Dirk Diamond was popular on-screen, but off-screen he apparently had more enemies than friends. Everyone present depended on Dirk for their livelihood, though, so it made no sense for anyone here to kill him. His star power was the sole reason for the movie’s success. What should have been a quickly made movie sequel was suddenly at a standstill. Without Dirk, the movie probably wouldn’t get made at all, making almost everyone here unlikely suspects. If someone wanted him dead, why not wait until after the movie wrapped? For one thing, it would have meant a lot fewer witnesses.
Tyler motioned to the canvas gazebo that now covered half a dozen tables near the food trailer. “I need everyone to clear the set. Sit over there under cover. Cen, make sure no one leaves. I’ll get statements from all of you in a few minutes. ”
I nodded, though Steven had already motioned the cast and crew to follow him. They congregated at the tables, all eyes focused back in our direction. By now most people had realized the gravity of the situation. The other men in the chase scene looked stunned, having realized that they could have been on the receiving end of the fatal shot themselves.
I remained convinced that the bullet was intended for Dirk all along. But how to prove it?
Bill remained on set. “You better not blame me for this. My guns definitely all had blanks. I double-checked each one before I handed them out, like I always do.”
“What exactly are you saying, Bill? Are you saying I loaded those guns?” Aunt Pearl stood defiantly in front of Bill, hands on hips.
“It’s much too early to draw conclusions.” Tyler’s face remained expressionless as he studied the shell casing. “Someone had a loaded gun. Either it was one of your prop guns, or a gun somebody else brought on the set. You’re sure you checked each one?”
“Of course I’m sure. I don’t even have any bullets.” Bill waved his hand towards his props. “Go ahead and check all my stuff. The guns are in a case inside that big wooden box over there.”
“I’ll be doing that shortly.”
Bill exhaled, visibly relieved. He looked longingly towards the food trailer, where everyone else waited. “Good. I’m going to grab a coffee.”
Aunt Pearl pointed at Bill as he trudged toward the trailer. “He’s really not very good at keeping track of his stuff.”
Bill spun around. “I heard everything you just said. You of all people shouldn’t be making accusations, Pearl.”
Tyler held up his hand. “Stick around, Bill. I’ve got questions on the guns.”
“Shoot.” Aunt Pearl raised her hand. “I can answer your questions. Unlike Bill here, I was there the whole time.”
“I was asking Bill. I’ll get to you later.” Tyler frowned, his normally calm expression replaced with frustration. He had enough on his hands without Aunt Pearl stirring up trouble.
I glared at Aunt Pearl, angry at her taunting. She hadn’t been at the prop box the whole time as she claimed. I had witnessed her walking away from the set with Steven before the shots rang out. Clearly she was lying, though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when she had left.
Tyler motioned us to follow him and we headed towards Bill’s work area. Tyler pointed at the wooden prop box. “It’s locked. Got a key?”
I exhaled in relief. The lock at least ruled out Aunt Pearl. Unless you considered a supernatural break-in, but she had no motive to kill a star she had never met.
Bill nodded. He pulled a key ring from his front pocket and handed it to Tyler.
Tyler unlocked the box with a gloved hand. He opened the wooden prop box and peered inside. He pulled out a smaller box. It was also locked.
“Try the small gold key on the key ring,” Bill said.
Tyler unlocked the box and peered inside. The inside of the case was red velvet, with six gun-shaped molds. “There are places for six guns, but only five guns here in the case.”
“It was like that when I handed out the guns,” Bill said. “One of my guns went missing.”
“You could have mentioned that before.” Tyler selected a gun from the case, turned the weapon over in his hand and studied it. He opened the chamber and looked inside. He repeated the steps with each gun. “Just like you said. These guns are all unloaded.”
Bill exhaled, visibly relieved. “Somebody else brought their own gun.”
“Who has a key to this box?” Tyler asked.
“Just me and Steven. His key is just a precaution, in case I lose mine.” Bill nodded towards the food trailer where Steven stood with the others.
