For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series by Albert Simon Page A

assumptions.” Henry said as Rosie nodded.
“I’ll drink to that as well.” Henry took a drink from his
margarita, and set it down on the table. “Let’s get back to telling
me about the hotel that Thornbird sold to the couple from
Chicago.”

    Rosie took her own drink.
“Well as I mentioned, it was the first property that Rex sold with
a celebrity connection. The hotel seemed to be what the couple
wanted but the Monroe story certainly helped seal the deal.” “Did
the property sell for a premium price?” Henry poked his fork into
his fish tacos which had cooled off considerably during their
little misunderstanding. “No, I think that was before Rex realized
that a celebrity tie-in would make a property more valuable.” Rosie
said as she put another forkful of enchilada in her mouth. “The
next house, the Robert Goulet place, did get fifty thousand more
than similar houses in the same neighborhood. I’ve included both of
those places in the report that is in my car.”

    “ Do you have any idea how he
researched the celebrity lineage of these homes?” Henry finished
the last of his tacos; he didn’t really feel like eating the cold
refried beans or the rice. “All realtors have access to the county
records of home ownership of course.” Rosie took the last bite of
her enchilada. “Rex was very computer savvy and certainly would
have been able to look up which homes were owned by celebrities;
from there it would be a simple matter of trying to get the current
owners to put them up for sale.”

    Henry pushed his plate aside
and leaned on the table looking Rosie right in the eyes, “Do you
think he went through all that trouble?” Rosie met his gaze, “No.”
“Somehow, I didn’t think so either.” Henry sat back in his chair,
here was a question he didn’t want to ask, but he had just told
her, no assumptions. “Did you know what was going on?” Rosie sat
back also, she looked down at the napkin in her lap, “You know, I
had my suspicions, but it all seemed very plausible, given the
Hollywood connection that this town has.”

    The waiter came over and
cleared their plates, “Can I get you folks anything else?” “Do you
want anything?” Henry asked as Rosie shook her head no. “We’re set,
we’ll just finish our drinks and you can bring the check whenever
you’d like.” Henry wasn’t real anxious for lunch to end, he was
enjoying himself, and he took a very small sip from his margarita.
“Did Thornbird ever have a problem with any of his ex clients once
they found out that perhaps the home they just bought wasn’t what
he said it was?” “No, hardly anyone ever complained. You know, it’s
actually pretty difficult to discover that a celebrity didn’t own,
or didn’t stay in a house. All of the buyers wanted to believe that
they had a piece of Hollywood glamour, so I don’t think they ever
thought of researching the true house lineage or complaining for
that matter.”

    Henry noticed that Rosie had
stopped drinking her margarita all together. He sort of hoped it
was because she didn’t want their lunch to end either. It could be
that she is full, or maybe she has had enough to drink he thought.
“I’m having a really good time; I don’t really want to go back to
the office.” Rosie interrupted his thoughts. “How about seeing a
movie down the street?” Henry asked.

    Rosie appeared to be
thinking about it as the waiter set their check on the table. She
reached for the bill, “I invited you, so I’m buying. A movie? No,
I’m sorry; I can’t take the whole afternoon off, how about a walk
around the block to work off some of this lunch?”
    Henry was surprised that he
felt a little disappointed. “That sounds great; you’ll have to walk
slower so that I can keep up. And I’ll let you pay for lunch if
you’ll agree to let me pay for dinner later in the week.” “Deal!”
Rosie dug cash out of her purse, Henry noticed with satisfaction
that she was a more generous