Behind the Seams (19 page)

I left the table and walked toward him. As soon as he saw me, his face opened into a warm smile.

I was glad for the smile. Usually when he just showed up at the bookstore, it was because there was some kind of problem.

He held up the bag. “I brought lunch.” He asked if I could leave and suggested we take the food to the park. I must have looked surprised at his impromptu plan.

“I thought it would be fun, babe,” he said. “I had some time before I had to go to the morgue.” Fun and morgue so close together seemed a little odd, and Barry did sound like he almost choked on
fun
, but he certainly got credit for trying. Even though I had to believe it had something to do with my adventures with Mason.

Mrs. Shedd was okay with me taking my lunch break then. I left my crochet project and grabbed my purse.

The May gray clouds had burned off and the sun was shining. We went to the Los Encinos State Park, which was like an oasis in the midst of busy Ventura Boulevard. We ignored the old ranch house that had been turned into a museum and found a bench that faced the guitar-shaped minilake that was fed by a natural underground spring. The ducks and geese saw the promise of food and gathered around us.

Barry sat down with a sigh and I knew he was tired. It made me appreciate this gesture even more. He’d gotten wrap sandwiches and some containers of different salads that we shared.

“This is nice,” he said. He sat so we rested against each other. We passed the containers of salad back and forth, and I tossed bits of my sandwich to the visitors at our feet. After his initial comment, Barry was suddenly silent, which was like a neon sign saying there was something on his mind. It took a few minutes of listening to him breathe before he finally got it out.

“So, have you thought any more about the condo?” he said. He didn’t leave a space for me to answer, but described his plans for the place. The shelves he was making for my yarn would fit in the third bedroom. He would make built-in cabinets for the den to make it seem roomier. And he realized he’d forgotten to show me the space for a laundry setup in the garage.

All I could do was to tell him the truth. The condo was very nice, but it wasn’t the right time for me to make that kind of change. Barry didn’t say anything. I just heard a little grunt of displeasure. Of course, I felt the need to smooth things over and started telling him I was so distracted because of Nell. I mentioned going to the dead woman’s house and Barry sighed and shook his head.

“No breaking and entering,” I said before explaining the place was for rent. Barry surprised me by chuckling. I was expecting some kind of admonishment about keeping my nose out of things.

“I know I have to accept that my son wants to be an actor and has a girlfriend, and I have to accept your sleuthing.”

I seized on the opportunity. “What would you think if you saw your victim had a bunch of photographs with someone cut out of them?” When he didn’t answer, I answered for him. “The obvious question is why not just toss the photos. I think she was trying to tell herself she didn’t need him in the picture of her life. Did I mention the missing someone was her boyfriend? Don’t you think he’d be a likely suspect?”

“I said I needed to accept it. I didn’t say I would help.” He started to pack up the food items and tossed some leftovers to the ducks. “I heard they had some trouble notifying next of kin. Heather found the boyfriend. If he’s a legitimate suspect, I’m sure she’s on it.”

“I don’t suppose you know his name.”

He squeezed my shoulder in an affectionate manner. “No one can say you’re not persistent. I don’t know the guy’s name. Remember, it’s not my case and you don’t need to know it anyway. Have you ever heard of the charge for interfering with a police investigation?” Barry said. “Heather would just love to pick you up for that.”

From deep in his jacket, Barry’s cell phone began to ring. No hotsy-tots musical rings for him. His was just no-nonsense and jarring. As soon as he answered it, he moved to the edge of the bench, and I could see the change in him. It was like doors closing everywhere and he was back to a homicide detective. I gathered from his end that whatever was going on at the morgue had been pushed up and he had to hurry.

I finished gathering up the food items, and by the time he hung up, we were already walking toward the gate. A few minutes later, he dropped me back at the bookstore. Disgruntled that I still didn’t know the identity of Robyn’s boyfriend, I got out.

