Color Me a Crime (8 page)

I hold them in the air and rotate them front to back.

“That’s not for me to decide what you use.” She points out before she reaches behind her desk to retrieve something.

This is great news. The quicker I can find out some things about Felicia and her private life the better. I had to find out who she was close to. Who would kill her? Did she have a jealous co-worker?

Maybe Felicia did great sex scenes and beat someone out for the part. Gross thought, but valid nonetheless. I can’t leave anything unturned.

She shoves some sort of chains in my hands. “Put this on and go out that door right there. I told them I would do it, but it’s the hair they aren’t too crazy about.”

She points to the red, purple, and yellow strips of color in her hair.

“Plus, my eyes don’t look open on camera.” She taps the corner of her eyes. “That’s what I get for being Asian-American.”

“Okay.” I hold the edges of the chains and my mouth drops open as the tiny leather bikini dangles from the end. This is definitely not like any cleaning outfit that I’ve ever seen. “I think you have me mistaken for someone else.”

She is gone. Disappeared. I’m left alone in the small room with nothing but chains

I try to turn the knob on the door we came in, but it is locked.

Thump, thump.
Someone beats on the other side of the door. I stand in shock, not uttering a word.

“Hurry up!” The male voice booms from the other side. “We don’t have all night! And if this is how long it takes you to get ready, you won’t be hired.”

I had to be hired. I slip the bikini on and buckle the dog collar looking thing around my neck. The chain went from the back of the collar, down my spine, between my legs, and then attached to the front of the leather strap on the bottoms.

I reach in my bag and grab my little bottle of mace and tuck it in the bottoms. Just for safety measure. I can just image me scrubbing a floor and someone coming up behind me. I dare them to mess with me and my Mr. Clean.

Slowly, I open the door to something I will never, but would love to, forget.

Nude people.

All sorts of nude people. A few of the men had socks on their you-know-what’s while some women had on flesh-colored underwear.

“Over here, love.” The rather tall but pudgy man motions for me to come over with his limp hand. Thankfully,
he
is fully clothed. “You will need to follow the script to a tee.”

Script? Tee?

He adjusts his beret, pushes his glasses up on his nose, and crosses his arms in front of him.

“I think we have this all wrong.” I put one hand on my stomach and the other on my mouth. At this moment, I wish I had not put that extra shot of creamer in my honesty cup of coffee because it is about to come up. “I’m not here to. . .”

“Wait, hon.” He glances over the top of his glasses and looks me up and down. He claps his hands and screams over his shoulder. “We have a mix up. This is the kitty fantasy.”

A small Asian woman runs over and whisks me into another room.

“Kitty fantasy?” I question. “But I’m a dog person.”

The woman, who has an uncanny resemblance to Lucy Liu, isn’t amused by my joke and strips the dog collar and chains off me.

“Here.” She shoves a furry thing at me. “Pasties, underwear, and hat.”

Hat? Shew. . .at least I’m going to be a bit more covered up. Or so I thought.

The only things that are covered are my ears…with the furry cat ears. The three triangle pasties barely cover my private area. I slip my mace in one of the furry ears.

“Okay. Come with me.” She’s back to collect me and shoves me into a pole that is set up to look like a cat scratching pole. “Stick with the script.”

Script?

Another woman grabs me and pushes me into a tall director’s chair.

“Here, hold your hair out of your eyes.” She pulls my bangs back and plants my hand on top of my head. “We are going to have to work magic on this face.”

I am sure the woman is really four foot tall, but with her five-inch stiletto hills and extra teased curly hair, she has been transformed into an Amazon. I lean forward to get a better look at her sparkly cleavage that spills out of her red V-neck. Her gold aura surrounding her lets me know that she is annoyed with me.

“You getting a good look at my tits?” She took a sponge of foundation and swipes my face several times before starting on my eyes. She pushes my chin up to face her. “You can touch them. Those babies are the real deal. Not hard, like most of these girls. And you could use a little lift.”

“I’m fine.” I try not to stare at her. I’m not sure if she means to wear all that makeup that is making her look like a clown.

