Star Attraction (27 page)

“The only significance is the
timing.
 
Jonathan probably moved
much more quickly that he intended, just in case you did decided to blow the
whistle on him.
 
He got careless
over the dates on the photos, which suggests he was in a bit of a panic.
 
If we can keep him scared, maybe he'll
play right into our hands and slip up again. Then we’ve got him.”

 
“I hope you’re right, Kelly.
 
I couldn’t bear it if Brad were hurt any more than he has
been.
 
He would die if Cormac or the
Studio were damaged.
 
But even if
we clear him, there will still be many people convinced of his guilt.”

“Then we’ll just have to
unconvince them!” Kelly insisted.

Zaira looked at her new friend
earnestly, and said, “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all you and your
family have done.
 
I was desperate
when I came here.
 
Now you’ve all
given me hope.”

“All part of the job, Zaira, and
like I said, if we have a hope of catching your ex-husband, we will.”

The next day Zaira telephoned
Matt, just to say she was safe, and her plans were working out.

“Listen, I’m not going to talk
long, just in case they're tapping your phones.
 
Go to Raymond Ness. I’ll post any letters to him, and can
you send them on to Brad.
 
I don’t
want him to know that I am out here in California, or else he might think about
coming back.
 
I’ll ring Raymond
tonight at seven.
 
Be there then if
you can.”

Zaira hung up, shaking with
fear.
 
What if they knew Matt was
helping Brad?
 
What if Jonathan
knew about his involvement, and was wondering if Zaira would move against
him?
 
But there was nothing she
could do about it now.
 
Zaira just
had to keep a low profile and hope for the best.

She spent the next few days trying
to help the team with their work, but it became mind-bogglingly dull after a
short while.
 
Most of the time they
just loitered around hoping Jonathan would come out of his office at Clarke
Studios for some reason, but even when he did, he usually just ambled around
some of the old warehouses, and after a long day at work, went straight
home.
 

There were no suspicious contacts
that they could see, but Jimmy managed to bribe Jonathan’s secretary into
keeping them posted every time he went out of the office.
 
She would ring his cell phone number
twice. On one occasion, about four days after they had started their
surveillance, Kelly said, “Hang on, Mary rang five minutes ago, and he still
isn’t out here.
 
Back entrance to
the Studio lot, perhaps?”

Zaira nodded, and pushed her
sunglasses firmly up the bridge of her nose for a better look.
 
She was fairly well disguised, and
decided to get out of the car for a snoop around.
 
She grabbed the camera and tape recorder off the front seat,
though Kelly hissed, “No, Zaira, it’s too dangerous!”

But Zaira kept low, lurking in the
cluster of
 
birds of paradise that
decorated the side of the building, and as she went around to the back, she saw
Jonathan creeping away from the service elevator. She counted to five, and then
followed.
 
A few more yards took
her to another of the old disused studios, and she slipped inside and kept
close to the wall.
 

She could hear two male voices,
and one of them was definitely Jonathan’s.
 
Fumbling, she switched on her tape recorder, and tried to
set up the camera for a clear shot.
   

The other voice said, “Well, so
far people seem to be buying it, but if you want the really hard stuff, you’re
going to have to pay more.
 
If I go
back inside, my number is up and you know it.
 
After that, I want an airline ticket out of the country,
someplace exotic like Tahiti.”

“You and the girls will get
whatever you want.
 
I just need you
to do a few more sessions, and a few more coke deals,” Jonathan replied.

“You make it sound so easy, man,
but why is it I still get the feeling I’m being shafted?
 
It;s too easy, and besides, you still
haven’t told me what’s in it for you.”

“Money and power, more than I have
ever dreamed.
 
But don’t try
complaining to me.
 
You get the
girls, all the dope you want, and your cash and plane ticket to paradise.
 
Just grin and bare all for the cameras
a few more times, Mike, and I promise, in just a little while, you’ll be free
of all this.”

“All right, but you’d better me
playing straight on this one, because if you aren’t, you’ll be hearing from me,
Jonathan, and I’m not so nice when I get angry,” the man called Mike threatened
softly.

“Don’t worry, just be here
tonight, usual time,” Jonathan ordered brusquely.

Zaira could see a short but
powerfully built man heading towards the doorway where she was concealed.
 
She slipped out quickly, and hid behind
a row of motorcycles that were parked nearby.

Mike came out, and Zaira
gasped.
 
The resemblance to Brad
was stunning, were it not for the fact that he was so heavily tattooed, and
several inches shorter.
 
Also, in
the sunlight, she could see he had dyed his hair to make it look darker, and
she suspected that seen up close, his eyes would be blue rather than Brad’s
stunning emerald green.
 
He pulled
on his helmet, and started the Honda with a powerful kick.
 

As he drove out of the car park,
Zaira began to run for the front entrance of the building, but just then
Jonathan started coming out of the Studio.
 
Zaira dropped the small bag with the surveillance gear on
top of the seat and pulled on a helmet over her red hair quickly, with her back
to him, and then sat on one of the bikes.
 

Jonathan glanced at her briefly,
and she nervously fingered the handlebars.
 
She accidentally hit the automatic start button, and the
machine purred into life.
 
Zaira
decided to leave while she could, and the opportunity to follow Mike the male
model was too good to resist.

