Hollywood Outlaw: A Hollywood Alphabet SeriesThriller (A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Book 15) (19 page)

Multiple sessions of torture.

I was still wrestling with what Brie told me as I got home. Both Addison Blaine and Paulina Kristoff had to know that Cole Abrams had been tortured, but they’d both kept quiet about it. Why? Were they afraid whoever tortured Abrams would come after them? Or had one or both of them been a party to what happened?

As always, I had a lot more questions than answers. All I did know for sure was that we would need to talk to both women again and get to the bottom of what happened.

I went next door to pick up Bernie. He nearly knocked me over when Natalie opened the door. I sat on the floor and gave him lots of attention as I said, “He acts like he’s being held prisoner.”

“I think he misses the action,” Natalie said. “His therapist said he’s making good progress, so you might wanna start talkin’ to your boss ‘bout when he can return to work.”

I stood up. “That’s good to hear. I’ll talk to Edna tomorrow.”

Mo came over to us. “Speaking of him, how’s he fucking doing working for Section One?” She laughed.

“He’s a stress case, but it comes with the job.”

“That’s probably because Lady’s sister was run down and killed. You ask me, it was no accident.”

“Somebody wanted her out of action and used a road kill recipe,” Natalie added.

“That might be the case.” I took a seat on their sofa as Bernie continued to whine for attention. “What’s the talk around Nirvana about Christina’s death?”

Mo sat across from me, while Natalie joined me on the couch, saying, “All I know is Lady’s ‘bout as crazy as a rat in a shitter. She’s been screamin’ and cryin’, and makin’ Griselda whip up a bunch of new potions.”

“Speaking of that,” Mo said. “Your wart looks better.”

“It’s not a wart. I just had a pimple, and the swelling’s gone down.”

Her dark eyes shifted in Natalie’s direction. “If you say so.”

The curse Nana had put on Claude’s mother came to mind. “How is Wilhelmina doing?”

“She’s down for the count,” Natalie said. “Accordin’ to Nana, she looks like her face exploded. Not sure if she’s still going through with contesting the will.”

I sighed. “Well, I’m sorry for her, but at least that means Nana won’t be living with us.”

“Not so fast,” Mo said. “Last I heard, Claude has a brother named Boris. Nana thinks he might take over for mama.”

“Nana might need Griselda to also work her magic on him,” Natalie said.

Mo shook her big head, which tonight was adorned with curly green locks. “Not sure that would help. I heard that Boris already looks like a cross between a vampire and the wolf man.”

After Natalie told us she’d always been attracted to men with facial hair, she told me what she and Mo had been up to. “While Bernie was getting his PT, me and Mo followed Noah ‘round. He went back to Russell’s house today.”

“Did he see you?”

Mo’s heavy brow scrunched up. “’Course not. You think we’re a couple of bumbling amateurs? We kept our distance.”

“Noah met up with a bunch of guys at Russell’s house,” Natalie said. “We think they’re plannin’ somethin’.”

“Like what?”

Mo’s big shoulders went up and down. “Whatever it is, it can’t be good. I think we gotta head things off at the pass.”

“What does that mean?”

“Me and baby sis wanna go with you when you talk to Kellen Malone. If nuthin’ else, we can be there for protection.”

I sighed. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. For all we know, Malone could be as dangerous as the others. I don’t want you two getting hurt.”

Mo shook her head and looked at Natalie. “She thinks we’re just a couple of girls, instead of powerful women, like Beyoncé.”

Natalie stood up, did a little strut, and borrowed a line from the singer, “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag.”

I knew it was useless to argue with them. “Okay, but you have to promise you’ll let me do the talking.”

I got a half-hearted commitment from both of them, which meant they had no intention of keeping their mouths shut. Natalie then said, “Maybe we can talk to the bloke this weekend, then go shoppin’ for the reunion.”

I’d almost forgotten about this weekend’s family reunion, or maybe I just wanted to put it out of my mind, but agreed to what she said. Mo must have seen I was down.

“You look like you’re one breath short of needin’ CPR, Kate. What gives?”

I pushed the hair out of my eyes. “I’m just…I guess it’s Noah and the reunion, and the fact the Pearl’s still missing. I’m feeling a little lost.”

“You need a man,” Natalie said. “Izzy’s got a friend named Earl. He’s got a great sense of humor and is hung like a horse.”

I laughed. “How would you know?”

“We all got in Izzy’s hot tub last Sunday, and it was clothing optional.”

“I don’t think I’m ready for a horse or hot tub nudity.”

“Like I said before, maybe it’s time to give the cowboy another ride?” Mo said. “I always thought you two was a good fit.”

