Watchin' The Detective: A Mystery Dinner Romance (2 page)

Nicole notices that her friend’s skirt is
torn and says, “Oh, no!!”

“What? What now?”

“You’ve ripped your skirt.”

“Tell me you’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Lovely. Where did it rip?”

“At the zipper.”

“Great! Just great.”

Nicole consoles her, saying, “What a day!!
Let’s go out to lunch at Original Mike’s. We haven’t been there for
a long time. It’ll be my treat.”

“Sounds good! Isabella says. “I could really
use a margarita right about now.”

The building now known as Original Mike’s was
built in 1919. Real estate developer, Mike Harrah, bought and
restored it after it had been vacant for several years. He collects
antique cars, so there are some in the restaurant. The bar has
saddles for bar stools. It’s very funky. It has an outdoor patio
called “Palm Court Oasis” and that’s where Isabella and Nicole like
to sit.

Isabella orders her favorite, beef taquitos.
While they are waiting for their food, they take some selfies. The
restaurant has a lot of funny props. Nicole finds a “moonshine jug”
and makes believe she’s guzzling down some hooch while her friend
takes a picture. Isabella goes inside a replica of a British
telephone booth and Nicole takes a picture of her. When the
waitress comes back with their drink orders, she says, “Do you want
me to take a picture of both of you?”

“Sure,” Nicole says. “That’d be awesome.”

They say “cheese” and their waitress snaps a
picture which Nicole immediately uploads to Facebook.

Isabella, the older and wiser of the two,
says, “I hope people at work don’t see what we’re doing right now.
We could get into some trouble.”

“Don’t be so paranoid, Isabella. There’s no
law that says we can’t have a margarita at lunch, you know.”

“Okay. You’re right. I need to lighten up a
little.”

“That’s the spirit,” her friend says, and
they clink together their margarita glasses.

“Yummy,” Nicole says, after she takes a sip.
“So what’s new with you?”

“Well, believe it or not, I’m thinking about
going out with that coffee cart guy. You know, surfer boy.”

“You’re kidding? You’ve been dodging him all
year.”

“I know and he hasn’t given up. He must be a
glutton for punishment, or something.”

“Isn’t he a little young for you?”

“Yes, and thank you very much for reminding
me how old I am.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry. It’s just
that he isn’t your type. You’re usually dating a higher echelon of
people.”

“Higher echelon? Listen to you. Little Ms.
Snob.”

Nicole laughs at herself. “You know what I
mean. That last guy you dated was a lawyer, after all.”

Isabella remonstrates, “And look how well
that all turned out.”

“Okay. Bad example.”

The waitress comes over and sets down their
food.

Isabella dips a taquito into guacamole and
sour cream and says, “So, Nicole, do you want to go on a double
date to the mystery theater?”

“Don’t you want to go by yourselves, just the
two of you?”

“No. What if it doesn’t work out? I need you
as my foil.”

“I don’t know about this, Isabella.”

“Why not? I can ask him to bring a friend.
You’re about the same age as he is.”

“Oh, no. Not another one of your hook-ups.
The last blind date you got for me started stalking me, sending me
poetry, and telling me I was the love of his life. And we only went
out once. I practically had to get a restraining order to get rid
of him.”

“I know. Sorry. That was a disaster. I
thought you might’ve liked the artistic/creative type guys.”

“Not when they become obsessed with me.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re
‘smokin’ hot,” she reminds her friend.

“Puh-lease…,” Nicole says and takes a sip of
her margarita.

“Tell you what, Nicole. I’ll tell Joshua to
bring the most practical/well-grounded friend he has.”

“Just as long as he’s not a surfer boy who
lives with his mother.”

“Well, you know those surfers are all in
pretty good shape.”

“Not all of them.”

“Please….Say you will. I’m dying to see you
dressed like Audrey Hepburn. It should be a night we’ll never
forget.”

Nicole imagines herself in the mirror wearing
a little black dress with long back gloves, and holding a retro
cigarette holder. “Okay. I’m game.”

“Hooray! This is going to be so fun.”

“We’ll see.”

