The paramedics work on Sal as they question the couple. Paramedic Adachi looks at Joseph and Mercy. “What do you know about this man?”
Hoping to get out of there to find Dana as quickly as possible, Joseph skates the issue to avoid a lot of questions. He tells. just enough of the truth so it could not be said that he lied, should the need arise.
“He was a bartender at a party we attended this evening. We came here for another reason.”
Mercy couches her answer so as not to involve Dana. “We were attacked in the parking lot by two muggers. You may want to check him out for internal bleeding.”
Paramedic Noland glances toward the window. “Yeah, some uniformed officers were taking some suspects away as we arrived.”
Mercy looks down at her scuffed stiletto. “Yes, a couple of charmers.” She looks at Sal, “Is he going to be okay?”
Paramedic Adachi responds, “I don’t see any obvious abrasions, knife wounds or gunshots. You have no idea what’s wrong with him or how long he’s been this way?”
Joseph shakes his head. “Not really. He may be sick. I saw him take pills a couple of times at the party. He was drinking but didn’t seem to be drunk. That was over an hour ago.”
Paramedic Noland mutters, “Another accidental overdose of pills mixed with booze. How unusual in this town.”
The paramedics lift Sal’s convulsing body onto a gurney, and Paramedic Noland says, “Stay here and don’t touch anything. The police will be here with questions. We’ll notify them from the ambulance. We have to go now, or this guy won’t make it to the corner.”
The paramedics load the gurney into the ambulance and speed away, siren blaring.
Left alone in the classroom, Mercy and Joseph look around. Mercy stares at Blaine’s podium against the blackboard. She sounds worried as she says, “Joseph, do you really think that Sal was saying ‘Dana Montgomery?’”
“I’m not sure. Is Dana the type of person to have an affair, then kill a lover who spurns her in public?”
She shakes her head. “Dana’s pretty extreme, but I honestly don’t know what to think. They seemed very friendly at the party, but that could be because they’ve known each other for so long. The paramedics thought it was an accident ... mixing booze and pills.”
Joseph seeks to reassure his wife. “That’s a real possibility.” He glances around at the room and spots something on the floor. “Honey, look.” Mercy spots it. A black leather wallet, poking out from the front pocket of Sal’s jacket, left behind by the paramedics. She looks at Joseph and crosses her arms, silently debating whether to pick it up.
Joseph jumps in before she can ask his opinion. “I think you should go for it. The police aren’t here to declare this a crime scene, so I don’t see any harm in a little snooping before they get here. Last thing I heard was ‘accidental overdose,’ so I see no criminal liability as the situation stands. Maybe there’s an emergency contact number in his wallet that we can call.”
Mercy dons a pair of latex gloves from her evening bag and picks up Sal’s jacket with thumb and forefinger. As soon as she starts to remove the wallet from the pocket, she realizes that Sal’s cell phone is in there too. She takes them both out and quickly finds Sal’s driver’s license, business card, and a few other scraps of paper, but the cell phone is locked.
Mercy reads through the contents of the wallet. “Business cards. Student ID. Driver’s License. Usual ‘wallet stuff.’ Not much to connect him to Dana like a photo of them together. Being Mark’s friend makes him less likely for Dana and Sal to be having an affair, in my opinion. If he were calling out for Dana, there’s more to it than is obvious in here. Cell phone is locked, and the code is not ‘Beth’ or ‘Dana.’ I’m afraid to try anything else because I don’t want to lock it up.”
Joseph looks toward the alcove dressing room. “Did you see anything that indicated foul play when you searched?”
She replies, “Not really. There are hampers with Bella Palermo uniforms in that alcove that looks like it was converted to use as a dressing room. Do you think there’s some kind of connection between the catering service and Blaine?”
Approaching police sirens draws their attention to the door.
Joseph turns his head at the approaching sound. “No time to search the dressing room. The police will be here any minute. Better put the wallet, phone and jacket back the way they were. By the way, did I tell you that I love the fact that you keep latex gloves and zip ties in your handbag just in case there’s a crime?”
