The Case of the Stained Stilettos

by Smith, Melissa J. L

  “Mark, that really isn’t necessary. People help people, especially friends, remember?”

  “I remember,” he says. “But a deal is a deal. If you won’t take it for yourself, at least take it for Lindsey. I hear from Mercy Wilde that Lindsey is a well-mannered, very smart child who wants to be a botanist. Or an astronaut. Or a teddy bear designer. Those are three worthwhile careers. Consider it an investment in the future of teddy bears everywhere.”

  A tear rolls down Helen’s cheek as she takes in the fact that this man who she has just met, but with whom she felt an instant connection, has taken the time to learn about her daughter. Without thinking, Mark reaches across and brushes away the tear. As he does so, his emotions flood to the surface. Unable to stop himself, he leans in and kisses her.

  Helen kisses Mark back briefly before reality hits. She backs up and apologizes. “I’m so sorry. You’re engaged. I never should have kissed you.”

  Mark takes her by the shoulders. “Please don’t apologize. I kissed you first, and I’m not sorry. Nor do I feel guilty. I am engaged. At least I think I am. But do you see Susana, my fiancée, here? Is she here consoling me because I lost my best friend? Is she here to support me because my mother is a suspect in a murder? Did she stick around the night of the party to make sure my family and I were okay?”

  As he rattles off the series of rhetorical questions, his face reddens with anger.

  “I … don’t know what to say,” responds Helen.

  “The answer is a great big ‘no’. Someone says she ran toward the house, but I never saw her. She just kind of disappeared. She texted me and said that she would be keeping a low profile for a while because she didn’t want all the publicity to embarrass her family,” he says.

  “Oh,” says Helen, unsure what to say about such extreme selfishness. Maybe I just don’t understand the way rich people do things, she thinks, but stays silent.

  “What about my family?” Mark complains. “What about me? She’s supposed to be my fiancée and it doesn’t seem to bother her that we’re in pain. You’ve known us for less than a week and have done more for my family in that time than Susana’s done since I’ve known her.”

  Seeing Helen’s stunned face, Mark realizes that he has just unloaded a bunch of his dirty laundry without considering the consequences. Wishing he could take it all back, he apologizes.

  “Oh Helen, I am so sorry. I normally don’t discuss my personal life with, well, with anyone. You were so thoughtful to bring us all this great food, and I’m upset, and you’re such a good listener…” His words fade.

  Helen looks at Mark, her eyes full of concern. “You have had a horrific week. What you told me will never be repeated by me, and everyone needs a friend to talk to. Please, always know that I am happy to listen.” Mark takes her hand and holds onto it for support.

  The moment is interrupted when Wesley enters the kitchen. Unsure which is more of a surprise, Helen and Mark holding hands or seeing Mark do actual kitchen work, Wesley is pleased about both.

  “Helen, how nice to see you!” Wesley says, looking around hopefully. “Is Carmella with you?”

  Laughing lightly, Helen responds, “No, I’m afraid not, Wesley. But she came by the restaurant earlier to pick up a cake for a birthday party at her office. She mentioned that she was hoping that you were going to call her.”

  Wesley brightens. “She did? I’m so glad to hear that! It’s just that things here have been very busy, and I haven’t had a chance. But I’ll call her this evening if you think she really wants to hear from me.”

  “I know she really wants to hear from you,” Helen says with a smile. “You made quite an impression.”

  Mark laughs. “He always does. His black book is bigger than the Dow-Jones inventory.”

  “Yes, but sometimes you find the right stock and stick with it,” Wesley says. He looks at Mark, then at Helen. “And sometimes, the right stock is staring you in the face.”

  ***

  Across town at HACA, Mercy is concerned that some evidence is staring her in the face but that she does not see it. She and her staff of investigators comb through the Drama Department searching for anything, no matter how small, that might have been overlooked by the LAPD.

  Now that the crime scene has been released by the police, Mercy wants to document everything she can before Blaine’s students return to the classroom. She wonders if the college will have to give Blaine a different classroom. Surely the students won’t want to be in here, she thinks. The memories will be too painful.