My phone was ringing as I said, “That’s over.” I tugged on Bernie’s leash, said goodnight, then answered the call as we left.

“Got an update on your sister,” I heard Joe Dawson say.

“I’ve had a rough week. Please tell me it’s good news.”

“Sorry to hear that, Buttercup, but this might cheer you up. Lindsay’s made contact with our CI. He had a brief conversation with her and told one of our operatives that she’s lying low.”

“What does that mean?”

“Not exactly sure, but we think it means she’s on the inside and on our side. He’s going to try to get her alone again, see what gives.”

I exhaled as Bernie pulled me toward a flowerbed. “That doesn’t exactly sound promising.”

“There’s one other thing.”

I tried to steady my nerves. “What’s that?”

“She told him to get word to you that she loves you.”

I attempted to respond, but felt myself choking up. There was a waterfall of tears on my cheeks as Joe asked me if I was okay. I finally managed to say, “I’m fine. It’s just…I want her to be safe and I’m worried.”

“Remember what I told you before? This is personal. I’ll get your sister out.”

I choked up, then said, “Thanks, Joe. I appreciate it.”

I was about to end the call when he said, “So what really gives? You okay?”

I took a couple of breaths. I thought about telling him about Noah, but didn’t want to go into all the details. “I’m okay. Give me another call when you know something more and we’ll talk then.”

I ended the call, went home, and got ready for bed. I’d just settled Bernie down and got under the covers when my phone rang again. I saw that the call was from Buck and thought about not answering it. I’d been thinking about him after my conversation with Natalie and Mo, and I knew I was in a vulnerable state.

I decided to push that all aside, knowing I couldn’t ignore the call. “I hope this is good news for once,” I said.

“I’d say it’s good news for Addison Blaine, not sure about anyone else.”

“What’s going on?”

“Selfie and Molly just got access to the CCTV footage of the parking garage at the condo complex where Cole Abrams lived. It clearly shows an unidentified woman placing the murder weapon in Blaine’s car. It looks like she was set up.”

I got to work early the next morning after leaving Bernie with Natalie. Leo was already at his desk and I asked him if he’d heard about the closed circuit video.

“We’re supposed to meet with Edna in a few and take a look at it. Not sure what this means for Blaine’s bail hearing this morning, but there’s some news on our other case. The DA is dropping the murder charge against Marisha Dole.”

“You’re kidding.”

“He said the DNA evidence could have been left on our victim at any time prior to the murder, and the eyewitness accounts that Dole was wearing the blouse with the GSR is circumstantial. There’s no way of definitively proving it was hers. She’ll still be facing multiple counts of embezzlement, but will likely make bail on those charges.”

“And once the DA’s notified about the gun being planted in Blaine’s car, bail probably won’t be an issue for her, either. Looks like we start over on both cases.”

After discussing bail issues for a moment, I mentioned Lady Prince’s sister. “Have you heard how the brass wants to handle Conrad’s death?”

“Not sure, but if you ask me, what happened is suspicious as hell.”

“I had dinner with Brie last night and she pretty much said the same thing. She told me the car that hit her made no attempt to slow down, even after impact.”

We went on, speculating about a possible link between Conrad’s death and Bert Prince’s murder, before Leo changed the subject, telling me he’d filed the missing person paperwork on Pearl. “We both know the paperwork on these kinds of cases doesn’t go anywhere. I’ll pass the word along to other detectives and patrol, but I’m not hopeful.”

“I think it’s the most we can do for now.”

Leo’s eyes held on me. “What else is on your mind?”

My partner’s doctorate in psychology came in handy when it came to reading other people. I considered telling him about Noah, but then decided to wait until I knew more. I saw no reason not to tell him about my other plans. “I’m going to try and talk to Kellen Malone this weekend.”

“You want me to tag along?”

I shook my head. “Natalie and Mo are insisting on going with me, even though I’d prefer to go alone.”

“You sure? If Malone knows you’re looking into what happened to John, your dad, it could make things difficult for you.”

“If it doesn’t go well, I’ll let you know. I’m hoping I can keep my conversation with him civil.”

He smiled. “Good luck with that. Your friends have a way of stirring things up.”

“Tell me about it.”

An hour later, Leo and I gathered with everyone in Edna’s office to view the CCTV footage that Selfie and Molly had obtained. As she worked a remote and the image of a woman appeared on an overhead monitor, Selfie said, “It looks like an EM pulse device was used to unlock the car. They’re sold on the Internet for about five dollars.”

We watched as the woman used the remote control to open the passenger side front door of Blaine’s car. She then removed a gun from her handbag and slid it under the seat.

