The Watched (CSI Reilly Steel #4) (16 page)

By the time
he reached the blood spatter, his intern had finished photographing the scene and was taking samples of the blood. Todd crouched beside her, the muscles in his legs protesting the awkward position. The rich coppery scent of blood filled his nostrils. Underneath it, the stench from alley dumpsters in the Florida heat, and the faint aroma of sweat.

‘
Not a whole lot of blood,’ he commented to Reed, who’d come up alongside him.

‘
But no footprints or tracking, so it doesn’t look like it’s from a fight,’ the detective replied.

Todd
’s eyes flicked up to the nearby wall. ‘Nothing on the wall, so probably not a hit to the face. Maybe the perp threatened your writer guy with a knife and nicked him when he didn’t move fast enough?’

Reed seemed unimpressed by Todd’s assessment. ‘Find anything helpful
?’ he asked.

‘
I’m not sure.’ He turned his attention back to the crime scene. ‘It looks like most people use the alley as an ash tray. I doubt any of the butts I collected are going to have perp DNA. Most of the footprints stop just outside the door, where there’s still some shade, so I’m guessing that’s where most of the smokers stand. I only counted a few out here.’ Todd indicated the more open area of the alley. ‘I’m betting some of those are going to belong to your missing writer. If we’re lucky, one of the others will match the perp. Unless he wore gloves, in which case we’re back to square one.’

Todd straightened
, noticing some background noise. He glanced over his shoulder as a particularly long string of expletives was directed toward the officers at the tape.

The culprit was a young brunette, pretty enough to be one of the many aspiring actresses hanging around, hoping to be
talent-spotted. So much for Hollywood glamor. If anything, the place stank of desperation with so many wannabe locals about, pleading to be discovered and propelled to stardom. As if.

But he wondered what was making this particular girl so agitated.

‘Sheldon’s daughter,’ the detective informed him. ‘The screenwriter. She’s been all over our asses since the guy went awol.’

This surprised Todd a little. He wasn’t a movie fan and thus had never heard of Drew Sheldon, but for some reason he hadn’t pictured the guy as old enough to have a daughter, never mind bring her along to a festival with him. Maybe there was more to his disappearance than met the eye?

Mark Reed turned back to view the full scene. He pointed toward the door. ‘So the writer comes out for a smoke and the kidnapper’s waiting.’ He motioned closer to where the blood was drying. ‘The perp somehow draws him further out, probably to get Sheldon further away from the door.’

Todd
picked it up. ‘Once out here, the kidnapper pulls a weapon, most likely a knife based on the blood pattern. He threatens the guy, and nicks him. Then the two of them leave by the street entrance.’ He turned toward where the police were gathered.

‘
Where the kidnapper had a ride waiting,’ Mark finished. ‘No one stopped them, no one reported anything strange. With the festival going on, there were double patrols in this area. I guess that’s why the DA’s so pissed. The department’s getting reamed for letting this happen.’

‘
For this, but not for the movie murders?’ Todd couldn’t help himself.

The detective scowled.
‘Hey, I just do what I’m told.’

‘
I get it.’ Todd made sure his words implied just the opposite.

But he wondered now about a connection between the film festival and Holly’s murderer’s obvious movie penchant. The murders had started around the same time as the festival came to town. Could the perp be directly involved in the movie business?

His mind raced and he struggled to sound indifferent as he tried to draw out the detective for more details.

‘Maybe we should go talk to some of the other people at the festival. See if anyone in particular would benefit
from Mr Sheldon’s sudden absence?’ he fished, though he wasn’t particularly interested in the screenwriter’s whereabouts. Unless it really did have something to do with the murders.

‘Among the things
found in Sheldon’s hotel room was a letter from a producer he was working with, Toby Carpenter,’ Mark told him. ‘Apparently, he and Sheldon were in a bit of a tiff over some new movie. We’re going to talk to Carpenter now.’

