Whiskey, You're The Devil: An Addison Holmes Mystery (Addison Holmes Mysteries Book 4) (15 page)

I scrunched my nose in disgust and saw Savage come out of my office, a stack of printed papers in his hand. He raised his brows at me in question and I mouthed Rosemarie’s name. He nodded and leaned against the wall to wait for me to finish.

“Did you get bonded out?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. I’m standing on the front steps of the courthouse. Could I catch a ride? My car is still in impound. They’re looking for bloodstains or something.”

“No problem. Savage and I are at the agency. Just meet us out front.”

The courthouse was just across the way from the agency, so all in all it was a pretty convenient location. Unless it was peak rush hour and you needed to get anywhere in a hurry.

I disconnected the phone and headed toward Savage. “That was Rosemarie. They just bonded her out and she needs a ride. I told her it wouldn’t be a problem. Did you find anything of interest?”

“A few things,” he said. “Priscilla Loveshack’s real name is Winnie Mayhew.”

“Goodness gravy. No wonder she changed it.”

“She’s also a Savannah native. She’s lived here her whole life.”

I gasped and put my hands on my hips in disgust. “Are you telling me the Discovery Channel lied about her being from LA?”

“If you can’t trust the TV then who’s left to trust?” Savage said straight-faced.

“Wait a minute. She made all her movies somewhere. She can’t have lived here her whole life. She’s got more than two hundred and twenty film credits to her name. Including Bringing up Bambi 1,2 and 3. Those looked like they might even have a plot to them. I was considering renting them to see.”

“Should we watch for research?”

“Do you need a knuckle sandwich today?”

“I’ll pass. And to answer your question, she made every one of those movies right here in Savannah.”

“Shut the front door! Savannah has a porn industry?”

“A booming one apparently. They pay taxes and have all their permits.”

“I just can’t believe it.” I was in complete shock. To think I could’ve been sitting in my office at the agency, completely oblivious, and then right next door there could be a whole covert world of porn stars and fluffers. It was unthinkable. “So what are we going to do?”

“You were right about the husband and kids. Lance Mayhew was a former adult film star himself, but now he acts as her business manager. Why don’t we start there and talk to whoever we can.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

We headed outside and Rosemarie was waiting next to Savage’s truck. I had to do a double take to make sure it was Rosemarie. I’d never seen her without makeup before.

In less than twenty-four hours she’d managed to embrace the look of prison—sallow skin and bags under her eyes. Her hair lacked sheen and was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, and her eyes tracked everyone on the street nervously, like she was waiting for someone to jump out at her. She wore a lime green fleece jogging suit that seemed much too bright next to her prison skin and a quilted puffy coat that didn’t quite meet in the middle so she could zip it up.

“I feel like everybody’s staring at me,” she whispered as we got closer. “Now I know just how that Hester Prynne felt with her Scarlet Letter. Only I need a big fat M. An M for murderer.”

I was thinking twenty-four hours in jail had sent Rosemarie right over the edge. That woman needed a massage and a manicure like no one I’d ever seen before. That would get her back on track.

“Lets dial back on the whole murderer thing,” I said. “And maybe get you a cup of coffee. Savage and I are on the case. We’ll have your name cleared in no time.”

“I don’t know. Detective Jacoby seems pretty certain. He almost had me convinced that I did do it. If Maxwell hadn’t been there I probably would’ve signed a confession.”

“Jacoby?” Savage asked. “He sounds like a real asshole.”

“I wouldn’t mind slashing his tires if the circumstance presented itself,” I chimed in.

“It’s still early in the day. Come on. Let’s get Rosemarie some coffee and back home.”

We all piled into Savage’s truck, and it was fortunate it had a roomy backseat. It was also fortunate it had good ventilation because Rosemarie smelled like she’d been doused in disinfectant and my eyes started to water as soon as we closed all the doors.

I could tell Savage noticed it too because his eyes got real big and he started blinking rapidly. He eventually ended up cracking all the windows about an inch and we huddled deeper into our coats and ignored the tiny plops of ice that occasionally hit us in the face.

“Is that my mother?” I asked as we drove down Broughton Street. Her hands were full of shopping bags and she was looking up and down the road as if she were waiting for someone.

