A Deadly Blessing

by Kathy Bennett

and stood in front of him. "You just made a fool out of me on TV! We're going to be all over the news, in the tabloids, on all those trashy TV shows and you expect me to calm down? How could you do this to me? Wasn't I good enough for you? What did that little tramp do for you that I can't? Tell me something, Preston. Did you get tired of her? Did she threaten to expose your affair so you killed her?"

  "I…I loved her." He spoke with quiet dignity.

  She hadn't expected that. She sank back to the couch, glad no one else could see her. She felt the color drain from her face.

  "I loved her, but there was no way it would work. She was only ten years older than Tiffany, and she…she…had a shaky past."

  "Oh my God." Pilar had regained control of her temper, but the enormity of the situation fell upon her like an earthquake-destroyed freeway overpass. She leveled her gaze at him. "We've got to do some damage control and figure out a way to spin this."

  "Pilar, there is no way to 'spin' this. I'm going to be crucified in the court of public opinion. But the fact of the matter is: I don't care. What I do care about is finding my daughter."

  "You sure as hell had better care. You're going to be the prime suspect in that girl's murder."

  "Why would I kill the woman who was going to save Tiffany's life?"

  Pilar looked at the ceiling in irritation and sighed. "I don't know. I'm guessing she was pressuring you to marry her or she'd expose you." She brought her gaze back to Preston. "You hid your relationship with this woman and now she's dead."

  "But I didn't kill her."

  "Are you that naive? Do you remember what happened to the congressman whose intern went missing and she turned up dead? He didn't kill her either, but his career was over."

  "Pilar, you're not hearing me. I don't care about my career anymore. I care about finding Tiffany."

  "Well, that's all well and good for you, but I didn't sign up for this. I'm not ready to be the laughingstock of the country or lose my career because you couldn't keep your dick in your pants. We're supposed to go to the White House together."

  "My relationship with Heather has nothing to do with you or your career."

  It was like he'd ignited a brush fire.

  "Nothing to do with me! Are you out of your mind? I'll look like one of those pathetic political wives who stand next to her cheating husband while he mournfully confesses his sins of the flesh."

  Preston stood and headed toward the door. "No you won't. You don't have to do anything. You seem to forget you're not my wife."

  MADDIE – 73

  "Oh, no," I said looking at Darius's face for his reaction to the governor's announcement of a reward for the safe return of his daughter. "Why didn't he at least tell us he wanted to offer a reward?"

  "Now we'll have every nutcase in the country calling us with leads on where we can find Tiffany," Darius said.

  "Shh," the Wife-Beater said while cranking up the volume on the TV.

  We all watched the governor as he fielded questions fired by the press, and I thought he was doing a good job. But I almost fell out of my chair when one vulture asked the governor about him and Heather being lovers. I shot a quick look at Darius and noticed his eyes narrowing as he considered the implications of the question.

  After Bain hustled Preston and Pilar off the stage, we all looked at each other.

  "If that's true," Darius said, "we need to continue investigating Heather's disappearance."

  "If that's true," I said, "I think the governor of California just became our prime suspect." I was relieved. I'd much rather believe that Preston Truesdale had killed Heather than my partner.

  "I need to talk to the chief," Larry said. "I'll get back to you."

  After being unceremoniously ejected from our boss's office, Darius and I hurried to our desks where the TV in the squad room was on. The other detectives in the room stood or sat in a semi-circle where they could see the screen. We all watched intently as the news anchors speculated on the latest breaking news.

  "Hey, Cutter and Divine" another detective called out, "you may be hauling the governor's ass to jail. You may want to tell him to be sure and not drop the soap." Nervous laughter filled the room. Everyone recognized our missing person case had just detonated. We all knew we'd be very busy—probably for weeks.

  "Wow," I said, "I didn't see that coming; the governor screwing the woman who's going to give his daughter bone marrow. Wonder how the press got hold of it. Makes us look like jackasses."

  Darius poked me and motioned for me to follow him into the hallway. "I think we'd better get over to NTL productions right now. That's the only lead we've got on McCall, and the chief is going to want answers." He began to gather his radio, car keys and his notepad. "We can try to check out the Vegas angle after we've been to NTL in the Valley."

