Read Online Wilmington, NC 10 - Much Ado About Murder by Ellen Elizabeth Hunter - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ellen Elizabeth Hunter
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“Well, I prefer Benjamin. That suits a man of his distinction much better.”
Binkie turned to her and smiled indulgently. Anything Aunt Ruby said or did was just fine with him.
Just then, Thomas came into the restaurant to join Simon and Taylor. He was hanging onto an actress who had been in the girls’ chorus. Angela. Angela somebody. She was wearing tight jeans and a very revealing tank top. Her right breast was tattooed with a thunder bolt. As a mother who had only recently nursed two babies, I wondered what this woman’s babies would think as they stared up at that thunderbolt.
While Simon approached the host, Thomas’s partner reached up and pulled his face down toward the thunderbolt. Whoa! I was repulsed. Fortunately, before things could get any more torrid, Dalton called to them. “Hey, guys, over here!”
On the way to their table, the four stopped to say hello. “Great performance,” Dalton said. “Did you ever find out what happened? Glad nobody got hurt.”
“Somebody got the knives mixed up,” Thomas said. “I’m just glad I realized I was holding a real knife in my hand before we did that scene. I could have been stabbed.”
“Why you?” Simon demanded. “Why is it always about you? I was about to jump off that haystack right at you. I’m the one who would have been stabbed!” And in a huff, he stalked off after the host.
7
On Friday night after opening night of the show, Jon and I, and Melanie and Cam headed out to Wrightsville Beach to Scarlett and Ray’s house for the cast party. The play had gone smoothly. Splendidly, in fact. The actors performed wonderfully and bowed to a standing ovation from a grateful audience. There were no hitches, no real knives instead of prop knives. The whole show went like clockwork.
Bless their hearts, Aunt Ruby and Binkie had volunteered to babysit so “you young people can go off and have some fun.”
Jon drove out Martin Luther King Drive which becomes Eastwood Drive to the bridge to Wrightsville Beach. He picked up the southern leg of Lumina Avenue and followed it to the south end of the island. Both sides of the street were filled with parked cars for the party. We pulled into a paved driveway in front of Bella Aqua. At Wrightsville Beach, the houses have names. Bella Aqua is three stories tall if you count the enclosure under the house. The ground level housed a garage and storage rooms, an area that could withstand flooding without experiencing too much damage if sea water flowed through the pilings when there was storm surge as frequently happens during hurricane season.
Bella Aqua is an incredible house, built in the Modernist style. This is the house Melanie rented a couple of summers ago when she, I, her friend supermodel Kelly Lauder, and Mickey Ballantine one of Melanie’s bad-boy obsessions vacationed here. Later, when Scarlett and Ray were looking for a beach house, Melanie brokered the sale of this house to them.
The house is sand color with a lot of painted white trim. Decks and balconies and little porches cover the front and back sides of the house. From the ocean-side decks one has spectacular views of the bella aqua or beautiful water for which the house is named.
Moonlight on the water sparkled in the distance. We headed up a flight of outside stairs to a little covered porch.
“Remember the time we stayed here?” I asked Melanie, knowing full well that of course she would recall.
She hunched her shoulders as if ward off a chill. “How could I ever forget that dreadful summer? That was when we found Valentine Russo murdered in her art gallery.”
Jon called over his shoulder as he stepped into the enclosed stairwell. “To be sure, that was one crazy summer. But it was the summer Ashley realized she was in love with me so my memories are good.” We reached the top floor. Here, the vaulted-ceiling great room was filled with partiers.
The house should have been named Bella Blanc -- everything was white. The walls
Binkie turned to her and smiled indulgently. Anything Aunt Ruby said or did was just fine with him.
Just then, Thomas came into the restaurant to join Simon and Taylor. He was hanging onto an actress who had been in the girls’ chorus. Angela. Angela somebody. She was wearing tight jeans and a very revealing tank top. Her right breast was tattooed with a thunder bolt. As a mother who had only recently nursed two babies, I wondered what this woman’s babies would think as they stared up at that thunderbolt.
While Simon approached the host, Thomas’s partner reached up and pulled his face down toward the thunderbolt. Whoa! I was repulsed. Fortunately, before things could get any more torrid, Dalton called to them. “Hey, guys, over here!”
On the way to their table, the four stopped to say hello. “Great performance,” Dalton said. “Did you ever find out what happened? Glad nobody got hurt.”
“Somebody got the knives mixed up,” Thomas said. “I’m just glad I realized I was holding a real knife in my hand before we did that scene. I could have been stabbed.”
“Why you?” Simon demanded. “Why is it always about you? I was about to jump off that haystack right at you. I’m the one who would have been stabbed!” And in a huff, he stalked off after the host.
7
On Friday night after opening night of the show, Jon and I, and Melanie and Cam headed out to Wrightsville Beach to Scarlett and Ray’s house for the cast party. The play had gone smoothly. Splendidly, in fact. The actors performed wonderfully and bowed to a standing ovation from a grateful audience. There were no hitches, no real knives instead of prop knives. The whole show went like clockwork.
Bless their hearts, Aunt Ruby and Binkie had volunteered to babysit so “you young people can go off and have some fun.”
Jon drove out Martin Luther King Drive which becomes Eastwood Drive to the bridge to Wrightsville Beach. He picked up the southern leg of Lumina Avenue and followed it to the south end of the island. Both sides of the street were filled with parked cars for the party. We pulled into a paved driveway in front of Bella Aqua. At Wrightsville Beach, the houses have names. Bella Aqua is three stories tall if you count the enclosure under the house. The ground level housed a garage and storage rooms, an area that could withstand flooding without experiencing too much damage if sea water flowed through the pilings when there was storm surge as frequently happens during hurricane season.
Bella Aqua is an incredible house, built in the Modernist style. This is the house Melanie rented a couple of summers ago when she, I, her friend supermodel Kelly Lauder, and Mickey Ballantine one of Melanie’s bad-boy obsessions vacationed here. Later, when Scarlett and Ray were looking for a beach house, Melanie brokered the sale of this house to them.
The house is sand color with a lot of painted white trim. Decks and balconies and little porches cover the front and back sides of the house. From the ocean-side decks one has spectacular views of the bella aqua or beautiful water for which the house is named.
Moonlight on the water sparkled in the distance. We headed up a flight of outside stairs to a little covered porch.
“Remember the time we stayed here?” I asked Melanie, knowing full well that of course she would recall.
She hunched her shoulders as if ward off a chill. “How could I ever forget that dreadful summer? That was when we found Valentine Russo murdered in her art gallery.”
Jon called over his shoulder as he stepped into the enclosed stairwell. “To be sure, that was one crazy summer. But it was the summer Ashley realized she was in love with me so my memories are good.” We reached the top floor. Here, the vaulted-ceiling great room was filled with partiers.
The house should have been named Bella Blanc -- everything was white. The walls
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