2 Color Me A Crime

by Tonya Kappes

  “Yes.” He sighs. “The night of the hoedown, I was going to tell you about the sting. But you ended up knowing Buddy and Linda. Which reminds me, how do you know Buddy?”

  “We went on a date.” I know this one is going to sting.

  “A what?” Joel sits back and rubs his chin. “You have got to be kidding me!”

  I grab my glass of wine and drink it all. This isn’t how I wanted this conversation to go. As a matter of fact, I never wanted to tell him about Buddy.

  “Erin thought that I would want to go on a date with him, so the first time I passed out at the Dude Ranch, I was ending my date with Buddy. We definitely don’t have matching love auras. He is an orange.” I don’t go into aura colors and what they mean. Joel’s aura tells me that he only wants the facts. “Anyway, when Linda Minx came into Color Me Love, I’m the one who told Erin they would be good for each other.”

  “Why were they good for each other?”

  “She was a green. Plus she had a voluptuous body which is one requirement he put on his application.” I use my hands to make an outline of a curvy body and big boobs. “When I first met Buddy, he was quick to point out that I don’t have those features.”

  “This doesn’t make a lot of sense.” He looks around. “Where is the file Christy gave you?”

  “In my bag.” I reached to the other side of the couch, taking in the sweet smell of Joel. “I didn’t read it yet.”

  Instead of coming home, drinking wine, and feeling sorry for myself, I probably should have read that damn file. Reluctantly, I hand him the file.

  I watch him as he scans page by page, on a mission to find something. Even though I feel like smacking him, I’m not sure if I would use my hand or my lips.

  “Here.” He tilts the page toward me. “From our records, William is a member of Linda Minx’s fan club. Somehow he knew she lived around here and was going to use Color Me Love.”

  My eyes widen. I feel sick. To think I had been on a date with a murderer.

  “Why isn’t he in jail? Why were you so focused on my car?” Frantically I look between his eyes for some sort of answer.

  “Whoa. Hold your horses. He has a straight up alibi. You, on the other hand, do not.”

  “He is still trying to get a date through Color Me Love.” I search my memory for any information I might have that may help. I get up and get the 4Play envelope. I take out the crumbled up piece of paper with the phone number on it. “He had this phone number scribbled on a piece of paper. And here is the address.”

  He takes the paper and studies it carefully.

  “Wait.” He grabs the file back out of my hands and flips through. “This is Linda Minx’s address.”

  “See, I told you he did it.” I bit my lip. “That isn’t entirely true though. His aura may be all crazy, but he isn’t a killer.”

  Trust me, if I’d seen a murderous aura, I would have told someone about it. Buddy is a lot of things, but he isn’t the murderer.

  “Tell me a little bit about this aura reading gig you’ve got.” Joel’s perfect blue aura turns a muddier shade in the greener side of the family. His curiosity has peaked.

  I give him the download on what all the colors mean, along with how they change, giving a little background about chakras, third eyes, rings of colors, and more, but stop when I see his eyes glaze over.

  “Say I put three murder suspects in front of you and one really is the murderer.” He puts me to the test, which I love. “You are telling me you can pick the real killer by looking at a color that is surrounding their body?”

  “Sort of.” I have to be cautious so he will understand. “I would tell you which one is likely to be the one because their true aura shines through. Or if it was a self-defense killing, their outer lining aura would show remorse or anger or some sort of sadness or shock.”

  “I get it.”

  “You don’t think I’m a freak?” I tilt my head just enough to see those sparkly green eyes.

  “I’ve heard it all and I’ve seen some of your type at work.”

  “My type?” I laugh. I’ve been called a lot of things, but never ‘my type’.

  “You know what I mean.” He stands up and takes both our glasses to the kitchen. “Where is the wine?”

  “Oh that.” I get up and walk in the kitchen. Biting my lip, I might as well tell him everything. “I’m poor and I live in a house of clutter. I’m not proud of the fact that you came in here and saw my clothes all over the place. And I have a tendency to be late, but I’m a good person.”

