by Kim Smith
Not that such an occurrence would be new to me. I seemed to gravitate to dangerous stuff these days. Where had I left my innocence? When had I gone from a timid church mouse to a hungry investigative type?
Since people I cared about kept dying around me, that’s when.
I gazed at my reflection in the rearview mirror and admitted a well-kept secret. I liked digging and dredging up information on criminals. If the truth was known I would rather be doing something like this mission we were on, than something like going to the mall. Maybe that was why I never bought myself anything. Maybe my devotion to self was more in the knowledge department than the lingerie department.
Did I secretly want to be a PI? Admitting nothing, but accepting all possibilities, I refused to meet my own eyes in the mirror. My aunts would disown me if they ever found out this newfound desire. I wanted to ask Dwayne about the PI classes he’d taken some time back, but refrained. He’d once mentioned we should turn Video Angels into a business where we were videographers who did undercover work. I had never encouraged him.
Katie Henderson, although my best girlfriend since high school, would take this information from its inception and walk it all the way to its bitter end where I rested cold and alone on a gurney in the morgue.
Best keep quiet, Wallace.
Chapter Nineteen
I don’t know what I expected when we stopped out front of the boutique known in Memphis as a one-stop shop for all things erotic and romantic. The building didn’t really look all that sexy. In fact, Denise’s was pretty much a dump. Not the fault of the owners, really just a pretty suppressed part of town. All the buildings looked forlorn and worn out the way they get when the owners don’t care anymore about their outward appearance or they change hands a lot.
We got out, and headed for the front doors. The front windows were sort of painted over like a strip joint. Totally expected for a sex store. The interior, a dull red, had racks of boudoir lingerie, and walls filled with videos and books.
I took in the pinball machine in the far left corner and knew it would be a major ordeal if Dwayne ever got started playing it. Since I was the lookout, I headed over to it and checked the view. It was sure in a great place to be able to watch the entire store, including the entrance. If I was on their security force, I would tell them to watch people who hung out over here too much as being potential robbers.
Katie stood next to the clerk, began chatting her up, asking questions. She really did know a lot about this industry, and I wondered how she knew so much. Did she spend a lot of time in places like this? Was she into waylaying a man using such guiles?
I stared at the crotch-less panties nearby and gulped. Sal’s face filled my mind. God. Why on earth did I think about him now?
Dwayne sidled to the wall racks and flipped through the books and magazines, easing down toward the back wall where video DVDs were situated. I figured Thelma’s stuff was probably down that way. I dropped a few quarters in the machine in front of me and began playing, looking around every so often. I sucked at pinball that was for sure.
Katie and the clerk chatted over the rack of black lacy garters near the front door. I heard her give her size and glared at her. Surely she was kidding. Hadn’t she been that size in high school? I gave her a hard stare.
My game ended and when I looked up, Dwayne had his arms full of DVDS and made for the checkout. Wistfully, I tapped the machine’s metal rim, and moved away. I didn’t have another dollar in change to feed it.
As I strolled toward the front, I recalled how much fun the slots were in the little town south of us where casino craze was the name of the game. We hadn’t been down there in a long while.
“Are you ready to check out, sir?” The clerk, an acne-scarred woman with oily black hair named Debbie asked him.
“Yeah, and I got a question. These movies…are they directed by the same person as the books on the end over there?” He pointed back at the rack.
Debbie nodded. “Oh yes. Sally Sanders is our hottest seller.”
He clicked his tongue. “Hm. Well, they’re for rent, right? I can just bring them back when I’m done?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yep.”
“Cool.” He dumped them all on the counter. “This is better than the damn library.”
Katie did a quick finger wave at the clerk and headed out the door. I lingered around the bra area until Dwayne left, and then casually sauntered out. The sun hit me full force in the face, and I pulled my sunglasses out. We were going to be holed up for a long while in the studio watching videos. I yawned, hoping to stay awake that long.
On the ride back to South Lake, I looked over the DVDS as Katie tossed them to me after she checked them out.
“Ew. ‘Betty Bum’? Couldn’t she get more creative with her name?” Katie asked, peering at the starring list.
I took the case and found the fine print where the director and producer names were located. “Says here this movie was directed by Thelma Lunsford. Get that? She didn’t even try to hide herself. And who is this producer?”
My heart dropped like a stone.
Produced by Harpoon Productions.
The box stared back at me.
“Dee, that Harpoon guy produced these videos. What does that mean?”
“Means his ass is in this deep. No wonder he shot at us.”
I met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “I think I need an antacid. This is giving me a nervous stomach.”
###
Two hours later, Dwayne lounged in his roller chair, Katie draped over the loveseat, and I perched in my high-backed executive chair as we sat watching the last of the first movie.
A lot of grunting ensued on the screen, but we were all yawning.
“Not the best porn I ever watched,” Katie observed. I glared at her, not sure I wanted her to elucidate on that.
“Me either,” Dee agreed.
“Okay you two, I don’t want to hear any more. Your personal lives are not up for discussion.”
“Just because you like living a celibate life, doesn’t mean we all do,” Katie teased.
“That’s what I’m sayin’,” Dwayne added.
