Modern Girls

by Gary S. Griffin

  “I want to know who killed Sid.”

  Edie said, “Yeah, I do too. But, if it’s not Andi, then who?”

  “I don’t know. So, tell me about Sid?”

  I wasn’t sure where this would go, but it was good she was talking.

  “Oh, Stevie, Sid was a horny, sexy, funny, rich guy. He liked sex, kinky sex. No, he loved it. He couldn’t be faithful, or so he thought. I think he fell in love with Andi and me, too. We had a great time together. God, the stuff we did. I can’t believe he’s gone.”

  She paused and looked away, out the living room window at the pool for ten seconds, with a smile growing on her face. She turned back to me and said, “You’ve slept with Andi, haven’t you?”

  That quick, straight to the heart question, caught me off guard. I said, “Yes.”

  Edie got tense. “I knew it. You have the same look Sid had around Andi, with Andi. She grabs you. I know that feeling too. She’s the most beautiful, sexy, submissive, feminine woman. She was made for sex. When she wants you, you can’t think of anything else. You lose track of what you were doing, of time. All you want is her. Sid felt that too. Sid lost himself with Andi for a while. But, because Sid was aggressive, he wasn’t always ‘nice’ to Andi.”

  Edie had put up her hands to make quotation marks around the word nice. Edie talked in bursts, phrases, and our conversation went in odd places.

  “The truth is Sid used Andi and controlled her. He got her to dye her hair, he made her get those big boobs, he made her buy and wear all those tight, sexy clothes, and he had her star in those porn movies. God, when I first saw Andi naked, the way she was, with her long brown hair and her small chest, I knew I was looking at the most beautiful woman in L.A. She was irresistible! Sid slept with her the first night they met. But, Sid changed her, made her in his image. She’s still gorgeous, but, not like then. He was so rough with Andi and me. God, he played such head games with us. Andi finally broke up with him. I don’t blame her. He was so stupid. But, our sex and our games were so much fun. Sid just couldn’t stop. Andi never complained. She just cried when he went too far. That was Sid’s thing. But, Sid loved her. He really needed Andi. They still got together after we broke up. I know it. He tried to keep it secret. He’d go to her apartment. Andi wouldn’t come up here anymore. I could tell that he just needed to be near her. They’d go to the beach, to dinner. He’d do anything to have sex with her. He was so addicted to her, obsessed, really. Their relationship was sick, really.”

  Edie did the quotation marks with her hands again. She stopped talking and looked away, out the window again. That sounded like a confession, an explanation, as if Edie had thought through how their relationship with Andi led to Sid’s murder. Then, she said, “I don’t know, maybe she finally snapped and shot him.”

  I said, “No, that’s not the way it happened. I’m positive, Edie. Andi was happy to get the script, to have a chance for a good part in a real movie. She is blown away by it all.”

  She didn’t speak and simply nodded her head slowly.

  I went on to a different topic. “So, where were you the night Sid was killed?”

  “In Arizona, Tucson, visiting my home.”

  “Was Sid home alone that day?”

  “Yes, I think. I mean, Troy was in Malibu during the day, but he might have come home later. I’m not sure.”

  I asked, “How did you hear that Sid was killed?”

  “On the news, the next day, in the morning.”

  “When did you last see Sid?”

  “The day he was shot. He drove me to the airport in the late afternoon.”

  “How was he? How did he seem?”

  “OK. Happy. We had spent Saturday night and Sunday together.”

  She paused and smiled so I could get her meaning of the word “together”.

  “Did you know he was meeting Andi after he dropped you off?”

  “No, I didn’t. But, then, Sid didn’t always tell me when they got together. In fact, he kept it secret, at first, after Andi broke up with us.”

  “Why did he keep it secret?”

  “That was Sid. He didn’t want me to know, I guess. The man had lots of secrets. Look, he was in love with her, addicted to her, like I said. And, I think he felt weird about it, because he liked to be in control with people, with women, especially. But, he lost it with Andi. Even though she was so submissive, and he was a control freak, he needed her; she was his love, his creation that he made. I don’t know, Stevie. It’s all screwed up, what they had going on.”

