THE HOUSE THAT VANITY BUILT

by Nancy Cole Silverman

  “So, you were running an unauthorized investigation on your own?”

  I didn’t care for William’s tone.

  “Yes, I knew the police weren’t going to find anything. You can call that a hunch or anything you like, but let’s face it, the police decided early on Jared’s death was accidental. You all knew the doctor was grief-stricken, and no doubt didn’t think he was making much sense. If it weren’t for the doctor, and his connections with the department, your people wouldn’t have given it so much as a look-see. And quite frankly, since the police had already been there, I didn’t see the problem if I did a little poking around.”

  “Well, it is a problem,” Williams said. “You’ve interfered with an active investigation, and whether this bottle of cologne was ever important or not, it won’t be now. We’ve no way of proving where it came from or when.”

  I realized I was the only one sitting. Denise, Romero, and his two sidekick detectives, who I was growing less and less fond of, were all standing over me, looking down at me like I was some pathetic, deranged little old lady.

  “Go ahead, Detective, tell me. I’m fired, right?”

  Romero picked up the bottle. “Misty you were never—”

  “What? Hired? I’m well aware of that. It was me who called you in the first place, remember?”

  “Look,” Romero said, “if it makes you feel any better, I’ll have Williams take the bottle by our forensics guys and run some tests, but, really it’s—”

  “Wait. There’s something else.” I reached into my skirt pocket and took the pills Lupe had given me. “As long as you’re doing that, take these as well. The doctor made them up for Amy. I’d be curious to know what’s in them.”

  Williams stepped forward. “How did you—”

  “Never mind,” I said, “just have them tested.”

  “Detective.” Williams sounded frustrated. “Tell her she can’t be using LAPD as her own private testing facility.”

  Romero took the pills from my hand. “I’m sorry, but Detective Williams is right, we—”

  “Save it, Detective. I understand what you and your team think. I’ve gotten in your way, and you’d prefer I step aside and let the police handle it.”

  Chapter 23

  In my younger days, being asked to step aside would have kept me awake all night. I would have spent the night fitfully shadow boxing the detectives’ comments about my actions with retorts of my own about the department’s ability to be misled by people like the doctor with his generous donations to the Police Protective League. As it was, I didn’t sleep a wink. Not because Romero had made it very clear LAPD didn’t need my help, but because I felt Billy did. And if what Eli and Christina had told me about the doctor’s will was true, then Amy and the baby were in trouble. And Amy had no idea.

  My first thought the following morning was to call Lupe and find a way for her to remove Amy from the house. Maybe take her back to Lupe’s own small apartment, where she might stay until I had a chance to clear her name and find whoever was behind Jared’s death. But the longer I thought about it, the more I knew the answer wasn’t that simple. While Dr. Conroy may not have known where Lupe lived or ever been to her apartment, he did know that Amy was friendly with the housekeeper. The moment the doctor couldn’t find Amy, he would question Lupe about the girl’s whereabouts. And Lupe would fold, as might my investigation if the doctor were to have any idea what I was really up to.

  My second thought was that I had no proof or clear idea who had killed Jared. My brief encounter with Matthew had left me with as many questions as it did answers. Yes, the boy felt guilty. It radiated off him. But was it because he was involved or just suspicious about his cousin’s death? As for Lupe’s eyewitness report of Matthew standing in front of Jared’s dresser, that too wasn’t enough to prove he had replaced Jared’s pollen-free cologne with one more potent or that he had messed with Jared’s EpiPen. Nor was the fact Madeline had shown up at the mansion with her son and the party bus prior to Jared’s party. All of it suspicious, but evidence? As the detective would say, “None of it enough to drag into a court of law.” On the other hand, the doctor was clearly bipolar, but even in a darkened state, would he have been crazy enough to kill his own son? It was hard to imagine. My thoughts swelled with possibilities.

  It’s times like these that I’ve learned to let go and let the universe take over. As a respite, I returned to my garden and tended to my herbs. There’s something about planting, pruning, getting my hands dirty that does wonders for my mind. I knew it wouldn’t be long before something would break, and when it did, I’d be back in the game again. Invited by LAPD or otherwise.

  I couldn’t have been in the yard longer than an hour before my cell rang. I put my trowel down, and as I pulled my phone from my apron, my hand tingled. Like a small electrical charge, it ran from the tips of my fingers to my heart. I had felt the sensation before, always with clients with whom I was close and always in situations of great stress. I knew without looking the call was from Carlene.

  Her voice was shaking. “The doctor tried to kill me!”

  “What?” With one hand on my thigh, I pushed myself to my feet. Getting up and down wasn’t as easy as it once had been. “Where are you? What happened?”

  “I had an accident. I nearly drove off a cliff last night in Malibu. The police arrested me, and I spent the night in jail. I called an Uber this morning to pick me up. I was going to call Amy, but I didn’t dare.”

  I closed my eyes and had a mental picture of Carlene huddled in the back seat of a car with the phone beneath her chin.

  “How are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’ll be okay, but my car’s totaled. It’s a miracle I’m alive. Someone must have tampered with the brakes. I just had the car in for service.”

  “Where are you going now?”

