A Bet Turned Deadly. Alice Zogg
you’re a smart cookie and your parents must be rich to afford sending you to school in the States, to USC no less.”
He seemed flustered by her rude remark, or maybe he was just in awe of her, but he answered politely in his meticulous English, “I obtained a scholarship and availed myself of the International Financial Aid package.”
Candie patted his arm and remarked, “Good job, Sweetie!” Then she said, “Guess it’s my turn and I’m sure you all know who I am.”
I could not believe her arrogance and looked over at the Kim family. Their faces, illuminated by the campfire, showed that they had no clue as to who she was. So I said, “Tell us, just in case.”
She shrugged, gave her blonde mane a flip and announced, “I’m Candie Valentina, a stage and film actress. I’m divorced, in no relationship at the moment, and Nicklaus here is my best friend.”
The poodle, who had been sitting quietly next to his owner staring into the flames, stood up as she mentioned his name and happily wagged his tail. She petted him, settling him down again, and then went on, “I am in between jobs right now, and yes, I admit it, my initial idea was to maybe get a bit of publicity out of this.”
She looked over at Jacob and asked, “Am I forgiven?”
“Yes, if you have no more stunts up your sleeve, that is.”
“Cross my heart!” Then she addressed the rest of us again and continued, “Even though I hadn’t seen Jacob in years, we go back a long way. We actually went to high school together.”
Jacob grinned and said, “That was before you changed your name. In those days you were Candie Leutenegger.”
She shot him an angry glance, clearly not pleased by his disclosure, but recovered fast and said, “Wouldn’t anyone change it with a name like that?”
Todd, who sat on Candie’s other side and had openly admired her all day, came to her rescue by quickly changing the subject, asking, “Why did you name your dog Nicklaus?”
“I got him last Christmas.”
He scratched Nick under the chin and said, “So you’re still a puppy.” Then he turned his attention back to the rest of us, giving his profile. “I’m Todd, single, a roofer, and happy to get a free vacation. My connection with Jacob is also through the Sierra Mountaineering Club.”
Out of all the guys in the group, Todd and Jacob were the most muscular. But whereas Jacob achieved it by working out, Todd’s muscle tone came naturally by doing manual work.
That left the lesbian couple. They were both of average height and slender. Hannah, a wavy-haired brunette, had an outgoing personality. She gave her name and then said, “I am a physical therapist and plan to marry London in June. We love the outdoors, and when I learned about this trip from Jacob’s Facebook post, we thought it might be lots of fun. I was seeing Jacob professionally, treating him with physical therapy when he threw his back out, and afterwards we stayed in touch.”
London, ash blonde and wearing glasses, was a tad reserved. She simply said, “I’m a ghostwriter and look forward to hiking in these mountains. My association with Jacob is through Hannah.”
Curtis gave her an appreciative stare and said, “How about if I take you up on your services. I have a great idea for a futuristic science fiction book.”
“Derek cut in and said, “Never mind him. His ideas are mostly a manic jumble. You can’t take him seriously.”
His brother shot back, “And you are such a bore with no ideas at all.” Then he winked at London and said, “We could have a great writing future together!”
Hannah said, “Watch your step, Curtis.”
“Just kidding!”
CHAPTER 7
I threw another log on the fire and was close enough to overhear Marcelo and Todd’s conversation with Candie. They praised her starring performances in a number of films. The guys were obviously big fans and she gobbled it all up. There was no denying she was a looker with a body to match, but in my opinion, her acting was limited to flirty airhead roles. And since I had just learned that she was 32 - - having gone to high school with Jacob - - soon she would be too old for those parts. While she flirted with the two men, Nick plopped himself next to Mikey, who had his own private talk with the dog.
As for me, London remarked that she had read a couple of my books and praised my ability of combining an intelligent plot with interesting characters. She was especially impressed with Stifle Her Scream and congratulated me on its making the bestseller list in January. I have to admit that I was pleased. I asked her about her ghostwriting and learned that she wrote memoirs for famous people, or just common folks with an interesting story to tell. She gave a few examples of personalities she had met and places visited in the course of her work. She also shared that she was in the process of writing her own novel.
And so we talked shop for a while. London wanted to know if I outlined my mysteries, and I answered that I did not. I explained that when starting to write a new manuscript, I had a general idea of the plot, knew who the villain was, had a motive for the murder, and was familiar with the chosen location. The rest would all fall into place as I wrote the story and immersed myself into the minds of the characters. Naturally, after that first draft, I would write a second, and a third, going over chapter after chapter, revising and editing.
She asked, “Don’t you even take notes?”
“Yes, I will take notes on occasion. I do a lot of plotting in my head while driving, going for walks, during meals, in short, all the time. I’ve been known to exit the freeway, pull over to the side of the road, and write things down when having a sudden clever idea.”
“What did you mean by saying you were familiar with the location?”
“I do all my research in person, traveling to the destinations I choose for my stories.”
She nodded, and asked no more.
I was suddenly aware that all kept quiet for a while, gazing into the flames of the campfire, enjoying the peace and serenity of the moment.
Then, Candie, ever the troublemaker, turned to Derek and Curtis and asked loud enough for all to hear, “So what do you boys bicker about?”
Curtis said, “Derek bosses me around and is a know-it-all.”
“And you never listen,” his brother shot back. “You’re incompetent and let customers run you. You have no idea what stuff is worth, so we often take a loss because of you. The worst part is that you never learn from your mistakes. When I point something out to you, instead of being grateful for the advice, you start a fight. But we both know the real reason you’re always looking for a fight; you can’t stand it that I’m our old man’s favorite.”
Curtis snarled, “That’s a bunch of crap!”
He was about to pounce on his older brother when Jacob intervened and loudly suggested we tell spooky ghost stories. No one took him up on it, but it calmed the brothers down.
Then he had another idea and said, “What’s funny about today’s date?”
We failed to get his meaning.
Todd finally burst out, “Of course, it’s April Fools day! I’m surprised none of you thought of fooling anyone!”
The observation prompted Jacob to propose that we all take turns sharing anecdotes of April Fools pranks we made in the past. Again, no one seemed eager to volunteer a prank tale, so Jacob started with his.
CHAPTER 8
Jacob began, “This happened a long time ago when I was a senior in college. I had a practical joker friend who teased me on a regular basis for never having the guts to play pranks on people. On an April Fools day, there was road construction going on near the campus, with traffic being directed