I was frowning again. “That’s a little late, isn’t it?”
“For Blake, yes, but not for Bree,” Chloe said. “Blake always likes to get a full night’s sleep before we film.”
“That’s what he told us,” Mac said, nodding. “So he took off to sleep in his dressing room trailer like he always does the night before the first shoot. He assumed Bree would go back to the B and B when she was finished and the two of them would meet up in the morning.”
“So he left the Bloom house and didn’t see anything after that?” I said. “That’s awfully anticlimactic.”
“And how did he wind up drugged?” Chloe asked.
“He insists he has no idea,” Mac said.
“Do you believe him?”
Mac frowned. “I don’t know him, but he seemed sincere. One of the last things he remembers is grabbing a bottle of water when he left.”
“Where’d they have water bottles?” I wondered.
“The staff had set up a utility table in the dining room for Bree to work and they’d put some office supplies and a few bottles of water there. Anyway, Blake started drinking it as he walked across the lawn to the trailer and finished it before he went to bed. He wondered if someone slipped a drug into it.”
I frowned. “If that was the case, then the drug was meant for Bree.”
Mac gave me a look. “Exactly. Although Blake didn’t get that connection. I guess he was still too sleepy. But he remembers there were three bottles on the table. As soon as he said that, Eric texted one of his deputies to gather up the water bottles in the house. They’ll have them all tested.”
“Right.” I took another quick bite and chewed thoughtfully. “Leo Springer told me it was possible there was more than one cause of death.”
Mac raised an eyebrow. “Not sure Eric would approve of him sharing that information.”
“Just what I thought. And I completely agree. But I’m not about to tell the police chief that his CSI investigator has a big mouth.”
“We saw blood on Bree’s head.” Chloe cringed as she said it. “So now they think maybe she was also drugged?”
“Maybe.” I spared them my theories about the many possible causes of death. Instead, I sat back in the booth and enjoyed the last bite of my burger. But then I thought of another question. “Did Blake suggest any suspects while you were there?”
Mac looked suddenly uncomfortable.
“What is it?” I said. “What did he say?”
“Well, he mentioned Chloe and Diego and—”
“No!” I cried, then quickly lowered my voice. “How dare he accuse Chloe?”
Mac held up both hands. “In his defense, it wasn’t really an accusation. He was just going down the list of people who’d had run-ins with Bree recently.”
“But that would be every person on staff,” Chloe insisted. “Bree was an equal-opportunity pain in everyone’s butt.”
“That’s right,” I said, still miffed. “And didn’t you say that Blake himself had run-ins with Bree?”
“Yes.” Chloe gave a firm nod. “The two of them were notorious for yelling and screaming at each other.”
“It’s not sounding like a very happy family,” I said, sipping my soda.
Chloe’s shoulders slumped. “Unfortunately you’re experiencing all of our worst aspects. I swear, most of the time we really are a fun group.”
I glanced at Mac, who gave me a look of sympathy. Chloe was obviously so miserable, I wanted to cry. I wanted the cloud of suspicion hanging over her to go away. I hated seeing her so glum. But on a bright note, seeing her so unhappy simply renewed my determination to find the killer as quickly as possible.
Chapter Nine
Mac dropped us off in front of the Bloom house and drove off to find a parking place. I watched his car disappear around the corner and thought again what a hero he was to stay on the set with me, because except for Chloe and my own crew members, I had no idea who to trust around here.
“Look,” Chloe said, pointing toward the house. “They’ve already started to build a scaffold around the porch.” She squinted to see more clearly in the sunlight. “Those are your guys, right?”
“Yeah. That was fast.” I was proud to see Wade and Sean carrying scaffold piping over from the supply truck. When Eric shut production down earlier, Wade had taken the crew to one of our other job sites. But I had made a quick call to Wade before we left for lunch and they had dropped everything to come back and help us out. Was it any wonder I trusted my crew?
I glanced at the street, hoping Mac had found a parking place and would be here soon. When I saw Blake Bennett cross the street and walk toward the construction site, I was sincerely shocked. Even though the staff and crew had decided to get some work done, I never thought Blake would join them. The man had just lost his wife.
Chloe saw him at the same time and I heard a little cry escape her. She ran to him and wrapped him in a tight hug. Blake buried his face in her shoulder and I had a feeling the two of them were shedding a few more tears. I casually walked closer to hear what they were talking about. Not that I wanted to eavesdrop on my sister, but I was beginning to see how she could be a little naïve when it came to her beloved co-workers.
After all, we were knee-deep in a murder investigation. I couldn’t blame her for believing the best of them, of course. This was her Hollywood family. I, however, was suffering no delusions about any of them and considered my eavesdropping just one way of protecting my sister. Especially when I knew Eric was still half considering Chloe to be a murder suspect.
That was my story and I was sticking to it, I thought as I ambled closer. And just to make it look good, I nonchalantly pulled out my phone and pretended to check my messages.
“What are you doing here?” Chloe asked Blake. “Don’t you want to take a little time away from all this?”
