“How does this target know you’re scary,” Lois asked.
“When I said show up in the dark, I mean I show up at their bedside while they’re sleeping. It’s one of the reasons I think I’ll be good working for you. I’m an expert at bypassing just about any security system ever made. I can spot weaknesses in a system in minutes.”
“This is good, Lo.” Yeah, I’m more than a little surprised at this turn of events. I never really thought about where someone like Trish started out. “Your starting point before even the Hollywood gig must have been some serious training. Did you have a mentor or something?”
“I’m from Quebec originally. That’s where I got into trouble. My folks were going to mold me into doing good, and let’s face it, I’m not good. I don’t know what I have, but it ain’t a conscience. Petty crime, bagging for the numbers racket, cute courier who could pass anything to anyone, and I attracted some notice from an enforcer in the Rizzuto Crime Family. I had to kill a punk looking to take my load. I was seventeen. I dragged his body out of sight, and called it in. They sent Markos Campana with the Rizzuto cleaner in Quebec City. The cleaner took care of the body. Markos watched me. Instead of wailing for the poor old thug, I was anxious to get going on my delivery. He took me under his wing for the next ten years until he got clipped on a job in South America. I headed for the states. Markos took me along on a few jobs in LA, where he needed a young starlet broad on his arm to get close for a hit. I made some connections in LA, and hooked up with the guy I told you about.”
“What happened to him?”
“I had to retire him, Lo. He was keeping a secret database, and his taste for blackmail got out of control. I was offered the contract because I was the logical one to do the hit. I drowned him in his own hot tub like he passed out from being in there too long. That hit broke it open for me. I stayed selective, like Markos taught me. Then, I took the hit on for that old whore Stacy. That’s when I found out I wasn’t the smartest fish in the pond. If I’d killed Rick first, I could have taken Stacy and her benefactor at my convenience. I’d be living in a tropical paradise somewhere, knee deep in cabana boys.”
Lo leaned forward. “No, girlfriend. You would have ended your days in the sand all right, staked out in the desert with your eyelids cut off, and honey on your snatch, praying for death.”
Trish looked into Lois’s steady gaze, remembering who tazed her a second time just for laughs. She didn’t look away. Trish smiled. “Maybe. That’s all in the past. I don’t want the tropics or cabana boys. I have money, but I want to do interesting things for the rest of my life. I’ve already traveled all over the world. It sucks. I like it here. I wouldn’t pretend with you two. I don’t have any morals, regrets, or even thoughts of revenge. Everything that happens to Rick is funny. He’s on a roll since his Stacy thing. Another item I’ll admit to is I’ve dreamed of this Casablanca Night at your restaurant, with Rick playing Bogart’s Rick. Any chance of me getting a part in that?”
Not if Jadie’s head explodes. “I don’t know. Can you sing?”
Trish sang right there at the table, launching into ‘I Will Always Love You’ in different form from Whitney Houston, but… damn good.
“Holy shit.” Lo shook her head. “A crooning serial killer. What next? Okay, kid, you have our attention. You are one valuable asset if you can keep your murderous side under control.”
Trish took on an outraged look. “What the hell? Only you and Rick get to kill people? Just because Rick swam to the beach and fried Teddy and his boys doesn’t mean you get a great big pass for driving the boat, Sis.”
Lo turned on me with fire in her Gorgon eyes. “You told her… you idiot!”
Yeah, I’m the idiot, because Trish is already laughing. “No Lo, you just told her.”
It took a moment to sink in that she’d been had. The look on Lois’s face was priceless. It went from surprised acknowledgement to acceptance, and then to anger. She didn’t like it. “Okay… little sis, game on.”
When Trish could talk again, she reached over and grasped my hand. “I knew Rick did it, and the moment he told me he had been at your house as an alibi, I knew you’d taken him to the beach. You two were CIA. Hell, your cop friend knows you two did it. He’s just not smart enough to trick it out of either of you.”
“You were so right that I’d regret not bringing my Taser, Rick! Okay, you got skills, Skipper. Play me again, and you’ll be waking up next to me in the dark instead of the Hooterville Trolley here.”
