By the time Andie and the Harts arrived at Deann's house, the party was already in full swing. Deann and her husband, Steve, loved to host these little gatherings and seemed to have a knack for making sure everyone always had a good time. Deann and Steve lived in a suburban area outside of the city, in a subdivision filled with beautiful homes and perfectly groomed yards. This evening, their guests had gathered in the backyard, which Deann had transformed into a tropical paradise. All of the guests were wearing floral leis around their necks and drinking out of hollowed out coconut shells with little colorful umbrellas sticking out of the tops. Even the music that Deann had selected fit the theme, the strains of a ukelele floating through the air. The inground swimming pool was aglow with candles encircled with bright colored flowers that floated on miniature rafts. At the corner of the pool, the slide had become a waterfall, with water slowly cascading over the man-made rocks and into the pool below. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, most of them gathered near the buffet table sampling the delicacies that Deann had prepared herself. Deann immediately spotted the Harts and their guest, who were walking down the stone path which led to the backyard, and quickly came over to greet them. "Hi Jonathan, Hi Jennifer. I'm glad you decided to join us." She then looked to Andie. "You must be Andie. It's so nice to meet you. I'm Deann." Jonathan had phoned Deann earlier and told her that they would be attending the party. "It's nice to meet you too, Deann." Andie looked around the yard and offered her compliments to their hostess. "This looks wonderful, I feel like I'm in Hawaii!" Deann smiled. She always enjoyed hearing the reactions of her guests to the theme parties she frequently hosted. She never divulged what the theme would be prior to the event, she enjoyed catching her friends and co-workers off guard. "Thanks. I hope you have a good time. Oh, I almost forgot…wait here a minute." She rushed over to a table next to the house and returned with 3 leis, slipping them one by one around their necks. "Now you are ready to join the party!" Deann's bubbly personality was contagious, causing people to instantly like her. In less than 5 minutes she had made Andie feel totally at ease. "Deann, you always amaze me," Jennifer told her. "Only you could pull this off."
Jennifer and Jonathan mingled with the rest of the guests, introducing Andie to many of the Hart Industries employees who were in attendance. After a few minutes, they settled at a small table near the buffet and relaxed, enjoying the festive atmosphere of the party. The three of them pressed their coconut shells together in a toast to their new friendship.
"Hello Harts." The booming voice of Deann's husband, Steve, alerted them to his presence as he pulled out the remaining chair at the table and joined them. "Having a good time?"
"We always do, Steve." Jennifer told him. "Your parties are never a disappointment."
"My wife is pretty amazing, isn't she? I don't know where she comes up with these ideas." Steve Roberts was clearly enamored with his wife and her many talents. Steve and Deann were very happily married, with two children whom they adored. He was an ex-professional football player, having played for 6 seasons before retiring with a knee injury. His career hadn't been spectacular but he had been well respected by his teammates for being such a dedicated and hardworking player. It had always been his dream to play football and nothing had ever made him happier, until Deann. They seemed perfect for each other and made a very attractive couple. Steve now worked as a sports reporter for a local television station, a career he had begun immediately after his release from the team.
Jonathan took this opportunity to introduce Andie to their host. "Steve, this is Andie, Max's daughter."
Steve reached out and took Andie's hand. "It's great to meet you, Andie. Deann told me about what happened to you the other day. How is your arm feeling?"
"Much better, thank you. Jennifer and Jonathan are taking wonderful care of me."
"Max's daughter, huh?" Steve chuckled softly, as if he were reliving something that the others weren't privy to. "He was quite a character. The first time I met your father he started pumping me for tips on which teams to bet on for the upcoming NFL season. Seemed to think I would have the inside scoop and that he would be able to 'clean up' at the local betting parlor. If I remember correctly, he didn't do too bad that season either."
"He was convinced you were his good luck charm that season," Jonathan commented.
"I guess I should have asked for my cut, huh? He was quite a character, Max was. Jonathan, do you remember the night of my bachelor party?" Steve inquired.
"Oh yeah," he said, a smirk crossing his lips, "I sure do."
Jennifer was instantly curious. She flashed her husband a look of suspicion, though they both knew she trusted him completely. "Hmmm…I don't think I heard this story."
Steve began to explain. "Some of my old teammates had hired some….ummm…girls…for the entertainment portion of the evening."
Jonathan continued, "Only they didn't end up to be very entertaining."
Jennifer and Andie were totally confused by this point and encouraged the men to continue their storytelling.
Steve looked at Andie. "Your father was definitely very successful with the ladies. On this particular evening, however, the rest of us wished he hadn't been quite so successful."
"What do you mean?" Andie asked.
