Fatal Pose

by Barna William Donovan

  “So, anyway,” Gunnar interrupted. “About Bo Sullivan.”

  “So anyway,” Amy said. “They need interns, and she makes enough money—schmoes or no schmoes—to hire paid interns. Anyway, they got her car for her just before seven-thirty, the turning point in Bo Sullivan’s life.”

  “But wait a minute,” Erika said.

  Amy glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

  “How can he be so absolutely certain of the time?” Erika asked. “Right down to the minutes.”

  “I knew you were gonna ask that,” Amy said and grinned. Then she glanced at Gunnar. “Hey, Marino, why don’t you get her to join the company too?”

  “She’d make a great detective,” he said.

  “We hardly look like a crime fighting team,” Erika replied with mock sarcasm.

  “If we’d looked any more like a crime fighting team, they’d give us our own TV show,” Gunnar said and winked at her.

  “You’re cute,” Erika said and looked back at Amy. “So how can he be so sure of the time?”

  “Well,” Amy began but shot a look at Gunnar. “As you might recall from your trip out to the hotel, there’s this big electronic display across the parking lot.”

  Yes, now that Amy brought it up, he did remember.

  “It displays the name of the hotel, the time and temperature, as well as any other special announcements the hotel wants advertised. With Bo Sullivan’s flair for the dramatic, he told me that the time of the moment he might have gotten his big break was seared into his mind.”

  “And he remembers seeing her drive off and leave the hotel?” Gunnar asked.

  “Yeah. That’s what he says. He saw her leave and never saw her return.”

  “But she called Holt’s cell phone later that evening,” Erika said. “Where did she call from?”

  “That’s exactly what I intend to ask her very soon,” Gunnar said. Then he glanced at his watch. “But if that’s all the news, I’d like to make it back to the Foundry and see what’s going on. See if I can get back into my office for more than two minutes.”

  “We’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Amy said.

  With that, Gunnar and Erika headed back out to the parking lot and the Dodge Charger.

  CHAPTER 50

  Gunnar had to work hard motivating himself not to see the shadows, the quiet of the Foundry Gym as a pall. Sherry would recover, he kept telling himself. This place would be back to normal. And the cops still milling around on the ground floor and around the building would be gone soon enough too, he hoped.

  At least he was glad Erika was there with him.

  “So, have I shown you the time of your life tonight?” he asked but almost immediately felt awkward about it. This place didn’t seem right for jokes just now.

  They had gone through the two main sections of Gunnar’s office—an outer waiting room with the secretary’s desk and Gunnar’s workroom and entrance to the shower and washroom—once more, making sure all was in order. The office, indeed, looked undisturbed.

  “It was a night on the town with a private investigator,” Erika replied, tone a bit lighter.

  “No, this is hardly typical.”

  “But it was…quite fascinating.”

  Gunnar looked at her. On one level, he worried about the impression all this made on her. These sorts of interruptions of one’s private life were routine in investigations. How would this go over on her just as they were reestablishing their relationship?

  “If not for Sherry and the attack,” Erika said, “I’d even say exciting.” She smiled at him and added, “How about tomorrow night we spend it in that house you’re staking out in Lomita?”

  Gunnar couldn’t help chuckling now. “I’m sure Amy and Tommy would appreciate that. They’d get a chance to switch shifts with me.”

  “I’m sorry, you know,” Erika said, somehow wistfully.

  Gunnar cocked an eyebrow. “How’s that?”

  “I’m just thinking. It would have been great seeing you establish this business, this life you have. I’m really impressed, you know.”

  “What you’ve done with yours is even more impressive,” Gunnar said and took her hand. “But I won’t let you go again. Ever!”

  He felt Erika squeeze his hand as she smiled at him. He was still amazed that this reunion happened.

  He still didn’t feel it appropriate in this place, but he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. A rush of heat, something as volatile as fire, seemed to spread through his body as they stood there, looking at each other eye to eye.

  A banging noise from downstairs startled them out of their reverie.

  Gunnar glanced out the window that looked onto the gym. He saw that it was nothing more than the cops departing the building.

  He felt Erika’s hand slip from his own.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Erika said, all business again, “How did Diane react to your questions about blackmail?”

  Interesting segue, Gunnar mused. Then again, that had always been Erika’s personality. “Oh, Diane? Well, let’s see….”

  CHAPTER 51

  “Naturally, she denied knowing anything about it,” Gunnar Marino’s voice came through the audio receiver Monty Montgomery had set up in Laura’s house. “But she didn’t say it was out of the question that Brad had criminal connections.”

  “What did she say about Quartello?”

  Laura heard a woman’s voice on the tape. “Erika Lindstad,” she whispered. The person who helped bury the Holt case was actually Marino’s girlfriend.

  “Does she know any names?” Erika’s voice came out of the speakers. “Any of these criminal connections her brother could have been doing business with?”

  “No,” Marino replied, “She claims she doesn’t.”

  “Did you tell her about Laura when you brought up blackmail?”

  A surge of adrenaline washed through Laura.