Trish nodded and held out her hand. Lois shook it. “If we’re all done with the employment physical, why don’t you take off and get ready for our meeting, Granny. I’d like to take another ride on the Hooterville Trolley.”
Lois stood up, and turned toward the door. “I think I’m going to have to shoot you right between the eyes one of these days, Skipper.”
“One of these days, you might have to, Granny.”
Lo was still laughing when she closed the door behind her. Trish propped her feet up on the table, allowing what little there was of her negligee to ride up to heaven’s half acre. “Well, you going to sit there sucking down coffee, or are you going to get that trolley the hell out of the station?”
“Toot… toot.” As I stood up, I knew I was out of my league, fresh out of any answers for all this, and completely out of my damn mind.
* * *
The limousine picked us up right on time. Trish had all of her things from before she went into prison, so clothing wasn’t a problem. The killer had many outfits for blending into every conceivable social or business gathering. The outfit of the day was a black skirt, white blouse, and a matching black jacket. Trish looked about five feet, ten in her black heels, a little shorter without them than I had figured before. With her light brown shoulder length hair tied back tightly and those icy blue eyes, Trish looked damn good and professional. Temple’s driver, Pete opened the door for us with a big grin.
“Hi, Rick.”
“Hey, Pete, this is a new associate, Trish Rocha.”
“Glad to meet you, Pete.” Trish shook hands with him.
“Same here, Ms. Rocha.”
We slipped inside with Temple gawking at Trish. Pete closed the door. “Oh my God, Rick, you really brought her home with you?”
“I rolled him but good.” Trish held out her hand and Temple shook it. “You must be Temple. I hear you’re pretty famous.”
“I’ve been at it since I was a kid, playing Sally Waters, a singing girl detective. The movie did real well with sequels ordered. It’s nothing compared to all you’ve been through.”
“You mean all I’ve put others through, don’t you?”
Temple smiled. “I’m not much good at judging people, Trish. I see you’re with Pop here, so I’ll let him worry out the details, and judge the result.”
“Pop?” Trish glanced back at me with a grin.
Temple giggled. “I want him to adopt me, but he says I’m too old.”
“So, you two are pretty tight, huh? Okay, you’re eighteen, big time movie draw, and this tootsie roll you have for a co-star wants the studio to set you up with him. That about right?”
“How do you know Alex wants anything to do with me? He’s usually fine with just groping me, but since Pop comes along at the social occasions as my security guy, the twerp stays away from me.”
“He wants it, because if two stars both don’t want anything to do with an outside publicity stunt, the studio leaves it to the rumor mill. Once we get to your meeting, we’ll see how this stacks up, and who this Alex guy knows to even get someone from the studio to bother suggesting it,” Trish replied.
“I can see why Rick wants you along.” Temple got a stricken look on her face. “Oh my God, Pop, does Lois know about Trish?”
“Relax, kid. Lo stormed the Cantelli trenches this morning first thing. You know her when any piece of information about my life is missing from her puzzle, she’s like a hound dog on the trail of a hemorrhaging squirrel.
The meet up this morning will however go down in legend somewhere in the archives of Cantelli Land.”
“Wow… that is so cool.” Temple grasped Trish’s hand. “Are you going to start working out with us, and going to Friday’s Casablanca Night?”
“You’re a little clingy, kid.” Trish gave Temple a look that had her pulling away, but Trish stopped her with a laugh, holding on tightly to her hand. “Just messing with you, kid.”
“You…you’re kind of scary.”
“Yeah, I am, but you and I will be friends. As to your question, I most definitely want to be in on the Casablanca thing. What part do you think I can play?”
Temple thought about it. “I don’t know Trish, there weren’t any murderous bitches in the movie Casablanca.”
That shot set Trish off big time, and me on a delay, because I was wondering at first if I’d have to snap Trish’s neck before she killed Temple.
Trish leaned back and patted her shoulder. “Good one, kid. You’ve got game. So what’s the workout night all about? Any action there?”