“Wouldn’t surprise me if you lost your key,” Aunt Pearl grumbled. “You can’t seem to keep track of anything, guns or keys.”
“Let’s stay focused,” I said. Aunt Pearl could easily sidetrack the whole investigation and we had no time for that.
Bill swore under his breath. “You were supposed to be watching everything, Pearl. It’s your fault as much as it is mine.”
I pulled Aunt Pearl towards me just as she opened her mouth to respond. “Now’s not the time for a fight, Aunt Pearl. Let him have the last word.”
She yanked her arm from mine and shook her fist at Bill. “I’m not going to the big house for that man’s mistake.”
“Nobody’s going to jail.” It was like watching an Interstate fifty-car pileup a split second before impact. Knowing disaster was about to strike and being powerless to stop it. Except that I was a witch. Maybe I wasn’t so powerless after all.
9
All the people moving around, touching things, made me a little uneasy. Tyler couldn’t possibly control everything, even with my help. So I did what any girlfriend in a panic would do: I managed the situation.
Circumstances left me with no choice but to cast a frozen spell.
I squeezed my eyes shut and incanted the words I remembered reading in Pearls of Wisdom, Aunt Pearl’s gigantic spell book. I deeply regretted not studying it more, and just hoped I didn’t make matters worse than they already were.
My lack of confidence in my spell-casting abilities had created a few mini-disasters with spells gone wrong, mostly because of my tendency to overthink things. In fact, the only time my spells worked were in moments like these, where split-second action was needed. I simply had no time to second guess myself, though it seemed reckless to use my supernatural powers without thinking things through.
I slowly opened my eyes, anxious and hopeful all at the same time. What would happen if I misspoke a word? To my amazement, the spell worked!
Everyone including Aunt Pearl was frozen. Using witchcraft was a last resort, but I felt it was justified. I had to stop Bill and Aunt Pearl from bickering so we could refocus the investigation.
I had cast more spells in one day than I had in a year, and it wasn’t even noon yet. If we didn’t have such a tragedy on our hands, I might have stopped for a moment to celebrate my supernatural achievement. But there was no time for gloating, I realized in horror.
Aunt Pearl was already emerging from her spell. It hadn’t been nearly as effective on her as it was on everybody else.
She rubbed her head, looking confused, like she had just woken up in a strange place. Her eyes met mine. “What the heck’s going on? Did you just—”
“Put a spell on you? Yes. Sorry, but you left me with no choice.” I glanced around, thankful that the other fifty or so people around us remained frozen in place. Spells worked differently on everyone, and somehow Aunt Pearl had built up a tolerance. Probably from Aunt Amber constantly practicing on her when they were growing up.
Aunt Pearl grimaced like she had just tasted something sour. “I guess you learned something from me after all.”
Witchcraft without practice could have serious repercussions. A botched spell was bad enough, but worse still were the unintended consequences. Those couldn’t always be undone. That’s one reason I always hesitated to use my magic.
Aunt Pearl, now fully alert, clapped her hands in delight as she surveyed the landscape of people, frozen in suspended animation. “Well done, Cen! See w
hat’s possible when you apply yourself?”
“Let’s get one thing straight. You need to let go of your argument with Bill, okay? Let the sheriff do his investigation and you’ll be cleared. There’s no need to pick fights with Bill.”
“Sheriff Gates?” Aunt Pearl snorted. “He has it in for me. I’m about to be framed, so I have to defend myself.”
I glanced at Tyler who remained motionless beside Bill. “This is bigger than you, Aunt Pearl. Please just cooperate for once. For the good of the town.” I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. A few people had started to move, including Bill. The spell was broken.
Bill shook his head and looked around in confusion before turning to Pearl. “Oh yeah…and one more crack out of you and I’ll have you removed from the set.”
“Oh yeah?” Aunt Pearl stood just inches from Bill, hands defiantly resting on her bony hips.
I glared at her. “Aunt Pearl, there’s no time—”
“Okay, that’s it.” Bill’s face reddened. “You’re fired. Now get outta here.”