  Edie stopped talking, turned to a cabinet, and grabbed a bag of Mexican chips and a jar of salsa. She ripped open the bag and poured some of the chips into a big, plastic bowl, spilled out the salsa into a cereal-sized bowl, lifted both and walked towards me and put the bowls on the coffee table. Then, she went back to the counter and grabbed her Corona, came back to the living room, picked up a chip, scooped salsa on it, popped the whole thing in her mouth, plopped on the sofa across from me, noisily chewed her chip and pointed to the bowls for me to eat some too; while she took a sip of her beer. The salsa was rich with flavors of tomato, onion, pepper, corn and some other vegetables and spices. It also had a kick to it that made me drink deep to cool off my tongue and throat. Edie sat sideways on the big sofa with her legs bent so she could wrap her arms around them and rest her head on top of her knees. With her back curved and her hip-hugging capri pants riding low down her behind, Edie unconsciously revealed to me her pink g-string’s back triangle and side strings. I noticed that, but tried to focus on her face, which turned towards me.

  “So, what else do you want to know, Stevie?

  I quickly refocused. “Let me think. You know, I might not have found you if anyone had been in the mansion. The hired help wasn’t in the quarters in the basement either. Do they have Sundays off?”

  Edie smiled, “Yes, they do, but they don’t live there. There was a couple who were the maid and the custodian for many years, but he moved out over three years ago, shortly after the maid died. He runs an apartment building in the south part of the Basin. Now, Sid hires services. The maid comes Mondays and Thursdays only. Solana does the mansion on Monday, and the pool house and Troy’s apartment on Thursdays. She cooks dinner on both days. They became our date nights, when I’d stay in the mansion. Sid has a landscaping company do the outside work.”

  “How long have you lived here?”

  “In the pool house?”

  I nodded.

  “Oh, about two years.”

  That was longer than I imagined. “Were you intimate with Sid that whole time?”

  She laughed, “Oh, you’re so formal. Do you mean did we have sex while I lived here?”

  I nodded again.

  “Oh, sure, and before I moved in here too, but we stopped for a while, before he met Andi, when he cheated on me, but that was before I knew what Sid was like.”

  “Where did you meet Sid?”

  “Here in L.A. He knew my family. He knew me since I was born. But, we didn’t hang out together until he divorced Lana. And, no, I wasn’t the reason he divorced Lana. He was screwing around with other women, then. Plus, I was too young.”

  Wow, this story was different than I imagined!

  I asked, “So, how did you connect then?”

  “I was here and Sid saw me sunbathing topless. He got turned on and one thing led to another. That’s how this all started.”

  “How old are you, Edie?”

  “25”

  “And, Sid was what, 50?”

  “So, what, Stevie, I like older men, especially if they’re fun and good looking.”

  “You weren’t mad when Sid started his relationship with Andi?”

  “No, not really. I was shocked to find her alone in his bed that first morning after they were together, but, after that initial shock, I introduced myself to Andi, we hit it off, and then we surprised Sid when he got home. After that, we were all friends for months. I think Sid’s kind of sex bothered And
i after while, but I always liked her.”

  “OK, so, what do you plan to do now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “How long can you live here?”

  Edie answered, “I don’t know, really. It’s up to Troy, I guess.”

  “What does he plan to do now, with the mansion and all?”

  “Not sure, really, it’s so soon. You’ll have to ask Troy. I think he’d like to keep it all given it’s the family place.”

  “Where was Troy the night his father was killed?”

  “In Malibu with his mother, I think.”

  “So, who hated Sid enough to kill him?”

  “Oh, Sid made enemies. I guess its part of this business. But, I can’t think of any one who would want to kill him.”

  “Do you know any one who was pissed at Andi?”