Zaira sped to the front entrance,
and then shouted into the car window,
 
“The fake Brad, on a motorcycle.
 
I’m after him.”
 

She threw the camera and tape
recorder bag in through the window of the car, and waved as Kelly pointed to
the right.

Zaira negotiated the traffic
carefully, as she followed.
  
She had been on a bike a few times in her teenage years, and hadn’t
forgotten how to drive it.
 
Fortunately, Mike the model had a very distinctive leather jacket, red
with a tiger’s face snarling on the back, so even though she was well behind,
she could still see him vaguely in the distance.
 

As she sped along, she could see
the lights up ahead turn red, and she ran right through the yellows as fast as
she could.
 
Soon she was only five
or six cars behind Mike, who didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, so Zaira had
to hang back, and prayed he would not spot her trailing him. She waited for a
red light, and then heard a car horn and her name shouted.

“I’m on to him, and I think you’ve
stolen Clarke Studios’ property!” Kelly called to her, and she now took up the
chase after Mike.
 

Zaira went more slowly now, but
still pressed on.
 
She wanted to
back up her friend in case anything went wrong.
 
Mike was going into a pretty bad neighborhood, and Zaira
gasped and hit the brakes.
 
She
nearly ran him over as he walked out into the road in front of her.
 

For a moment Zaira thought he had
figured out she was tailing him, but he calmly walked over to the opposite
corner, and began talking to a very shifty-looking man.
 
Zaira had no choice but to drive down
the street. As she turned the corner, she saw Kelly in her car, getting some
clear shots of whatever transaction was going on.

Zaira went further up the avenue,
and then turned down the third side street on her right.
 
Chances are he didn’t live in this
neighborhood, so she would have to wait until he was headed for his next stop,
which might even be his own home.

Zaira waited with the engine
ticking over quietly at the far street corner, and sure enough, about ten
minutes later, Mike was turning the corner about a block away, and heading
straight towards her back into the center of town.
 
She was in the shadow of a shop awning, and prayed he would
not get a good look at her. Then she waited a few seconds after he had passed before
she began to follow him again.

Zaira didn’t see any sign of
Kelly, and once or twice she got the feeling Mike was looking over his
shoulder.
 
She had to think
quickly.
 
Zaira had only a vague
knowledge of LA’s layout, but she thought she might be able to turn down the
next avenue, out of sight, and still be able to follow him.
 
She turned off to the left just as she
saw him begin to slow down.
 
There
wasn’t a traffic light in sight, so either he was stopping because he lived
there, or because he was suspicious.
 

Sure enough, when Zaira sped on
down the next avenue, he was carrying on in a straight line.
 
She breathed a sigh of relief.
 
She hated to think what might have
happened if he had confronted her about following him.
 

As she looked up the next street,
she could see Kelly’s car in the distance, also carefully keeping an eye on
Mike.
 
He was their best
chance.
 
They couldn’t afford to
lose the double who had posed for all those supposed photos of Brad.

Zaira remembered the conversation
she had overheard, which she had managed to record.
 
Mike had been in trouble with the police before.
 
He might be willing to tell the police
everything for the right offer.
 
It
was not only urgent that they save Brad’s career, but also stop Jonathan’s
crime spree once and for all.

Zaira lost sight of Mike after a
time, and wondered if he had turned down another street.
 
She hesitated, before doubling back and
approaching from the opposite direction.
 

As luck would have it, she saw him
putting his cycle into a garage as she peeped around the corner.
 
He had to live there.
 
Now all they had to do was keep an eye
on him.

Zaira waited for a few minutes
before heading back to the centre of town, and soon Kelly flashed her lights
and got her to pull over.

“Here, you’d better bring that
bike back straight away, only make sure you wipe your prints off it.
 
I’ve phoned for backup there on our
young friend, and Jimmy is keeping an eye on Jonathan.
 
We’ll head back to drop off the Suzuki,
then go home.”

Zaira followed Kelly back, and
after they had wiped off all the prints, they starting heading back to the
Tremaines' house.
 

Kelly told her off in no uncertain
terms as soon as she got inside the car.
 
“You could have really got yourself into a lot of trouble by stealing
that cycle, not to mention following someone all by yourself whom we have every
reason to believe is dangerous.”

“We couldn’t afford to lose
him.
 
He's a crucial witness to
Brad’s innocence and Jonathan’s guilt.
 
I got a tape, and some photos.
 
Wasn’t that worth the risk?” Zaira demanded.

“It was great, but he isn’t
stupid.
 
I’m pretty sure he knew I
was following him, and he might even have grabbed you if you hadn’t turned off
in time.
 
It was a nice piece of
work, but I do wish you would leave this to us.
 
It is what you pay us for, after all,” Kelly reminded Zaira.

“I’m sorry, I was just so
frightened that Mike the model would get away.”

“Well, he won’t now.
 
We can run a check on him, and keep him
in our sights.
 
Well done.”

“Not only that, but they are
planning to meet again tonight, organize another shoot.
 
We have to be in there tonight, with a
camera, the whole lot.
 
Then follow
them all home. If Jonathan is there himself, it will be a huge bonus.
 
What did those two say to each other on
the street corner?” Zaira asked suddenly, remembering Mike’s first stop.
 
“Did you see anything interesting?”