“That’s where we get together in this torture room for an hour with most of Rick’s exes on hand, and Lois goading them into soap opera type battles, feuds, and silences. There’re also a lot of laughs though. Jadie Wentworth runs the workout. I don’t think she’ll like having you there. She was even jealous of me. Jadie wants to rake Pop’s coals in the worst way, even though she has a boyfriend. Karen Bastille is kind of like my big sis. She’s a longtime star, and went with Pop for a while, but she’s married now, and trying to have kids. Shelly is the office manager for Lois and Rick’s business. She wanted Pop too, but now has a boyfriend. Shelly comes with Lois. Rick calls her Lois’s Igor. I told them the workouts are like the soap opera ‘The Brave and the Beautiful’. Pop’s neither one when it comes to his exes so Lois does her mean girl thing stirring up a storm whenever she can. It’s fun as hell.”
Trish had been chuckling and laughing through Temple’s dissection of workout night. “I can see why you and Rick are tight. I’d love to come along.”
Oh no you don’t. “It’s standing room only Trish. The class is maxed out.”
“There’s always someone who doesn’t show, Pop. You know that.” Temple blows my feeble attempt at keeping Trish out of an already boiling cauldron of Lois targets.
Trish of course turns on me with a knowing grin. “Yep. Not beautiful, and definitely not brave with the exes. You wouldn’t be trying to keep me out of there, would you, Pop?”
“In a heartbeat, and with a gun if necessary.”
Trish turned immediately to Temple. “I’d love to work out with all of you.”
By then, Pete drives down Lois’s street, stopping in front of her house, while I’m still listening to Temple giggling over Trish’s complete disregard for my threat. My partner strides up dressed in a navy blue outfit, all business, a lot like Trish. Pete greets her and opens the door. Lois slides in opposite of us, smiling at Temple as Pete closes the door and gets back behind the wheel.
“I see you’ve met up with the newest addition to the Cantelli carnival. Did she show you any of her parlor tricks yet?”
“She nearly scared the shit out of me with her scary face.”
Lois enjoyed that one. “Yeah, we should have Trish in chains whenever we take her out in public, but it’s too much bother, and too little gain. So, how was the Hooterville Trolley ride this morning?”
Trish blushed again. Yeah, the trolley steamed out of the station after Lois left with the energy of the desperate and entranced. “None of your business, Lo, you old bat.”
Lo cackled appreciatively at my answering volley. Trish clasped my hand, glancing over at me with a grin. Temple had already deciphered the exchange with a teenager’s instinctive grasp of sexual innuendo, the brat.
“The Hooterville Trolley? That’s an ace, Lois. I imagine you’ll be the only one Rick lets use it though.”
Lo nodded. “Don’t let it bother you, kid. I’ll use it enough for both of us.”
* * *
We arrived at an office complex housing numerous producer and agent offices, entertainment promotional offices, and ad agencies. Temple had been directed to see the building informational desk supervisor, because she was told this was an open ended and informal meeting. The supervisor recognized Temple with a polite greeting, and directed us to a producer Temple recognized the name for. She explained Alex Winton and his agent were already there. Huh?
“Do you know this woman, Carolyn Jobe, and what the hell would Winton be there for?”
“You met her at that last dinner, Rick. She’s the fifty something woman with the permanent frown, and bored look. Remember, you were wondering how she could blink because of the number of surgery fixer uppers she’s had. I don’t know why Alex is here.”
Oh boy. I saw Lois busily texting on her iPhone. “Yeah, I remember now. I can’t see her getting leaned on for drugs or bad debts. If she’s meeting us by herself, what would that mean, Trish?”
We entered the elevator and selected the floor. “You’d be surprised at how many different vices these people have. It can even be blackmail. Let me feel her out. Introduce me as a special assistant for Madigan and Cantelli.”
“That sounds good,” Lois agreed. “I just texted Bone, and told him to get busy on the Carolyn Jobe name. I’m a little uneasy about that munchkin Winton being there. I wonder if he’s the one putting the pressure on.”