That evening, Isabella hears her cell phone
ring as she unlocks her front door. She throws down her purse on
the nearest arm chair and rummages through it trying to find her
cell. She finally fishes it out of her very large handbag and says,
“Hello.”

“Isabella. Hi. It’s Joshua.”

“Hey, Joshua. How’s it going?”

“Great. So have you made up your mind where
you want to go on our hot date?”

“Yeah. I have actually. I was thinking that
it would be fun to go to a murder-mystery dinner theater.”

“A what?”

“There’s this place in Laguna Beach where
actors reenact a murder and the audience has to figure out
whodunit.”

“I never heard of anything like that.”

“Don’t you think it would be fun?”

“I was hoping for a nice romantic dinner and
then back at my place.”

“Oh, Joshua. Please…I think we would really
have a good time.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, we’ll make it
happen.”

“Awesome. By the way, some of the audience
likes to dress up and be part of the action.”

“Why would they want to do that?”

“It’s fun. Don’t you think?”

“Sounds kinda embarrassing. I hope they don’t
expect me to do anything.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t have to. I’ve got
your back. Promise.”

“Well…Okay.”

“So, the show is supposed to take place in
the 1960’s and I am planning to dress up like Joan from ‘Mad
Men’.”

“Who?”

“Don’t you watch ‘Mad Men’? It’s the best
show on TV, in my humble opinion.”

“I’ll have to check it out. If you like it,
it’s got to be good.”

“You’re sweet. Well, anyway, Nicole and I
will both be dressing up to look like we’re from the 1960’s.”

“Nicole is coming, too?”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah; but I was hoping to have you to
myself. Isn’t she going to feel like ‘three’s a crowd’?”

“Not if you set her up with one of your
friends.”

He exclaims, “So, now you’re saying there’ll
be four of us?!”

“Well, hopefully, they’ll like each other so
much that they won’t even notice us.”

“Well...I guess…okay…If that’s what you want.
I’ll try to think of someone she might like.”

“Yeah. Maybe your most conservative,
well-grounded friend. The last time I hooked her up with a writer
and she’s still giving me a hard time about it.”

“I think I know of someone.”

“Great! This will be fun! Aren’t you
excited?!”

“Whoopee!!”

“Now Joshua, don’t pout. There will be plenty
of time later to do what you have in mind.”

“And whatever do you think I have in mind?”
he says, using his most sexy voice.

“A little heavy necking?”

“Heavy what?”

“Oh, never mind. You’re probably too young to
know about necking. See what happens when you ask a 35 year old
woman out on a date?”

“Can I come over right now and you can teach
me how you like it?”

“Down, boy. Let’s wait until later. It’ll
give us something to fantasize about.”

He groans, “You are killing me,
Isabella.”

She’s all business now and says, “Well, I’d
better get off the phone so you can make reservations for
four.”

“I can’t wait to finally get my hands on
you.”

Isabella teases, “We’ll see,” and gives him
the phone number of the theater.

“Can I pick you up at your house?”

“Nicole and I will meet you guys there around
7:00. Bye.” She hangs up before he can say anything more.

C
hapter Five

On the night of the date, Isabella squeezes
herself into a girdle. She read that the women in “Mad Men” all
wear foundation garments to cinch their waists and accentuate their
hourglass figures. ‘I’m not going to be able to breathe in this,’
she says aloud. After some adjustments, she is able to put on the
beige tweed pencil skirt that she’s bought at Nordstrom’s.
I
hope the zipper on this damn thing doesn’t rip tonight. Not after
my most recent zipper fiasco
, she tells herself.

She puts on a cantaloupe colored blouse that
crisscrosses over her ample bosom. She’s managed to find a gold pen
on a long gold chain, like the one Joan always wears as her
secretarial accessory. She is just putting it on when her doorbell
rings.
That must be Nicole
, she thinks, and hurries to find
her beige stilettos so her friend can see her entire ensemble.

When she opens her front door, Nicole
exclaims, “Oh, My God. Where did you get the necklace?”

“At an antique shop in Orange, believe it or
not.”

“It’s so Joan.”

“I know. What about the rest of me?” she
asks, and twirls around.

“Just perfect! You nailed it!”

