Rock Star Down (The Psychic Registry) (13 page)

"
Okay
,"
he said.

But Nathan knew he was
thinking otherwise, "I'm
still
reading your thoughts, Harold. So
let me lay out a couple of scenarios here. We can have you taken into custody
as a material witness, basically that means we put you in jail so you can't
talk to anyone else until we resolve the case. Or we can take your word that
you won't talk and let you stay in your nice comfortable apartment. But if you
decide to talk before we give you the all clear, then we'll arrest you for
obstruction of justice and conspiracy after the fact."

Laurel chimed in, "Go
with the second option, Harold. You keep quiet for now and I'll give you an
exclusive interview afterwards."

Archer added, "That
would be a real coup for your fan base, Harold. Miss Comfort here is the
official face of our investigation as far as the show goes."

Dean perked up, "You're
going to be on the show?" he asked Laurel.

"That's what they
tell me," Laurel said. "And if you're good to us, I'll even put in a
good word with Jaqui."

Dean thought it over
and decided that the upside to cooperation was substantial. Besides, he wanted
Rock's murderer caught and he didn't want to be the guy who screwed-up
that.
If he could help, it was the least he could do for Rock. "You can count on
me," he told them.

Nathan was satisfied
and closed down his read on Dean.

Dean looked a bit
overwhelmed by it all, but Nathan figured he would manage alright.

Archer seemed to be
itching to get moving and she rose from the sofa. And although Nathan was
feeling somewhat enervated, he also was ready to leave. He noticed Laurel
fishing in her handbag, then she produced some cash and placed it on the coffee
table.

"That's for the
shirt," she said, rising to her feet.

"Cool," Dean
replied. He stood along with them and started to remove his shirt.

Laurel held up a
halting hand, "You can give it to me when we do the interview."

Dean blushed and gave
a nod.

"And maybe you
could wash it, too."

"Silverman's assistant,
Natalie
?"
Archer asked Nathan as they walked back to the car.

"
Yeah
,"
Nathan sighed, "Do we even have a last name on her?"

Archer shrugged, "Easy
enough to learn. And we've got that meeting with Jacobs and Ramirez over at the
studio. We'll find out if they took a look at Natalie, yet."

"Don't ask too
hard. They didn't know about Dean, so I doubt they know about Natalie."

Archer dismissed his
concerns with a wave and a smile, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hand away
our case just as we've caught a break."

Laurel interjected, "I'm
sure the comment was meant for
me
, Detective. Have no fear, Nathan. I
know my job is to divert and distract, so I'll leave the tough questions to
Archer."

Then they all slipped
into his BMW and Nathan drove down the block and around the corner where he
stopped at the mouth of the alley. Nathan could see one of the uniformed
officers chatting up a young woman next to her car. The cop noticed them and
Archer gave him a wave that he returned before resuming his conversation with
the cute girl.

"You need a lift
to the studio?" Nathan asked Archer.

"No, my car's in
your garage and your office is along the way. Just drop us there," she
replied.

"Alright,"
he nodded.

They talked about the
Natalie
development during the trip back to his office.

"Why would
Natalie kill
Rock
?" Laurel wondered.

"Why does anybody
kill anybody?" Nathan replied.

Archer answered, "Money.
Love. Revenge."

"Rock doesn't
sound like the type to cheat people or screw them over," Nathan said.

Laurel agreed, "He
wasn't."

"Well, he was
cheating on his
wife
," Archer countered.

"Yeah, but it
looks like that was in
response
to his wife's cheating. She was planning
on leaving him, so he was moving on," Nathan answered.

Archer shrugged, "Okay.
Back to Natalie. Could she have been trying to hurt
Jaqui
by killing
Rock? No, forget that— She knew that Jaqui was leaving him, so how would that
hurt Jaqui?"

Laurel said, "Maybe
she was afraid that Jaqui and Rock would stick
together
? That she would
call off her Hollywood plans and stay home?"

"Either way, they
still have a TV show and Natalie still has a job. What does it matter to her?"
Nathan said.

"Well, it's clear
that her boss Mister Silverman has his preference for LA," Laurel
continued. "Maybe Natalie got caught up in trying to make sure that it
happened."

Archer shrugged, "I
don't know, things were looking good as they were. Why would Natalie risk all of
that?"