  She shoots video of the scene and compares it to crime scene photos and sketches that she and Joseph compiled from memory the day after Sal’s death.

  Nothing looks particularly different, but Mercy has a nagging feeling. “I must be missing something. What am I not seeing?”

  She documents everything from the chalk on the floor to the broken clock to the blackboard with the crack through Hamlet’s Elements of a Play.

  “Blaine’s going to have to get a new blackboard. Maybe this will drag him into the twenty-first century. I mean, who uses blackboards anymore?” she chuckles to herself.

  ***

  Meanwhile, downtown at LAPD headquarters, Lucienne, Frank and a bevy of associates continue to question party guests, caterers, household staff, paparazzi and Vinery crewmembers who came to help clean.

  The other detectives are running quick pre-interviews with witnesses who are considered incidental, while Lucienne and Frank focus their efforts on promising leads and key players. Between interviews, they examine the coroner’s report that was sent over by Glenn Lopez.

  “Does something seem to be ‘off’ in the coroner’s report?” Frank asks as sees Lucienne’s expression.

  “Maybe. We may have to talk to Dr. Lopez,” Lucienne says.

  ***

  Down at the morgue, Joseph also has found something strange and is consulting with Dr. Lopez.

  “Thank you for meeting with me, Glenn,” he says.

  “Of course, Joseph. Is there something in my report that concerns you?” Dr. Lopez asks.

  “It’s more like something seemed to concern you, but you didn’t seem to have an explanation for it,” Joseph says.

  “That’s correct. The toxicology came back with an inconsistency that I can’t explain,” says Dr. Lopez. “The deceased had eight pill casings partially dissolved in his stomach.”

  Joseph nods. “Eight? And it wasn’t an overdose? I’d be unconscious until next week if I took that many pills.” Joseph reads the report and refers back to his notes.

  He sees that Mark gave Sal four of Dana’s tranquilizers from the study.

  Dr. Lopez says, “Based on the rate of dissolution, I would say that he took two at a time earlier in the day and two more in the afternoon.”

  “Dana confirms that in my interview. She says that Sal told her that Mark gave him four tranquilizers earlier in the day. According to what Sal told Dana, the first two tranquilizers wore off during the afternoon, so he took the other two. Worried that he might need more during the party, Sal told Dana that he went to the library and grabbed the last two out of the bottle and put them in his pocket for later,” Joseph reads from his notes.

  “I examined Dana Montgomery’s medical records and her tranquilizers are a rather low dose. I will speak to her physician. He may have done that so she could use them more frequently throughout the day ‘as needed,’ rather than taking a larger dose less often but would impede memory and reaction more,” says Dr. Lopez.

  “Probably so she could work and remember her lines?” asks Joseph.

  “A possibility,” replies Dr. Lopez. “Also, Ms. Montgomery is smaller than the deceased, and if her physician was dosing according to her body type, her tranquilizers may have been less effective for Mr. Caggiano, who was taller and muscular.”

  “So, if the first four pills were used in the morning and afternoon, I assume the ones that Sal took from the library as a ‘precaution’ were the ones I sa
w him take during the argument at the party. He also took pain pills from the bottle that Susana gave him. Our table was adjacent to the dais on one side, and the podium and bar were on the other side, so we had a pretty good view of things.”

  Glenn gives that timeline some thought. “That certainly would explain the various stages of dissolution of the capsule casings. The four casings that were light yellow ones were taken well before the time of death based on the rate of casing dissolution.”

  “Another two with slightly darker yellow casings were taken within two hours of death as were two pain pills with blue casings.”

  “Interesting,” says Joseph. “Does that answer your concern?”

  “Not entirely,” says Dr. Lopez. “The discrepancy in the yellow pills could be a difference in the manufacturer. Are you aware if Mr. Caggiano had a heart problem?”

  “No, but I didn’t really know him except to say ‘hello.’ Did a heart problem show up in the autopsy?” asks Joseph, hopeful that this entire incident was caused by some heretofore-unknown congenital heart problem.

