Fashion Faux Paw (19 page)

“You’ve been a very good boy,” Ellie told Rudy after the photo shoot she’d coerced him to participate in.

“And I’ll get a meaty bone, right?”
he asked, gazing at her with a doggie frown.

“As soon as I’m free to go to the butcher. Now take a nap.” Her gaze slid to Clark Fettel, standing a few feet away and talking to the photographer. “I have to see to Marcus.”

She waited for Clark, and they walked to Marcus’s station together, where he was chatting with two scantily dressed women who acted as if their nearly nude presence was completely normal. But after three days of watching models stand at attention hour after hour while they were dressed like oversized Barbie dolls, Ellie realized it was simply a part of their job.

“Ms. Engleman tells me you want to take the dogs that belong to your models over to your station to make sure they’re properly fitted,” said Clark, breaking into Marcus’s conversation. “She’ll hook up their leads so you can do what needs to be done, and Ms. Spinoza can go with you in case there’s a problem. All I have to say is be careful you don’t lose them.”

“Sorry, but Julie is running an errand for me,” said Ellie, bending to attach leashes to the two dogs. “That’s why this decision is important.”

Hands on his hips, the NMD overseer tapped his spats. At this rate, she was certain he’d about had it with the way she handled her job.

“And who gave her permission to leave the area?”

“I did. It was something that I needed to have done,” she answered, leery of telling him the errand was personal. Tired of Clark Fettel treating her like an indentured servant, she made an executive decision. Standing, she passed him the leashes. “Here you go. Just bring them right back when you’re through, and be careful how you treat them or their moms will come after you with guns blazing.”

Marcus gave Clark a small salute, then winked at Ellie. “We’ll talk later about my offer.” With that, he, Clark Fettel, and the dogs disappeared into the crowd.

“Wasn’t there somethin’ else you needed to ask him?”
said Rudy, who suddenly turned up at her feet.
“Like where was he when Lilah had her attack? Or maybe why the two of them were on the outs?”

Ellie wanted to bang her head against a wall. Some investigator she was. She’d been so wrapped up in getting her afternoon straight, she’d completely forgotten to quiz Clark about his relationship with Lilah Perry. But she didn’t remember seeing him around the area until after Jeffery King had been arrested, so maybe . . .

“Oh, well. There goes your chance, but I say good riddance,”
Rudy ruffed out before she could answer.

When she dropped onto a chair and he hopped into her lap she gave him a big hug. “I’m such an idiot. How do you put up with me?”

“Easy. You’re my girl.”
He licked her cheek. “
Fiddle-faddle is a jerk. You should’a smacked him before he left.”

“Believe me, I thought about it. But I decided he isn’t worth the trouble.”

“It’s just too bad you didn’t ask him any questions.”

“I know he and Lilah were at odds, but from the way it sounds, half the fashion world hated her. Besides, I don’t recall Clark being here until after Jeffery was arrested.”

“Does it matter? He worked for NMD and he had a beef with Lilah. He could have pulled a fast one, doctored the strips before they got here, and found a way to empty her EpiPen without us knowin’ about it.”

“You’re right,” she answered, sighing. “I’m a ditz.”

He gave her cheek another sloppy lick, then gazed at their suddenly quiet surroundings. “
Guess lots of humans went to see what that Maserati guy has to offer. That means we got time to kill.”
He snorted out a laugh.
“Oops, that didn’t sound so good.”

“First of all, get the name right. It’s Mizrahi, Isaac Mizrahi, and he’s one of the biggies in the industry.” She touched him nose to nose. “His show is the grand finale for the day, and he’s hosting a party afterward, during which time Patti and I will do our spy work. Now, how about telling me what you learned while you were on this latest surveillance outing?”

“Not much, but I do have an observation.”

She drew back and looked him in the eye. This was going to be good. “Okay, let’s have it.”

Buddhalike, he gazed at her.
“This is the most self-absorbed group of humans I ever met. All they do is talk about clothes and how they fit, or complain about their hair, their makeup, their nose jobs. And they never shut up about the size of their butts.”

Ellie bit back a laugh. “Looking good is their reason to exist. Glamour is a big part of their life. “

“And the size of their butts?”

