Act Fast

by R A Wallace

  Callie quickly got out of her car and walked over to Ian before he had a chance to disappear into a locked room.

  “Ian Rubio?” Callie said as she stepped up behind him. “Or, should I call you Chase?”

  Ian began walking quickly toward one of the motel rooms.

  “Please. My mom is worried about you.”

  That seemed to confuse him. He turned and looked at her.

  “Who are you?” Ian asked suspiciously.

  He reminded her of the other actor she’d met on stage because of his build and coloring. Ian was around five nine or so and blond. He had what Callie had always thought of as a wiry frame. Unlike the clean-shaven mug in the photo, he now sported a goatee on his angular face.

  “I’m Margaret’s daughter. She, and the others involved in the play, are worried about you.”

  Ian’s shoulders slumped for a moment until something occurred to him.

  “How did you know to call me Ian?” He was on his guard again.

  “It’s my job. I’m a private detective. My mom asked me to look for you.” Callie motioned toward the room he had been walking toward. “Do you have a few minutes? I’d like to be able to tell the cast and crew that they no longer need to worry about your safety. They’ve been concerned about you.”

  He nodded his agreement. Concerned that he might try to dodge her still, Callie stayed close to him so he couldn’t lock the door in her face before she had a chance to get inside.

  The room was actually a small efficiency. It boasted a double bed, a worn recliner, a television, and a small dinette with a tiny fridge and stove.

  Ian motioned to the recliner. Callie chose to stand.

  “Why are you hiding out?” Callie asked.

  The suspicion in his eyes was still evident.

  “I’m not. I just had to get away for a while.”

  “I’m told this isn’t normal for you. You’ve always shown up for practice in the past.” Callie watched as his eyes shifted away from her.

  Ian shrugged, but didn’t answer.

  “Are you planning to return to the play? The rest of the cast and crew have a right to know,” Callie pointed out.

  Ian ran his fingers through his hair. Based on the way it was sticking up at all angles, Callie thought he might have been doing it a lot lately.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I can’t.”

  “Which is it? You don’t know? Or, you can’t?” Callie watched as Ian struggled through some sort of internal debate. “How do you know Anilese?”

  Ian’s head snapped up.

  “What about her? How do you know her?” He looked frantically toward the window. The blind was down. “She isn’t here, is she?”

  “No, no she isn’t. Ian, how do you know her? What is Anilese to you?” Callie moved to block the door. He looked like he was going to make a run for it any second.

  “She’s crazy. She’s the reason I’m here. She’s been following me. How do you know her?” Ian began pacing in the tiny space he had.

  Callie looked back at the recliner and took a breath.

  “How about we sit. Okay? Ian, you take the bed. I’ll sit on the recliner.” She was going to have to fumigate herself as soon as she left.

  Callie sat on the very edge of the recliner and waited until Ian was sitting across from her.

  “Let’s start at the beginning. A woman named Anilese Moore came to me and said that you were missing. She claimed that the two of you were involved.”

  “That’s not true!” Ian stood and looked ready to bolt again.

  “I know that.” Callie put her hands up, palms out.

  He looked at her for a moment as though trying to decide if she really meant it. Then he lowered himself back down to the bed and clasped his hands in his lap.

  “I met Anilese outside of a coffee shop,” Ian said. “She seemed really nice at first, you know?”

  Callie nodded encouragingly.

  “I only went out with her one time though, and it was really more of a chance meeting. She showed up where I was and started talking to me. That’s all it took.”

  Callie wondered what that meant. “Took for what?”

  “To figure out that she’s crazy.”

  Callie wondered which of them was lying.

  “Anilese told me that the two of you used to go to a coffee shop together.”

  Ian shook his head. “That’s a lie. I was never there with her at The Bean. I only ran into her outside that one time when I first met her.”

  “She also said that you had a romantic dinner together. She thought you were going to propose.”

  Ian stood again. “That’s what I mean. She’s a stalker. She shows up everywhere I go. There’s no way I’m going to propose to a crazy lady that I don’t even know.” He began pacing in the small space by the recliner.

  “Ian, you’re making me seasick. Please, take a seat. I need you to focus.”

  “Focus on what?” Ian demanded. “My life is in shambles. Because of her, I’ve given up everything, including the play. She’s followed me everywhere I go. She won’t take no for an answer.”

  “Why do you think she follows you?” Callie asked.

  Ian rubbed his face with his hand. “I have no idea. I just know that she has. I’ve tried to stay away from her. She just keeps hunting me down.”

  Callie looked around the room again. “How long have you been hiding out here?”

  Ian sank heavily onto the bed again. “Since I left the play. I saw her outside of the theater. She was waiting for me there. I just ran. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Ian, you can’t stay here forever,” Callie said gently. From what she could tell, he may be telling the truth. She wasn’t completely positive of that, not without more proof either way and she reminded herself that he was an actor. It was possible that he was acting now. But she did know that everything Anilese had told her had been a lie.

