Officer Handy put her hand on her belt, where Lisa knew she kept the nonlethal crowd control items like pepper spray. “As of this moment, this is an active crime scene. Now sit down, calm down, and we will get to you to take your statement.”
Gavin glared at her before stomping away and sitting heavily in his director’s chair.
Lisa looked away from the director and found Annette sitting on the ground, quietly sobbing. Lisa squatted down next to her and gave her an awkward side hug.
“He was so nice,” Annette whimpered. “Just down to earth and nice.”
Lisa didn’t agree with that assessment, but she squeezed Annette’s shoulder and murmured soft words of comfort. Her left leg was starting to fall asleep when Annette finally gave a couple of shuddering sighs. Lisa stood up and looked around for Toby.
Catching his eye, she crooked an eyebrow. He held up a finger. A minute later, he came over to them.
“What’s up, cuz?”
“I’ve got a minor here,” Lisa said, indicating Annette. “Is there any way you could bump us to the front of the line? I want to take her home.”
Toby thought for a moment, then nodded. “I think even the chief would understand that.” Chief Gerrold was a big city cop who’d recently taken charge of the Moss Creek Police Department. The chief was an anti-corruption crusader, and sometimes looked askance at the way things got done in a small town.
Annette’s statement was mostly tears and declarations that Kaden Nicolini was her favorite actor. Lisa knew her own statement was not much better, as she’d been paying attention to the coffee levels more than the filming, and hadn’t known anything was wrong until the AD had said so.
“But what about Dylan?” she asked Toby when he closed his notebook after taking her statement.
Toby’s eyebrows went up toward his crewcut hairline. “I don’t know, cuz. I don’t know.”
Lisa nodded and put her arm around Annette. “Can I take her home now?”
“Yeah. But try to be discreet about it. I don’t want these Hollywood bigshots to stampede on me.”
Lisa drove Annette home.
“Take some Tylenol and try to rest,” she told the teen as she dropped her off.
Annette nodded miserably and trudged inside.
Lisa went to the Folly and pulled into her parking space. She felt a note of surprise at seeing other cars also parked in the courtyard. It took a moment to register the fact that it was still the middle of the day, and Lisa’s Last Chance Café would be full of customers enjoying lunch and coffee. She thought about leaving again, not wanting to talk to anyone. Before she could decide to turn the key in the ignition, an SUV pulled up behind her and a woman in an elegant white suit jumped out.
Lisa opened her window as Penny reached to knock on it.
“I’m surprised to see you here. I was just coming to get a supply of muffins for an open house.”
“Hi, Mom.”
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
“No, I’m not sick.” Lisa opened her car door and Penny jumped back, not wanting to get smudges on her white clothes. “Can I make you a coffee?”
Chapter 9
Her mother on her way with her coffee and a Good Morning muffin, Lisa went into the café’s kitchen to find Jan.
“Do you have things handled?”
Jan gave her a smile and a thumbs up.
“I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”
Lisa went upstairs and flopped down on her bed. The image of Kaden in a pool of blood danced before her eyes. She thought of him hitting on her the night before and felt a pang at the idea of having had the chance to be the last woman he was ever with. No, she scolded herself, he could still live. Don’t be morbid.
Mama Cat jumped on the bed and curled up next to Lisa’s head. She made a little mew and swished her tail across Lisa’s face, tickling her nose. Lisa pushed the tail away from her nostril, and the cat playfully batted at her hand. Lisa laughed and sat up. She found a piece of yarn and dangled it for the excited kitty, laughing as Mama Cat danced and played.
Her phone chimed. She pulled it out and saw she had a message from Annette.
“He’s dead,” the message said, followed by a dozen crying face emojis. “#RIPKaden.”
Lisa opened the Krumbsi app and searched the hashtag. There were already hundreds of posts tagged RIPKaden. She clicked on one of the posts and found a news clip. She tapped it to turn on the sound.