Mercy laughs and quickly returns the wallet and phone to the jacket and puts the jacket back in its original spot on the floor. “Let’s wait outside for the police. The less involvement we seem to have in this matter, the sooner we’ll get out of here and find Dana and maybe figure out what happened. Regardless of their rivalry, she’s Mom’s friend, and I don’t want her getting railroaded over some bad choices at the party tonight.”
Chapter 47
Joseph and Mercy hustle outside to the parking lot and try to act nonchalant as the police show up. Two patrol cars arrive, followed closely by Ethan and Francesca. They are joined by Chief of Police James Crayton, who is responding to Joseph’s call about their interaction with the muggers.
James looks at Mercy and whistles, kiddingly. “Mercy? All dressed up with no place to go except night school?”
Trying to circumvent questioning, Mercy keeps things light. “Uncle James! You couldn’t say ‘Hey, Mercy! Nice party dress! You look great!’ These shoes took me weeks to find, you know.”
James is suspicious of Mercy’s attempt to lighten the impact of the evening. “Looks like you got something on your shoe.”
She looks down at her stilettos. The blood from Sal’s mouth must have spattered on them when she tried to help, and one of the black straps has been badly scuffed. Determined to distance any involvement that they or Dana might have in a potential case, she vamps away from the subject. “Well, I did kick a mugger in the face. Guess I won’t be wearing these again. And after all of the shopping I was forced to do to find them!”
Joseph takes the cue from her and adds, “Heaven forbid that you should be ‘forced’ to shop.”
Everyone laughs except Ethan, who grimaces and forges on to find out what she is hiding. “I think Chief Crayton is asking why you are at a murder scene instead of dancing at Dana’s.”
Mercy braces upon hearing that Sal died. She leans against Joseph and asks quietly, “Murder? He died? I thought the paramedics got here in time. Was it the muggers? I knew I should have smacked that guy six ways into next week.”
Joseph asks, “Uncle James, isn’t it too soon to assume that the young man was murdered? He hasn’t had time to get to Cedars, much less have enough time for an autopsy.”
Lucienne moves toward her sister to comfort her. She looks at James, who nods his assent.
“He died in the ambulance, Sis. That’s why Frank and I came together. The ambulance was crossing from LAPD to West Hollywood on the way to Cedars, so the brass has decided to share jurisdiction,” explains Lucienne.
Ethan interjects, “James called me and said there was an incident here at the school, so I detoured here on the way to taking Francesca home. I’m sorry that I dragged you down here, Ches. I would have taken you home first if I had known all of the details. Not exactly the way I like to end my evenings.”
Francesca’s larger-than-life posture kicks in, “You would have done no such thing. You took me to our children, and that’s exactly what you should have done.”
Ethan beams at her support, the phrase “our children” sounding especially sweet.
Tired after a long day that seems to be stretching on into the wee hours, James begins to pace back and forth, looking agitated. His wife, Rena Crayton, notices this and gets out of their car.
“Aunt Rena,” says Mercy. “Why are you here?”
Rena puts a calming hand on her husband’s shoulder. “We had just gone out to a late dinner to celebrat
e the anniversary of our first date and planned to head out to Dana’s after dinner. The desk sergeant called James and told him that there was a robbery involving you and Joseph, and we walked out before ordering.”
“Now that we’ve all apologized for being lousy dates and doing fashion reviews, can we please get back to the matter at hand?” grumbles James.
Lucienne takes an official stance, looking surprisingly stable in her stilettos. She reads from her notes: “The victim, Sal Caggiano, died in the ambulance en route from the Hollywood Academy of Creative Arts to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Paramedics called time of death at 12:02 a.m. as the ambulance entered the intersection of Third Street and Sweetzer, just east of La Cienega.”
Frank picks up the explanation and says, “The reporting paramedic, EMT Adachi, said that the only clear word that he and his partner, Paramedic Noland, heard sounded like the victim said ‘omelets’ and ‘poisoned’ which would make the death more consistent than a result of being beaten by the muggers because of a noticeable lack of bruising or abrasions.”
