Sleuthing Women

by Lois Winston

  “I give up.” I shrugged and waited.

  “It was Brad Pitt! I was having coffee in Hollywood with Brad Pitt! How incredible is that? And then he reached across the table and took my hand. He said, ‘Lark Merriweather? I’ve always wanted to meet you You’re the woman of my dreams. I’ve waited my whole life for you.’”

  “You were having coffee with Brad Pitt?” Mom looked stunned.

  “But what about Angelina?” I said. Not the world’s most intelligent comment but I was caught up in the story.

  “Oh, he said that Angie was just a phase. Can you imagine? Just a passing phase. I was the one he really wanted.” Lark stood up, giving a secret little smile as she gathered the quilt around her. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a little nap. Maybe I can find my way back to that incredible dream.” She walked into the bedroom, leaving the door open a crack.

  “What was all that about?” I said the moment she was out of earshot. “She didn’t say a word about that night at the Seabreeze Inn. All she talked about was having a latte with Brad Pitt! Where did that come from, anyway?”

  “Probably from the depths of her unconscious,” Mom said. She was clearly embarrassed by the hypnosis fiasco. “Maggie, you know these trance inductions are unpredictable. They don’t work every single time. As Dr. Romanoff said, ‘Hypnosis is an art, not a science.’ I’m afraid this hypnosis was a failure.”

  I watched as Pugsley jumped down from the sofa and waddled into Lark’s room, all set for a nice long nap. He would be dreaming doggie dreams and Lark would be dreaming about Brad Pitt.

  “I’ll say.”

  As Irina would say, we were back to “square zero.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  It was nearly one a.m. when Lark staggered into the kitchen, eyes bleary with sleep. I was sitting at the table, eating a dish of maple walnut ice cream (Pugsley’s favorite) and going over my notes.

  “Something just came to me about the case,” she said, slipping into a chair across from me. “Something I had missed before. I don’t know how I missed it but I did.”

  “You remembered something about Sanjay and that night at the Seabreeze?”

  She pulled her robe tightly around her and nodded.. “I do. I guess Lola’s hypnosis session really worked.” She widened her eyes. “I woke up a few minutes ago and it was amazing, but I could see his room at the Seabreeze. I could see every single detail, just like I was standing there or watching a movie.”

  My heart kicked into high gear. “What did you see?”

  “The sushi dinner. It was sitting right on the bed.”

  “A sushi dinner?” I shot her a sideways glance. “You never mentioned this before.”

  “I know, it’s silly, isn’t it? I completely forgot about it. I think that hypnosis session must have nudged something in my brain. Now I realize that Sanjay must have ordered some takeout, because there was one of those white Styrofoam containers sitting on the bed.”

  “How did you know it was sushi?” My detective instincts were on red alert.

  Lark wrinkled her nose. “I’m a vegetarian, remember? I’m very sensitive to smells. If someone eats meat or poultry or fish for dinner, I pick up on it right away. I can’t stand the smell of sushi. And there’s another thing.”

  “Yes?” I pushed Pugsley away. He was trying to leap into my lap to get at the ice cream and the vet had already said he was overweight.

  “Sanjay was supposed to be a vegan too. So what was he doing eating fish?”

  “I have no idea.” I thought for a moment. “Was the container marked in any way? Would you recognize it if you saw it again?”

  Lark thought for a moment and then shook her head.. “I don’t think so. There might have been something on it, but I really can’t remember.” She pushed her hair out of her eyes and ran her hand over her forehead. “It’s funny, but the whole scene is fading right now. It was so clear a moment ago.”

  “That’s okay,” I said quickly. “You gave us something to go on.”

  “But what can we do with this? I don’t think the police will believe me.”

  “I’ll make sure they do. And you need to call that lawyer, Sebastian Martin, and tell him about the sushi. This could be a break in the case, we need to keep him in the loop.”

  “You really think this is significant?”

  “I know it is.”