  I pushed it out of my head that my partner might have additional information about Heather McCall. I knew I was stalling because I was afraid of what I might find out. "Don't you think we should go scoop up the governor and interview him first?"

  My partner shook his head. "There will be all kinds of political maneuvers before we get to ask him a single question. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they turn this case over to Robbery Homicide to be worked with the FBI."

  I thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay, then, let's hit it."

  Darius used his better-than-average driving skills to his advantage, pushing the Crown Vic through the traffic toward Chatsworth.

  "So what'd ya have to promise the post office lady to get the address?" I asked, remembering the giggling postal employee with the large brown eyes.

  "I didn't have to promise her anything."

  I nodded. "Uh huh."

  "You act like you don't believe me."

  "I don't."

  My partner said nothing, but started humming a Barry White song.

  "What's the address again?" I asked, as we sped along the 118 Freeway.

  "Eight twenty-three Canoga."

  "I have a pretty good idea where that is. It should be in an industrial area just south of Lassen."

  About ten minutes later we pulled up to the building. Black wrought iron fencing ran the length of the building across the front. Behind the barrier, a nondescript, tan, slump-stone building stood alone. Above the glass doors the letters NTL were painted in red, outlined with black. Luckily for us, the rolling gate was open and it appeared employees were working because there was an assortment of cars parked out front.

  I looked at Darius, "Do you want to do the talking, or shall I?"

  "All depends on who's inside. If it's an attractive young lady, I should probably do the honors."

  "If you're not careful, you're gonna wear out poor Barry," I warned.

  The inside of the building was as bland as the outside. Cheap, uncomfortable-looking furniture formed a dated 'conversation group.' The receptionist's office with a sliding window for visitors to check in was to the right, but the office was empty. Off each side of the lobby was a hallway. For no particular reason I chose to head left.

  Halfway down the hall we were confronted by a tall blonde woman, well into her thirties, wearing tight jeans, four-inch heels, and a chartreuse halter-top covering her enormously large breasts. Clearly surprised to see us, she asked, "May I help you?"

  We displayed our badges and identified ourselves. "We're looking for whoever is in charge."

  A puzzled frown appeared on the woman's face. "I'm the office manager, but Mondo handles everything else."

  Darius moved a step closer and favored her with his killer smile. "Where might we find this Mondo person?"

  From the look on her face, this office manger was one tough cookie, and didn't care one iota about my partner's straight teeth and handsome face. I got the distinct impression she wasn't too thrilled about having anyone nosing around her office.

  "He's out of the office right now, but if you'd like to leave a card, I can have him call you when he returns."

  I decided to
take matters into my own hands. "What's your name, miss?"

  "I'm Pleasure Treasure. What's it to you?"

  I whipped out Heather's DMV photo and held it up for the woman. "Have you ever seen this girl?"

  Pleasure looked at me as if I were an alien. "Hasn't everybody? That's Swallow Longman, one of the most famous stars NTL Productions ever had."

  "Had?" I asked.

  "She hasn't worked for us in about five years. But her DVDs still fly off the shelf. And that's at thirty dollars a pop."

  I glanced at Darius to see if he was reacting to this tidbit of news. He was either a very good actor, or I'd made a mistake about the picture. Unfortunately, I was certain about the photo. I glared at my partner. "You know you can jump in here anytime."

  "I take it NTL distributes adult films?" he asked.

  Again, the office manager did everything but roll her eyes. "Yes."

  Remembering that the Valley was also where a lot of porn movies were made I took a chance. "And do you film off-site?"

  The office manager stared hard at me, but said nothing.

  "Where do you film?" Darius asked impatiently.

  The woman frowned and ignored his question.

  "Do you know why Heath – Swallow left NTL?" I asked.

  A crease of concern lined Pleasure's face. "Why? What's she done?"

  "Nothing, she's not in trouble, we'd just like to talk to people who've seen her recently."

  The girl sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Sounds like you already know her real name is Heather. My boss changed her name to Swallow when she started making films. All I know is Swallow wanted out of the business. I heard she left to do private