If Hooks Could Kill (17 page)

I surveyed the room and quickly figured out that the theme here was unique. A suit of armor stood guard just inside the door. A gazelle head, which I hoped was just an artist’s rendition, hung from the wall. Below it, a wooden horse displayed a bar setup on a trapdoor on its side. A graceful purple velvet divan was covered with pillows made out of old fabric. The walls were decorated with interesting pieces. There were collages made using old jewelry and coins, along with framed stamp collections. There were tall cabinets made out of interesting old doors. Lots of unusual lamps and something I particularly liked—a tree trunk that had been sandblasted smooth and turned into a coatrack.

Rexford glanced in my direction several times while Jaimee went on describing what she was looking for. Basically it was something everyone would notice and wish they owned.

When she’d finished, he pointed out some items and then left her to look around on her own. He approached me. “Do I know you?”

I explained who I was and that I’d been at Kelly’s funeral and his face lit with recognition. The small sad smile was enough to bring out his dimples and I could see both Kelly’s and Stone’s face in his. I mentioned that I was a bit of an amateur sleuth and had been investigating Kelly’s death.

“I’m glad somebody is,” he said with annoyance. “I don’t understand why they haven’t charged her husband.”

I explained that the evidence they had against him wasn’t very good and that they were probably hoping he’d have a guilty conscience and it would get him to confess. “And there is the possibility he didn’t do it,” I said.

Rexford’s mouth gathered in disapproval. “What are the chances of that? Is anybody going to believe that story of his that it was some kind of robbery?”

I asked about Kelly’s ex-husband.

“I thought about him myself. I don’t think there was any problems between them, and he was at Disneyland with her kids that day.”

I asked him if he’d been close to Kelly. I was surprised when he glared at me.

“Did Stone say something to you? I tried to mend fences with him, but all he seemed to care about was investing in the energy drink business. I hope it works out for him. I tried to give him some advice.” He sighed. “But I guess it’s a little too late for that.” He looked at me directly. “I wasn’t the best father or husband.” He ran his hand along the wood trim on the purple divan. “I tried to smooth things over with my ex, too, but we just had a few minutes at the funeral. She lives on the East Coast now.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jaimee standing near us with her arms crossed. She was actually tapping her foot with impatience. She snagged Mason away from checking his BlackBerry and ordered him to do something because they were real customers. Mason suggested she keep looking around on her own.

Rexford seemed unaware of what was going on around him. I gathered all this had been playing on his mind and he wanted to vent his feelings.

“It’s not as though I didn’t try. When Kelly got in touch with me and said she wanted to be in the business, I got her a production assistant job on a show I was working on. I helped Stone get a job, too.” He shook his head with regret. “I thought Kelly would know on her own that it was a no-no to get involved with the talent. She didn’t get that she was expendable, and as soon as North Adams was finished with their fling, she was gone.”

“North Adams?” I repeated. “She had a relationship with him?” Rexford seemed surprised by my reaction and before I had a chance to explain, Jaimee took the situation in her own hands and simply interrupted by walking in front of me. She pointed toward several items and wanted him to tell her about them. “The story is everything,” she said to him as she physically took his hand and led him away from me.

I barely noticed; all I could think about was that North Adams had known Kelly and never said a word.

C
HAPTER
24

“I’ve got another suspect. You have to tell Heather to check him out,” I said as I rushed into the room. I was intent on grabbing my jacket since Mason was waiting for me outside in the car, but when I saw Barry I couldn’t resist blurting out my new finding. Barry was sitting in the den watching some sports game and it took a moment for what I’d said to register. He turned down the volume and asked me to repeat myself.

“Heather has to talk to North Adams.” I told him how all along Adams had known Kelly. “Isn’t it suspicious that Adams never admitted to knowing her?”

Barry put his hand up. “Do you think Heather is really going to go after some A-list actor on your say-so? Molly, she’s got her person of interest.”

“Fine, I’ll just have to take care of it myself.” I started to leave the room and saw that Barry was right behind me.

