Swingin' in the Rain (18 page)

  Jakes and I looked at each other. Now both our mouths were open. And then we looked back to the screen. It was hard to believe what we were seeing but clearly undeniable. Randy and Rockland knew each other. Well. Jakes paused the video and grabbed my hand.

  He quietly opened the door to the patio and brought me outside. He closed the door behind us.

  “What the hell?” I said. “What is happening? That disc . . .”

  “I know. It’s pretty clear that Rockland and Randy knew each other, probably met at that club,” Jakes said. “They looked pretty chummy.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “Randy owned a piece of the club. You don’t think Rockland owns—“

  “I don’t know,” he said, following my train of thought, “but I’d love it if that was the case. If Rockland’s also a part owner it makes him a suspect.”

  “And what about the bugs in my house? Who put them there?”

  “Rockland, possibly. On the other hand anybody can buy bugging equipment and plant them.”

  “So do you think Rockland was having me followed?”

  “Probably. I didn’t get a good look at the guy, and then I lost him in traffic.”

  “But why? Why bug me?”

  “Maybe he wants to know what you and I know.”

  I took a moment to process this.

  “Do you think he could have killed Randy?”

  “Could be. But that’s quite a stretch.” He shook his head as if trying to make sense of it. “Let’s watch some more.”

  We went back into the house and I got my headphones out of the kitchen drawer. I plugged them into the computer and un-paused the video.

  I studied the other people in the room and didn’t recognize anyone else. Then the camera quickly scanned around the room and towards the floor. For a brief second I could see someone’s shoes. The shoes of whoever was taking the video. They were cowboy boots with turquoise tips. Then it abruptly ended. I wildly pointed to the screen. This time I grabbed Jakes’ hand and pulled him outside.

  “Those are the boots I saw on Mulholland and at Randy’s!” I said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” We went back inside and played that section again. I was positive they were the same cowboy boots I’d seen before.

  “You’re sure?” he mouthed. I nodded and we continued watching.

  It looked like a new video, taken at Trois ou Plus as well. I could see the dais and the mattresses on the floor in the Director’s Room—minus any people. It looked like somebody wanted to take a tour of the club. Each theme room was shot and the hallway, too. As he traveled down the hall, he ended up in front of a nondescript door. I could hear voices coming from inside. The door was pushed open and I recognized that it was the same office I had been to with George. Suddenly the picture was sideways and down, as if the cameraman was trying to hide the fact that he had a cell phone and was recording. Then it went black, like it was shoved into a pocket but I could still hear voices. One was clearly Rockland. He was speaking to someone. I recognized the other voice. It was Randy’s. The cell phone was slowly pulled out again and panned across the room. Rockland was sitting behind the desk and Randy was sitting across from him on the sofa next to the bookcase. I could even see the little clay figure that Sarah had made for him. It looked like this was their office--Randy’s and Rockland’s. I pushed the volume up but couldn’t make out what they were saying. I shook my head and handed the headphones to Jakes. He put them on, listened for a second and shook his head. He grabbed my hand again and we went outside.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  It had started raining again so we took the blanket and draped it over both our heads. It was like our own version of the cone of silence from “Get Smart”.

  “What does this all mean?” I had a pretty good idea but I wanted to hear it from him.

  “It means Rockland bugged your house.”

  “How can you be so sure? Couldn’t it be the guy with the boots?”

  “Either or. They’re probably working together. I’m going to remove the one from your lamp. I’ll make it seem like it shorted out. Let’s leave the one on your phone so it doesn’t look suspicious. Just remember not to say anything when you use it that would give away what you know. Okay?”

  He opened the door and walked into the house, with me following. He dropped the wet blanket on the floor and headed for the lamp by the fireplace. Poking his head under the shade he pulled out a little disc. He carried it to the kitchen sink, filled a glass halfway with water and then dropped the disc in. I couldn’t imagine what that must have sounded like on the other end. I gathered up the two Randy discs, returning them back to their “Movie” cases and put them in with Sarah’s other DVD’s.