  “I didn’t find one. That’s why I wondered why warfarin came back in the blood work.”

  “Glenn, I couldn’t tell you,” says the frustrated attorney. “Nothing about this case makes a lot of sense … yet.”

  Chapter 57

  Greeted by the smell of the on-again-off-again rain, Mark and Blaine wander out to the veranda to watch Mercy and her team of crime scene specialists comb the grounds around the party area for evidence.

  Going inch-by-inch, Mercy holds little hope of finding much that will be directly helpful. Not only had the pool man come to clean the glass away from the pool while the caterers were cleaning up at the party, but he had also drained the pool, and vacuumed it to ensure no glass was lurking to attack an unsuspecting swimmer.

  Filling the pool with fresh water and chlorine lessened the possibilities of finding new evidence even further, and he dumped the glass into garbage that went to the landfill.

  Coupled with the rain, the sprinklers, and the outside contamination brought in by The Vinery crew, Mercy knows that whatever she might find still would be vulnerable in the hands of an able prosecutor.

  She takes solace in the fact that no one has been arrested, so James might be facing the same evidentiary problems. One thing she knows for sure: James is a patient man who would not rush to arrest anyone unless the evidence was solid.

  Mercy looks up and waves at Blaine and Mark on the veranda. Dana joins them, and Wesley pours coffee.

  The group is sharing a laugh. “Could the truce be holding?” Mercy wonders.

  Then, unexpectedly, Blaine invites Wesley to sit and join them for coffee.

  Mercy takes that gesture as a good sign. “Wow, Wesley actually sitting with the family instead of standing on ceremony. If that miracle can happen, so can another one,” and her resolve to find something to exonerate Dana from a potential arrest is renewed.

  ***

  Back at police headquarters, Lucienne checks the list of people to be interviewed and sees the names of a couple of producers that she has known all her life. Half of Hollywood has either come through the office or is expected to come through soon.

  Among those still to be interviewed is the “twerp director” from her mom’s last film, who had made Francesca so crazy.

  Lucienne ponders if there is a way to throw the guy into lockup with some really scary cellmates, but realizes that if he cannot organize a storyboard, he probably cannot organize a murder.

  Pushing her bad mood away, Lucienne looks at Frank and decides that she will concentrate on the fun they had at dinner last night and how much she is looking forward to barbecuing at Mercy’s and the possibility of “real” dates.

  Frank Lawshé sits there, looking every inch like he was sent from Central Casting via Brooks Brothers. Not a hair out of place and with a smile white enough for a toothpaste commercial, Frank is handsome, funny, sweet, smart and charming. He is what most women consider “the complete package.”

  But the best thing about Frank Lawshé, Lucienne Wilde suddenly realizes, is that he treats her the same way, and seems to genuinely like her, whether she is dressed in couture or sweats. Okay, there was that time at the vending machine, but he did not know her then. Now they have been at a crime scene together in formalwear, and today she is back to wearing simple pants and flats, and he is looking at her with the same expression he had when she walked out of the guest room at Le Coeur Bel in her red dress.

  Frank and Lucienne also have in common the fact that their mothers are both movie stars, yet they went into law enforcement. That is a small club, and she is sure they have lots more to discover about the overlap in their upbringings. Lucienne smiles at the realization that, despite his GQ looks, it is Frank’s personality and the things they have in common that make him seem so over-the-top handsome.

  But Lucienne’s good mood will not last. The next person on the list to be interviewed is Blaine Jeffries, followed by Beth Luker, Sal’s girlfriend.

  While Lucienne does not know Beth well, she knows enough. She saw Beth’s rampant flirting at the party and wonders if that is Beth’s modus operandi with all men or just with Blaine.

  No doubt Beth will recognize that Frank’s last name is the same as his famous father’s, and an unusual name like Lawshé makes connecting the dots an easy task. Since Hollywood hopefuls are well-served to know the power players, no doubt that she also will be able to surmise that Penelope Hunt is his mother. So, Lucienne has an idea and flips the interrogation room microphone off so nobody can hear their conversation.

