by Deany Ray
Across the crowd, I caught Mike’s eye and waved. “Good luck,” I mouthed to him. Then I walked along the side of the stadium, marveling at the massive police presence. There were blue lights everywhere.
My exhaustion from the day before began to catch up with me as I reached the back end of the structure, where things were not as loud. There was some distance now between me and the pandemonium and lights. Just one lonely cop stood guard at a distant corner, and it felt kind of freeing to be out of the crowd. At the same time, it seemed odd. Sheesh. Just one cop while a zillion others were bunched up in the front? I wondered if something big was going on up there to pull the cops away from this area in the back.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t get a text from Mike later saying I had just missed out on some great bit of excitement. It would be my luck that things would start to heat up right after I drove off—and I didn’t want to miss this.
I was about to cross the street when something caught my eye. I stopped short and looked again. I really had to make a point of getting enough sleep. Now, I was seeing things that surely were not there. There appeared to be two hands sticking out of a large crack in the wall. Then the hands became two arms, a chest, and then a pair of legs. I stood frozen as a figure emerged and was pounding down the street.
No. Flipping. Way. My heart was beating faster as I recognized the long black beard, the sunglasses, and a black cap like Fitzgerald had been holding at the gift stand. This was straight out of the movies, but then again, our man Fitzgerald knew the movies well.
I looked around for that one cop, but now even he was nowhere to be seen. Once more, like at the ATM, it was just me and Fitzgerald.
Unbelievable.
“Right here! Over here!” I screamed just as he set off at a run. “Amery Fitzgerald! Over here! He’s out!”
Even if the crowd couldn’t hear what I was screaming, they had to see the running man who was obviously him. The trouble was, he was fast, and it had come to a million cops too far away to catch him with only me close enough. At least I’d skipped the heels.
Okay, the game was on. I felt a fire inside my chest and the burning urge to bring him down. Amery Fitzgerald had screwed with my life too long. This time, he wouldn’t get away. I took off at a run.
Twice, he turned to look at me, and once he held his hands out as if in a plea. I sensed a desperation in the way he moved, but that wouldn’t work with me. This was his own doing, and he was going down.
“You took the truck!” I screamed. “You stole my money! You held a flipping crowbar to my head!” My anger turbocharged me, and I tackled him from behind, both of us landing with a thud on the ground. We kept rolling a couple of times and I was on him, while he kicked and screamed.
“Hey, lady, I didn’t take no truck!” he yelled. “I didn’t take no money! Get off me! Help! Someone help me!”
His voice was weird and whiny and high pitched. His voice was . . . not Fitzgerald’s.
Once more, what the hell?
About one second later, seemingly the entire police force of Palm Shores was surrounding us with guns pointed at this man.
“Ma’am, get up very slowly, and back away from him,” an officer directed.
Carefully, I stood up and told them, “It’s not him.” I was sure they could hear the disappointment in my voice.
A zillion guns stayed aimed at him while two officers moved in with some handcuffs.
“I didn’t do nothing,” he squawked at them desperately.
But the officers weren’t impressed. One of them fastened the cuffs to the man’s hands.
“Look, some guy paid me two hundred dollars to wear this and to come to the stadium.” Faux Fitzgerald’s voice grew an octave higher. “I didn’t know the whole police force would show up. I didn’t do anything wrong. I swear!”
“Well, you’ll have a lot of time in jail, where you can tell us more,” the officer answered wearily.
I noticed the reporters gathered all around us. I caught Mike’s eyes, which were huge. While the others descended on the cops with questions, he pulled me aside.
“Okay, first of all, are you okay?” he asked, concern and amazement mingling in his voice.
“I’m fine,” I said, dusting myself off.
Mike raised an eyebrow.
I let out a breath. “Okay, I’m not fine. I’m totally pissed. I really thought I got him.”
Mike nodded. “I can understand that. Which brings me to my second question. How did you get into trouble again?”
“Guess I have a talent for it.”
Mike laughed and squeezed my shoulder. “I think you do.”
Unsure how much he heard, I explained the craziness that had just occurred. I crossed my arms over my chest. “As an extra insult, I’m almost sure Fitzgerald paid him with my money.” I thought for a moment. “And I bet this was all planned. I bet Fitzgerald put in a call about this other guy at the stadium and lured the authorities here as a diversion. Only question is, why? He’s probably up to no good as we speak.”
Mike cocked his head and considered that. “Yeah, that would explain why he’d pull this kind of stunt.”
“I swear I’m going to get him next time,” I said.
Mike smiled. “I hope so. This story has been full of weird twists and turns. Most of them starring you.”
“Gee, I feel honored.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Hailey,” Mike said. “I think you’d get bored otherwise.”
I gave him a tired smile. “I don’t even have the energy to disagree with you.”
“I can see that.” Mike laughed. I got the impression he was having too much fun with this. “Okay, gotta go. I need to file this story. I don’t know who is loving this Fitzgerald thing most, the readers or Jerry.”
“I’ll go with Jerry,” I said. “Need to run too. I’m taking my mom to the doctor again.” As if my day had not been hard enough.
“You sure you’re all right?” Mike asked.