“No way,” Blake said. “If I sit in that trailer another minute, I’ll go completely insane.”
“But I heard you were drugged. Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”
He made a sound of disgust. “No way. Work is the best remedy for what’s ailing me.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she said. “Production was going to give everyone a day off in Bree’s memory, but we all decided that if we kept working it would take our minds off the horrible news.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I really think Bree would’ve wanted us to keep going.”
“Oh, Blake,” Chloe said, clearly overwhelmed with emotion. She gave him another hug and he didn’t protest. Why would he? Blake wasn’t stupid. He might’ve already figured out that having a dearly departed wife was likely to get him all kinds of warm sympathy and cozy hugs from a lot of beautiful women, including my very sweet and beautiful sister, Chloe.
I knew I was being cynical, but I couldn’t help it. Especially when Chloe and Blake were quickly surrounded by other staff and crew members. Mostly female. They seemed to be in awe of Blake actually showing up to work. It was almost as though he had just performed heart surgery, whipped up a chocolate cream pie, and then run out and won an Olympic gold medal.
As soon as Chloe let go of Blake, Suzanne grabbed him and held on for dear life. Even though Blake was tall, Suzanne had a few inches on him. They were whispering and I could barely hear the words, except for a few odd sentence fragments.
Blake said, “. . . take care of . . .”
“. . . secret is safe . . .” Suzanne said.
Then Blake muttered something like, “. . . blow it . . .”
What was that all about?
At that moment, Marisa the wardrobe mistress snatched Blake away from Suzanne and pressed him to her bosom in a suffocating clinch. She was followed shortly thereafter by Josie, the woman who did everyone’s hair and makeup.
It sure looked to me like the women of Makeov
er Madness loved them some Blake Bennett. Which made me wonder what these women really thought of Bree. If they knew that she had fired Blake to prevent him from working on the new, flashy big-time network show, would one of them be angry enough to kill her? And now I had to wonder if anyone else on the staff knew about the new show.
“I know you don’t want to spend the night alone,” one woman crooned. “You’re welcome to stay with me in my trailer tonight.”
The crowd surrounding them was now three deep, but I was pretty sure the woman who’d just offered that suggestion was the wardrobe mistress, Marisa.
Unfortunately her proposition did not play well with the others. “Marisa, what are you saying?” one woman griped. “The man just lost his wife.”
“Oh no! No, no!” Marisa protested. “I don’t mean it like that. You guys, I’ll sleep on the couch! But I’ll be there for him.”
“You can stay with me, Blake,” Carolee the production assistant said. “I’ve got a beautiful room at the Inn on Main Street. There’s a view of the ocean and an amazing mini-bar.”
If we were rating the offers, I would go with that, I thought. Much better than sleeping in a crummy old trailer.
“No, stay with me tonight,” Josie begged. “I’ll give you a haircut.”
I snorted a laugh. Now that was a hard one to pass up, I thought. But seriously, this was getting weird.
Chloe managed to slip out of the crowd and found me hovering on the edges. “I assume you’re hearing all of this?”
“I’m hearing it, but I don’t believe it. These women are all in love with that guy.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the crowd of living, breathing warm blankies, all devoted to their leader. “Yeah, Blake is a real hero to many of them.”
“Why?”
“Simple,” she said with a light shrug. “He created a great show and hired them for some really good jobs. He’s generous with his compliments and he protects them from Bree. He remembers their kids’ names and celebrates their birthdays. He plans a big Christmas party every year and gives nice bonuses. It’s not hard to build loyalty. You just have to treat people nicely.”
“But Bree was the executive producer. Wasn’t she the one who authorized all of that stuff?”
Chloe sniffed indignantly. “If she had her way we’d have no benefits and barely get paid. She was always telling us we’re replaceable and should be grateful to have any job at all.”
“So I take it they didn’t love Bree the same way they love Blake?”
She laughed shortly. “No. Bree made it clear that employee loyalty was at the bottom of her priority list. She was always threatening to cancel our vacations and would sometimes withhold bonus checks until we jumped through hoops, just for her own amusement.”
I thought about that point. “I’m seriously considering every single person in this crowd a suspect.”
“Probably smart,” Chloe admitted.
“Blake!” A woman shot through the crowd to get to Blake and literally jumped into his arms. “I’ve been so worried about you!”
“Thanks, Chelsea,” he murmured into her hair. “I’m okay.”
I leaned in close to Chloe. “I don’t know about the others, but Chelsea truly is in love with Blake. It’s painful to watch sometimes.”
“You’re right,” Chloe murmured. “She’s so young.”
The other women had let him go after a few seconds, but Chelsea clung to him like a suction cup. She was petite and very cute, and Blake didn’t seem to mind one bit.
Chloe and I stared at the crowd for another minute, watching all these women fawning over Blake Bennett. I liked him and could admit I’d felt sorry for him earlier, especially when we found him in his trailer, passed out from being drugged. But after seeing these women compete for the tiniest morsel of his attention, I was a little confused, to say the least.
