Too Many Cooks

by Joanne Pence

  Angie backed out of the cubicle. She didn’t know what anyone was going to do about Don Juan’s problem, and she didn’t want to know. She’d seen quite enough.

  Whiskbroom Head followed. He took one look at her face and chuckled. She knew she looked shocked, but she couldn’t help it.

  He opened the next door they came to. The set wasn’t much bigger than a closet, with a frayed once-gold chaise lounge, stained with she-didn’t-want-to-guess what, and adorned with old-fashioned pink and white feather boas hanging from its edges. The walls were draped in black cloth, and two big light stands stood in each corner. On the floor was a flokati rug.

  Her legs turned rubbery as she stepped inside.

  “Get undressed and lay down on the rug.” Green teeth behind a scraggly mustache grinned at her. “I’ll take these shots myself.”

  “I…I think I’ll think about it a bit longer.” Angie gripped the edges of her coat tight against her, turned, and ran through the hall, down the stairs, and out the door as fast as she could, Whiskbroom Head’s laughter ringing in her ears.

  14

  Paavo used the phone in the corner grocery store just down the street from Nona’s Nob Hill apartment to check his answering machine. He hadn’t wanted to stay there any longer than it took to say thanks for dinner and to get the unpublished article on Karl Wielund.

  Angie had left a message saying she had what he wanted. In more ways than one, he thought.

  As he’d done many times, he parked his car, walked into the lobby, waved at Mr. Belzer, and took the elevator to Angie’s floor. As always, anticipation made his heart thump a little harder as he stood in front of her door. But this time he tried hard to squelch the feeling. He would get the photos and films and leave.

  He knocked.

  She opened the door. “Hello! Why so late? Were you working?”

  The smile he’d missed seeing lit her face, but he also saw the caution in her eyes. He felt his own wariness, despite the emotions that filled him, so he said nothing but marched sternly into the room.

  The living room was dark except for the blue glow from her television. Watching TV wasn’t like her; she much preferred to read and listen to music. Moans and heavy breathing caused him to walk over to the TV. He couldn’t believe what he saw.

  “What’s this, the Playboy channel?” he asked.

  She switched on some lamps. “No. I bought three movies. Research.” She pointed to the stack of videos on the coffee table.

  He turned his back on the television set and picked the videos up. “Behind the Green Door, Deep Throat, and Debbie Does Dallas. Are you kidding me?”

  “The man at the video store said they were the classics, the ones to watch.” She grinned. “Hey, if my radio career doesn’t work out…”

  He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew this had something to do with the Sheila Danning photos she’d gotten her hands on, and he knew she was just joking when she implied anything more, but he was steadying himself for what the truth behind this might be.

  He shut off the TV. “All right, Angie. Tell me all about it.”

  “You’ll never guess what I found out!” She picked up the manila envelope that had been lying on the Chippendale secretary beside her front door and handed it to him.

  He looked inside. The missing photos. Thank God! “I couldn’t imagine.”

  She sat on the sofa, primly folded her hands in her lap, and said with an angelic smile, “These photos are from a studio on Dwight and Telegraph in Berkeley.”

  One of his eyebrows lifted. He carefully placed the photos on the coffee table, tugged at the knees of his trousers, and sat beside her. In a strained voice he asked, “How could you possibly know that?”

  She couldn’t stay put. Excitement radiated from her and she nearly bounced off the sofa as she began to explain. “I know someone who knows someone else who knows someone involved with photos like these. All I had to do was ask. Then I went to the address the friend found out for me. I saw the very rug these pictures were taken on. It’s a pornographic film studio. I even watched them shooting a movie.”

  He felt as if he’d been shot again. “Good God!”

  She giggled. “Really. It was fascinating—but a little weird.”

  She had to be joking again, he thought. “Nobody waltzes into a porno studio and gets them to give you a guided tour.”

  “I did. I simply told them I wanted some photos taken of me and that I’d pay plenty.”