  “I know that. I just kept hoping that she’d forget about me and I could go on with my life.” Ian raised his hands briefly and then dropped them back into his lap. “I work in a bank. Acting is just a hobby for me. My real job is pretty boring, actually.”

  Ian looked around the room. “I’ve decided that I kind of like boring. I want to go back to it. Back to my life. My real name is Ian. I just use Chase for my stage name. No one at the bank knows that I act.”

  Callie promised Ian that she would let the director of the play know that he was alright. She left him in the small motel room and returned to her car. As she pulled out of the motel parking lot, she saw a dark colored car pull into the lot. She drove away wondering what Greyson Divine was doing at the cheap motel on the wrong side of town.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Finding Anilese became her next priority. The problem was, none of the contact information Anilese had given her was correct. She thought back to the places that Anilese had named when talking about Ian. There was the coffee shop, the restaurant, and the docks at the cove.

  Callie decided to try the coffee shop first. When she had stopped there the first time, she had noticed that they also serve chilled drinks and baked goods. Both sounded good at the moment. It was later in the day than the last time she had stopped and the person working behind the counter was not the same one she had spoken to before. This one was a competent looking woman around Callie’s age who deftly created custom-crafted drinks for the people in line before Callie.

  Many of the concoctions looked so interesting, she had changed her mind multiple times before stepping up to the counter. Watching the person in front of her walking away, Callie took the easy way out and pointed.

  “I’ll take whatever they had.” Callie checked out the baked goods while the barista went to work.

  “My friend said that you guys have awesome muffins,” Callie said to the barista.

  The other woman nodded toward the glass display case as she shot some liquid into the cup for her iced coffee.

  “Those are half price becau
se it’s closing time.”

  Callie looked behind her. She was the only one left in the coffee shop.

  “My friend mentioned that she comes in pretty often.” Callie described Anilese.

  The barista brought Callie’s coffee to the counter.

  “Yeah, she sounds familiar. I think I’ve seen her in here once or twice.” The barista looked expectantly toward the muffins. Callie thought of her office mates and ordered a half dozen. She substantiated the expenditure by reminding herself that Elliot would probably be paying for it since it all tied back to Ian. Besides, they were half price.

  Callie left the coffee shop and drove to her office. She found both Sierra and Michael typing away on their computers. She could hear the music coming out of Michael’s ear buds. This time, instead of being oblivious to Callie’s presence, Michael’s eyes homed in on the box in her hand. Callie set the box down on the small table near the fridge.

  “I brought you some muffins,” she said to both of them.

  Michael was out of his chair in a shot. The first jumbo-sized muffin disappeared in a matter of moments. He took another one out and handed it to Sierra as he went back to his own desk. He took the box with him.

  “Is this going to cost us?” Sierra asked.

  Callie smiled. “Well, now that you mention it, I could use some help finding someone.”

  Sierra sighed and began pulling the waxed wrapper from the muffin. “Who is it this time?”

  Callie figured the best part about sharing her office space was that her office mates had computer skills and the uncanny ability to find information on the Internet in places that Callie didn’t have the ability to visit. She told them what she knew of Anilese Moore.

  In the past, she’d tried to look over their shoulders to learn how they did it, but quickly realized that a higher-level skillset was needed to access some of the databases they delved into. In a few moments, all of the muffins were gone and Callie had an address.

  “How do you know that’s where she lives?” Callie asked.

  Sierra shook her head. “I don’t know for sure that she does now. I just know that her name was listed as the resident on the most recent electric bill.”

  Callie decided she didn’t want to know how Sierra knew that. She thanked her for the information. After checking for any messages she may have received while she’d been out and finding none, Callie went back to her car and entered the address Sierra had given her into her GPS. It led her to another side of town where several different apartment complexes were located.

  She pulled into the complex that matched the address. Her next task was to figure out the building that housed the matching apartment number. She drove around checking out the signs on the corners of the building with number ranges showing the blocks of apartments located in each. When she found the correct building, she parked her car in the lot next to it and climbed the stairs to the third floor. She read the numbers on the doors as she walked down the hallway.

  Finally, she came to the number she wanted. Callie rang the bell. There wasn’t any answer. She tried knocking instead. Still no answer. Callie stepped back from the door. A movement at the other end of the hall caught her eye.

  “Excuse me,” Callie called to the elderly woman at the other end. She started walking toward her. “I just got into town. I’m here visiting my sister but she isn’t answering. Do you know Anilese?”

  The elderly woman paused after unlocking her own door. “Yes, but I haven’t seen her in a while.”

  Callie propped her hands on her hips. “She was supposed to leave a key for me if she wasn’t here when I arrived. Do you happen to have it?”

  “No. You might check at the office. They would have one.” The woman moved slowly into her apartment and the door closed behind her.

  Callie thought about the signs she had seen while driving around the complex. She remembered where the office was and headed in that direction. The man inside looked to be in his sixties. He was watching some soap opera on the small television on one end of the counter.

