Body on the Backlot

by Eva Monteleagre

  Once inside the garage, I took a moment to check out the Audi T. I had never really inspected it because Gus said it was new and crime lab said there wasn’t anything revealing in it. I looked at the mileage, still at an even thousand miles. Didn’t Autumn even want her car? She must be crazy to leave behind such a cool ride. I moved into the kitchen and heard a noise from the back of the house, in the bedroom. I pulled out my gun.

  “Crashing parties again, Detective?”

  Glenn Addams appeared in the doorway. His green silk shirt was unbuttoned and his soft khaki pants were missing the belt. He didn’t have shoes on.

  “Didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” I said.

  “Are you going to shoot me?” I put my gun away.

  “Sorry to intrude. I didn’t see a car parked outside. Didn’t think anyone was here.”

  “I had a limo drop me.”

  “Oh. Is Autumn here? I’d like to talk to her.”

  I heard the car start in the garage and pull away with a screech.

  “You just missed her.”

  “What’d she do? Climb out the bedroom window to avoid me? That seems like suspicious behavior.”

  “She had an appointment. You can talk to me if you like. Would you like a beer, some wine?” Glenn strode past me and into the kitchen.

  Boy, was he cool and collected. Always good under pressure, this one.

  “No thanks. Where is she staying? Not here obviously.”

  “I don’t know, really. She called and I convinced her to meet me here. Things were going well until you arrived. But at least, now, we know what happened to the garage door opener,” he said from the kitchen.

  “Yes, right. I thought someone might be missing it.” I pulled it out of my pocket and set it on the coffee table.

  “Kind of you to bring it by.”

  “Think nothing of it. And if you need anything else, let me know and I’ll see if I can’t wrestle it from evidence for you. Or for Autumn, I should say.”

  “I should think all items would be returned at this point,” said Addams as he came back into the living room with a glass of wine.

  “I don’t think so. Not quite yet.”

  “You don’t have a warrant.”

  I shook my head. He sat on the maroon couch, the same one that Autumn was pronounced dead on, and sipped his wine.

  “So, are you and Autumn Riley back together?” I asked.

  “We were just talking about the possibility.”

  “In the bedroom?”

  Glenn looked at the floor and made a snorting noise.

  “You paid for that car?” I asked.

  “Yes, I did, in fact.”

  “It’s a nice ride. You gonna make her a movie star?”

  “I don’t think I have to answer these questions.”

  There was a knock on the front door. Addams got up to answer it. Wineglass still in hand, he greeted Eddy.

  “Everything okay?” asked Eddy. “I saw Autumn take off in a hurry.”

  “It’s fine,” I said, moving toward the door to go.

  “You two came together?” asked Addams. The question had an incredulous tone to it.

  •••

  WHEN EDDY AND I got back to my place, I had a seat at the kitchen table and inspected the files that matched the forensic finds from the graveyard. I discovered that there were five boys and thirteen girls. Forensic evidence indicated their deaths had occurred over the last ten years. The most recent over eight months ago, except, of course, for Dani. The Johnnies hadn’t lied to me. Each body had been matched with a tooth in the jar. All the victims had been reported missing. Some of them had been runaways. Others had been walking home from school and disappeared.

  One had gone to buy an ice cream cone and never returned.

  I turned away from the files, overwrought with a pulsing anguish.

  I called the number that Gilda had given me. Gus had told me, sometime before I passed out, to pull her in, to question her regarding the pimps for runaways. She knew the streets and would be reliable.

  “Hello?”

  “Gilda?”

  “Yes?”

  “This is Joan. Can you do me a big favor?”

  “That the first thing out of your mouth? You want something from me?”

  “Right.”

  “What?”

  “How ‘bout you come over to my house and look at these files I got here? You can tell me if any of the photos match some of the kids that were working the streets and disappeared.”

  “Oh, sure. That really sounds like fun. I want to do that.”