I looked down at my dirty clothes. “I’m a mess, but I’m all right.”
***
Twenty-five minutes later, my mother’s newly perfect vision allowed her to take in every fleck of mud and each disheveled curl.
“Were you in a wrestling match?” She frowned. As usual, she looked impeccable in a neat suit and careful makeup.
“Mom, I’m here. Can we please just go?”
“Fine,” she said, and we made our way out to my Jeep. My mother climbed into the front beside me rather than lying prostrate in the back to moan, so there was that at least. In fact, she seemed to be feeling pretty good.
“I hope you got your money back,” she said once we were on the road.
“I’m still working on it.” Hence, these dirty, wrinkled clothes.
“Well, you have no business lending money you cannot afford to lend. Let this be a lesson. Maybe you should also reconsider the types of individuals you consider friends.”
I was too tired to argue, so I simply let her drone on until we reached the medical office suites that were our destination.
Once they took her in the back, I found a restroom and dabbed at my dirty clothes with a wet paper towel, which didn’t help that much. I returned to the waiting room, where I flipped through some magazines.
I couldn’t focus on the stories, though, or the glossy pictures. My mind was on the murder. Fitzgerald was getting on my last nerve, but was he really guilty? There were so many people with motives to go after and so many possibilities, one could lose track of it all. Some people had their eyes on Fitzgerald’s role or Victoria’s. Or both. I thought about their replacements, David Rafferty and Miranda Hyde. Even my beloved Nurse Patty had wanted that lead role—and came close to getting it, it seemed. My mind jumped to Ferguson, who certainly had a score to settle with Fitzgerald. This was like a game of Clue, Hollywood Edition.
I was still mulling over suspects when my mother appeared beside my chair. “The doctor says I have perfect vision!” she proclaimed. “That’s how
I like things to be. Perfect.”
I laughed. “Indeed, you do. “I’m happy everything went fine. Let’s get you home.”
“We should celebrate,” she said with a smile. “Let me buy you dinner.” Her smile turned into a frown. “After we get you into some clean clothes, obviously.” Once more, she took in my dishevelment. “What do they have you doing at this job of yours?”
“Mom, I really can’t tonight. Can we plan another time?” Of course, how many nights would my time be taken up by Cocoa? I was just so tired.
“After all that I’ve been through, I was hoping I could be rewarded with some time with my daughter. You know, it shouldn’t take a scheduled visit with the doctor for me to squeeze myself into your schedule, darling. It would be so nice to just have a meal and talk.”
There it came again, the guilt, although I really tried with her. Sure, I could spend more time with my mother, but I did make it a point to check in with her and visit. I was not an absent daughter.
“We’ll do it very soon,” I said with a cheeriness I did not feel. “and I’m already looking forward to it, okay?”
After I dropped her off, there was no time to go home and change, which was unfortunate. I ignored the speed limit on the way to Cocoa, hoping I’d have time to grab some dinner for the road. I hadn’t even eaten lunch. I’d been heading out to Banyon’s when news of the “Fitzgerald sighting” hit. I was guessing no one in the newsroom had thought about lunch after that.
I got to the parking lot and saw I’d beaten Kat there. No MINI Cooper was in sight. I got out of the Jeep and was walking around to the front, when I bumped into something hard. Oof.
On second thought, it seemed to be someone, someone who smelled good.
“Oh man, I am so sorry! I—”
Uh-oh. I knew that cologne.
I looked up into Mike’s eyes, which were missing their usual look of amusement.
“Heading to the set?” he asked.
Chapter Twelve
I jumped back from Mike as my heart began to race. Busted!
He looked at me intently. “I know what you’ve been up to,” he said. “I had a hunch you were up to something, and I made it my mission to find out what that was.”
I brushed nervously at my blouse. Dang him and his reporter’s instinct.
“I figured that following a certain Jeep could lead me to my answer,” he continued. “I knew you were a force to be reckoned with when you have your mind on something, but this was a surprise, I gotta tell you. Feeding movie stars, wow.” I was relieved to see him chuckle.
I threw my hands up in the air. “Fine, you got me. I couldn’t stay away. But it’s not just about my money. I feel violated in a lot of ways by what Fitzgerald put me through.”
“I totally get that. I would do the same thing you are.” A hint of a smile tugged at his lips as he glanced at the Cocoa van. “This is really kind of genius, if you wanna know the truth.”
“Oh, well, thanks,” I said with a blush.
He dug his hands into his pockets. “So why the secrecy? All the talks we’ve had about this investigation, and you didn’t say a thing.”
I sighed and crossed my arms. “Well, duh. I’m doing this for me and not for anything connected to my work at the Gazette. I figured you, and Jerry, and everybody else would want to have all the information I could get. But I can’t do that.”
He smiled at me sympathetically. “Hey, you’re worrying too much. We don’t print screaming headlines willy-nilly just because somebody saw something or overheard some stuff. There’s a process we go through.” He looked a little bashful. “Sure, I myself can be sneaky when it comes to getting intel, but if we can’t get it verified by a trusted source, we don’t go to press, and that’s just the way it is.” He looked at me intently. “I bet you’ve seen some things on that movie set to make your eyes pop out, but we won’t be asking you to spill a lot of gossip. We don’t care which glamour girl gave another glamour girl the stink face in line for caviar. Interesting, sure, but that’s not our kind of thing.”