  Callie flashed her largest smile. “Hi, I was wondering if you could help me?” Callie told the same story about being Anilese’s sister. The man looked her up and down. She didn’t blame him. Callie knew she didn’t have the curves that Anilese did.

  “I drove straight through. I’m just so tired, you know. Do you think you could let me in? She was supposed to leave her key, but I can’t find it under the mat in front of her door.” Callie watched as the man debated it. “Please?”

  He glanced quickly at his television. The soap opera had gone to commercial when Callie had entered the office.

  “Or, if you could give me a key, I could just let myself in and you wouldn’t have to miss anything?” Callie said hopefully.

  The man looked back at the television. The soap was coming back on. He turned and opened a cabinet on the wall behind him. Callie called out the number of the apartment. He found the key and handed it to her.

  “I’ll need that back,” he called as Callie quickly left the office.

  She called back her promise as she let the door close behind her. She made a mental note to never move to this apartment complex. If anyone ever gave out her key on such a weak story, she’d be very angry.

  She climbed to the third floor again. This time when she reached the hallway, she saw a man standing in front of Anilese’s apartment door. Callie stopped walking when she reached Greyson Divine.

  “What are you doing here?” Callie demanded quietly. She didn’t want any of the neighbors to hear.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Greyson pointed out with a grin. The dimples bracketing his mouth appeared briefly.

  “You could, but I would only remind you that I’m the private investigator and you’re the actor.”

  “Good point,” Greyson said amiably.

  “You were also at a certain motel earlier,” Callie continued.

  Greyson pretended to feign surprise. “Are you following me?”

  Callie resisted rolling her eyes. “Tell me why you’re here?”

  Greyson looked at Anilese’s apartment door then turned back to Callie. She held up the key then tucked it away, so he couldn’t snatch it.

  “Okay, I get your point. I can’t get in without you. How about we be partners on this one?” Greyson waved vaguely toward Anilese’s door. “We both have questions to ask Anilese.”

  “What kind of questions?” Callie asked.

  Greyson tilted his head but didn’t give a direct answer. “I’ll let you ask your questions first. That way, I won’t be holding you up.”

  “What makes you think she’s even in there?” Callie asked. She didn’t think Anilese was in there. Wouldn’t she have answered the door?

  Greyson shrugged. “We’ll wait for her together. At least you won’t be bored.” He held out his hand for the key. His blue eyes seemed to be laughing again.

  Callie shook her head, but held out the key. He unlocked the door then held up his hand motioning her to wait. She lifted her eyebrows and brushed past him into the apartment. She stopped quickly causing him to run into her. He grabbed her to stop from knocking her over. His arms remained around her as they stood gazing at the body of Anilese Moore lying on her apartment floor.

  Chapter Fifteen

  On Sunday morning, Callie thought about the questions the police had asked her and Greyson the previous afternoon. She’d answered them honestly and Greyson had remained with her while she did. Once it was his turn to be questioned, however, they’d told her to leave. She did not get to hear why Greyson was looking for Anilese nor what he wanted to ask her.

  Perhaps even more frustrating was the fact that the local paper had heard about the death and had managed to get to Anilese’s apartment shortly after the police. They’d snapped a picture of Callie and Greyson together and posted it on their website saying that the two of them had found the body as part of their investigation implying that they were a team.

  Te
chnically, her case was complete. Anilese had asked her to find Ian, and she had. Although Anilese was no longer alive to pay her, if she’d ever intended to in the first place, Callie had no doubt that Elliot would fund her search for Ian. For her own sake, however, she wanted to know what had happened. It occurred to her during her questioning that the police were very interested in Ian and his whereabouts around the time of Anilese’s death.

  Callie knew that it would take the forensic team quite some time to process the apartment and the victim. It also would take time before they knew the actual window of death. In the meantime, she didn’t doubt that the police would be questioning Ian. She had a few questions she wanted to ask him herself.

  After stopping at the ATM, she returned to the motel where she had originally found him. He was not in his room, but his car was in the parking lot. She returned to the office and found the same clerk. She had planned on that. It was why she’d stopped at the ATM. He was every bit as large and imposing as the last time she’d seen him. She wasn’t sure, but she thought he was even wearing the same clothes as the last time she’d seen him. She pushed a ten dollar bill across the counter. His eyes never left hers. Callie sighed and pushed another ten across.

  “Do you know where he went?” Callie asked.

  “Nope.” He picked up the two tens.

  “Wait.” Callie watched the tens disappear into his pocket. “Did you see him leave?”

  “Yep.”

  Callie thought back to the last time she’d left. She’d seen Greyson pulling into the lot.

  “Did anyone else stop and see him?” There was total silence. Callie narrowed her eyes at him as she pushed over another ten.

  “A woman picked him up today.”

  That hadn’t been what she’d expected him to say. She figured he’d tell her about Greyson.

  “What did she look like?” Callie put another ten on the counter but pinned it under her fingers and locked eyes with the man across the counter.

  “Brunette, a couple inches shorter than you, a few pounds thinner than you, and she wore glasses.” He reached for the ten.