  “All I asked for was wine.” He lifts his brows in amusement. His blue aura doesn’t change. He has accepted me for who I am.

  “You will find a box of wine in the refrigerator.” I point over to the photo-covered appliance.

  He walks over and laughs.” You are poor.” He puts the glass under the spout and presses down.

  “Funny.” I take one of the glasses from him and go back to the couch with Herbie. “We need to discuss the little issue of this erotic film.”

  He might not have forgotten about it, but I have. Where do we stand? As a couple?

  “Christy and I were going to tell you our plan tonight, but you pulled a fast one on us.” He picks up a bra by the strap off the couch and tosses it in the chair. “We will start filming. Christy will look around Hugh’s office while I keep the crew occupied. At some point before the ‘you know what’ scene, I will fake being sick. That should buy us some time.”

  Blah, blah, blah, Christy, Christy, Christy. I try to focus on his plan, but her name grates on my nerves. I’d love to use Splitsville.com on her. I’d tear her to shreds.

  “So what do you think?” He reaches over and rubs my hand, a clear sign that we are back on track.

  “Great plan.” I agree to who-knows-what, but anything he comes up with has to be great. “Did you say that you were going to pretend to be sick so we don’t do our first love scene in front of a lot of people?”

  “Our first?” He slides over, puts his arms around me and kisses me. His lips are warm and sweet. Just for a little while, Joel makes me forget all of my troubles.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I tap the cold, empty space next to me in my bed. Was it a dream? My hand pats my fury little guy, giving him the go ahead to jump up and put his wet nose to mine.

  “Good morning.” I smile, giving Herbie a good rub down. “Are you ready to go outside?”

  A little embarrassment sits in my stomach after I realize Joel left at some point in the night, leaving me wondering why he didn’t stay all night.

  I grab my sweatpants next to the bed and throw on my sweatshirt before I walk down the hall.

  “Erin is up.” I tell Herbie as I let him out and venture into the kitchen where the smell of bacon and coffee intertwine and stop short. “Joel?”

  “Good morning.” He has a cup of coffee waiting for me on the counter. He walks over and kisses my forehead. “You are a deep sleeper.”

  His blue aura is even more radiant in the morning.

  “I thought we better have a decent breakfast in us for a big day.” He refers to the nasty scene we are going to pretend to make today. “Christy is already there and she said there is a new security guy. Old man.”

  Harold.

  I bite my lip. I want to hear what he has to say about Harold before I tell him that I put Harold up to it.

  “He doesn’t seem to be a threat. She said that he’s pretty old.” He smiles. I don’t make eye contact. “I have to think they hired him because he probably isn’t able to really do a great job if something went down.”

  Little do you know Harold! I decide to keep my plan with Harold under my hat for now. Joel is undercover at 4Play for the drug smuggling ring, I’m at 4Play to clear my name for a murder I didn’t commit.

  “Aren’t you going to eat?” He calls into the family room as I let Herbie in.

  “Are you crazy?” I ask. “I’ve got to be naked on camera today and supposedly the c
amera adds ten pounds.” I pat my stomach and go to get ready.

  Erin isn’t home, so I assume she went to Color Me Love to finalize Buddy’s mixer and get him a few dates. I hope she looks into the girl that had disappeared into thin air. I grab my phone and quickly send her a text, telling her to keep it hush, hush.

  What happened last night? Leave it to Erin to not question the more important topic, Buddy.

  I’ll tell you later. I type back.

  Aunt Matilda showed up this morning, demanding to know more about your undercover operation. She claims Carl doesn’t know about anything. She dumped him for not telling her the truth.

  Don’t tell her anything! I will let her in on it later. I text back, hoping Erin keeps her mouth shut.

  Fine, I’ll meet you at 4Play. She adds.

  “Are you ready?” Joel walks back into my bedroom, looking as handsome as ever.

