A is for Actress (Malibu Mystery Book 1)

by Rebecca Cantrell

  Sofia was here on Brendan’s orders. Since her release, Melissa had decided that Sofia was pretty much the best thing ever. And because Stark threw so much business the way of Maloney Investigations, and Melissa’s case had been a marquee victory for Stark, Brendan had asked Sofia to indulge Melissa’s desire to be pals.

  “She’ll get tired of you in a while,” Brendan had reassured Sofia. “Broads like her always do.”

  “Voice of experience?” Sofia had asked.

  “Don’t be a smarty pants,” he’d told her. Smarty pants was about as close as Brendan got to using bad language. “Just play nice.”

  “Just play nice,” Sofia muttered to herself as Melissa came rushing out of the front door toward her. Her hair and makeup were perfect, and she was dressed in a designer small black dress with red Louboutin stiletto heels. The heels must have been five inches tall, and they made Melissa taller than Sofia, so that she could look down on her. No surprises there.

  Melissa gave her a hug, complete with double air kiss. “Mwah! Mwah! How are you, my darling?”

  “Great,” Sofia told her, which had been pretty much true until she’d had to come here. “How’s the party planning going?”

  Melissa rolled her eyes. “Staff are a nightmare. Thankfully I have Leo helping me out.”

  “Leo?” Sofia asked. She guessed it hadn’t taken long for Melissa to not only find a replacement for her deceased husband, but for Bobby as well.

  “You may have met him,” said Melissa. “He’s been incredibly supportive through this whole thing. I don’t know how I would have coped without him being there for me.” Melissa hesitated and suddenly looked anxious. “You’ve been great, too. A real tower of strength.”

  “Happy to have been able to help.” Sofia wished she could tell Melissa that the only reason she was here was because Brendan wanted to maintain a good relationship between Maloney Investigations and Stark’s law firm. But she couldn’t. Not even hint at it.

  Melissa craned her neck over Sofia’s shoulder. “Speak of the devil. There’s Leo now.”

  Sofia turned around to see the young blond man who’d manned the reception at the Brentwood Organic Spa pulling up in a blue Mustang. Melissa ran over to greet him. Sofia had assumed when she’d met him that he was gay, but judging by the passionate kiss he exchanged with Melissa, maybe Sofia needed to go get her gaydar recalibrated. Or maybe Leo followed the money instead of his inclinations.

  Melissa made the introductions. If Leo recognized Sofia, he didn’t let on.

  “Darling, I’m so glad you’re here,” Melissa said to Leo. “If you could keep an eye on the catering people, that would be wonderful.”

  Leo gave Melissa a plastic smile. “Absolutely.”

  “Okay,” said Melissa, kissing him on the cheek. “Sofia and I need to go get the costumes for later, but we shouldn’t be long. I’m on my cell if you need me.”

  As she started to turn away, Sofia asked, “Costumes?”

  This was the first she’d heard that Melissa was throwing a costume party.

  “Yes,” said Melissa. “I decided to do a prison theme. You know, convicts and guards.”

  Wow. There was bad taste and then there was this. A few weeks ago Melissa had been looking at wearing an orange jumpsuit for the rest of her life. She had actually seen what conditions were like for women in jail. Women who may not have been angels, but who still had to endure all kinds of indignities, as well as being separated from their families, and often their children. And now Melissa thought their suffering made for a good Brentwood party theme. Sofia made a promise to herself that she wasn’t going to dress up to match the theme of the party, no matter what Brendan might say.

  “I thought about doing the whole orange thing,” Melissa garbled on. “But I thought that might be a little tacky, so instead I went with the classic black and white stripes.” She turned back to Leo. “Though stripes can be kind of fattening. What do you think, sweetie?”

  Leo gave Melissa another of his fake smiles. He certainly wasn’t the actor that Moonbow had been. “It’s not possible for you to look fat.”

  “Isn’t he a sweetheart?” Melissa asked.

  It took Sofia a few seconds to register that the question had been addressed to her. “Totally.”

  “We have to dash,” Melissa said, and Leo nodded and wandered into the house.

