The Sassy Belles (10 page)

He had big, blue-gray eyes with eyelashes so long and dark it
should be illegal for them to belong to a man. He had an incandescent
thousand-watt smile, framed by big, deep-set dimples and a head of shiny, thick,
jet-black hair. Women loved him. Men wanted to be him. But he had a softer side
he showed only to Vivi. Turns out that despite all the bravado, he was really a
hopeless romantic who sent her flowers and wrote the most beautiful, spicy
letters. They had a free and open relationship, but lately Lewis had been seeing
Vivi almost exclusively. Vivi hadn’t seen anyone but Lewis in at least a
year.

What I needed now was for the media to forget his playboy
reputation and instead garner as much sympathy as possible—that’s what it
was gonna take to have everyone on our side and free Vivi of any suspicions. God
bless me and all my debate trophies.

As Sonny spoke, my gaze darted around the sea of reporters,
scanning the outstretched arms clenching microphones. And then my eyes locked on
one person in particular. A blonde (bottle of course—no, more like a keg)
standing to my left. In her thigh-baring miniskirt, with over-glossed lips and
skin like milk-and-honey cream pie, she was beautiful in that flashy sort of way
and I knew she was about to eat this story up, especially since I was
involved.

Dallas Dubois had been in and out of my life since I was
sixteen. She was only fourteen when my mother married her father and we were
twenty-six and twenty-four when they finally divorced. We had been many things
to each other over the years: friends (for one day), loathing enemies,
backstabbing competitors and stepsisters. She wanted to go to law school, too,
but didn’t get in. It wasn’t a big surprise—she’d spent all her time partying
and messing around with a variety of guys instead of actually studying. But she
concocted some completely fake story about how she blew her LSATs on purpose and
that Mother and Daddy were pushing her too hard to be just like me. Dallas was
the original drama queen.

Since then, she had been married three times and divorced three
times, all in a matter of seven years, but after the third one she kept the
name. I remember she once said to me that Dallas Dubois sounded like a movie
star. I thought it did have a nice ring to it—but it sounded more like a porn
star name to me. The movie star thing was always top of her mind, though, mainly
to get back at her mother, who had left her when she was only four years old to
run off to Hollywood. Eventually, Dallas had become a big-time television
reporter and that was sorta like being a movie star…at least to her.

Sonny continued talking to the crowd, but my eyes had become
lasers burning a hole through the mass of people to Dallas. With her here, it
was impossible to concentrate. She was always out to get me, so this just seemed
like a perfect opportunity. My mind began to buzz with all the awful things she
could ask, with the way she could take anything I said out of context. If I was
a spin doctor, Dallas was a spin queen. My confidence wavered and the nerves
kicked up a notch.

“Blake!” Harry whispered loudly and gave me a body shove.
“You’re on!” My laser eyes retracted.
Oh, my God, what had
Sonny said just now?

“And now I’ll turn the mic over to the appointed spokesperson,
Blake O’Hara Heart. Y’all can direct your questions to Ms. Heart at this
time.”

You have got to be freaking kidding
me.
I panicked. Debate champion? Hell, I was doing all I could to
keep from uttering a bunch of mumbo-jumbo at this point. Dallas’s eyes caught
mine as I approached the podium. It would sure as hell have helped if I had
heard a syllable of Sonny’s account of the situation.

As the reporters shoved their mics under my nose and the
cameras panned over to me, the questions began to fly.

“Ms. Heart, can we have a statement from Ms. McFadden?”

Harry grabbed hold of Vivi’s hand so she wouldn’t speak. He
would have thrown his hand over her mouth but that might have been too obvious
with the cameras and all. I glanced over at Sonny. He winked and nodded as if to
say,
Go on, baby, you can do this.

Of course I could. Talking is one of the things I do best. But
if I’d had a judge before me right then, I’d have pleaded temporary incompetence
and extenuating circumstances. I mean, just consider everything working against
me: Vivi is my dearest friend of all time, so I had the added pressure of
representing her perfectly. Besides, I’m a perfectionist anyway. Next, the
missing person was my brother-in-law. The police chief and lead investigator was
my former lover, and I would have to work with him side by side. My partner in
representing Vivi was my husband, and our marriage wasn’t exactly what you’d
call rock-solid anymore. The gossip queen, investigative and often
sensationalist reporter was my former stepsister and number one teenaged rival.
And to top it all off, her microphone, as well as her breasts, were shoved in my
face along with about a hundred other mics, cameras and pushy reporters. I was
feeling like a turkey in November.