I thought I heard Savage groan, but he pulled the truck over to the side of the road and I rolled the window down all the way.

“Mom? What are you doing?”

“Oh, Addison. You scared me to death. I’m always worried that when a car comes up beside me someone is going to jump out and snatch me right off the street.” She leaned in the window and looked around me at Savage. “Nice to see you again, Matthew.”

“Mrs. Holmes,” Savage said, nodding. “Do you need some help?”

“Not really. I went shopping with Betsy Guerke this morning and we were going to go to lunch afterward, but we got in an argument over that show Naked and Afraid. Have you ever seen that? It’s the most ridiculous thing. Two naked people wandering around the woods and letting the ticks latch on to their privates like it was their very own genital buffet. I told Betsy the whole thing had to be staged because who in their right mind would do that on purpose, but she got all hot and bothered and insisted it was real. Then she drove off without me. I was going to try and catch a cab.”

I looked over at Savage and saw he was biting down hard on the inside of his cheek, but he managed to keep a straight face. Savage and Nick were both much better at concealing their emotions than I was.

“Get in, mom. We’ll drop you off. We’ve got to take Rosemarie anyway.”

“Thank you. I accept.”

Rosemarie scooted to the other side, and my mom got in, shuffling packages until they were so crammed in the backseat I wondered if Savage could even see out the rearview mirror.

“Good Lord. It smells like a morgue in here,” my mother said. “What is that smell?”

“It’s possible it could be me,” Rosemarie said. “I just got out of prison.”

“Did you get a tattoo? I heard they make you get those teardrops under your eyes when you murder someone.”

“I haven’t gotten one, but I was thinking about it. It’s important to show how tough you are when going in. Otherwise you end up as somebody’s bitch.”

Savage went through the line at the Starbucks and gave everyone’s order, and then he drove to the next window and picked them up. I’d decided on coffee—black—because I needed all the help I could get at this point.

“Savage and Addison are going to help prove my innocence,” Rosemarie told my mother as she sucked down her caramel macchiato.

“Then you’ll be right as rain in no time. Did I ever tell you I went on a job with Addison once? We had trench coats and everything, just like real spies.”

Savage looked over at me and arched a brow, and I casually scratched my eye using my middle finger. That finger had gotten a lot of workout lately.

“What kind of leads do you have?” my mother asked.

“We’re going to start by running down her family. It turns out Priscilla Loveshack has been a Savannah native all her life. She’s got a house over in Chatham.”

My mother and Rosemarie both gasped in unison. “That can’t be true,” my mother said. “It said plain as day on that Discovery Channel special that she was from LA. That’s where she made all her movies.”

“It turns out they were lying,” I said, shrugging.

“Well, I’ll be. You can’t trust anyone these days.”

“It also turns out that she made all her movies right here in Savannah.”

“Isn’t it something to think you could be shopping for a Sunday barbecue at the Piggly Wiggly and right next door someone could be making Bringing up Bambi 4.” I could almost feel my mother shaking her head in wonder. “I almost rented the first three you know. Seems like they had a good plot, and I wanted to see what happened next. They really hook you in with those teasers.”

I couldn’t say I didn’t understand where she was coming from, but that didn’t mean I wanted to think about my mother watching porn. Hearing it surround sound was bad enough.

“Are you going to check out these places to see if you can find the real murderer?”

“If we can find them,” I said. “That’s why we’re going to speak to her family first.”

“It’s a good thing Betsy left me high and dry. I don’t have any plans the rest of the afternoon, so I’m free to go with you.”

“Oh, me too!” Rosemarie said, bouncing a little in her seat.

Savage was already shaking his head no and I felt all the blood rush from my head and straight to my feet.

“The thought of going home and facing my neighbors depresses the hell out of me,” Rosemarie said. “And you know that nasty old Iris Clarke is going to bring a coffee cake and pretend she gives a shit just so she can find out information first hand to spread around.

I’d been this close to denying them, but I caught myself after Rosemarie’s explanation. It would be awful for her. And the neighbors would be so sugary sweet with malice that you could sprinkle them on a bowl of cereal.

