Chapter Two: Part Two
Almost too soon, Dominique and Edison joined them to discuss the upcoming event. Chatting easily, they made their way into a beautiful pool house, complete with its own bar and an extensive dance floor. Dominique said, ‘We’ll start in here with canapés for about ninety minutes, then into the courtyard for sunset cocktails and to enjoy a wonderful jazz quintet, then back in here for dinner and dancing in the evening. Two of our people will be at your disposal for all lifting and grunt work. We have clear roll down screens on the patio edges to keep the chill out, my lads will see to those. Tables and chairs are through those doors, and direct kitchen access is through those, over there.’
The chirping of a mobile phone broke into their conversation. Dominique looked at it and glanced at Edison before saying, ‘Please excuse me ladies; it has been a pleasure to have met you. Edison will conclude your tour.’
As Dominique left, answering his phone, Edison looked at Dee and said, ‘I believe you know a little about wine?’
Kate laughed as she said to him, ‘Meet the only sommelier who did a degree in organic chemistry just to understand wine better.’
‘Indeed?’ Edison said with a challenging twinkle in his eye. ‘Shall we look at the courtyard for the afternoon’s entertainment and then visit the cellar?’ His conspiratorial tone said that he also had an interest in wines.
The afternoon passed quickly. Kate loved the playful banter that had quickly developed between Dee and Edison as they argued about preferred regions, styles and vintages. Dominique’s home was beautifully set out. The entertaining spaces flowed so effortlessly that they would only require three additional staff. It was a job to look forward to.
~~~~~
On the morning of Dominique’s gig, the three amigas shared a hearty breakfast, taking the opportunity to fuel their bodies for the very full day ahead of them. The planned function was an early afternoon and evening affair for thirty-six guests, some with plus-ones, rounding numbers out to just over fifty. Dominique had asked that all staff, themselves included, be included in the meal plan. Carrie had carte blanche with the menu and had decided on a sophisticated variety of modern fare for the event.
As had become their tradition, they talked through each phase and aspect of the upcoming day’s business after breakfast. Their functions could only run smoothly and effortlessly with careful planning, and the amigas discussed every potential sticking point and set their contingency plans in place.
Their two-month-old, custom-fitted van was already packed with everything they would need, and a good number of things they could possibly need as well. By mid-morning, there was little more to do but make themselves ready.
~~~~~
The girls watched Carrie as she slowly looked around Dominique’s kitchen, already prioritising the afternoon’s tasks in her mind and changing mental gears into Head-Chef mode. Looking through the glass doors of the walk-in cool-room and fridge, she seemed to go into a culinary trance.
‘… And … she’s gone!’ Dee said to Kate with a cheeky grin. Carrie didn’t even hear her. Still giggling, Kate and Dee started their own end of the afternoon’s set up. Carrie did not need them or want them in her kitchen now. Their staff would have to know the menu and the ingredients of each dish by heart before Carrie would let them out of her kitchen.
The young men that Dominique had assigned to help them were respectful, attentive and fast. As they set out the cavernous pool-house and paved outdoor area for the afternoon’s festivities, Kate and Dee shared a look, silently agreeing that they could get used to this sort of help.
The guests started arriving in the mid afternoon. With flawless choreography, Edison smoothly collected each new group of guests after Dominique had personally met each of them, ushering them into the pool house.
People chatted in easy groups as canapés and drinks were circulated under the watchful eyes of Dee and Kate. The afternoon was off to a beautiful start. Classical strings played quietly throughout the house over an amazingly clear sound system.
Kate observed Dominique from across the room. He was wearing an open white shirt, slacks and boots, and his ready smile was confident and friendly. He was just a little taller, a little broader of shoulder, and a little narrower of waist than his peers. Soon, she started noticing patterns in the way he worked his guests. They were too close to see it, but Kate had a great memory for faces and people. She watched him shuffle his guests with purpose from one group to another, drawing some groups together before breaking a select few out to join another.
That’s it! Like Dracula with his minions, they are in his thrall! Kate thought, smiling. She watched the group dynamics changing under his subtle machinations as he handled his guests with respect and intent. She quickly recognised how she could complement his efforts and began timing her visits to each group as she and Dominique began a wordless dance, recognised only by his smiling eyes meeting hers.
When the gathering had been in full swing for just over an hour, she spotted two men standing beside a large potted plant and well away from the activity. Approaching to offer them drinks, Kate overheard a gloating whisper. ‘…in the bag. With the chairman’s proxy assignments, Zimmerman has sixty percent for the SGM on Wednesday. He flips the contract to Woodside, they are all left flapping in the breeze, and we get to cash in on Woody’s upswing and Houdini before he figures out what happened. Z-man wants thirty percent. I said yes.’