  Jakes quickly made a second sweep of the house. Finding no other bugs he said, “I’ve gotta go back to the club.”

  “Back to the club?” I asked. “Why?”

  “If that’s Rockland’s office—Rockland’s and Randy’s—then maybe there’s something in there that’ll point to them being in business together. I want to have a look around.”

  “There is something.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because I saw it when I was nosing around the office. The night I was at the club.”

  “What was it?”

  “I’m not one hundred percent sure, but it looked like a purchase agreement.” Before Jakes could ask me why I wasn’t sure, I went on. “I got interrupted when I was looking at it. George knocked on the door warning me that someone was coming. One of the club employees made us leave.”

  “I’ve got to find it.”

  “Well then, I’m going with you.”

  “No,” he said. “If I get caught in there, I’m in trouble. If you’re with me, you’re in trouble, too.”

  “I’ve already been to the club,” I said. “I’ll be able to take us right to the office and the file. You’ll have to . . . stumble around until you find it. You need me so you can be in and out faster.”

  “You might be right.”

  “You know I’m right,” I said. “We’re in this together from now on, remember?”

  “Okay,” he said, “okay, so we’ll go in together.”

  “When?”

  He looked at his watch. “Two hours.”

  “Tonight?”

  “We have to go in while they’re closed,” he said. “We should leave here at three a.m.”

  “Sarah. I can’t.”

  “Oh, right. It’s too late to ask Tonja to watch her...”

  “Definitely.”

  “So tonight’s off,” he decided. “I’ll find out when they close, when the cleaning crew comes in and leaves, and when they open.”

  “Can we go in tomorrow night?”

  “You’ve got a lot of confidence in me.”

  “Yes, I do.” I didn’t even bother stifling a yawn. “I’m too old for this middle of the night stuff. I’m pooped.”

  “Early call tomorrow?”

“No, thank goodness. Sarah to school then I’m in at 9. Are you leaving me or staying over?”

  “I’m not leaving you. Not with Rockland on the loose.”

  “How are you going to handle him, anyway, with him being the detective in charge?”

  “I’m going to investigate him.”

  “What kind of investigate?”

  “The kind I.A. conducts when they think a cop’s dirty,” he said. “I’m gonna look at his record inside and out.”

  “Hoping to find that he owns a side business?” I asked. “Like a swingers club?”

  “Maybe, but that wouldn’t be enough,” he said. “I have to find some sort of connection between him and blue boots.”

  “They were actually turquoise,” I said. “What kind of a connection do you think they have?”

  “You saw how he kept putting his phone in his pocket, and then taking it out?” Jakes said. “My bet is he was  gathering material for blackmail.”

  “To blackmail Randy? Or Rockland?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe both.”

  “So then turquoise boots can’t be a suspect for Randy’s killing. I mean, why kill him if he was blackmailing him?”

  “Something might’ve gone wrong. Anyway, I’ll find out.” He pulled me to him and kissed me. I tried to pull away but he started working his way down my neck. Unbuttoning my pajamas he was making my knees weak, but I finally—gently--pushed him away.

  “Right now? It’s two in the morning.”

  “No time like the present.” He turned off the lights and led me into my bedroom.

  “Aren’t you kind of tired?” I whispered behind him. I hated sounding like a fuddy duddy, but c’mon! I had to be up in the morning. He ignored me as he closed the door and unbuttoned his jeans peeling them off. 

  I gave him the once over. He looked damn good. He laid back on my bed, naked but for a smile. I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Oh what the hell,” I said. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

  I pulled off my pajama pants and jumped on top of him.

CHAPTER FORTY

  American Popstar was still using a lot of our parking spaces but I managed to find one out by the back forty, meaning far away from the Artist’s Entrance. Good news, though, I had listened to the radio on the drive in and they said no rain for most of the day. But a storm was supposed to be rolling in later tonight.