  ~*~

  The desk sergeant gave me a “not-you-again” look when I marched into the Cypress Grove PD the following morning and demanded to see Rafe Martino. I didn’t call ahead, deciding it was better to just show up unannounced and take my chances. I waited in the lobby and a scruffy-looking guy with bleached blond hair and a soul patch nodded to me. A surfer-dude. I hesitated, nodded back and then he winked.

  He’s winking at me?

  Not good. My eyes dropped and then I noticed he was handcuffed to a metal loop on the wall. Hmm. Was this a lobby or a holding cell? Loverboy was still winking, but I turned my back on him, opened my purse and delved into the latest Donald Bain mystery.

  I always carry a paperback with me and read on the fly. Even a few pages of a mystery relaxes me and transports me to another time and place. It’s my escape hatch, my stress-buster.

  After a few minutes, Rafe strolled down the hall, looking terrific as usual in a white knit shirt and khakis. He looked like he should be playing golf with Donald Trump in West Palm Beach instead of working in a small town police department.

  I ignored the little thrumming in my heart at the sight of him and tried to focus on what I was going to say. I was going to be concise, confident and in control. Just like I encourage my patients to be in my assertiveness training classes.

  Except when I saw Rafe I melted. He looked good, he smelled good and he stood a little too close when he greeted me. Or maybe it felt that way to me. Maybe it was “projection” as the shrinks Freud would say that I was the one who wanted to stand too close, so I “projected” that desire onto Rafe. I could have pondered that theory in more depth, but who could think straight when Rafe was standing right next to me.

  “Dr. Maggie,” he said, his flashing a sexy grin. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” He had a Mario Lopez dimple. I tried to ignore it. I also tried to ignore the Dr. Maggie jibe. Whenever anyone calls me that, I think I should be munching cookies with Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.

  “I have new information about Sanjay’s death. Information that will break the case.” I tried to ignore my heart, which was doing a salsa rhythm in my chest. “Can we go somewhere to talk about it?” I felt strangely out of breath, as if I’d just delivered a long speech or run a marathon.

  He pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. “Is my office okay? I’ll even get you a cup of coffee.” Again, the trademark grin. One look from Rafe Martino and I was a goner.

  A few moments later, I was sitting on a metal folding chair holding a cup of brown sludge that Rafe had produced from a battered pot. I stared at it suspiciously.

  “It’s not a grande latte with skim milk, two Splendas and a light dusting of cinnamon,” he said.

  “How did you know?” That’s my standard order at Starbucks.

  “Just a lucky guess.” He glanced at his chirping cell phone scrolled through some messages and then put his elbows on the desk and stared at me. Suddenly he was all business. “So what gives? What’s the new evidence and where did you get it?”

  I was a little startled by the abrupt transition and it took a few seconds for my synapses to make the connection. “It’s sushi,” I said, stammering a little. Rafe was looking at me so intently with those fiery dark eyes that I was finding it hard to concentrate. “Sushi,” I repeated in a thin little voice that ended in a quaver. So much for sounding brisk and professional.

  “Sushi.” He said the word flatly and there was a long beat of silence between us.

  “Sanjay’s sushi.”

  “Sanjay’s sushi,” he repeated. It suddenly sounded like Peter Piper and I had to resist the u
rge to laugh. This wasn’t a laughing matter. Lark’s life was at stake.

  I flushed. “That sounds silly when you say it that way, but yes. Sanjay’s sushi. I just learned from Lark that Sanjay was eating sushi the night he died. Or if he wasn’t eating it, he certainly ordered some from a take-out place. So we have to assume he ate it?”

  “Do we?” It was clear from Rafe’s tone that he didn’t think we had to assume anything at all. He reached for a file and began to flip through it. “I don’t recall anything about sushi at the crime scene, either in the reports or in Ms. Merriweather’s statement.” He riffled through some papers. “It’s not in here.”

  “It wasn’t in the original statement she gave you because she just remembered it.” I nearly added “Honest!” and then stopped myself in time.

  “Really.” His tone was flat and one eyebrow rose. It was obvious he didn’t believe me.

  “She just magically remembered it?”