  “No, I didn’t,” Marino said on the recording. “Didn’t want to bring that up until even I’m certain.”

  “What are you going to do?” Erika asked.

  “I need to get to know Laura Preston much better.”

  “To know her background? Find out what Holt could have had over her?”

  “Basically, yeah.”

  “If she doesn’t slam the phone down on you the next time you try calling again,” Erika said and chuckled.

  Laura’s heart pounded. Now a sliver of sharp, tearing anger cut through her.

  “Well, there are other ways of finding out about someone’s past,” Marino said.

  “Actually, I’ve been thinking about something else as well,” Erika said. “How about finding out everything else you can about Diane Holt’s background, too?”

  “Ah, my client.”

  “Well, a client whom, I take, you’re not all that fond of.”

  “But my paying client nevertheless. Someone I’m taking money from. Someone I have an ethical obligation to.”

  “Well, okay, I guess that’s a fact. Plus a client whose case can send your business through the roof.”

  “You’re right, though.”

  “I remember there was this mystery novel I read about a millionaire private eye in Beverly Hills. I can suddenly see you—”

  “I’m talking about Diane.”

  “You could certainly afford to expand your staff. Get some more people like Amy, right? People who don’t blow your cover.”

  “And feel more comfortable dating a doctor who lives in Manhattan Beach?”

  “Inferiority complexes don’t become you,” Erika said and laughed gently.

  “And that’s why I fell for you, babe. You’re not materialistic.”

  “I like a guy who’s earthy.”

  “Earthy?” Marino asked with mock outrage. “I’d like to think I’m
sophisticated and worldly.”

  There was more giggling and laughing on the tape now, then footsteps and eventually the sound of a door closing.

  Laura turned off the audio console. The love birds must have left the office after that.

  She found herself pacing the room for almost three minutes. It was hitting her full force just how dangerous Gunnar Marino could be to her right now. She needed to keep an eye on him, but she was just as worried about Monty Montgomery ever hearing Marino ruminating about murder. Or anything about her past in Arizona.

  But still, she was also curious about that stakeout in Lomita he had been talking about. She had to get Montgomery to look into that.

  CHAPTER 52

  Gunnar studied the morning crowd on the gym floor of the Foundry for a moment through the window in his office while he loaded and turned on his coffee maker. He found that Mike wasn’t on duty, but Bonnie Atwood, one of their receptionists, was supervising the gym. There was also a lot of noise rising from the floor, not the usual grunting and their accompanying screams of motivation, but spirited discussion. All talk centered around the break-in and what it meant in the greater scheme of things. It was a reminder of mortality and vulnerability, concepts the hard-core crowd of the Foundry quested to suppress. But when these notions were forced back into the forefront of their lives, it made them irascible.

  Diane Holt’s voice snapped his attention back into the room.

  “I heard about the break-in and the attack on the news this morning,” she said. “I wanted to check and see what happened. I was worried, you know that you might have been hurt.”

  Gunnar sat back down behind his desk and gave her a gracious smile. “Thanks, Diane.”

  “How’s the lady who got hit?”

  “So far, so good.”

  “Will she pull through okay?”

  “They operated on her, and from what I hear, there’ve been no complications.”

  Diane smiled brightly. “Good. Good to hear that,” she said as her gaze shifted toward, then seemed to get stuck on one part of Gunnar’s desk.

  He noticed her eyebrows knitting ever so slightly. When he followed her gaze, he realized she was staring rather intently at the framed picture of Erika on his desk.

  Diane glanced at him before he could speak. He realized what had happened.

  “That woman in the picture,” Diane said slowly, realization dawning on her. “I saw her picture in the news, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you have. It’s Dr. Erika Lindstad, the physician consulting with the people who examined Brad after his death.”

  “You know her?” Diane asked, still quite startled by this information.

  “Yes, Diane, I do,” Gunnar answered matter of factly. “We used to know each other years ago, and now with this case, I just realized who the ex-bodybuilder consultant was after you hired me. I didn’t even know she was back in L.A. until that point.”

  Diane didn’t reply immediately. “What is she doing now?” she asked at length.

  “She’s on our side,” Gunnar told her. He hoped things wouldn’t start getting uncomfortable now. He hoped she didn’t get any ideas along the lines of a professional and personal conflict of interests. “She’s meeting with the M.E.’s office to help with the autopsy.” He paused for a moment and gauged her reaction to all this. Thankfully, she looked quite calm and neutral. “And she’s on our side, believe me. Actually, she’s been looking for a way to help ever since she got the suggestion from me that she might have inadvertently helped write off a murder.”

  Diane showed a small smile at last. But she looked genuine. “I believe you, Gunnar. Don’t worry.”

  “Well, that’s the most important thing for a good relationship with a client,” Gunnar said, attempting to sound as affable as possible.

  “Are you two involved?” Diane asked bluntly.

  Gunnar chuckled. “We used to be very close years ago.”

  “And now you have her picture on your desk.”

  “Yes, Diane, we’re involved again.”

