Kissing in Action (3 page)

"They're waiting for you in Room One," said the man I nicknamed “Larger.” He was huge, and at least twice my girth. His legs looked like tree trunks.

"How've things been?" Solomon asked.

The security guards glanced at each other and sighed. "The usual," said Larger.

"What's the usual?" I asked as we passed them, and walked to the end of the corridor, pausing outside a door. A scream pierced the air. I glanced back at the security guards, but neither of them moved.

Solomon opened the door.

A vase sailed through the doorway, clearing the narrow space between Solomon and me before colliding with the wall behind my head. It smashed, of course, and all the pieces dropped loudly to the floor.

Solomon closed the door.

"That," he said. He knocked even more loudly before opening the door again. "It's Solomon," he yelled over the screaming, hysterical voices. "With my investigator."

"And her best friend," yelled Lily, following us.

I had to stop and take in the scene. This was B4U, but certainly not the sweet, giggling, fun-loving B4U I knew from TV. Nor were they the perfectly poised women from the magazine articles. Sure, they were all gorgeously dressed, and their hair looked perfect, but Amelia and Shelley were screaming at each other, Lauren was holding her cheek, reddened from what appeared to be a recent slap, and the final member, Katya, was grabbing another vase to hurl from the credenza as we watched. She brandished it over her head, screaming horrible obscenities. The man in the center of them all, waving his arms and yelling somewhat ineffectually, had to have been their manager.

"Hello?" Solomon shouted. The band and their manager continued hollering.

Lily stuck two fingers into her mouth and gave one hell of a whistle, silencing the room. Katya turned her attention on Lily. She gave her mere seconds to dart out of the way before launching the vase. It bounced off the sofa and slid onto the floor. Lily picked it up and handed it back. "Better luck next time," she said. "I like your shoes. There is nothing on this earth like a pair of killer stilettos."

"Who the hell are you?" asked Katya, accepting the vase.

"I'm Lily Shuler-Graves, a big fan. Lexi Graves, who is taking the case, and her boyfriend-slash-boss, Solomon. Only Solomon. No first name."

"You're not single?" said Katya, addressing Solomon. Her voice sounded silky, despite the former screaming, and she gave Solomon the once-over. She turned to her manager. "You said he was single."

"I said I didn't know if he were single, and I didn't care."

"What's the point of hiring a hot guy to do our dirty work if he's not single? Fire him and get someone else."

"Katya, I'm not firing him."

Katya pointed to me. "Fire her!" She fixed her eyes on me, mouthing, "Bitch."

I blanched at seeing the vitriol in her eyes and took a step back. I was tempted to take another step back and slide behind Solomon, but Lily was already edging in that direction.

"No one is firing anyone!" their exasperated manager sighed. "Ladies, sit down. These people are here to help us... to help you. Sit the hell down and shut the hell up!"

I was surprised to see the band slink over to the sofas, each sitting as far away from each other as possible. Thankfully, they did it quietly. Unfortunately, the shrill sounds of screaming still rang in my ears as I surveyed the room. Pillows were flung across the floor, and a side table was turned over. One vase was smashed in the hallway, and the other near victim sat on the coffee table after Katya put it there. Magazines were scattered everywhere. It looked like the fight must have been going on for some time.

Solomon, Lily, and I remained standing. I didn't know what Solomon and Lily were looking at, but I decided to assess the exits. There appeared to only be one, the door by which we entered; and fortunately, I was closest to it. However, it didn't appear that any more missiles would be flung in our direction.

"I'm Joe Carter, B4U's manager," said the man, cutting through the silence. "This is Amelia, Katya, Shelley, and Lauren. Sorry for what just happened. The girls are a little highly strung of late."

"I wouldn't need to be highly strung if that bitch would apologize," sniffed Shelley.

"Go to hell," screeched Amelia.

"Guess I'll see you there!" Shelley yelled back. She grabbed a pillow and walloped Amelia on the head. Amelia wrenched it from Shelley's fingers, and slammed it back at her fellow band member's head. All I could do was watch, while inhaling deeply, as the two attacked each other, grabbing and pulling hair. They rolled off the couch and onto the floor before Joe threw himself into the middle, prying them apart.

"You, over there," he said, pushing Shelley towards the furthest couch. He gave Amelia a lighter push, urging her to sit on the couch she just vacated. Amelia crossed her arms, scowling, and gave her hair a little toss. It settled perfectly into a satiny sheet that swung well past her shoulders.

"I hate her. I hate all of you," Shelley sniffed, her jaw wobbling as she stifled tears.

"Feeling is mutual," said Katya, shrugging one shoulder. "I hate your disgusting face. It ruins every album cover."

"You odious peasant!"

"Ladies, please! Be quiet!" Joe yelled, waving his arms over his head. "Can you shut up for ten minutes? Can you?"

"Ask Katya; she has the biggest mouth," said Lauren.

"And yet, you're the one still talking," Joe pointed out. "Zip it."

"Hah!" gloated Katya. "Better to have a big mouth than your huge nose, Lauren!"

"I said, zip it!" yelled Joe. "Ladies, this is Solomon from the Solomon Detective Agency I told you all about, and his associate, Lexi Graves and... I'm sorry, who are you?" He turned to Lily. Three more sets of eyes looked at her. The fourth, belonging to Katya, studied the buttons of her sweater, apparently disinterested, but I could tell she was listening. Her posture was a little stiff, and her head was cocked at an angle.

"Lily Shuler-Graves," Lily said, without explaining why she was there.

"Right," agreed Joe. "Like I told you ladies already, and I'm really trying to keep calling all of you ladies, the agency came here to help with our blackmail issue."

"Why don't you all tell us about it," said Solomon, "starting with the basics?"