  “Come on, Gilda.”

  “When?”

  “Now?”

  “You always had nerve, you know that?’

  “I know. Please?”

  “My car’s not working.”

  “I’ll pay for the cab and make you dinner.”

  “You got any strong coffee over there?”

  “That I got.”

  “What’s the address?” I gave it to her. “Okay. You’re paying for the cab return, too?” she asked.

  “I said I was paying for the cab, didn’t I?”

  •••

  THE CORONER’S OFFICE PROVIDED an initial report on each of the Tylers’ victims. The horrific, tortuous deaths made me edgy and impatient. Eddy opened a beer and set it on the table where I was working.

  “Knock it off, now. That’s enough,” he said.

  “I haven’t even got started good.”

  “Have a beer,” he said.

  He strolled back to the couch and stretched out. I took a sip of beer and kept on working.

  “Why are you going through all those files?” asked Eddy. I sighed. “You solved it,” he insisted. “What is the point? Are you trying to drive yourself crazy? The case is over.”

  “I need to see if there was a pattern, or if there’s any connection to Autumn.”

  “That’s stretching it a bit.”

  “Well, Coastal, there’s a boy out there somewhere, not to mention ten missing girls. I think a stretch might be in order.”

  “Okay, but the doc said to take it easy, no stress. You’re putting in a full day, here.”

  “How do you know what the doctor said?”

  “I told you, I read the file.”

  “Oh, right.”

  I heard a car idling in the alley. It was Gilda’s cab. I paid the fare, forty bucks plus a five-dollar tip. The cab driver gave me a funny look. I guessed he was wondering what kind of trick I was. Gilda was wearing a black turtleneck and black hot-pants. Her legs were clad in black fishnets and short boots with fake fur and spiked heels. She wore a black beret set at a fashionable angle on her head.

  “You’re looking very European,” I said.

  “And hello to you, too.”

  She hesitated. I’m sure no cop had ever invited her into their home before. It wasn’t usual procedure for me, either.

  I opened the car door for her. She flicked her long legs out of the cab.

  “This way,” I said, stepping before her and opening my gate to allow her entrance.

  “Sure, okay.” Her walk, as always, was pronouncedly sensual. “Where’d you get that black eye?” she asked.

  “Oh, I picked that up during a ride I unwittingly took in a white van.”

  “I got a piece of advice for you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t ever get into a strange van, don’t trust nobody who drives one of those things, and whatever you do in life, never ever get into a strange van. Especially not a white one.”

  “I’ll have to remember that.”

  Gilda strolled right into my house. Her eyes got big when she got a load of Eddy. He rose to shake her hand and asked if he could get her anything.

  “Coffee, please. Black.”

  Eddy poured her the coffee into one of the new white diner mugs. I thought for a moment of Carl’s delivery of the mugs. I’d probably never be able to use them without remembering that
whole scene. Gilda thanked Eddy graciously, eyed his butt, and looked at me, letting me know she approved. She sipped her coffee with a Cheshire grin on her face.

  “Oh, I like that artwork! Who’s the artist? Romeo, here?” It was interesting to me that she didn’t imagine for a moment that the paintings were mine.

  “No, it’s my mother’s art. She was working on these paintings when she died.”

  “Oh, how did she die?”

  “Is it okay if we don’t talk about it? I need to get this work done and I really can’t rest until this case is, um…cleared.”

  Gilda and Eddy exchanged looks. I put on some classical music, Nocturne by Lieberman. It’s sort of dark and moody.

  I sat her down at the kitchen table and showed her the pictures. The first four she had never seen. The fifth one she inspected more closely than the others.

  Eddy sat on the couch in the living room reading the paper but I was sure he heard every word we said.

  “I knew this one, she was somethin’; smart thing. Called herself Posey.”

  “Her name was Sara Perkins,” I said.

  “She’ll always be Posey, to me,” said Gilda. “And, lord, she had a filthy mouth on her.”

