Wishbones (10 page)

"I think he's getting the luggage. We also brought Jovan with us from the airport." Cece gave a little
moue.
"Beautiful but not a great conversationalist."

"I couldn't stop staring at her," Millie said. "She's so gorgeous. They call her the Ice Princess in the tabloids. They say she's such a hot model because it's that contrast of Nordic cool and the hot Latino men they use with her in the ads."

"Graf has a surprise for you, Sarah Booth." Tinkie could barely suppress her glee.

"What kind of surprise?" I asked. Tragedy tapping at my door had made me suspicious of surprises.

"The kind you'll like." Cece put her arm around my shoulders. "Give us the tour. Millie especially wants to see the balcony where the prop guy almost fell to his death."

Millie pulled a shining digital camera from her purse. "I
brought my camera. I intend to document this entire trip. You would think Cece would do this. She is, supposedly, the journalist." She started snapping photographs. "Is the young man who fell doing better?" she asked.

"Joey is fine. His injuries aren't serious. In fact, he's back on the set already." And he was. He couldn't do much, but he was doing what he could. I led the way upstairs, unlocking my door to a curious look from Tinkie.

"Long story," I whispered under my breath.

While Cece and Millie toured the room, both stopping in front of the striking portrait of Carlita Marquez, Tinkie went straight to the balcony. Even in the dark she suspected the balustrade had deliberately been weakened.

"Were you the target?" she asked.

"I don't think so. There're some strange things happening in this house."

"Strange as in fatal?"

"Strange as in . . . supernatural." If I'd ever thought of telling Tinkie about Jitty, I knew better now. Her face showed clear doubt and a good measure of worry.

"Are you saying a ghost tampered with the balcony?"

"No." What was I saying? "Ghosts can't--" I broke off. Far be it for me to explain the rules and regulations of the Great Beyond. "Someone did that but it's possible it wasn't directed at me. It could have happened long before the filming started."

"Or not." Tinkie stared into my eyes, searching for some answer. "Suzy Dutton died in the ravine by the house you were living in. She was pushed off a cliff."

"Did the coroner rule homicide?" Being so far away from California and without access to a computer, I hadn't thought to check on the news stories about Suzy.

"The coroner's report hasn't been released, but law enforcement officials have been all over that canyon, and they hauled Bobby Joe Taylor in for questioning. They wouldn't do that if they felt Dutton's death was accidental."

"How do you know all this?" Foolish question.

"Millie keeps up with things. And it's a good thing, too. I'd never have known about the prop man falling if it wasn't for her."

"Things are going fine here. Federico is pleased with the work. We're ahead of schedule." I shrugged.

"The tabloids are saying the movie is cursed. They're hinting about some dark secret in Federico's past."

"Like?"

"Like murder."

I started to walk away and Tinkie grasped my arm. I winced, and she led me back into the bedroom and the light. "What the hell happened to your arm?" She looked toward the door. "Did Graf do that?"

"No. It was . . ." I was finding it hard to tell Tinkie all the things that had happened, because while I was determined not to add them up to get the score, she would do so instantly.

"It was what?" Cece said, coming over to join Tinkie. Millie was right on her heels. Angry expressions touched their faces when they saw the bruises on my arm.

"Federico's daughter. She's upset that we're using the house for filming. She says her dead mother wouldn't approve. She wants us gone, and she's a little hysterical."

"And so she grabbed your arm that hard? What did Federico say?" Millie asked.

I fudged a bit. "He had Estelle removed from the property." I almost left it there, but in fairness, I couldn't. "But she keeps sneaking back into the house. She must have her own keys."

"When her mother died, Estelle was sent to a
spa
for several months." Millie looked from one to the other. "Spa being a nice word for rehab. I remember the picture of her. She looked like warmed-over death. She was very close with Carlita, and there was talk that her mind had snapped."

"She's a little unbalanced," I said. "There's such anger between
her and Federico. What I don't understand is why she's taking it out on me. I would have thought that she'd be dogging Jovan, her father's girlfriend."

"Jovan isn't the star of the movie," Tinkie said quietly. "You are, Sarah Booth."

"That's not the worst of it." I was on the verge of telling them about the ghost when I heard the distinctive sound of toenails on the floor. Sweetie Pie, followed by Chablis, burst into the room. Both dogs circled us and then jumped into the middle of the bed.

"You brought Chablis!" I was delighted to see the moppet.

"Heaven forbid that I should leave her. And I heard Sweetie Pie was going to be in the movie. I thought maybe Chablis might find a cameo role." Tinkie was grinning from ear to ear. "But you really need to step outside on the balcony."

"Right now?" I couldn't imagine why. We'd already been out there.

"Please," Tinkie said.

"Humor her," Cece instructed.

"Yeah," Millie chimed in.

Mystified, I followed Tinkie onto the balcony. When I looked down at the grounds, I saw Graf standing on the lawn lit by the set lights. He held the lead rope of a horse in each hand, a beautiful palomino and a lovely red roan.

"He borrowed them so you and he could ride together," Tinkie said. "He's very much in love with you, Sarah Booth."

I didn't know what to say. They were beautiful animals, and the idea that Graf had arranged all of this for my pleasure was almost more than I could absorb.

"Federico said they could stay in the old stables while you guys are working here." Cece put her hand on my shoulder. "I know it isn't Reveler and Miss Scrapiron, but I thought it was pretty dang sweet of him. For a person ruled by vanity and testosterone, he's a good guy."

I blew a kiss down to him, blinking back the tears that threatened. "So this was the surprise," I said.

"A good one, huh?" Tinkie asked.

"Yeah, one of the best ever."