  As I was walking across the lot I saw a car leaving and swore it was Patti driving. I opened my mouth to yell, but it was no use. She never would have heard me. I flapped my arms trying to get the guard’s attention to stop her but he just looked at me like I was a crazy person. She pulled out and made a left. I strained to see through the cars and the fence, and was sure it was Patti.

  Damn!

  From the looks of Patti’s house the night George and I were there, I thought she had left town for good. What was she doing at the studio? And how did she get in? Once she had resigned, her pass would have been taken away. She would have had to be somebody’s guest, and her name would be left at the gate.

  I moseyed over to the guardhouse. Dammit! The guard was new so it could be more difficult to get information from him. I put on my most charming smile and gave it a go.

  “Hi there! I’m Alexis Peterson.” I put out my hand.

  “Oh, hello, Miss Peterson. I know who you are,” he said, shaking my hand.

  “You’re new here, right? I wanted to introduce myself.”

  “That’s nice of you. Yeah, I just started last week.”

  “Well, welcome!” I turned as if I was going into the building and then looked back. “By the way, I think I just saw my ex make-up artist leaving the studio. Was that Patti Dennis I just saw driving away?” I asked.

  He looked at his clipboard. “Why, yes, it was.”

  “That’s funny, I thought she quit.”

  “She had a pass waiting for her,” he said. “She was somebody’s guest.”

  “I wonder whose?” I said, innocently.

  He smiled and said, “Lemme check.” He looked it up and said, “She was here to see Kathy Grant.”

  Kathy. Our body make-up person. And Patti’s close friend.

  “I’m sorry I missed her,” I said. “Oh, well. Welcome again! I’ll be seeing you every morning!”

  “Thanks, Ma’am.”

  I hated “Ma’am” but I let it go. I couldn’t wait to get inside and find Kathy. I dropped my stuff off in my dressing room. As I was pulling my script out of my bag, there was a knock at my door. I opened it to find Marcus.

  “Hey, Alex. How are you? I thought we should run the new scenes.” That stopped me cold.

  “What new scenes?” I asked fearfully.

  “The scenes that we got last night. The show is short.”

  Oh no. I’d been so distracted with the DVDs I’d found I never checked my email the night before.

  “Marcus, I never got them!” I looked around my room and there on my coffee table was a packet. I pulled out the pages. Three new scenes I’d yet to look at. Let alone memorize!

  “Give me a few minutes to check them out and I’ll come find you.”

  I hustled him out of my room and read the pages. Nothing too difficult. They had added a love scene between Felicia and Brandon. Uh oh. And a one page monologue for me at the very end. Crap. I quickly put on my love scene uniform of men’s boxers and a tube top then sat down to concentrate on my lines. Thank God I’m a quick study! I mean literally thank GOD. I swear I have a good memory from having to memorize catechism when I was a kid in Catholic School. It doesn’t take me too long to get dialogue in my head and it sure does come in handy on days like today.

  Then I realized I was going to need body make-up. Perfect. I’d call Kathy and ask her to come to my room to do it and then grill her about Patti. I picked up the phone; Kathy answered on the first ring.

  “Make-up. Kathy speaking.”

  “Hey Kathy, it’s Alex. How are you?”

  “Hi, Alex. Fine. You want to speak with George?”

  “No. Not George. You. Would you mind coming down to my room to do body makeup? I have three added scenes I didn’t know about and I’m going kind of crazy.”

  “Uhhh...”

  “Please? Just today.” I knew as a rule make-up and hair didn’t like to do actors and actresses in their dressing rooms, unless it was an emergency.

  “Okay. I’ll be down in five minutes.” She said reluctantly as she hung up the phone.

  I looked over my lines again and remembered I was supposed to find Marcus. I plopped down on my sofa and called his room, telling him to come to my room in 10 minutes. Then there was a very light knock on my door.