“Rosemary Thyme, reporting on a tragic loss to the Hollywood community. Kaden Nicolini, star of the cult favorite TV show Vampire Ninjas, died in surgery today after being shot during the filming of his latest project. Nicolini was—”
Lisa closed the app, a heavy sadness settling on her chest. It was true. Kaden was really dead.
Mama Cat batted at Lisa’s hand holding the phone. Lisa put it down and went back to dangling the string. As she entertained the cat, she thought about the movie production. Would filming stop now that the star was dead? Was she expected to show up the next morning? She’d left without a call sheet, with no idea what would happen next.
The wind whistled outside, and Lisa felt the chill of January settle into her bones. She let the cat catch the string and picked up her phone again.
She called Sam first.
“Yes?” Sam sounded like his usual abrupt, harried self.
“This is Lisa. Are we shooting tomorrow?”
“No. I’ll send out a mass text with info when I have it.”
The line went dead. With no plans for the crack of dawn the next morning, Lisa knew exactly what she wanted to do with her evening. There was one person who always made her feel better, with his smiling eyes and warm smile. She picked up her phone and made a call.
*
After helping Jan close up the café, Lisa raced upstairs and changed clothes into her best approximation of something both warm and cute. She heard a knock on the front door and she rushed down to open it.
Cold air and a dusting of snowflakes rushed in the door with Mo. He took a look at her outfit and his mouth fell open.
“You like it?” Lisa said, doing a quick twirl in her fuzzy cherry red angora sweater and black leather pants.
“You look amazing.”
“When else can a girl get away with leather pants?”
“Ah, yes, very warm. Wise choice.”
She threw her arms around him and fell into a hug.
“Is everything ok?” he said, holding her close. A few snowflakes that had caught on his wool coat melted against her cheek.
“It’s been a rough day.”
“Like ran-out-of-coffee-again rough?”
“Like dead-body-on-set rough.”
“What?” He held her at arm’s length and studied her face. “Are you ok? What happened?”
“Let’s get going. I’ll tell you on the way.”
They walked outside into the tail end of twilight. Gray clouds hung low overhead. Snowflakes floated down around them, adding grace to the landscape. Lisa took a deep breath of the bracing air scented with pine.
As they walked across the town square toward Nero’s, she told Mo about the day on set. The steadiness of her gloved hand in his gave her the resolve to tell him the gory details, from the initial shouts to the pool of blood, to Annette’s sobs.
“That poor kid,” he said as they crossed the street to Nero’s.
“Yeah. That was the worst part.”
“But poor you, too. It’s not easy to see something like that.”
She squeezed his hand and they walked in silence in the falling snow.
Nero’s was lit with hundreds of flickering candles. Nero swept into the front of the restaurant to greet them. He was surprisingly light on his feet for such a large man.
He kissed Lisa on both cheeks. “Bella, bellissima. I hear of the tragedy on set today. I am so sorry.”
“Thank you. Right now, I just want to forget,” she said.
“Yes, of course. Then we start you wi
th a bottle of wine right away.”
He led them to their table. Lisa sat and waited for the basket of bread to arrive. The bread at Nero’s was delicious and always hot, the definition of comfort food.
“Tell me about your day,” Lisa said. “Distract me with something cute.”
Mo scrunched his face up, thinking. “Sorry, it wasn’t a cute day. I had to put a cat to sleep this morning. Cancer.” He shook his head.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lisa said. “I guess we both need a little distraction tonight.”
“The weather has been beautiful,” he offered.
She laughed. “If you like snow, it’s pretty great. I’m sure all those snow-cam watchers will be happy. And the ski resorts. They’ll be happy, too.”
“I was pretty happy walking in the snow, holding your hand.”
Lisa hummed a couple bars of ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’. She gazed into Mo’s warm brown eyes and felt a piece of her tension ease.
The server came to their table, forcing them to stop staring into each other’s eyes long enough to order. Lisa felt a pull of temptation toward the scallops, but decided to get her favorite, the spaghettini with lemon.
