“Okay if I put these out,” he said, holding onto a handful. I said I’d put them out on the front table. We decided it would be more dramatic if he made an entrance after I did a few minutes on who he was. I noticed that North was staring at me. He waved me over.
“Now that you know, I need your help again.”
“Know what?” I said. Instead of an answer he pushed his cell phone in my hand and gestured for me to listen.
“Hello?” I said tentatively. As soon as I heard the “Mo—” of “Mother” I knew it was my son Peter. Not that I got a chance to greet him because he launched into a bunch of commands.
“You need to do the same thing with North. Take him home with you. Remember take Wells Drive. And don’t ask him any questions.”
Peter finally stopped to breathe and I said I couldn’t leave the bookstore. “I’m in the middle of an event.”
My son made a bunch of unhappy sounds and then asked to talk to the actor again. North listened and didn’t look pleased with what he was hearing. “You should really take better care of things,” North said. “This is the second time. There better not be a third.”
I didn’t want to be in the middle of any disagreement between my son and his client.
Peter and I had our differences, but I would still always take his side no matter what. North handed the phone back to me. Peter sounded tense and tired. “Mother, just do the best you can to keep him happy until I can get there. Please.”
North looked around at the decorations and chairs and asked what was going on. I told him about the book signing and surreptitiously waved Dinah over. Another fan approached North and I took the opportunity to tell Dinah the situation. She got Commander to join her and then they took over the care of North Adams. Commander was so good at handling people, I don’t think North realized I’d passed him off.
I was surprised to see Kelly’s husband Dan join the crowd. He stopped by to say hello to me, gesturing with his free arm toward the table setup. “I came to support Stone,” he said before taking a chair on the end of one of the rows. Did Dan have any idea a lot of people there were convinced he’d murdered his wife and was getting away with it? Or did he think this was a way to convince them that he didn’t kill her? Personally, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
The seats were really filling up. Mr. Royal watched with a pleased expression and nodded to Mrs. Shedd.
Sheila, our nervous Hooker, came up to me and greeted me with a hug. She glanced shyly to the side at the man with her.
“Nicholas,” I said in surprise. He owned Luxe where Sheila worked, but due to his successful writing career, was away a lot. He said something about being glad to support a fellow store before he and Sheila found seats. The way he touched Sheila’s back to guide her into the chair made me think there was more to this than just employee-boss. I hoped so because we all knew Sheila got gooey-eyed whenever she talked about him.
Our resident actress, CeeCee, had told me she couldn’t make it. I’d thought Adele was going to come, but so far, she was a no-show. I was about to give up on her and start the festivities when Adele and Eric came in the door. It was more accurate to say the couple made an entrance.
I should have known she would dress for the occasion. Her costume consisted of white capri pants topped with a brick red Hawaiian shirt and a whole tube of self tanner that had left her skin with an orangy tan. I’d never seen Eric out of uniform and was surprised to see that she’d played dress up with him and gotten him to wear a matching outfit—only his pants went all the way down to his shoe tops. He seemed a little self-conscious. Who could blame him. He looked like he’d eaten too many carrots and they’d turned his skin orange. “I thought you said everyone would be dressed this way,” he said as they walked toward the front row.
Welcome to Adele’s world.
Mr. Royal gave me a nod and a wave, which meant he was impatient for me to start. I stepped to the front of the group and started to talk about Stone. Mr. Royal had written the introduction. The gist was that Stone had conquered what was considered the most dangerous beach in Hawaii and had stopped competing while he was still on top.
There was a hardy round of applause as Stone stepped from behind the bookcases that surrounded the area we’d set aside for the event. He leaned against the table and smiled at the crowd, displaying his dimples.
I was surprised to see Barry standing at the back. I guessed he’d heard enough about Stone and wanted to see what Mr. Adorable looked like.
“Thank you all for coming. You’re too kind to an old surfer dude past his prime.” His self-effacing comment won over the crowd and they said “aw” in unison. He began the talk by describing the thrill of surfing and was segueing into the energy drink when there was the sound of an alarm going off. A whirr of running figures flew by the outskirts of the chairs. Before Mr. Royal could respond, Eric in all his orange glory jumped out of his seat and took off after them.
Stone instinctively stopped, but I encouraged him to continue, and then I followed Mr. Royal to find out what was going on.
Eric came back inside after a few minutes. He was out of breath and leaned against the counter. “They disappeared into the darkness,” he said. “Sorry.” Mr. Royal thanked him for his efforts and then Mrs. Shedd, Mr. Royal and I made the rounds to see if anything was missing. One of the e-readers had been pulled free from its leash and was gone. The chocolate rack was missing some bars and when we walked back to the yarn area, skeins were laying all over the floor and the cabinet was open and the plastic bin that had held Kelly’s crochet pieces was on the floor. It was empty except for a few stray strands of yarn.
“Those kids again,” Mrs. Shedd said, shaking her head with dismay.
Adele checked out the mess in the yarn department while making some comment about how terrible it was that all of Kelly’s donations were gone. I looked intently at Adele. “No chance of CeeCee seeing all those bullion stitch flowers now, is there?” I said, waiting to see her reaction. She let out an annoyed huff at my implied accusation.