“Is none of our business.” She set him on the floor and began straightening the food table, noting the crowd had dwindled to a few gofers. “From the look of it, there’s more going on than the Isaac Mizrahi showing, which means I have time to organize my plans for later.” She pulled a notebook from her tote bag. “Take a nap while I get my thoughts on paper. Things are going to get busy in a very short while.”

A few hours later, Patti and Ellie were sitting next to the water cooler, while the catering company restocked the table of snacks for the next morning. Cheech perched on his mistress’s lap, watching the other dogs mill around the pen.

Ellie, notebook open and pen in hand, was ready to do business, but first she had to say, “Julie’s a nice young woman. Thanks for finding her for me.”

Patti smiled. “I guess she told you, she wants to be a professional stylist.”

“She said she’s hoping to make a name for herself in the world of accessories. She plans to match the designers’ creations with the perfect bag and shoes to style the best photo shoots. In truth, I had no idea you could make a living doing that.”

“You certainly can, and a good one. The best accessory assistants are sent to the shoot by the designer or travel with the photographers. Two came along when I went to Spain, and they had a great time.”

“Then I’m happy for her. She seems like a terrific girl.” Ellie cleared her throat. “Okay, so what have you got for me?”

Though back to wearing faded jeans and a plain and well-worn blue sweater, Patti still looked good enough to grace the cover of
Vogue.
“I used my notebook to make a list of the people I thought were most suspicious, just like you suggested.”

Ellie cocked her head. “Did anyone actually act as if they were hiding something when you spoke to them?”

“Not exactly, but I zeroed in on the ones who hung around the table or were always in the area, even though they didn’t work on our project.”

“Great idea,” said Ellie. “Let’s compare notes. That way we won’t do double work.”

Patti straightened in her chair, looking totally composed. “First off, let me begin by saying this detective business is hard work. It took me a while, but I found out that I’d learn much more by listening than I would by asking questions. Though after a while even that grew old.”

“I tried to tell you it would be tough, but you insisted—”

“I know, I know, and I’m okay with it.” She cleared her throat. “Let’s begin with Dominique and Claire and the flap they got into over a man. Dominique was supposed to model for Lilah, but she hated her so much after that, she refused to accept this job. But Jeffery understood her misgiving and moved her over to Fiona Ray.”

“Do you think she’s devious enough to doctor a page in Lilah’s perfume book, then return it to her swag bag?”

“I’m not sure, but I do know she received the same scent in her gift basket as Lilah had in hers. That means she wouldn’t have had to bring Lilah’s perfume pad out. She could have added peanut oil to her own and dropped it in Lilah’s bag when no one was paying attention.”

“Hmm. Then Lilah’s swag bag would have had two perfume packets in it. Too bad the cops have yet to find Lilah’s basket, because that might be a clue.”

“Are they still looking for clues?”

“I saw Detective Vaughn asking a couple of people questions this morning, but I don’t know why he was speaking with them.” He’d nodded to her from across the way, but hadn’t acted as if they had anything to talk about, so she figured he was finished with her. Ellie flipped to Dominique’s page and made a notation. “Who’s next on your list?”

“Do you know Lawan?”

“She’s Daisy’s mom, right? Tall, black, and beautiful?”

“Yep, and she had a beef against Lilah, too. It seems that when Lilah worked for Donna Karan last year, she was in charge of shoes and accessories.

“The way Julie hopes to be someday?”

“Exactly. And because Lilah was in her usual rush, she let Lawan take her walk down the runway wearing the wrong pair of shoes and the incorrect handbag. The audience noticed and started to comment. Next day, there was a photo of Lawan wearing the mismatched accessories in the trade papers with a very unflattering comment above the picture.” Patti frowned. “Lilah played innocent and accused Lawan of screwing things up, but Lawan swore it was Lilah’s doing. Claims she lost jobs over the bad run, but there was no way it could be verified.”

Ellie jotted down Lawan’s name as Patti continued.

“Karen Hood got caught up in that disaster, as well. She was the hairstylist on the job, but Lilah claimed she was lax. She should have caught the error before Lawan left the changing area. Karen was furious, told Lilah to do a better job, and words got ugly.”