Dinner was a happy time of margaritas and wonderful food, cool breezes and the simple joy of being in the company of my friends, and that included Graf. I'd never considered him a compadre in the past. He was my lover, my man, my passion. But his recent actions had moved him into the column of good friend, and my heart was opening to him. I had only to think of the sweet little roan, Flicker, and the palomino, Nugget, to know Graf was special.

We all walked home, laughing and talking and teasing. When we got to the mansion, Sweetie and Chablis came rushing out of Federico's quarters. I thought it was a little strange, especially since Jovan had arrived, and she didn't look like the kind of gal who appreciated dog hair on her size 00 black miniskirt.

When we got closer to the door, I heard sobbing.

"What in the world?" Millie said. She had the most maternal instinct of all of us, and I could see the worry in her eyes.

"There's a lot of emotion on a movie set," I told her, leading them up the stairs. "Nothing to worry about." But I was worried. Why had Sweetie and Chablis been in Federico's suite? I was almost afraid to find out.

Once the girls were settled, I gave Graf the kiss he deserved. "I need to talk to Federico," I said. "Would you entertain my friends?"

"Certainly. We'll wait up for you."

I hurried down the stairs to Federico's room and tapped lightly on the door. When it opened, I was shocked at his face. He'd aged ten years. "Are you okay?"

He stepped into the hallway and closed the door. "I'm only exhausted. Jovan is resting now. She isn't seriously injured, but she was badly frightened. The doctor examined her and gave her a sedative so she will sleep soundly now."

"What happened?"

"Someone pushed her down the stairs."

I felt the dull thud of my heartbeat. "She was pushed? For sure?"

"She insists she was pushed. She was going upstairs to look around, and she said she saw . . . a figure. Coming out of your room." He swallowed and looked at the floor. "A woman with dark, flowing hair and eyes that burned like hot coals."

Goose bumps raced up my arms and along my back. "Who was the woman?"

He shook his head. "There's no one on the set who looks like that."

"What happened next?"

"Jovan was frightened. She said the woman was strange. So she retreated, headed back to our room. She was looking down when someone gave her a big push. She could have broken her neck."

"Did this woman push her?" According to the rules of the Great Beyond, a noncorporeal being couldn't push a flesh and blood human down the steps. Only the most powerful ghosts--or evil spirits--could manipulate matter.

"She couldn't say for certain. She took a sedative and she's resting now. The only thing that calmed her was your dog and
the other one. She felt like they guarded her--that they would sense an evil presence. She's finally relaxing."

"She isn't injured?"

"Some bruises, nothing serious. But it could have been. Sarah Booth, it could have been fatal. And if the media gets word of this, our film may die. No one wants to be affiliated with a movie that's cursed."

The media was already blowing things out of proportion. An "attack" on Jovan would send them into a real feeding frenzy. But the problems on the set couldn't be ignored, either.

I showed Federico my arm. "Estelle did this. She came into my room. She doesn't want us in this house."

"When? How?" Federico was shocked.

"Earlier today. She grabbed my arm and said her mother wouldn't approve of us being here." I cleared my throat. "Is she delusional, thinking that Carlita is still alive, or does she believe Carlita's ghost is here?"

Federico sat down heavily. "The past never dies, does it?"

"No," I said, "it doesn't." I spoke from personal experience.

"I've lied to Estelle about her mother's death, and now I'm afraid she's losing her mind."

I couldn't help that my heart rate accelerated. "How so?"

"I wasn't truthful about how Carlita died."

Jovan slept peacefully in the bedroom. I caught a glimpse of her through the open door from the sitting room where we were. "What really happened?" I asked.

"You see the picture of her in your room, yes?"

I nodded.

"She was a beautiful woman, lush and exotic even in that picture, where her illness was beginning to show."

I'd never heard that Carlita was ill, but I kept silent while Federico continued.

"Carlita wanted to be something else, someone other than
who she was. She suffered from the harshest of diseases. Self-loathing." He straightened his shoulders.

"Who did she want to be?"

"Someone European. Someone tall and slender and fair. She felt too short, too curvaceous, too Latino. She wanted to be considered a serious actress, and she felt she was typecast as the femme fatale because of her looks. She thought if she was thin, she would be viewed as a talented woman instead of a woman with looks."

I was stunned to hear this. "She was gorgeous. What a shame not to revel in that gift."

"And she was talented, Sarah Booth. Greatly talented. I was drawn to her beauty and her talent like a moth to a flame. But no matter what I told her, she could never see those things in herself. I have no idea what she saw when she looked in the mirror, but it wasn't the truth."

No one ever sees the truth in a mirror, which is the power of
Sleeping Beauty.
But none of this answered my question. "How did she die?"

"The medical term is anorexia nervosa. We were living in Los Angeles for my work. I got the finest doctors money could hire. The incredible truth is that she starved herself to death." He blinked tears from his eyes. "I've never endured anything more terrible. We force-fed her, we tried everything, from drugs to electroshock therapy. Before she died, her teeth were falling from her gums. To watch such loveliness descend into ruin was excruciating."

There had been a girl in college who was rumored to suffer from anorexia. I never knew for certain, because her parents came and took her home. I only knew that in one semester's time, she went from thin to skeletal.

"What did you tell Estelle about her death?"

"Estelle has always been self-conscious about her appearance. I was terrified if she knew her mother's true illness that she would mimic Carlita. They were so close. In appearance
and temperament and emotions. So I sent Estelle and Ricardo to boarding schools in the East. Toward the end, I never allowed them to come home. Not even for holidays. And when Carlita finally died, I told them she'd accidentally taken a drug overdose."