The other thing—actually the other person—missing, was Barry. When I asked Eric, he said that as he was chasing the shoplifters he’d spotted Barry getting in his Tahoe. Very strange.
CHAPTER 21
“I missed all the excitement,” CeeCee said in a disappointed tone. It was the next day and the Hookers were assembled at the worktable in the yarn department. I’d just finished fixing the last of the mess from the night before. CeeCee glanced over the wall with the cubbies of yarn and the cabinets beneath. “Did they take anything or just make a mess?”
I looked at Adele, who’s eyes had suddenly become big with fear. She made eye contact with me and even put her hands together in a prayer posture as she threw me a silent plea.
She didn’t have to worry. I wasn’t going to bring up the fact that the crochet pieces Kelly had given us for the street fair were missing. It would only open a bunch of problems. CeeCee would want to know why she hadn’t been told about the pieces in the first place and then she would be upset with all of us for keeping them from her. It was better to just avoid the subject all together.
“The biggest thing they took was the e-reader even with the do-it-yourself alarm Mr. Royal installed.” I said that Eric had called in the robbery, and a whole contingent of cops had shown up, although there was nothing to do but take a report. Well, there was something else they’d done. They’d chuckled at Eric who looked like a giant carrot.
“What happened to the surfer?” CeeCee asked. “You said he was such a charming man. I’d hate to think his moment in the spotlight was ruined.”
I laughed inside. As with my other mini disaster book signings, this one had turned out okay, too. Once the cops had talked to Mrs. Shedd, Mr. Royal and me, and we’d all come to the same conclusion that it was the neighborhood kids out for a thrill, they’d noticed Stone. A couple of the cops were surfers and knew who he was. They told their fellow cops and they all stayed while he finished talking
about what it was like to surf some place called Banzai Pipeline. He said something about thick curls of waves that he was able to tube ride. It didn’t mean a lot to me, but the crowd seemed fascinated. They all seemed interested in the coconut energy drink, but were sorry to hear there wasn’t even a bottle of it to see. He’d won the crowd over and thirty of the books sold, along with some of the DVDs.
CeeCee was relieved to hear it was a success. She looked over at Adele who was working on a purple cowl. “Adele, you’re such a good crocheter. I can’t believe you’re working on something so simple. And, dear, I can’t see the cowls being a success at this time of year.”
Adele sputtered a few times. “A lot you know. I have been working on some very complicated things. I stand by my decision to make cowls for the sale. You’ll see, they’ll be a big success.”
Elise produced her vampire version and said she thought hers would be even more in demand. Dinah knew better than to say anything. Sheila avoided the fuss and kept her eyes on her crocheting. She was churning out pot holders and other small items.
“I can’t wait for this foofie vampire trend to be over,” Rhoda Klein said with a harrumph. “Dracula would never wear one of those.”
Eduardo just chuckled and showed off the water bottle holder he was making for the sale.
“Now that is seasonally correct,” CeeCee said. “Someone should bring a cooler full of bottled water.” CeeCee looked over the group for a volunteer and Rhoda waved her hand.
“I forgot to mention that North Adams was there for the whole event,” I said. CeeCee seemed surprised.
“He must be a big surfing fan. He’d probably been on the set since eight in the morning. I know when my day on the set of Making Amends wraps, all I want to do is go home,” she said.
I just nodded in agreement. My son Peter had sworn me to secrecy about the rest of last night, so I made no mention that when Peter didn’t get there in time I’d taken North to my house, via the side streets. Or that he had acted as if he was smitten with me. He’d even kept up the charade once we were back inside my place, which was very awkward when we walked into the kitchen and saw Barry was hanging around, hoping he and I would have tea together. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to see he had something on his mind and to figure it had something to do with his sudden departure from the bookstore.
“What’s he doing here?” Barry said to me, when North went on into the living room. I was saved from answering by the sound of my front door opening, followed by male voices. A moment later Mason and Samuel came into the kitchen asking why North Adams was sitting in my living room.
While I was trying to answer without really saying anything, Peter finally showed up and took North with him. When the door clicked shut, all eyes were back on me. I went the politician way and simply turned the questions back on them, asking what Samuel and Mason were doing there together.
Mason let out a sigh. “Would you believe I’m trying to round up musicians for Thursday’s wedding?”
Samuel had touched him on the shoulder. “You won’t be disappointed. My guys can do anything you want.”
Barry had moved to the edge of the group. Usually he was able to hide his emotions under the mask of his cop face, but not tonight. He appeared distracted and distressed. He glanced in my direction and there was worry in his dark eyes as he muttered “good night” and headed up the hall. Probably he was embarrassed about driving away instead of helping Eric chase down the shoplifters. Poor Barry. Would he ever get his mojo back?
CHAPTER 22
“Sunshine, I’m going to have to back out of our plans,” Mason said. It was the next day and I was just getting ready to leave the bookstore. We’d talked several times during the day and had planned on barbecuing at his house. I could almost hear Mason shaking his head with frustration as he told me there was another family wedding meeting.