“Ms. Heart, where did Ms. McFadden last see Mr. Heart?” Dallas
asked, knowing damn well the answer.

“My client and Mr. Heart were in a meeting.” Well, technically
they were. Plus, we had it on record in a statement made by Vivi for Sonny at
the Tutwiler. They were in a “conference.”

“Isn’t it true, Ms. Heart, that in fact, your client and Mr.
Heart were last seen at the Fountain Mist?”

Sonny stepped in and saved me. “As I indicated earlier, only
one question per person.”

“What is the relationship between Ms. McFadden and Mr. Heart?”
asked a sports reporter from ESPN.

“Well, they are very close, and she is as eager as we all are
to find Mr. Heart,” I replied.

“Is she jealous of Mr. Heart’s many romantic escapades?” Dallas
piped up again. “Maybe she just got tired of all his flirtin’ and finally
decided to do something—”

“Only one question per person!” Sonny interrupted, cutting
Dallas off midaccusation.

I jumped in quickly. “I’d like to read a statement on behalf of
Ms. McFadden now.”

Cameras flashed and the crowd hushed as I began to read Vivi’s
words. “I am very upset and confused regarding the disappearance of my good
friend of many years, Mr. Lewis Heart. I will do anything in my power to be of
assistance to the authorities in their efforts to discover what happened to Mr.
Heart. Thank you.”

The questions kept coming, like missiles, and I dodged and
defended as best I could. A reporter from
Sports
Illustrated
yelled, “Any word on who might be the replacement in the
booth if Mr. Heart doesn’t make it back for kickoff?” I was beginning to fidget
at the podium. Sonny stepped closer to me and I could feel his body like armor
around me.

“We believe Mr. heart will be found and back in the booth for
the season. We have no reason to believe otherwise at this time,” I managed to
say.
Uh, yeah, except a few body parts and his clothes from
the river. Yep, no reason to worry.

“Ms. Heart, with you being Mr. Heart’s brother-in-law, doesn’t
that put you in an awkward situation? I mean who are you speaking for here, Mr.
Heart or Ms. McFadden?” Dallas asked, just trying to get me upset. Nothing would
make her happier than to see me lose my cool and get that on camera for the six
o’clock news. I was ready to fire missiles back myself. I pressed my lips
together, took in a deep breath and glared at her. “It is true that I am Mr.
Heart’s sister-in-law and Ms. McFadden’s co-counsel. That puts me in the perfect
position to speak on both of their behalves. We believe Ms. McFadden will be
important in helping us locate Mr. Heart.” I cut her off before she could go any
further. “Next question, please.” I was feeling my power, but Dallas just
couldn’t seem to get enough attention.

“I have decided to establish a
Find Lewis
Heart
campaign,” Dallas announced, partly to me but mostly to the
other cameras and reporters. “As a citizen of Tuscaloosa, I feel it is my duty
to join in the efforts to bring Lewis home. I’m sure y’all are working really
hard with this case, and I want to volunteer my assistance.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. On one hand, it seemed
like a generous and caring offer. But I knew Dallas, and that meant she had some
kind of ulterior motive for taking on this cause.

“I’d like to set up a hotline for anyone who may have any
information whatsoever regarding the whereabouts of Lewis Heart, our dear Voice
of the Crimson Tide. If you’ve seen Lewis or spoken to him lately, if you know
anything at all about where he could be, please be in touch with me through
email, text or phone.” All the cameras had swung around to her, exactly like she
must have planned. Her glossy lips and whitened teeth sparkled in the light of
the camera flashes.

Sonny stepped up to the mic in an attempt to control the
damage.

“All information
must
come into the
police department. We have an investigative unit set up with a hotline. I
encourage anyone with any details to call the hotline at the police
headquarters. It will be answered twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
While I appreciate your help, Ms. Dubois, this matter cannot be taken
lightly.”