"Well, Max had been sitting there in the corner most of the night, sipping his drinks and puffing away on those cigars he enjoyed so much. The two girls arrived a little early so he invited them to play a hand of gin with him and three of them sat there having a grand old time for most of the night. They were probably in their mid-twenties and dressed appropriately for their profession. I suspect that Max was probably the first man to treat them with respect. To make a long story short, by the time my teammates went to get the girls to do their…umm….thing…they had decided to make a career change. Seems someone went and told them that they were intelligent women and that they had other options in life."
The group laughed, thinking how totally typical of Max that scenario was.
Jonathan told the rest. "It was quite a sight, Max leaving that party with a girl on each arm. Most of the men at the party were less than pleased with the turn of events, and maybe more than a little jealous, though I think Deann was pretty happy about it when she heard the story."
"You got that right!" Steve exclaimed.
Andie was thoroughly enjoying the party. Everyone who knew she was Max's daughter seemed to feel compelled to share their stories of her father. She loved hearing them and seeing how much laughter her father had brought to so many people.
Deann joined them and told them about the adventures when Max had babysat for their kids. "Your Dad had a way with children," she told Andie, "Our kids absolutely loved him. And he told the most unconventional bedtime stories, usually featuring a horse called 'Easy Money'. The group laughed, all of them knowing about Max's penchant for any type of gambling. "And I think, with Max's influence, we had the only eight year old who knew how to play five card stud!"
Stanley Frieson had joined the group by this point and chimed in. "And that man could mix a mean drink. I remember one night I was delivering some papers to you at the house, Mr. Hart." He looked at his employer. "You and Mrs. Hart were out at some charity function, I think, and Max was home alone watching some old movies. He invited me in and before I knew it, he was in the kitchen whipping up a pitcher of margaritas. Quite a wild one Max and I had that night," Stanley concluded, puffing his chest outward and thrusting his shoulders back in an attempt to look manly.
"As I recall, Stanley, when we got home that night you and Max were both sound asleep on the couch, and snoring pretty loudly," Jonathan reminded him.
As Stanley attempted to dispute the facts, with no one believing him, Jennifer and Jonathan excused themselves to get another drink at the bar. Though it was nearly midnight, most of the guests remained at the party, many of them relaxing in lounge chairs beside the pool. They graciously thanked the bartender for their drinks and started to return to the group that was seated with Andie, laughing loudly, undoubtedly at one of Stanley's less than accurate accounts of the times he spent with Max.
It was a clear night with a full moon glowing brightly in the summer sky. Even without the colored lamps on bamboo poles that Deann had placed strategically throughout the backyard, there would have been plenty of light. This was a rare occurrence, considering the smog that LA was known for. Though the afternoon had been hot and sticky, as evening had descended upon them the weather had become just about perfect for an outdoor gathering.
Jennifer had always admired Deann's talent for gardening. Max's green thumb, along with years of work, had provided the Harts with beautiful gardens on their property, though Jennifer had never had much luck with it herself. Since Max's passing, they had hired a gardener who took care of the greenery on a weekly basis. With the exception of one thing-Max's prize rose garden. Jennifer couldn't allow anyone else to care for the beautiful flowers that grew there. When they had moved out to Malibu, Max had taken such care to dig up the rose bushes and transplant them at their new home. He often referred to the roses as his "babies", and Jennifer and Jonathan had often found him talking to the plants as he misted them in the hot afternoon sun. He had created a special hybrid rose himself, named the "Jennifer Hart Rose", for which he had gained much recognition in the floral community. Initially, he had given Jennifer credit for creating the distinctive flower but later, at her insistence, he had admitted that it was he who had spent many hours, over the course of several years, propagating the unique species. Jennifer now cared for the flowers, as if it were one last gift she could give him. She felt the same way about caring for Andie.
They decided to walk along the path along the outer perimeter of the yard to look at the colorful assortment of flora that Deann had cultivated with such care. The path wound around gently, with patches of flowers filling each twist and turn. The color scheme of her garden was magnificent, with nearly every color in the spectrum represented. Small trees also lined the small path in the hope that one day they would provide shade for the yard. Near the end of the path there sat a swing, on a wooden frame, perfectly suited for two.
"Shall we?" Jonathan asked, motioning to the swing which beckoned them.
She smiled at him and nodded, taking a seat next to him on the wooden planks that formed the seat of the swing. They rocked gently, holding hands, and enjoying the night air. Sipping their drinks, they watched Andie from a distance, laughing with her new friends.
"I think Andie is enjoying herself, don't you?" Jennifer asked her husband who was busy studying a cluster of trees a few yards away. After getting no response from her husband, she prompted him again. "Jonathan? Darling?"
Realizing she was talking to him, he responded, though his focus remained off in the distance. "I'm sorry, darling. What did you say?"
Becoming irritated with his lack of attention she asked, "Jonathan, what in the world is so fascinating over there?" She wasn't used to having to work so hard to get her husband's full attention.