  “Am I ever!” I smile, knowing it’s not going to be as bad as I had initially thought. I grab all my files that I’m going to need for the shoot. “Erin is going to meet us there.”

  We carefully go over the plan the entire way to 4Play. He gives me a little more detail about the drug smuggling ring, but nothing earth shattering that can’t be seen on CSI Miami or even a good case on Murder She Wrote.

  Butterflies still flutter around in my stomach. The thought of someone watching something so intimate makes me want to throw up. I might beat Joel to the punch of pretending to be sick, only I will not be pretending.

  “Are you ready?” He puts the car in park.

  “Where are we?” I look around, not recognizing the area.

  “Some undercover sleuth you are.” He pats the dashboard of the car. “How can I go undercover if I drive a police car?”

  I follow his finger as he points to a sign.

  “Public transportation?” My jaw drops. I have never ridden on a bus before.

  “Yep.” He looks out the rear-view mirror. “Come on or we are going to miss it.”

  We jump out just in time to catch the next bus. We aren’t on long because the next stop is right in front of the 4Play building.

  We decide to go up separately so Beth doesn’t think that something is going on. I go up first and head to the filth floor…um…fifth floor.

  “Good morning,” Beth smiles and holds out her palm. I look at the small pill she is thrusting toward me. “You are going to want to take this to relax for your big scene.”

  Holy crap! I don’t know whether to pretend to take the pill so I have evidence that she tried to give me something or decline.

  “Go on. It won’t hurt you.” Her smile widens, making me a little more uncomfortable. Her aura pales, telling me she is trying to be very deceptive. She opens my hand and puts it in. “Here.” She hands me a bottle of water.

  We turn when the elevator dings. Joel steps out. Beth thrusts her hands behind her back.

  “Good morning. Angela is ready for you in makeup.” Beth puts on a shit-eating grin. Her aura dulls to a dark grey---almost black---sending a chill up my spine.

  I try not to give him eye contact, because I know he will be able to read me.

  Too late.

  His aura darkens to a deep blue. He is in protective mode.

  “Is everything okay here?” He directs his question to Beth.

  “Are you my boss?” She stands stiff, rigid. “I suggest you go do your job and I will take care of Lolita.”

  “Lana,” I correct her. “My name is Lana Deep and I’m fine, thank you.” I nod at Joel, letting him know that I’m fine.

  Without another word, I walk into the little room that Beth has always put me in.

  “No, no.” She puts her hand on me to stop me. I turn around and she’s smiling from ear to ear. “We can’t be having our new star in that little room. You’ve got Linda’s old room.”

  Joel’s eyes narrow with suspicion. His aura is so deep that I feel like I’m at the Caribbean Ocean.

  “Old room?” I question.

  “She’s dead, so you get her dressing room. Hugh even had it redone overnight.” Beth squeals.

  I follow her, but I’m not so giddy.

  “Here you go.” She opens the door.

  Erin is already sitting on one of the four red leather couches. Red-feathered lamps are scattered all over the large room along with a wall full of shoes and designer clothes.

  “We can’t have our new star walking around like that all the time,” Beth says and points to my sweatpants. “You will be up for a lot of XXX Awards. I’ll fetch Angela.”

  Erin and I wait for her to leave.

  “I can’t be here that long,” I say to Beth,” trying not to cry. All I can think about is Aunt Matilda. She is already so disappointed in me. I hold out the pill in my hand. “Beth tried to get me to take this so I will be relaxed for my sex scene.”

  “Don’t take it.” Erin grabs a tissue out of the tissue box and has me put it in there. “We will give it to Angela.”

  Someone knocks on the door.

  “Great idea.” I walk over to answer the door. “Harold, get in here.”

  “You have gotten yourself into a big mess.” He flails his flashlight in the air. “They hired me on the spot. I was here all night. And so were a lot of other people.”

  “Did you see any funny business going on?” I ask, and plant my hand on the door just in case Angela or Beth decides to walk in without knocking.

  “There were big men coming in and out of here all night long.”