“Where were you?” he said. “I stopped by the bookstore—Jeffrey needed something,” he added a little too quickly. “No one seemed to know where you were.”

I hesitated. We were just ships passing in the kitchen or in this case the den and I didn’t need to explain to Barry, but then I didn’t need to keep it from him, either. “I was in Santa Barbara with Mason.” I moved down the hall toward my closet with Barry on my tail. I noticed there was just the slightest hint of a limp. Was it real or for sympathy? “I just stopped home to get a jacket. Mason’s waiting for me outside. We’re going to grab a bite.”

“Then you don’t have time for tea now? Maybe later,” he said expectantly.

“No. And you better not wait for me. I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” I said. I couldn’t believe it, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth Barry’s blank cop face crumbled.

“I hate working regular hours,” he grumbled as he went back to the TV.

Once I got back outside, Mason leaned over and opened the passenger door. The hot day had turned into a cool evening and I was glad to have the cotton shawl to wrap around my shoulders. After the day with Jaimee, both of us needed some peace. A noisy restaurant didn’t sound appealing. As usual, Mason had come up with a perfect solution. Le Grande Fromage had been closing up for the night and we’d gotten the last croissants, some slices of cheese, fruit salad and their trademark chopped lettuce salad. Mason had picked out some bottled drinks from their cooler and we’d gotten utensils and plenty of napkins.

“Who said you can only have picnics during the day?” Mason said. He turned onto Reseda toward the mountains. A short drive later he pulled into the empty parking lot for the Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park. Mason had picked up a couple of lawn chairs and a small table from his house and he unloaded them and set them up. I brought out the food and drinks. Behind us the Santa Monica Mountains loomed in the darkness and a panoramic view of the twinkling lights of the San Fernando Valley spread before us. In the far distance the massive San Gabriel Mountains marked the end of the open area.

Jaimee hadn’t been happy with either of us by the time we dropped her off. They still didn’t have a location for Thursday’s wedding and they hadn’t been able to agree on anything at Rexford’s studio as a gift. Mason had voted for the suit of armor and Jaimee wanted to get an armoire using a door from a monastery. She was irritated at me for just being there.

Mason held up his bottle of soda to make a toast. “To the end of an exhausting day.”

A breeze glided along the ground with a hint of ocean. It was amazing how the wind could wind its way through the mountains and surprise you with some cool damp air. The crickets chirped and a distant cry of a coyote reminded us we were in the wild. Mason tapped me and pointed up. Something with a big wing span sailed above us.

“An owl,” Mason said. It was soundless as it landed on a tree, waiting for its dinner to show up.

All the kinks of the day began to unravel as we ate and enjoyed the view.

“Did you see the detective when you stopped home?” Mason asked. I told him about Barry’s reaction to telling Detective Heather about North Adams.

“I was hoping she’d take over,” I said. Mason nodded. He knew why. North Adams was represented by my son. Peter would have a fit if he thought I was harassing his client. I was afraid he’d rather a murderer go free than upset such a big moneymaker for the talent agency.

For a moment there was silence and Mason turned toward me, appearing uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, sunshine, but I can’t help you with Adams. He’s a client of the law firm and I don’t think the partners would be too happy if I was investigating him.”

I told Mason I understood.

“What are you going to do?” Mason asked.

“I’ll think of something,” I said and Mason chuckled.

“I figured you would say that.”

*   *   *

The next afternoon, Dinah and I met in the yarn department of the bookstore. It wasn’t an organized meeting time for the Hookers. It was our personal meet up to talk and work on our projects for the street fair booth. I had already told her about North and my dilemma and we’d come up with a plan.

I had hoped that Adele would be there and she didn’t disappoint. Lately, it seemed she was always hunched in the corner, working on perfecting the bullion stitch.

Beyond us the bookstore was slow, and I assumed the production company people were all busy working. Even the café was quiet, and I hadn’t had to wait for my red eye.

