G'Day USA (12 page)

‘
I think you should be a bit more concerned about the charges against you and less on the dress.’

‘
The dress is real, mate. These charges are a bad dream fueled by too little food and too much stress.’

‘
Oh, they’re real. Want me to come out to your place and give you a hand?’

‘
No. You’ll just draw attention to yourself.’

Kent listen to the silence and was about to break in when she talked again.

‘
So, that visit you and Charlie made to Sweeney, he really had a project?’

‘
He really did. And as far as I know, the project still exists. He signed me on in a supporting role and Charlie as both AD and Second Unit Director.‘

‘
And then someone killed him. Is the project a contentious one? Something which might piss some people off enough to get rid of the director?’

‘
Not really. Filipino war story. We were supposed to get back together again with Bart and Saul and the backers and go through the details, but I doubt it gets more contentious than that.’

‘
Who’s Saul?’

‘
Sweeney’s lawyer and business manager. Hey, he’s my manager now, too. You’re asking a lot of questions.’

’
Because I haven’t found the answer yet. Why is someone framing me?’

‘
You really didn’t do it?’

‘
How long have you known me, asshole? You ever, even once, get the inkling I’d kill someone? Fuck no, I didn’t do it.’

There was another pause in conversation.

‘
So where did you and Charlie go after seeing Bart?’

‘
I went back home. Not sure where Charlie went. He said he was going to visit someone in the Valley and left on foot. Very atypical of him. To walk, I mean.’

‘
And you don’t know where?’

‘
What are you, a cop?’

‘
I may as well be.
They’re
not going to help me.’

‘
So young to be such a cynic. Don’t take any chances, okay? I think I believe you about not doing it.’

‘
What?’

‘
Just kidding, Ell. I
do
believe you. You didn’t do it. Let me call my contact inside the department and see what I can find out. Stay safe.’

He terminated the call and dropped into the sofa. ‘I wonder what Charlie is up to?’

M
arty sat in the back of his limo heading to his cliff-side house in Malibu. His phone had been planted to the side of his head since he left the theatre. ‘Ellie, quit ducking my calls. This is not going to just go away. What the hell is going on? Where are you? Call me.’

He terminated the call and threw the phone on the seat beside him. It started ringing before the first bounce. Ellie’s face was on the screen.

‘
Shit, Ellie. Where are you?’

‘
Not in jail for now. You need to stop calling me. It’s going to kill my battery.’

‘
I am completely stumped. Why in the hell are you running? I know you didn’t do this. And you’re doing a piss-poor job of convincing anyone else you didn’t do this. Let me pick you up wherever you are and we can talk this out.’

‘
Talk about what? Perkins has no imagination. If he is spoon-fed facts pointing to me, he’s going to run with it. And there’s pretty damning evidence there, too. My gun, which I’ve never shot outside of the firing range. And one of my earrings and apparently a witness who saw me there. An impossibility since I spent the night sitting on my balcony, watching the sun go down, reading a relatively good book.’

‘
Did - ’

‘
No. I know what you’re going to ask. Nobody saw me. I didn’t talk to anybody. I didn’t bump into anyone in the hall. I have absolutely no alibi.’

Marty took a deep breath. ‘That may be good.’

‘
In what universe is not having an alibi good?’

‘
If you were planning to kill someone you’d have made yourself an alibi.’

‘
I’d yell at you right now, but I don’t want to draw attention to the fancy-dressed lady hiding in the shadows. Don’t worry about me, Marty. You’ve got plenty of other clients you
can
help.’

Marty looked at the phone, call disconnected. His driver waited for the gate to open before entering the long drive. Marty slid down the partition window. ‘Hey, you know Ellie, right?’

‘
Drove her around an awful lot for about six months. Lovely girl.’

‘
Yeah, I thought so too. She’s got herself into a big mess. Very unlike her.’

‘
I heard. It’s been on the radio.’

‘
They named her?’

‘
Every chance they could.’

Marty held his heads in his hands. ‘Fuck. Wonderful. Well, I guess that was inevitable.’ He slid out of the car. ‘There are days the fifteen percent doesn’t come to anywhere near enough money.’

H
enry closed up the restaurant and nodded at the police car. ‘Em, you heard the news, right? About Ellie?’

‘
Doesn’t sound like her.’ Emily followed his gaze to the black and white.

‘
She told some unbelievable stories about this Sweeney guy. It could be possible. I know I’d probably snap.’ He locked the door and pocketed the keys. ‘And where in the hell did the paparazzi come from all of a sudden? She’s been doing movie publicity for the past few weeks and there’s been nothing. All of a sudden, wham. Dozens of the parasites.’

‘
And they’re still parked out there at this time of night.’

‘
There’s more than this morning. I guess the news has drawn them. As if she’d come back here.’

‘
You’ve got her number, right?’

‘
I’m sure she’s got more to worry about without me calling her and warning her about the paps outside her place. She’s probably talking to the police right now anyway.’ He held the car door for his wife. ‘Doesn’t have time to talk to me.’

Emily shook her head and waited until he got in and closed the door. ‘You haven’t been paying attention. She’s not talking to the cops. She’s gone. Took off. The police are looking for her. She’s on the lam.’

Henry laughed. ‘You’re kidding, right? Ellie? Goody-two-shoes Ellie?’ He sobered at the look on his wife’s face. ‘Oh, that’s bad. You think she might have actually killed the guy?’

‘
No way. You said it yourself: goody-two-shoes. We need to get a message to her that we believe in her.’

‘
And implicate ourselves in this mess?’

