The Case of the Stained Stilettos

by Smith, Melissa J. L

  Mercy gives the sound an annoyed look and stumbles to the door to answer it. Joseph and Francesca rally to their feet and stand near her to welcome their breakfast guests.

  Seeing their exhausted expressions, Ethan and James enter and fake an obnoxious cheerfulness to push the point that the three should know they may not have gotten away with as much as they thought.

  James sets down flowers and champagne with a cheerful, loud “Morning, all.” Then, from behind his back, he produces a bag of cat treats. He shakes it once, and both cats appear as if by magic to perform figure eights around his legs until he gives them their due.

  Ethan reaches down to give the cats a little scruff on the neck and lets out a small yawn. “Don’t we all look weary? I didn’t realize everyone had such a late night.”

  Mercy groans into her coffee. Joseph covers their tracks, knowing how to shut up his dad and the chief. “You guys saw Mercy’s dress last night. You gonna ask why I’m tired?”

  Francesca almost spit-takes her coffee and Mercy squeals, embarrassed, “Joseph!”

  James gets an expression similar to a cat with a furball. “Spare me, please!”

  He turns to Francesca. “And you, Francesca. How are you here, already? I saw you go home last night.”

  Francesca feigns shock. “James! You made sure I got home okay? I’m touched. You’re such a great ‘fake brother.’ You know I get up before the sun.”

  All are so tired that when the phone rings, it startles them into being more awake.

  Mercy intentionally walks past the kitchen phone to answer a hallway extension that offers more privacy. She speaks loudly enough that everyone in the kitchen can hear her half of the telephone conversation.

  “Hello ... Oh, you have it? Can I come by? Thanks for calling. See you soon. Goodbye.”

  Mercy re-enters the kitchen without explanation.

  Ethan breaks the silence as Joseph reads Mercy’s expression. “Lose another bracelet, Mercy?”

  She replies, “I have the hardest time hanging on to those darn things. Must you know me so well?”

  James looks at her point blank. “Let me guess. You lost it at the party and you’re going to pick it up?”

  Mercy avoids the question. “Where’s Aunt Rena? How many am I cooking breakfast for?”

  “Rena won’t be joining us today. She’s gone to talk Lisa into changing majors.”

  Ethan adds, “Don’t bother cooking unless you’re hungry. I’ve eaten. Would you like to ride to Dana’s with us after I stop by my office?”

  Mercy shoots a pleading look at Francesca to bail her out of her jam.

  Francesca says, “Mercy, weren’t we going to the Saks sale today? I’ll take you by Dana’s after we go shopping. I need to pick up a new pair of sunglasses at Tiffany, too.”

  Ethan stares at them, suspicion oozing from his face, but no proof to accuse them of anything. “Mercy, didn’t you just go to a sale at Saks?”

  “Nope,” she says. “That was at Neiman’s. But a shopping trip sounds like more fun than hanging around the DA’s office. Thanks anyway, Ethan. Don’t let us keep you.”

  Ethan waves the keys to the McLaren and says, “No speeding tickets. May I have my keys, please?” Mercy hands him the keys to the Rolls.

  She hustles James and Ethan toward the door. They resist, but Ethan seems to change his mind. The two men exit quickly, leaving Mercy particularly concerned.

  “Let’s get out of here. If we’ve got a head start on them, it’s not much.”

  The three rush out of the kitchen to change clothes and leave for Dana’s house.

  Chapter 54

  It is 7:30 Sunday morning, and the sprinklers at Le Coeur Bel are washing away any tiny remnants of the party that the overnight rain had not cleared.

  Blaine and Mark are having breakfast by the pool. Their fragile truce seems to be holding for the moment.

  Wesley serves coffee to Blaine and Mark and is happy to see that all traces of the party have disappeared. He wants to forget the night that he missed his chance to dance with Carmella and is working up his courage to call her for a real date.

  Mark looks around. “Wow! Helen managed to get everyone in lockstep to get this place cleaned up. I have to call her later so I can get everyone paid.”

  Blaine asks, “Is my wife awake yet, Wesley?”

  “I believe I heard her stirring,” replies Wesley.

