Done to Death (24 page)

He looked at Ashley. ‘You like it here, sweetheart?'

‘They had a baby kangaroo,' the little girl answered. ‘His name was Poppy.'

Barry laughed, knowing a three-year-old's ‘yes' when he heard it. ‘Jeanine, you're serious.'

‘Yeah. The clothes, the Birkin bags, none of that matters.'

‘Don't say that,' he said, wondering what he ever did to deserve her.

‘I never cared about that stuff. You know that and, yes, I understand that we have to look a certain way, and I want to. But think about it. Even from that side of things, Grenville is hot. Half of the west coast have houses here so their kids can grow up outside of Hollywood. Think about it – you, me, Ashley … maybe a Baby Barry.'

He snorted. ‘I will not saddle a child with the name Barry.'

‘You know what I'm saying. Flowers in the spring, a fire in the fireplace, actually knowing our neighbors. Our kids getting on a yellow school bus in the morning.'

‘I do.' The dream she painted was one that he could sign up for. He looked at the beehive of activity around them. His eye caught on a piece of crime scene tape. It hadn't been left by the police, but rolls had been strewn by one of the interns to make the reality of a murder scene more real. There was every indication this show would be a hit. ‘It's a hell of a gamble, Jeanine. We could buy something here and find out the show wasn't going to get picked up. Or that no one wants to watch it. It might be better to rent something. Do a month to month lease.'

‘We could,' she said. She glanced at their daughter and gently shook her head. Her voice soft and just for his ears. ‘I don't think a lot of moves are good for her, but if you think it best.'

She was right. ‘How's this … you meet with a realtor in the morning and get a better feel. If you see something you think is perfect, call me and we'll figure this out.'

‘I love you so much,' and her hands were on his face, her lips on his. She pulled back. ‘So much.'

‘I love you too.'

Not to be left out, Ashley chimed, ‘Love you, Daddy.'

‘Come on, Ashley,' Jeanine said, her fingers entwined with Barry's. ‘Let's go look at houses while Daddy works.' She brushed his cheek with a final kiss and whispered, ‘I will follow you to the ends of the earth, but for now let's stop in Connecticut.'

He watched them leave, feeling the loss of her touch. He caught a final scent of her citrusy perfume and turned back to the show he'd not fully realized was in chaos.

Melanie, in one of her standard shooting outfits – camo pants with lots of pockets, a silk T-shirt and a khaki vest with more pockets – was coming toward him across the foyer.

‘What's wrong?' he asked.

‘Nothing, I mean nothing this second. They're setting up.' She glanced back. ‘Barry, I'm freaking out. We have no storyboard.'

‘I know,' he said, ‘and—'

‘You don't have to say it. We're working through the night … again.'

‘We have to,' he said with a smile. To all the world − or at least to the couple hundred LPP employees who'd descended on Grenville and Shiloh − he was a TV producer in his element, smoothly handling the reins of what they all hoped would be their salvation, a long-running hit show. ‘Just because we don't have a clue on Friday afternoon doesn't mean we won't have one by sun-up Saturday.'

‘I can handle that,' she said, standing by his side. ‘The premise is basic: three experts give their opinion and offer quotes to Rachel. We'll need to throw in a couple twists. Ethan thought about maybe holding an estate sale. Set up tents, put the stuff on the driveway. Or one of the dealers was talking about an on-site auction. Can you imagine?'

‘Lenore would shit bricks.'

‘I know,' she said. ‘It's in awful taste.'

‘Yeah, it's perfect. The logistics, though; we need to shoot this fast.'

Melanie's expression slipped and her worry showed. ‘What's with Rachel's dye job? It's freaking me out.'

‘I don't know,' he admitted. ‘But, unlike what her brother felt, she wants this to move forward.'

Melanie's voice lowered further. ‘I think she did it. I don't know why or how the cops let her out. But look at her. It's like fucking
All about Eve
. She kills Lenore and then … turns into her. Which maybe I can handle. But here's what's got
me
shitting bricks.' Her smile stayed fixed as a crew member approached.

‘Ms Taft, they told me to let you know they're ready to start.'