  “Hey, Frank,” Lucienne suggests. “I don’t think that either of us had a face-to-face with Beth at the party. How about we don’t introduce ourselves to her when she arrives? If she doesn’t recognize us from the party or somewhere else, I’d like to gauge her reaction to a couple of things.”

  Frank looks at Lucienne and smiles. “I’m not sure that anyone would think that the glamourous woman in the red dress at the party was a cop, so she may not make the connection.”

  “Are you disappointed that the ‘woman in red’ isn’t in couture every day?” she asks.

  Lawshé shakes his head. “Nope. I think the ‘woman in red’ would look good in a burlap bag. So, what’s your plan?”

  Lucienne smiles at the compliment. “I’m curious to know if Beth was after Blaine at the party because they’re involved, or if she thinks he can help her career, or if it’s because she hates Dana. Dana did everything she could to break up Beth and Mark when they were dating. It might give us some insight as to why things went down the way they did.”

  “Good idea,” says Frank. “So, why no introductions?”

  “If she’s just an incorrigible flirt, I’m pretty sure she’ll take one look at you and pull out the big guns,” explains Lucienne.

  “And if she doesn’t, we can assume she’s madly in love with Blaine and totally devoted to him? Or still mourning Sal, the love of her life? I’m not that good at reading women,” he admits.

  “No, if she doesn’t flirt with you, we can assume she’s dead. I mean … have you seen you?” she laughs.

  Embarrassed, Frank mumbles, “Thank you,” and changes the subject. “What next? See if her behavior changes after she realizes who my dad is?”

  “Yes. Is that rude of me to suggest?” she asks.

  “Not at all. One of the things I love about you is that you don’t care who my parents are,” says Frank. Realizing the word “love” was in that sentence makes both of them blush.

  Eager not to have the “L-word” discussion at work, even with the microphone turned off, Lucienne busies herself by looking at the interview schedule.

  Thinking that Frank knew that both Blaine and Beth probably would make her a moody dining companion, Lucienne wonders why he scheduled them so close to lunch.

  Frank sees Lucienne frowning at the list and explains. He whispers, “You know, I’ve hardly seen Mercy since the party.
Why don’t you call and invite her to join us at lunch? That is, if she wouldn’t mind waiting around while we interview a couple of people, just in case things run long.”

  A big smile crosses Lucienne’s face, realizing that this wonderful man has found a way to let her sister watch them interrogate Blaine and Beth without calling attention to her presence.

  “I really owe Uncle James a great big birthday gift this year for introducing us,” she chuckles to herself, appreciating her good fortune.

  Chapter 58

  Mercy’s phone rings as she makes one last lap around Dana’s yard. She whips her phone out of her purse and answers it, then smiles as she walks and talks. “Are you sure he won’t mind that I’m not really dressed for lunch?” she says. “... Really? ... Where? ... Great. I’ll be there,” she tells Lucienne.

  Mercy hangs up and runs to her car, yelling instructions for the investigating team to keep working. Jumping into the Lamborghini, she heads for downtown.

  The announcer on the car radio says, “We have breaking news. KFI has learned that actor Blaine Jeffries, husband of Dana Montgomery, is slated to be interviewed in about thirty minutes at LAPD Headquarters downtown regarding the death of a bartender who worked at the Homes for the Homeless charity event hosted by Ms. Montgomery and Mr. Jeffries. The LAPD is expected to hold a news conference within the hour. Stay tuned to KFI/ABC News Radio for further developments.”

  “Great,” Mercy groans. “That should bring out the vultures.”

  Inside LAPD headquarters, Lucienne and Frank are chipping away at their list of witnesses. After thirty minutes of interviewing one of the producers who was a family friend to Frank’s mom and Francesca, Lucienne and Frank are tasked with questioning the twerp, director Gregg Buck, who directed Francesca’s most recent project. Keeping her mouth shut and letting Frank take the lead, Lucienne wonders why there are no laws allowing her to arrest this twerp for being vapid.