“I’ll have the scallops,” Mo said. He smiled at Lisa. “You can taste them. That way you get to have both.”
“You know I love them both,” she said.
The server took their menus and left.
Mo raised his wine glass. “To having both.”
They drank. Nero had brought them a bottle of the house white, a no-name blend that managed to be crisp and fruity and dry with a mild finish.
“That’s good wine,” she said.
“Nero has good taste.”
They had another sip and munched on the bread.
After a moment, Lisa said, “He made a pass at me, you know.”
Mo’s mouth dropped open. “Nero?” he whispered.
“What? No!” She shook her head emphatically. “Not Nero. Of course not. He’s known me since I was a kid.”
Mo looked confused. “Who, then?”
“Kaden Nicolini.” Lisa looked at the napkin in her lap.
“Kaden? The movie star, the dead movie star? What did you say?”
Lisa’s temper flared up, making her heart race. “What do you mean, what did I say? I said no, of course.”
Mo shrugged. “He is a movie star.”
Lisa pressed her lips together and stared at him. How could he even ask her that? “That doesn’t matter. What matters is we’re together. What matters is I’m not that kind of girl.”
“Lisa, come on. He was a movie star. Plenty of people have a list of celebrities they say wouldn’t count as cheating.”
“What exactly are you trying to tell me?” She took another drink of wine. “Are you saying you would cheat with a movie star if you could?”
“No, that’s not—”
“Or are you trying to tell me you’re already cheating, even if it’s not with a movie star?”
“No! Lisa, why would you even say that?”
“Fool me once, shame on you.” She stood up and waved at their server.
He came to their table. “Yes? Is everything all right?”
“No. I’m afraid I have to leave. Is it too late to cancel my order? Otherwise, I’ll take it to go.”
Mo stared at her, his big brown eyes sad and confused.
“I can bring your order in a box. It should be almost ready,” the server said. He headed to the kitchen.
“Lisa, please. Stay.”
“I can’t. It’s been a long day, and I can’t do this right now.”
She sat down to wait for her food. She concentrated on her wine glass, not looking at Mo. When the server brought her box, she handed him cash and stood to leave.
Mo stood, too. “Let me come with you.”
She waved at the plate of food in front of him. “No. Enjoy your scallops.”
Lisa took her box and scurried out of the restaurant. The temperature had dropped outside. The chill was almost enough to freeze the hot tears as they dropped onto her cheeks while she ran home across the town square.
Chapter 10
“Two mochas to go,” Lisa said, stepping onto the porch.
Her cousin Toby took them from her while she locked up.
“Now, don’t you drink both of those yourself,” she said.
He grinned. “Better hurry.”
His police cruiser was parked in front of the Folly.
“Want me to drive?” Toby said.
“No, I can do it. You’re driving that thing all day.”
They got into Lisa’s car and she reclaimed her mocha and took a sip. The drink was a little taste of heaven, with the perfectly brewed espresso, hot steamed milk, and chocolate that was the ideal mix of sweet and bitter. Her years as a barista in LA had given Lisa the skills to make a perfect mocha without thinking, which came in handy once she opened Lisa’s Last Chance Café. Her customers here in Moss Creek might not be the coffee snobs that populated Los Angeles or New York, but they knew Lisa’s coffee tasted good.
“How was your New Year’s?” Lisa said, starting the car and trying to make some small talk that didn’t involve Kaden’s murder.
“Uneventful,” Toby said. “I helped dig some tourists out of a ditch their car had slid into, but no fatalities, so a good holiday.”
Lisa nodded. Being a police officer, Toby expected to work every holiday. That meant that this year, Toby had worked both Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but had had plates of leftover holiday meals saved for him at both Penny’s house and Olivia’s. He’d eaten every bite of all four meals.
“So, which way to this meditation center you keep raving about? After everything yesterday, I could use some meditation,” Lisa said.