‘I can take the letter to the lab if you like,
get it analyzed,’ Todd suggested, finding the in he was hoping for, and suddenly taking a brand new interest in the disappearance of Drew Sheldon.

‘You could be on to something,’ Reilly heard Daniel say into the phone, and she wondered if Todd and the investigative team had made some kind of breakthrough.

When he got off the phone, he filled her in on the conversation with his son.

‘Todd thinks the film festival being in town might be too much of a coincidence and given what we’ve just learned about the killer’s MO, I agree with him, The cops are all over this missing person investigation, but nobody seems to be asking these guys questions about a possible rogue film-maker in their midst.

Reilly looked at him, recognizing that tone. ‘Thinking about flashing that investigator’s badge around the film festival, Agent Forrest?’

Daniel picked up his keys and gave her wry smile. ‘We can pick up yours at the office on the way.’

They decided to operate under the guise of investigating Drew Sheldon’s disappearance so as not to raise any suspicion. Todd had passed on the name of the film producer rumored to be in disagreement with the screenwriter and, having carried out some background information on the guy, they figured he was as good a place to start as any.

Based on the way
Toby Carpenter was now leering at her, Reilly suspected that the rumors she and Daniel had heard were true. Even after she’d introduced herself as an investigative consultant, the fifty-something executive producer had only taken his eyes off of her breasts to flick down to her hips once or twice. Although, she figured she was a bit older than his usual fare.

‘We’ve heard that you and Mr
Sheldon were in a dispute regarding a movie,’ Daniel said, the expression on his face clearly communicating that he didn’t appreciate the way Carpenter was looking at his associate.

‘Not really.’ The producer didn’t take his eyes from Reilly. ‘I just told him that if he didn’t change the lead female role to a younger character, I wouldn’t produce the film.’

Reilly scowled. She hated the movie business habit of giving older men romantic interests young enough to be their daughter. ‘Isn’t Bruce Reynolds playing the lead role? He’s forty-two. Just how young did you want his romantic interest to be?’

‘Honey,’ Carpenter
said, leaning forward, ‘after that whole fiasco on
Leno
, Sheldon did a rewrite where Reynolds gets killed off in the first ten minutes. The character’s older brother comes in to avenge the murder and falls for his former sister-in-law.’

‘So
Sheldon was making all of the changes you wanted then?’ Daniel asked.

Reilly wasn’t sure if he was trying to draw the producer’s attention from her or keep her from saying something she’d regret. Either way, it worked.

‘Of course.’ Carpenter shrugged. ‘In fact, I have a whole group of girls coming in to audition for me tomorrow. Why would I want Sheldon gone?’

‘Maybe because he told you that he’d never write for you again, you hypocritical ass
-hat,’ said a voice from behind Reilly and Daniel that made them turn.

A tall, slender young woman stood with arms crossed, glaring at Carpenter. Late teens, long dark hair and startling blue eyes, she was exactly the type of girl Carpenter usually went for. ‘Now, now, Kai, let’s not air our dirty laundry in front of outsiders,’ Carpenter said, his tone condescending.

‘Shut it, Carpenter.’ The girl turned her attention to Reilly and Daniel. ‘Are you two looking for my dad?’

‘If you’ll excuse me.’ With one last full-body ogle directed first at Reilly and then at Kai, Carpenter turned and walked away.

Reilly shuddered. ‘I feel the sudden need for a shower.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Kai said.

‘Your dad’s Drew Sheldon?’ Daniel asked.

The girl nodded and stuck out her hand. ‘Kai
Sheldon. He brought me with him this year to meet some people. I want to get into the industry.’

‘Screenwriting or acting?’ Reilly asked.

‘Neither.’ Kai shook her head and tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Stunts.’

‘Really?’ Daniel didn’t even try to hide his surprise.

Reilly smiled indulgently at him. He sounded like her own dad. ‘Kai, can you think of anyone who’d want to hurt your father?’