Ellie added Karen Hood to her notebook. The list was growing longer by the minute.

“And you know about Clark Fettel, right?”

Well, crap. Rudy was right. She should have asked the surly man about his relationship to Lilah while he was here. “Sort of. Do you know the whole story?”

“Lilah poked fun at him whenever she could. Laughed at his clothes, his hair, his, um, pudgy physique, and he called her on it. It seems she had a bee in her bonnet about weight, as do most of the people in this industry, so everyone laughed. It made Clark furious.” Patti sifted her fingers through her long dark hair. “And speaking of weight, you and Marcus seem tight. Did he tell you about his youngest sister?”

Ellie reached back in her memory bank. Was Patti talking about the nasty comment Lilah had made about her full-sized figure in front of Marcus? And what did his sister have to do with anything? “He mentioned having siblings a time or two, but he never said exactly what was up with them. Why?”

“It was tragic, said Patti, “but I was in Europe when it happened, so you should ask someone else—”

Before she finished, Rudy bounded over with Nola and Morgan in pursuit. Racing to Ellie’s chair, he plopped down in front of her and put his paws on her knee.

“Look who I found,”
he yipped, as if bringing her one of his squeaky toys.

“Look who we found,” said Nola, almost at the same time. Dressed in a black silk sheath with red trim, a red belt, and sling-back Manolo pumps, she grinned. “Your boy was entertaining a group of models with his tricks.” When she took the chair next to Patti, Rudy sprang onto Ellie’s lap. “He’s just the most clever little man.”

“Finally, someone who knows how important I am.”

Ellie shook her head. “He’s clever all right, sometimes too clever for his own good.”

Patti closed her notebook and Ellie followed suit. It was probably best that the supermodel’s involvement in this venture remain a secret. That way, people might be more inclined to talk about their difficulties with Lilah in front of her.

“Rudy is a sweetie,” said Patti, standing. “And on that happy note, Cheech and I are off to take care of another matter.” She gave Ellie a nod. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. I’m hopeful we’ll have everything you asked for.”

Morgan waited for Patti to saunter away, then pulled a chair from the row and formed a more private triangle. “Sorry it’s so late, but we were in meetings most of the day. I don’t know if Kitty told you, but Jeffery was arraigned this afternoon.” He loosened his navy-and-red-striped tie, a perfect match to his navy suit. “The attorney you recommended, Keller Williams, made arrangements, and he’s out on bail.”

Relieved to hear that Rob’s lawyer had helped Jeffery, Ellie gave a sigh of relief. At lease she’d been of some assistance with his dire situation. If Patti was successful in her quest, they’d be on track to take care of his problem.

“Kitty dropped by this morning and mentioned her brother had a bail hearing, but she didn’t return, so I wasn’t sure what happened. I just assumed she was playing catch-up with the other designers, and she didn’t think to tell me what occurred with him. I take it things went well, and Jeffery is no worse for wear.”

“Bail was set at half a million, half of what the district attorney wanted, mostly because Nola and I vouched for him and put up the bond.”

“That was kind of you. You must think very highly of him,” she said, though she imagined the fifty thousand in cash he and Nola had outlaid was chump change to people with their kind of money. “Does that mean you’ll let him return to work?”

Nola fanned a well-manicured hand in front of her face, as if trying to brush away a rush of tears. “Heavens, no. It’s bad enough we have to listen to the industry gossip. We don’t want him where people might say uncharitable things. He’ll be with us tomorrow to watch the grand finale—other than that, he can spend time with that clever Mr. Williams and work on his defense while he keeps a low profile in the office.”

Collecting herself, Nola sat primly in the chair. “We’re hoping Kitty’s wonderful creations will carry through to the next round. We’d love to announce her as the winner of the contest, but only if she truly deserves it. That should be a load off Jeffery’s mind and hers.”

Though fairly certain she knew the answer to her next question, Ellie had to ask, “What did you want to see me about?”

Nola squeezed her partner’s hand and Morgan took control. “It’s about that favor we asked of you yesterday. Have you made a decision? Are you going to help clear Jeffery’s name?”

“I thought we were already doin’ that,”
said Rudy, shoving his nose into Ellie’s chest.