“I should probably mention that it’s possible your house was burglarized after the police did their search. I thought at first the cops were just sloppier than usual, but they wouldn’t have done that kind of damage. Nick sent a couple of patrol officers out and they confirmed that that wasn’t how they left if and opened up a report.”

Rosemarie stared at me in a state of shock and I felt like the lowest slime in the bayou for dumping this on her when she was already down.

“Ohmigoodness. Why? What could they possibly want? They’ve already taken my dignity. I have nothing left,” she wailed.

“I don’t know, but maybe you should stay at a hotel for the night. Just until we can make sure that you’re completely safe.”

“Of course she won’t stay at a hotel,” my mother said, scandalized. It was the same tone of voice she’d used when I told her I was going to major in history in college. “You’ll stay with me and Vince, Rosemarie. You can stay in Addison’s old room. And the dogs are welcome.”

“That’s very sweet,” Rosemarie said. “I accept. Now lets go question some perps and clear my name”

I looked at Savage with apology and then said, “I guess you guys can come, but you have to stay in the car. Priscilla’s family won’t want to talk in front of us if they think you murdered her.”

“I’m okay with that. I really just want to go to the movie set. I’ve never met any actors before.”

“I’m not really sure they qualify as actors,” I said.

“You think they have a gift shop?” my mother asked. “We could all get souvenirs.”

“Or Savage could spare us all and drive off the Talmadge Memorial Bridge,” I murmured.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Savage said just as quietly.

Chapter Fifteen

P
RISCILLA
L
OVESHACK HAD
lived in a swanky neighborhood not far from the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The neighborhood was heavily treed and an old man sat inside a heated guardhouse and let people in and out if they were supposed to be there. Fortunately, Savage had a badge, even if he was supposed to be on vacation.

“I could live here,” Rosemarie said. “I’m thinking I should probably move out of Whiskey Bayou. I can only imagine what kind of pariah I’m going to be. You remember when Jenni Skaggs got caught for shoplifting all those plastic flowers at the home goods store? They blackballed her at every business in town. She had to come all the way to Savannah just to get gas and groceries. The whole business made her so angry she ended up burning down her house and moving across the country.”

“That’s not how it happened,” my mom said, shaking her head. “She burned down her house cause she forgot to take her antidepressants. But she was on the antidepressants because of being blackballed, so I guess it’s one and the same. It’s all a downward spiral.”

The mention of houses reminded me that I had an empty rent house to fill so I didn’t get stuck with the payments, so I mentioned the idea to Rosemarie.

“Do you really think I could?” she asked. “What about Baby and Johnny Castle? Can they come too?”

In all honestly, I had no idea what the pet policy was for the rent house, and I didn’t give a fig one way or the other. I would’ve said anything to keep that look of excitement and hope on Rosemarie’s face.

“You bet,” I said. “They’ll be great members of the NAD Squad.”

“They’ll look very sophisticated in the T-shirts. They love to dress up.” No one really had anything to add to that statement, so we drove the rest of the way in silence.

Priscilla’s house was at the end of a cul-de-sac and sat like a big white elephant among the other homes in the neighborhood. It looked like a miniature replica of the White House, and I was dying to know what kind of decorating taste a porn star would have.

That question was answered as soon as Savage pulled into the long stretch of driveway and got closer to the house. All of the shrubs were pruned into different poses of the Kama Sutra.

“I didn’t know box hedges could do such a thing,” Rosemarie gasped, her hand coming to her mouth.

“That can’t be legal. I feel a little like Alice in Wonderland,” my mother said. “If Alice fell down the rabbit hole and ended up in a sex garden.”

“I’ll leave the truck running,” Savage said before the conversation could spiral downhill again. “Please don’t get out, and definitely don’t speak to anyone. Technically we’re not even supposed to be here.”

My mother nodded in agreement and Rosemarie saluted. I just sighed and shook my head because there was about as much chance of them listening as winning the lottery.

I made sure I was careful on the driveway because the sleet had made everything a little slick. If this kept up the whole city would be shut down before nightfall. As it was, there wasn’t a hint of sun in the sky and the gray clouds look angrier and more turbulent with every passing minute, and it was a little disconcerting to walk past the phallic shaped hedges as they iced over. There was something very unnatural about it all.