“Whatever,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. It was ridiculous for me to feel left out—it was his family—but I did.
“I’m sorry,” he said and I knew by his tone he really meant it. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“An invitation to the wedding would do,” I said, trying to sound like I was joking. There was a long silence on his end and for a moment I thought we’d been cut off.
“I’m working on it, sunshine,” he responded finally before we said our good-byes and hung up.
Working on it? How much work was involved with saying “Hey, Molly, come to my daughter’s wedding.” I knew it wasn’t quite that easy for him. I gathered there was some agreement with his ex about keeping family things separate from their new social lives. Maybe I was being silly, but in my mind unless Mason acted like I was a fixture in his life, our relationship wouldn’t go any further. We’d stay friends, but friends without benefits.
After that I went directly home wondering what was waiting for me this time. I came in through the kitchen door and was relieved to find quiet. But I’d barely closed the door when Barry walked in. Was it my imagination or did it seem like he’d been listening for me to come home?
He acted surprised to see me, but he could have been faking it. Then he made a move toward the cabinet with the dishes. “I was just coming in for a cup of tea.” He reached for a stoneware mug. “You really started something with the tea drinking. It’s a nice way to cap off the evening. He looked at the area around me. “No entourage?” I knew he was referring to the previous evening when North had been with me and Mason showed up right after.
Whatever distress he’d shown the previous night had been filed far inside and he was back to his usual self.
“Not tonight,” I said.
“Where’s the counselor?” Barry asked. I explained about Mason’s daughter’s wedding and his efforts to try to put it together.
“Hmm, so the lawyer finally found something he couldn’t fix so easily. It must be a shock.” He went to reach for another mug. “Want to join me?”
Having tea at night had become a nice habit and I nodded in agreement. He took out another mug and set up both drinks. As we went outside, Cosmo came in the kitchen to see what was going on and the small black mutt followed us out.
* * *
I leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath of the night air. The crickets were chirping and all the night birds were talking to each other.
“Isn’t this nice how we can just sit together, have tea and talk.” I smiled at him. “See, no matter what you thought, we can still be friends.”
Barry flinched at the comment. I asked where Jeffrey was and he said he was spending the night at one of his drama friends. They were camping out in his backyard. I glanced toward the house. “What about Samuel?”
“He’s off somewhere. He doesn’t keep me in the loop,” Barry said. “So, it looks like it’s just you and me.”
There was no reason for me to feel awkward, but I did. Although there had been a time when having the place to ourselves would have meant something, that was long past. Barry let out a noise that sounded like a wistful sigh. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.
For a few moments we just sat there drinking our tea. I didn’t know about him, but I was feeling this vibe in the air that seemed to be getting more intense. Barry leaned forward slightly and I saw his hand coming toward my arm.
There was nothing to do but throw cold water on the situation. So I started talking about Kelly’s murder. “I know that Detective Heather has zeroed in on Dan as the killer and dismissed the other suspects, but I’m not so sure she’s right.”
My comment had the desired effect. Barry had pulled his hand back to his armrest as if he’d just hit a hot coal and then he laughed. “As if it’s anything new that you think Heather has it wrong. I suppose you’ve come up with your own list of suspects.”
“Maybe I have,” I said.
Barry sat up in his chair. “Okay, let’s hear it.” His lips were curved in an indulgent smile.
“To start with there’s Nanci Silvers
.” Barry’s eyes flickered in response to the name before I went through the reasons why, which were adding up. She lived next door and had no alibi, which gave her opportunity. I had a pretty good idea she knew how to use a gun and probably had one. And as for motive—it appeared there was something going on between her and Dan, along with the fact Nanci seemed determined to keep the Donahue house from being used in future productions. If Adele had been there, she would have said Nanci had the golden triangle of guilt.
“Autumn’s mother?” he said.
“You’d love it to be her, wouldn’t you? Then you could tell Jeffrey his girlfriend’s mother was a murderer. That would break them up for sure.”
Barry rolled his eyes. “I’m not that bad. I just worry about Jeffrey getting in over his head.” He picked up his mug. “Is that it, or do you have more suspects?”
I mentioned that the two prop guys had said they knew Kelly from before.
“I saw them go to lunch, but they could have easily come back. As for means, there are lots of guns in L.A. 911.”
Barry stopped me. “They’re prop guns.”
“But what if they mixed a real one in with the prop ones? It would be a great way to hide it in plain sight.” Barry explained that fake guns were all supposed to have an orange plug in the barrel.
“And what’s their motive?” he said.
“I don’t know.” I gazed upward and began to improvise. “Maybe it had something to do with the disappearing lamp.” Barry seemed unimpressed and I brought up Kelly’s online business. “Maybe it was a disgruntled customer or someone random,” I offered. “But one thing I’m sure of.”
I reminded Barry that Dinah and I had been there that day and someone, which we now knew probably hadn’t been a real estate agent, had come to the door. “Don’t you think that person probably is the killer?”
If Hooks Could Kill Page 16