Pumped for Murder (34 page)

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Authors: Elaine Viets

Tags: #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Cozy, #Women Sleuths

BOOK: Pumped for Murder
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“Ready with the wine and the presents?” she asked.
“Yes, but the phone keeps ringing,” Phil said.
“Let the answering service take the calls,” Helen said. “Otherwise, you’ll be on the phone all night.”
She held her front door open with her hip, carefully balanced the cheese tray and cracker basket, then set them on the umbrella table by the pool. She could see Phil on the stairs across the courtyard, carrying champagne in a bucket, glasses, flowers and a silver package.
Peggy and Pete were on a chaise next to Margery, bright spots of red hair and green feathers in the gathering dusk.
“What’s this?” Margery asked when Helen and Phil arrived with the food and wine.
“Awk!” Pete said.
“We want you to help us celebrate our success,” Helen said.
“We wouldn’t have it without you,” Phil said. He handed Margery a long, narrow package in silver paper. “Open it.”
Margery ripped the paper like a hungry lioness disemboweling an antelope. “A check. What’s this for?”
“Our office rent,” Phil said.
“I didn’t ask for that,” Margery said.
“We owe you lots more than that,” Phil said. “You and Peggy gave us our first clients.You got our business started.”
“Helen gave you a jump start when she roped in that TV reporter, Valerie Cannata,” Margery said. “And solving Debbi’s murder was her idea.”
“That helped,” Phil said, “but we wouldn’t have had our first cases without your help. Please take the money. You can charge us more if you want.”
“No way,” Margery said. “Your success has wiped away the memory of the tragedy in Apartment 2C. I won’t forget that poor girl, but when you move your business to larger quarters, I can tell renters that a famous detective agency used to be in that apartment.”
“We have no plans to move,” Helen said. “We like it here.”
Margery held up the check. “Think I’ll keep it. Box wine doesn’t grow on trees.”
“That wine didn’t grow on anything,” Helen said. “It was created in a test tube.”
Phil presented Peggy with a fragrant pink bouquet. “We also have something for you.”
“Stargazer lilies,” Peggy said. “They smell wonderful.”
“Woo-hoo!” Pete said.
“And this is for Pete,” Helen said. She handed the parrot a single green bean.
Pete took it in his foot, examined it, then dropped it on the pool deck. “Nite,” he said.
“Pete!” Peggy said. “Bad boy!”
“Green beans are on his approved food list,” she told Helen. “He can eat them.”
“I feel the same way, Pete,” Helen said. “Can he have one cashew?”
“Sorry, he’s still overweight.The vet says he has to diet if he wants to stay healthy.”
Pete eyed the fern in Peggy’s bouquet. “I’d better put these in water inside,” she said. “Ferns aren’t on his approved list, either. We’ll be right back.”
“Open the champagne, Phil,” Helen said.
After the champagne was poured and Peggy and Pete were back, Phil said, “A toast to the women who got us started.”
They clinked glasses.
“And to the long life and success of Coronado Investigations,” Margery said.
“Hear, hear.” More clinking, then drinking. The four friends began spreading cheese on crackers and nibbling on apples and grapes.
“We need to catch up on what’s going on,” Margery said. “Tell us what you know about Evie’s lawsuit. The part that wasn’t on television.”
“Her lawyer, Nancie Hays, is smart,” Helen said. “Nancie worked out a good strategy for her client. First, she made sure Evie divorced her husband, Peter Willingham Roddick. Nancie handled the divorce pro bono. She got her client a settlement of one hundred thousand dollars. Once Evie was free, Nancie filed suit against West Hills and Detective Ever Ready.”
“Was that pro bono, too?” Peggy asked.
“No, Nancie left the public defender’s office when she filed that suit. She’ll get forty percent of Evie’s judgment.”
“Awk!” Pete said.
“She deserves it,” Margery said. “Nancie took quite a gamble quitting her job in this market.”
“Nancie called us after she left the courthouse,” Phil said. “Nancie wants to start her own law firm and hire Coronado Investigations to do her in-house investigations.”
“No need to hang around the courthouse trolling for an up-and-coming law firm,” Helen said. “Now we have one.”
“More champagne!” Phil cried.
Helen savored the champagne and the good time with her husband and friends. She knew it wouldn’t last forever, but neither would the bad times.
 
Thanks to wise investments, Evie was comfortably fixed when Fantastic Fitness of Fort Lauderdale closed a year later. She left her job at the gym with a glowing recommendation, which she plans to use on her résumé when she’s ready to look for another job.
Tansi told Police Officer McNamara Dorsey the details of the murder of bodybuilder Debbi Dhosset, as well as drug dealing with Kristi, her former friend. Tansi admitted that she bought illegal anabolic steroids and other controlled substances at Granddaddy’s Bar from a man she knew only as Bobby, the day bartender.
Tansi pled guilty. Officer Dorsey told the judge that Tansi had cooperated in the investigation. The judge sentenced her to six years in prison. After her release, Tansi is barred from competitive bodybuilding.
Kristi, her former friend and training partner, was convicted of first-degree murder and more than twenty counts of selling illegal steroids, human growth hormone, oxycodone and other controlled substances. Kristi will have more than twenty-five years to develop her physique by natural means in prison.
Officer McNamara Dorsey received a commendation for her investigation of the murder of bodybuilder Debbi Dhosset. She became the first woman homicide detective on the West Hills police force.
Heather opened an organic fruit smoothie bar that caters to bodybuilders and health-food lovers.
Sunset Palms police, under the direction of Sgt. Rick Markban, raided Granddaddy’s Bar and found a quantity of anabolic steroids, Ecstasy, human growth hormone, and other illegal substances with a street value of two million dollars. Bobby, the day bartender, was charged and convicted of multiple counts of drug dealing.
Danny Cerventi was not charged, possibly due to his sister’s influence. But Linda was not able to prevent Granddaddy’s Bar from losing its license. Sgt. Markban told the liquor commission that the bar was a source of drug dealing, drunken drivers, noise and nuisance complaints. Granddaddy’s closed and the building is up for sale.
Danny still works three days a week for the video-duplication service, dubbing anniversary and wedding tapes to DVDs. He has a marked dislike for “Proud Mary” and walks out of places when that Creedence Clearwater Revival song is playing.
Sunset Palms recently laid off twenty-five city employees due to budget cuts. One was Linda Cerventi, Danny’s sister. She is currently unemployed.
So is real estate agent Bryan Minars. Bryan broke up with his fiancée, Carla. He is using his professional skills to search for a new apartment.
Channel Seventy-seven investigative reporter Valerie Cannata’s show,
Double or Nothing—A Seventy-seven Exclusive Exposé
, was number one during prime-time sweeps. So was her station. Phil and Helen keep their television tuned to that channel. Seventy-seven has been a lucky number for them.
Also by Elaine Viets
The Dead-End Job Series
 
Shop till You Drop
Murder Between the Covers
Dying to Call You
Just Murdered
Murder Unleashed
Murder with Reservations
Clubbed to Death
Killer Cuts
Half-Price Homicide
 
Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper Series
 
Dying in Style
High Heels Are Murder
Accessory to Murder
Murder with All the Trimmings
The Fashion Hound Murders
An Uplifting Murder

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