A WEEK WENT BY AND DETECTIVE HEATHER talked to Nell twice. Supposedly it was just to clarify something, but we all knew Heather was hoping Nell would confess. The good part of that was it meant Heather still didn’t have strong enough evidence to make a case. But even if she never got strong enough evidence to arrest Nell, it would hang over Nell’s head forever and ruin her future. What could she put down as the reason she left her job—that she didn’t do it but was a suspect in the murder of one of the people she worked for?

On the positive side, the donation box was filling up. Everyone was in love with impatient crochet. It was the perfect take-along kind of project. Most of the finishing touches were done with the group, though. We had fun picking out buttons and flowers to add or some kind of trim. My cell phone cover was done and in use. At least now, if I heard the frantic voice Mason had recorded as a ring, I could find the phone in my purse.

CeeCee came in when I was straightening up the yarn department. I was surprised to see her alone.

“Where’s Nell?” I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

CeeCee put a reassuring hand on my arm. “Don’t worry, Molly, she wasn’t arrested. She went out with Sheila.” CeeCee seemed relieved. “I feel guilty for saying this, but I’m glad to have some time off.” I could see her point. Nell had been pretty needy and CeeCee wasn’t used to that kind of giving.

“Tony’s with me,” she said, gesturing to the almost-too-handsome man looking over the new-release table. She referred to him as her boyfriend, but I wouldn’t. But then I don’t think
manfriend
sounded any better. “I’d like to take my time looking at yarn. You know men. They say take all the time you want, but all the while, they’re looking at their watch and tapping their foot. If I stay until you close, could you give me a lift?”

I told her of course and she rushed off to tell Tony he could leave. He sent me a thank you wave.

CeeCee had a field day with our try-before-you-buy policy, and by the time I was shutting off the lights, she had amassed a pile of yarn.

It was after ten when we pulled out of the parking lot. “Do you mind if we take a short detour,” I asked. Then I explained I’d been driving by Robyn’s house almost every night, to see what was going on. So far it had been nothing.

We drove onto the residential street and I had to dodge the trash cans that had been put into the street for pick up the next day as I pulled up to the curb across from the house. I was surprised to see lights on and a car in the driveway.

“I’m getting out,” I said.

“I’m coming, too.” She pulled off her seat belt and got out on the passenger side. I had to laugh when I looked over at her and she was crouched next to the car in some stealth mode straight out of a TV drama.

Down the street, I heard the rattle of some kind of cart and I saw some shadowy figures. CeeCee straightened to see what I was looking at.

“It’s nothing. Just some people out walking,” I said as we crossed. I slipped up to the living room window with CeeCee practically touching me. I was stunned by what I saw. The room was completely empty. A moment later, I heard the front door open and someone came out and walked around to the driveway and got in the car. As it backed down the driveway I got a look at it in the streetlight. The BMW things on the front reflected in the light, and I remembered that the neighbor had said that Robyn’s boyfriend drove a BMW. I locked my eyes on the license plate, trying to memorize the number while I struggled to find a pencil and scrap of paper in my purse.

As I was scribbling in the dark, I stepped back and almost tripped over a trash can. It was so full, the lid was flipped back and stuff was sticking out. Since it was in front of Robyn’s, it wasn’t hard to figure that it must be her stuff from the house.

“Is that one of the dolls you were talking about?” CeeCee said. The streetlight illuminated the crocheted girl doll lying on top of the overflowing garbage can.

“It seems wrong somehow to throw away something like that,” she said. I agreed and pulled the doll out. I stuck it under my arm and started feeling around in the can for the other one. “I wonder what else is in here?” I pulled out the other doll and peered into the can.

“Saving the dolls is as far as I go. I’m not going to start sifting through trash cans,” CeeCee said. I heard a noise and turned as someone flipped the lid of one of the cans down the street. I strained to see in the darkness and saw maybe five people in dark clothes were spreading across the street looking in the blue recyclables can. They were tossing the bottles and cans in a kid’s stroller that had been outfitted with a large plastic bag.

It had barely registered what was going on when Miranda flew out of her front door and trained a powerful flashlight on the street. The people began to blink and back off. I was waiting for her to do her speech about having 911 on speed dial. Then I realized why she didn’t say it.