  She wasn’t joking. He stood. Every ounce of his control was gone, vanished. As she sat there looking at him with a huge, beatific smile, all he could think of was the horrible risk she’d taken; all he could feel was anger. “Don’t you know those people are dangerous?” he bellowed. “Especially if they realize you’re just being nosy.”

  She leaned back against the sofa. “I realize it. I was even a little scared, at first. But then I saw that it was just a film studio like any other, almost. It didn’t bother me at all.”

  He paced, still shouting. “What if you couldn’t get away? What if they tried to force you to…to…” He couldn’t say any of the horrible things that flashed into his mind. He ran his fingers through his hair. She just didn’t know, like he did, how ugly it could be.

  “Nothing happened,” she said. The excitement gradually left her face, replaced by a guardedness unnatural to her.

  It tore him apart, but he couldn’t stop himself from going on. “I can’t believe you’d be so foolish! What in the hell did you think you were doing?”

  She folded her arms. He could see red spots of anger forming on her cheeks. He didn’t care. “I was trying to help you. And Chick! He was my friend. If those photos had anything to do with why Karl was killed, and if Karl’s death had anything to do with Chick’s murder, it’s my business as well as yours.”

  He pointed his finger at her. “I want you to stay away from this. Whoever’s behind it is very likely responsible for at least three murders—Wielund, Chick, and Wielund’s landlord. And possibly four, if he also killed Sheila Danning. It’s too dangerous for you to go snooping around.”

  She jumped to her feet, her nose near his—or as near as possible with a ten-inch difference in height between them. “I’d stay away if, Mr. Inspector, you and your police force caught Chick’s killer. I don’t see that happening, though, do I?”

  “I’m warning you, Angie. Keep out of it.” He drew in his breath. “I don’t want you getting involved in Chick’s or Wielund’s murders any more.”

  “Involved? But I didn’t—”

  “I don’t want you asking the restaurant owners, or Wielund’s employees, or Mark Dustman, or Eileen Powell, or anyone else anything about Karl Wielund. The same goes for Chick’s friends and employees.”

  “What do you mean? Those people are my friends.”

  “And everyone knows you’ve been seeing me. I don’t trust a single one of them, I’ll tell you that right now. If, by chance, you stumble across the one who’s guilty, do you realize the danger you could be in?”

  “Nonsense!”

  “When you talk about the case, they think your words are coming from me or from some other inside information you might have.”

  “So what?”

  “It’s happened both to Yoshiwara and to me that when we question them, we later discover that they answered with whatever they’d already told you.”

  “Already. Already? So, that’s it! You’re mad because I’ve been ahead of you. I’ve gotten there first. Well, I guess I must apologize for being so prompt at your job!” She turned her back on him and folded her arms again.

  “Just keep away.”

  “Don’t worry. I will. Especially if you’re there!”

  He picked up the photos and walked toward the door, but as his hand touched the knob, it was hard to turn it. He glanced once more at Angie, still showing her back to him, one foot tapping angrily. His gaze slowly drifted up her high, high heels, her shapely legs, nicely rounded derrière,
and tiny waist. He looked away, taking in the apartment: richly beautiful, it also had warmth and comfort…and Angie.

  Hers was a world so different from the one he knew, he wouldn’t have believed it real had he not seen it for himself. How cold and lonely his own world seemed in contrast!

  She glanced over her shoulder at him, her expression quizzical, as if wondering why he hadn’t left yet. As his gaze met hers, he steeled himself against her pull. “Thanks for finding all this out for us. Please, leave the rest of the investigation up to me.”

  Rebecca looked up as Paavo and Yosh walked into the squad room late the next afternoon. “When’s the funeral?”

  They stared up at her. “Whose funeral?” Yosh asked.

  “I don’t know. I figured someone must have died, the way you two look.”

  “Gallows humor has no place in Homicide, Inspector.” Barely glancing at her, Paavo walked straight to the desk.

  “Neither does any other kind, I see,” Rebecca said. “Don’t let me interrupt your fun.”

  “Wait, Rebecca,” Paavo called as she strode away from her desk. She stopped. “I have something here you need to see.”

