was the official leader of the group, no matter what Adele said. CeeCee was our resident celebrity and was far more done up than the rest of us. Her mink brown hair was perfectly colored and styled. She’d gone from being referred to as a veteran actress, which was a nice way of saying over with, to being referred to as the comeback kid. It had started when she got the hosting job of Making Amends, a reality show about righting old wrongs, but the real change came when she was cast in the crocheting vampire movie Caught by a Kiss. The fact that there was Oscar buzz about her performance had put her back into the spotlight.
“What do you think of this look,” she said, standing up so we could see the mint green linen pants and long white tunic. “This new stylist has a pallet of colors for me she calls pastels, but I call them candy colors. When I looked in my closet it was like looking at a box of those French pastel mint patties.”
Nobody said anything, which I think was based on the idea if you can’t say something nice . . . Adele was a latecomer to the group and came in as we were all looking at CeeCee’s clothes.
“What happened to you?” Adele said as her eyes moved up and down CeeCee’s outfit. “You look like somebody tried to erase the color of your pants.” Adele twirled for all of us. “Now this is green.” She wore a long dress with slits up past her knees. I would have called the color grass stain. She’d added a fuchsia-colored crocheted belt that hung low around her hips with a matching headband. Adele stopped the modeling move and looked up and down the table. She pursed her lips when her gaze settled on the empty chair.
“Promised she’d come, did she,” Adele said, putting her hand on her hip. “I don’t think so. No matter what Kelly said, I don’t believe she has any pieces to give us for the Jungle Days Fair. I’m telling you, she’s a crochet pretender.”
“Dear, sit down,” CeeCee said. “I think you’re being a little harsh about Kelly. Though I am getting a little concerned she might be a flake, I would like to see what she’s got. We just have a few weeks before the fair. And since it’s a Tarzana fair and we’re the Tarzana Hookers, we want our booth to make us look good.”
Dinah told the group what she knew about Kelly and all the things she had going on.
“I’m going over there after the meeting,” Adele said. “And I’m not leaving with empty promises. Either she hands over something she’s crocheted, or I say we banish her from the group.”
CeeCee gave me a worried look. “Molly, we don’t want Adele going there alone, do we? Dinah just lives down the street. The two of you could accompany Adele.” CeeCee’s voice sounded cordial, but her meaning was clear. No way was Adele going to be allowed to go alone.
“How about the three musketeers going there together,” I said. Adele had come up with that title for us a while ago.
“Pink, you’re so right. It would be much more powerful if I have backup when I pin her against the wall.”
* * *
“It’s only some crocheted items for a street fair,” Dinah said, trying to get some reality going in Adele’s mind. Good luck on that one. The three of us walked outside. The sun had moved up in the sky and was doing away with the last of the cool morning as we went around the corner.
Whoever had planned this area, didn’t like grid-pattern streets. Each of the streets had a curve. I suppose the planner thought it made the area more interesting. The street that went down from Ventura, past Dinah’s house and on to the production area had an S curve and we could only see the beginning of the production equipment. Kelly’s street cut in just before Dinah’s house and curved around before running parallel.
Adele was trying to walk ahead of us, but when she saw Eric sitting astride his motorcycle in the middle of the street, making sure no traffic tried to pass, she made a detour. Despite the heat, his uniform appeared meticulous. Every strand of his short, wavy brown hair was in place. Up ahead, two actors stood in the street as a car drove slowly toward them. The lights and reflectors