  “Something like that. It’s a long story.” I decided not to tell him about Mom’s failed attempt at hypnosis. But had it really failed? Who knows, maybe the trance state–if there was one–had jiggled Lark’s memory state and she really had recalled the sushi because of Mom’s intervention.

  Rafe was drumming his fingers on the desk. “Don’t you think we would have found some evidence of the sushi at the crime scene? Our investigators went over the room very carefully. They’re all top notch CSI’s.”

  “Did they check the waste basket?”

  “Of course.” A hint of irritation and he sneaked a look at his watch. “If there was a Styrofoam box, we would have found it.”

  I thought about this for a moment. “Maybe so, but if Lark says she saw it, then it was there. Somewhere. Sanjay certainly didn’t eat the cardboard box.” I realized I didn’t sound very convincing and my story had a million holes in it. Where was the white Styrofoam box? How come it hadn’t been discovered? Both were good questions and I knew Rafe was going to demand an answer. I noticed he wasn’t taking notes, which made me think he didn’t believe me at all.

  “You’re not going to write this down?” I demanded.

  With a world-weary sigh, he reached for a legal pad. “Okay, I’ll write it down. You realize this is all hearsay. Why doesn’t Miss Merriweather come in herself, if she has something to add to her statement?”

  Good question. “I’m sure she will,” I said with all the strength I could muster. I remembered that the best defense is a good offense. “And maybe you could start looking for that Styrofoam box, since you must have missed it the first time around.”

  “I’ll be sure to do that,” Rafe said, standing up. His look said it all. I was just a radio talk show host, he was a skilled investigator who didn’t have time for my silly insights.

  I knew I was being dismissed.

  ~*~

  What next? A quick call to Ted Rollins at the Seabreeze confirmed my worst fears. Ted told me he hadn’t seen anyone make any deliveries that night, and that drivers always have to stop at the front desk. Not what I was hoping to hear.

  “Can you think of a restaurant that serves sushi?” I asked. I felt like I was failing a major test and needed to use a lifeline.

  A beat while he considered the question. “Here in Cypress Grove?” His tone was doubtful. “Maggie, you’re not back in Manhattan. We don’t really go in for sushi here. Maybe red snapper,” he added playfully. “Or even catfish.” Catfish? I flashed on Ray Hicks, standing over the grill, cooking up a “mess of fish” as he called it. But there was no way anyone could mistake catfish for sushi, was there?

  I thanked Ted and then dashed into WYME to do my afternoon show. Vera Mae greeted me with a big hug like I was a returning war hero.

  “How’s it going, girl?” She was bustling around, lining up the spots to be read live that day during my show.

  “Fine. Can you do me a big favor?” I slapped my briefcase on the desk and checked my phone messages. Nothing urgent, a few calls from publicists hounding me to invite their clients on the show. Nothing from Nick, nothing from Rafe. Although why would there be?

  “Just name it, sugar.”

  “Do a Google search for me. Find out if there are any restaurants around Cypress Grove that serve sushi. You’ll have to check surrounding towns as well, but don’t make it too far away. Close enough that they’d do a take-out delivery to the Seabreeze.”

  Vera Mae raised her eyebrows but didn’t ask any questions. We both went into the studio and she gave me the bio on the day’s guest. Then she zipped into the control room to organize things before my two o’clock show and fielded some phone calls from Cyrus and Big Jim Wilcox.

  The protocol for guests was always the same. Irina would greet the guest in the lobby (Dr. Samuel Nitterstein, author of Keeping Sane in Crazy Times) and walk him back to the studio.

  There’d be time for a quick bathroom break, or a cup of coffee in the green room, but once he was in the studio, he’d have to hit the ground running. I used to greet the guests myself and make small talk in the lobby and then I realized that it was better to just meet them in the studio. That way our conversation sounded more spontaneous, less planned, and I came up with more interesting questions. It seemed to work better when I was “meeting” the guest at the same time the listener was.

  I didn’t think Dr. Nitterstein would say anything controversial. He’d sent me a tape he’d done for NPR and he was well informed, if a little pedantic. No one could ever accuse him of being Mr. Charisma.