  “Oh?” She stepped closer.

  Hesitantly, Paavo picked up the envelope lying on the edge of his desk. Despite himself, he found it hard to hand a woman, homicide detective or not, a pile of pornographic pictures.

  “What’s your problem, Smith?” She grabbed the bag from him and took the photos out. “Oh, yuck! What are these—oh, my God!” She leaned closer, staring at a photo of a woman sandwiched between two men. “I don’t believe it!”

  Paavo and Yosh glanced at each other. “What is it?” Paavo asked.

  “Where did you find these? This woman looks…she looks like the one killed in Golden Gate Park last fall. Sheila Danning. My first case. Let me show you.” She hurried to her desk and pulled a file out of the bottom drawer. “I should have turned this over to Central Filing by now, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give up on the case.”

  “So you had it. Never-Take-a-Chance thought he’d misfiled it somewhere. He’s been stalling us for days.”

  “I don’t think he ever had his hands on this file,” Rebecca said as she ruffled through the pages. “Here.”

  She dropped an 8×11 photo on Paavo’s desk of a shiny-faced, smiling teenager wearing a graduation cap and gown. He picked it up and studied it, then picked up one of the pictures from Wielund’s house. Under the heavy makeup, he saw that the face, nose, and lips were basically the same in both photos. But the eyes that sparkled in the graduation picture had grown dull quickly for one so young.

  “Her parents sent that picture down to us,” Rebecca added, “saying she hadn’t changed much in two years. Boy, were they wrong.”

  “Why did she come to San Francisco?” Paavo asked.

  “No special reason. Her parents said she thought it was pretty and she wanted to find a job here.”

  “Seattle would have been a lot closer to home.” Yosh’s voice was weary, tinged with the dismay of seeing, once again, the pointless loss of youth.

  “Maybe that’s why she chose San Francisco,” Paavo said.

  “‘I never could find out what she did before getting the job at La Maison Rouge,” Rebecca said. “No one gave us any hint that she could have even thought of posing for pictures like these, let alone done it. The investigation turned up nothing more telling than a nice, wholesome girl who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Who happened to make porn movies,” Paavo added.

  “And who knew Karl Wielund, who’s now also dead,” Yosh added.

  “And who worked for Albert Dupries, another restaurant owner,” Rebecca added.

  “Who just happened to deny knowing the woman in the photos we showed him.” Paavo stood. “I think it’s time we went and visited Mr. Dupries again.”

  Yosh stood, and so did Rebecca. “It’s my case too, remember?” she said.

  Paavo and Yosh exchanged glances; then Yosh sat. “I’ll leave it up to you two to figure out. I don’t mind holding down the fort.”

  Rebecca smiled at Paavo. “Are you ready?”

  “I guess.” He threw one last piercing glance at Yosh as he followed Rebecca out the door.

  La Maison Rouge was just opening as Paavo stopped his old, battered Austin Healey in front of it. He was surprised a valet didn’t run out to hide it in a back alley. Rebecca was out of the car and waiting on the sidewalk by the time Paavo joined her.

  The maître d’ gave them an ingratiating smile as they entered. “A table for two, tonight?”

  “We won’t be dining,” Rebecca said, pulling her badge from her purse. She held it up for him. “We’d like to speak to Albert Dupries.”

  The maître d’ looked as if they had announced themselves as health inspectors. “I shall see if Monsieur Dupries is available.”

  In no time, Paavo and Rebecca were shuttled toward the back of the restaurant to a small office. Dupries sat behind a desk but stood as they entered. Paavo noticed his face paled a bit as he gazed at Rebecca.

  “Inspector Smith, what a surprise,” the restaurateur said, holding out his hand. He glanced at Rebecca as if he didn’t recognize her. Paavo introduced her and explained that they had some some questions about Sheila Danning’s murder.

  “I cannot believe I have more information for you after all these months,” Dupries said, looking puzzled.

  “We believe you can be quite a help, Mr. Dupries,” Paavo said. “I’m surprised you don’t remember Inspector Mayfield.”