‘Too fabulous. I'll be right there.' As soon as he was out of earshot she whispered, ‘What has me really scared …'

‘That someone else will get shot?' he offered.

‘No. Strange, I'd not even thought about that. Mostly because I figured she did it and, as long as she gets her way, things should run smooth. But that's the kicker. What little I've seen of Rachel Parks has shown me she's unpredictable. Yesterday she's Rachel, today she's Lenore. When she wakes up tomorrow, who's she gonna be? And how the fuck are we going to deal with it?'

Ada was waiting with Rachel in the library for the next take; she was exhausted. She'd been at this since six a.m. It was nearly seven p.m. and all she wanted was a hot bath, something to eat that wasn't from the food service truck, and Lil. They'd been told this was the last scene of the day; that was five thirty, but a series of delays − mostly problems with the lighting – had left them frozen in their spots.

‘How are you holding up?' Ada asked, long past the shock of Rachel's dye job and jarring resemblance to Lenore.

‘Tired,' she admitted, ‘… and sad.'

‘You're thinking about Richard?'

‘Yeah, I'm starting to rethink this whole thing. But then I look around …'

The make-up woman reappeared, as she'd done at thirty-minute intervals throughout the day. She hovered first around Rachel, patting down the shiny spots on her nose and brow, and then did the same with Ada. She whispered, ‘I heard them say we'll be out of here in an hour, if you can get this done in one or two takes.'

Ada chuckled, amused at how people took her for a professional actress, or whatever a TV hostess was. ‘I'll do my best.'

‘And not just Richard,' Rachel said. ‘I never realized what all this meant. I just assumed Lenore was the world's biggest narcissist and needed this, like some kind of mirror to see how important she was. I still think that's true … to a point.'

‘What's changed?' Ada asked, wanting to know what made Rachel tick. She knew the girl was mentally ill, but for the life of her she couldn't put a name to her array of symptoms. Possibly bipolar, with all the hot and cold, but incredibly raw, with moods that could be tripped by the careless word of a crew member. She'd flare hot, scream viciously at the object of her displeasure, and after a while come back to earth, unperturbed and unapologetic. The net result was that everyone treated her like a ticking bomb. The question behind all of it was, when she did explode could it … would it … did it … include murder?

‘It's who she was.' Rachel sounded weary. ‘Mom needed this to exist. Richard understood that and I think, in his Richard way, had made peace with it. He knew we were accessories to Lenore. I never understood that, or maybe I did. I just wouldn't accept it. But you want to know something?'

‘What's that?'

‘Just wanting something to be true doesn't make it so.'

‘Correct,' Ada said.

Rachel looked through the library's open door to where Melanie and Barry were having a discussion. ‘They don't have this planned out,' she said.

‘How can you tell?'

‘They're going too fast. A single episode of
Lenore Says
could take months to prepare. By the time they got to filming everything was set. And yes, I know with reality TV the premise is you're watching real life, but that's not how it works.'

Ada chuckled. ‘Yes, I got that memo.'

‘I wonder if he's up to this?' she said.

‘Barry?'

‘Yeah. He does have a track record or I would never have hired him.'

‘You hired Barry?'

‘I'm sorry.' She shook her head. ‘I meant Lenore. And I know what she'd be doing right about now.' She stood up. ‘I'll be right back.'

Ada shifted in her chair to watch as Rachel strode out to have words with Barry and Melanie. She saw Barry's eyes widen and his expression go from anxious, through a hastily concealed flash of anger, to panic. He was flushed and red-faced as Rachel turned back to Ada. She smiled, and in a clear voice called out, ‘OK, people, we're shooting in five. Let's get this in the can.' She looked at Ada and, with Lenore's head bob and wink, said, ‘Let's do this in one take, so we can all go home and get some rest.'

F
rom their vantage on the edge of the fountain, Detectives Jamie Plank and Mattie Perez surveyed the mansion's brightly illuminated drive as the fleet of LPP personnel packed and dispersed to area hotels and B and Bs. It was ten p.m.

Parked among the vehicles were six of Grenville's twelve cruisers, most of the officers on overtime. They were augmented by six state vehicles and twelve troopers.