“Honey, you better not be a shy one. You won’t be hired.” She stops and looks me square in the face. “Or are you one of those?”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Sure you don’t.” She went back to swiping the colored pencil around my eyes and on my lids before applying three coats of mascara to my lashes. I’m feeling a little like Betty Boop. “The innocent kind that turns it on, all on, in front of the camera.”

She pulls away and winks.

“She’s ready!” She yells out into the abyss of naked beings.

The assistant that had disappeared is suddenly back and pushing me toward the cameras, a bear skin rug, and a jungle-gym type thing.

“Go on over and climb on the cat scratching pole.” She points to the thing that looks like playground equipment.

Slowly I make my way to the contraption. I peer over my shoulder and all eyes are on me.

“Quiet on the set!” The pudgy man shouts over all the naked people. As if he flips a stop switch, everyone’s eyes are on me. No one is moving. No one but the naked man, crawling toward me.

“Take one of Good Kitty! Action!” The man screams.

“Here, Kitty,” the naked man slinks along the bearskin rug. His manhood has to tickle from raking up against the fur. “Good, Kitty.”

The closer he gets, the more I realize he is coming at me. His brows rise, his eyes are….wanting!

He slips a horsewhip out from underneath the bearskin rug as he continues to slink along.

“Whoa!” I hold my hands out. “What are you going to do with that?”

He glances over at the producers. The producer nods for naked guy to keep going.

“Are you being a naughty kitty?” He eases up the scratching pole and I ease the mace out of my hat and aim straight for that naked son of a bitch.

“Yeowl!” He screams and rubs his eyes after I give him one good long spray.

“Cut! What are you doing?” The producer rushes over and takes one look at naked guy rolling on the floor. His manhood flops just like him. “Help! We need a medic!”

“Ouch!” I scream as the producer grabs me by the arm.

“Listen, hon,” he gnashes his teeth, his breath reeking of cheap whiskey. “Linda said that she taught you everything she knows. I expect more than this. Just because Linda is dead doesn’t mean you get her part.”

“But…” I try to protest that he has this all wrong. I only want to apply to clean toilets or even file paperwork.

“Fine.” He takes off the beret. He is as bald as a cucumber.

“Didn’t expect that,” I mutter.

“Here’s the deal.” He leans closer. “This place has been crawling with cops. We have to be on the up and up. You know what I mean?”

Slowly, I nod my head, when I really have no freaking clue what he’s talking about.

“Linda said you’d take care of everything. So I’m going to give you a shot in Bottoms Up.” His flimsy hands flip and flop in front of my face. “This is your shot to make it big. Don’t screw it up!”

He claps his hands and the Lucy Liu look-a-like rushes over. He walks away.

“Here.” She hands me a thick packet with Bottoms Up printed on the front. “Be here at nine AM. Not a minute late.”

I watch her walk away, my mouth still open. I’m not sure, but I think I just agreed to be an actress in a porno movie. That’s not what is disturbing me. What did he mean when he said that Linda said I would take care of everything? What is everything?

I know nothing.

Chapter Eleven

The message light on my phone is rapidly blinking like those twinkling Christmas lights. That only means one thing…Erin is in desperate need to get in touch with me.

A million ideas running through my head include jail, murder, setup, and…jail.

Before smacking the dashboard so the radio will come on, and throwing the old Toyota in gear, I thumb through the messages to make sure that Joel or Cop Carl doesn’t have a warrant out for my arrest and Erin is warning me.

Where are you?

Don’t forget about the mixer.

Where are you?

I’m not kidding anymore!

Okay, so I’m getting nervous. I don’t know where you are.

Fine! I’m calling Matilda and Carl! And Joel!

Okay…I’m not calling the cops. Please just show up tonight.

Crap! It totally slipped my mind that I have to go to the mixer and match Buddy’s aura with one of the girls.

Erin rents out the Coffee Shop after hours to host the mixers. We only serve coffee, sodas, and teas along with a couple of desserts. We used to include alcoholic beverages, but once it got out of hand, the cops were called, and we were smacked with a big ole fine for not having a liquor license.