  Dupries glanced at her. “Should I? I’m so sorry. I meet so many people, you see. I have no memory for faces.” He drew in a deep breath. “Pardon, mademoiselle. It is inexcusable to have forgotten someone who is so lovely.”

  Rebecca stared at him as if he’d just crawled out from under a rock.

  “Well, umm.” He waved his arms helplessly, then gestured toward the straight-backed wooden chairs. “Shall we sit down?”

  Paavo opened his briefcase and took out the pictures. “There’s someone I’d like you to tell us about,” he said.

  “Yes?”

  “This person.” Paavo placed the graduation picture on the table.

  “But of course. This is Sheila Danning.”

  “And,” Paavo continued, “this one.”

  Dupries glanced at the naked woman in the photo and jerked back in his chair. “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you?” Rebecca asked.

  Dupries looked closer. “Mon dieu! This is Sheila Danning, too?”

  “Isn’t it?” Rebecca asked.

  “Well, I suppose.”

  “Are you saying you didn’t know she made such photos?”

  “I had no idea.”

  Paavo jumped in. “Did she always look like the girl in the graduation photo?”

  Dupries glanced up at him. “No. She was not so innocent. Especially after her amour with Karl Wielund. But then, I didn’t pay much attention. She was a cocktail waitress. Unimportant.”

  “You had no recollection of anything at all about this woman several months ago, Mr. Dupries.” Rebecca’s voice was cold. “I’m curious about why you remember so much now.”

  Dupries pushed out his lips in thought. “It must be because of my conversation with a mutual friend of Inspector Smith, Angelina Amalfi. She and I had a most enjoyable lunch together today. She said Karl Wielund had been seeing one of my waitresses. Since Sheila knew most of the staff at Wielund’s, I assumed it must have been her.”

  Blood rushed to Paavo’s head. Hadn’t he just told Angie to stop talking to people about these cases? Hadn’t she listened at all? “Angie told you about Danning and Wielund?”

  “Yes. I hadn’t paid much attention before. Sheila Danning was a bit…cheap. Angie thought so too.”

  Paavo’s throat began to tighten, his breathing grew harsh. “Did you remember any of this before talking with Miss Amalfi?”

  “I’m
not sure. I don’t think I’d heard it before. If I had, I paid no attention. I’m not one to gossip.”

  “Where shall I drop you?” Paavo asked as he and Rebecca got into his Austin.

  He could see the curiosity but also the hesitancy in her eyes.

  “How about dinner?”

  He glanced at his watch. He had to admit he was hungry. It was nearly eight o’clock. “Want to eat here?”

  “No. I’m more a Jumbo Jack kind of girl.”

  He nodded. “As you wish, Inspector.”

  They ate their cheeseburgers and fries in the car, washing them down with large black coffees-to-go. When done, Rebecca asked to be dropped off at her place. She lived in a tiny flat built behind a garage on the ground floor of a three-story building.

  Paavo walked her to her door and waited as she opened it.

  She held the doorknob in her hand as she turned to face him. “Why don’t you come in? It’s not very late,” she added, a little too quickly.

  Her offer shouldn’t have surprised him—he knew she found him interesting, knew she must have heard about his split from Angie—but it did. A part of him said he should take her up on it. He needed to see other women, needed to forget about Ms. Society and all she ever meant to him.

  Rebecca was a nice person. She was attractive. A good detective. That was why he couldn’t be anything less than straight with her.

  “No, thanks.”

  She looked at him a long moment, as if waiting for an explanation. He knew better than to make excuses, and she didn’t need to hear the blunt truth.

  “Okay,” she said. “Maybe next time.”

  “Probably not, Inspector Mayfield.”

  Her face flamed. “You make yourself clear, Inspector Smith.” She caught his gaze, then smiled sheepishly. “I guess I should say thanks for that.”

  He looked uncomfortably at the fog-misted nightlights lining the street.

  She stepped into her apartment. “Well,” she said, her voice heavy, “Good night, Paavo.”