Isabella lets out a squeal of delight.

Nicole says, “What about my outfit?”

“So ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’! I’m expecting
you to get out a guitar and start singing, ‘Moonriver,’ like Audrey
did.”

“And my little black dress?”

“Classic. Love the tiara. And the long
cigarette holder. Darling, you look marvelous.”

“Thanks!”

“Where did you find those long black
gloves?”

“I borrowed them from my aunt. She wore them
at her prom. Along with all these pearls I have around my
neck.”

“Does your aunt have pictures of her
prom?”

“Yes. And everyone teases her about
them.”

“I’ve got to see them. I can’t imagine your
aunt dressed like that.”

“They are family favorites--that’s for
sure.”

*******

Isabella and Nicole pull into the parking lot
of the dinner theater. It is in the club house of a small,
non-descript 9-hole public golf course. There is a line of people
waiting to get inside. Isabella sees Joshua and starts
laughing.

Nicole says, “What’s so funny?”

“Look at Joshua in the tie-dyed t-shirt. I
guess he must have misunderstood me when I told him that we were
dressing like the early 1960’s.”

“Well, you’ve got to give him an ‘E’ for
‘effort’.”

“That’s true. Look at the guy he is talking
to. Is that your blind date?” she asks and points to a young man
with thick, horn-rimmed glasses and short curly hair who’s wearing
cords and a plaid shirt buttoned up to his neck.

“He looks kinda nerdy. I hope he’s not my
date tonight.”

Isabella pulls into a parking space and says,
“Time to go find out.” She steps out of the car and straightens her
skirt, wishing that she hadn’t dined at Krispy Kreme that morning
for breakfast.

Joshua sees her and waves. “Showtime,” she
tells her friend, as they walk over to meet the guys.

He says to Isabella and Nicole, “Love your
outfits. You both look beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you. That’s an interesting shirt
you’re wearing,” Isabella says.

“Yeah. Gunther made it for me this morning.”
He suddenly realizes that he hasn’t introduced his friend yet, and
says, “Where are my manners? This is my friend, Gunther.”

Nicole, trying to be polite, shakes hands
with Gunther and says, “Where did you learn how to tie-dye?”

“I looked it up on the web.”

Joshua says, “He sews his own clothes. Can
you believe that he made that shirt he’s wearing?”

Gunther says to the ladies, almost
apologetically, “I just sew in my spare time. I’m a computer
programmer at Xerox. That’s my day job.”

“Awesome,” Nicole says and smiles at her
friend.

Their conversation is interrupted by a man
dressed as a chef. He has a painted-on pencil mustache and holds a
whisk in one hand and a brandy snifter in the other. He takes a sip
of brandy and says, “Bonsoir, Messieurs and Mesdemoiselles: we are
ready for you to come inside now. But first, de Mesdemoiselles must
give de chef a peck on de cheek as they go inside.”

The ladies oblige as the crowd slowly makes
its way inside. The chef cautions all of them, “One thing I must
remind de guests. There will be absolutely no substitutes tonight.
Comprendez-vous?”

The people in line laugh. He continues, “If
you try to request one, my brother, Henri, will escort you off de
premises.” He points to an African-American man, who supposedly is
his brother. The chef is Caucasian, and a guest waiting in line
snarkily says, with his own phony French accent, “Monsieur, I think
you are mistaken. He cannot be your brother, as you say.”

Everyone laughs and Henri says, “Oh, we have
a joker with us here tonight. We are going to have to keep an eye
on this one. N’est-ce pas?” he says to the chef.

Isabella notices that the man who made the
joke is wearing a black suit, a thin black tie, a white shirt, and
a fedora. His outfit looks very late 50s. He holds hands with his
date, who wears a black and white polka dot dress. Her hair is done
up in a French Twist.

Isabella tells herself,
Wow! Her hair
looks great! I’m going to have to try to
fix my hair like
that
. She’s glad that members of the audience are already
playing along with the cast and are “in the act”.

Nicole notices the woman in polka dots and
says, “Doesn’t she look like she could be an extra on ‘Mad
Men’?”

“Yes, she does. I think they’re on a double
date, like we are. Look at the lady they’re with.”