Diamonds and Dreams (7 page)

She
hung up quickly, thinking that if this were someone’s idea of a joke, it wasn’t
funny.
 
Who called?
 
Why did the person play the eerie song?
 
The irritating words echoed in her mind and
she stared at her phone.
 
She tried to
fall asleep again, but the anonymous caller disturbed her inner peace.

Pranks
like this go along with being a local celebrity,
she
told herself.
 
If the bizarre calls
continued, she’d change her phone number.

CHAPTER
FIVE

By
noon the following day
Desi
requested that Lindsay
and Brant come into his office.
 
“Just as
I thought—you two have the right chemistry that appeals to listeners.
 
I believe my idea of putting you two together
as the weekend team played a major part in boosting WBKB’s ratings,”
Desi
boasted.
 
“As a
result, I want the two of you to work closer than ever.”

Lindsay
was pleased that they’d spend more time together in the future and didn’t
bother to hide her smile, especially when she heard Brant say, “You have a keen
sense of perception,
Desi
, since you knew Lindsay and
I belong together before either of us did.”

Desi
smirked.
 
“Ah!
 
Do I detect a glimmer of romance in the air?
 
It would be great for the ratings if my two
top radio personalities fell madly in love with each other.
 
Just fantastic—as long as you stay in love.”

A
blush warmed Lindsay’s cheeks as she heard Brant ask jokingly, “Don’t you ever
think about anything other than the ratings war?”

“Occasionally.”
 
Desi
reached for several papers and handed a sheet to each
of them.
 
“Here’s the information
concerning your next personal appearance which is to host a class reunion.
 
That will be all for now.”

Outside
his office Lindsay moaned.
 
“Oh, no!
 
I never
dreamed that the reunion would be
this
one!”

Puzzled,
Brant never saw her look so distraught before, not even when she first
discovered she had to share her job with him.
 
“We’ve appeared at reunions in the past.
 
Why is this one any different?”

“My
older sister, Constance, would have been a member of this graduating class if
she hadn’t died during the early part of her senior year.
 
I was fourteen then, but I still wasn’t so
young that I didn’t notice the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death.”

“What
do you mean?”

“A
neighbor found my sister along a street near our home after the night Connie
attended a party with her friends,” Lindsay began.
 
“The police and coroner both suggested that
perhaps a stranger forced her into a car after the party.
 
Whenever she became frightened, her fear
often triggered an asthma attack.
 
The
police figured, at this point, the stranger probably dumped her into the ditch
where her body was discovered the following morning.”

“Do
you think that’s what really happened?”

She
shook her head.
 
“There were no signs of
a struggle.
 
Connie was usually
cautious.
 
I can’t imagine why she would
have walked alone on a deserted street late at night.
 
All she had to do if she needed a ride home
was call our parents.”

“I
know it’s tough to accept something like that.
 
Survivors often wonder if they could’ve prevented the tragedy, might
things have been
different?
”

Did
he speak from experience?
 
“Seeing
Connie’s old friends and attending the reunion which she should have been part
of won’t be easy.”

“I
understand why it will be painful for you.
 
If you like, I’ll try to talk to
Desi
and see
if there’s any way I can go to the reunion without you.”

“You’re
a dear to want to help, but
Desi
made it clear many
times in the past that we’re to make our public appearances as a team.
 
Anyway, I’ll manage at the reunion.”

“Maybe
I can keep your spirits up if I stand by you at the party.”

“Thanks
for being a friend.”

“My pleasure.
 
I’d like to be more than a friend if you’ll let me.
 
Will you?”

“Perhaps.”
 
Her heart raced, but it beat even faster when he kissed her on the lips
just as
Desi
passed by and clapped his hands
together.

“I’ve
got a hunch our ratings will shoot even higher now.”
 
He winked at them before he disappeared down
the hall.

The
night of the reunion arrived too quickly for Lindsay, but she was determined to
drag herself through it.
 
Wearing a
cream-colored two-piece silk suit with a matching lace blouse, she saw when
Brant came to pick her up that he wore a suit that perfectly matched her own
outfit.

“You
look fantastic, Lindsay!
 
People will
notice how lovely you are and how fortunate I am to escort you.”

“Let’s
hope they don’t notice my lack of enthusiasm.”

Soon
they arrived at the party house that had been transformed to look like the
exotic-looking
Kahiki
, a popular 1960s supper club
that once stood on East Broad Street.
 
The reunion’s theme, like the old
Kahiki
restaurant, was the bewitching atmosphere of the South Pacific.
 
Many guests were already present, mingling
and sampling the fine Polynesian cuisine, when Lindsay and Brant entered the
room filled with live plants and tinkling fountains.
 
Lindsay could feel their stares upon her as
she approached them.

Brant,
also, observed their deep interest in her.
 
“See?
 
I told you everyone would
be unable to tear their eyes away from you.”

“They
probably think I resemble Connie.”
 
She
was grateful for the warm hand he placed on her shoulder.

“It’s
time for us to start the party.
 
C’mon.
 
Let’s get the
introductions over with.”
 
He led her
toward the platform at the front of the room.
 
