Hollywood Outlaw: A Hollywood Alphabet SeriesThriller (A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Book 15) (20 page)

I let Buck drive us to Paulina Kristoff’s condo in Long Beach because I was so angry I told him that I couldn’t be responsible for my actions. I ended a ten-minute rant by saying, “Bernie takes a goddamned knife trying to take down a serial killer and look what he gets for it. It’s just not right.”

“I wanna go with you,” Buck said.

“What do you mean?”

“When you talk to Dunbar. I’ve seen Bernie in action and can talk about his value to Section One.”

I exhaled, feeling empty and defeated. “I appreciate it, but knowing Dunbar, it’s not going to do any good. Edna said his mind is already made up.”

“Then we need to come up with a plan to change it.”

I glanced at him, trying to ignore the fact that he had the most amazing blue eyes I’d ever seen. “What have you got in mind?”

He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his cheek. “Let me give it some thought. We need to play this right. It’s too important to leave to chance.”

I agreed to give him some time to think of something, only because I was still so angry I couldn’t think straight. We drove on, sharing our outrage over Dunbar’s decision before I decided to change the subject, asking him for his thoughts on our case.

“There’s no way of knowing for sure, but the woman who planted the gun in the video didn’t look like Kristoff to me. It could be that while Kristoff and Blaine were making whoopee in the safe room, somebody else took care of our victim.”

“Maybe the somebody who didn’t get what they were after by torturing Abrams.” I dragged a hand through my hair, a thought crossing my mind that I needed another tune up at my brother’s salon before our upcoming family reunion, but I didn’t know how I could work it into my schedule. “Any way you slice it, the case is pretty bizarre.”

Buck turned off the freeway in Long Beach. “Then let’s go see if Paulina Kristoff can help untangle a few knots.”

The Dunsmuir Arms, Kristoff’s condominium complex, was an older building in a poorer section of the city. As we parked, I said to Buck, “Being a Beta must not pay very well.”

We both saw the gang bangers across the street that had already made us. Buck jutted his chin in their direction. “Let’s stay alert. Paulina’s neighbors don’t look like the Welcome Wagon.”

We were making our way across the parking lot and into the complex when we were stopped. The two men who had eyes on us earlier confronted us as we got to the sidewalk in front of the condos.

“We’re with the homeowner’s association,” one of the men said. He looked like he was around thirty, with a shaved head covered in gang tattoos. “You’re gonna need a password if you want to access the building, Holmes.”

His younger companion was more helpful. “I’ll give them the password.” He leveled his dark eyes on Buck. “It’s two words—fuck you.”

Buck glanced at me, then smiled at the men. He moved so quickly that I didn’t realize he’d drawn his weapon until it was aimed at them. “I’ve got my own password—Smith and Wesson.” His smile slipped away. “Step aside, unless you want to go to jail.”

If looks could kill, we would have both been dead. The two men sauntered off, mumbling something about taking care of us when we weren’t expecting it.

“Nice guys,” I said, as we made our way up the sidewalk. “It’s times like this that I miss having Bernie around.”

Buck glanced at me. “Maybe our plan with Dunbar should be simple. We just threaten to have him take a bite out of the acting chief’s ass unless he lets him back on the force.”

“I’d consider it, but Bernie has better taste.”

Kristoff’s condo was on the second floor. We rang the bell several times, but didn’t get a response. I saw that a woman in the next unit over was looking through her curtains as we announced ourselves without getting a response. I went over and knocked on her door.

When she cracked her door open a few inches, I showed her my ID and asked her about Kristoff. “Do you know if she’s home?”

The woman was heavyset, about fifty. Her eyes shifted as she spoke, making me think she knew some of the local gang bangers were watching her. “What you want with her?”

“We just need to ask her a few questions about an investigation.”

The door remained only partially open, but she lowered her voice, confiding, “Haven’t seen her since yesterday. I hope she’s okay.”

I played a hunch. “Has somebody been bothering her?”

There was more eye movement as she said, “Some guy was hanging around here last night. I went to bed around ten, but he was still in the courtyard downstairs. I thought maybe he was waiting for her.”