I asked Adele how it was going. She moved her arm so I could see her work. She was still struggling to get her hook through the multiwraps of yarn. “You can’t tell anyone how much trouble I’m having with this stitch. I’m supposed to be the expert, the go-to person for anything crochet.” She dropped her work in disgust. Then she pulled out a bright orange cowl and began working on it. Crocheting something she could handle easily made a huge difference in her demeanor.

“So how’s your investigation going?” I asked. I was surprised to see Adele’s expression falter.

“Eric thinks I shouldn’t pursue being a sleuth. He says one coplike person in a couple is enough.”

“What do you think about it?” Dinah said. “I have never thought of you as being a give-in-to-your-man type.”

Adele sat a little straighter. “You know that’s what I was thinking.” She turned to me. “You’re lucky, nobody cares what you do. I guess that’s how it goes when you don’t have a boyfriend in law enforcement.”

“Do you ever think about what you’re saying?” Dinah asked. Adele gave Dinah a blank look.

“Did I say something wrong?” Adele looked at Dinah, waiting for an answer. Dinah did her best to explain tact and thinking about how other people might have interpreted what Adele said. Adele listened but didn’t seem to understand. She turned back to me. “So, Pink, what’s up with your investigating?”

“I don’t think I should tell you about it since you’re stepping down. I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with Eric.” Adele fell for it and begged me to tell her what was up. Finally I told her what I’d found out about North Adams, and my dilemma.

“No problem for
moi
,” she said pointing at herself in a theatrical manner. “I don’t have any connection to North to mess up.” She knit her brows and jiggled her head as if she was having an inner conversation. “I don’t care what Eric said. I have to take over—in the name of justice.”

I was hoping she’d say something like that. “All you’d have to do is question him, but make it seem like you’re just talking to him,” I said.

“I know what to do, Pink. I have my ways to get a man to talk.” She waved her hands in a way I think was meant to demonstrate a flirtatious move, but it came off like she was doing some kind of weird hand dance. I rolled my eyes. What choice did I have?

Dinah had taken out some soft pink organic cotton yarn. Despite Adele’s efforts to get everyone to make cowls for the sale, Dinah was sticking to washcloths and making them in all different patterns. In the end, she was going to wrap each one around a small bar of scented soap and tie it with a lavender flower.

I had brought out the off-white cowl I kept there and started to work on it.

Adele was happily working on her cowl now and I had to nudge her to get her to tell me her plan.

“I don’t know why you want to talk to him. Why not take some kind of action?” she said.

“All you have to do is ask him if it’s true that he and Kelly had an affair. If he says no, you tell him you have it on good authority that they did and then ask him why he’s not admitting he knows her,” I said.

Adele snorted. “I don’t need you to tell me what to say, or do. They’re doing a night shoot tomorrow. I’ll just go hang out with Eric and then say I want to watch. He doesn’t mind because, unlike some people, I’ve never made a scene. Then when there’s a break in shooting, I’ll move in on North.” The plan was, as soon as she talked to North, she’d come to Dinah’s and fill us in, and we’d decide how to proceed.

Her last words were, “So I should stay out of the crime fighting business, huh? I don’t think so.” She picked up her things and went to the children’s department.

“I never thought I’d be grateful for Adele’s help,” I said to Dinah.

“Maybe you better wait until it’s mission accomplished before you speak,” Dinah said, giving me a knowing nod.

C
HAPTER
25

Before Adele could do her detective work, we had to take care of some Hookers’ stuff. CeeCee had called a meeting at her house the next evening. The plan was we’d all look over what we’d accumulated for the street fair. “This way, if everyone can see what we have, then I don’t have to be the bad guy all the time, telling the rest of you we don’t have enough things,” CeeCee told everybody when she gave them the details. Due to everybody’s busy schedules the only time we could meet was at dinner hour. And Dinah and I, nice folks that we are, had volunteered to bring dinner for everyone. At CeeCee’s request, I’d promised to bring a pan of my “Mac, Cheese and More.”