Every member of the band started to talk at once, each of them suddenly focused and animated. I caught "secrets," and "I don't know what they're talking about," and "money," but I couldn't figure out a single individual story. It seemed like they were all talking about something different, and each girl wanted to get her word in over her band mates’.

"One at a time!" commanded Solomon, loudly. His imperious tone plunged them into silence. "Katya, why don't you go first?"

"Why her?" asked Shelley. "Is it because she's the biggest bitch?"

"No, it's because I asked," replied Solomon, barely glancing her way. "Katya, tell us what happened."

"I got the first letter after our first gig on this tour," Katya began. She was still picking imaginary lint off her sweater. "At first, I thought, 'Hey, this is stupid,' but then the same words were written in lipstick on the mirror in my hotel bathroom in the evening."

"What did the letter say?"

Katya pursed her lips and breathed harshly through her nose. "It said, 'I'll tell them about Russia unless you pay five thousand dollars by tomorrow noon.’ It gave a bank number."

"What did you do then?" I asked.

"I paid, of course."

"What about Russia?" Solomon asked.

Katya shrugged. "I don't know."

"But you paid," pointed out Lily, "so you must have known."

"Maybe, I don't know. I was five when I left Russia. We were dirt poor, but we made it to America, and now, I am big pop star! People are jealous. Not everyone gets to live out a dream, you know?" she said, her accent becoming more evident.

"Big pop star?" laughed Shelley. "You couldn't make it on your own!"

"Neither can you. You sing like a chipmunk," shot back Katya. " A drunken chipmunk. That’s not surprising, because you’re always drunk, yes?"

"Screw you!"

"What happened after you paid?" I asked, trying to prevent the girls from screaming.

"Nothing. Nothing happened. I forgot about it until I got another letter. Concert eight."

"What did that say?"

"It had a photo. It said something about my parents would be leaked to the press. Of course, it was a doctored photograph! This time, the blackmailer wanted ten thousand dollars!"

"Did you pay?"

"I told Joe."

Joe nodded. "That's when I asked the others and learned they'd all been receiving anonymous letters that threatened to blackmail them with supposed secrets that would be leaked to the press."

"I don't recall seeing any damaging photos in the press," Lily said. "It wasn't leaked?"

"That's because I paid. Again," sniffed Katya. "Now, they have fifteen thousand dollars of my money!"

"Did you all receive the letters individually?" Solomon asked.

Each woman nodded. "I have them all," said Joe, reaching for a box on the credenza and passing it to Solomon. "They got two letters each, all demanding money in exchange for protecting their so-called secrets."

"You said there were letters from every concert?" I asked, frowning.

Joe turned to me. "I don't know if the blackmailer found out we knew about all the individual letters, or if he changed tactics, but the ninth letter was addressed to all of them. It demanded twenty thousand dollars. Five thousand each, in order to keep quiet."

"Shelley, what did your letters say?" I asked.

"They said ‘Remember ten years ago?’ and asked for five thousand dollars."

Katya giggled. "Shelley is usually too drunk to remember even five minutes ago."

"Shut up!" screeched Shelley.

"Enough!" yelled Joe.

"Did you pay?" I asked, raising my voice in order to be heard.

"Not at first, no, but at the next concert, there was another letter and the price was raised to fifteen thousand dollars. And there was also a still from a video."

"You never told me that," said Joe, looking puzzled.

"I didn't understand it. It's me, but... I don't know how someone got it."

"What was happening in the photo?" I pressed. "Do you remember?"

Shelley rolled her eyes. "I don't know. Kinda. I don't want to talk about it."

"We need to know," Solomon pressed. "It could help us find out who did this. Your past is your past and we want it to stay that way."

"Fine, I'll tell her," Shelley said, pointing at me. She unfolded her long legs and strode across the room, bending to whisper into my ear. I raised my eyebrows as she gave the briefest of explanations.

"Did you pay?" I asked.

"Yes," she said softly before returning to her seat. She sunk into the couch and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"What about you two?" Solomon continued, moving on swiftly, while sensing Shelley's embarrassment. "Amelia?"

"It said, ‘I know your secret.’ It asked for five grand in the first letter, then ten grand in the second."

"You paid?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"And you know what secret they're talking about?"

Amelia nodded.

"Can you tell me?" I asked.

"No. It's not very damaging though, and that's what puzzled me," said Amelia. "I mean, I'm not embarrassed. It's just nobody's business, but mine. I just don't want it getting out. Not yet. Not until I'm ready. When I'm ready, I'll tell everyone, but not until then." She closed her mouth and refused to elaborate on anything else.

"Lauren?"

"It just had a name. Nothing else."

"What name?" asked Solomon.

Lauren sighed. "Michael."

"Do you know who Michael is?" I asked.

"Yes, but I don't know how anyone else would know."

"Who is Michael?" I continued. "Someone from your past?"

"Yes, but that's all I'm saying. Before you ask, yes, I paid. I don't care what the media does to me, but I don't want anyone from the press bothering Michael. That's not okay."

"You can't let someone extort money from you and keep paying to protect a guy," I said.

"He's not just a guy. Anyway, that's why you're here. Find the blackmailer and make whoever it is stop before we have to quit the band."

"You don't mean that!" said Katya, startled. "We're not going to quit."

Lily nodded, looking outraged. "She's right. You've got the world at your feet, Lauren. Think of the fans. They love B4U."

"Think of the money," said Katya.

"I'd sooner quit than let anyone else suffer," replied Lauren.

"Maybe we should throw you out of the band," Katya shot back. "Who needs her anyway?"

"B4U needs me more than any of us need you!" Lauren shot back before muttering something extremely rude under her breath.