Buck had joined us. “Did you recognize him?”

She shook her head. “Never seen him before.”

We thanked her and a few minutes later found the building’s superintendent. He reluctantly agreed to let us into Kristoff’s apartment to check on her welfare, but also seemed wary of us. I had the impression that no one in the complex trusted or liked the police.

After checking Kristoff’s living room and kitchen area, we found her in the unit’s only bedroom. She was lying on her bed, with an empty bottle of Seconal on the nightstand.

“Looks like she’s been dead for several hours,” Buck said, after checking the body.

I found a note on the nightstand, next to the sleeping pills, and read it aloud. “I can’t live, knowing what I did to Cole. I’m sorry for everything.”

My brows came together as I looked up at Buck. “What do you think?”

“I think whoever killed the Alpha also killed his Beta and tried to make it look like suicide.”

We spent most of the day at Kristoff’s condo, processing the scene and working with Earl Mumford, the deputy coroner assigned to the case, along with Kathy Maitland from SID.

After a couple of hours, Maitland gave us her thoughts. “There’s nothing in the way of trace evidence or prints, other than those belonging to our victim. I’m no expert, but the handwriting on the suicide note looks similar to a grocery list we found on the kitchen counter that Kristoff probably wrote. Of course, there’s always the possibility that someone forced her to write it.”

Our deputy coroner wasn’t much help, either. After spending about an hour examining the body, I asked Mumford for his preliminary results.

“I’d say your victim is dead,” Mumford said. His fleshy face was expressionless.

I glanced at Buck, then looked back at Mumford. “Really? Maybe you should become a medical examiner.” I’d had prior run-ins with the lazy slug and was in no mood for his lack of cooperation. “What else?”

We got more deadpan looks, except Mumford was now chewing on a toothpick. He was about fifty pounds overweight, with oily skin and bug eyes.

“I’d say there’s almost a hundred percent chance that she’s going to stay dead,” Mumford said.

I raised my voice. “If you’re trying to piss me off, you just succeeded. What about a time of death?”

He shrugged. “Probably sometime last night. I might be able to give you something more after I slice her open.”

Maybe it was the long day I’d had, or the fact that Bernie might be reassigned, or the fact that Earl Mumford was a worthless POS, but I lost it. “One of these days, someone’s going to murder you for being an arrogant, worthless human being.”

He placed his hands on his wide hips and his lips twitched. Maybe it was a Mumford smile. “That so?”

“Yeah, and when they slice you open it won’t be any surprise when they find out you’re nothing but the world’s biggest asshole.”

Buck was still laughing when he pulled me outside onto the balcony for some fresh air. When he regained some composure, he said, “Remind me never to cross you.”

I blew out a long breath. “I’m not having one of my better days, just in case you haven’t noticed.”

He glanced inside, seeing that the others were preoccupied. He smiled at me again, fixing those amazing blue eyes on me. “I haven’t noticed because you’re still one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known.”

I couldn’t help but feel flattered. “Okay, let’s leave things right there.” I held up my phone. “I just got a text from Edna, telling me that the DA officially dropped the charges on Addison Blaine. She’s being processed for release. What do you say we head over there and give her a ride home?”

He put on the Stetson that he was carrying. “Might as well. Not much room here, considering the place has the world’s biggest asshole inside.”

***

It was after four by the time we’d picked up Addison Blaine and stopped at a coffee shop to talk to her. Except for a small bandage on her forehead and a slight limp, she seemed none the worse for her injuries. She’d been surprisingly cooperative, considering the fact that she was no longer facing murder charges. Her pleasant demeanor became a torrent of tears when I told her about Paulina Kristoff’s death.

“There was a suicide note left on the nightstand beside her body,” I said. “She said she was sorry for killing Cole.”

Blaine blotted her tears, took a couple of breaths, and looked at me. “None of that makes any sense. She was in love with Cole.”

“But she was also involved with you,” Buck reminded her.

She dabbed her eyes again. “I know, but that was…it was just sex. She and Cole were about as close to being soulmates as anyone you would ever find.”

“Was Paulina depressed, or did she ever talk about suicide?” I asked.