  Dana stumbles up behind Wesley, extremely tired. She pleads, “Please, Wesley, dahhling. Let’s not discuss anything shaken or stirred.”

  Dana collapses into a chair, barely coherent. Wesley pours Dana a cup of coffee as she squints at the sun. “Why is the sun out so early? Is this going to be the first day it doesn’t rain this week?”

  “Shall I have Mercy Wilde’s bracelet couriered to her home? It’s on the foyer table.”

  Mark and Blaine each give Wesley a light “warning kick” from the table, accidentally toppling him to his knees and spilling coffee everywhere.

  Blaine and Mark both give Wesley an apologetic look for tripping him in unison. Cranky, Dana blows up.

  “Great Tallulah’s Ghost! Has everyone gone mad?” screams Dana, rubbing her temples and already thinking that she would love to go back to bed. “Wesley, are you alright?”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” Wesley says, brushing himself off and pulling himself to his feet. He shoots a look at Mark and Blaine, then picks up the spilled coffee pot and comments dryly, “I see we’re out of coffee. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get more.”

  Blaine turns to Dana and tries to calm her. “Dana, we need to discuss last night.”

  Dana apologizes. “I know, Blaine. I shouldn’t have lost my temper in front of guests. We’ll be on the cover of every tabloid! Was there a lot of video, too? We’ll be on a loop on TMZ. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper.”

  “Calm down, Dana. I know it’s early, but something bad has happened, and I have to tell you about it before someone else does,” says Blaine.

  Dana starts to cry. “You’re divorcing me, aren’t you? I’ll get a facelift. I’ll double up on my daily workouts. I’ll go to Betty Ford.”

  She breaks down uncontrollably. “Please don’t leave me, Blaine. I really do love you.”

  Distracted by an approaching car sound, Blaine says, “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not divorcing you, and you don’t need a facelift. It’s something else…”

  Mark interrupts, “We have to catch Mom up before someone shows up.”

  Her son turns to Dana, “Mom, did you see Sal after the party?”

  Confused, Dana says, “Sal? Of course not. I went to Jann’s and slept in her guesthouse.”

  “Can Jann confirm that?” Mark asks.

  “No, I guess not. I’ve had a key and an open invitation for years. I used to go there a lot when I wanted to get away. I heard a lot of noise coming from inside Jann’s house at around three-thirty this morning, so I sneaked out. There was a woman’s voice and a little girl’s voice. I thought they might have had company, and I didn’t want to startle them.”

  Blaine pushes, “And you didn’t go by the college or my classroom. And you’re sure you didn’t see Sal?”

  Dana is indignant. “Give me some credit, Blaine. If I were going to cheat on you, I’d do it with someone you couldn’t flunk out of school.” She rethinks the previous evening. “Oh no! I propositioned poor Sal at the party, didn’t I?”

  Mark nods, “Uh-huh.”

  Mortified, Dana looks at Mark and Blaine and drops her head, ashamed. “Please tell me he didn’t take me seriously. We were both angry and just joking around.”

  Ethan’s trademark voice comes from behind Dana. In her fog, she squints into the sun, unable to make out Ethan’s face. “So, how angry were you, Dana? I’d really like to know everything you did last night. In fact, I’d like to know everything that all of you did last night.”

  Still unable to see who is approaching, Dana calls out. “Wesley, call the pol
ice! We have an intruder!”

  Ethan walks around to the side so Dana can see who he is. “No need to call the police, Dana. James is in the house questioning Wesley right now. I told him that I would announce myself.”

  “For Heaven’s sake, Ethan. Don’t sneak up on a woman before she puts her makeup on! Especially not with the sun shining so bright on her wrinkles!”

  Unaware of the previous night’s events, Dana lets out a throaty laugh.

  Moments later, Joseph, Francesca and Mercy arrive at the front of Dana’s house. Mercy panics when she sees Ethan’s car.

  “Ugh! Your dad is already here! We shouldn’t have taken time to get dressed,” she moans.

  Joseph says, “If you think Dad is suspicious now, imagine if we had shown up in our pajamas.”