  “Were they working in here?” I ask, trying to eliminate the possibility of construction workers and not drug smugglers, or better yet, killers.

  “There were some guys in here, but they were only moving stuff from one room to the next.” He gestures with his flashlight. “Something fishy is going on around here and I’m going to figure it out.”

  The knock at the door abruptly stops our conversation.

  “I’ll stop by your house later today,” I say before I open the door to Angela.

  I know I should tell her and Joel about Harold, but they are so focused on the drug smuggling ring that my issues aren’t as crucial…to them.

  “Is something wrong?” Angela questions Harold.

  I can’t help but smile when I see his eyes almost fall out of his head when he sees her big boobs practically tumbling out of her very thin pale-yellow V-neck---a stark contrast from how she dresses in real life.

  “Just introducing myself and letting Ms.…” He looks at the nameplate on the door and looks back at me. His eyebrows form a V…“Ms. Deep know that if she needs anything while I’m here, to let me know.”

  “I appreciate that.” I nod and smile.

  “Are you ready for makeup?” Angela pushes back her super curly hair and opens the door wide enough for Harold to walk out.

  Instantly, a different color aura grabs my attention from the production floor.

  I strain my neck without being too obvious, to see whose aura it is. It’s the same one the mystery girl had at Buddy’s mixer.

  “Strange.” I look at the long red-haired woman in a heated conversation with Hugh. She is jabbing her finger into his chest and he is giving it right back to her.

  “What?” Erin gets up and looks out the door. Angela turns around, as does everyone else on the production floor.

  “Something is going on out there.” I try to buy time to see if there is any shift in the colors, but the girl’s aura is magenta and she is bound and determined to try to figure something out. That ‘something’ is a deep secret that Hugh is keeping. His aura tells me.

  Hugh snaps his fingers and Harold rushes over.

  “This old man is going to kick me out of here? She screams and laughs in Harold’s face. “I will leave on my own, but this is not the last time you will see me! I will go straight to the tabloids!”

  “Don’t mind her.” Angela shuts the door, putting the production floor debacle out of sight. “She got fired.”

  I sit in si
lence as Angela puts on my makeup. She doesn’t say a word about the plan that she and Joel had concocted. I chalk it up to Erin sitting there. Erin knows that as soon as I get on the set, she is supposed to go nose around. I hope she heard everything Harold said and will go searching around Hugh’s office.

  “Are you ready?” Angela stares deep into my soul. There is a jealous tinge to her aura.

  “I can’t wait to kiss him,” I squeal and watch her aura go from red to a deep maroon. She’s so mad and I don’t care. It makes me sick to think that she, as Christy, had held Joel’s heart at one time. “He was fantastic last night,” I whisper, “Only we weren’t pretending.” I wink and get up.

  I strip down to nothing and shimmy into the lacy nightie.

  “Work it.” Erin winks with approval on how I set Angela straight. She knows that Angela is really Christy.

  “Ta-ta.” I wave over my shoulder and make sure I strut out of the dressing room.

  “Quiet on the set!” Hugh and the camera are covered with a black blanket to drown out any of the light that might hurt the scene. “Where is Dirk?” He throws the blanket off. His face is red.

  Joel, aka Dirk, walks on the set with one of the socks hanging off his man parts. I try not to look at him, but his smile is so big that I laugh out loud.

  “No, no, no, honey.” Hugh wags his finger back and forth. “Don’t be laughing.” He throws the blanket back over his head.

  One of the camera men gives the 1-2-3-GO with his fingers. I slink around to the music just as Joel slides around with the ‘hungry eye’ the script calls for. I let one strap fall slightly off my shoulder and continue to do my best lusty stare back at Joel.

  His aura turns light.

  Son of a bitch! I glare at him. He is playing with me. He is going to hold out playing sick until I become totally uncomfortable.

  The co-director is motioning for me to let the nightie fall, but I continue to swing the edges with my hands as I sway back and forth. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Erin walk back to Hugh’s office, unseen.