Sweetie's Diamonds (33 page)

“Nah, that's further south.
 
This is Woodland Hills,” Tuff said.
 
“But a lot of rich celebrities live up here, too.
 
And a lot of starving artists and just plain folks.”

David lost all sense of direction as the van transgressed the winding, narrow road that ascended through a thick forest.
 
Finally Tuff turned into a driveway blocked by an iron gate with a sign above it proclaiming the place as “Paradise.”
 
He stopped and lowered his window so that he could punch a code on a keypad.
 
The gate slowly opened.

A paved drive snaked up and around a hill past elegant fountains and statuary.
 
Dense foliage of trees and vines blocked any view beyond the road but David thought he was entering the palace grounds of a Roman emperor.
 
A fully bloomed male peacock crossed the drive at one point and Tuff had to slow down and honk the horn.
 
When they reached the top of the hill the greenery opened up, revealing the three-story Tudor mansion to the right and a vast lawn to the left.
 

“That's where people park when there's a party,” Tuff said, indicating the lawn.
 

“Wow,” David said.
 
For a moment he forgot that he had been kidnapped.
 
It was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen.

The van pulled around a circular courtyard and stopped in front of the mansion.
 
Two bulky men dressed in black and wearing handguns at their waists met them in front of two large double doors.
 
Tuff opened the van and got out.
 

“Let's go, David,” he said.
 

David nervously stepped out.
 

“Damn, he's tall, ain't he?” one of the men said.
 

“You play basketball, kid?” the other asked.

“No,” David replied.
 

“Leave him alone,” Tuff said.
 
“Where's the boss?”

“In his study,” the first man answered.

“Come on, David,” Tuff said, leading the boy through the double doors and into what David always imagined an English duke's residence might be.
 
Or maybe it was more like a king's country home.
 

As they walked through the mansion, David saw several servants and more men dressed in black.
 
There were also a few women—gorgeous model types—wearing very little clothing.
 
One of them smiled at him and said hello.
 
David was too flustered to speak.
 

“Close your mouth, boy,” Tuff said.
 
“Your jaw is hanging open.”

David snapped out of it and followed Tuff up a flight of circular stone stairs.
 
“Who are those girls?” he asked.

“Actresses.”
 

“Really?
 
Were they in anything I've seen?”

“I doubt it.
 
Not until you're eighteen.
 
Twenty-one in some states.”

They walked past a suit of armor on display in a hallway and went through an opening that led to yet another passage.
 
At the end of the corridor was a closed wooden door.
 
Tuff knocked on it.
 
A man's voice within told them to enter.

Aaron Valentine was not what David expected.
 
He didn't know what he had expected, but he didn't think the man would have such a thick head of white hair.
 
The guy was big, like a wrestler, and he wore an abundance of gold chains and jewelry.
 

“David, this is Mister Valentine,” Tuff said.

“Hello, David,” Valentine said, offering his hand.
 
David meekly shook it.
 

“Hi.”

“Welcome to Paradise,” the man said.
 
“Don't you worry, you're going to be just fine.
 
As soon as your mother gets here, she and I are going to have a little talk.
 
Depending on how that turns out, well, that will decide how soon you'll get to leave.
 
But in the meantime you can have whatever you want.
 
You'll have to stay in one room, I'm afraid, but it's got a television with cable, and I have a library of DVDs that you can pick from.
 
Oh and there's a Sony Playstation installed there, too, and I've got all the latest games.
 
You like video games, David?”

He shrugged.
 
“I guess.”

“Is there anything you need right now?
 
Are you hungry?”

“I need my medicine,” David replied.

“He's got a heart condition,” Tuff explained.
 

“Oh?
 
What do you take, David?
 
I'll see that we get it for you.”

“It's called Tenormin,” David answered.

“Fine.
 
We'll get hold of it right away.
 
What would you like for breakfast?”

“I'm not hungry.”

“Suit yourself.
 
Emo will show you how to call someone to bring you food.
 
I'll see you later, okay?”

David nodded but refused to look the man in the eye.
 
It was certainly an adventure being in such a palace, but he didn't like Aaron Valentine.
 
There was something incredibly…
smarmy
… about him.
 
Emo Tuff was nice, to a point, and David could sense that he was dangerous and was probably the muscle behind whatever dirty work this Valentine character might want.
 
On the other hand, Aaron Valentine exuded an aura that David could only call Menace.
 
The man smiled and was gracious but it was all an act.
 
Valentine no more wanted David in his house than he wanted a horsefly.

“Let's go see your room, David,” Tuff said.

They went back through the corridor and into the main second floor hallway.
 