I ambled over and popped the disc out of the player, shoved it quickly back inside the case. “Okay, so Thelma isn’t the best at creating dramatic renditions of her books. Books are always better than flicks any day,” I said, giving them both a pointed look. “I do read.”
This amused them to no end.
“You need the real thing, Shan,” Dwayne said a few minutes later when their guffaws died down.
Seeing my stricken face, Katie cleared her throat and changed the subject. “Maybe it wasn’t her directing that was the problem. Maybe it was the sucky acting.” She waved her hand toward the television. “You know bad movies are the product of poor acting, not poor writing.”
“That’s debatable,” I told her. “If the acting sucks, yes, the story suffers, but can survive. But if the story sucks, even Dwayne Johnson and his yummy-ness couldn’t save it.”
Dwayne stood and stretched. “God, I love that man. He puts the action in action movie. All right movie critics du jour, what have we gained from watchin’ this shit?”
I sighed. He always seemed to know how to get to the heart of the matter.
“Nothing. Not a damn thing.” I tossed the case onto the pile of videos on the coffee table. “I don’t know what to do now. Thelma had someone’s help with this though. She had a producer, the Harp in fact, and that means he has money. Doesn’t the producer put out all the cash, and the camera people, and actors? What about them? Does the producer pay everyone? She’s not an island, seems to me. But also seems like the more people she knows, the harder it is to figure out this situation.”
“And how does all this have to do with Dan’s death?” Katie asked. “How does it all fit together?”
“Exactly. And really, who cares? I mean, we got the filmin’ of the household goods done, well, Shannon did,” Dwayne said. �
�The cops’ll sort out the murder the way they always do. And our lawyer bud will be whistlin’ all the way to the bank as he plunks down Denaldo’s Benjamins.”
I listened to them for a moment before blurting out, “Thelma’s a victim as much as Dan was. She said so on her interview with Charlotte Dillon. Now we have to help the cops figure this stuff out to help her. Helping her is as important as anything else.”
“Boy, what a switch! You were all ready to throw her to the crocodiles just a few days ago,” Katie exclaimed.
“That’s true,” Dwayne said, nodding.
I turned toward them, hands on hips, finger wagging an accusation. “Don’t either one of you start. Dan Justice’s death is keeping the whole of two police forces busy. But what if we can speed things up by finding out info they can’t get? And where is Thelma? She’s hiding out somewhere in fear of her life. We need to do something to help her, because the cops aren’t focused on that.”
“What if her husband could help out with that? I mean maybe he’s heard from her?” Katie asked.
“No. He hasn’t. He’s as bad as the cops so far as she’s concerned. He doesn’t care about her. He’s done away with her stuff and he’s just glad she’s gone. She’s a victim I’m telling you.”
“Well,” Dwayne said. “If she’s missin’ and it’s not of her own doin’, then we have to find out where she’s holed up. My vote goes to Midtown and the Harpoon. I’m itchin’ to get some goods on that one. He’s got a bull’s-eye painted on his ass in my book.”
I swallowed hard. I was afraid he was going to say that. “That’s dangerous, Dee. That guy shot at us.”
He nodded. “I know, but he has a story to tell. I just feel it. We won’t necessarily go huntin’ for him per se. We’ll just put out feelers.”
I ran my finger across my nose, and then scrubbed my face with both hands. “Do you know something about him that you haven’t told me?”
He turned on his brown puppy dog eyes. I stared right back. Finally, he shrugged and ‘fessed up. “He might know some people I know.”
“Great. Just great. And what in hell kind of trouble will this dump on our poor heads?” I paced in front of the entertainment center.
Katie sat mute watching us like a spectator at a tennis match.
He tilted his head. “Nothin’, Wall-ass, nothin’. I’m just gonna hang out at a few places that some people who might know him hang out at. It’s no biggie.”
“When did you realize your people might know him or his people or whatever?”
He turned away and mumbled.
“Dwayne Alexander Brown,” I said threateningly like a mother cornering a small child.
“All right, all right. It crept up on me after we met him and his gun. But I ain’t gone out and done nothin’ about it yet. I swear.”
“Operative word there, Dee. Yet.” I sat down on my chair, hard. “We are in so much trouble.”
“Naw girl, I’m tellin’ you. It’s fine.”
Katie shrugged when I looked to her for comfort, advice, or words of wisdom whichever came first.
“Couldn’t hurt, I suppose, to just hang out and listen to news,” she said, trying to look apologetic. “But if there’s a whiff of anything dirty, you haul your black butt out of there, capisce?”
He thrust his hand on his hip and said, “No, you didn’t!”
“Yeah. Yeah, she did, and I second that remark. If you so much as get a flicker of anything dangerous, Dee, you have to get out of there. Don’t forget what the Hispanic Hottie said. He cannot save us.”
He turned to face me now, and I could tell he wanted to argue. It danced from his eyes to his mouth, which opened and closed twice in quick succession.
I shook my head. “No discussion— unless you want me to go with you and make your life miserable?”
I knew that would get to him. He hated to be watched while doing his private eye thing.
“Fine. But you two have to back up off of me and let me swing. I’ll call in like a good little boy when I have news.”
