Chapter 4: The Swanky Hamptons

Helga Pataki jumped into her car and drove down the Interoute Highway 88 that led to the Swanky Hamptons, Hillwood's most expensive neighbourhood. There was only one person she wanted to talk to now and she needed to get there quick. Although he was just a suspect at this point, Eugene couldn't leave the country without risking arrest yet Helga wouldn't put it past the sly multimillionaire to try to get away from the city to avoid the media/paps ….so she needed to get there before he left.

As she took a few sharp turns on the road, getting some fellow drivers to honk at her, Helga felt her phone ringing. She bit her lip and looked to see who was calling.

It was Phoebe.

"Phoebe. What is it? I'm driving," Helga paused to flip off a driver whom she had cut off, "I'm not supposed to be on the phone right now."

"Helga," Phoebe's voice was soft but full of alarm, "I have to tell you something really important."

"Yeah so what is it?" Helga was starting to lose her patience with Phoebe's evasiveness. "C'mon spit it out before I get a ticket for driving while on the phone...plus speeding and cutting people off."

She was almost worried when Phoebe didn't laugh at her joke.

"Phoebe are you still there?"

There was a pause before her friend answered, "I can't say it over the phone Helga, it's very important. I need to talk to you in person."

Suddenly she heard a click and the line went dead. What the hell?

"Hello?"

Phoebe didn't answer.

Helga looked up at the road in time to barely miss crashing into a telephone pole.

"Criminey!"

Helga's pink car pulled into the driveway of Eugene Horowitz mansion. She was relieved that the paparazzi had not found his gated home yet and she was the only one there besides a few parked vehicles, including a limo and a black, armour plated SUV.

She warily looked at the tree-lined driveway to her former classmate's house. Eugene's mansion was situated in one of the most expensive districts in the whole country, but even by Hampton standards, Eugene's mansion was lavish. it looked like a combination of the White House and the Taj Mahal. Helga was almost put off by how ridiculously over the top the mansion was. Who really needed to live in a house with sixteen rooms and a gold toilet? She was glad neither her or Arnold were like that and they could appreciate their small but cozy apartment.

Helga rolled down her windows and pressed at the button to open the gate to his mansion. She was answered by a high-pitched female voice on the other end.

"Go away! We don't want anyone from the press! If you don't leave right now, we will release the dogs on you and charge you with trespassing!"

Helga's eyes widened in alarm, "Calm down lady, I'm not from the press! I'm Helga Pataki, one of Rhonda's friends. Listen I've known both Eugene and Rhonda forever. Could you just tell him I'm here? I want to talk with him."

Helga waited for a minute. She was surprised when the gates swung open and wasted no time in driving her car down the long driveway to the front of his house. As soon as she reached the front door, she saw both Lila Sawyer and a shorter, older lady, whom she assumed to be a maid, standing there. Helga felt sick to her stomach when she noticed that Lila was dressed to the nines in a sleek red dress like she was going out to a party or something. Did she think she owned his house now because Rhonda died? Who did she think she was. The bitch should be dressed in black and mourning.

"Helga! Whatever are you doing here?" Lila batted her eyelashes at Helga

"I already told you, Princess. I'm here to talk to Eugene. Got it?" Helga stomped into the mansion with her fists balled up at her sides.

"Well I'm sorry. He is just ever so busy with the funeral arrangements." Lila trotted behind her with her 5 inch heels clicking the whole way. "You should just come back at a less emotional time Helga."

"Save it Cupcake." Helga swung the front door open forcefully. " Euuuuugeeeeeeeene!"

Eugene nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Helga Pataki marching up to him with an angry look on her face.

"Helga? What are you doing here?"

"Save it Eugene, I've got some questions to ask."

Lila was behind her in an instance, "Excuse me Helga but that is no way to treat Eugene, he's only just the CEO of Horowitz Incorporated, one of the most important-"

Helga cut Lila off and pointed her finger at Eugene, "Eugene, you and me. Let's talk right now," she searched the house for a place they could speak privately, "In that room there."

"B-but but Helga.." Eugene sputtered like a nervous idiot but Helga just grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the room, shutting the door in the faces of Lila and the maid who were screaming their heads off at her and threatening to call the police.

"Now you're going to listen to me Eugene," Helga narrowed her eyes. She couldn't believe this wimp ever grew up to be the CEO of anything.

Lila banged her fists against the closed door, "Helga open this door right now! Eugene are you alright?! She can't treat you this way!"

"Shut it Lila!" Helga shot back.