“Never. It’s completely out of character. Somebody…” She found some composure. “Somebody must have killed her and made it
look
like a suicide.”

“That was our thought,” Buck said. “Maybe whoever killed Cole.”

I sipped my coffee, then said, “Have you given any more thought to who might have wanted to harm him?”

She took a long moment before answering. “Cole didn’t have many friends. In fact, other than Paulina and me, there really wasn’t anyone he had regular contact with, except for Jimmy.”

“Do you think Jimmy could have killed him?”

She brushed the hair from her eyes. Despite her emotional state and lack of makeup from being in jail, she was a beautiful woman. “I don’t think so. Cole, or I guess you could say I, was Jimmy’s only source of income. He isn’t someone who has a lot of drive. I think he genuinely liked trying to help organize Cole’s work schedule. If he had a motive for wanting him dead, I can’t imagine what it would be.”

“What about the projects Cole was working on,” Buck said. “Do you know anything about them?”

“Not a whole lot. Cole was pretty secretive…no, make that
very
secretive, about everything, especially his inventions. All I know is there were lots of things in the works, involving different kinds of technology that he was trying to get patents for.”

I decided to move the conversation in a different direction. “When we spoke before, you told us someone, maybe one of the Betas, was stealing money from Cole’s account. How did you find out about the theft?”

“It was only by chance. I happened to be at the bank where Cole had his accounts, and one of the tellers mentioned there had been some large withdrawals from the accounts.”

“How large?” Buck asked.

“Over ten million over a period of about four weeks. I didn’t know about it because someone altered the bank statements.”

“Your boyfriend, or I guess you could say your employer, must have been a wealthy man.”

“Cole was worth several hundred million, so in the big picture it didn’t amount to a whole lot.”

“But you said before that you think someone from the House of Darwin could have been involved,” I said, thinking about the fact that the Princes’ accounts had also been altered. The word “coincidence” came to mind again, something that made a lot of red flags start to wave for me.

“All I know is that my mother said some of the Betas can’t be trusted, especially when it comes to financial matters.”

“But Cole wasn’t involved with anyone other than you and Paulina.”

She started to answer, but hesitated. Her gaze moved off for a moment. “You know about the burns, don’t you?”

I nodded. “Tell us what happened.”

“I noticed them about the same time the money was being taken from his accounts. I asked Cole about them, but he was evasive and refused to let me report what happened to the authorities.”

“What exactly did he say?”

“Just that he was having some disagreements and was having to pay the price.”

“Did you press him for more details?” Buck asked.

She nodded. “Of course, but…you would have to know Cole to understand. He had a way of closing down and closing out the world. If he didn’t want to tell you something, there was no way to get past that.”

“Did you ever talk about his injuries with Paulina?” I asked.

“Yes, a couple of times. She was also concerned, but said it wasn’t a topic that Cole would discuss with her either.”

We spent a few minutes more, talking more about the House of Darwin. Blaine reiterated that she felt someone was using the Betas to get inside the financial holdings of major companies and some of the individuals who operated those companies. She mentioned that her mother probably had more information, but again emphasized that her relationship with her mom was strained.

“You said before when we talked, that you would be willing to go with us to talk to your mother,” I said. “Does that offer still stand?”

She rubbed her brow, not looking at me. Her gaze slowly came up to me. “Yes, but…like I said, I’m not sure how cooperative she’ll be. As I told you before, I was a Beta at one time and left my Alpha under circumstances that my mother didn’t approve of.”

“Who was your Alpha?” Buck asked.

My phone chimed, telling me that I had a text, as Blaine answered. “I’m sworn to secrecy. All I can tell you is that at the time I was assigned as his operative, he was one of the most powerful men in the world.”

I’d checked my phone, then checked it again as Addison Blaine had finished talking. I then looked at her, deciding there was no reason to keep the information I’d just received confidential.

“There’s been a major development in Cole Abrams’ death,” I said. “The murder weapon used to kill him and that was placed in your car was the same weapon used to kill another man several days ago.”

“Who is that?” Blaine asked, her thick brows inching together.

“Bert Prince.”