Picking up the microphone, he muttered, “Testing.
 
1-2-3.”

Lindsay
saw him nod at her so she straightened her shoulders and forced a smile.
 
She felt like she was a mannequin on display
as Brant began to address the growing crowd.

“Good
evening.
 
I’m Brant Diamond from WBKB,
along with Lindsay Blair, my lovely partner.
 
We’re here tonight to help you have as much fun as you probably had
years ago when you were all students preparing to set out and conquer the
world.”

“To
get the party rolling, we’ll play the songs which were popular on the charts
during your senior year,” Lindsay said.
 
“Hopefully, these favorite hits will bring back wonderful memories.”

Minutes
after the first slow, sad-themed song began, a tall, long-armed woman with
shiny auburn hair and brown eyes walked up to Lindsay.
 
“You’re Connie’s sister, aren’t you?
 
Remember me?”

“Nikki
Kayne
!”
 
Lindsay extended her hand to the woman.
 
“You were Connie’s best friend.”

“True,
but I go by Nicole Chandler now.”
 
She
laughed.
 
“Maybe if people call me
Nicole, they’ll view me as mature and forget some of young Nikki’s childish
antics in school, like the time I took a snake out of the biology room and
slipped it into the teacher’s desk.
 
I’m
married now…have two sons of my own that love to play pranks just like their
mother once
did
.”

Lindsay
grinned.
 
“Now you know how your parents
must have felt when they were summoned to the principal’s office each time you
disobeyed school rules.”

“Yes.
 
They probably felt outraged and secretly
amused at the same time, the way I feel now with my boys.”
 
Nicole looked across the room and called,
“Ariel!
 
Come here!”

Swallowing
hard, Lindsay spotted Ariel Cash, a hazel-eyed brunette that looked petite and
stylishly dressed in a taupe Ralph Lauren dress.
 
Ariel had been Connie’s constant rival.
 
Lindsay spent many hours through the years,
listening to Connie sob and cry after becoming the target of Ariel’s contemptuous
schemes.

“Hi!”
Ariel greeted them.
 
“Isn’t this a fun
party?
 
Did you see all the old
homecoming pictures of me on the bulletin board outside in the hall?”

Some
people never change, but remain self-absorbed all their lives
,
Lindsay thought.

“Yes.
 
There are pictures of each member of the
class on the board,” Nicole told her, and then pointed at Lindsay.
 
“Did you know this is Connie Blair’s younger
sister?”

“No.”
 
Ariel’s face took on a strange
expression.
 
“But that explains why I
felt like I saw a ghost earlier.
 
Nice to meet you, Lindsay.
 
I can’t tell you how affected I was by Connie’s death.
 
She and I fought often and competed hard
against one another, but underneath it all, we respected each other.
 
We understood one another in ways that others
didn’t understand us.”

Liar!
 
Lindsay remembered that Connie felt as close
to Ariel as a fly would being near a spider.
 
She had to force herself to be courteous.
 
“Many people, myself included, felt shocked
by Connie’s death.”

“Are
you talking about Connie Blair?” asked a man who stood within hearing
distance.
 
About 5’11 with glossy black
hair that began to recede on his forehead, he introduced himself.
 
“
Rafe
Wagner…former captain of the high school football team.”

“Hi,
Rafe
.
 
Yes, we were sharing memories of Connie,”
Nicole replied.
 
“Lindsay is Connie’s
sister.”

“Her
sister?” he echoed as if he found the news difficult to believe.
 
His brown eyes contained an eerie, haunting,
almost misty quality.
 
“I never forgot
Connie or how innocent and pretty she was.
 
Many times through the years I envisioned her in my mind the way she
looked the night of the party.”

“I
remember that night,” Ariel recalled.
 
“She seemed extraordinarily happy then…so vibrant the last time I saw
her as she jotted down something in her address book.”

“Yes,”
Nicole confirmed.
 
“I was by the door
when she left.
 
Smiling, she didn’t look
like she had any idea that misfortune was about to strike.”

“You
all attended the same party that Connie did on the night of her death?”
 
Lindsay wondered why she never heard this in
the past.
 
And why did Connie take her
address book to the party?
 
She rarely
even used it and hardly ever took it out of her room.

“Yes,”
Nicole answered.

“The
police questioned each of us,” Ariel added.
 
“It was frightening.
 
Everyone
that attended the party was treated like a possible suspect.
 
I never felt so indignant in all my life.”

Rafe
agreed and then rubbed the ugly
pear-shaped tattoo on his upper arm.
 
“Me, too.
 
But the
police were only doing their job.”

“I
suppose so,” Ariel muttered, “but I resented the way they hinted that
I
might have known something more about
Connie’s death!”

Nicole
remembered, “You and Connie argued at the party because your ex-boyfriend asked
Connie instead of you to go with him to a dance the following weekend.
 
That’s probably why the police were harder on
you than they were on the rest of us.”

Lindsay
sighed, a bit upset that, until now, she never heard these details regarding
the last hours of her sister’s life.
 
Glancing across the room where Brant attended to the music so it flowed
continuously, she wished he was beside her now.