  Sofia fell in next to her as Melissa headed for the house’s triple garage. Melissa dug a door opener out of her handbag and hit the button.

  “We can take the Range Rover,” Melissa announced. “We’ll need the room.”

  How many costumes were they picking up? An entire prison’s worth? Sofia didn’t want to know.

  The garage door glided open. As they stepped into the gloom of the garage, Sofia caught a glimpse of Nigel’s Mercedes sitting next to the Range Rover. She felt a pang of grief at the sight. Even though she’d only met him once, it was odd to think that he’d never drive it again. Or any other car. That he was completely gone. She wondered how Melissa could be so blasé. Even if she hadn’t had any feelings for Nigel at the end, she must have loved him at some point.

  Maybe this was just her way of coping. Sofia had seen something like it before with the recently bereaved. A manic need to stay busy and somehow stave off their emotions. Maybe this was what the party was. A way of pretending that none of what had happened was real. Or, it could be that deep down Melissa was really shallow. Sofia bet on that last one.

  Melissa opened the driver’s door and got in. Sofia got into the front passenger seat next to her. The Ranger Rover eased out of the garage and down the driveway. Melissa waved cheerfully at Leo. He gave her an unconvincing smile back. Any director Sofia had ever worked with would have made him do another take on that smile.

  They reached the gates at the bottom of the driveway. Melissa reached up to the sun visor, and pressed a button on the clicker that controlled the gates. The electronic gates swung slowly open and the Range Rover nosed its way through and out onto the street.

  Melissa picked her handbag off her lap and handed it off to Sofia while she drove one-handed. “Could you be a dear and put that on the backseat?”

  “Sure,” said Sofia, taking the bag from her.

  Sofia shuffled around in the large, leather-upholstered seat and turned to the back of the car. A hand appeared from the backseat foot well and grabbed her wrist. Sofia screamed and tried to yank her hand back, but she was caught in a tight grip.

  A man with a gun sat up in the back seat. He pressed the gun barrel into Sofia’s cheek. She gasped and then tried to sit very still.

  Melissa screamed and almost lost control of the Range Rover.

  “Keep us on the road,” the man instructed Melissa. “One wrong move and I blow her head off. You got me?”

  52

  Sofia had come pretty close to losing control of her bladder for the second time in only a few weeks. The cold metal of the gun pressed painfully against her cheek didn’t help.

  Next to her, Melissa straightened the Range Rover and slowed down. With the tinted windows, no one could look inside the SUV and see what was happening. They were on their own and at the mercy of the gunman. At least they had solved the mystery of where the two Philly mob fugitives were. They could now account for at least one of them.

  Sofia had studied mugshots released by the LA County sheriff and LAPD. She had a good memory for faces, and she was pretty sure that the man holding her at gunpoint was Vincent ‘Little Vinny’ Chitti. He was a mob enforcer, and he was suspected of having killed before. Sofia pushed his rap sheet out of her mind and tried not to panic.

  “Okay,” Little Vinny told Melissa. “Pull over on this corner.”

  Thankfully, Melissa did as she was told because Sofia was pretty sure Little Vinny would have shot her to make a point. In fact, apart from her initial scream, which Sofia wasn’t really in a position to comment on, because she had had the exact same reaction, Melissa had stayed pretty calm, all th
ings considered. A man dashed from behind a hedge. Little Vinny reached over, the gun dropping from Sofia’s face for a second, and opened the passenger door.

  Little Vinny’s partner in thuggery, Michael ‘Big Mike’ Barbina, clambered in the back. He, too, looked just like his police mug shot, except tanner and bigger. He was the guy who had shot at Sofia and Aidan in the parking garage, and the one who had tried to run her off the road. Sadly, his left arm seemed to be all healed.

  He grabbed the back of the front seats and pulled himself forward. “Thanks for the ride, ladies. Much appreciated. You can keep driving, toots.”

  “Where are we going?” Melissa asked.

  “Good question,” said Big Mike. “You see, even though your departed husband, God rest his soul, is no longer with us, the money he took and didn’t pay back is still an outstanding debt. So you’re going to drive us to your bank and arrange a wire transfer.”