"Yeah, that just
sounds a bit far out there. If she killed Rock, it was for personal reasons.
Love, revenge, or maybe both," Nathan replied.

"Most killings
aren't
rational. Maybe in the case of a criminal snuffing out a witness or a rival.
But Jaqui's people? They aren't criminal types," Archer countered.

Laurel interjected, "What
about
Rachel
? Sounds like she has a dicey past?"

Archer shrugged, "
Maybe
.
We'll check it out— But we're talking about Natalie here. And not as part of
some conspiracy neither."

Laurel nodded, "Okay.
So suppose that Natalie went to the studio and killed Rock. And not because
someone put her up to it, but on her own, and for her own reasons.
Why?"

"Maybe
she
was the one tattling on Jaqui to Rock?" Nathan speculated. "Or she
was looking to blackmail Jaqui over the cheating and sought Rock's help. But
Rock refused to go along, and maybe threatened to expose Natalie's betrayal?"

Archer scoffed, "Okay,
now
who's out there?"

Nathan chuckled, "Yeah,
I think I need a break."

But Laurel kept with
it, "Well, what if Rock was sleeping with Vanessa
and
Natalie?"

Nathan shook his head,
"
No way
. Jaqui is hot, Vanessa is beautiful. And I figure that he
loved them both. No way that
Natalie
could compete with any of that."

Laurel nodded, "I
know."

Archer piped up again,
"Okay, what if she was snitching on Jaqui? Not because of some half-baked
extortion deal, but because she
liked
him."

Laurel perked up, "No,
she didn't just
like
him. She'd have to be in love with him to betray
Jaqui."

"So she confesses
her love to Rock, but he blows her off, so she kills him? I could see that,"
Nathan said.

"
Hell hath no
fury
, huh?" Archer replied. Then she looked to Laurel and said, "I
bet
Nathan
has a few
crazy ex
stories."

"Why do you think
I carry a gun?" he said.

Archer laughed.

Nathan caught Laurel
smiling, too, as their eyes met in the rear-view mirror.

Too bad he was only
half-joking.

Nathan decided to research the show in
general and Natalie in particular. Meanwhile, Archer and Laurel would learn
what they could from the lead detectives, their tour of the crime scene, and
the ME's report, within the context of their new suspect. Archer would look
into Rachel's previous job in St Louis, but they all agreed that it was thin.
Laurel suggested that they also check out the coffee shop across from the
studio and Archer agreed.

Nathan had people in
his company that could run background on Natalie. He didn't expect them to find
anything obvious, but they might yield
something
. And as far as
researching the show, he figured he should just watch it. Who knew what might
be hiding in plain sight? Besides, it sounded entertaining and he wasn't up for
more than light duty at that point.

They parted ways at
the parking garage and Nathan found himself a little disappointed to see Laurel
go with Archer, but he knew it was for the best. She could learn a lot with
Archer. Nathan could teach her a few things as well… but
that
wouldn't
necessarily help them catch Rock's murderer.
Well, it would sort-of help.

He was feeling cooked,
like he'd spent too much time in the sun. He needed something cool and sweet to
drink. That and a willing partner to help him purge the miasma of foreign
thoughts from his mind. He thought about Cindy, but knew that he had to tread
carefully with her. They'd grown quite close despite the boundaries that he'd
imposed. Of course, he could always get another assistant, but what he could
not easily replace was the trust that they shared. He sometimes looked for
those qualities in others, but seldom found them. Still, he would keep looking.

He'd spent the
previous night with Cindy and he'd found that back-to-back nights together
tended to make her clingy and insecure. He knew the highly intense coupling in
his office was especially unsettling to their delicate arrangement. Thus, he
resolved to find intimate company elsewhere. Otherwise, he would simply press
on with the case. It wasn't like he had
Andre's
thoughts floating around
in his head!
No, just a distraught narcissist and her pregnant grieving
sister. Let's not forget the slick producer, an ex-stripper, a superfan, and a
bit of the housekeeper.
No wonder he was so tired.

Nathan went upstairs where his first
stop was the office of his lead skip tracer, Cody Banks. She was just past
thirty, but surprisingly still firm, and quite athletic as Nathan had learned
over a long weekend the previous winter. He hadn't seen her in a few weeks, but
he thought that she looked good, quite happy, in fact. And he figured that she
probably had a new boyfriend, which was fine, as he'd sought her out on
business. Still, they'd had a
pretty good
weekend…

"Hey boss,"
she greeted him. "Heard you got to meet Jaqui.
So how was she
?"