The look on Jonathan's face quickly changed from interest to panic. Jennifer was alarmed by what she saw there, as she had become adept at reading her husband's expressions through the many years of their marriage. He quickly rose from the bench, causing it to sway fiercely, and began moving in the direction of the grouping of trees he had been watching so intently. Pausing only momentarily, he called to his wife in an authoritative voice, "Darling, go tell the others to get into the house. And fast!" He darted off into the foliage, leaving Jennifer standing there looking stunned. Fighting every urge to chase after her husband, she instead headed toward the pool area where the partygoers had congregated.
"Quick…Everyone in the house," she shouted as she approached them. They looked at her in bewilderment, unsure what to do. She couldn't advise them either as she was clueless to what the potential threat was.
At that precise moment, her voice was drowned out by the distinctive sound of a gunshot in the distance. Everyone scattered frantically, causing a state of chaos. Some of the guests fled to the nearby garage while others dropped to the ground paralyzed with fear. Steve had been standing next to Deann and Andie and he instinctively pushed both women to the ground behind a short stone fence which formed a divider between the pool area and the rest of the yard. Stanley, whose chair had been teetering on the edge of the pool, plunged into the water, flailing around desperately until finally grasping the edge.
Jennifer's heart pounded in her chest, so loudly that she would have believed it was audible to others. Her hand covered her mouth, stifling her gasps, and she stood there motionless, staring into the patch of trees where Jonathan had disappeared. Silence filled the air as the seconds turned into minutes. There was no movement anywhere. She needed to know what had happened. The shot had obviously come from the wooded area where Jonathan had gone. A million thoughts surged through her brain. What if he had been injured? Why hadn't he come out of the woods to let her know he was okay? What if he needed her?
She started running toward the trees, only to find herself being restrained by Steve. "Jennifer, stay here. I'll go. It could be dangerous." He released her from his grasp and ran into the distance.
Deann came up behind Jennifer, placing an arm around her. She understood Jennifer's fears and hoped desperately that her boss would soon emerge unscathed.
Gradually, people began to regain their composure and they moved into the house in a more organized fashion. Stanley pulled himself out of the pool, staying low to the ground, afraid that another shot would ring out at any minute. His clothes were dripping wet and sticking to his skin and as he finally rose to a standing position he removed his shoes and poured the water from them before returning them to his feet. Andie emerged from behind the wall and together she and Stanley walked over to where Jennifer and Deann stood staring into the trees where their husbands had disappeared.
"Everybody okay?" Stanley asked, wringing the water from his polyester tie. The wet look that Stanley was sporting only enhanced his normally goofy look. "I'd go down and help them but I don't want to get in the way." His voice shook as he spoke, hoping desperately that Mrs. Hart wouldn't suggest that he investigate the situation.
"That's ok, Stanley," Jennifer replied, knowing that Stanley would be of little help at a time like this. He could scarcely keep his cool in a board meeting, she couldn't imagine him in a real life and death drama.
The four of them were the only people who remained in the backyard. From the front yard they could hear the sounds of car doors slamming and cars racing away as the party guests fled to safety. A few of the guests remained in the house, waiting to see that everyone else was unhurt. Still others remained out of curiosity, wanting to know what had happened.
They could hear sirens approaching in the distance, their wailing growing in intensity as they grew closer and eventually screeched to a halt in the driveway. Several uniformed officers raced around the corner of the house and made their way over to where the four stood on the lawn. As Jennifer was explaining the situation to the officers, Jonathan and Steve, flanked by two other men whom Jennifer didn't recognize, emerged from the trees. Both Jennifer and Deann ran toward their husbands, throwing their arms around their necks and embracing them.
"Darling, are you alright?" Jennifer asked this as she looked her husband up and down searching for any sign of injury. After seeing no visible marks she began to relax a little. "What just happened here?"
"I'm fine, darling. I'll explain in a minute."
As he said that, three more men came out of the wooded area. Two of the men were obviously restraining the third man, who walked in between them with his head hung low. Jennifer recognized one of the men as a Hart Industries security guard.
Jonathan then directed his words to the officers. "I think you should give this man a one way trip to the LAPD headquarters. Lieutenant Grey will be expecting him."
The officers encountered no resistance as they handcuffed the man, his eyes still staring toward the ground below. The group watched as the officers began to lead him away. They were several yards away when the man stopped, dead in his tracks. He slowly lifted his head and turned around until his eyes met Andie's, a fierce and powerful emotion radiating from them. The jagged scar on his face glistened with sweat in the moonlight.
"This isn't over," he said to her in a calm voice that was in total contradiction to the look in his eyes. "You'll be sorry."
Andie said nothing but shuttered in fear.