“Officer Bartholomew, we are just trying to help. Of course we
will send you all of our info as it comes in,” Dallas said while her cameraman
was rolling on her. It was so typical that she would make herself the center of
attention. It was her specialty.

Harry stood shaking his head. I saw Dan the man talking on his
cell. It would be very hard to distance Harry from this new segment for the TV
station. And I knew Dan had a whole new heap of
it
to keep Harry from stepping in. I began to wonder if there would be a
shovel big enough for Dan to use, ’cause he was sure gonna be shoveling
it
now.

The reporters kept the questions coming, all shouting over each
other with their mics outstretched. I could not make sense of any one question
in particular, until one reporter from the Birmingham news hollered over the
noisy crush, “Ms. Heart, is it true that clothes washed up on the shore of the
Warrior River this morning that belong to Mr. Heart?”

The cameras all swiveled back to face me. I nearly threw up.
Everyone was suddenly quiet, waiting on the answer. I hate those damn police
scanners. I looked at Sonny immediately. He leaned over and was about to speak.
I knew he wanted to protect me, but I wanted to make sure I handled this myself.
“It is true that what looked to be clothes did wash up on the banks of the
river,” I responded calmly, “but no test results are back at this time. The
items recovered could belong to anyone.”

Sonny stepped forward, pressing against me, and took the mic.
“That will be all for now. Thank you to everyone for coming.” At least that last
question had gotten the attention back on the press conference for Lewis and off
the Dallas Dubois show.

Turning off the mic, Sonny leaned in and whispered to me, “Good
job.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Glad it’s over. Can you believe that
Dallas?”

“Unfortunately, I can. Nothing she does ever surprises me,”
Sonny said. “But this time, she better step softly. I don’t want any
interference on this investigation and search. That hotline’s gonna be real busy
for the next week or so till all the excitement and shock dies down. That’s when
we’ll get our best leads.”

“Thanks for everything,” I said. “I don’t know what I’d, uhm, I
mean, we’d, do without you.” He smiled at me, realizing what I had said. With
Vivi in the eye of the storm, and Harry caught up in his world of politics, I
suddenly felt it was Sonny and me, alone in the search for Lewis. I squeezed his
arm and turned to Vivi. “You did great. And now, I’m gonna go pop that skank’s
balloon. She will not make this investigation all about her. I’ll see to
that.”

“Well, good luck, Wonder Woman. It’s gonna take more than a
caped crusader to stop that egomaniac. She better not mess up this hunt for my
Lewis.” Vivi looked stronger. Angry. I liked seeing her this way. Vivi wasn’t
about to take Dallas’s limelight-lovin’ hot air lying down. She’d fight for her
Lewis. And that was the Vivi I loved.

“Don’t you worry, I’ve got on my cape
and
my lasso of truth and I will tie her up one side and down the other with
it if I have to,” I promised. “I will see you in a few. I’ve got a media queen
to talk to.” I smiled at Vivi and she smiled back as she removed her oversize
sunglasses and winked at me.

Before I made my way to Dallas, I walked over to Harry. He had
left the steps of the chimes and was standing in the wet grass with Dan.

“Hey, there, Blake, you were awesome up there, a regular pro.
You’re gonna be great this fall on the campaign trail,” Dan greeted me as I
approached them. His comment made me feel like I had been dropped from a roller
coaster. I had forgotten what would be expected of me as the hopeful senator’s
wife. Mostly standing next to my man, nodding away and smiling and waving. I had
to shove that thought aside for the moment and deal with the crisis at hand:
Dallas and this campaign of hers.

“Hey, Dan,” I said, reaching out for a hug. “This guy keepin’
ya busy these days?” I chided as I reached over and patted Harry’s chest.

“Yeah, but we got it all under control, Blake.” Dan was from
New Orleans and had the thickest Southern accent. He was a good guy and great at
handling Harry. And Harry needed a lot of handling.

“You know this guy’s a winner if I can keep him outta the
frying pan, so to speak. No problem at all.” Dan was always so sure of himself.
And Harry. He had become the brother Harry no longer had in Lewis since the
family breakup years ago.

“Okay, well, y’all make your plans. I am going to visit our
local attention hog,” I said, gesturing to Dallas who, get this—was now holding
her own impromptu press conference talking all about the
Find Lewis Heart
campaign.