Toby gave Lisa turn-by-turn directions. They passed through the center of town and to the outskirts.
“Ok, now turn in here and park,” he said, his face impish.
They pulled into the parking lot of Moss Creek Guns and Ammo. Toby’s smile spread across his whole face and made his eyes crinkle.
“Meditation, huh?” Lisa said. “Inner quiet through outer loudness—yeah, that sounds like you.”
He laughed.
Two other vehicles were parked in the lot. One of them was the old blue Ford pickup from the 70s that Ruby Bartok, the store owner, had been driving since before Lisa and Toby were born.
“That thing has to have three hundred thousand miles on it,” Lisa remarked as they pulled in next to Ruby’s pickup.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if it is broke, replace the engine again.”
They got out of the car and went inside.
“Hey, Ruby,” Toby said.
“Hey, Toby. The usual?” Ruby said.
“Yep. And the same for my cousin.” He grinned at the muscular woman. “You remember my cousin Lisa, right?”
Ruby nodded and stuck out a small, meaty hand.
Lisa shook it. “Nice to see you again.”
“You bet.” Ruby pulled a couple of boxes of bullets out and slid them across the counter, then placed a stack of paper targets on top. She gave him a half-sheet form to sign, clicking a ballpoint pen and handing it to him.
“Thanks,” Toby said, signing the form and giving it back. “Any preference on the lanes?”
“The far one is taken. Your pick of the rest,” Ruby said. She tore off the pink copy in the back of the form and gave it back to Toby before squatting down to file the store copy behind the counter.
“Don’t forget your ear protection.” Ruby gave them each a pair of big blocky earmuffs. The yellow paint on Lisa’s pair was scuffed with wear.
Toby led the way into the shooting range. A man in a green flannel shirt in the far lane nodded at them as they entered, briefly acknowledging them before returning his concentration to his shooting. The sound of his shots was a muffled roar.
Toby chose a pair of lanes in the middle. He put his service weapon on the cou
nter, pointing downrange, and a box of bullets next to it. He unholstered his extra pistol and put it on the counter in Lisa’s lane with the second box of bullets.
He leaned closer and yelled, “You want me to load it for you?”
She shook her head. “I can do it.”
He nodded, but watched closely as she did the job.
Guns ready, they attached targets to the clotheslines and sent them out. Lisa was glad to see that Toby had chosen the most basic target form, a simple silhouette with target rings surrounding the center of mass. She’d seen shooters pick targets that were meant to look like cartoon versions of particular people, and it rubbed her the wrong way. Especially for a police officer doing his regular marksmanship practice. What you practice, you become, she thought.
She pointed her gun at her target and aimed, trying to line up the sights. Pulling the trigger the first time took an extra bit of nerve, knowing how loud and hot and dangerous a gun could be. Her shot hit in the lower left corner of the target, just outside the largest ring.
She lined up the sights again and fired her second shot, her third, her fourth. Soon, she was in a rhythm, and the click of the gun being empty of rounds felt like disappointment. Lisa hit the switch to bring her target back and laughed at her clumsy shooting. She’d managed one shot near the center of mass, and the rest were all off toward the left, with her second best shot being at the shoulder.
She reloaded, the motions coming easier the second time. She sent a new target downfield, aimed, and fired. She fired and fired, hitting the target more as the minutes passed. It was a satisfying, exhilarating feeling, even with the tremendous noise and the acrid stink. She was starting to understand why Toby called this his meditation.
Finished shooting, they brought their gear back to Ruby, who was seated behind the counter, reading a paperback that she held in one hand so the cover was folded all the way around.
“Good shooting?” she said.
“Yep,” Toby said. “Thanks, Ruby.”
Lisa nodded. “It was, thanks.”
“I think I worked up an appetite,” Toby said.
Lisa laughed. “Want to go have some fruitcake muffins?”
“I can help you out if you need,” he said.
Shooting on Location (Lisa Chance Cozy Mysteries Book 2) Page 6