by Gail Bowen
“And nothing changed.”
“No, and as you can see, Taylor’s book had been destroyed.”
As Charlie D leafed through the book’s pages, his face was etched with concern. “Roy must have been in agony,” he said finally. “All these markings obviously had a meaning for him, but they’re not recognizable as letters of the alphabet or symbols. You worked with Roy. Did he ever use some sort of private shorthand?”
“No. His handwriting was unremarkable, but always legible. Never anything like this.”
Charlie D shifted his gaze to me. “I get why this book disturbs you, but you said it nags at you. Why?”
“The timing,” I said. “Ainsley told me the last time she spoke to Roy on the island he said he’d left the Lindner book he intended to bring for her at home, but as soon as they got back he’d give it to her.”
“He didn’t remember defacing the book?”
“Apparently not. Charlie D, something is very wrong here. Roy called me just after he and the rest of the crew arrived on the island that morning. He was ebullient, like his old self: excited about being on the island, filled with plans for the series. He even alluded to a shared joke of ours. If he had defaced the book Taylor loaned him, the man I talked to that morning would not have left the book in plain view on his desk.”
“But Kyle Daly told you that’s exactly where he found the book — on the desk, in plain view. And he was the one who brought the book to you. Do you think Kyle was the person who defaced Taylor’s book?”
I felt a sickness in the pit of my stomach. “I don’t want to, but suddenly everything’s coming together for me,” I said. “Kyle was the one who went into the woods with Roy, and he was with Ainsley when she found him. And something else — Kyle has been suffering from what he describes as PTSD episodes where he relives the moments after he and Ainsley found Roy in the forest.”
“You think it’s guilt.”
“I’m beginning to wonder. I like Kyle,” I said. “And Taylor is very close to him. He’s a decent man. I can’t imagine him being part of any of this unless . . .”
“Unless Buzz knows something that gives him leverage over Kyle,” Charlie D said. “But finding what that leverage was will be looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.”
“Not necessarily,” I said. “Hal Dupuis’s sister, Stella Delacroix, worked on Broders’ Annex. She wrote the pilot and then Buzz took over and steamrolled her, but Hal said Stella was around for the first season.”
Charlie D gave me a lazy smile. “Still a needle in the haystack,” he said. “But the haystack just got smaller.”
“Georgie will have Hal’s number,” I said. “I’ll call and ask him for his sister’s contact information.”
Charlie glanced at his phone. “Time for me to skedaddle. Keep me in the loop and Jo, if the duck family shows up, tell them to stick around, and I’ll bring the girls over to see them.”
“Madeleine and Lena may be a little old for that.”
“No one is ever too old for ducks,” Charlie D said, and he started walking towards the house.
* * *
Hal Dupuis, remorseful about the role he’d played in bringing Buzz Wells into the production of Sisters and Strangers, called his sister, urging her to help Charlie D in any way she could. I was apprehensive about what Stella Delacroix might know about Kyle’s relationship with Buzz Wells, but I believe in the adage “the truth will set you free.”
Kyle Daly was suffering. The information Buzz Wells was hanging over Kyle’s head had brought Kyle to the breaking point. However painful the truth was, if it came to light, Kyle would at least be free of Buzz’s threats. And knowing the truth about what had happened in the last hours of Roy Brodnitz’s life might answer the dark and troubling questions with which his death had left us all.
Chapter Seventeen
Zack’s fifty-fifth birthday began the way the best birthdays often do, with unhurried world-class lovemaking. We followed that with breakfast: fresh blueberries, smoked salmon and Zack and Nero Wolfe’s favourite, eggs with beurre noir — indulgences that cut the time Taylor’s father spent mournfully eyeing her empty place at the table in half. Just as I was putting Esme and Pantera on their leashes, our younger son, Angus, called from Calgary to wish Zack a happy day. Like Zack, Angus believed the law was a “kick-ass” profession, and when the dogs and I left for our walk, Zack was beaming as he listened to Angus ramble on about a case.
Zack was still on his phone when we got back. After he hung up, I said, “Were you talking to Angus all that time?”
“No, that was Taylor. She called to let us know that they’re loving their place on Dewdney and that everything’s set for the party tonight. She and Vale are going over to the production studios this morning. Vale wants to say hello to everybody, and Taylor’s tagging along so she can surreptitiously check on Kyle’s condition.” Zack cocked his head. “She and Kyle are just friends, aren’t they?”
“Yes, just friends.”
“That’s a relief,” Zack said. “Vale’s a keeper, and I wouldn’t want our daughter to change horses in midstream.”
“Whoa! Did you hear what you just said? That metaphor is weird on so many levels.”
“It’s my birthday and it’s my metaphor, so let it go. Now, if you change your mind about coming to the ‘surprise birthday’ lunch my partners are hosting at the Scarth Club, come ahead.”
I bent to kiss his head. “Thanks, but Georgie and I still have a lot of ground to cover.”
As I stood on the porch to wave goodbye to Zack, I felt a twinge of guilt. My husband and I didn’t keep secrets from each other, but reasoning that there had been turmoil enough, I hadn’t told Zack that Charlie D was looking into Kyle’s past. This was his day, and he deserved to enjoy every minute.