If he only knew what I’ve already found out.
“So . . . I could have just told you?” I sighed, my hands on my hips. After all this time and worry!
His answer was a grin.
“Okay. Good to know,” I said.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll share my leads with you, and you can share yours with me.”
“So you do care about who dissed whom over pear and pomegranate salad,” I teased him.
Mike laughed. “Let me get my notebook out.”
“Yeah, and call Jerry ASAP.” I joined in the laugh.
“No, but serious,” Mike continued. “I think we’ll make a good team. And you know I won’t use anything you tell me irresponsibly.”
“Yes, I know that.” I paused.
We locked eyes and shook on it.
“So, does that mean you have something new to tell?” I asked.
“Maybe. You go first.”
“That’s not fair! This was your idea.”
He winked teasingly. “Just how badly do you want to know?”
“Okay, sheesh. I’ll go.” Knowing Kat would be arriving any minute and we’d have to take off, I tried to summarize as fast as I could. I told him there was talk on set about the actors brought in as replacements. “Some people seem to think one of the two may have wanted to get one of the leads out of the way. A super-lousy way to get a part if you ask me. Kind of sick, actually.”
“I’ve heard that as well,” Mike said. “Miranda Hyde, in particular, already has the reputation as a diva.”
I added in the information about how a guy named John Ferguson had a beef with Fitzgerald and checked into the Palm Shores Heritage to have it out with him.
That got Mike’s attention. “Where did you hear that?”
I smirked. “I have my ways,” I said. “I observe and listen and ask questions.” Vicente’s secret was still safe with me.
“Excellent job!” Mike smiled and gave me a high five. “We have got to talk to this Ferguson.”
“We?”
“Yes, we. What part of my investigation have you ever not been in the middle of?”
“You’ve got a point, I guess,” I said. “Okay, your turn. What happened with the imposter after I left the stadium?”
“Not a lot. They took him away to get his statement, but I doubt he knows much. It’s not like Fitzgerald would have told him anything about his next steps or anything.”
“The real question is what Fitzgerald was up to at that moment while the cops were all distracted by the scene he engineered.”
“What I wouldn’t give to know that,” Mike said. “But I did get a new lead today.”
“You did?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I got some info on the gun from an inside source at the police department.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “And?”
“The gun used in the murder was apparently bought off the black market. It wasn’t registered.” He paused. “Now, I have an idea of someone who could help us look more into that.”
“Really?” I asked. “You know someone who is in the business of—”
Before I could finish my question, I heard the tooting of a horn and turned to see Kat’s MINI Cooper pull into the lot.
Damn it.
“That’s my cue,” Mike said. “Find out something good tonight!” He winked. “Something we can use.” He lifted his hand in goodbye. “We’ll talk tomorrow at the office.” He waved at Kat on his way to his rented car.
She stared after him as he peeled out of the lot. “Fine-looking man,” she said.
“The stars are getting hungry while you drool. Let’s get on the road.”
Cocoa came out of the restaurant to open the van and make sure everything was there.
“You got my note about the lobster tails?” I asked.
Cocoa rolled her eyes. “Miss Hyde tries that tactic every time
with new employees. The production company doesn’t pay for any lobster tails, and if she’s expecting me to just gift them to her, she needs to think again. Unless I see her walking in with a check in hand, the lobsters get to keep their tails, and they won’t be cooked by me.”
I liked the woman’s attitude. I hoped tonight Miranda would take it down a notch, or even better yet, skip dinner altogether.
The very thought of dinner made my stomach rumble. “Listen.” I turned to Cocoa. “How much would it be to get a sandwich for the road?
“On the house.” She smiled. “Come on in. I’ll fix you up.”
A few minutes later, Kat and I were munching gratefully on chicken salad sandwiches as we made our way to the set.
“So what was Mike doing here?” Kat asked. “I thought you said the Gazette doesn’t know about your evening activity.”
“I did say that. But he found out on his own,” I said. “Luckily, he’s cool with my second job. We’ve worked out a deal. I’ll tell him what I know, and he will do the same.”
“Jealous!” Kat declared. “No one at any of my jobs looks remotely like that.”
“Not bad on the eyes.” I smiled in agreement, but my mind was on the case. I was super curious to know what Mike had in mind to help us find out more about the murder weapon.
“Okay, ask me about my day,” I said to Kat.
I saw her giving me a glance. “Don’t tell me you saw Fitzgerald again.”
I grinned.
“Are you kidding me?” Kat asked. “Why am I never around when this happens? And how does this only happen to you? What? He put a tracking device on you? How did he—”
“Kat!” I stopped the rant.
“What?”
“It wasn’t exactly Fitzgerald,” I said.
“It wasn’t? Then why don’t you say something?”
“Sorry.” I smiled. “It was fun seeing you go like that.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Then what happened?”
I gave her all the details of my mad chase as her eyes grew wide.
“No way,” she said. “Every single day there’s something new and crazy. You really jumped him?”