Eugene seemed terrified of Helga but managed to say "Lila's right, you can't treat me like this Helga! You're no longer the bully of PS 118, you can't just push people around! In fact I could have you arrested for barging in on me, on my private property!"

"Answer me just this one question: did you or didn't you kill MY friend Rhonda Wellington Lloyd?"

Eugene's face twitched in a nervous tic before speaking, "Helga how can you think I could possibly do that?! I loved Rhonda! I swear I wouldn't have done anything to hurt her!"

Helga wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. He was such a quivering cowardly pile of cow manure. Did this wimp really have the guts to murder someone? It seemed unlikely.

Lila banged on the door again, "Helga, I've just called the police. You have exactly 6 minutes to get out of here before I send you to prison for assault!"

Helga grabbed Eugene by the collar again, "One last question Eugene. Did you know?"

"K-know what?" he stammered, sweat gathering at his brow.

"Did you know Rhonda was pregnant, before the coroner's report came out?"

"No, no Helga I had no idea." Eugene's eyes were glassy like he was about to cry. "Listen I loved Rhonda, but she was troubled. She had some demons she just couldn't escape."

Helga quirked her eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Before Eugene could answer her question, Lila finally managed to open the door and she had a venomous glint in her eyes as she glared between Eugene and Helga.

"I'm ever so sorry but it is time for you to LEAVE Helga. You have terrified Eugene enough. Unless you want to be arrested I suggest you leave before the police gets here."

Helga shoved passed Lila and exited the room. Whatever dark secrets Rhonda had, Helga wanted to find out about.

"Fine, I'm going." she crossed her arms, "There's no need to call the authorities, it's not like I killed anyone!" she shot Eugene a dirty look and Eugene cowered back from her in fear, "I'll see you two at the funeral. To pay my respects to Rhonda. I'm not going to see you two!"

Helga gave one last disgusted glance at Lila's skin-tight red dress before turning to leave. She knew Lila had always been a goody-two-shoes growing up, so compensated by dressing as slutty as possible now. Still someone needed to tell Miss Sawyer to put it away for pity's sake and dress appropriately when Rhonda died barely a day ago.

If Lila showed up at Rhonda's funeral wearing anything red or ridiculous, Helga swore to god she would give the goody-goody hypocrite a piece of her mind.

Helga slammed the door to the Horowitz mansion behind her and got into her car. She speedily zoomed down the Swanky Hamptons streets racing to get back to the city and her apartment where Arnold no doubt would be waiting for her. Although they were only roommates, Arnold had the annoying habit of worrying about her and doing stupid things like insisting they have supper together every night. Tonight was supposed to be her turn to cook. She'd probably make the football head a lousy bowl of spaghetti. Because 1) she'd never been a good cook and 2) she lost her appetite ever since she saw what happened to Rhonda yesterday morning. She'd barely eaten more than a few carrot sticks since yesterday. Though she didn't want to think about it, images of Rhonda's splattered brains kept resurfacing in her mind.

Helga glanced at the clock before pressing down further on the accelerator. She was already going ten miles over the speed limit but she didn't want to arrive late.

Plus there was that weird phone call she'd gotten from Phoebe. What could be so important that her oldest, most trusted friend couldn't dare say it over the phone? If only she could to Phoebe's place quickly she could find out and make it back to her apartment in time for supper with Arnold. Maybe she should call Phoebe now and sort things out. She reached for her phone with one hand while the other stayed on the steering wheel.

Suddenly Helga heard a loud police siren behind her. "Great! Just great!"

She pulled over and waited impatiently for the police officer to get out of his car. She didn't care about getting a speeding ticket, even if it was a large one, she just wanted to get back downtown as fast as possible.

So when she saw it was Sid, formerly Sid the Kid, the rascal of PS 118, who had pulled her over, she muttered, "You have got to be kidding me!"

Sid tapped at her window and she rolled it down.

"Hi Sid."

"That's Officer Sid to you, Helga." Sid pointed at the badge on his chest.

Helga rolled her eyes, "Yeah right."

"Do you want to know why I pulled you over?" Sid said.

"Oh let me think Sid-"

"Officer Sid," he corrected.

"Yes, uh, Officer Sid," Helga crossed her arms, "I may have gone a few miles over the speed limit if I remember correctly."

Sid smiled, "Try 20 miles over the speed limit, Helga. Do you know what the ticket for that is?"

"A lot?"

"Try $1500 dollars," Sid said.

Helga's jaw dropped.

"Plus you were on your phone while driving, that's an extra $500 fee."

"Oh c'mon Sid! Cut me some slack here! I wasn't even using my phone, I was just holding it!"