  “She a runaway?” Gilda nodded. “Did she have a pimp?”

  “H was her man.”

  “H?”

  “Yeah, young guy went by H.”

  “Was he muscular with long black hair?” I asked.

  “No, a chubby guy, no hair at all, he shaved his head.”

  “How long ago was this?”

  “Six or seven years ago.”

  I checked the file and the matchup to the bones indicated the death of Sara Perkins was six years ago.”

  “Okay, keep looking.”

  Gilda went through the rest of the files and found three more matchups. Two more girls and one boy. Gilda said that they were also pimped by H.

  I went through my photos and pulled out the recent one of Hector.

  “Gilda, I want you to imagine that H has grown his hair long and been working out at the gym. Does he look like this?”

  I showed her the picture.

  “That’s him.”

  “How did you know so quickly?”

  “That slope eye.”

  It was true. Hector’s smaller eye had a slightly downward slope to it.

  “So, Hector pimped runaways. He was the supplier to the two Johnnies.”

  “To who?” asked Gilda.

  “John and Mary Tyler.”

  “John and Mary Tyler. Are they the ones with the graveyard? The ones that set kids on fire?” asked Gilda.

  “That’s the ones.”

  “You found them?”

  “Yes. Everything you said was true, the graveyard; them burning the victims…”

  “Those two in prison?”

  “One is. The other has already committed suicide.”

  “Which one’s alive?”

  “The woman, if you can call her that, the sister.”

  “Are they going to execute her?” asked Gilda, her voice rising with indignation.

  “If I’ve got anything to do with it, yes,” I said. Gilda nodded solemnly.

  “I know how it is,” said Gilda. “Most runaways come from elsewhere. Their families are in other states. Runaways don’t pay taxes, don’t vote, and they don’t do nuthin’ for your statistics.”

  “That’s not how I feel about it, Gilda.”

  “I know. I see that. Okay. Now, you promised me dinner and ahm hungry.” Gilda crossed her leg at the knee and swung her booted foot up and down to emphasize her point.

  “Dinner’s on its way,” said Eddy as he grabbed his keys and made for the door. “Is Italian okay?”

  “Sure, that’d be excellent,” said Gilda, flashing him a big smile.

  Once he was out the door, she giggled.

  “Oh, girl. That man is fine. Feeeee-iiiine, do you hear me?”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “What you say his name was?”

  “Coastal Eddy.”

  “What’s his real name?”

  “I don’t know; he won’t tell me. But it must be Italian cuz’ that’s all he eats.”

  We laughed and she gave me a big hug.

  “Thanks for comin’ over, Gilda,” I said. “I really appreciate you for doing this.”

  “Oh, anytime.”

  “Do you mind if I make a few calls?” I asked.

  “No, honey. Do your thing. Why is this music playing over and over?”

  “I put it on repeat.”

  “A little dreary.”

  “I think it’s beautiful. It honors these children. You and I are in the very important process of honoring these missing children that everyone has forgotten. Besides we might save one, or even many in the future.”

  “Okay.”

  “Besides, it helps me think. They have proven that classical music helps people think more efficiently.” Gilda nodded at me and smiled.

  •••

  I CALLED INTERPOL AND asked them when Dewey and The Barb came into the country. The answer told me what I needed to know. Eight months ago. Mary Tyler had said the supplier had stopped service to the two Johnnies the last six months. That must have been when Hector hooked up solidly with Dewey and The Barb and made a career change. I made a call to the acting teacher, Ms. Koch. She informed me that Autumn enrolled in class six months ago, but she only stayed a month.

  I made yet another call to check in with Interpol for the results of the more in-depth search I had requested on Dewey and The Barb. They had come up with some sketchy information on pharmaceutical shipments to a lab in Haiti. The lab, located in Gonaives, was the same lab mentioned in Dr. Blanchard’s journal. Apparently, the truck bringing in lab supplies was looted. Dewey and The Barb were named as prime suspects but no actual case was built against them. The witnesses refused to testify against them.