Dinah helped me shop and cook, and after leaving the extra mac and cheese for Barry and Jeffrey, we headed over to CeeCee’s. She hailed our arrival with great excitement. CeeCee might not cook, but she loved to eat. She sniffed the casserole dish of macaroni and cheese as I carried it in the kitchen. I popped the pan in the oven while I poured the dressing on the salad I’d brought, too. It hadn’t inspired the same excitement from CeeCee.

“Thank heavens,” Rhoda said. She held up a glass of water. “This was all CeeCee could manage.”

Sheila nodded with approval at the food scents and said something about being so busy at Luxe she hadn’t had lunch. She put down the cowl she was working on and started to help clear the table of yarn and crochet tools. Elise seemed off in dreamland as she added a red tassel to the vampire cowl she’d made. Adele rolled her eyes at the black-and-white stripes done in half double crochet, which Elise insisted resembled fangs. Eduardo let out a tired sigh as he set down the white thread cowl he was making. He’d added an Irish crochet flower motif as decoration. Between all of this, Adele kept giving me knowing looks and dropping little hints like the mission was a go. I was so close to telling her to forget it, but I knew that even if I did, she’d go ahead with her plan anyway.

Adele wasn’t happy with the cowls everyone was making. She thought they ought to be all the same design, but done in different colors. CeeCee cut in and said at this point, she was just glad everybody was making something. After dinner she brought out the collection box and it did still look a little thin. “What happened to Kelly’s pieces, again?” CeeCee said. Dinah, Adele and I all started to talk at once, reminding her the shoplifter hooligans had taken them.

“It was just vandalism,” I said with disgust. “They probably threw all the stuff in a trash can somewhere. After all, the e-reader turned up again. They were really just out for the thrill, not the actual goods.”

CeeCee asked what we were going to do about packing up the items we sold. Dinah said Commander agreed to donate small shopping bags with stickers that said Tarzana Hookers on them.

“I love it,” CeeCee said and wanted to know when she could see them. I explained we still had to pick them up.

The meeting ended quickly, mostly because Adele kept saying there was something important she had to do. Adele, Dinah and I walked out last. As soon as we were outside, Adele pulled off the pink fuzzy vest she’d been wearing and I saw she was dressed in all black. She pulled out a black hat and put it on. Somehow Adele had confused the detective look with a ninja look. She pointed her foot, displaying her black cloth shoes and demonstrated a few karate kicks.

“Wish me luck,” she said as she got into her Matrix and headed to the location.

An hour later, when Adele hadn’t shown up, I couldn’t help myself. I started pacing across Dinah’s living room. What was taking Adele so long? Even though she’d objected, I’d coached her on what to say. All she really had to do, was start talking with North about Kelly and say she knew about their thing. And then ask why he hadn’t mentioned it to anybody. If she got the kind of reaction I thought she would, I was going to find a way to tell Detective Heather.

At last we heard footsteps coming toward the house and then someone rushing up the front stairs, followed by pounding on the door.

I was at the door before Dinah could even get out of her chair. “Well?” I said as I pulled it open. When I looked at Adele, I sucked in my breath so fast I almost choked on it. She was holding a gun on a chopstick.

The “Well?” turned into a “What?”

“Shut the door, shut the door,” Adele said as she rushed inside. Dinah had joined me at the doorway by now and we both stood back giving Adele wide berth with the gun. She looked around the room hurriedly and finally deposited the gun on the coffee table with a loud clatter. I held my breath afraid it would go off, but thankfully it didn’t.

Adele threw herself into the new chair Dinah had recently added. It was leather on a wood frame and had a slight capacity to rock. Adele made it rock for all it was worth, while fluttering her eyes and fanning herself with her hand.

“What happened?” I demanded. “What did you do this time?”

Adele sat forward and leveled her eyes at me. “I took care of things for you, Pink. The sign of a good freelance detective is that you improvise. I didn’t need that silly average Joe Shmoe book to figure that out.”

Adele knew she had the spotlight and she was going to milk it for all it was worth. She made a pretense of removing her hat and smoothing her hair and adjusting her clothes as she prepared to speak.

