Excerpt

Arm in arm, the blond bombshell in red escorted by the handsome young man with his gobs of wavy brown hair, strode into the wedding reception as if they were the guests of honor. Seeing his fiancee, Vinnie slipped up behind Sophie, putting his hands on her waist.

“Aah!” Sophie yelled. Turning quickly, she realized who it was taking liberties. “Vinnie!” she screamed, throwing her arms around her intended.

Allie had heard the distress in their friend’s voice and hurried over. “Oh, Vinnie, hi.”

“Aunt Gert,” Penny said, “did you two finish your business for the night?”

“I’m not sure it’s finished, dear,” Aunt Gert responded pensively.

Penny observed the narrowing of Gert’s eyes and the extra wrinkles on her forehead. Whatever had happened, something was definitely bothering Aunt Gert.

“At least I’m off the hook for the rest of the night,” Vinnie pronounced, totally unaware that the night was far from over.

In fact, as if to contradict his pronouncement, he spied a man across the room that jolted him right out of his jovial mood. “Jumpin’ Jupiter on a pogo stick!” he muttered.

Sophie touched his arm. “What honey? What’s wrong?” Watching Vinnie’s face turn ghostly white, Sophie grabbed Caroline away from her dance with Biggie. “He’s white as a sheet, Carrie. What do we do?”

Vinnie found himself in the middle of a huddle. The girls and guys surrounded him, all questioning him at once.

“Whoa, everybody.” He took a breath. “Ricky, Biggie, would you guys get me a beer, please? And something for the girls? I think we could all use some refreshment.”

Ricky and Biggie set off to find drinks, giving their shaken buddy a chance to recover.

“Girls, I was going to say that this night keeps getting weirder and weirder, but it’s gone way beyond weird, all the way to downright scary. I don’t want to alarm you, but we’re going to have to get out of here. Before we do, casually, without being noticed, one at a time, I want you to look over near the window opposite us. There’s a man over there with a large nose and a hard mouth. Remember, one at a time. Whatever you do, don’t draw attention to us.”

Penny, the leader, nodded to Caroline first. One by one, they took a peek at the man in the black zootsuit. He wasn’t real pleasant to look at. Finally when it was Allie’s turn, she whispered loudly, “Oh no!”

Penny grabbed her arm. “What is it?”

Vinnie put his arms around both of them. “Ssh. Quiet you two.” Turning them around he herded the girls out the door.

Once they were in the hall, Penny asked Allie what was wrong.

“Didn’t you see her? She was with him. That gangster looking guy.”

Penny thought a minute. She couldn’t remember seeing a woman near their “gangster.” And now Allie’s face, normally fair and freckled, turned porcelain white.

“What is SHE doing here?” Allie finally shouted. Curious, Caroline and Sophie tiptoed back in to look at the woman who had Allie so rattled. They saw a slender, statuesque beauty standing very close to the new mobster.

Back in the hall, Allie continued ranting. “That witch! No, no, she’s a vampire, Penny. A blood-sucking apparition from the dark side. She’s Dracula in drag. That’s what she is,” Allie declared.

Not getting a coherent answer, Penny had to go look for herself. When she did, she came back groaning.

“Who is it, Penny?” Caroline asked.

“You didn’t recognize her?”

“I did,” Sophie answered. “That’s Lillian Endicott, Allie’s nemesis.”

At that moment, Ricky and Biggie returned, carrying beer for Vinnie, and five flutes of champagne for the girls and Aunt Gert, as well as cokes for both Ricky and Biggie.

“Come on,” Vinnie urged, herding everybody down the hall. It was a quiet group that followed their leader all the way back upstairs to room 302, the girls’ room. Once everyone found a place to settle, Vinnie began his explanation.

“That girl you call Lillian, has gotten herself mixed up with a very, very bad character. Have any of you heard of Butch Busanti?”

Biggie stood up to stretch his long legs. “Isn’t he connected to the New York mob?”

“He sure is. Does the name Murder, Inc. sound familiar?” Only Biggie, and surprisingly, Gert, nodded. No one else seemed to know what Vinnie was talking about.

“What’s that, a mystery novel?” Sophie asked.

“I wish it was, darlin’.” Vinnie stroked Sophie’s cheek. “Murder, Inc. is the enforcement arm of the New York mafia. Some of the guys in it are Pittsburgh Phil, Bugsy Siegel, Joey Adonis, and Kid Twist. Actually, the Kid is dead, having been pushed out a twenty story window, even though he was being guarded by six police officers at the time.”

“How on earth?” Allie started asking.

“Not now, doll. I have to tell you about Butch. And if any of you see this guy tonight, be sure you go in some other direction as far away from him as you can get. I mean it. Don’t even look at his face. OK?”

Everyone nodded, even the guys.

“Really, Vinnie, it’s so hard to get worked up over the guy,” Sophie complained. “Did you see those lapels, Penny? Five inches wide. That’s so 1930's!”

Penny and the girls laughed. Leave it to Sophie to condemn the guy for his wardrobe over his mob activities.

“I hate to tell you this, honey, but that fashion idiot is one very dangerous man. They don’t come much worse.”

Penny could tell that Sophie was scared by his words. She was rubbing her arms as if to try and get warm. Sophie was wearing a royal blue velvet gown with long sleeves, the warmest attire of any of the girls, and yet Penny could tell she was shivering.