  “Not really. I mean, she told me that she slept around a bit here in L.A., but who wouldn’t like her? You know, she’s such sweetheart. I still love her!”

  I paused for a second at that answer. I had to ask, “When did you know you were bisexual?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, when did you know you were straight?” I smiled, and Edie smiled back, then, said, “I don’t know if I am. I don’t think of it that way. I’ve only been with two girls and they were both in a ménage a trois with Sid. We slept with another woman, but that was just for a little while, and it didn’t work out, not like Sid wanted, before we met Andi.”

  “Who was that?”

  “An exotic dancer. We met her at the club. We liked to go there sometimes, to get turned on, before we came home and had sex. We did that with Andi too. This one time Sid was surprised. He knew this dancer; she’d been in some of his movies. But, she was older and couldn’t get any more movie roles, so she became a dancer. Sid ordered a couch dance and spoke to her for a long time, since we gave her a big tip. He invited her home. I didn’t know it, but he told her that he could get her another movie role and wanted to see if she could act out the part; or something like that. That’s where I came in, as the movie had girl sex.”

  “How did it end with that dancer?”

  “Oh, she found out later, after we had sex a few times, that Sid was bullshitting her. That there wasn’t a movie role for her.”

  “Was she mad?”

  “Well, I don’t know. But, I think she liked the sex, and she liked Sid a lot, and knew what he was like, so, I think she kind of blew it off. Actually, she was friendly to us, especially Sid, whenever we saw her again at the club.”

  “Where is this dancer now?”

  “She lived in Chatsworth, I think, in the north end of the valley.”

  “I’d like to talk to her.”

  “OK, but I don’t think she and Sid got together in the last year or two.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Bambi Deer.”

  I smiled and nodded my head.

  Edie added, “I think that’s her real name. That’s what she told us.”

  “Do you have an address or phone number for her?”

  “No, but I think she still works at the strip club, in Hollywood, on Sunset Boulevard, not far from here. It’s called Modern Girls. That was Sid’s place. Tell her I gave you her information, and that you’re trying to help a friend of mine and Sid’s. I think she’ll help. She’s a good girl.”

  I wondered about that. But, it was a lead to check out.

  I was about to end the conversation, when I remembered one other thing. “So, what’s your relationship with Troy?”

  “We’re friends. I use to be his babysitter when he was younger.”

  That was another eye opener.

  “You’re not more than friends?”

  “We’re close friends. What are you getting at?”

  I quickly gave her a recap of what I saw when I first walked to the back yard.

  Edie swallowed the rest of her beer and put the bottle down with a bang on the coffee table. “You are sneaky, Garrett, aren’t you?”

  “It was a surprise to me.” I told a white lie. “I wasn’t sneaking around. There was no answer on the mansion doors, so I walked into the back yard once I heard a splash and your voice. I didn’t expect to see you two together.” I put up my hands and made quotation marks in the air, around the word, “together”.

  Edie responded strongly. “Look, Troy and I are best friends. We’ve been close our whole lives. I’m kind of like his big sister, a big sister with benefits. He knew what his dad and I had going on. He didn’t have a problem with it. Plus, Sid knew Troy and I were close. It’s just the way things are with us. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No.” I didn’t know what else to say. I paused. The silence grew. A minute passed. Edie was staring at me. I finished my Corona. I had crossed a line. I knew it was time to leave, now.

  “Can you tell Troy to call me? I’d like to speak to him. I’m staying at Andi’s apartment. Do you know the number?”

  “Yes, yes, I do.”

  I stood and thanked Edie for her help and for the snack. She got up too and walked towards the door. I opened the door and turned and asked, “One more thing, who do you think killed Sid?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not convinced Andi didn’t do it.”

  I turned and walked away and didn’t look back. A few seconds later, the door to the pool house closed behind me.

  sorting things out

  Andi sat next to me on the couch wrapped in her short white silk robe. She smelled clean and fresh and truly sparkled from a shower. Her long, lightest-blonde hair flowed loosely way down her back and her feet and legs were bare. She wanted to hear all about my trip to Sid’s mansion. I had made it home by taxi a few minutes earlier, after my downhill walk from the mansion to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I had changed to shorts and a polo shirt and was sipping a cold iced tea. Andi had ordered a pizza and we were eating a few slices.