Nathan smiled and took
a moment to think about it. "She's
interesting
. And she's hurting."

Cody frowned, "
Right
.
So she didn't kill, Rock? But you got another suspect, don't cha?"

"That's why I
came to you," he said.

She pouted, but it was
for show. "And I thought you'd forgotten about me?"

"I just didn't
want to get in the middle of your new relationship," he teased.

She blushed, just a
little, "Nathan! Are you reading me?"

He shook his head.

"That obvious?"

"I'm glad for
you, Cody."

"Good! Because
that makes two of us," she smiled. Though her eyes were smiling
just a
bit
for Nathan. "So, what have you got for me?"

"A young woman.
Name is Natalie…
Porter
, maybe? She's an assistant or associate something
on
Jaqui's World
."

Cody was already at
work on her terminal and within seconds, she replied, "Natalie Porter. She's
credited as an associate producer and assistant director."

"Right. I want
everything you can get on her. Besides the obvious stuff, I'm looking for
anything that suggests domestic incidents. Stalking, protective orders,
harassment, assault charges."

"So she might be
unstable?" Cody said. "I'll check for ER admissions and involuntary
commitments, too."

"You can do that?"
Nathan asked.

"
I have my
ways.
Of course, you'd need a subpoena to get it into court."

"We did not have
this conversation," Nathan reminded her.

Cody shrugged, "We
never
talk."

"Get me what you
can by tomorrow morning. You can take overtime or divvy it among your team if
they're not too busy."

Cody smiled, "I'll
take the overtime if I need it. Do I have a budget if I run into speed bumps?"

Nathan thought about
it. Fletcher had yet to balk at any of Nathan's bills, but he'd always kept
them modest. Still, it was a big case and the publicity would more than justify
the cost, even in the unlikely event that Fletcher decided to quibble over the
invoice. "You can go up to a grand. Call me if you need more."

Cody raised her
eyebrows, "You really want this one, don't cha?"

"Everybody liked
Rock," he said with a grin.

"Somebody didn't,"
Cody said.

He nodded and left her
to the work.

Nathan adjourned to his own office where
Cindy took one look at him, then went to fetch him a very large sweet tea. He
accepted it and proceeded to tell her what else he needed: the entire series of
Jaqui's World
on disc.

She nodded, but added,
"They probably have all the episodes online. You want me to check, first?"

"Yes. But if they
have extras on the discs – like behind the scenes footage – then I'll want the
hard copies, too."

"We looking at
anyone in particular?" she asked.

"I'm interested
in the victim. But we're taking a look at a girl that works on the show."

"Hmm. You go
relax on the couch, Nathan. I'll get it set up on your laptop and bring it
over, okay?"

"Yeah. I'm going
to take a quick shower first, try to catch a second wind."

She looked at him and
ventured a smile, "You want me to wash your back?"

As tempting as it was,
he shook his head, "No. I've got to break this case."

She feigned a little
frown, then went back to work at his computer, "Alrighty then. You go take
a cold shower and get your mind straight."

Get his mind straight?

My name is Nathan
Miller
, he thought.

And I'm going to
catch you, Natalie Porter.

A couple of hours and a couple of
iced-teas later, Nathan was lying upon his office couch, deeply immersed within
the first season of
Jaqui's World
. And he had to admit that Aaron
Silverman certainly knew his craft. There was simply no way that Nathan could
ever do a show with the man as he was an expert at getting Jaqui and company to
reveal far more than they should have. There was much to learn about Jaqui,
Rock, Vanessa, and the rest of the
cast
, unfortunately Natalie had yet
to make a single appearance. Given how the show was presented, Nathan doubted
that any of the crew would be featured on camera. Still, he could at least get
a glimpse into the world that Natalie had seen and likely shaped as well.

It was clear to Nathan
that the camera loved Jaqui and that she loved the camera in turn. And Rock was
a nice guy and the camera liked him, too. But it was clear that his heart wasn't
in the show; he was doing it for Jaqui's benefit and that was part of his
undoing. Still, it was clear that he loved Jaqui and that she loved him. But
her love was fickle, perhaps doubly so in the face of Rock's waning pride. Of
course Nathan was cheating, as he already knew how it would end for them.