The Celebutantes (7 page)

“Holy Jeez!” he yelled, running up to her. “Are you okay? We heard about a body landing on the pavement and we were all like,
What? No way!
”

“We saw it happen!” Lex said. She rested her right hand on his arm as she stared up at him. “The body fell like a few feet from us! It totally almost flattened us!”

“They're saying it's Elijah Traymore!” Brooklyn looked to them like he wanted details. “That he jumped from the penthouse balcony.”

Lex nodded gravely. “It is Elijah. We saw him…and all the blood.”

“Damn.” Brooklyn turned and stared in the direction of the body. Dark stains had begun seeping through the sheet. “He seemed like a cool guy too.”

“Did he?” Lex sounded as though she didn't believe him.

“Yeah. I mean, I only met him once. Saw him and his girlfriend when they checked in with their assistant. They all seemed pretty cool.”

Madison cleared her throat loudly—so loud, in fact, that Park jumped.

“Oh,” Lex said, smiling and shrugging. “Sorry. Brooklyn, these are my sisters, Madison and Park. Girls, this is Brooklyn DiMarco.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Park said, shaking his hand.

“Hello.” Madison shot him a long stare before smiling politely, if a bit uncertainly. Then she turned the stare on Lex.

And Lex knew what that meant. An explanation was in order. “Brooklyn and I met earlier today, when I went searching for Coco. He and I kind of…” She smirked. “Bumped into each other.”

“We kind of
keep
bumping into each other.” Brooklyn laughed.

“Oh,” Madison said, confused. She cleared her throat, unsure what to say. She smiled again and held her hand out to Brooklyn. “Nice to meet you. Where…um…where do you go to school?”

His eyebrows knitted together. “Huh?”

“School,” Madison repeated. “You look about our age.”

“Oh. Right.” He nodded. “I'm a senior at LaGuardia. You know, Performing Arts. Over on Sixty-fourth and Amsterdam.”

“No kidding!” Lex said. “That's where Jennifer Aniston went. We were just at her birthday party!”

“
I
didn't go to that party,” Madison said. “
I
was at the UNICEF dinner.” She stared up at Brooklyn again and couldn't help feeling suddenly hot. One more blink and she would officially be flirting with him. “Is Brooklyn your real name, or is that just a nickname?”

“It's my real name. But everyone calls me Brock.”

“Except me,” Lex said. “
I
call you Brooklyn.”

Park, who quickly recognized the attraction between Lex and Brock, smiled broadly. “A few of the production assistants on the set of
Short Fuse
went to LaGuardia,” she said. “Are you an acting student?”

“Nah,” Brooklyn replied. “I play violin.”

Lex squeezed his forearm again. “That's my favorite instrument. It's so romantic.”

“I'd love to play for you sometime,” he said, and took a step closer to her.

“Hey, Brock?” Madison looked him squarely in the eyes. “Do you know anything about what happened here? Do you know if Tallula Kayson is okay? Where is she?”

“The cops are swarming the hotel,” he said. “Right before my father—he's one of the security directors here—ran out, I thought I heard him say that they located Tallula.”

“Oh my God,” Madison whispered. “So they've told her. They've—”

And for the second time that afternoon, a high-pitched scream pierced the air.

Madison spun around and saw Tallula standing just outside the hotel doors. She was being contained by a doorman as she wailed and fought to break free from his hold. “No!” she cried. “Elijah! He can't be dead! He can't be dead!”

People everywhere were cupping their hands over their mouths and whispering to each other.

Madison rushed forward, ignoring a number of security guards who screamed for her to stop. “Tallula!” she called, opening her arms wide. “Oh, honey. I'm so sorry!”

Tallula tore herself from the doorman's hold and hugged Madison fiercely. “I don't believe it's him!” she sobbed. “They won't let me see his face, but I have to see his face! I don't believe it's him!”

Madison wrapped her hands around Tallula's shoulders. “It's him,” she said gently. “I saw him.”

“No! No!”

Park and Lex joined Madison's side. Brooklyn stood a few feet behind them. They remained silent as Tallula cried and cried on Madison's shoulder.

“I loved him,” Tallula sobbed. “Why would he do this to me? How could he? We…were going to get married in the spring…. Not my Elijah. Not my Elijah…”

Park had been looking down at the ground. Now she raised her eyes to get a glimpse of the police activity.

Two detectives were kneeling beside the body, pointing to the trails of blood. One of them stood up and, his gaze locked on Tallula, began walking toward her.

“Excuse me, Ms. Kayson? I'm Detective Roan.” He was short and bald with a ruddy complexion and small blue eyes. Probably fifty, but too many years of being a cop in New York City had added puffy dark bags under his eyes. “This is a terrible tragedy. I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a few questions.”

