dress for each party, and a twenty-one-tier cake.”
“And I really admire Paris Hilton,” Helen said. “What a dimwit.”
“Which one?” Phil asked.
“Both,” Helen said. “Bree forgot that Hilton’s daddy has a ton of money.”
“No. Bree complained that her daddy was only a partner in a law firm and didn’t make ‘real money.’
“Bree wanted Daddy to buy her some celebrity guests, but all he could afford was someone like Vanilla Ice.”
“Who’s Vanilla Ice?” Helen asked.
“That was the problem. Bree still had a pretty good party with fifty of her closest friends and a twenty-one-tier cake.”
“Just like Paris,” Helen said.
“Plus Bree’s party had caviar, ice sculptures and a champagne fountain. Rich people love champagne fountains. Oh, and lots of drugs.”
“Pot and coke?” Helen asked.
“That’s like asking if there was beer at a barbecue. Ana said the servers told her they saw weed, coke, heroin, and ‘coket,’ a mix of cocaine and Special K. Along with mephedrone and MDMA, and the usual abused prescription drugs, including Xanax, Vicodin, Klonopin, Percocet and Seroquel, better known as jailhouse heroin. One more—Desoxyn, prescription speed.”
“Good Lord,” Helen said. “What a pharmacy.”
“There could have been more, but that’s all Ana said the waitstaff recognized. She said it turned into a real orgy, sex everywhere.”
“Were Bree’s parents home?”
“They left early. She was twenty-one and they wanted her tohave a good time. The food was served all night as a buffet. The parents helped sing ‘Happy Birthday’ while she cut the cake. They gave Bree two presents—a twenty-thousand-dollar ruby-and-diamond pendant and a red Beemer convertible. Then the old folks left.
“About midnight, when the party was in full swing, Ana brought out a special treat,
chapulines
, for Bree and her inner circle. Ana said the snack was low-fat, low-carb and high-protein. The birthday girl scarfed them down like popcorn. So did her friends. Ana said they ate two big bowls of
chapulines
and begged for more. But she was out of grasshoppers.”
“Grasshoppers? That was her special treat?” Helen said.
“Toasted and seasoned with salt and lime. It’s a Mexican snack. And Ana wasn’t lying. Grasshoppers are low-fat, low-carb and high-protein.”
“Ick!” Helen said.
“Bree and her crowd were so out of it, they didn’t know what they were eating.”
“So Ana got her revenge,” Helen said.
“And then some,” Phil said. “At one o’clock, Bree was still wearing her ruby necklace. A server saw her go into a downstairs powder room—and in that crowd, it really was a powder room—with her boyfriend, Standiford W. Lohan the Third, known as Trey.”
“Was Bree wearing the necklace when she left the powder room?”
“Ana doesn’t know. But she’s setting up a meeting with two servers from the party. Want to talk to them?”
“You bet,” Helen said.
“How was the séance?” Phil asked. “Did you raise Flora Portland?”
“Flora’s deader than disco, except to the true believers, Lisa and Blair. Melisandra the medium went into a so-called trance and saidexactly what I thought she would: The library must be saved at all costs.”
“Any cold spots during the séance?” Phil asked.
“Only when the air-conditioning kicked on. But Lisa, the library board president who bopped the patron with a bookend, felt the cold when Flora appeared. Lisa also said the ghost touched her arm.”
“Where were the medium’s hands?” Phil asked.
“Firmly gripping the hands of both Blair and Lisa, keeping the magic circle. However, I did feel the edge of the tablecloth move.”
“Melisandra used her foot,” Phil said. “A fraudster’s favorite. One creep pulled it on the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon the Third. The medium slipped off his shoe and touched the Empress’s arm. She thought it was one of her dead children.”
“How cruel,” Helen said.
“And I really admire Paris Hilton,” Helen said. “What a dimwit.”
“Which one?” Phil asked.
“Both,” Helen said. “Bree forgot that Hilton’s daddy has a ton of money.”
“No. Bree complained that her daddy was only a partner in a law firm and didn’t make ‘real money.’
“Bree wanted Daddy to buy her some celebrity guests, but all he could afford was someone like Vanilla Ice.”
“Who’s Vanilla Ice?” Helen asked.
“That was the problem. Bree still had a pretty good party with fifty of her closest friends and a twenty-one-tier cake.”
“Just like Paris,” Helen said.
“Plus Bree’s party had caviar, ice sculptures and a champagne fountain. Rich people love champagne fountains. Oh, and lots of drugs.”
“Pot and coke?” Helen asked.
“That’s like asking if there was beer at a barbecue. Ana said the servers told her they saw weed, coke, heroin, and ‘coket,’ a mix of cocaine and Special K. Along with mephedrone and MDMA, and the usual abused prescription drugs, including Xanax, Vicodin, Klonopin, Percocet and Seroquel, better known as jailhouse heroin. One more—Desoxyn, prescription speed.”
“Good Lord,” Helen said. “What a pharmacy.”
“There could have been more, but that’s all Ana said the waitstaff recognized. She said it turned into a real orgy, sex everywhere.”
“Were Bree’s parents home?”
“They left early. She was twenty-one and they wanted her tohave a good time. The food was served all night as a buffet. The parents helped sing ‘Happy Birthday’ while she cut the cake. They gave Bree two presents—a twenty-thousand-dollar ruby-and-diamond pendant and a red Beemer convertible. Then the old folks left.
“About midnight, when the party was in full swing, Ana brought out a special treat,
chapulines
, for Bree and her inner circle. Ana said the snack was low-fat, low-carb and high-protein. The birthday girl scarfed them down like popcorn. So did her friends. Ana said they ate two big bowls of
chapulines
and begged for more. But she was out of grasshoppers.”
“Grasshoppers? That was her special treat?” Helen said.
“Toasted and seasoned with salt and lime. It’s a Mexican snack. And Ana wasn’t lying. Grasshoppers are low-fat, low-carb and high-protein.”
“Ick!” Helen said.
“Bree and her crowd were so out of it, they didn’t know what they were eating.”
“So Ana got her revenge,” Helen said.
“And then some,” Phil said. “At one o’clock, Bree was still wearing her ruby necklace. A server saw her go into a downstairs powder room—and in that crowd, it really was a powder room—with her boyfriend, Standiford W. Lohan the Third, known as Trey.”
“Was Bree wearing the necklace when she left the powder room?”
“Ana doesn’t know. But she’s setting up a meeting with two servers from the party. Want to talk to them?”
“You bet,” Helen said.
“How was the séance?” Phil asked. “Did you raise Flora Portland?”
“Flora’s deader than disco, except to the true believers, Lisa and Blair. Melisandra the medium went into a so-called trance and saidexactly what I thought she would: The library must be saved at all costs.”
“Any cold spots during the séance?” Phil asked.
“Only when the air-conditioning kicked on. But Lisa, the library board president who bopped the patron with a bookend, felt the cold when Flora appeared. Lisa also said the ghost touched her arm.”
“Where were the medium’s hands?” Phil asked.
“Firmly gripping the hands of both Blair and Lisa, keeping the magic circle. However, I did feel the edge of the tablecloth move.”
“Melisandra used her foot,” Phil said. “A fraudster’s favorite. One creep pulled it on the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon the Third. The medium slipped off his shoe and touched the Empress’s arm. She thought it was one of her dead children.”
“How cruel,” Helen said.
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