Brilliant Minds: The Wainwrights of Sunset Valley
Chapter 45
Blair was thrilled to be having another child. As soon as her pregnancy was confirmed, she and Cycl0n3 finished setting up the spare bedroom as the new baby’s room.
“You’ve got some pretty swanky digs here,” Cycl0n3 told her tummy. “Your mom’s gone bananas buying every baby toy she sees. But don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll share them with you when you get here.”
“Oh, very funny.” Blair stuck her tongue out at her husband.
“What? I’m just preparing mini-me two there for the eventuality that you’re going to play with his toys as much as he is.”
“What makes you so sure it’ll be a boy? Maybe this time, we’ll have a mini-me.”
“Eh, a girl could look like me, or a boy could look like you, too. It was just a figure of speech.”
“If you ask me, sometimes Chris is a bit too much like you already, with that smart mouth of his,” teased Blair.
“Hah! That means I’ve taught him well. Remind me to raise his allowance.”
Blair’s response was to toss a pillow in Cycl0n3’s direction.
“Oh? Is that how it is, huh?” He picked one up himself. “It is so on.”
“Hey! No beating on the pregnant lady, you bad boy.” Blair wagged her finger at him and held up her pillow in mock self-defense.
“Oooh. Pulling that card are we? Well, I’m pretty sure the baby’s not up here.” He bopped her on the head.
She swatted him back, and the two playfully went back and forth hitting each other with pillows before they were laughing too hard to continue.
“Ah, so you yield to my supreme pillow fighting technique, do you, my dear?” Cycl0n3 fluffed his “weapon” and put it back on the bad.
“Sure I do,” Blair said sweetly. Then, once his back was turned, she pillowed him squarely in the butt. “Never! Hah!” She dropped the pillow and ran out of the room, still giggling.
When Chris heard about the new baby, he thought it was cool that he would be a big brother, but also wondered how it would change things. He was used to being the only child.
“I’m not going to be able to play with him or her much. By the time the baby can talk, I’ll be old enough to babysit.”
Blair smiled at him. “That’s not such a bad thing. I know it’s probably a little weird. I was an only child for a long time, too. But you’ll still be a lot closer in age than me and Patrick, and there’s a lot you’ll be able to do with him or her. You’ll be surprised.”
“I guess.” He shuffled where he stood.
“Hey,” Blair leaned closer to him. “I hope you’re not worried that you won’t be as important to us anymore. Because that’s not true. Not at all! We love you and nothing could ever change that, even if we had a hundred babies.”
Chris laughed at the absurdity of such a thing. “A hundred babies? You’d pop if you had that many! Especially at once.”
“I don’t think that’s even possible, thank the Watcher,” Blair laughed with him.
Shortly after she found out she was pregnant, Tamara and Emma came over to Blair’s house when they all had an afternoon free. Both of her friends were much farther along in their pregnancies than she was, but they still got a kick out of how they were all expecting at the same time. Emma made a big plate of pasta for lunch.
“Enjoy, my friends. There’s plenty of creamy delicious cheese sauce and carb indulgence for all of us and the unborn to enjoy.”
“This is so good, Emma,” Tamara declared. “It definitely beats the cold pizza I ate this morning. I ate half of a large pie! What kind of craving even is that?”
“Better than the one I had for pie when I was pregnant with Chris.” Blair recalled her ill-fated entry into the fall pie-eating contest. “If you ever get the urge to eat an entire one, trust me on this. Don’t.” She set her fork down, finished. “That said, Tam is right. That was great! I inhaled it!”
“It’s not hard to make. I could give you two the recipe if you’d like.”
“Thanks, but I’m still hopeless in the kitchen,” said Tamara. “There’s a reason there was a ton of leftover pizza in my fridge this morning.”
After lunch, they went out to the movies together. They enjoyed Weeping with Irony, and chatted a while afterward. Blair found out that Emma, while thrilled about her baby, was questioning her engagement with Jared. She hadn’t called it off yet, but they’d had an argument the night before that Emma was still steamed over. For Emma’s sake, Blair wished she’d been wrong in her prediction of how a relationship with Jared Frio would go, but it seemed her instincts had been right. Jared was still the same jerk he was years ago.
Tamara brought Blair up to speed about the rest of their friends as well. “I feel so bad for Stiles. Remember how he got after things with Ayesha went south? Well, it’s been twice as bad after that blowup with Agnes. He’s really bitter, not that I blame him. What’s wrong with her that she’d obsess over Xander behind his back? He’s a ne’er do well loser with a bunch of failed relationships, a crappy job, and a kid he got while cheating on me that he barely sees, from what I’ve heard. Meanwhile, Stiles is a successful rock musician that’s not hard on the eyes, with the patience of a saint.” Tamara shook her head. “I get the appeal of the bad boy type, but come on. She should know better.”
