****
“So, sweetheart, how does it feel to be home?”
“It feels amazing. I have missed you so much, Daddy.”
Phillip Bloomberg smiled at Rosemary and covered her hand with his. They were seated at the dining room table waiting on one of his many young housekeepers to serve dinner. The wealthy lobbyist seemed to have surrounded himself with young, beautiful women. Bella looked around, amazed by Phillip’s Barrington home. It was massive, especially for a man who lived alone. Rosemary had told her that her mother had died during childbirth and her father had chosen to never remarry. So, she wondered why a person would need so much space.
Bella took a sip of the nastiest wine she’d ever tasted. She would bet her paycheck that the bottle was worth more than her paycheck. She looked over at Lucas. He was rich, so maybe it was a rich people’s thing. The frown on his face caused Bella to chuckle. Apparently, money couldn’t buy taste.
“Lucas, I’d like to thank you for keeping my little girl safe.”
Lucas placed his wine glass on the table and nodded. “Rosemary is family,” he told Phillip. “We take care of family.”
“Yes,” Phillip agreed.
He went on to talk about his own family. He mentioned how his beloved wife had died giving birth to Rosemary. If Bella wasn’t mistaken, she could sense a hint of resentment in the older gentleman’s tone. But she was no psychiatrist, so she kept her observations to herself. She did, however, take notice of how familiar Phillip seemed.
Bella sat quietly, battling with her memory as Phillip’s housekeepers finally served dinner. She was staring, and she knew it. But Bella couldn’t help herself.
“Is everything alright, Detective?” Phillip asked, obviously noticing that Bella was staring.
Bella blinked out of her haze and cleared her throat. “I-I’m sorry, Mr. Bloomberg. You just seem so familiar to me,” Bella admitted.
Phillip smiled and sipped more of the nasty-ass wine. “That’s because we’ve met before,” Phillip revealed.
Bella was confused. She and the stupid rich didn’t hang in the same circles. Well, other than Victor and Lucas. But, then again, there was Jack and Victoria. Because of Taylor, they seemed to bump into each other often.
“Yes,” Phillip continued. “We met at Victor and Taylor’s pre-engagement party.”
Bella smiled. It had come back to her. They were introduced at Taylor’s private engagement party; the one that she and Victor had held at Taylor’s house.
“That’s right,” Bella reminisced. “I remember now.”
A young pretty server placed a salad made with arugula and a bowl of lobster bisque in front of her. Bella picked up her soup spoon and stirred the soup. It didn’t have much substance, just tomato sauce, and corn. But it smelled really good. Bella tasted the soup and decided that she would stick to the salad.
Over the next thirty minutes, Bella endured a mediocre meal. She couldn’t help but wonder if the bland meal was the result of Phillip being Caucasian or rich. Again, she looked over at Lucas for a reference. He was both rich and Caucasian. And, again, the frown on his face made her chuckle.
Lucas leaned over to Bella and whispered in her ear. “We’ll get tacos on the way home.”
Bella nodded and raised the napkin to her lips. She needed something to hide her laughter. She looked over at Rosemary. The woman had been living in Louisiana for years. Surely, she wasn’t content with tasteless food. Sure enough, Rosemary hadn’t touched the food on her plate.
Phillip tossed his napkin over his plate and leaned back like a man who had just enjoyed a hearty meal. “Let’s have a drink in the parlor, shall we?” Phillip grunted.
Bella was starving. She wanted to get out of the pretentious mansion so that she could get something decent to eat. Hopefully, Popeye’s was still open.
“Thank you, sir, but we wouldn’t dream of keeping you any longer. We’re gonna be going. Thank you for dinner,” Bella said, graciously.
“Nonsense,” Phillip argued. “Come with me.” He stood and walked toward the arched doorway that led to the parlor. “Right this way,” he instructed.
Lucas stood and straightened his tie. He held his hand out for Bella. She reluctantly put her hand in his and stood from her seat. She looked up at Lucas, pleading with her eyes for him to rescue her from the evening.
Seemingly, reading her mind, Lucas looked over at Phillip Bloomberg. “Phillip, Bella and I are gonna call it a night. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks, and we have a weekend planned.”
Phillip seemed as if he wanted to convince them otherwise, but Rosemary mercifully intervened. She hurried around the table to Bella’s side. She grabbed Bella by the hand and rubbed her forearm.
“Daddy, the lovebirds have a getaway planned. We mustn’t stand in their way. We’ll dine again together soon.”
Phillip wasn’t moved. His demeanor was strange. Bella couldn’t pinpoint why, but he seemed to be stalling. All of a sudden, the hairs on the back her neck stood straight up. It was like a Spidey sense had been activated. Something wasn’t quite right. For some reason, Bella sensed danger. And, then, it came to her. Bella knew exactly why Phillip seemed so familiar to her. And it wasn’t from Taylor’s pre-engagement party.
It was from the tapes!