Chief Crayton waves his cell around slightly before putting it in his pocket. “I just got a call from the desk sergeant. We’re calling the death ‘suspicious.’ For now, we’re going on the assumption that he may have met with foul play, but it will not be confirmed until the autopsy.”
Ethan glances over at Sal’s catering truck. “What’s that catering truck doing here? It’s the same type that left the party before we did.”
Francesca looks at Blaine’s name on his parking spot. “This is Blaine’s classroom. I’ve given guest lectures here before.”
James turns to look at Ethan with surprise. “Blaine Jeffries? My daughter, Lisa, is in his class. It’s always ‘Blaine-this,’ ‘Blaine-that,’ ad nauseum. What kind of teacher lets his students call him Blaine? I called my college teachers ‘Professor such-and-so.’”
Mercy laughs, and says, “Same. I had Professor Gordon for Criminology 101.” Her face turns serious. “Let’s just call Blaine a teacher who likes his female students a little too much.”
Chief Crayton snorts and says, “That does it. Lisa’s about to become a chemistry major. She just doesn’t know it yet. If that letch puts his hands on my baby girl, I will find a reason to throw him under the jail for the next century.”
James turns to Rena. “Think you can convince her to switch her major to forensics? I’ll pull some strings and get her an internship.”
Rena replies, “Probably not. She’s not that great at chemistry.”
Her husband grimaces. “Summer school. USC. UCLA. You’re the brilliant scientist in the family. Figure out something so I don’t have to arrest Dana’s husband for being a flirt, because you know I will.”
Frank looks at Lucienne, surprised at the direction the investigation has taken. “Is this indicative of a typical LAPD investigation?”
Lucienne bursts out into laughter, unable to refrain herself at the strangeness of the evening so far. “No, but I have to warn you. It’s pretty indicative of the way things go when the extended Luce and Wilde family gets together. Uncle James probably plans on their younger daughter, Sara, becoming a nun.”
“Think that will work out for him?” jokes Frank.
“Nope, not one bit,” replies Lucienne.
Chapter 48
Still standing in the Hollywood Academy of Creative Arts parking lot, Joseph adds another reason why the Craytons may want to convince their daughter to switch schools. “Aunt Rena, James has a point. This isn’t the best neighborhood. We already got attacked by two muggers when we got here. You might want to question them about that young man’s death, since you have them in custody.”
Francesca looks at Mercy, who hardly looks mussed. “Are you okay? Did they hurt either one of you?”
Joseph laughs, “No, but I don’t think they can say the same. My wife may have given them reason to consider a career change.”
Mercy looks down at her feet. “No, the only casualty was the staining of my favorite stilettos … again. Don’t worry, Mom. Those guys were a couple of pushovers. Joseph and I had it handled.”
James puts his hands on his head. “I have endured some strange interrogations in my career, but this one takes the cake.”
“I’m afraid it’s about to get stranger, Uncle James. You didn’t get to Dana’s in time for the brawl, but the young man who died was a bartender at the party,” says Joseph.
“Detective Wilde and I saw him at Dana’s this afternoon. He’s a friend of Mark’s,” Frank adds.
Francesca looks surprised. “You mean Sal? The young man with the Lusty Wench who was caught in the middle of the fracas between Dana’s family and those two young women?”
James grits his teeth. “You’re just getting around to this now? A fracas? You saw him earlier? The victim was in the middle of a brawl? Good grief! You people are in law enforcement and you didn’t lead with that information? Can we please get the cogent facts out on the table or am I hauling every one of you downtown as potential witnesses?”
Everyone from the party stalls, looking anywhere except at James.
James adds, “So, who was the lusty wench? The murderer?”
Not wanting to involve Dana before they have a chance to question her mother’s best friend and have Joseph give her legal advice, Mercy does her best to distract from James’s question. Making a catwalk turn, she shows off her dress.
“I’m hurt, Uncle James. When I’m dressed like this, wouldn’t you assume that I’m the ‘lusty wench’ at a party?” says Mercy.