Blair then realized that Agnes Crumplebottom, who she and Arlo had been sent to investigate the stalking charge on, was Stiles’ ex. “Oh, no. I had no idea that was Stiles’ Agnes. Xander called the SVPD on her for stalking. Arlo and I questioned her. I thought it was bull, myself, but I admit I’ve never been Xander’s biggest fan.”
Emma shrugged. “Agnes is a little odd, but I don’t know her that well, just from a couple of times hanging out with Stiles. I wouldn’t have pegged her for a stalker, but you never know, I guess.”
“I’m just glad Parker’s worst habit is leaving his dirty laundry everywhere. Seems pretty minor in comparison. Yeah, he’s a bit flirty, but I can be that way, too, so whatever. As long as he’s not cheating or lying to me, it’s no big deal.”
“What, you’re not worried about Nancy Landgraab stealing your man?” teased Blair.
“I still don’t know how Master P.I. Cycl0n3 got that one. But wow, was Parker mad about it. He ranted the whole way home.”
While his wife and friends discussed it on their afternoon off, Cycl0n3 worked on the case that led him to make said accusation. It wasn’t Parker he was investigating that day, although Cycl0n3 still thought something fishy was going on with him. He was tailing the original target Nancy Landgraab sent him after: Vita Alto. Nancy wanted him to drop by later that afternoon with an update, and Cycl0n3 wanted to get as much information as possible before then.
He’d exhausted his online research leads, so Cycl0n3 decided to spend some time following Mayor Alto around. He was curious who she might interact with. If the Altos were guilty of the kind of things rumors said, they would be smart enough to cover their tracks and make not-so-innocent things look like chance encounters.
Cycl0n3 couldn’t tail Vita in City Hall without being obvious, and of course he couldn’t get behind closed doors. Still, he knew enough about politicians to know they networked everywhere. When her lunch hour rolled around, he made a point of being in the park so he could see where she went when she left the building. As it turned out, she came right to the park. Cycl0n3 pulled out a book and pretended to read while Vita ordered a plate of garlic fries.
After she ate, Vita took out a parasol and strolled across the park. The spring festival was going on, so Cycl0n3 picked up the basket he’d brought along with him, and pretended to look for festival eggs. A few minutes later, Vita struck up a conversation with an older man by the lake. Cycl0n3 spotted a hidden egg and put it in his basket, glancing subtly in their direction. Had he met him before? He looked familiar.
Cycl0n3 wandered toward the pond, where he could search for eggs in the weeds nearby while eavesdropping.
“…thank Victoria for her generous donation. I appreciate her support, and of course she can count on me supporting freedom of the press wholeheartedly.”
Ah, that was it! He was his former boss’ husband from the not-so-great old days at Doo Peas. Apparently Victoria Andrews had gotten political as she’d risen up the corporate news food chain.
Unfortunately, Vita and Beau’s conversation was brief, and after a bit of small talk, she said goodbye and headed across the street to the java hut. Cycl0n3 waited until she was far enough out of sight to not notice him following, and darted over. He stashed his basket in the bushes by the sign before going in.
Vita was ordering a latte when Cycl0n3 arrived. He glanced at the menu to decide what to order so he didn’t look obvious, when recognized someone else there. Wasn’t that Nancy Landgraab’s husband? Interesting coincidence, although it wasn’t unusual to run into familiar faces in a town like Sunset Valley. The java hut was close to the hospital, and although Dr. Landgraab was retired, the Landgraabs still owned a controlling interest in Sacred Spleen. Geoffrey Landgraab was a board member, which Cycl0n3 knew from the research he’d done on this case of The Ridiculously Rich Rivals, as he’d come to call it.
His dining companion wasn’t, though. Cycl0n3 recognized her as well. Pauline Wan, Stiles’ longtime bandmate and Hank’s ex who’d fooled around with her friend’s husband in a hot tub. Though that had been years ago, Pauline still had a wild reputation. If the rumor mill was accurate, she’d had as many boyfriends as Cycl0n3 did video games, and that was quite a collection.
He had a rude thought about what Dr. Landgraab was probably giving her medical advice for as he ordered his maui slappucino.
Disappointingly, Vita did not stick around to schmooze with anyone. She purchased her latte and headed for the door. The barista was slow with Cycl0n3’s drink, and he hoped he wouldn’t lose Vita waiting on it. Luckily, she got a text and set her drink down to answer while Cycl0n3 paid for his.