‘For one spoiled celebrity I have no trouble getting the manpower to babysit,' Mattie mused. ‘But when the locals were getting targeted, nada.'

‘Hey,' Jamie said, her tone deadpan as she mimicked the tag line from a mandatory sensitivity seminar they'd endured. ‘
It's the people that make the case
… You think she's in danger?'

‘She's the last Parks standing. Unless we count our supposed test-tube babies. Either she did it or she's a target. I think it's the latter, or she's smarter than we give her credit for. Could she have hired someone? Absolutely, but she wasn't the shooter. Either way, she needs to be watched.'

‘There's Mrs Strauss,' Jamie said, as Ada and her grandson appeared at the front door. ‘You wanted to talk to her.'

‘Yeah,' Mattie said, ‘but not here.'

‘Right.'

They watched as Ada and Aaron got into his vintage blue Mercedes with its patches of sanded, but not yet painted, body filler.

‘It's like end of shift at a factory,' Jamie said, as the stream of cast and crew exited the brick mansion.

‘Or rats on a sinking ship,' Mattie commented. Throughout the day they'd been on the phone with their New York counterparts, who in turn had been digging into the workings of LPP. Once word had gotten out that there was a pilot being shot, everyone wanted to get attached. That Rachel was on board as a producer, according to LPP's head of HR, was a huge draw.

‘Could this have been predicted?' Jamie asked.

‘What?'

‘This − the scale of this show? Is this the motive?'

Mattie nodded. ‘I'm not certain, but it's on the board.'

‘There's Stromstein,' Jamie said, as Barry, a canvas bag over one shoulder and a lawyer's wheeled briefcase trailing from his other hand, appeared in the doorway. He was in animated conversation with his assistant producer, Melanie. ‘He looks angry.'

‘Yeah,' Mattie agreed. ‘Wonder why?'

‘You know,' Jamie said. ‘We could—'

‘Not without a warrant,' Mattie said, referring to her partner's enthusiasm for the high-tech listening device ‘the Little Whisperer', which could only be used with a judge's say so.

‘He gains the most,' Jamie said.

‘If the show's a hit, yes.'

‘You said always to follow the money.'

‘Yeah, and his alibi is tight and, according to the New York team, his crew was all together in a series of planning meetings when Lenore was shot. Can they swear to the occasional bathroom break?'

‘More than enough time to zip up to the penthouse and plug Lenore,' said Jamie.

‘Absolutely. Or it could have been a group effort.'

‘That's a stretch,' Jamie said.

‘I know,' Mattie agreed. ‘I keep getting this insane thought.'

‘You going to share?'

‘Sure, it's like this. You know how we're forever getting hit up for ten or twenty bucks for someone's retirement, or when somebody's in the hospital?'

‘Yeah?'

‘Well, everyone hated Lenore. And the ones that didn't hate her were afraid of her.'

‘Maybe not the girlfriends,' Jamie offered.

‘Maybe not, until they found out they weren't exclusive. So, what if everyone kicked a grand toward getting rid of her? That way everyone's conveniently in meetings, or on a shoot out of town.'

‘Or at the hospital like Rachel and Richard. It's a bit left field, and a lot of cutting off your nose to spite your face. But maybe …' Jamie looked at Barry, ‘some could see a life at LPP without the L … like him. I'd like to know what has him so flustered. Should we ask?'

Mattie thought about it. Their previous interview with Mr Stromstein had yielded little. ‘I've got a better idea. Let's go visit the ladies and see what Ada found out. If something's going on behind the scenes, she'll know about it.'

Jamie chuckled. ‘Yeah, better than the Little Whisperer, and no warrant required.'

‘It was awesome!' Aaron said, as he and Ada met Lil at the door.

‘Exhausting,' Ada said, as the two women kissed.

‘The kettle's on,' Lil said.

‘Lovely.'

‘How many cups of tea do you drink a day?' Aaron asked.

‘I don't count,' Ada said, as she sank to the hall seat and eased off her pumps. ‘I'm bringing slippers tomorrow.' She laid her head back and closed her eyes. She winced as the phone rang.

‘It hasn't stopped,' Lil said from the kitchen. ‘I've been letting it go to the machine.'