Tallula lifted her head from Madison's shoulder. “I don't know what happened!” she cried. “I wasn't up in the penthouse! I don't know why Elijah's dead!”

“Had he been having any suicidal thoughts recently?” Detective Roan asked her flatly. “Did he say anything like that to you?”

Tallula wailed louder.

“Maybe now isn't the right time, Detective,” Madison said gently.

Park tugged at the sleeve of Detective Roan's shirt. “Hi,” she said quietly, pulling him off to the side. “I was just wondering…didn't you happen to take a look at the deceased's fingers?”

“Excuse me?”

Park brought her face close to his. “Scrapes in and around his palms. And two broken fingernails. They could be defensive wounds, but they could also mean he tried to hold on to something….”

Detective Roan's face registered confusion and outrage. “You're Park Hamilton, right?”

“Right.”

“I'm a fan, and so are my daughters,” Roan said. “But I think you should leave the police work to us.”

“Just look into it,” Lex urged him quietly, if a bit impatiently. “We're rarely wrong when it comes to murder.”

The detective's eyes nearly popped from their sockets.

That was the precise moment Park stared over his shoulder and saw Coco McKaid running out of the hotel's front doors, looking mussed and harried and disheveled. “Coco!” she called out. “Over here!”

Brooklyn tapped Lex's shoulder. “Who's Coco?”

“One of our friends,” Lex explained. “I was looking for her when I bumped into you.”

Coco eased her way past the security guards and the police. She was more sober than before, but she still looked like hell. She nearly stumbled into Park. “Hey,” she said breathlessly. “What's going on? What's with all the cops?”

“Where have you been?” Madison asked. “We were looking for you!” She stared Coco down, noting her disheveled appearance and the pallor of her skin. “Are you okay?”

“I'm sorry. I just…I…well…” Coco swallowed hard and shot the detective a curious glance. “Hey, that's Tallula…. Why is she crying?”

Park cocked her head to the right.

Confused, Coco turned around. Her eyes widened. She drew in breath to speak, but no words came out.

As the body was being lifted onto a gurney, the sheet fell away for a split second and revealed Elijah's bloodstained face.

“Oh my God!” Coco screamed. She stared in disbelief. She brought her hands up to her mouth, and her purse tumbled from her fingers and crashed to the ground, spilling its contents over Park's shoes.

Everyone looked down.

Tallula gasped, her jaw dropping. She lowered herself to the ground and, pushing aside a lipstick and compact and a bottle of custom-mix perfume, twined her fingers around one item in particular: a gold rope chain. She held it up and let it dangle from her forefinger; at its end was a five-pointed star.

“What is it, honey?” Madison asked.

Tallula stood up and fixed her eyes on Coco. The grief evident on her face only moments ago was replaced by rage. “This is Elijah's,” she whispered. “He never took it off. Never.
What the hell is it doing in your purse?
”

6

My BFF, the Killer

“I
found it on the floor on my way to the bathroom,” Coco explained quickly, trying to keep her voice steady. “I picked it up because I knew it looked important. Expensive. I meant to turn it in to the front desk, but I never got the chance.”

“Liar!” Tallula screamed.

Detective Roan had moved the party into the lobby, which had been cleared several minutes earlier by hotel personnel. Now they were all standing in a nook beside the empty bar. Madison, Park, Lex. Coco and Tallula. Brooklyn had been called away by his father promptly—the entire security team would be working late—but before leaving, he had managed to slip Lex his cell number.

That, however, was the furthest thing from Lex's mind now. Her stomach was in knots as she watched the surreal scene unfold in front of her. She couldn't believe any of it. She felt as though she were walking through a nightmare that had just taken another ruthless turn.

Tallula's accusatory eyes. Coco's frightened voice. Detective Roan's mounting suspicion. Those ghastly red dots on Madison's dress that clashed terribly with her shoes. It was almost too much to bear.

“I'm not lying!” Coco screamed back. “You don't even know me! How can you accuse me of anything?” Her voice broke and her eyes welled with tears. Her fear was painfully obvious.

“I think we should all calm down,” Park said, not for the first time. “Things will get better faster if we all just take a deep breath.”

“And maybe do a quick yoga stretch,” Madison chimed in.

Tallula rolled her neck. “Oh, I'd love to be able to stretch right now.”

“Excuse me!” Detective Roan shouted. “Nobody is doing anything except answering my questions!” He glared at Madison, Park, and Lex. “And
you
three are just getting in the way! You'll have to wait outside!”

“Absolutely not!” Tallula screeched. She clutched Madison's hand firmly. “I won't answer any questions without my new BFFs here!”

“Neither will I!” Coco said quickly. And just as quickly, she whirled in Madison's direction. “I thought
I
was your BFF!”

“You are,” Madison answered shakily. “Both of you are my friends. Really, you are. But right now, just stay cool and answer the detective's questions.”