  “I have a college friend who has a ranch in the north valley. I called her and told her I needed to hang out for a while. I’m scared. It’s the doctor, I know it. He knows who I am, and he’s on to me.” Carlene sounded out of breath.

  “Slow down. Tell me everything that happened, and start at the beginning.”

  Carlene sighed and began again. “Yesterday I got this call from Joe, the manager at Mastro’s where I did Jared’s bachelor party. He said a friend had called him, some VIP who works with a lot of celebs. Joe didn’t tell me who, only that whoever was calling was working with some actor who had been in the restaurant the night of Jared’s bachelor party. He left before all the excitement, so I guess he didn’t know Jared had died. He only saw the setup and said he liked it. Anyway, this actor wanted to know if whoever had planned the party might be available to plan a classy event—a birthday party—for the guy’s wife at their home in Malibu. It was all kind of mysterious, but then, that’s Hollywood, right?”

  I agreed it wasn’t unusual. The really big stars had personal assistants who seldom used the star’s name when booking hotels or checking out potential contractors for various events. Often times, not until there was a real need to know, was the celeb’s name revealed to the potential hire.

  “Anyway, Joe wouldn’t give me the name, and I didn’t think much about it. He set up a meeting at Geoffrey’s in Malibu at seven p.m. and told me he’d given my description to whoever it was. He said I’d recognize the client when he walked in, and I could thank him later. Two hours passed, and when no one showed, I gave up and started back down the canyon. That’s when my brakes gave out. The police said it was a miracle I hit the mountainside and didn’t drive off the cliff.”

  “I assume you told the police you thought someone had tampered with your brakes.”

  “A lot of good that would do. I couldn’t prove it, and even if I could, you think I’d risk bringing charges against the doctor? The police asked me if I’d been drinking, and when I said I’d had a drink at the bar while waiting for a client, they
did a sobriety test. I wasn’t drunk, but because I admitted I had a drink and was pretty shaken, they charged me with a lesser offense. Called it a wet and reckless and that it came with an automatic overnight at the gray bar hotel. Fun, huh?”

  Carlene didn’t have to be sitting in front of me for me to know she was still reeling from last night’s experience. She had barely paused to breathe the entire time we talked.

  “The thing is, I took Kanan Dune from the valley to Malibu, and the car was fine. But as I drove home, back through the canyon, something happened to the brakes. When I tried to slow down, my foot went straight to the floorboard!”

  “And you’re convinced it was Dr. Conroy?” I asked.

  “I didn’t see him do it if that’s what you mean. I didn’t have to. The doctor would never get his own hands dirty. He has people who do that kind of thing. Always has.”

  “But surely somebody would have seen something? What about the valet? Didn’t you park in the lot?”

  “No. I parked on PCH and walked up to the restaurant. I didn’t want to pay a valet.”

  Not an unusual practice. Lots of visitors to the area parked along the Pacific Coast Highway to get a better view of the water and save the valet fee.

  “I assume you locked the car?”

  “I did, but I’m not the only one with a set of keys. The car was my mother’s, a Mercedes diesel sedan, a gift from the doctor. It’s at least twenty-five years old. My mother gave it to me when I graduated from high school. Dr. Conroy always kept an extra set of keys around, probably still has them in the desk in his office.”

  Everything Carlene told me fit like a piece to a jigsaw puzzle. Including the idea Conroy wouldn’t have done his own dirty work.

  “You think the doctor arranged to have you go out to Geoffrey’s, had someone follow you there, and while you waited around, messed with the car’s brakes?”

  “I’d bet my life on it, and something else too.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “He wanted me to know it was him.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because of Jared’s cologne. I smelled it when I got in the car. In hindsight, I should have gotten out right then, but I didn’t think about it. Jared had been in the car with me a dozen times. I’d smelled that cologne off and on so often I guess it didn’t register. But after the crash, I remembered the scent, and I knew it was no accident.”

  A chill ran down my back. Taste and smell can trigger a memory, and in the most traumatized state, crack open an awareness deep beneath our consciousness.

  “I started to think back, and I realized there was no way the smell of Jared’s cologne would have still been in the car. The only possible reason was that the doctor wanted me to know this wasn’t an accident. Whoever he hired to tamper with the brakes had sprayed the cologne inside so that it’d be the last thing I smelled before I drove over the cliff.”

  My stomach dropped. “Do me a favor. Go stay with your friend, and don’t tell anybody, even Amy, where you’re going. I think it’d be a good idea if nobody knew where you were right now.”

  “But what about Amy?”

  “I promise you, whatever’s going on, I’ll find out...and it’s going to be okay. Until then, you need to go somewhere safe. I’ll call you when it’s over.”

  I hung up and wondered about the doctor and his hired hand. Had the man in the gray sedan also followed Carlene to Malibu and tampered with the brakes of her car? If so, I had a strong feeling that I hadn’t seen the last of him.

  Chapter 24

  As soon as I hung up with Carlene, I went inside and found Wilson. He was, as I expected, in the study reclined in his chair, feet up on the desk, head bowed with his hands tented in front of his face. His pensive pose.

  “Dare I disturb you?” I asked.