Aunt Pearl swore under her breath. “Steven hired me. You have no authority—”
“Stop it, both of you,” I snapped. “Nobody’s going anywhere until the sheriff says so.” I felt eyes on me and realized that everyone was fully conscious again. And I had overstepped my authority.
Tyler watched us, a confused expression on his face. “Did I miss something? I thought we were talking about the guns.”
I turned to him and shrugged. “We got a little sidetracked.”
But Tyler wasn’t listening. He placed the smaller gun box on Bill’s workbench, then leaned over and reached into the prop box. “Wait a minute. There’s something else here in the bottom of the box. Why wasn’t this gun in the case?” He straightened, holding a gun identical to the others.
Bill frowned. “Hey, that’s my missing gun. How did it get back in the box? It definitely wasn’t there before.”
“You sure about that?” Tyler frowned. “I’m still concerned over why you never even mentioned the missing gun the first time I asked.”
“I never thought it was a big deal because everybody helps themselves to my stuff around here. I swear somebody has a copy of my keys too. My props always go missing, so a missing gun wasn’t a surprise. It’s impossible to do my job sometimes.” Bill shook his head as he gestured for the gun. “Let me see it.”
Tyler pulled it just out of reach. “You can look, but don’t touch it. Don’t want to destroy any evidence.”
Bill dropped his hand and squinted at the gun. “That’s my gun all right. It’s got my engraving on the barrel. I still don’t know when anyone had the opportunity to put it back in its place.” He was visibly sweating and pale.
“Maybe you dropped it in the box and forgot.” Tyler sniffed the barrel. “Trouble is…it’s been fired recently.”
Bill scratched his head. “That’s not possible. I emptied out the larger box earlier today when I looked for the missing gun. There definitely weren’t any guns inside, because I double-checked. It wasn’t in the gun box in my trailer either, so someone must have removed it before the filming started.”
“Maybe you just missed it.” Tyler’s eyes narrowed. “Where were you when the shots were fired?”
“Right here,” Bill said. “I had just handed out the guns and dropped the case inside my prop box.”
“You’re positive that you didn’t leave the box unattended at any time? Not even for a minute?”
“Well…only for five minutes when I stepped out for a smoke. But Pearl was right here the whole time. Right Pearl?”
Aunt Pearl nodded. “I never left the props. I definitely didn’t see anyone.”
Bill motioned towards the catering truck. “I gotta go talk to Steven. Come get me if you need me.”
Tyler, Aunt Pearl, and I watched in silence as he walked away.
Tyler turned to Aunt Pearl. “Did you see or hear anything unusual during the filming, Pearl? Anyone on set besides the actors, or anything else?”
“No. Except for Steven hovering around the props.” She frowned. “He seemed like he was waiting for me to leave or something. He acted nervous.”
“What?” Tyler pulled out his notepad. “When was Steven here?”
“While they were shooting the scene.” Aunt Pearl glared at me. “Cen was here too.”
“I never saw Steven nearby. When I saw him he was over there.” I pointed over to where Steven and Aunt Amber had stood just moments earlier. “He and Amber had argued just before the shooting.”
“Were they still there when the shots rang out?” Tyler asked.
I nodded, then shook my head. “I’m not sure. I definitely saw Aunt Amber leave the set. As for Steven, I wasn’t watching him the whole time. I don’t remember seeing him leave until afterward, when I saw him with Aunt Pearl.” I looked to my aunt beside me for confirmation. “They walked across the street.”
Aunt Pearl nodded. “Right after Steven came over here to where Cen and I stood by the props.”
“I don’t remember that at all.” I shook my head. “I only saw you standing beside me. I’m sure I would have noticed Steven nearby, but I didn’t. I definitely didn’t see anyone unlock or lock the box.” Aunt Pearl’s claim didn’t jive with my recollection. Was she just mistaken, or was she purposely trying to throw Tyler off track?
Aunt Pearl seemed to read my thoughts as she pointed her forefinger at me. “You were too busy watching the scene. You must have at least seen the shooter. Or were you too busy daydreaming about that boyfriend of yours?”