  Andi said I had an appointment at 9AM tomorrow with her attorney in downtown L.A. at the Criminal Justice Center. Since the murder occurred in Hollywood, which is part of the city, Los Angeles has jurisdiction, unlike Beverly Hills where Sid lived or Torrance where Andi lived. Andi also told me she reported in to the police.

  I told Andi the story of my visit, slowly and completely. She listened with amazement. At times, she seemed embarrassed at what I had seen and learned about her and Sid and Edie. At other moments she was happy, almost wistful of what had been at the mansion. I felt uncomfortable thinking about those times, but tried not to show it.

  I asked Andi a few questions along the way. No, Andi didn’t know that Edie and Troy were intimate. Yes, she knew Edie had been Troy’s babysitter. The biggest surprise to me was when Andi told me that Edie had lived at the mansion her whole life as her parents were the mansion’s caretakers, the maid and the handyman, from before Edie was born until her mother died of cancer over three years earlier. After that sad event, Edie’s father moved to get a new job. But, Edie stayed on as she was in the middle of her affair with Sid. She was living upstairs in the mansion at that time. I was shocked. How convenient and weird was that? So, Sid had a crazy, wild affair with his maid and handyman’s daughter!

  Andi told me that Sid didn’t charge Edie anything for living in the pool house. He looked at Edie as a sort of family, like he had an obligation to her; that he needed to take care of her. Sid looked at Edie as different from other women; she was like his daughter, his pseudo-wife, his lover, his confidant, like, all those wrapped into one. But, then that didn’t describe their relationship correctly, either. It was weird. Sid knew it was odd, too, but he loved and needed Edie. Andi felt that was why Sid liked having the ménage a trois with Edie and her, especially, because Andi had been okay with girl sex.

  That tangent in our conversation caused me to mention Bambi Deer, and how Edie mentioned she and Sid had a relationship with Bambi prior to their time with Andi. Andi looked shocked. I asked her if she knew Bambi.

  “Yes, umm… she and I met at work… umm… sh
e’s an actress. I met her at some auditions. She’s very nice, friendly.”

  I guessed the obvious. “Andi, you didn’t know Bambi had an affair with Sid and Edie, right?”

  Andi answered, “No, I didn’t. That’s weird too, because I had talked to her about Sid a couple times. She gave me some advice, and she said she knew him, but never mentioned she had an affair with him herself.”

  “I wonder why she didn’t tell you that.”

  “I don’t know either. That’s weird.”

  I asked, “I agree. What did Bambi have to say about Sid?”

  Andi answered, “Actually, Bambi wasn’t too critical about him. She said he was different than us, because he was so rich, that he just didn’t have the same concerns about day to day life. That Sid could do what he wanted, especially since he his parents died and he inherited all their money. Bambi also mentioned that she didn’t think Sid would commit to me or any other girl because of how he got burned in his divorce and didn’t want to lose anymore.”

  “Maybe she knew that from first hand experience.”

  She answered, “I guess you’re right. But, she wasn’t mad about that. I thought she just guessed right about what Sid was like. Maybe she knew exactly what I was going through.”

  “What does Bambi look like?”

  “She’s a blonde, with long hair and a great body.”

  “That sounds like someone I know.”

  It took Andi about ten seconds to realize who I meant because she said, “Who…”, and then stopped talking, blushed and looked away. I could see she was hurt.

  I hugged Andi, and continued talking. “Edie told me she’s a stripper at a club in Hollywood, not far from Sid’s home, and that she and Sid would go there from time to time. That’s where they met Bambi. But, she said Sid knew her from some movies too, because she had been an actress.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. Umm, I mean she is an actress still, too, I guess, because I saw her at some auditions.”