They passed a large picture window that faced the back of the mansion, where David could see a tennis court, a swimming pool, and a vast lawn sculpted with hedges and flowerbeds.
 
A couple of girls in bikinis were frolicking in the pool.
 
A huge tent had been erected on a portion of the lawn and there were tables and chairs beneath it.
 
David followed Tuff up another flight of stairs to the third floor, where an abundance of doors lined a long corridor.
 
Displayed prominently along the hallway were a series colorful erotic paintings culled from various decades throughout history.
 
David gawked at the blatantly sexual ones but others were simply too surreal.
 
Finally, Tuff unlocked a door halfway down the corridor.
 

It was a spacious bedroom with a four-poster queen-size bed, a large-screen television, a dresser, and a huge window covered by colorful drapes.
 
Tuff pointed out a call bell on a nightstand.
 
“Just push that if you need anything.
 
Someone will come shortly.”
 
He pointed to a door on one side of the room.
 
“That's the bathroom.
 
Feel free to run a bath or take a shower, whatever.”
 
Tuff opened a clothes cupboard, revealing several shirts and shorts.
 
“I estimated what your sizes were and called ahead.
 
These are some things they bought for you since what you're wearing stinks now.
 
I hope they fit.
 
If not, well, hopefully you won't be here long.
 
Just dump your dirty clothes in the hamper by the door and someone will wash them for you.
 
I'll see you later.
 
I'm going to get some shut-eye!”

Tuff went out and closed the door.
 
David heard it lock.
 

The first thing he did was look out the window.
 
It appeared to face the side of the house, around the corner from the expansive back yard and swimming pool area.
 
The good news was that he could unlock and open the window if he wanted to.
 
The bad news was that the window was three stories high and there was nothing attached to the side of the building that he could use to climb down.
 

The excitement of being in “Paradise” quickly faded.
 
He was, without doubt, a prisoner.

T
he day after David's first night in Paradise, Diane reached Los Angeles.
 
The first thing she did was look up Pete Rod.
 
She knew that the actor's real name was Eric Gilliam and he had been a close friend of Dana Barnett.
 
The actress known as Angel Babe was Gilliam's sister.
 
Hopefully he would know what she could expect when she went to see Aaron Valentine.
 
Diane felt she needed an ally, someone who could serve as backup.
 
She was determined that Valentine was not going to get away with intimidating her.
 
He probably wanted compensation for the theft of his diamonds.
 
He also most likely wanted to exact some kind of revenge on Dana for taking the gems and disappearing.
 

It wasn't difficult to track down Gilliam.
 
His production company was listed and was located in Van Nuys, along with many other adult film businesses.
 
She didn't know why the industry gravitated to that particular suburb but it was so.
 

Pete Rod Productions turned out to be just an office.
 
A woman who looked as if she might play the lead role in a movie called Biker Chicks From Mars manned it.
 
She wore black leather and lot of metal, had a pierced nose, tongue, and eyebrow (and probably other body parts that weren't so visible), and short pink hair.
 
Her name was Louise.
 

She told Diane that Gilliam rarely showed up at the office.
 
He worked out of his home and shot his videos at various clandestine hotel rooms around the city.
 
Diane paid her fifty dollars for his address, which Louise was more than happy to give out.
 

Gilliam's residence was certainly not the estate that Aaron Valentine's was but it had a lot of class.
 
It was a large ranch house built in the sixties and elegantly placed in a neighborhood lined with palm trees.
 
A security fence surrounded the property, prompting Diane to press a button on an intercom when she arrived.

“Yeah?” came a voice.

“Is Eric Gilliam at home?” she asked.

“Who wants to know?”

“Diane Boston.”

“Who?”

“Dana Barnett's sister.”

Silence.
 

Diane looked up and noticed the security camera pointed at her.
 
She gave a little wave.
 

“Drive on in,” the voice intoned.
 
There was a click and the gate opened.
 
Diane got back in her car, which had been idling in front of the gate, and drove forward.
 
Once she was within the walls, Diane decided that the property was not much different from upper middle class houses in the Chicago suburbs.
 
She pulled up and parked in the driveway beside a Porsche, got out, and went to the open front door, where Eric Gilliam was standing.

“Hi,” she said.
 
“I understand you knew my sister.”
 
She offered her hand.

Gilliam stared at her in disbelief.
 
“I'll be goddamned,” he said.
 
“You're Dana's sister?”

“Yep.”

He shook her hand.
 
“Pardon my astonishment but you look just like her.
 
Well, I mean, you're older of course.
 
I haven't seen Dana in over twenty-five years.”