Detective Roan's face took on the expression of a pit bull. “I'm only going to say it once, got it? The only people I want here with me are Tallula Kayson and Coco McKaid. That means anyone named after an avenue has to leave!”

Lex clucked her tongue. “Can't you be more original than that?” she snapped.

“I agree,” Madison said firmly. “There's no reason to resort to clichés. I mean,
really.
”

“Detective, may I ask you a question?” Park took a step in his direction. “Are you conducting an official police interrogation here? Because if you are, I believe Coco and Tallula have the right to have an attorney present.”

His lips curled in a little snarl. He stayed quiet.

“That's right!” Coco snapped. “And a publicist! I'm being made to feel like a criminal!”

“And you can't expect
me
to answer any questions!” Tallula wailed. “I'm in shock!” She stumbled toward a chair and plopped into it, covering her face with her hands.

It was a clear defeat for Detective Roan, and he knew it.

But Park didn't give him a smug expression. Instead, she smiled brightly, dug into her purse, and pulled out a roll of Life Savers. She popped one into her mouth and then gingerly offered him one.

The snarl still in place, he grabbed a piece and crunched down on it.

“Now,” Park said firmly. “We need some questions answered, right? Let's start with you, Coco. Tell us exactly what happened, please.”

“It happened just like I said,” Coco explained. “When I left the luncheon I went to the bathroom, and I…I saw the chain on the floor and I picked it up. End of story.”

Madison looked at Lex, who looked at Park.

“Where'd you go after the bathroom?” Park asked.

“Madison, you told me that Lex went to the bathroom when I first arrived at the luncheon,” Tallula said.

“So the two of you went to the bathroom together,” Detective Roan stated. “Is that right?”

“No, it's not.” Lex sighed.
Damn.
She didn't want to have to speak up about Coco's whereabouts just yet. But she knew she had no choice. “I went looking for Coco because Coco never came back from the bathroom. I looked for her for nearly an hour.”

Coco blushed.

“So then where did you go during that time, Miss McKaid?” Detective Roan asked.

“I…I was just wandering around.” Coco cleared her throat nervously. “I had a little too much to drink at the luncheon and I was annoyed and I—”

“Elijah went to the luncheon before I did,” Tallula interjected. “Did any of you see him?”

Madison bit down on her lip.

Lex played with the strap of her purse.

Park didn't bat an eye. She stood as calm and unshakable as ever. “Yes. In fact, we met him. And Coco was with us.”

Coco shot Park a
how-could-you-do-this-to-me?
look.

“Park, did you or your sisters see Coco leave the room with Elijah?” Detective Roan asked.

“No,” Park replied. “Elijah left a few minutes before she did.”

“But then Elijah came back up to the penthouse just as Ina and I were leaving to come to the lunch—” Tallula started as if she'd been pricked with a needle. She shot out of the chair. “Oh my God! Ina! I completely forgot about Ina! She was up in the penthouse! She had to have been there when Elijah fell! Oh my God! Where is she?”

“I'm sure she's fine,” Madison said soothingly. “The police are probably up there right now talking to her.”

“But what if she's been hurt?” Tallula cried. “I have to get upstairs!”

Madison grabbed Tallula's hand and held her back.

Detective Roan was already rattling orders off on his cell.

“Tallula, what happened after you and Ina left the luncheon together?” Park asked coolly. “I know you don't feel like answering questions, but please try.”

“We walked down the hall to the elevator,” Tallula began, wringing her hands. “Ina hadn't felt so good this morning, and then it just got worse—she must've eaten something at the luncheon that didn't agree with her. We rode upstairs and went into the suite. Ina went right to her room and told me she wanted to take a shower and lie down.”

“And where was Elijah?” Lex asked.

“He was in the bedroom.” Tallula paused, as though trying to recall every detail of those critical moments. “He was on the Internet, sitting at the desk. He asked me if I'd go back downstairs and buy him a pack of cigarettes, and that's exactly what I did. I left the penthouse and got back into the elevator—but the elevator got stuck on its way down. I was in there for at least ten minutes before it started moving again. I made it to the lobby, and that's when I saw all the commotion. That's when I…”

When I came outside and saw Elijah dead on the pavement,
Park thought. She smoothed a hand over Tallula's arm. “And is there any possibility that Elijah…took his own life?” she asked gently.

Tallula shook her head. “No, never. Someone had to have…pushed him.” Tears spilled over her cheeks again.

“Well then, I guess it's Ina we should be speaking to,” Madison said quietly, insinuating the obvious.

“That can't be,” Tallula whispered. “It just…can't be.”

Detective Roan snapped his cell shut. “Ms. Debrovitch is being questioned in the penthouse by my partner. She's okay, but very shaken up.”