‘You mean besides the slimy son of a bitch who just left?’ Kai shrugged. ‘It’s hard to say. Working with these people is like being in one giant high school, complete wi
th the backstabbing and partner-swapping. Dad tried to stay out of it as much as possible, but there were always people pissed about something.’

‘Why did your dad decide to cut ties with Toby Carpenter?’

‘Like I said, Dad never liked to get involved, especially with rumors, but when Carpenter offered to put me in one of his films if I had sex with him, that was the last straw.’

‘When did you tell your dad what Carpenter did?’ Daniel asked.

‘I didn’t need to,’ Kai said. ‘My dad was standing right there.’

‘Oh.’ Reilly and Daniel exchanged glances.

‘Yeah.’ Kai nodded. ‘Look, that night, I went up to my room early. Dad was supposed to check in before he went to bed. He never did. The last time I saw him was here in the lobby after he told Carpenter he was through working with him.’

‘
OK, thanks.’ Daniel pulled out a card and handed it to Kai. ‘If you think of anything else, please give me a call.’

‘I will.’ Kai’s expression changed, the tough girl melting away to reveal a worried child. ‘Please, just find my dad.’

‘We’ll do our best.’ Reilly felt guilty. The poor girl had no idea their focus was on something entirely different.

As they watched Kai walk away, Daniel said, ‘Somehow I don’t think someone like Toby Carpenter has any idea what’s going on in the real world. He
certainly wouldn’t know anything about our killer.’

‘I agree,’ Reilly said. ‘Who’s next?’

‘Well, I don’t know about you, but if I had just been killed off in a movie that was supposed to relaunch my torpedoed career, I might have a point to prove,’ Daniel suggested, and Reilly figured out where he was going with this angle.

Could their killer be an actor with a grudge, bent on carrying out his own particular brand of revenge?

CHAPTER 18

He sat in the silence of his room. He’d had a productive week and deserved some time to sit and reflect. He sipped at the expensive Scotch in his glass. Things were starting to fall into place, and it was about time too.

Everyone in the business was all about the overnight successes or the legacies.

No one cared about the people like him who worked their asses off day in and day out. He’d worked extremely hard to get to this point and had put in his dues in every respect. And still he had to bow to somebody else’s vision, dance to someone else’s tune.

Well, no more. He’d always been certain of his abilities, and now was the time to show the world how talented he truly was.

A glisten on the floor caught his eye. In hindsight, he regretted stomping the ring into pieces. He’d just been so frustrated the other day and that old prop had seemed to mock him, reminding him that he was a hack. Now, he could see it for what it really had been: a reminder of just how far he’d come.

As the amber-colored alcohol warmed him, he thought back
through his recent body of work, as well as the scenes he’d used for practice, the ones that hadn’t turned out quite right. He’d decided to abandon the arrows idea for the moment – it was just too tricky. Not to mention messy.

Perhaps he should have recorded
everything, for posterity of course.

He could even use it as a tutorial for anyone wishing to learn from him.

When he’d first decided to take on this project, he knew he’d need to start slow to perfect his technique. First, he’d dabbled with assault to practice his editing, and then had moved on to the bigger stuff.

While th
at couple at Belleair Beach had been his first foray into the world of chloroform, they hadn’t been his first kill. That honor had gone to a skinny teenage hitchhiker who’d called himself Rory.

That one hadn’t been anything fancy. No camera, no elaborate staging. Just a quick and messy stabbing to prove that he had the stomach for it. The blood had been a real
bitch to clean up though. In the end, he’d gotten frustrated enough to leave the car in a bad section of town with the keys in the ignition.

He’d gotten better with the next one. The girl hadn’t been more than fifteen when s
he’d tried soliciting him. He’d been interested in a different sort of performance though. She’d even played along until she’d realized that he wasn’t acting. A raincoat and axe had served to make her his first movie homage. It had helped him understand the complexities of staging a scene with a less than willing participant.