‘
Give me your phone. Don’t be such an ass. She’s always supported us and we need to support her. Or don’t you believe in her?’

‘
I do. I just don’t want to get involved.’

Emily composed and sent a text with a ferocity Henry hadn’t seen in years. She tossed the phone back on his lap. ‘You’re involved.’

‘
What did you send?’

‘
A message of support.’ She crossed her arms and promised a silent ride.

M
arty paced in his back yard, looking at the reflections of the full moon on the black Pacific. He wasn’t used to feeling this impotent. He dialed her number again.

‘
What?’

‘
Where are you? I’m very worried for your safety. And your mental health, if I’m honest.’

‘
I’m not crazy.’

‘
Then why are you hiding in the shadows, afraid someone will recognize you? You must be freezing. You didn’t have a wrap tonight and it’s down into the fifties.’

‘
I’m not outside.’

‘
The hell you’re not. I can hear the waves in the background, there’s a shiver in your voice, and you’re whispering. Why whisper if you’re not hiding from at least one person?’

I
n a diametrically-opposed neighborhood to Marty’s, income-wise, Kent hung up the phone and tapped his coffee table. How to proceed? He had called Ellie’s number and received a ‘waiting’ message on the display. She was talking to someone else.

‘
No time to wait.’ He sent a text message.

“
Where are you? I need to talk to you asap. See you in person, preferably.”

He dropped the phone on the table and looked at his watch. A few more productive hours left in him. He turned back to his laptop.

M
arty was in full negotiator mode. ‘This is a tough city, Ell. You’re not safe on your own.’

‘
I’ll be fine.’

Marty heard a beep. ‘What was that?’

‘
I got a text message. I’ve been getting a lot of very supportive messages. None from you, of course. Let me read it.’

Marty waited. He could hear her muttering in the background. He did hear waves before, and he could still hear them. She was somewhere near the ocean, obviously, and hadn’t moved since the last time they talked.

‘
I’ve got a pretty good idea where you are, Ell. The waves, the fact you haven’t moved.’ There was a slight electronic click and all the background noise disappeared. He looked at the phone’s display. She had terminated the call. ‘Shit.’

He re-called her number, getting voicemail immediately. She had shut off her phone.

T
he Killer mentally moved another chess piece on the board. His board. He controlled the game. He controlled the behavior of each party. If there was an Olympics for manipulative behavior, he’d get the Gold and convince Silver to hand over their medal.

There would be sacrifices. There always were. Nobody won a chess match without giving up some pieces. On occasion the Queen was even surrendered in return for better board position.

So far everything had fallen into place. The players in their parts had reacted as he programmed them to. The second act was well under way now. Confusion was king. And when confusion reigned, misdirection was the weapon of choice. Tomorrow morning a second piece would be sacrificed. And the game would progress.

E
verything sat in a state of suspended action. The two constables in the patrol car across the street from Ellie’s apartment sat waiting for her to arrive. The paparazzi, some of whom had been there since she came out of the ocean that morning, waited, expecting her to return. Marty, in his over-sized cliff-side house waited for the next move, from either his favorite client, or the police. There was nothing he could do now.

P
erkins turned off his computer. ‘Stanfield, I’m calling it a night. She’s with the wind. There’s a BOLO out for her and I’ll get a call as soon as she’s found. So will you. There’s nothing to be gained staying here.’

‘
We haven’t even touched all the evidence bags yet. And we still need to interview this Charlie Bates guy.’

‘
It can wait until tomorrow. She’s not a serial killer. We’ve both met the victim before. The world actually is a better place with him gone. I’m not going to lose sleep. She’s young, pampered and frail. All public transport avenues are being watched. We’ll catch her at a Starbucks in the next day or so. I’ll even give you odds.’

‘
You’ve got a short memory. She’s going to fight this with everything’s she’s got. Just like she fought about the so-called suicide over a year ago. You’re living in a dream if you think otherwise. Am I right?’

Perkins sighed. ‘Oh, Jesus, I hope not. This is cut and dried. The evidence is a mountain beside her molehill of protestations of innocence. We already figured out the killing wasn’t a suicide. It’s clear she set it up to
look
like a suicide and did a very poor job of it. That’s as premeditated as it gets. She knows what’s she’s done and she knows the consequences of getting caught. No wonder she’s taken off. I probably would too.’

Chapter Eleven

The last lights of the LA County Life Guard building turned off. Finally. I’d been in the shadows of the fishing pier for a couple of hours. The dress was ruined. It was soaked with salt water from the waist down. I guess I owned it now.

To get to my apartment I needed to move undetected up the beach almost a mile under a full moon, get through an ever increasing mob of smelly paps and a couple of cops sitting outside the front entrance.

At least that’s the way they
expected
me to get to my apartment. They must think I’m an idiot.

The last truck drove out of the Life Guard parking lot. I stepped out from the shadows of the pier and looked across the expanse of empty sand.

I walked to the south side of the life guard building, awkward in the long dress. The building shielded me from the crowd in front of my building. My face would show up on the security camera footage, but it wouldn’t be noticed for a couple of days, at least. But now I had half a mile in the open with the full moon shining in a clear sky. Half a mile to cover undetected to get to the guys who were looking for me. Nope. I’m not an idiot.

The black and white sat on N. Venice right up at Ocean Front Walk. The paps were hanging out by the skate park. They may as well have had spotlights on them. I looked around the south-east corner of the lifies car lot. I could go east a block on twenty-fourth and approach the apartment from the back. Except I was still in a ruined $2000 gown. Even in the capital of Southern Californian weird I’d stand out.