“I have to see her!” Tallula cried.

“Not yet.” Detective Roan trained his eyes on Coco. “Tell me something, Miss McKaid—where were you for all that time after you left the luncheon? Lex said she searched for you for about an hour.”

“I was…just walking around,” Coco said, and not very convincingly.

“Is that right?” Detective Roan sounded purposely skeptical. “No chance you met up with Elijah while Tallula and Ina and your friends were all at the luncheon, is there?”

“Of course not!” Coco shot back. “Are you crazy?”

Madison stood up. “Detective, why would you ask a question like that?”

“I was drunk!” Coco ranted, sounding more and more panicked. “I…My head was spinning and I even felt like throwing up. I was probably in that bathroom when Lex came looking for me—she just didn't know it.”

“I thought you said you were walking around.” Detective Roan smirked. “I'm pretty sure that's what you said.”

“No…yes. I mean…” Coco raked a hand through her hair. She had begun sweating. She stared beseechingly at Madison, at Park, at Lex. Her breaths came sharply.

“Think, Miss McKaid,” Detective Roan pressed. “Maybe there's something you're just not telling us.”

“I've told you everything!” Coco snapped. “And I'm tired of answering your stupid questions. I want to get out of here.”

Detective Roan held up the gold chain that had fallen out of Coco's purse. The chain that had belonged to Elijah Traymore. “You see this?” he said. “The latch on the back of this chain is completely bent, and it looks to me like there're a few specks of dried blood on it. As if it was yanked off Elijah's neck. By force.”

Park leaned forward and tried to get a good look at the chain without upsetting Detective Roan. “Oh, yes,” she whispered. “I see that. But—wait. Then you're saying Elijah was involved in some sort of physical confrontation. You're saying he was pushed.”

Detective Roan smiled and gave Park an exaggerated wink. “You might make a good cop one day, little lady.”

“Only if they change the uniform,” Madison commented.

Under normal circumstances, Coco would have laughed at the comment. Or added something to it. But now she was frozen, staring at the floor like a kid who's just been caught going through her mother's jewelry safe.

“A whole hour,” Detective Roan continued, circling her as he held out the chain. “Unless you have an alibi, I could probably place you just about anywhere. A lot can happen in an hour.”

Madison reached out and tapped Coco's shoulder. “Why aren't you saying anything?” she asked frantically. “What's wrong with you? Don't you understand what he's trying to imply? Tell him where you were so you're not a part of this whole mess.”

Coco remained silent.

Just then, the elevator behind them yawned open and a uniformed officer stepped out of it. He walked up to Detective Roan, held up a small plastic bag, and said, “We found this in the penthouse, just outside the terrace. Looks like evidence of a struggle.”

Detective Roan held up the plastic bag; in it was a gold cell phone. “This look familiar, Miss McKaid?”

Madison gasped. Lex grabbed Park's hand.

“It's mine,” Coco answered, her voice barely audible. Then her eyes glassed with tears. “It's…mine.”

Tallula lunged forward, but the shock of the moment got her, and she stumbled back into the chair. “Murderer!” she shrieked, pointing at Coco.
“Murderer!”

“Ina, are you okay?”

Park kept her voice gentle and soothing, not wanting to add to the chaos happening all over the hotel suite. She, Madison, and Lex were standing in the small study just off the main foyer. They were clutching their purses as they stared down at Ina—a trembling, pathetic figure of a girl slumped on the couch. They each had the instinct to reach out and comfort her, but Park knew playing that card wouldn't be a good idea. There was a lot of work to do, and they had to maintain a low profile.

It had been a feat to get in here in the first place. Detective Roan had protested all the way. Madison and Lex—both in shock from watching Coco be escorted to a police cruiser in handcuffs—had nearly fallen apart. Park had assumed the role of leader and muscled their way into the hotel suite. Thankfully, Tallula had agreed that extra company would be good for her and Ina.

But getting in was only half the battle. Now Park had to find a way around all the crime-scene technicians. Not to mention Detective Roan, who had gotten a lot meaner in the last half hour.

“Ina?” Park said again. She tapped the girl's shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Ina Debrovitch trembled and played with the edges of the quilt that had been draped around her shoulders. She didn't touch the cup of tea on the table before her, nor did she look up at Madison, Park, or Lex.

“You're just in shock,” Madison said, kneeling down beside her. “But you don't have to be afraid to talk to us. We're Tallula's friends.”

“That's right,” Lex chimed in. “You just need to relax. Here, let me help you.” She opened the magic purse and pulled out her small bottle of custom-mix perfume. She reached down and gently took hold of Ina's left wrist. “This is one of the rarest and most expensive perfumes on the planet. Some of the botanicals come straight from the Amazon. Trust me—once you get a whiff, you'll feel a lot better.”