"To your ear?" Sid chuckled, "Don't bullshit me Helga, it won't work. I deal with professional bullshitters and crooks for a living. Anyways, that's not why I stopped you," Sid scratched his head, "I don't want to give you a ticket."

"Wait, what? You don't?"

Helga couldn't believe her luck.

Sid shook his head."No. I've got bigger fish to fry than handing out speeding tickets. I was actually following you."

"What?!"

"I've been keeping an eye on Eugene, making sure he doesn't try to flee the country on one of his private helicopters before Rhonda's murder is solved. I saw your car pull up to his driveway. I wanted to know why you were there."

"I went to Eugene's for the same reason you're watching him, I wanted to know what happened to Rhonda."

Sid narrowed her eyes, "Did you find out anything?"

"No...Other than that Eugene is still the same snivelling, pathetic wimp he's always been...except it's Lila Sawyer, not his mother, who runs his life now."

She tried to laugh but her laughter felt hollow. There really was nothing funny about a situation where Rhonda was dead.

"Listen, Helga, Eugene may not frighten you but he has a lot of power Helga. Power and money can buy you a lot of things, including the assasination of your enemies. I would advise you to be careful and not go around provoking people Helga. I say that as a friend, not a police officer. Here's my card, if you find out anything, my personal phone number is on the back. Give me a ring, just as long as it's not while you're driving. Otherwise I may have to give you that $2000 ticket," he winked at her before leaving.

Helga watched dumbfounded as Sid strutted back to his car.

Did Sid actually just hit on her?

Well that was new and creepy! Ugh!

Helga arrived back at her apartment later than she expected. Arnold was in the living room watching the tv when she came in.

"Hey Helga. I ordered pizza. Didn't know how long it would take you to get home." Arnold smiled and to Helga, Arnold's football head and smile was the best sight she had seen all day.

"Oh now I don't have to cook. Thanks." Helga threw off her coat and flopped down on the couch beside Arnold.

"How was your day, you look bothered by something."

"Oh nothing just Sid pulled me over and hit on me. It was weird."

Arnold's face turned bright red. "SID! The last guy on earth who I would ever think would be interested in you. Back at PS 118 he hated you."

"Yeah well some things change I guess, but next time he tries to hit on me I'll reintroduce him to Ol' Betsy here."

"And some things never change." Arnold chuckled. There was a moment of silence.

Helga checked her phone. There was a message from Phoebe.

'Where are you? We need to talk.-P'

Helga felt annoyed at how weird Phoebe was being. Why didn't she say what she wanted to say over the phone?

'What do you want Pheebs? You've been acting strange.' Helga wrote back

'Meet me at The Eloquente Cafe in 10 minutes? It's important. -P'

Ugh! What was up with Phoebe lately? It's 10pm and raining! No way was she going out now. She looked at Arnold beside her on the couch; no she definitely wanted to stay here and curl up with a pizza and a movie.

"Can't Phoebe. I'm busy. If you have something important to say, just say it over the phone to me right now."

"I can't Helga. Meet me now or wait til Monday. I have to be out of town for the next few days, so now is the only time I've got.-P"

Helga was appalled as she texted back, "Are you kidding me? You're going to be out of town? What about Rhonda's funeral, it's on Friday? You're going to miss it?!"

Phoebe didn't reply.

"Hello? Phoebe?"

Arnold glanced over at her phone, "Who are you talking to Helga?" he sounded concerned.

"Just Phoebe," she muttered, "I can't believe her! She's going to miss Rhonda's funeral. She says she has be out of town but I don't believe her! She's been acting really odd."

Arnold nudged her gently on the shoulder, "Phoebe's probably just stressed about Rhonda's death. She and Rhonda were friends too. Maybe this is her way of coping. Or she doesn't want to believe Rhonda's dead, so if she doesn't go to her funeral she can still pretend she's alive..She could be in denial."

Helga grimaced, "Phoebe can't be in denial Arnold! She was there when Rhonda died! She saw Rhonda's smashed lifeless body on the pavement right after it happened, she didn't even look scared!"

"People react in different ways, maybe the trauma of the situation didn't hit her until now."

"Maybe...but I know Phoebe, she's not the nervous type and she sounds scared. Though even I can hardly believe it myself. I just can't believe Rhonda's funeral is Friday."

Helga's eye got glassy and he could tell she was going to start sobbing. Arnold grabbed Helga's face and put it in his chest.

"We'll get through this together Helga." He said as he stroked her hair. Arnold would let Helga cry into his chest all night if she had to.