A slight smile played on Tyler’s lips. “Let’s come back to that. Can you recreate the movie scene for me, Cen? Who was facing Dirk?”
“I don’t know…everything happened so fast. There was a cloud of dust, and just too many people in the scene to really see anything,” I said. “Maybe it will show up on the movie footage.”
“Good idea,” Tyler said. “We’ll check that out.”
“Aren’t you going to arrest Steven?” Aunt Pearl grumbled. “Or Bill? I think they’re in cahoots with each other.”
Aunt Pearl had such a hate-on for Sheriff Tyler Gates that she constantly tried to trip him up. Maybe that’s what she was doing now. But now wasn’t the time or place. A man had just died, and his killer was on the loose.
“It’s a little premature for that just yet. I’m still gathering evidence.” Tyler turned to me. “What else did you see?”
I glanced towards the tables by the catering truck and noticed Steven among the crowd. He was talking with a couple of cameramen but kept glancing over at us.
I recounted what I saw. “I watched the scene, but I was distracted by Steven and Aunt Amber arguing across the set.” I waved my hand in the general direction of where they had been standing. “I heard the shots, but thought nothing of it until Dirk never got up. I just assumed the gunfire was all part of the movie.”
“How many shots were fired?” Tyler asked.
“I don’t remember...maybe a dozen?” My face flushed, shocked that a man had died right in front of me and I couldn’t recall the most basic details. “Does it matter? I mean, almost all of them were blanks.”
I jumped at a soft feminine voice beside me.
“Can I go back to my trailer now?” Mascara streaked down Arianne Duval’s cheeks. She trembled uncontrollably, despite the warm weather.
“I just need to ask you a few questions before you go,” Tyler said. “Did you notice anything unusual about the scene?”
Arianne shook her head. “Not on set. But Bill never gave me my gun like he was supposed to. I had to come here and get it myself at the very last minute.”
Tyler raised his brows. “From where?”
“The prop box.” She lowered her voice. “Bill’s so unreliable. He’s always sneaking out to have a drink, and I was annoyed because no one was even here. I had to go fishing around in the box myself.”
“The box was unlocked?” Tyler frown
ed.
Arianne nodded. “It often is.”
Bill, who had returned seconds earlier, swore under his breath.
I glanced at Aunt Pearl, alarmed. Somebody wasn’t telling the truth. “Aunt Pearl, you sure you were here the whole time?”
Aunt Pearl rolled her eyes. “Okay, so maybe I left for a minute. Bill called me from the trailer. He told me to find a saddle he had forgotten somewhere on the set.”
That part must have happened before my arrival. Yet I had seen Bill handing out the guns. I turned to Arianne. “When did you get your gun?”
Arianne glared at Bill. “It was only about a minute before we started filming. I realized that everyone else had their guns but me, so I had to scramble over here and back. I guess Bill forgot mine like he usually does.”
Bill shook his head.
If Arianne noticed, she didn’t let on. “I grabbed the gun from the box and scrambled to get in place, then we shot the scene.” Her mouth dropped open. “Did I fire the bullet that killed Dirk?”
Tyler didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to Bill. “Is that true? Your prop box was unlocked?”
“If it was, it’s not my fault—it’s those damn script rewrites. Every time I turn around, Dirk’s making changes. They’re never minor changes either. Not only did he want the knife fight changed to a gun fight, but the script added a horse. Can you believe that—a horse? I had to find a 1900s-era saddle and a horse before the next scene. I can’t be in two places at once. Yet I still get blamed for everything that goes wrong around here.”
“Quit blaming everyone else, Bill.” Ariane shook her fist at him. “All you do is props. How hard is that?”
Bill rolled his eyes. “By the time I discovered the missing gun, there was no time to do anything. I just figured nobody would notice with all the action in the scene.”
Arianne scowled. “And you just assumed that I was less important than everyone else?”
Bill ignored her. “Knowing Dirk, there was probably gonna be another script change anyway. I just don’t understand how the sixth gun got put back in the box without anyone noticing.”
Witch and Famous--A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery Page 7