by K C Ames
She knew all about Barca wanting to buy Casa Verde so he could bulldoze it to the ground, leaving her boyfriend’s parents homeless. So when Dana called her, she was happy to help.
Dana asked her if the cast members were still at the resort and what did they do all day with the production shut down.
She responded that they were staying at the resort and they spent the time lounging by the pool, hitting the resort’s fitness center, playing golf, tennis, and annoying the staff with their entitled demands to be treated as if they were A-list stars.
She noted that they didn’t seem to journey much outside the walls of the luxurious Tranquil Bay Resort.
Dana figured there was no need for them to go down to Mariposa Beach and mix with the plebs like her when they were being waited on hand and foot at the five-star resort.
Dana sent Aracelly a text asking her if the cast members were around.
Aracelly texted back right away that several of them were hanging out at the pool.
She left the bookstore slash cafe and began to walk towards where she usually parked Big Red, but remembered she had walked down that morning. So she turned back and began to power walk back to Casa Verde. She punched in the code to open the side door onto her property and was startled to see Ramón standing nearby, calling for her. She waved and he rushed on over.
“Detective Picado with the OIJ was here looking for you,” Ramón said, wide-eyed.
“I know, it’s okay,” Dana said as she made her way towards her front door. Ramón followed her. “He was mad,” Ramón said, sounding worried. “He saw your Jeep parked there and thought I was lying, that you were inside, but I told him you walked down to town.”
That annoyed Dana. He showed up unannounced, so she wasn’t about to worry about Picado. If he wanted to talk to her so badly, he had her phone number. But she didn’t want to talk about that with Ramón.
“It’s okay, don’t worry, I’ll talk to him later.” But he still looked worried. Dana smiled and repeated it again. “It’s fine, don’t worry, Ramón.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but he turned around and walked back towards the garden with his trusty machete dangling from his right hip.
Dana’s hand had barely touched the handle to her front door when her mobile phone rang. She glanced at the screen and recognized the number: it was Picado.
Speak of the devil, she thought. She wasn’t in the mood to be lectured or yelled at, so she ignored the call. She was sure all he wanted to do was to chastise her for visiting TJ even though she was well within her legal rights to do so.
She would avoid his calls and deal with him later. Way later.
She walked inside as Wally came prancing out from who knows where he was sleeping. He rubbed up against her leg as usual, and yawned, as usual.
“Sorry, Wally, just here to get Big Red’s keys.” She bent down and gave him a quick pet.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you some of that good stuff you love. You won’t even miss me.” Dana walked into the kitchen and opened a drawer, and Wally knew what she was going for and he began to meow and purr so loudly, it rang her ears. He then stood on his hind legs with his two front paws kneading into Dana’s legs gently.
Dana laughed. “I don’t know, Wally, I think you might have a problem,” she said as she pulled out a plastic sandwich bag stuffed to the brim with catnip.
Just like about everything in Casa Verde, the catnip was home grown. Once Wally came crashing into her window late at night the first week she had moved in, giving her and her best friend Courtney a heart attack, and made himself at home, he had quickly won everyone over, including Ramón and Carmen. Ramón with his green thumb planted some catnip in the garden and it grew like crazy.
After catching Wally rolling around several times in the catnip plants, Ramón had to put a little protective mesh over them. Ramón would then snip the leaves and he would cut and grind them into the green pixie dust that put Wally into la-la-land.
Dana took two big pinches of the stuff and sprinkled them on the floor. Wally dove into the catnip like a hog to mud.
“Geez, Wally, I think I’m going to have to send you to catnip rehab,” Dana said, laughing as she left Wally rolling around in the catnip, purring loudly.
Fifteen minutes after leaving Wally rolling in catnip, Dana turned off the main road into the long, tree-lined driveway of the resort that led to a huge front entrance reminiscent of the entrance to Jurassic Park in the movie.
Dana was certain that was the motif Gustavo Barca was going for, since fictional Jurassic Park was located in Costa Rica and a lot of tour operators and hotel owners tried to cash in on that tie-in, even though the movie was actually filmed in Hawaii.
She drove up to the guard station and stopped.
She’d been in the resort a few times, and they usually just gave a quick look at her and waved her through. It was a grand drive up to the posh resort, where the cheap villas started at $1,000 a night and where it wouldn’t be uncommon to spot real A-list stars and singers like Brittney Spears, Angelina Jolie, or George Clooney staying there.
She drove into the hotel’s porte cochère, and a valet parked Big Red because she had no choice, since it seemed expensive hotels didn’t like to have self-parking for its guests.
The valet attendants always smiled when they saw Big Red drive up. One young man had even professed that it was more fun to drive her iconic little red Jeep than the dime-a-dozen BMWs and Porsches he was accustomed to parking every day.
She walked inside to the front lobby and stopped. She had to give the devil, Gustavo Barca, his due. The resort was stunning. Shiny marble everywhere. So clean that you could eat off the floor.
Friendly staff members greeted you with every step you took. Okay, that part got on Dana’s nerves right quick. I can get from here to there without being asked ten times if I needed help.