  Mercy throws the car door open and jumps out of the car before Joseph can stop her. She sprints through the front door as a rookie officer, Walter Delaney, opens it to walk outside. Mercy scrambles past the officer like a nimble tight end.

  Mercy pours on the steam to avoid questions, running toward James who is interrogating Wesley in the foyer. “James! I thought you and Ethan were going downtown! Mornin’, Wesley. Is Dana around?”

  Realizing that there must be a really good reason for all of this morning confusion, he answers matter-of-factly. “Ms. Montgomery is down by the pool with the district attorney, I believe.”

  Mercy continues her rapid-fire dialogue as she runs toward the back door. “Great! Will you see if you can find my bracelet, Wesley? I’ll find Dana. I want to thank her for a marvelous time last night.”

  Before James can stop Mercy, she makes a beeline out the door and heads straight for Dana.

  Mercy runs to the table so fast that she slams into it. With a burst of fake cheer to cover the pain in her leg, she says “Good morning, everyone!”

  Ethan replies sarcastically. “Mercy! What a surprise!”

  Mercy ignores his sarcasm and focuses her attention on Dana, trying to stop any further conversation with Ethan until Joseph catches up.

  “Dana, I came to pick up my bracelet. Thank you so much for finding it. It’s my best Fred Leighton, and I would hate to lose it. Joseph and Mom are right behind me. We all wanted to thank you for inviting us to your exquisite party last night.”

  Mercy throws her arms around Dana, theatrically, and whispers in her ear, “Do NOT mention anything about last night until Joseph gets down here. He’s right behind me somewhere.”

  Dana, by this point, is very confused. She sinks back into her chair and sips her coffee, hoping to find some streak of sanity in the cup.

  Mercy turns to her father-in-law. “Ethan! I thought you were going to the office first?”

  Ethan growls, “I changed my mind. I thought you were going to Saks.”

  Mercy replies, “You know that Saks doesn’t open until ten.”

  Dana looks at Mercy and Ethan with utter confusion. Blaine and Mark each take one of her hands to reassure her that all, unfortunately, will become clear. Both are sorry that they did not have a chance to break the news first.

  Joseph and Francesca rush through the open front door into the foyer, breezing past Officer Delaney as though he were not stationed there to stop the foot traffic.

  Wesley silently motions them toward the back door with a nod of his head, just as Officer Delaney calls out to them.

  “Hey, people, this is a potential crime scene! Come back here!”

  The duo ignores the officer and run to join the others at the table.

  Ethan explodes in frustration, leaving Dana more confused. “Excuse me, did you people not hear the officer say this is a crime scene?”

  Francesca flashes Ethan her best sexy smile to calm him. “Ethan! You’re here instead of downtown! Did you change your mind about going to Saks with us? I hear that lingerie is on sale, if you want to go hold our bags for us while we try it on.”

  Ethan’s nostrils flare in anger as he restrains himself. Dana looks at Blaine for answers as her head spins.

  “I’m so confused. What’s going on? What crime scene? What bracelet? Did someone break into Saks last night?”

  Blaine takes Dana’s hand and breaks the bad news. “No, honey. I’ve been trying to tell you, but it’s hard to find the right words…”

  Tears well up in Mark’s eyes. “Mom, we have some bad news. Sal passed away last night.”

  At the house, James moves on to question the rest of the household staff, while Mark tries to make Dana understand that Sal is gone.

  Wesley picks up Mercy’s bracelet and heads toward the pool, just in time to hear Dana shriek and see her faint into Blaine’s arms.

  Chapter 55

  Across town, Detectives Lucienne Wilde and Frank Lawshé search Blaine’s classroom again, comparing notes with the Crime Scene Unit team that has been recalled to the scene for an additional pass.

  Video and photographs are shot, fingerprints are taken, and evidence is collected.

  The CSU winds up its investigation at HACA by bagging the caterers’ jackets in the dressing room individually, labeling and documenting each one carefully.

  A different LAPD Crime Scene Unit examines Le Coeur Bel, top to bottom, paying special attention to the party area. Francesca and Dana look on from the balcony, drinking tea, trying to make it appear as though everything is normal as the paparazzi shoot picture after picture and video after video through the fence and from up in the trees.