* * *
Georgie was having a final fitting on her wedding outfit that morning, so we got a late start.
We were just hitting our stride when Taylor and Vale arrived. “I didn’t think I’d see you two till tonight,” I said. “This is a pleasant surprise.”
Taylor and Vale exchanged a quick glance but remained silent.
“Something’s wrong,” I said.
Taylor knew that Zack’s health was always my first concern. “It’s not Dad,” she said. “It’s about Sisters and Strangers.”
Vale reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a script. “Taylor and I were at the studio chatting with Nick Kovacs, when a man came up, introduced himself as Buzz Wells and gave me this.” Vale handed me the script. “He told me that from now on this was the version we’d be working with.”
Georgie scanned the title page and scowled. “Sisters and Strangers,” she said. “And lookee — the writers’ names are in caps! BUZZ WELLS and ROY BRODNITZ.”
I tried to keep my voice even. “Vale, were you the only one Buzz gave the script to?”
Her head shake was vehement. “No. He was passing them out to everyone and telling them that Ainsley had okayed the revised script and they were to adjust their notes to accommodate it.”
I had never heard Georgie swear. Obviously she’d been saving up for the right moment, and this was it. After she’d uttered a daisy chain of expletives, she breathed deeply. “Ah that’s better. The nuns always told us not to use gutter language but the good sisters of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux never met Buzz Wells. I’ll call Fawn and ask her to tell everyone the matter of the script is being decided and until further notice they should work with the old script.”
“I think she already tried that,” Taylor said. “When Buzz was handing around the scripts, Fawn came in and said that Ainsley wanted people to be open to all options.”
“How did that go over?” I said.
Vale was clearly troubled. “Except for Danny Kerrigan, everyone was pretty quiet. He was really upset. He said he’d read the original script so
often he dreamed about it. He knew exactly how the scenes were going to look and sound. The script was perfect as it was, he said, and no one should be allowed to ruin it.”
“Sisters and Strangers means a lot to Danny,” Taylor said. “I told him not to worry, that you held the option, and you wouldn’t let the project go ahead if it wasn’t perfect. I was trying to reassure him, but my words seemed to upset him even more. He said that if Buzz didn’t back down then everything would fall apart, and he wouldn’t be able to do what he had to do.”
Life had taught me never to ask a question if the answer might bring me grief, but remembering Lizzie’s fervour about the mission she and Danny had to save Vale and Taylor from eternal damnation, I pressed on. “Did Danny explain exactly what he had to do?”
“No,” Vale said. “He was beside himself, but he didn’t want to break down in public, so he left.”
“Kyle’s having problems too,” Taylor said. “He’s not coming to the party tonight. He says he doesn’t want to spoil the celebration. I told him I wanted him there because he’s done a great job and he deserves to hear the praise. Jo, Kyle’s angry at himself because he knows his behaviour is fuelling the rumour that’s going around.”
“What’s the rumour?” Georgie said.
“The rumour is that this production is cursed,” Vale said. “First Gabe, then Roy and the fire, and now Ainsley and Kyle are faltering, and Danny’s spinning out of control. People are saying that Sisters and Strangers is in trouble.”
“Then we have stop the rumours with the truth,” I said. “This production is not cursed. Someone doesn’t want it to succeed, and they are doing everything they can to ensure that it fails. It’s that simple. Our job is to find out who’s undercutting us and make them stop.”
Vale and Taylor had instinctively moved closer to each other. “Taylor and I will go back to the production studios and tell people what you just told us,” Vale said, and the tilt of her chin was defiant. “We have a chance to make something beautiful and true. Sisters and Strangers is worth fighting for.”
As soon as the young women left, Georgie turned to me. “Way to rally the troops!” she said. “I could feel your knees shaking, but that was only because we were sitting across the table from each other. I’m sure Vale and Taylor didn’t notice.”
“Good,” I said. “I didn’t realize how widespread the rumours had become.”
“I’m certain Buzz is out there fanning the flames,” Georgie said. “But let him fan. We have work to do.”
Taylor and Vale’s party for Zack was scheduled to start at five p.m. — early even by prairie standards — but not early when two of the significant guests are nineteen months old. The plan was to devote the first hour of the celebration to the housewarming with tours, antipasto and visiting; the second hour to lasagna, salads and more visiting, and the final hour to cake cutting and present opening. After the guests of honour had been feted and everyone was sated, we’d be out the door by eight o’clock.
The day had already seemed long to me, and I was about to suggest that Georgie and I knock off early, so I could have a nap and a shower before the party when my phone rang. The area code was unfamiliar, and I held up my phone to Georgie. “Do you know where 718 is?”
“Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island,” she said.
I picked up. Stella Delacroix’s speaking voice was lovely: low and filled with music. After she’d introduced herself, she went straight to the business at hand. “You can speak freely, Joanne. My brother has been open with me about the role he played in involving Gabe Vickers in Sisters and Strangers. Hal is sick about the collateral damage his rashness has caused. Hal is not given to vengeance, but I’m his sister. He knew I was wounded by what Buzz Wells did to Broders’ Annex, and Hal has always been protective.”