  “You’re here about Carlene.”

  “You know?”

  “About the accident? Yes, my lady friends told me. We’ve been in touch.”

  I should have known. To my knowledge, this wasn’t the first time Wilson had communicated with the luminaries without being in their presence. Unlike mortals, those on the other side of the veil aren’t dependent upon mobile devices to facilitate their communications. It all happens seamlessly. Near as I can tell, it’s like breathing. An idea can float from one mind to another with ease.

  “You’re getting good at receiving their thoughts,” I said.

  Less than a year ago, Wilson was like most new shades, unaware of his abilities and even more uncertain of his purpose. I had done what I could to educate him on his situation, but clearly, his lady friends had taken him a step further.

  Wilson flicked a piece of lint from his shoulder.

  “But that’s not what’s important right now. What is important is what Eli shared with me about Carlene and Matthew. Perhaps you’d like to sit down.”

  Wilson pointed to the window seat where Bossypants had curled up, basking in the morning sun.

  “Go ahead.” I picked up my cat and curled my legs beneath me on the window seat. “What exactly did your luminaries tell you?”

  “Matthew came by to see the doctor yesterday, right after we met with him outside Conroy’s headquarters.”

  I rolled my eyes. If my mind hadn’t been so full of questions about who had killed Jared, I might have seen this coming.

  “Once Matthew arrived, he told his uncle some old-lady psychic had camped outside their offices and accused him of having something to do with Jared’s murder. Then two of them went into the doctor’s study to talk.”

  “I never accused him.”

  “Implicated then.” Wilson took his feet off the desk and sat up straight. “Along with the doctor.”

  “So Conroy knows I’m up to something.” I stroked Bossy’s back.

  “He does.”

  “And what about Carlene? How did the doctor know about her?”

  “Amy told him,” Wilson said.

  “When?”

  “After Billy’s arrest. The doctor heard Amy talking on the phone and asked her who she was talking to. She confessed everything, told him all about Carlene, how they met, and became friends. How Carlene had set Amy up with Jared and, because the doctor blamed all of Jared’s old high school buddies for his drinking, how Jared and Carlene made Amy swear she’d never say a word about Carlene to Jared’s father. It didn’t take much for Conroy to put it all together and figure Carlene was Carlita.”

  I could see how Amy, in her confused state, might have confessed all kinds of things to the doctor.

  “But how did Conroy know where Carlene would be last night?” I asked.

  “Once the doctor figured out who Carlene really was, he devised a plan to take care of her and asked Matthew to help.”

  “But how did the doctor know where Carlene would be last night?”

  “Exactly as Carlene told you. She received a call from the manager of Mastro’s that someone was looking for a party planner, and she accepted a meeting in Malibu. The doctor asked Matthew to arrange for said party planner to be there, and then the doctor called in a favor from one of his henchmen. Conroy instructed his henchman to followed Carlene, and he cut the brake hose on her car.”

  “What about Amy, where was she when Matthew arrived?”

  “Napping in the solarium, she likes to go there to watch the sunset. Christina was with her. Turns out, Christina knew nothing of the plan Conroy and Matthew cooked up to take care of her daughter.”

  I didn’t think so. I couldn’t imagine a scenario whereby Christina would know about the doctor’s plan to harm Carlene and not to try to do something to stop it.

  “And Eli knew all this last night, and never said anything to Christina or reached out to you and insist you tell me?”

  “Not a word.”

  I wasn’t surprised. Luminaries are
only loyal to themselves.

  “Exactly how did Christina find out?”

  “The old-fashioned way. She saw it on the morning news while Conroy was shaving. She recognized the car when the news cameras caught it being pulled from the canyon.” Wilson put his elbows on the desk and leaned closer to me. “You’re right about luminaries, Old Gal. They’re self-centered to the core.”

  I bit my tongue. Wilson had heard enough from me from about how shallow and self-centered the luminaries could be.

  “It seems Eli didn’t think to mention anything about Carlene’s accident to Christina last night because, well, it just didn’t concern her.”

  “I see.”

  The fact that Eli and Christina had maintained a relationship, both in life and on the other side of the veil, could only mean one thing: Their vengeance for the doctor had bound them together. Much as they may have disliked one another, their joint dislike for the doctor was even greater.

  “However,” Wilson continued, “unhappy as my lady friends may be with one another, they’ve asked me to address another more pressing issue, which concerns you.”

  I was afraid to ask.

  “They’d like me to remind you that up to now, you’ve discovered nothing you can take to the police as evidence concerning Jared’s murder and that the clock is ticking. They want to know if you’ve given any more thought to their proposal.”

  I caught my breath. “You mean that I kill the doctor?”

  “It is a plausible solution. A bit distasteful, I must admit. But if the doctor were simply to cease to exist, Eli and Christina would have to vacate the mansion, and poor little Amy,” Wilson paused and looked up at the ceiling. “well, she’d be fixed for life. But you’d have to hurry. We both know the doctor plans to try to persuade the police she’s involved with Jared’s murder. And once he does that...it may be too late.”

  I felt as though I had been sucker-punched. I could barely catch my breath. Had all my efforts to help Wilson been for naught?