I turned away from the women to watch the hubbub of activity taking place around the house, just for a shot of normalcy. Mac was hanging with my crew and they were all laughing together, which, oddly enough, settled me. I gave Chloe a light nudge. “Ready to go to work?”
“More than ready,” she said. “Let’s go.”
“Chloe.”
We both turned and saw Eric Jensen walk up.
“Hi, Chief,” Chloe said.
“What’s up, Eric?”
He looked at my sister. “I have some questions to ask you and I’d like to do it at police headquarters.”
“No, no,” I said. “That’s crazy. Chloe isn’t—”
“It’s just a couple of questions, Shannon,” he said through his teeth. “It’ll only take an hour at the most and then she’ll be back to work.”
I looked at Chloe and saw the color draining from her face. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” she said. “You stay here. Tell Suzanne where I went. I’m sure they’re questioning everyone so it’s probably no big deal.”
“I suppose.” But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t worry.
“Let’s go,” Eric said, taking Chloe’s arm.
She shrugged his hand away. “I’m perfectly capable of walking on my own.”
I wasn’t about to let him go without giving him a piece of my mind. I walked along with him as he escorted Chloe to his SUV. But before I could say a word, Chloe spoke up. “Really, Shannon. It’s not like I didn’t expect this.”
“What does that mean?” Eric asked.
But I knew what she was talking about.
“Why?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why did I think it was a good idea to come back here?”
“Chloe, don’t,” I said, taking hold of her other arm.
“He won’t believe me, Shannon,” she said heatedly. “They never do. Why should he be any different from the old guy?”
“Eric is different,” I insisted. “Please. You can trust him.” Despite my words, I glared at Eric. “Don’t make me a liar.”
Eric stopped walking and turned to me. “What’s going on here? Who’s the old guy and why wouldn’t I believe your sister?”
Chloe stood with her arms wrapped tightly across her stomach. Her lips were pressed together in a stubborn pout, and my mind flashed back to an angry sixteen-year-old who hated her life and couldn’t wait to leave town.
I took a deep breath. “Chloe had some run-ins with the old police chief. She was wrongly accused of stealing something from the high school trophy case and the chief arrested her without even listening to her side of the story. It turned out that some of the girls had lied to get Chloe in trouble.”
“I assume you’re talking about Chief Raymond.” Eric’s voice was full of contempt as he said the name of the old chief. Chief Raymond had been mean and lazy to boot. To this day, Eric was still making up for some of his predecessor’s bad decisions.
“I’m not going to arrest you, Chloe,” he said quietly. “I just want to hear what happened from your point of view and find out what you think about some of your co-workers. I’d rather not do it here where anyone might overhear us.”
She gazed up at him for a long moment. “That’s it?”
“That’s it. And then I’ll bring you back here when we’re finished.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You promise?”
Eric crossed his heart. “I promise.”
She twisted her lips, thinking. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I’ll go.”
Not that she has a choice, I thought. But I was glad that her mood was slightly less combative as she climbed into the SUV.
“I’ll expect to see you back here soon,” I said to Eric.
He looked at me and nodded. “She’ll be back to work in one hour.”
* * *
• • •
As promised, Chloe was back about an hour later. I didn’t even have a minute to stop and ask how she
was feeling after being questioned by the chief of police. As soon as Eric dropped her off she ran into the makeup and hair trailer to get ready for filming. She seemed happier and more energetic and she got right back into the swing of things. I hadn’t done anything on camera yet, but I’d been moving lumber and carrying tools and working with the rest of the crew. I’d tried to forget that my sister was being interrogated by the police, while trying equally hard to forget that my first segment with Blake and Diego would be coming up soon. Deep breaths, I thought.
It looked as if the entire town had turned out to watch us. This was in spite of the murder that had taken place the night before, or maybe because of it. Both sidewalks were packed with people hoping to catch a glimpse of Blake, Chloe, and Diego. And me, for goodness’ sake!
All this attention was probably old hat for Chloe, who barely seemed to notice the onlookers. But for me it was a completely new experience.
“How do you ignore them?” I asked. “They applaud and whoop it up whenever one of us walks down the steps. There were whistles when I picked up a loose nail from the grass.”
“I think it’s lovely that they’ve come to see us,” Chloe said, “but the way I look at it, I’m here to do a job. And more important, I have a very limited amount of time in which to do it. I wave to them and they love that. And I love it, too. But I’m not going to spend time schmoozing with them or worrying about what they think or how they feel about the job I’m doing.”
“That’s such a good attitude. I’ll try to be more like you.”
“I’ve been telling you that for years,” she said with a cheeky grin.
“Funny girl.”
“Hey, Chloe, where do you want this?”
We both turned and saw Diego carrying an extension ladder. He wore cut-off shorts and another of his tight black T-shirts, the ones that showed off every gorgeous muscle on his arms and caused some high-pitched giggles and more than a few woo-hoos from the crowd.
A Wrench in the Works Page 15