My role is to stay in the kitchen and peek through the small window into the coffee shop to get a good look at the auras and pair them. Believe it or not, there are some auras that just go together. Like blue and yellow. The blue aura is sensitive and loves to nurture; they are drawn to the yellow aura because yellow loves to be taken care of.

Buddy, on the other hand, is going to be hard to pair. I don’t get to read the potential dates before the mixer, because they are coming from a pool of people who have filled out online applications. Erin invites them based on what they have filled out.

The phone buzzes as soon as I pass over the Park City County line.

Joel.

I need to bring you in for questioning. When can you come down to the station?

Never
! I hit the delete button on the phone. I don’t have anything to hide, but I’d been in this position before, and I’m not going to let this happen again.

What kind of questioning? He was there the entire time. And he took me home.

With one eye on the road and one eye looking at my rear-view mirror, I pull down Main Street and around the strip mall where Color Me Love, The Surplus and The Coffee Shop are located, and park in the alley. I can slip in the back door so no one will see me. If I know Park City’s finest, I know they are watching out for me.

Plus I really want to run into The Surplus and use Vive’s computer again. Surely, 4Play has some other positions available I can apply for.

“Hey, Olivia.” Salvatore shoves the cardboard box in the big metal garbage bin that every shop owner shares. Unfortunately, The Surplus takes up so much of the dumpster with all their boxes. “Everyone has been looking for ya. Where ya been?” He questions me.

“Just here and there,” I mutter. Salvatore is the last person I would give any information to. He’d use any and all information to get in my pants. He is one
not
to be trusted. I follow him into the Surplus. “Is Vive here?”

“Nope.” He shrugs. “She didn’t tell me anything but to make sure that I lock the doors.”

Without saying a word, I turn around and walk right back out the door, heading next door to The Coffee Shop. There is no reason to go in if Vive isn’t there. Salvatore will be hanging over my shoulder watching my every move if I try to use the computer. Or, he’ll call Joel in a heartbeat.

The freshly ground coffee beans smell waifs out of the Coffee Shop and into the alley. According to my watch, I am just in time for the beginning of the mixer, which is the most important part.

Buddy’s aura reaction when he sees the girls for the first time, is very important in getting the pairing just right. After a few minutes, they all begin to mingle, and his aura will settle down. That will be when his true aura reading can be done.

“Where have you been?” Erin interrogates me as I walk in the kitchen entrance. “I have been texting you all day.”

“I had some things to do.” Avoiding eye contact, I walk around her, but she stops me.

“Have you been working the streets?” She looks me over with a critical eye.

“Oh, shit!” I bend down and look at myself in one of the many stainless steel industrial coffee pots and wipe my hands down my face. I totally forgot about the plaster makeup the 4Play artist had smeared all over me. “Crap, crap, crap!”

The mascara is clumped on my lashes, top and bottom, but the red rouge is a little more rubbed in.

“Really, Olivia.” Erin brushes her bangs out of her eyes, lines creasing her forehead as her brows dip. “What have you been up to? How can I help you if you don’t tell me?”

Over her shoulder, through the swinging kitchen door, I can see straight into the mixer that is taking place in the shop.

“Is that...” My mouth drops open and I point into the direction of the brunette woman I know all too well…“Vive?”

“I need more girls.” She shrugs and her voice turns sharp. “I’m not going to be able to ward off Joel much longer.”

I strain to see around her head, but she continues to keep getting into my face.

“First, you disappear.” She holds up a finger, and then a second one. “Then, you show up here with all this makeup on, when you don’t ever wear makeup. And…”

“You can’t have Vive here!” I push my way around Erin and swing the kitchen door open, just in time for Vive to jump out of the way before the door hits her square in her Italian ass.

“Olivia,” she has a wide mouth grin and continues to chomp on her gum, and pulls me back into the kitchen, “how was the interview?”

“Interview?” Erin steps in between us. “What interview?”

“What’s with all that makeup?” Vive circles her long, hot pink fingernail in front of my face. “Did they think you were interviewing for a sex scene?”

“Sex scene?” Erin cries out and all the wait staff turns to see what all the fuss is about.