He got out just in time to see Vita heading back to City Hall. Lunch hour is over, I guess. Cycl0n3 lamented that he hadn’t learned anything useful, but then he saw something else. Geoffrey Landgraab and Pauline Wan got into the same car, and drove off in the direction of the beach, not the hospital.
Cycl0n3 was surprised. Despite what he’d said to Parker about him having an affair with Nancy to rile him up for information, he’d never heard any rumors about either Nancy or her husband being unfaithful. In fact, Geoffrey Landgraab was known to be a caring family man. So why was he getting into a car with a known party girl and heading off who knew where? I hope for my client’s sake, that’s a house call, and not from Dr. Love.
“Ah, Mr. Sw0rd, thank you for coming.” Nancy Landgraab showed Cycl0n3 to her study when he arrived for his appointment with her. He handed her a copy of his in-progress file, and she thumbed through it. “This is very useful. Even if you didn’t find anything illegal yet, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.” She smiled smugly. “And if I can find someone not in the Altos’ pocket, we may get a legal investigation started yet.”
“I’m still hoping to catch a whiff of something with my personal surveillance, but that’ll take more time. Today all she did outside of City Hall was get lunch and coffee. But sooner or later, she’ll say something when she thinks no one is listening.”
“And you’ll be there to record that inglorious moment, and that’ll be a fine day indeed. I appreciate your hard work.” Nancy handed him a check. “I trust this will cover some of your initial fees and expenses for ongoing surveillance?”
It wasn’t a fortune, but it was a nice down payment toward the eventual bill he would give her. “Sure will. Thanks.” Cycl0n3 decided now was as good a time as any to test the waters about what he’d seen at the java hut. “Oh, by the way, I saw your husband at the java hut earlier. I’d have said hi, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself and break cover.”
“You did? That’s odd. He told me he was going fishing up at Stoney Falls this afternoon. He said he planned to be there all day.”
Cycl0n3 raised an eyebrow. “Ah, a fishing day with a friend? Maybe they just weren’t biting up there, so they came back into town instead. They did head off in the direction of the beach. Better prospects there, probably.”
It was Nancy’s turn to be suspicious. “They? Who was he with? I was under the impression he went by himself.”
“Pauline Wan.”
Nancy frowned. “Who?”
“Oh. I had a feeling that might be your answer. You don’t know her, then?” Cycl0n3 felt awkward. Although infidelity was one of those vices that got him a paycheck more often than not, he always felt for the spouse or lover who was the last to know. Even when it was a ruthless corporate tycoon like Nancy Landgraab.
“No.” Her expression hardened. “But it seems like I have a second case for you now, Mr. Sw0rd. I’d like you to find out exactly what is going on with this Ms. Wan and my husband when he’s supposedly out fishing.” She wrote him another check. “Will this cover your retainer and absolute confidentiality on the matter?”
It was a tidy sum. “I’ll get right on it for you, Mrs. Landgraab.”
Across town at the local library, Boyd and Susan were about to bear witness to romantic drama on a smaller scale. It was their day off, and they’d brought Orion to story hour in the kids’ section. He’d behaved well and enjoyed the story the librarian read to the children, so Susan and Boyd decided to stay afterward and show him more kids’ books. Although she was still too little to read or understand, they had Iris with them, too. Boyd played with her while Susan read a book about shapes to Orion.
Their friend and employee Christopher Steel had brought his daughter Rachelle to story hour also. Little Rachelle was just a bit younger than Orion, and the Wainwrights hoped that one day they might be playmates. Orion’s unusual appearance might make it harder for him to make friends, so socializing him was a priority. Rachelle was more interested in some other toys that afternoon, though, and Christopher had struck up a conversation with another woman in the library while Rachelle played.
Neither Boyd nor Susan heard what they’d been saying, but Monika Sekemoto did, and when she did, so did everyone else in that part of the library.
“Wow. Really?” Monika glared at Christopher. “I wonder what your wife would think of that.”
“Madison knows we’re friends.” Zelda seemed unconcerned, while Christopher tried to smooth it over.
“You misunderstood.”
“Oh, I understood perfectly well. Not cool, Christopher. Not at all.” She gave him a disgusted look and stormed out.
“I’ll talk to you later,” he said to Zelda, then picked up Rachelle, and followed after Monika.
“Sounds like someone’s going to be sleeping in the specimen closet once Madison hears about that,” Susan remarked.
“That’s a shame. I hope he’s not cheating on her. She’s kind of an airhead, but she’s a nice one.”
“I’m sure we’ll hear more about it at work tomorrow. Nobody in the break room can keep something that juicy to themselves.”
“Least of all Madison herself.”
“Come on. Let’s head over to the spring festival and grab a bite to eat. It’s less than an hour until Patrick will be meeting us after music club anyway.”