  “You’re crazy,” said Melissa. “They’ll ask questions.”

  Little Vinny pushed the gun back into Sofia’s face. Even though the element of surprise was gone, she still didn’t feel any better about a loaded handgun being held to her head. Especially because Vinny seemed the jumpy type, and not the brightest. He seemed as likely to pull the trigger by accident as by design.

  “Then you’d better think of a good story,” countered Big Mike.

  Sofia had already realized that Melissa stood some chance. They had a use for her. Without her, they couldn’t get their hands on the money they were owed. Until that was in their hands, they wouldn’t kill her.

  Sofia was a different matter. Not only was she dead weight, she had foiled them not once, but twice. First on the freeway going to her mom’s house and then when they arrived to kill Bobby Rogers. If she didn’t do something about it, she couldn’t see herself getting out of this situation alive. No matter how scared she felt, she had to start thinking and fast.

  “I can help her with that,” she piped up. “Coming up with a story I mean.”

  “Oh yeah?” Big Mike didn’t seem all that convinced by her offer of help.

  “Sure,” said Sofia. “I used to be an actress. Part of that is being able to improvise.”

  Melissa glanced across at her. She looked skeptical. “I think I’ll be fine on my own.”

  Sofia’s elbow shot out to nudge Melissa. She leaned across and whispered. “I’m dead meat if I don’t get in the bank with you.”

  Little Vinny reached past Big Mike, through the gap in the seats, and jabbed Sofia in the ribs with his gun. “No whispering. You have something to say, you say it to us, ’kay?”

  “Sorry,” said Sofia. “But you’re going to need me inside. I was a professional actress. I can convince people to do anything.”

  Big Mike made a barking laugh that made him sound like an over-excited seal. “Oh, yeah?”

  “She’s right,” said Melissa. “And I’m not doing it unless she comes in with me.”

  The gun swiveled from Sofia to Melissa.

  “You think we’re asking you, toots?” said Little Vinny. “We ain’t.”

  Sofia may not have liked Melissa, but she didn’t deny that the lady had a steely inner core. As she pulled the Range Rover into the bank’s parking lot, she stared down the gun and the man holding it. “It’s both of us or you can whistle for your money.”

  “Okay, okay,” said Big Mike. “But any funny stuff and you both die.”

  “Understood,” said Melissa.

  “There won’t be any funny stuff,” Sofia lied.

  Melissa pulled into a parking spot two lanes back from the bank’s main entrance and switched off the engine. Twisting around in her seat, Sofia saw Little Vinny nudge Big Mike.

  “Can I ask her now?” Little Vinny asked Big Mike.

  Big Mike looked aggravated. “You have to?”

  “Well, yeah.” Little Vinny pulled the gun away from Sofia and tucked it back into a shoulder holster. He fished in his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a small black notebook.

  “Go on then,” said Big Mike.

  Little Vinny thrust the notebook at Sofia. “Could I get your autograph?”

  Sofia stared at him. She had been asked for her autograph in strange places and strange circumstances, but this had to be the weirdest. Even by LA standards, this was completely over the top, and that was really saying something.

  “A minute ago you were going to shoot me and now you want my autograph?” she said as Little Vinny held the notebook out to her and dug back into his pocket for a pen.

  He looked a little sheepish. “If you wouldn’t mind. I’d really appreciate it.”

  She took the notebook and the pen, flipped to a blank page and signed her name with a flourish. She handed the notebook back. She kept the pen. Maybe she could stab him with it later. What would Violet do? Aim for his carotid artery.

  Little Vinny took the notebook, opened it to the page she’d just signed, and smiled. “That’s terrific. Thank you so much.” He turned to Big Mike. “Last thing she signed. This could be worth big money.”

  Sofia felt cold all over, and she gulped. Even Melissa jumped.

  Big Mike glared at his partner.

  “He’s kidding! Aren’t you?” he asked Vinny, giving him a sharp-elbowed dig in the ribs.

  “Oh yeah,” said Little Vinny. “After a while you kind of get a dark sense of humor doing this job.”

  “No kidding,” said Sofia, not believing a word of it. At least she knew for sure now that this was her one shot at saving her life.