  “I understand,” Diane said lightly, and quite sincerely, Gunnar thought. “That’s not an issue at all for me. But I have been thinking about some of the stuff you asked me about yesterday.”

  “And?”

  “It was a name I remembered from a couple of years back. The Masters Construction Company in Phoenix. Brad was trying his hand at putting together a condo development deal down there. At one point, some people from that company went to prison for bribing some city officials. Not the major figures in the company, but important enough.”

  This was interesting, certainly, Gunnar mused. It was unfortunate, to a degree, that the information came in rather late. He wanted to hear what Diane had to say but wondered if it would really have any bearing on her brother’s death.

  “You think Brad might still have been involved with them? Or that they wanted to harm him for any reason?”

  “I don’t know. I was hoping it would be a useful lead.”

  Gunnar nodded. “I’ll check it out.”

  “Brad was not a saint, I know that,” Diane said, avoiding his gaze as she said it. “But I’m sure he wasn’t a blackmailer either.”

  Gunnar looked at her closely, letting a moment’s silence hang between them until she met his eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “We haven’t been living close to each other for a while…,” Diane said, then paused. She seemed to be considering a more accurate phrase. “Hell, we haven’t been too close for a while.”

  As she paused, Gunnar nodded for her to go on. There was information about to come out that he was sure she had purposefully concealed before.

  “If he was blackmailing someone,” Diane said, “do you think they got whatever damaging information he had over them?”

  “Who knows?”

  “If we found it—if Brad was blackmailing someone—we’d have our evidence for sure.”

  “That would be a sure way to close the case,” Gunnar understated calmly.

  “It’s not going to be easy, though.”

  “Probably the harder way to go about it.”

  Diane looked to be trying to control her frustration. “Tell me what you find out,” she said after a lengthy pause.

  “Of course,” Gunnar said firmly. As long as she wasn’t demanding her money back, they were fine.

  Diane looked him in the eyes suddenly. Her gaze was intensely focused. It made Gunnar think of the expression “piercing stare.”

  “But he didn’t deserve to die, you know,” she said.

  “Diane,” Gunnar replied calmly, hoping she believed his sincerity, “I told you that. And I’ll do my best to get you all the facts.”

  “It’s just that the cops wrote him off already, and I had no one else to turn to. You were friends once….”

  Diane’s voice trailed off, and Gunnar felt uncomfortable. For the first time, he wished that she would get out of his office as soon as possible. He had work to do if she expected him to get to the bottom of what exactly happened in the last days of her brother’s life, he almost wanted to blurt out. The remark about Brad’s death being written off seemed to pull Erika right back into the conversation. He was also wondering about whether the mention of Gunnar and Brad’s “friendship” carried another implication. Had she decided to remind him, none too covertly, that at one time Brad saved Gunnar’s life, and now he had a debt to repay?

  “Diane,” he said, “I will find out everything I can about Brad’s life leading up to the contest. If he was murdered, I’ll find out who did it.”

  Diane nodded, this time with a weak smile. “Thanks, Gunnar.”

  And they were interrupted by the chirping of her cell phone in her handbag.

  Thank God! Gunnar wanted to shout. “That’s okay,” he said instead and started to rise from his chair. “You can ge
t that. Actually, if you don’t mind, I need to get going. Alex will see you out.”

  “Thanks,” Diane replied as she fished the phone out of a cluttered-looking purse. “Oh! I’ll call you once I hear something about the exhumation and the autopsy.”

  As Diane took the call, Gunnar exited the office, closing the door behind him.

  CHAPTER 53

  Moments after Gunnar arrived in Lomita, he got a call from Kelly. She told him to check his email through his phone as quickly as he could. She was forwarding him free information. Then she kidded about regretting it the second after the words had left her mouth.

  Gunnar thought the information wouldn’t have been free had she not found him sitting surveillance over Charlie Crewson’s men.

  The information Kelly sent was about Laura Preston. Kelly had, indeed, done as promised and looked into the WBBF official’s past.

  “Interesting information,” Kelly’s email explained, was actually fairly easy to turn up. Almost literally as Gunnar had asked, a lot of noteworthy stuff came up by way of a simple Google search. Kelly’s note asked if the information, minus an extensive—and expensive—set of government and law enforcement database checks, was enough for now.

  Scrolling through the emailed materials, Gunnar thought that a lot of it might indeed have been adequate for now. There was certainly a lot of stuff in there hinting at a possibly blackmail-worthy past.

  Laura Preston, it turned out, hailed from the small town of Snowflake in Navajo County, northeastern Arizona. The town’s main claim to fame was the fact that it was the site of the sensational Travis Walton UFO abduction case in 1975.

  “Colorful claim to fame there,” Gunnar muttered and continued scrolling through the email as he sipped a large mug of coffee.

  The Google search, though, Kelly explained, raised some online newspaper archives and copies of stories about Laura’s connection to a string of rapes when she was in high school.

  “Laura and her sister were two of the victims.” Gunnar couldn’t help being taken enough by this information to talk to himself out loud.