Upon starting high school, Patrick had the opportunity to sign up for two clubs. Although he’d been interested in art club, it conflicted with the other club he really wanted to join, which was music club. He took that and drama instead. He could always paint at home anyway, and on nice days, the music club teacher let them take their instruments outside to rock out.
Boyd and Susan were playing horseshoes when Patrick met up with them. “How was school?”
“It was all right. I played the guitar in music club today. I tried a couple of other instruments, but I liked guitar best. Could we get one? So I can practice at home?”
“All those Guitar Master sessions on the Maxoid 2 1/2 inspired you, huh?”
“I don’t see why not, as long as you’re serious about it,” Susan told him.
“I’m serious.”
“Pick one out, then, and let us know.”
The Wainwrights abandoned the horseshoe game to take a family photo at the booth. Afterward, they wandered around the festival. Boyd noticed the love tester machine and pointed it out to Susan. “Hey, honey. Want to go test our love?”
“Sure,” Susan flirted back.
They put in their simoleons and held the handle together, then watched as the lights climbed all the way to the top and flashed a racy message. Susan leaned close to Boyd as they read it together. “My. The love tester thinks we’ve got hot chemistry.”
“It knows I’ve got my ion you,” Boyd said flirtatiously.
Patrick groaned with embarrassment; he hoped none of his schoolmates would see him with his old flirting parents. He decided it was time to wander off and check out the festival on his own.
He spotted one of his classmates, Maria Wolff, on the dance floor. “Hey, Patrick. How’s it going?”
“Not bad. How are you?”
“Pretty good. My dad brought me to the festival for my birthday after dinner. He took me and my little brother to the bistro to celebrate.”
“Aw, no party?”
“I didn’t want a plain old party at home, no offense.” She had been at his birthday not long ago. He noticed for the first time how pretty she was. “But if I can’t have something really spectacular, you know, I feel like why bother? I’d much prefer a divine meal at the bistro, where they all sing and bring out a flaming angel food cake.”
“Well, as long as you had fun, that’s cool.”
Maria nodded. “We did. I don’t see my dad a lot since he moved out. Anyway, the festival’s a pretty good party with a wicked dance beat, so… want to dance?”
“Sure.”
Patrick and Maria danced for a while, chatting about various things. They had more in common than he realized. They liked a lot of the same TV shows and movies, and neither could stand their super-sporty gym teacher who insisted everyone in the class “push it to the limit” and “feel the burn” every day. He also learned that Maria had joined the art club, and like him, had wanted to be in the music club, too. “I hate that you can’t join both,” she said. “I love singing and playing music. But I really like painting and sculpting, too, and the club has stuff I don’t have at home.”
“Maybe I could show you some of the music club stuff sometime,” Patrick suggested. “And you could do the same with me with the art?”
“That’d be cool.” She smiled at him. “You know, you’re a pretty good dancer.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Her tone was flirtatious. He felt his pulse quicken a little as their eyes met. She had lovely green eyes…
“If you like dancing, there’s that dance later this week. We could go. Together, I mean.” Patrick kicked himself for sounding so awkward. He could almost hear Buddy mocking him all the way from home.
“Patrick Wainwright, are you asking me out to the dance?”
“Yes,” he said hopefully.
She gave him a coy look, as if she needed to consider first, but then gave her answer. “Then yes.”
Patrick was elated. “All right! Cool. We’ll have fun.”
“I’m sure we will. I look forward to more of your dance moves,” she said with a wink.
Boyd and Susan relaxed in the grass on the warm spring night. They had Iris and Orion nearby, and watched the stars together. “Do you see Patrick over there? I think he’s got a thing for the Wolff girl,” Susan observed.
“He’s not that much younger than we were when we met.”
“Junior year, when I moved here to Sunset Valley.”
“Chemistry class. You sat next to me.”
“I didn’t know anyone, but I figured someone who doodled Star Trek ships on his book covers was someone who had good taste, and probably wasn’t one of the dumb annoying types who’d try to copy me on tests.” She met Boyd’s eyes. “And you were cute, in that nerdy sort of way.”
Boyd laughed. “Lucky me you had a thing for nerds.”
Susan sat up and stretched, and Boyd got up with her. Iris had dozed off on her baby mat, and Orion was content playing with his stuffed robot bear. Susan extended her hand to her husband. “So, nerd, how about a spring dance before we head home?”
Boyd took her hand and followed her onto the floor. “Lead the way.”
Author’s Note: I updated the Children of Sunset Valley page along with this chapter. Maria Wolff’s teen picture and information are up, as well as a toddler picture for Jeanine Andrews, and Zelda Mae’s baby on the still-a-burrito-baby list.
Cheezey Sims 