  One unfortunate photographer who has managed to sneak into the backyard of the house next door is hanging from a limb of a Japanese maple tree. He screams as he is being swatted repeatedly with a rake by the homeowner. “Get down, you idiot. Get off my property! Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow Japanese maples in Los Angeles? You’re trespassing, and I’ve called the police.”

  Francesca says, “Getting a police officer there should be quite easy.”

  Dana laughs, “Wait till that photographer is told that he just broke Beverly Michaelson’s tree!”

  Francesca squints to see the homeowner’s face. “Oh my gosh, it is her! I had forgotten that’s her house. That guy is doomed.”

  Most of the paparazzi scatter, unwilling to be arrested and spend the rest of their day in Central Booking. The unfortunate paparazzo who was hanging from the tree limb falls from his perch, breaking the limb as he does so. Ms. Michaelson wraps a garden hose around the lightly injured man to keep him from getting away, screaming across the fence to Officer Lourdes, “Officer, officer! I want this man arrested for trespassing and felony vandalism! He broke my five-thousand-dollar tree!”

  Despite the otherwise horrible day, Francesca and Dana have a chance for a big, unladylike laugh.

  While officers are crawling all over Le Bel Coeur and photographers are falling from trees, Ethan and James have left Dana’s house and are downtown watching Assistant County Coroner Dr. Glenn Lopez conduct an autopsy on Sal’s body.

  The coroner lifts eight pill casings, all partially dissolved, out of Sal’s stomach and Dr. Lopez documents the examination with video and audio recording.

  “Let the record reflect that the deceased has the remnants of eight capsules in his stomach. Six casings are yellow, two are red. Also present are partially digested berries, dairy products and food consistent with the menu from the evening’s event including arugula, clementine oranges, beets, salmon, lemon hollandaise sauce and butternut sage mashed potatoes,” Dr. Lopez observes.

  “Toxicology reports of the blood are inconsistent with only two types of capsule contents. Preliminary blood tests reflect a hyper-concentration of warfarin, which would be unlikely to be distributed by two different suppliers. Further testing will be ordered to resolve this anomaly,” Lopez continues.

  “Upon initial observation, there are no obvious broken bones, knife wounds, gunshots or external bruising or contusions from confrontation.”

  As the Medical Examiner continues his autopsy, Ethan takes James aside. “No external bruising or
contusions seems to rule out a beat-down by the muggers. Why don’t we let Dr. Lopez finish up while we check on some interrogations?”

  James nods and the two leave the morgue.

  Chapter 56

  Back at Le Coeur Bel, Helen Sands navigates up the long driveway and parks. She is aware how out of place her twenty-year-old car looks among the automotive inventory in the driveway, but she does not let the thought slow her down for more than a moment.

  Reaching into the car, Helen wrestles out several bags of takeout from The Vinery and muscles them to the front door. With her arms full, Helen looks at the doorbell, wondering if her elbow or nose would be a better option to push the button. The thought of trying to push the doorbell with her nose brings a smile to her face, just in time for Mark to open the door without being summoned. Seeing her there puts a smile on his face so wide that he thinks his face might crack.

  “Helen! What a nice surprise! Let me help you with all of that,” Mark says as he reaches to take several of the shopping bags.

  “Hi, Mark. Thank you. I’m sorry to drop by without calling. Jonny, Jann and I wanted to say that we’re sorry for your loss. I understand that Sal was a good friend of yours. We thought you might have friends dropping by to express their condolences, so I brought food,” says Helen.

  They take the bags into the kitchen and start unpacking the food.

  “Helen, this is so considerate of you. We were just talking about having an impromptu memorial for Sal. He had no family, and his only friends were the people in the drama department and the people who worked for him. The rest of the time, he spent working or with Beth. You just saved me from having to figure out what to do about food.”

  “I hope it helps,” she says. “If you need anything else, I can call the restaurant and have them bring it over.”

  “Thank you. We hardly know each other, but you have been so kind that I feel like I’ve known you forever. When you have time, I’d really like to get the names of the folks who came from The Vinery to help after the party so I can make out their checks,” says Mark. “I can even do yours now, if you have time.”