“I’ve gotto stop in here,” said Vivien, pausing on the sidewalk in front of Hot Toddy. They’d just come from meeting with Joe Cap at the police station, and now they were walking to the bookstore. “Looks like a cute coffee shop. And I could use an iced latte. I’m awfully thirsty after that workout this afternoon,” she added, giving him a sly look. “We didn’t nap much.”
Jake grinned complacently and followed her into the pink cottage with lime-green shutters.
Inside, she was delighted to discover a huge framed movie poster fromVictor/Victoria. The walls were also decorated with several photos from the same film—most of Robert Preston, but some with him and Julie Andrews, Blake Edwards, and James Garner as well. They all seemed to be signed by Preston.
“Hot Toddy—I love it,” she said, then hummed the super-catchy “Le Jazz Hot!” as she approached the counter.
“I don’t get it,” said Jake, looking around.
“Robert Preston played an ‘old queen’—as the character puts it—named Toddy inVictor/Victoria, which is a movie and musical about a woman, played by Julie Andrews, pretending to be a gay man who is pretending to be a woman, who performs in the clubs in 1930s Paris. It’s comedic and romantic and the music is wonderful. So the coffee shop is named after Toddy, who’s Victoria’s best friend and mentor. Blake Edwards directed the movie and Lesley Ann Warren plays a hilarious floozy. It’s perfect,” she said to the proprietor as he came from the back room.
“Thank you, miss,” said the barista with a broad smile on his dark face. He was well over fifty, with an Indian accent and a gold hoop in one ear. “It’s my favorite movie, obviously. I met Robert Preston three times before he died, and he signed each of those for me in person. What can I get you?”
They were just getting their orders when Bella Pohlson came in, looking unusually rushed. “Oh, Jim, thank goodness you’re still open. I’m justdyingfor an iced oat milk latte with stevia, and I also need an iced macchiato… Oh, hi, Vivien. And…Dr. DeRiccio, is it? Sorry to be in such a rush—my husband’s waiting in line for the author signing and he wanted me to run over and get us something.” She was paying for her drinks and Vivien and Jake were nearly out the door when she said, “Oh, by the way, Vivien, that little grand opening thing I got you came in finally—I can drop it off at the theater for you sometime this week.”
“That’s so nice of you—thanks,” Vivien said. “Enjoy the signing—we’ll probably see you there.”
As they walked out, Jake took her arm and muttered, “She was your realtor, right? She could have had access to the building before you got to town.”
Vivien stopped on the sidewalk and looked at him. “I’ve thought of that, but I simply can’t think of a reason she’d want to ruin things for me. After all, she made money on the sale of a building that’s been sitting there empty for over twenty years. And if the vandalism is related to hiding the murders, I don’t see how Bella Pohlson could be involved. She would have been maybe five or six when the Nutcracker murders happened.”
“Nutcracker murders?” came a familiar voice. “What are those? Is that a new TV show on that Netflax thing everyone’s talking about?”
“Hello, Mrs. Took,” said Jake politely. “Hi, Mrs. Acerita. And hello there, Bruce Banner.” He prudently didn’t reach to pet the little dog, who was peeking out of Juanita’s bag as usual.
“Don’t you Mrs. Took me, Elwood DeRiccio. Makes me feel old—and like you’re talking to my granny. It’s Maxine—or Dr. Maxine if you wanna get fancy—and nothing else, you hear? Now you tell me and Juanita what’s all this about some Nutcracker murders.”
“We might as well wait until Iva and Cherry get over here—I can see them heading across the street. Apparently, everyone in town is going to the book signing.”
“Damn right. TMJ Mack, she’s one of the biggest writers we ever got coming in here to sign books—except maybe that fine piece of ass Dr. Ethan Murphy,” Maxine said, looking around as if to sight said fine piece of ass. “He ain’t a medical doctor like you, though—he’s got some degrees in—”
“It’s TJMack, youloco,” said Juanita. “And Ethan Murphy isn’t going to give you a second look when he’s got that gorgeous Diana warming his bed.”
“Well, a woman can dream, even at my age—”
“Vivien! How are things going at the theater?” asked Cherry, giving Vivien a hug. “I hear there’s been some vandalismandtwo murders!” she added in a whisper.
Wow. Vivien had no idea the gossip train traveled that fast in Wicks Hollow. “We literally just left the police station fifteen minutes ago,” she said. “How did you hear— Oh, Helga must have told Orbra.”
Cherry nodded. She was with a tall, wiry man about her age that she introduced as William Reckless. Vivien concurred that he did, indeed, look a little reckless…while at the same time, somehow, he also seemed very Zen, with an om tattoo on his lower arm and a few rustic strings with charms and beads around his neck. The perfect match for Cherry Wilder.
Vivien filled in Iva (who was accompanied by Hollis Nath), Cherry, Maxine, and Juanita on what they’d discovered about the Nutcracker costumes as they stood just off the sidewalk and out of the way of the people heading to the bookstore.
“I knew it,” said Iva. “It was the Sugarplum Fairy who was leading me to the basement—the pit, I mean. She obviously had a lighter, more deliberate touch when it came to communication—unlike the Nutcracker, who was just wild and angry, don’t you think, Vivien?”
Vivien could not disagree.
As they stood in line to get into the bookstore—TJ Mack was a very popular draw for the tiny venue—Vivien saw Louise London’s brother Benjamin walking down the street, so she waved him over. Trib’s didn’t open until five on Sundays, but she would have expected Benjamin to already be there prepping things.
“How are things going at the restaurant?” she asked. “I was in there the other day, but you were too busy to come out and say hi.”
“It’s all good,” Benjamin said, grinning. “Trib’s a real nice guy. A little picky, you know, but he’s a good guy. Thanks again for setting me up with this. I’m learning a lot. Can’t wait to get back to New York and find a job at one of the bougie restaurants there.”
“Tell your sister hi for me,” Vivien said—not that she didn’t hear from Louise regularly and insistently (the last communiqué had been along the lines of “when are you moving back to NYC?”).
“I will. Thanks—I gotta go. I’m a little late, and Trib’s kind of a bear about being on time,” he said, and took off at a lope down the street.
“Kid sounds like a stoner,” commented Jake. “Wonder how long he’ll last.”