“As you can see, our subject’s wearing a ball cap and is turned away from the camera, so it’s impossible to get a visual ID,” Molly said. “I shared the video with the techies at SID. They enlarged the images and think she’s about five-six or -seven, with dark hair. No other identifiers.”

The video only lasted about thirty seconds. Selfie replayed it a couple of times before Edna told her he’d seen enough. “It looks like Blaine’s going to fucking walk because of this.”

“Does the DA know about the video?” Leo asked.

“Not yet, but it’s going over this morning. He’ll probably drop the charges once he sees it.”

“It looks like a new beginning,” Darby said. Leo’s temporary partner was wearing a plaid jacket that looked like something a sleazy bookie would wear. “I still think Kristoff’s good for what happened.”

The lieutenant looked at me and Buck. “I thought you two were going back to her last night.”

Buck answered. “She didn’t pick up our calls. We’re going by her place this morning.”

“Is she living at that House of Darwood, or whatever the hell they call it?”

“She’s got a condo in Long Beach. After we talk to her, we plan to go by the House of Darwin and talk to Blaine’s mother.”

“Let’s make it happen. Our vic’s father is going to jump down Dumbbell’s throat when Blaine’s released, which means Dumbo’s going to be jumping down mine.”

“There’s another development,” I told the group. “I talked to Brie last night. She completed the autopsy on Cole Abrams and said there were signs of torture on his body.” I took a moment and filled them in on the burns to our victim’s buttocks and upper thighs, adding, “Brie said there were over a dozen different burns, some in varying states of healing.”

“Maybe it wasn’t torture,” Darby said.

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “Maybe our victim liked a certain kind of foreplay, and somebody crossed the line.”

I chuckled. “I don’t know what you do in your spare time, but most people wouldn’t lie around and let somebody use a hot poker on them.”

“There’s all kinds in this world.”

Buck slapped his former partner on the shoulder. “And you’re living proof of that.”

Darby went on a mini-rant about Buck’s lack of professionalism, which Edna cut short. “Let’s stay on track.” He looked around the room. “What else?”

“What about the Prince case, now that Dole walked on the murder charges?” I asked. “We’ve also got the issue of Christina Conrad’s death.”

“Dumbbell and Dumbo are shitting bricks about both cases falling apart. We need to take another run at everything, see if Conrad’s somehow connected to what happened.” Edna looked at Leo and Darby. “I want you two to do the follow up on Prince this morning. Take a look at any enemies Conrad had. Maybe there’s also some connection to Dole and the embezzlement from the family that we missed. I still think Dole’s good for the murder, but we’ve got to nail it down.”

“It sounds like you think the Prince and Conrad killings are linked,” Leo said.

“What I think doesn’t matter. The brass would be happy as a pig in shit if Conrad’s death was just a fucking accident. That said, we have a duty to take a look at it, see if there’s anything connected to Prince’s murder.”

“Why is Prince and Conrad coming to Leo and me?” Darby whined. “We want the Abrams case, so we can go back to Kristoff.”

Edna raised his voice. “You really want to go there with me after what happened between you and the press?”

“It wasn’t my fault…”

“Can it.” A vein was pulsing in the lieutenant’s forehead. “You didn’t play nice and it ended up all over TV. Dumbbell isn’t happy about it. End of story.”

After the others left the lieutenant’s office, I stayed behind, telling Edna about Bernie’s progress. “According to his physical therapist, he’s making great strides. I think it could be just a few days before he’s medically cleared to return to duty.”

Edna’s brown eyes shifted, his gaze moving away as he released a breath. “I’ve got some bad news.” He rubbed his jaw and met my eyes again. “Bernie’s out.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Officially, the department doesn’t think a canine should be working homicide. Unofficially, the word is that the acting chief doesn’t like dogs. He’s given Dum…Dembowski the word that Bernie’s to be retired or reassigned when he’s cleared.”

My voice rose to something just short of a shout. “I won’t stand for this. Bernie’s been an integral part of Section One. He’s proved his worth over and over.”

Edna raised a hand. “You’re preaching to the choir. It’s not my decision.” He lowered his voice. “I hear on the QT that Dunbar got his ass bit by a Rottweiler when he was a kid and has never gotten over it.”

“I’ll bet the dog hasn’t either.” I blew out a breath in frustration. “I won’t let this go. I plan to take it up with Dunbar myself.”

“I don’t blame you, but just so you know, Dembowski made it sound like it’s a done deal. If Bernie’s medically cleared to work and not retired, then he’ll probably be assigned to patrol.”

“Then I’ll work patrol, if I have to.” I stood up. “I won’t go down without a fight.”