Deadly Décor (A Caprice De Luca Mystery) by Karen Rose Smith Read Free Book Online

came in. She’d also created a sitting area with Louis the Fourteenth chairs, an antique light fixture with jeweled cups, and a few more mauve and deep purple rugs to make the polished floors more hospitable. She’d let Eliza keep the deep-purple velvet drapes because, after all, this was her office, and she probably spent more time here than in the rest of the house.
    Eliza looked up when Caprice rapped on the partially open door and walked in. “Did Denise find you?”
    Caprice could see that Eliza’s attention was elsewhere because she looked down again at the papers on her desk without commenting.
    “Eliza?”
    “I’m sorry. What did you say?” Her client’s inattention was terribly unlike her. She was always sharp and seemed to be on top of everything.
    “Is something wrong?” Caprice asked, stepping farther inside.
    Eliza bit one of her perfectly lined and colored full lips, hesitated, and then sighed. “I don’t know when I’m going to be moving to L.A.”
    The first question that came to Caprice’s lips was— But you do still want to sell the house, don’t you? However, she didn’t ask it because Eliza was worried about something, and Caprice sensed it would be better to find out what that was first.
    “Are you afraid the house won’t sell quickly?”
    “No, not that.” She glanced at the cell phone on her desk as if she might have received a call. “My investment backing for Connect Xpress in L.A. has fizzled, and now I don’t know if I can open the business there.”
    “Were you getting a loan through the bank?”
    “Oh, no. I’m using private funding with a partnership agreement. Jeff Garza was going to invest.”
    Caprice recognized that name. “Doesn’t he own a security systems company?”
    “Exactly. He’s involved in a lot of community organizations, too.”
    “He’s on the board of the community center, isn’t he?”
    “Yes. He’s heading up the fund-raiser to bring more improvements to the center.”
    “My mother served on the board with him.”
    A wry smile crossed Eliza’s face. “And probably didn’t like him very much?”
    Diplomatically, Caprice didn’t answer. Her mom had commented more than once that Jeff Garza was opinionated and arrogant.
    Eliza shook her head. “That’s okay. A lot of people don’t. They say he’s a control freak. But he was a willing investor, and they’re not always easy to find. I want to franchise Connect Xpress someday, and I need a wealthy, connected partner to do that.”
    “So he’s pulled out altogether?”
    “No, not altogether. Apparently he made some bad investments, and he wants me to give him a month to see if they’ll improve. I know it will take at least a month for the house to sell and for me to settle on it. My concern is—what if he pulls out after that month?”
    “You could look for other investors in the meantime.”
    “I could. That’s what I was thinking about when you came in. I’m even considering flying to L.A. with whatever proceeds I make on the house to try to find investors there. It’s a dilemma. But I’ll figure it out.”
    Eliza was a savvy businesswoman, and Caprice knew that she would solve her problem. It didn’t sound as if she was giving up the idea of selling the house.
    Just then there was a rap on the door, and Denise peeked in. “Am I interrupting?”
    “No, especially not if you have good news for us,” Caprice quipped.
    Denise laughed. “No, we didn’t sell the house yet. But we have three very interested prospects. I’ve made appointments with them to come back for a second look later in the week. They all feel the real estate market is at a critical point, and before it takes off again, they want to take advantage of it. The one gentleman didn’t have his wife with him, so, of course, he wants to bring her along to see it.”
    “I’ll coordinate my schedule to make sure I’m not here for the showings,” Eliza assured her.
    While Caprice was interested in the buyers,