The one thing she found a bit off-putting with the decor Barca had chosen was that it was over the top and sliding into gaudy territory, and would fit in better on the Las Vegas Strip than in the lush, tropical forests in the mountains of Guanacaste.
The resort sat on five hectares of hillside gardens among lush tropical forests. The front lobby was wide open, with sweeping views of the jungle and the Pacific Ocean.
There were three pool areas, including an infinity pool that gave the illusion that the swimmer would tumble out of the water and down the mountain and into the Pacific Ocean.
Mother Nature had been cooperating again. Its skies were gray, but the sun kept peeking out from behind the clouds, and it was warm out. A nice day to lounge by the pool until the showers came.
The resort was busier than she expected for being midweek during the wet season, but she figured most of the guests were with Donnelly’s production company.
Okay, now what? Dana asked herself as she looked around. It wasn’t like she could have the front desk people connect her to the room of Dakota, Arianna, and Robbie. She looked at her mobile phone, where she had the website for the show pulled up which showed the castaways for the upcoming season. It was like looking at a model agency’s client roster. All the castaways were young and beautiful. She picked out Dakota whom met at the café and Robbie Gibbons from his fight with Rose Budd right away.
Robbie looked slightly different from what she had seen that night at the restaurant. He was drunk and disheveled on that night. On the website, he smiled wide, showing off his pearly whites with a mussed-up hairstyle which probably cost a fortune to make it look like it was messy and he didn’t care. His eyes were so blue, they seemed to sparkle.
She hadn’t met or seen Arianna Layton. She looked at her smiling photograph on the website.
Every single castaway on the website was beautiful. Perfect creatures made for TV.
Reality my foot, Dana thought. It was the myth that Hollywood loved to shove down regular people’s throats about faces and bodies that most people could only dream to have.
It the
n dawned on her that Rose Budd’s picture and profile were gone. She figured it made sense no matter how horrible it was what happened to her, since she wasn’t going to be part of that season anymore. And she wondered if any of those other beautiful cast mates with million-dollar smiles were responsible for her death.
Aracelly Trejos had told Dana that the cast members hung out by the pool and that the infinity pool seemed to be the favorite spot for the beautiful people, so she made her way down the long steps that made their way from the front lobby down the hillside towards the pools.
She could see a smattering of beautiful people relaxing on teak chaise lounges with lush cushions and their own canopy tops.
Finding the people she was looking for seemed more difficult than she had thought, so she figured, what the heck, no time to be shy or prim and proper. She shouted out, “Dakota, Robbie, Arianna, are you guys out here?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” Dana heard someone say. She turned towards the voice she had heard and she saw Dakota Hunter looking up at her from one of the chaise lounges.
“Hi, Dakota,” Dana said, sounding excited. She was excited about having found her right away. She made her way towards her and she sat in a chair next to her without asking if she could join her.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she said.
Dakota looked at her surprised, like she was trying to place her.
“You’re the lady from the coffee shop.”
“That’s right.”
She seemed disappointed.
“So, like, why are you looking for me?” she said dismissively as if she were talking to the hired help.
Dana bit her lip. “I wanted to ask you about what’s been going with the show and with Rose Budd and TJ.”
Dakota looked at her suspiciously. “You know what I know, lady, show is like shut down, we’re all here wasting time waiting for the police to do whatever it is they’re like doing, which is taking like forever. But at least I’m getting paid regardless to sit out here by this beautiful pool.”
“Do you really think TJ killed her?”
“They did arrest him, so I guess so.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“TJ was a bit of a slob, but he seemed like a nice guy. I know that Rose liked him. Not sure why. They were such an odd couple.”
“So you knew they were seeing each other?”
“It seemed that way to me, but like suddenly she’s like hooking up with Robbie and they’re like always fighting and like bickering. They reminded me of my mom and dad, who were always at each other’s throats. And then she like... died.”
“Do you think Robbie could have hurt her?”
“I don’t know. I think he was like all bark and no bite.”
“Is he around?” Dana asked, looking around the pool area.
“No. He took Rose’s death like really bad. He needed time to himself, so the producers said it was okay if he hung out by himself during the shutdown. Last I heard, he was camping down at the beach.”
“At Mariposa Beach?”
Dakota looked at her like she had no clue what she had just said, so Dana added, “The little town down by the beach. Where my store is located.”
She could almost hear Dakota’s brain going ding, ding, ding. “Oh, yeah down there. That’s where he’s at. You guys have the best coffee and bagels. Even better than here at the resort.”
“Thank you,” Dana said, making a mental note to let Mindy and Leo know that her coffee and food had received a ringing endorsement over what an army of hoity-toity chefs were doing at the resort.
“Do you know where Arianna Layton is at?”
“Around here somewhere. Why?”
“I heard she didn’t get along with Rose Budd.”
“So you think she killed Rose,” Dakota said, laughing.
“I just want to chat with her, is all.”
“Arianna was my roomie on the island. She was with me when Rose was killed, so you can cross her off your like suspect list, lady. Now, if you don’t mind, I want to chill out before it rains.”