  Ever since I’d had Sanjay on the show, I’d been deluged with calls from authors peddling their self-help books. It didn’t seem to bother any of them that Sanjay had appeared on my show and been murdered that same night. They just wanted to be on the show and were giddy with excitement at the idea.

  The show with Dr. Nitterstein (who insisted I call him “Dr. Sam”) went by quickly and the control board was lit up with calls the whole time. It was a topic everyone in Cypress Grove seemed to relate to–who knew so many people were questioning their sanity? Most of the callers were women, and my guest told me during the break that women seemed to fear losing their minds more than men did. Interesting. Was this scientifically proven, or just anecdotal? Sometimes guests fudge the facts a little to make a better story.

  Were women really more prone to worries about their mental health men were? Or were women just more willing to admit to their fears? The show ended on a high note and he gave me an autographed copy of his book.

  I thanked him and practically rushed him out of the studio, because Vera Mae had slipped me an intriguing note during the last commercial break. “Looking for sushi? Try the Golden Palace.” She scribbled the address of a restaurant near Stuart, Florida. Even with rush hour traffic, I figured I could drive there in twenty minutes. I called home to leave a message for Mom and Lark. “Bringing home Chinese take-out for dinner, don’t cook.” My heart was leaping in my chest. Was the Golden Palace the break I’d been looking for?

  TWENTY-NINE

  “Three veggie lo meins, please. With three eggrolls and one order of steamed dumplings.” It had taken me exactly seventeen minutes to reach The Golden Palace, a small restaurant in a strip mall near Stuart.

  I hoped the girl behind the counter was in a chatty mood. “Nice place,” I said idly, staring at the scratched Formica counter as though I’d never seen one before. She nodded and didn’t comment. A full assortment of sushi was staring at me from a refrigerated display case.

  “I’ll have to come back and try the sushi the next time,” I told her.

  She gave a shy smile. “It’s very good.” She slipped on some gloves and reached into the case. “I just made these. Here, try a piece.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered. I loathe sushi but managed to gulp it down in one bite, like an oyster. “Do you deliver to Cypress Grove?”

  “Cypress Grove?” She shrugged and looked down, scooping up lo mein for my order. “I’m not sure. That’s a little far away for us.”

&nb
sp; “Is there anyone here who would know? I’m giving a party,” I said, improvising madly. “I’d love to have the whole thing catered. Maybe thirty people.”

  “I could ask the manager, but he’s not here.” I knew from her closed expression, I wasn’t going to get any information out of her. She’d already rung up the sale, but I tried one more time. “I don’t suppose you remember if you delivered any sushi to the Seabreeze Inn last week, do you? That’s in Cypress Grove, very close to where I live.”

  “No, I have no idea. I wasn’t at work last week. “ She quickly completed the transaction and handed me my change.

  “Well, thanks,” I said, forcing a smile and heading for the exit. I jumped back in the car and headed home, with a bag full of Styrofoam containers on the seat next to me. The containers had a small red dragon emblazoned on the lid.

  Mission accomplished.

  ~*~

  “That could be it, but I’m not sure,” Lark said half an hour later. She stared at the red dragon on the lid of the Styrofoam box for a full five seconds, chewing on her lower lip. “I do remember seeing something like this on the box in Sanjay’s room. It was some sort of a red logo, but I just can’t bring it to mind. I’m not sure it was a dragon, but it could have been. This looks about the right size.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “The maddening thing is, I can see the white container sitting right there on Sanjay’s bed and then the image on the lid just disappears. I wonder why that is?”

  “Don’t force the memory, it will come eventually,” Mom assured her. I wondered how Mom could be so optimistic after Lark’s colorful description of her meeting with Brad Pitt at Café Rodeo. How could she not considered that a “treatment failure?”

  Hope springs eternal with Mom. Sometimes I think her level of optimism is almost pathological but maybe it works in her profession. Mom always says she’s optimistic because there is no other option. At any given time, ninety-eight percent of SAG members are unemployed. If an actor didn’t have a certain degree of optimism, it would be tempting to jump off a bridge.