We both smiled at each other, and him. I draped my purse straps over my arm. “Fine. That will definitely work. And speaking of work, we need to get a little done. Katie, I’ll call you later.” And I headed for my office, closing the door behind me. I wanted to be the first person to view the footage of the Denaldo house.
In private.
Chapter Twenty
After watching the first five minutes of the footage from the Denaldo house, I realized there was nothing in there worth a cent. David Lunsford had effectively taken everything that might have helped.
I wondered where he was. Did he have Thelma with him? Was that where she was hiding out from the world? I doubted it, because if that were so, the cops would have already had her in their clutches as a person of interest.
But maybe they had?
Sal would never call me up and say, “Hey, we just talked to Mrs. Denaldo, and she’s cool, everything is fine.”
I proceeded to close up shop and get ready to go. Dwayne and Katie left an hour earlier.
My stomach rumbled. When had I eaten last?
I pinched the bridge of my nose and rubbed my eyes. I was tired. I was mad. And I was hungry. Not a great combination for a woman on a mission. Time to call Jimmy again, and tell him to come get his goods. Hell, he’d paid for them, now he needed to take them away. We planned for me to burn a copy for him and drop it at his office. When we disconnected, I dialed Aunt Nancy.
“Hey sugar! What’s up?” she answered.
“I am still, unfortunately. Are you gals alone?”
“Sure are. You want to come over here? We’re just about to sit down to dinner.”
Friday night dinner with my aunts sounded like something homemade and delicious.
“Yes! That would be great.”
“Good! Come on then.”
Sighing with satisfaction that at last something was going my way, I turned off interior lights and headed for the door. Watery sunlight still beamed outside, and I smiled as it occurred to me that summer was in full swing even if I wasn’t.
On the ride to my aunts’ house, I listened to a New Age CD that I’d picked up at the health store in town. I’d gone there with my aunts and had been filled in on all the latest on the church play being planned for Mother’s Day, and about their latest escapades. Aunt Nancy had a new beau. But then, she had so many admirers I’d lost count.
At the house, I helped Aunt Tillie set the table and sat down to inhale some of her enchilada casserole, steaming with bubbling cheese.
“Tell me all your news, baby,” she said, handing us paper towels. “How do you like my fancy napkins?”
I laughed. “Great. Um, about the news, well, there isn’t any really. Same stuff, different day.”
“Not what I’m hearing from my customers,” she said, giving me a look over the rim of her bifocals. There was no way around this conversation. She would poke and prod and ask leading questions until I divulged all. Might as well give her the whole sordid tale and be done with it.
“Okay, here’s what’s going on.” I relayed all the news I had, filling them in on things that only someone from inside the story could know. I relayed what had transpired from the discovery of Dan’s body all the way to the lingerie store visit, and the video viewing.
“This is just bizarre, isn’t it, Nancy?” Aunt Tillie said, shaking her head. “I’ve known Thelma for years and this just does not sound right. I know she writes sexy books, but that’s been going on for some time. Teachers have never made squat for a living. But this tie-in with a pornography group, well, it just isn’t right.”
Aunt Nan nodded. “Yep. I agree. She’s a writer not a criminal. How’d she ever loop up with that Harp critter? And don’t you dare go off and wrangle with that fearsome creature again, you hear?”
I gaped at them with as innocent a look as I could muster. “I wouldn’t. I don’t have a death wish. And it may seem strange, but Thelma is a porn movie
director. She has several movies out and she uses her real name too, so no mistake there.”
Aunt Nancy shook her head. “Doesn’t add up. Just doesn’t add up.”
We changed the subject and the talk wound up around the latest band slotted to play in the heart of the oldest part of South Lake on the first Thursday of the summer. I sat back from the table a bit, sleepy and full.
“Wanna stay the night?” Aunt Tillie asked.
“Oh no. I can’t, sweetie, but thanks.”
“Why not? Your room is all made up,” Nancy added.
“I have so much to take care of tomorrow, including taking my car to a mechanic to be checked out. I better not.”
“Is it still acting up?”
I hemmed around trying to decide whether to inform them of the on-going sabotage. I finally gave in. “Yes. But you know, it’s getting helped along by someone who’s tampering with it.”
“Who’d want to do that?”
“Someone who thinks I’m out to get Thelma.”
Aunt Nancy scooped crumbs off the tablecloth onto her plate. “Strange things just keep happening. Tillie was nearly run over in the street as she backed out yesterday. You need to report that activity to the police. The next thing you know they’ll be tampering with you.”
Aunt Tillie made a noise in her throat. “Sister, don’t tell her stuff like that. You’ll frighten the child.”
Child? I didn’t even bother to correct her. It was sort of nice to have them fussing over me.
“Did you make it over to the attorney’s office yet?” Nancy asked, ignoring her.
“Nope. I called and left a message but nobody called me back yet.”
“Probably next week, then. Might want to call them back and give them your work number, too.”
I sighed. “Don’t remind me about work. I have to plan the shoot for the Crachett wedding.”
Picking up our plates, Aunt Tillie leaned over and kissed the top of my head. “You work too hard.”
For once I didn’t argue.