“I’m sure of that,” Temple said. “I’m just looking for a way to say no. My contract is a little general about personal interactions, but there’s definitely nothing in there giving them the right to make me into a girlfriend. The problem is they can hit me up about some violation I missed. Maybe I went too far with this do it all myself gig. Did your lawyer say he’d be interested in taking a look at this too if things don’t go well?”
“Cleaver does what the hell I tell him to do,” Lois said. “I have so much shit on that ambulance chaser, he doesn’t dare blow his nose without my permission.”
I smiled as the elevator came to a halt. I didn’t know that. The mean girl strikes again. “You never told me you had Cleaver on the tab, Lo.”
“No need to before now. The only time you interacted with him before is on the way by from your jail cell.”
That shot elicited much humor. Trish slowed us down. “Bone?”
“T-bone Griffin, real name Timothy Griffin, but only people who want to end up disfigured or in the morgue call him that, except for his sweet Carlene. He learned computers in the service, and Lo filled him in on some of our secret passages.”
“Yeah,” Lo added, “the prick’s already better and faster than I am. If there’s anything lip smacking good on this Jobe woman, Bone will get it to me fast.”
We arrived at the producer’s office. The secretary escorted us into a lavish suite with a grand view. It was a corner office with beautifully fitted windows adorning the corner facing outwards. Norton Ambers, Winton’s bodyguard was there with him. We shook hands. I run into him a lot because we’re bodyguarding costars.
“Hi Rick, nice seeing you.”
“Hey, Nort, how’s the boy doing? He started kindergarten, right?”
Ambers started laughing. “Yeah, he hit his head playing on an old bed, and the damn kindergarten teacher was looking at me like I’d abused him. Eric told her what happened, but she was thinking abuse in spite of it. He’s doing good. He loves school.”
“Oh yeah, that’s what it’s all about. Nort, this is our new colleague, Trish Rocha.” When his mouth dropped open in shock, I gave him a quick head shake. He knew who Trish was. He recovered nicely.
“I’m very glad to meet you, Ms. Rocha.” Ambers shook hands with Trish, gesturing toward a very perturbed Alex Winton. “This is my client, Alex Winton, Ms. Rocha.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex.” Trish sidestepped the handshake greeting and patted his shoulder. She held out her hand to the producer. “Hi, I’m Trish Rocha, special assis
tant to Madigan and Cantelli Security.”
Jobe pasted a slight smile on her face and shook hands with Trish. “Happy to meet you, Ms. Rocha.”
Trish gestured at Lois and me. “I understand you’ve met Rick. This is Lois Madigan, his partner.”
They shook hands, and Jobe gestured at the ornate conference table and chairs set up to the side of the huge office. “Please, have a seat. We have fresh coffee in the servers on the table, with all the fixings.”
Once we all were situated at the table with Jobe standing at the head of it, she leaned over the table, her hands propping her up while she made a hideous face of pleasing, arrogant bitch. “Really… this is a simple promotional ploy used in all instances of costars in a series and a movie, when both are unattached. We all want the upcoming movie to be as successful as the first, so really, what’s the problem with this, Temple?”
Lois gave Temple her Gorgon look of stone, meaning get up, and state your piece, wussy… or else. Temple stood up, meeting Jobe’s eyes without blinking.
“I don’t want to be Alex’s girlfriend anywhere, fact or fiction. I appreciate my opportunities with the studio, but I’m not going to be his pretend girlfriend in real life. I can’t stand the sight of him. He paws me like some drunk in a bar, and then acts outraged when I stop his advances.”
“Are you going to let this little bitch talk to me like this?!” Winton, the boy wonder leaped out of his chair, looking like he planned on running around the table to slap Temple around. I made eye contact with Nort, shaking my head slightly. Ambers put his huge hands on Winton’s shoulders.
“Please calm down, Sir,” Ambers said.
Realizing his chance of ever coming near Temple was so slim as to be nonexistent, he shrugged off Nort and sat down. He pointed over at Temple. “You’d be nothing if I hadn’t been there from the beginning propping you up, you ungrateful shit.”
Rick Cantelli, P.I. Deadly Liaisons (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 2) Page 7