‘I would have happily gone 40! What if he comes after us?’
‘We are peanuts to him and it’s not even his money. He’ll be upset, but as long as we really disappear afterwards, it’s easier for him to write it off. So some rural bumpkins get shafted? Whatever! We get to live like kings, far, far away, and nobody who matters loses out.’
Kate felt anger for a reason she could not articulate but put on her most vapid face as she came into their view, asking, ‘Gentlemen, can I get you anything before we head outside?’
‘Sure, cutie-pie, bring us two big glasses of the rich prick’s best scotch over lots of ice,’ demanded the fatter one, his eyes fixed on Kate’s chest.
‘Of course, sirs,’ Kate said, scurrying away. Her mind raced as she tried to work out what, if anything, she should do. They might have been talking about something that she had taken completely out of context. They might have been, but she knew in her heart that they were out to do damage.
Watching him as he worked his guests out into the garden, she settled on her plan. The hall was nearly empty when Kate deliberately tripped, spilling a few pieces of cutlery and her two remaining canapés. Dominique immediately turned to check that she was all right and help her up. Bending to collect the same fallen fork lying near her foot, Kate said in her quietest and clearest voice, ‘Mr Savagewood, I overheard something I think you need to know about, but I could be really wrong about things as well.’
Looking at Kate, he reached a fast decision. He nodded to Edison, now standing in a nearby doorway as if he’d been there the whole time. Edison returned a slight acknowledgement and Dominique ushered her into a discrete side room that she’d not noticed before.
‘Catherine, I am intrigued but must ask that we be brief.’
‘You know my name?’
‘I heard you called Katie-J by Ms Danielle when she was teasing you in the music room. You were introduced to me as Kate and ‘C.J.’ is engraved on your bracelet,’ he said, glancing down.
Kate looked down to see her bracelet turned inside out on her wrist and measured his words with satisfaction. Seeing nothing but patient stillness in his face, she said, ‘There are two men, one in an ostrich leather jacket and the other, a fat man with white snakeskin boots and belt?’
‘I know who you mean, Catherine.’
Kate squirmed slightly under the full intensity of his concentrated attention. She took a deep breath to focus before reciting the conversation and its context to him as he listened silently.
‘How confident are you of your recall, Catherine?’
She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to look straight through him, seeing another scene in her mind. ‘The day you helped the older lady in the red jacket, she was bumped by a suit on his phone. She had dark curly hair and a clear umbrella hanging from her left elbow, no glasses. She had two green bags and one blue one. You held the blue one and Edison picked up and repacked the two green bags before you and he convinced her that he was going in her direction. He mostly picked up cans, and two bags of fruit; one of green apples and the other, oranges or grapefruit.’
Finishing her statement, she looked at him. He examined her face, replaying her words and blinking in his own recall. His eyes softened, lines returning to their corners. Taking her hand, he kissed it as he said, ‘I truly appreciate you coming to me with this. Thank you, Catherine.’
After he’d left, Kate started shaking. Her hand burned where his lips had been. His voice had hypnotised her in two short sentences. He had listened to her and computed his solution. He thinks as fast as you do, kiddo, she realised with a start. Kate was accustomed to being the smartest person in a room. It was something she’d learned to conceal in general company to avoid upsetting fragile egos.
The rest of the evening passed as if nothing had happened. When Dominique’s eyes met hers, they betrayed nothing beyond what had existed before their talk. That evening, she fell into bed, exhausted, still thinking about his simple acceptance of her words. No ‘Are you sure?’ or ‘Could you have misunderstood?’ or anything else so clichéd. Tossing and turning, Kate finally fell into a restless sleep, her hand still feeling the respectful touch of his lips in her memory, his hypnotically calm voice saying, ‘Thank you, Catherine.’ Her name sounded so nice when he said it like that, clearly enunciated in three syllables.
~~~~~
The following morning started a relaxed day off for the girls, including their much anticipated Sunday Spa Day. Even better, the day was going on the business expense account. During her manicure, Kate blushed when she remembered how he'd kissed her hand. Giggling, she blamed her single glass of wine.
Dee and Carrie gushed about the elegant simplicity of everything about the man and his house. Even the spa personnel added their vote of ‘yumminess’ to the enigma that was Dominique Savagewood.
~~~~~