Lights flashing, cop cars appeared out of nowhere from both directions and squealed to a stop, boxing all of us in the middle of the street. The thwack of the helicopter almost drowned out CeeCee’s squeal.

“That’s them,” Miranda yelled, pointing at all of us. “I warned you scavengers,” she said. “But you wouldn’t listen.”

Other neighbors came outside, and I heard her telling them how, thanks to her, the gang that was stealing the bottles and cans had been caught.

“We better get out of here,” CeeCee said, grabbing my hand and heading across the street toward my car.

“Freeze,” a voice called from behind us.

“They don’t mean us, do they?” CeeCee’s face registered shock when I nodded.

“But don’t worry. I’ve been in situations like this before. They’ll let us go as soon as I explain.” With that, I turned back to face the two male officers. I was surprised to see they had their guns drawn. “Isn’t that overkill for a bunch of bottles and cans?” I said. I made the mistake of pointing at them, which I realized too late was dangerous. In the dark it was hard to tell that my hands weren’t holding a gun. “On the ground, you two,” one of them yelled.

“I don’t think your plan is working,” CeeCee said. We both laid down in the middle of the street, and the uniforms came up behind us and handcuffed us and patted us down.

“You don’t understand,” I said. “We’re not part of that gang,” I said. “Do you know who she is?” I said, nodding my head toward CeeCee. “She’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination for her role in
Caught By a Kiss
.”

CeeCee heard me. “Well, it’s not certain yet, but there is a lot of buzz going around about it,” she said.

I heard the two talking among themselves. One of them had heard of the movie, one hadn’t. The one who had gave details and the other one groaned. “Oh yeah, the vampire movie.”

Unfortunately being a celebrity was no guarantee of any special treatment these days. Once London Omni spent thirty days in jail, despite being a wealthy heiress and actress, all bets were off. CeeCee, sensing that they didn’t like vampire movies, brought up her reality show.

“Yeah, yeah,” one of them said as he helped her up. “
Making Amends
. Looks like that’s what you two are going to be doing.” The uniform hanging on to me pushed my head down before he put me in the backseat of the cop car. CeeCee came in from the other side. No one could say she was silent about it, either.

“I demand that you call my attorney immediately,” she said as the doors shut on either side of us.

She kept saying it, but with the Plexiglas panel between us and them, I don’t think they heard.

“How does my hair look?” she said to me. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting her to say. The passing lights of Ventura Boulevard illuminate the backseat, and I caught a glimpse of her. Laying down in the street isn’t good for your appearance. CeeCee’s hair was always perfectly coiffed. Thanks to her newfound place in the spotlight, she never went anywhere without considering that she was going to be noticed. Right now she had a smudge on her cheek and the officer must have smushed her hair when he helped her into the car. Lucky for her, she’d chosen to wear black pants and a black loose top, which hid all the dirt marks from the street.

CeeCee read my silence. “That bad, huh?” She sighed a few more times. “And I was worried about being seen leaving a discount store with a case of toilet paper. You’ve seen what they do with celebrity mug shots. They post them on the Internet and put them on the news. They never die. Those awful photos keep showing up again and again.” CeeCee was trying to maneuver her shoulder to fix her hair. “I don’t suppose they’d let me put on some lipstick.”

There was both good and bad about the short ride to the police station. Good because we got out of that awful backseat. Bad because they handcuffed us to a bench.

CeeCee had given up on me handling things and she’d taken over. She kept up a rant about calling her attorney. “I’m not saying a word until my attorney is here,” she yelled every time anyone passed. Lucky for us, one of the officers who had seen her on the
Barbara Olive Overton
show was sympathetic to her comeback-kid story and agreed to call Mason.

By now it was late, but who knew how late. With my hands in handcuffs, I couldn’t even check my watch. I figured Mason must have arrived and pulled some strings because out of nowhere, they uncuffed us and handed us back our stuff.

Mason was just coming in as we came out into the lobby. He looked a little surprised when he saw us. “You’re out already?”