Free The Price of Beauty in Strawberry Land by Gerald W. Darnell Page A

formal living room.   Sitting in the middle of the foyer was a large white fountain containing a statue of a young naked man standing on one leg.     The young man was relieving himself into the contents of the circulating fountain – which was constantly being replenished with champagne by two lovely young female attendants. This was not here on my last visit and certainly not a part of the normal furnishing – it had to be part of the catering service.
    The fountain was drawing a lot of attention, and a lot of use.   I’m still trying to figure what I was looking at, when an attendant filled a champagne glass and handed it to me. “Welcome to the Maxwell home,” she said.
    I’m STILL staring at the fountain when someone threw her arms around me from behind – it was Judy Strong.
    “My favorite detective,” she said before giving me a kiss and a big hug with an ear nibble. “I am so glad to see you again and thank you for coming.   I know Mary Ellen wants to see you and I suspect her shadow does too.”
    “Shadow?”   I knew what she meant, but had to play dumb.
    “Elizabeth Teague – Liz.   And don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about.   Anyway, Jack is here – somewhere – I seem to have lost him.   But I have you, Jack and me a table reserved at the club so we can catch-up during dinner. That okay?”
    “Absolutely.   Where is Mary Ellen?   I would like to say hi and thank her for the invitation.”
    “Stay right here and watch that lovely little fellow tinkle the champagne – I’ll go find her and be back in a jiffy,” she said scurrying off into the crowd.
    With that, she disappeared into the crowd and I had the little fellow freshen up my glass while I waited.  
    I didn’t know any of these people and assumed they didn’t know me either.   I was certain if they DID know me; I was totally unrecognizable in this tuxedo.   My instinct and training did have me scanning the room - trying to figure who some of the notables might be.   I thought I had spotted the Governor, when Judy came back with Mary Ellen in tow.   Only a few steps behind Mary Ellen was Gerald Wayne, of Wayne Manufacturing.   I was glad to see they had gotten together – I figured this was a good match for both.
    “Carson, thank you so much for coming.   It is great to see you again and even nicer to see you under these much better circumstances,” she said as I was getting her standard hug and cheek kiss.
    Then spoke to Mr. Wayne, “Good to see you Mr. Wayne – how are you?” I was shaking his hand.
    “I am as well as can be expected.   Thanks to Mary Ellen, things have been much easier than I anticipated – I guess we owe you a thanks for that too.”
    “ You do not.   I am just glad to see everyone moving along and forward with their lives.   How is Carrie Mae?”
    “She is as great as ever.   I’ll tell her you said hi and please stop by to see her while you are in town.”
    “Will do.”
    Conversation had stopped, and just as I was going to ask Mary Ellen a question she said, “Carson - Liz isn’t here yet.   She is running late but is on her way.   Her message was for me to look after you until she got here – guess she’ll take over then!”
    I had no comeback for that comment.
    I followed them as they mingled through the crowd - occasionally stopping for some finger food or a fresh glass of champagne.   Mary Ellen introduced me to a lot of people, including both her sons – Lewis and Chuck.   Two handsome boys that I estimated to be very close in age.   The party occasion was Lewis’ 21 birthday, she repeated that several times.
    Introductions to numerous other nameless people did, at least, have me headed in the right direction – toward one of the bars. Champagne is not my drink – bubbles give me a morning headache.
                      It was during one of these introductions that I spotted her.   The scene reminded me of a queen bee at the hive and