Twenty-Nine
By midmorning, the Lakeview was almost set for Helena Reeves’s celebration of life.
Valerie was in the dining room, aligning the tablecloth corners to hang at the same length, when Mickey came out from the kitchen where he’d been hard at work preparing Helena’s favorite chicken tenders and honey Dijon dip.
He ran a cloth over his bald head. “T minus ninety minutes,” he said. “How’s it looking?”
“T minus sixty.” Valerie lifted the plate holding Helena’s (in)famous candied pecan and pimento cheese log. “The first guest always arrives early.”
“Surely not for a funeral.”
“Celebration of life,” she corrected.
“What’s the difference?” he asked curiously.
“A funeral is more structured and usually has to do with the physical remains,” she said. “A celebration of life is more informal, so people can come together and remember a life lived well.”
“I want the second,” said Mickey. “No boring sad stuff. Have a party and a few drinks and a laugh on me.”
“Same.” She had a document on her laptop outlining the exact details for her own celebration of life, from food to music, that she updated whenever she had a new idea. Some might think this was weird, but one person’s unbearably dark was another’s thoughtful advance planning.
“There you are.” Penny came in, dressed in slim navy pants with a vestlike shirt. She cast a look around the room. “Are we ready?”
Valerie thought the we was a stretch, since Penny had done nothing beside volunteer her for the job. “We are.”
Penny ran her finger along the windowsill before frowning at the baseboard. “I hope you were planning to clean this area? Helena prided herself on her housekeeping.”
Thank God Mickey had gone back to the kitchen and hadn’t heard. Before Valerie could reply, Dalia came over with a damp cloth. “Knock yourself out,” she chirped. “We’re a solution-oriented team. You see the problem, you fix it.”
Valerie knew she couldn’t laugh. Penny stared at the proffered cloth and redirected her attention to Valerie. “Get me a glass of iced tea, won’t you, dear? It’s so hot and I need to deal with some work from the gallery.”
Valerie stood for a moment as Penny took out her phone and proceeded to ignore her.
She went and fetched the tea, which was faster than making a fuss when she had to focus on the finishing touches for the event.
Penny looked up and ran her eyes over Valerie’s working outfit—shorts and a tank top—with disapproval.
“You’re going to change, aren’t you? Surely with all of the clothes I gave you, you can find something more suitable. ”
“I am.”
“Good.” Penny was already back on her phone and she waved her hand. “Off you go.”
It was a bit crushing. She’d thought Penny liked her, not just as the niece she was playing, but for herself.
This reminded her of growing up, when she would make dinner that half the family wouldn’t be home for, or go out of her way to pick up special delicacies that went eaten, but unremarked.
Perhaps this was simply what it was like to be in a family, and Valerie was expecting too much.
“What a treat,” muttered Dalia a few minutes later, jerking her chin at Penny. “She told me to get her a refill.”
Well, at least it wasn’t only Valerie. Penny was in a bad mood, she supposed. Being confronted with death did that to some people. She decided not to take it personally.
The smell of smoke came from around the corner, and she went to investigate. A tall woman in a lavender dress stared guiltily over a lit cigarette and made a face as if to indicate she knew she was busted.
“I know.” The woman exhaled an impressive smoke ring. “No smoking on the marina or the patio.”
“I’m not the smoking police.”
“God, you’d be the only one in this Puritan hellhole. If Penny knew, she’d never let me live it down.”
Valerie looked at her closer. “You know Penny Badgerton-Willis?”
The woman laughed and stubbed her cigarette out in a sand-filled can someone had put out for other secret smokers. “For fifty years. I’m Tracey Jefferies.”
It was her. Finally. Tracey Jefferies, in the tanned flesh.
“I’m Valerie, the event planner.” This was her chance to get some intel from a woman she was beginning to think was mythical, they had missed her so often. “The town must have changed a lot here since you were a child.”
Tracey ran a hand through her graying blond hair. “Some things, yes, but Mariposa is scarily resistant to change. I feel I see the same trends cycling through each year. Hello, Penny.”
Penny had appeared on the patio. “Don’t you have things to do for the event?” she asked Valerie. “It starts soon, and we know you don’t do well under pressure.”
Tracey raised her thick eyebrows. “It looks like she’s doing fine.” She smiled at Valerie. “Mickey told me it’s coming together beautifully.”
“Valerie did Dad’s memorial,” said Penny.
“Ah, well.” Tracey looked unperturbed as she nodded at Valerie. “You seem to have recovered. It’s good to not let a mistake hold you back. Shows character.”