Knowing that they are in a compromising situation, Mercy stoops to a tactic that she never would consider under normal circumstances. She snuggles up to Joseph and pulls out the “weaker sex” gimmick, fluttering her eyelashes at her husband like a silent movie star.
“Joseph, where’s your jacket? I’m cold,” she says demurely.
Joseph, picking up the cue, wraps his arms around his wife. “It’s inside, honey. The paramedics told us not to take anything. It’s part of the crime scene, so it’s likely evidence.”
James says, “Finally, something at this investigation that is following some guidelines. For a moment, I thought I was living my worst nightmare.”
Mercy looks at James with her best manipulating smile. “Uncle James, I’m really cold and this night has been very upsetting. Can we go? Please?”
Joseph adds, “Can we do this tomorrow, Uncle James? I know that you know where we live, because you, Aunt Rena and the girls were at our house two days ago eating burgers and spoiling our cats.”
Frank’s face reflects his shock at the lack of protocol, but Lucienne, anxious to keep her family out of any legal improprieties, fakes a stumble in her stilettos and grabs onto his arm, pulling him toward her.
Frank relents, knowing that despite the unusual aspects of the case to date, no actual laws have been broken during the unusual interrogation … so far.
Lucienne smiles at him when he changes his mind and does not object. “We barbeque every week at Mercy’s. I hope you can come next time,” she says, half from gratitude and half from actual interest in Detective Lawshé.
To distract Frank even more, Lucienne takes out her cell phone and shows him footage that Mercy’s “Nannycam” picked up of Mabel “typing” on the computer and Mack “playing the piano” by bouncing across the keys.
“If you go with me, you’ll get to meet my ‘niece’ and ‘nephew,’” Lucienne says, pointing to the cats.
Frank looks at the beautiful woman hanging tightly to his arm and smiles. “I think that can be arranged.”
Mercy pretends that her teeth are chattering and snuggles up closer to Joseph.
“Remind me to wear more clothes to Dana’s next party,” Mercy purrs at Joseph.
“Not on your life, baby,” Joseph flirts back.
James looks suspiciously at Mercy and Joseph, not buying their act. Silently, his glance lets them know that he is not fooled. He looks at Ethan, who nods his assen
t.
James says, “I suppose there’s no harm in your leaving as long as I can come by for breakfast tomorrow morning and get your statement.”
Mercy perks up. “Just don’t forget to bring the cat treats. You broke their little furry hearts the other day.”
James says, “I recall. They took my last hamburger as retribution.”
Chapter 49
As Joseph and Mercy get ready to leave, Ethan asks, “Would you two mind dropping Rena and Francesca off at home? There’s no point in having them hang around here till the officers finish processing the scene.”
Lucienne turns to Frank and says, “Why don’t we go inside and see if we can do anything to help?” Frank nods his agreement, and they both say their “goodnights” before joining the crime scene unit in the school.
Eager to get away and find Dana before she says the wrong thing to the wrong person, Joseph winks at Mercy.
Mercy rubs her jeweled hand across Joseph’s chiseled face, pouring on the maximum sex appeal with another catwalk spin. “So, we’re leaving now?”
Admiring her model pose, Joseph replies, “Works for me if it works for Uncle James and Dad. That dress is definitely made for looks, not for warmth.”
“As long as it keeps you looking, baby,” purrs Mercy.
Ethan and James groan at each other and roll their eyes.
James says, “Ethan, can we let them go before they start making out again?”
Ethan, not fooled any more than James, relents. “Sure. Why not? But only if they can hold off long enough to drop Rena and Francesca off. I don’t think either one of them wants to watch this either.”
“We’ll have to trade cars. The McLaren doesn’t have enough seats,” says Joseph.
Ethan holds up the keys to his Rolls. “Don’t dent it, okay?”
Joseph hands him the keys to the McLaren, reluctantly. “Don’t get stopped by the LAPD for speeding again, okay? They were watching my parking lot for weeks. They wouldn’t give you a ticket, so they wanted to give me one to make up for it.”
The Case of the Stained Stilettos Page 18