  Thereafter, nobody could bring anything into that town in Haiti. Not even the cocaine dealers. Ever since the success of their lab-supply attack, the people of the village would charge the suppliers, or smugglers in this case, and take the cocaine or whatever for their own. It set off a strange sort of revolution throughout Haiti and now the drug dealers were avoiding Haiti completely. It was a bitter justice though because the newly monied villagers apparently were as exploitive as their previous abusers. Child prostitution, ages twelve and under, was flourishing. You gotta wonder where it all ends.

  Gilda listened in as I made all my calls. She “tsk, tsked” and shook her head. I shared with her some of my findings and she moaned with disapproval. At one point, she covered her face with her hands.

  “What’s the world coming to?” she asked.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  AFTER WE FINISHED OUR cannelloni, I got a cab for Gilda and sent her home. She made a point of inviting both Eddy and me over for dinner and a gaze at the stars. I was surprised when Eddy agreed. We stood in the alley and watched the cab take Gilda away from us.

  “You don’t have to hang around and take care of me,” I said. As soon as I said it, I wondered why.

  “It’s not a problem. I’m on a hiatus right now. I’ve got the time. In a couple weeks I’m going to be busy.”

  “Busy where?”

  “That’s for me to know.” That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

  “What’s your real name?” I asked.

  “Same answer.”

  “You don’t do anything illegal, do you?”

  “Same answer.”

  “Do you hurt people? I’m a detective, I have to ask these things.”

  “My motto is: Get them where they live, find out their flaws and weaknesses, their crimes.”

  “So, I should figure that in a couple weeks, you might have to go save a whale?”

  “More like a whole pod of them.”

  “A pod?”

  “A school of fish, a pod of whales, a murder of crows.”

  We walked back into the h
ouse and I realized that I never wanted Eddy to leave my sight. I had some other ideas about what I wanted, but we sat on the couch and I listened to what he had to say instead. My mind was racing around in my head, he went on and on—something to do with him not wanting to go out of town, but he absolutely had to. Then I finally tuned in.

  “The Navy’s intensive sonar tests in ocean waters is killing whales,” Eddy continued. “The blasts are in excess of two hundred decibels. The whales are sound-sensitive and sound-dependent and the tests are killing them dead, there’s no question. Last month, sixteen were beached.”

  “I’m so sorry, Eddy. But what are you going to do about it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Now, you sound like me. I guess I can relate.”

  “My style is different from yours.”

  “Yeah, how so?” I asked.

  “Can’t say, really.”

  “Do you have any felony convictions?”

  “No, and wasn’t planning on it.”

  “Good. Because I can’t hang out with felons. So, when did you say you’re going to disappear?”

  “In about two weeks.”

  “When will you be back?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but I could keep in touch. I’ll try to call you every day.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Can I come back here?”

  “Don’t you have your own place?”

  He laughed nervously. “Yes…I’d like to invite you to my place. When do you want to come?”

  “After this case is over. Right now, it’s best for me to stay on the home front.”

  “Okay, but what I’m trying to say is…when I get back…”

  “Listen, you’re invited here any time of day or night. I’ll even make you a key. You are in.” There, I had said it.

  “I’m in?”

  “Right.”

  “I’m in.”

  “Okay, I think I love you.”

  “You think?”

  “Yes. I think so. I’ll let you know when I’m absolutely sure, okay? It might help if I knew your real name.”

  He smiled and nodded and I thought his eyes were watery. I kissed him on the cheek.

  “I gotta get back to work here,” I said.

  He nodded again and smiled some more. “I don’t want to lose you,” he said. “I want you in my life. I’m not like that guy, Carl. I won’t ever do anything to make you afraid of me, or anything like that. I just want to be here for you.” There was a pleading to his eyes.