made an effort to devote at least three nights a week to magical
studies. The fruits of such labor had yielded about two new spells a month,
which currently gave her an arsenal of eleven magical effects that helped to
make life easier. Nana Mary explained that these first spells were of the most
basic variety and referred to them as ‘cantrips’ or spells of the minor power
order. They allowed a novice witch to gain confidence with his or her casting
ability, ingredient gathering, and pronunciation of the power words that
breathed life into the magic.

“I know you’re
in here somewhere.” Vivienne muttered quietly as she scrolled down the long
document until she found what she was looking for. “Ah, there you are.” Her
finger hovered on the screen where the cantrip ‘Hey, don’t forget about me!’
was underlined in bold text. The ingredients were simple and consisted of a
slip of paper, a pen, and some activated yeast.