Penny’s mouth tightened. “What were you talking about back here in secret?”
Tracey’s expression became humorous. “I’m entering my cougar years and thought I’d plan my next assignation behind the Lakeview with one of the busboys before it got too busy. Unfortunately Valerie interrupted, and she’s not really my type.”
“Very funny.”
“I was asking Tracey about trends,” said Valerie. She turned to Tracey. “Penny mentioned you used to make friendship bracelets back in the day.”
“Me?” Tracey laughed. “I hate crafting. That was you, Pen. You gave them to everyone.”
Penny’s jaw worked. “I don’t remember it like that at all.”
“You had all that free time because Roger was always disappearing with his secret girlfriend. God, it drove you nuts that you didn’t know who she was.”
“Penny suspected it was you,” said Valerie, remembering what she had said on the dock.
“Me? No, Penny knew I had a boyfriend.” Tracey shrugged. “Husband now.”
“We’ve had enough of talk about the past,” said Penny brightly. “Valerie, you should get back to work.”
“Come on.” Tracey rolled her eyes. “How about you worry about you? Valerie and I were having a nice chat.”
Penny stared at her, but Tracey was already rooting in her bag for her sunglasses, which she slid on with a single, incredibly unbothered motion.
“You heard me, Valerie.”
“You really said that out loud.” Tracey lowered the sunglasses, sounding amused. “Penny, you can’t possibly think it’s appropriate to order another adult around like that.” She paused. “Do you?”
Penny left without replying and Tracey stared after her with a complicated expression.
“Poor Pen,” she said softly. “So insecure. It’s like watching one of those little dogs yap.”
“Penny?” asked Valerie in astonishment.
Tracey laughed. “She’s always been concerned about controlling everyone.
It’s like autonomy personally offends her.
Ah well. Some self-awareness would help her, but that’s a pipe dream.
” She pulled out another cigarette, then made a face and slid it back in the package.
“I should head in. Helena would have been thrilled with what you’ve pulled together. You should be proud.”
She left and Valerie stayed behind, gazing at the boats and thinking.
“What’s up?”
It was Nico, holding out a lopsided ice cream. “Here,” he said. “They let me take a few of the rejects. I gave some to Mickey and Dalia.”
“Thanks.” She took a minty lick. “Guess who I just met?”
“Batman.”
“No.” He wasn’t going to believe it.
“Tracey Jefferies.”
Valerie frowned. “How did you know? You wrecked the surprise.”
“Heard someone call her name inside. What did she say?”
Valerie gave him a quick summary. “Penny was caught in two new lies.”
“Making the bracelets and saying she suspected Tracey of dating Roger,” said Nico.
“Exactly.” The former supported the idea that Penny had given Yvette the bracelet, showing they had been closer than Penny wanted them to believe. The latter meant Penny would have known about Tracey’s real boyfriend and might have said that as a way to cover up knowing about Yvette and Roger.
He handed over a serviette. “It’s not enough. We need irrefutable proof to help Roger fully accept Penny was involved.”
“He suspects it though, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the Mariposas.”
“I think deep down, he can’t bring himself to believe it.”
“I can see that. It could be David, though,” she said. “That might hurt less.”
“Maybe. But it’s probably Penny.”
Then Mickey called for help, and the argument had to be shelved until later.
* * *
The celebration of life was in full swing, and Valerie was pleased that Helena’s family and friends were starting to relax.
People had come from all over the region to share stories, including a man who had gone to elementary school with Helena.
“She was a little hell-raiser,” the man said to anyone who passed his seat. “I was in love with her. Everyone was.”
When the rest of the Badgertons arrived, Alice came up to congratulate Valerie. “I don’t enjoy crowds,” she confessed. “When I was married to Peter, I dreaded doing the social things for the Bread Company because I stood out like a sore thumb.”
“You?”
“I hadn’t realized how many women in that group simply stopped working when they had children, despite having a good education and jobs. Like Jenn. I worked, and I didn’t have kids, or want them. Mark says…” Alice stopped. “Nothing.”
“Mark?” Valerie said the name casually, although Alice had mentioned it several times in a way that made Valerie think this Mark guy meant something more to Alice than Peter’s friend.
Alice turned her head away, almost as if she felt shy. “We’re getting married,” she said in a low voice. “Roger doesn’t know. I’ve been trying to get the nerve to tell him all month.”
“Congratulations,” said Valerie, relieved to have Alice confirmed as innocent in Roger’s investigation, although she’d never seriously been suspected. “Do you think Roger will be upset?”