  Melissa cleared her throat. “Do you guys want your money or do you want to sit here chatting? I have a party to organize. God only knows what the caterers will do if I leave them to their own devices for too long.” She glanced at Sofia. “Leo looks pretty but he’d not exactly an organizational wizard, know what I mean?”

  Sofia had to hand it to Melissa. She really wasn’t a fan of small talk, not even when she was being kidnapped at gun point. The woman had shit to get done, and she wasn’t going to let a little snag like an unexpected abduction by two mob killers ruin her soiree. That was focus for you.

  “Okay, go ahead, but remember, you try to alert anyone, and we’ll shoot you both,” said Big Mike. “Capiche?”

  The way he asked them in Italian if they understood, Sofia had the impression he’d been dying to use that word. Probably made him feel more like a mobster. All four of them got out of the car at the same time. Melissa and Sofia walked toward the bank entrance with the two guys a few steps behind. Sofia felt their escorts watching her every move.

  As they got closer to the entrance, Big Mike fell in step with Melissa. “I’ll have to give you the details of the transfer.” He eyed Sofia. “Toots, you stay with Vinny.”

  Sofia did an inner eye roll. She was going to ‘toots’ someone where the sun didn’t shine as soon as they got inside the bank. As dumb and as violent as they were, she didn’t think these two thugs would risk shooting her in the middle of a busy bank in Brentwood. They would want to be in and out as quickly as possible and with the minimum fuss. They’d try to avoid anything that would draw attention to themselves. Or at least she hoped so. Even if they shot her, the bank was still her best hope of survival.

  Melissa walked into the main bank foyer with Big Mike by her side. Sofia followed, Little Vinny glued to her side. As Melissa headed over to the line with Big Mike, Little Vinny motioned for Sofia to take a seat.

  “I prefer standing,” she told him.

  His eyes narrowed. “Si’ down.”

  “You’re not the boss of me,” she said, raising her voice.

  He tried to grab her elbow, but she pulled away.

  “Take your paws off me,” she said even louder.

  Her behavior was getting the desired effect. Customers and bank employees looked over at her. She hadn’t been lying about being prepared to improvise. Acting had also given her one other ability that was coming in handy. As long as she was playing a character rather than just
being herself, she really didn’t care what people thought. The character she had chosen to play on the brief walk from the Range Rover was Complete Pain in the Ass.

  “Keep your voice down,” Little Vinny hissed.

  Big Mike looked ready to spontaneously combust as he waited in line with Melissa. He kept shooting looks at Little Vinny.

  “Sorry,” Sofia said to Vinny. “I’d really rather not sit down though.”

  “Okay, don’t sit down,” he said.

  She counted that as a point for her side. She needed to get everyone’s attention, but not make him so mad that he shot her. It was going to be a delicate balance.

  “Hey, can I ask you a question?” she said, raising her voice again and drawing more attention. She heard an elderly couple talking at a nearby desk, the woman insisting that “the girl over there is an actress” while her husband looked baffled. Sofia turned her attention back to her guard. “Why do they call Little Vinny? Is it because…?”

  She wiggled her pinkie finger while staring at his crotch.

  “I said, keep your voice down,” Little Vinny whispered.

  “Sore point, huh?” Lowering her voice fractionally before raising it even louder again she added, “You know you can get these like pump things to make it bigger. Or maybe you could tie a weight to it or something. Y’know stretch it out. Although if it’s like really little. I mean how little are we talking here?”

  Little Vinny looked like he was about to explode. He leaned toward her. “That’s not why they call me Little Vinny. It’s because I’m short.”

  Sofia held up her hands. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to touch a nerve. Yeah, I’m sure that’s the reason they gave you that nickname.” She had gotten so loud that by now pretty much everyone in the bank was staring at her and Little Vinny. Good.

  Less than ten yards away, an elderly woman nudged her husband. “It’s her. I’m telling you. She was in The Enquirer.” The woman leaned in a little closer to her husband. “Drug problems,” she whispered, taking out her cell phone and taking a picture while her husband looked embarrassed. “She’s the one who peed right in the street in the middle of the day.”