“I did just as I said I would. I hung out with Eric for a few minutes and then said I was curious about the scene they were shooting. He had to stay at his post because the crew was wetting down the street.” Adele’s tone changed as she explained they did that to add more contrast to the shot. I waved my hand impatiently at her to get back to the story.

“I just thought you two would like a little inside info,” she said disgruntled at our disinterest. “I waited until they broke for a few minutes and then I went up to North. Of course, by now he knows me,” she said with an air of self-importance we had all come to know and be annoyed by. “I put what you said to ask him into my own words. Something along the lines of how old was Kelly when you started the affair with her?” Adele seemed proud of her word choice and explained she didn’t give him the option of denying it and it implied that maybe she was underage. “I thought that would shake him up.” She just looked at us for a moment.

The silence hung in the air and I couldn’t take it anymore. “Well, did it? What did he say? Just get on with the story without all the theatrical pauses,” I said, wishing I’d never gotten her involved.

“Pink, this is where you miss the boat. It’s not the story so much as how you tell it. I could just dump the facts on you and it would be pretty blah. But by throwing in a little suspense, it’s much better.” She actually nodded at us as if she was expecting us to agree. Dinah and I both jumped on her and said we didn’t care about the story quality, we just wanted the facts, and now.

“You two are no fun.” Adele took a mirror out of her pocket and checked her makeup. “Would you believe that he just looked at me and said he didn’t know what I was talking about. He claimed he didn’t know who Kelly was. I pointed toward her house and said she was the woman who’d been shot. You better believe I left a long silence after I said that. And I gave him my best knowing look.” Adele gave us a re-creation of the moment and like everything else, it was over the top and looked comical instead of intimidating. She started to do the pause again, but Dinah’s and my expression kept her going forward. North had continued to deny knowing what Adele was talking about.

“I told you I was more about action,” she said. “Your idea of talking to him was getting nowhere. I remembered that the gun that killed Kelly still hadn’t been found. I started thinking where I’d hide a gun if I was him and had just shot Kelly.” Adele started to do another of her dramatic pauses, but our glares got her to stop playing storyteller and get to the point.

“If it was me and I had one of those nice RV dressing rooms all to myself, that’s where I’d put it. Everybody was busy on set and I remembered that Eric had been complaining that the locks on the trailers could be opened with a plastic card.” Adele pulled out a plastic card from her pocket. It was the kind they used for hotel keys these days. She held it like a saw and demonstrated how she’d pushed it back and forth and it had freed the lock. She shook her head with disbelief. “It wasn’t even hidden that well, but then as long as they’re filming here, nobody would go in there, but North, so I guess he felt safe.” She looked at the gun on the table. “So, I took care of it for you, Pink. I got the murder weapon. I didn’t touch it, so the prints are all intact. It’s up to you to get it to the cops.”

“Why didn’t you just give it to Eric?” I said. “He was right there and he is a cop.”

Adele hung her head and all her bravado disappeared. She didn’t want to talk, but I repeated the question. “I told you cutchykins said he thought one crime fighter in a couple was enough. He said he didn’t want me sleuthing anymore. Besides which, I kind of broke in to the trailer.” She didn’t have to say more, we got it.

The three of us sat looking at the gun. “Adele, you got it from his trailer? Sorry to deflate your balloon, but it’s got to be a prop gun.” I explained what Barry had said about fake guns having an orange plug on the front. Adele got a stormy expression on her face as the three of us looked at the barrel of the gun. But then her face broke out into a triumphant smile. There was nothing orange or otherwise on the barrel of the gun.

Adele started doing a happy dance and singing her own praises as a superdetective.

Dinah and I continued to look at the gun, realizing it might very well be the murder weapon. “It has to have his fingerprints and they can match it up to the bullet casings,” I said. “We did it. We found the evidence to solve the case.”

“We?” Adele said getting back to her usual self-importance.

“Okay, you did, but it was a group plan,” I said.

“Now, what?” Dinah said. “It’s great that we have the evidence, but we can’t do anything with it.”

“I have an idea,” I said.