Dana smiled and thanked Dakota for her help and made her way back out towards the front lobby. She figured it was more important for her to talk with Robbie Gibbons. And as much as she hated to agree with Dakota, it seemed like she could cross Arianna Layton from her list, since she seemed to have a solid alibi courtesy of Ms. Chill out over there.
Twenty-Eight
Dana headed back down to Mariposa Beach. She parked on the street by the Qué Vista Restaurant and walked down to the beach.
She felt a couple raindrops on her arm. She looked up nervously but continued on looking for Robbie Gibbons.
She had been walking for a few minutes when she saw a small tent about five hundred yards away.
It was an orange-colored one-person tent that was pitched near the edge of the woods and the beach. It was a good spot to avoid the incoming tides pulling your stuff out to sea or at the very least flooding the tent.
She figured that had to be where Robbie was camping, since it wasn’t common to see tents on the beach, so she changed course and began walking towards it.
She got closer and saw two people sitting in front of the tent. They were sitting right on the sand.
Dana recognized Robbie Gibbons, who was sitting cross-legged, looking out to the open water. He was shirtless and was wearing navy blue long boardshorts. Next to him was a woman leaning backwards, using her palms for support.
Robbie paid no attention as Dana got closer. He just kept looking at the water like he was meditating.
But the woman was looking right at her. By the time she was a few feet from them, she recognized the woman from the television show’s website. It was Arianna Layton. Dana was close enough to see that Arianna was eyeballing her with contempt.
She was surprised to see her hanging out on the beach with Robbie. Adrianna stared Dana down the entire time with a scowl on her face that made Dana feel uncomfortable.
“Hi guys,” Dana said casually as she reached them. She was trying to sound low-key and friendly.
Arianna seethed. “Dakota called me. She told us you were at the resort snooping around asking questions about us. Well, neither of us have anything to say to you, so take off.”
Zing. She doesn’t waste time, Dana thought.
“I’m just trying to help TJ before he’s sent off to a horrible prison for something he didn’t do. And don’t you want Rose’s real killer brought to justice?”
That seemed to break Robbie from his trance as he finally acknowledged her presence. He turned to look at her and said, “We do.”
He sounded calm. Zen-like. The complete opposite of the brash, drunk, bro-like man she had first seen at the restaurant.
“So tell me what happened with Rose,” Dana said.
“How are we supposed to know? That’s what the police are doing. Do you think one of us killed Rose?” Arianna asked, sounding angry and defensive.
“Of course not,” Dana said. But she was fibbing because she wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
“Look. We’ve signed very strict contracts and confidential agreements with Russ Donnelly. He’s made it very clear we are not to talk with anyone without the show, and he has an army of studio and private lawyers at his beck and call. So just go before you get us in a lot of legal trouble. Look what happened to TJ after he talked to you on the beach,” Arianna said.
That took Dana aback. How could she make that big of a leap and blame her for the predicament TJ was in? She must have opened and shut her mouth at least three times, not knowing how to respond to that awful accusation, until Robbie spoke up.
“It’s all right, Arianna, I don’t care anymore.”
“Babe, Russ can make your life a living nightmare,” Arianna said. And for the first time since Dana arrived, Arianna sounded sweet, calm, and caring versus the acridness of her voice when she spoke to Dana. Then it registered to Dana. Did she just call him babe?
“You two... are together?”
“We love each other,” Robbie said, smiling as he took Arianna’s hand in his. Arianna smiled back.
“So everything has been a big act just like TJ said.”
“There is very little reality in reality TV,” Robbie replied.
He explained how Russ Donnelly was the puppet master behind the scenes. He decided who saw who on the show. So even though Rose Budd started seeing TJ and he and Arianna began to fall in love, that didn’t matter to Russ Donnelly. He would pair up couples that would make for good ratings.
“It was in the contract that we all signed. Cast members couldn’t date each other or anyone on the crew during the production of the show and for twelve months after the airing of the season finale,” Arianna explained.
“So your relationships had to be kept secret,” Dana said.
Robbie nodded his head. “Especially with TJ because he wasn’t a cast member. Russ doesn’t want anyone dating without his blessing, but he can make it work if cast mates date. But there is no angle he can use on the show if a cast member dates a crewmember. He called that a wasted relationship.” Robbie sounded disgusted.
“We had to do what he wanted or he would kick us off the show, and crush us legally and financially,” Arianna said.
“TJ didn’t take being told he couldn’t see Rose romantically too well. He was talking crazy, even wanted Rose to leave the show with him,” Robbie said.
“Did Rose agree to that?”
“I don’t know. One moment he had Rose agreeing to run off with him and to forget about the show, the next moment she was like, ‘I can’t. I have a contract. I want to be an actress and Russ can make sure that will never happen if I break my contract.’”
“Russ would also make sure TJ never worked at a Hollywood production again,” Arianna added.
“So she stuck it out to be on the show?”
“Last I heard from her, she was thinking about quitting. She told me that she had enough dirt on Russ Donnelly that he would let her off her contract if she wanted,” Arianna said.