“You two are lucky to have each other,” I said, watching as Georgie packed up her bag but didn’t leave yet.
“We are,” Stella said. “And now it’s Hal who’s hurting. How can I help?”
“Could we start with the first year of Broders’ Annex when you and Kyle Daly were both working on the series? I know the animus Hal feels towards Buzz Wells is rooted in the past, but I have a feeling that the problems plaguing our production now grow out of that time too.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Stella said. “That set was a snake pit. The Buzz-saw, as everyone called our executive producer, encouraged rivalries. He felt mistrust and fear made people strive to outperform their colleagues and achieve excellence. All his philosophy did was divide us. People kept their heads down and did their jobs. Kyle was the exception. He had a smile and encouraging words for everyone.”
“Even Buzz?”
“Even Buzz,” Stella said. “And the Buzz-saw lapped it up. He adored Kyle. Of course the assumption was that the relationship was sexual, but it wasn’t. Kyle and Buzz are both straight; they just shared a passion for their work. Kyle was young and fairly new to the business. There were things he needed to learn, and Buzz had years of experience to draw on. The term ‘mentor’ is overused, but I would characterize their relationship at the beginning as that between a mentor and a gifted associate.”
“But that changed?”
“It did. A situation arose around Kyle that was potentially very dangerous, and Buzz, usually the most selfish of men, did everything in his power to protect his friend.”
“What happened?”
“Kyle was the victim of a stalker, and to complicate matters, the stalker was an executive on the network that had picked up Broders’ Annex. Her name was Heather Hurworth, and she was at least two decades older than Kyle. She was attractive and fashionable — she always wore those funky, retro glasses with the oversize round black rims — and very mod. At any rate, Heather was known to flit from passion to passion — a man would be her be-all and end-all one day, and by the next day she would have moved on.”
“But she didn’t move on from Kyle.”
“No. I had my own woes at the time, but Heather’s bizarre behaviour generated the real drama. Kyle and Heather had a fling, but when Kyle tried to end the relationship respectfully, Heather refused to accept his word that the affair was over. We shot the series in North Caldwell, New Jersey, the same town where Tony Soprano lives. It’s an hour or so from New York, but in our business the working day is long, so the production company rented a couple of motels to accommodate us. Heather’s office was in Manhattan, but periodically she’d be waiting outside Kyle’s motel door in the morning. She’d always pick a day when the weather was wretched, so Kyle would have to let her ride with him to the set. People tried to talk to her, but she ignored them. A restraining order was out of the question: Heather was a network executive, and we were a young and vulnerable series. It was a hot mess.
“Kyle tried to wait it out, but it didn’t end, and one day he snapped. He and Heather had a loud and public quarrel. Kyle said she was acting like a crazy person and then he went outdoors to cool off. When he came back in and started towards the set, a light stand fell, missing him by a fraction. Heather had been standing by the light stand, and everyone within earshot had heard her say, ‘Don’t make me do something we’ll both regret.’”
“How did the situation resolve itself?”
“Heather Hurworth died. Broders’ Annex was still shooting, but my part of the writing was finished and I’d hightailed it back to Brooklyn, so this information is second-hand, but I trust my source. The accident happened not long after I left. Heather was waiting outside Kyle’s motel room. To avoid her, Kyle sprinted to his car, jumped in and started the car. Heather was waving her arms to stop him, but the parking area was icy and she slipped and fell in front of Kyle’s car, and he ran over her. The coroner said she died instantly.
“The police investigated, of course. But luckily, there was a bystander who was able to fill them in on Heather’s unstable behaviour and the threa
ts she’d uttered against Kyle Daly. Even more luckily, he had witnessed exactly what happened and he swore that Kyle was blameless.”
“I take it the eyewitness was Buzz Wells,” I said. When Stella murmured assent, I continued. “Kyle was lucky that Buzz Wells lived in the same motel he did.”
Stella laughed. “Buzz Wells definitely did not live at the Stardust Motel with the crew. The phrase ‘we’re all family’ is bandied about a lot on movie sets, but there’s a hierarchy, and Buzz was at the top of the heap. He spent the shoot ensconced in the finest lodgings North Caldwell, New Jersey, had to offer.”
“So what was he doing in the parking lot of the Stardust Motel that morning?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Stella said. “But Kyle will know.” She paused. “Joanne, you and Hal and I are all very fond of Kyle. But my brother tells me your daughter, Taylor, has grown close to Kyle, and given everything, it might be wise to suggest that she put some distance between Kyle and her. Hal and I both feel that Buzz is using Kyle as a pawn to get what he wants out of Sisters and Strangers. Hal says that Kyle is already paying a terrible price for something he’s done, and Buzz Wells is not finished. If he needs to, he’ll use Kyle again. Hal believes Taylor should get out of the line of fire, and I believe that too.”
I was badly shaken, but my voice was steady as I thanked Stella Delacroix for her concern and told her I would talk to Taylor and keep Hal apprised of developments. I ended the call and turned to face Georgie.