“I see.” Cathcart was frowning. “Dunbar. Have I heard that name?”
Duke cleared his throat. “The papers probably. I just got done working a rather high profile case, for Branson anyway.”
“Ah.” Cathcart nodded and turned back to Ellie. “Have you ever heard of Kari Jo Mounds?”
Ellie shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I have not. But I usually don’t work the stage scene.”
“I have.” Duke looked thoughtful. “Isn’t she part of the show at the Ozark Star?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Cathcart nodded with approval. “She’s one of two opening acts for the Garth Brooks tribute show.”
“Right.” Duke glanced at Ellie. “The Star is owned by Harvey Lightman. He’s the same guy that owns the Moonrise, which is where my last case ah—well it sort of exploded.”
Cathcart suddenly looked very interested. “I had been following that debacle in the Register. Something about thefts at the Moonrise and a cover up? And of course, well there’s always the grapevine here in Branson.”
“You shouldn’t believe much of what you read in the Register,” Duke murmured. “Especially if it was written by a certain Hilary Allenwood. But in this case, some of it was true. Riley Saunders was… well let’s just say the show is cancelled indefinitely.”
“So, the Moonrise is going to close,” Adam Cathcart murmured. “That’s too bad. It’s one of the oldest theaters in Branson. I think we’ve all known that Lightman wants to sell out to one of those big developers though.”
“Right.” Duke frowned at Cathcart. “So, what brings you to our office this morning? The police didn’t want to provide security for an event at the theater?”
Cathcart gave a rueful shake of his head and that was when Ellie realized he was carrying a manila folder. He set it on Ellie’s desk and opened it up to reveal four letters and envelopes that appeared to be right out of a crime television show. There were words made using magazine clippings and Ellie could see at a glance they were of a rather threatening nature.
She leaned forward and peered at them, picking up a capped pen and using it to move the pages around. “Do you have any notion which one came first?”
“No. No postmark,” Adam said with an obvious amount of exasperation. Then he pointed to the one on top. “I know that this one came last night. They’ve been handed to Kari Jo after her show. People throw all kinds of ridiculous things at her. She doesn’t take any notice of it though. Just tosses it in the corner of her dressing room. Last night I happened to see this one and went through the pile and found three more. It is possible there could have been even more than that, but they were tossed out with the trash. I don’t know how long the janitorial staff waits before they toss the crap that Kari Jo leaves behind. I would assume some of it sits around longer than others.”
“Wow,” Ellie murmured. “So, our potential stalker is actually purchasing tickets to her show and then handing these to her at the end.”
“I suppose so, yes.” It was obvious Cathcart hadn’t thought that far down the road of how the letters had come to be in Kari Jo’s pile. “I don’t think… that is to say it should be pretty hard for someone without a ticket to just slip inside and get into the theater itself. An usher would catch you. They’re trained to look for that sort of thing.”
Ellie was trying to picture the scene. She’d never been inside the Ozark Star before. “They check tickets at the door?”
“The theater does assigned seats,” Cathcart assured her. Then he made a face. “The only thing that complicates that is the fact Kari Jo’s fans rush the stage after the last song of her performance. She will take hands and that sort of thing after she finishes. So they come up to the stage and give her flowers and candy and things.”
“And toss in a few threatening letters as well,” Ellie murmured. This wasn’t going to be an easy job. “Do you sell a lot of tickets at the box office?”
“Not really.” Cathcart looked thoughtful. “There are a few walkups I suppose, but for the most part people buy online or at a ticket outlet. That’s the easiest way to get a good seat. The online sales outlet has a seating chart on it. You can see what seats are available and it’s easy to book them that way. We prefer it. It saves us money and time.”
“No doubt.” Ellie bobbed her head up and down. “You need to start by making two lists. One of credit card sales over the last four weeks and another of the walk up sales. See if any names pop up repeatedly. Like four or more times.”
Cathcart frowned. “I think that’s what I’m hiring you for. Are you willing to take the job?”
Ellie glanced at Duke. “He’s usually the one who handles the stage jobs. I’m… ah…”
“No,” Cathcart said immediately. “I want you.”
Chapter Four
Adam stared at Ellie Pierce and was pretty sure he had never seen a more perfect person to work on his case. There was absolutely nothing senseless about Ms. Pierce. Adam had learned from his brief eavesdropping that Ellie Pierce was former FBI. Beyond that, the woman looked to be forty-something with a pragmatic attitude that might actually survive a brush with Kari Jo Mounds. Ellie obviously had OCD tendencies. In today’s hot August heat she was wearing pristine black pants, a white silk blouse beneath a black blazer, and a pair of the most senseless black loafers that Adam had ever seen. Ellie even wore her black hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her skin was a deep olive color as though she might be of a mixed heritage of some sort. Her eyes were deep and so brown they nearly looked black; the sort of eyes that stared right through a man. Or in this case, a twenty-two year old brat.
“I hate to admit this,” Adam finally said when he could see Ms. Pierce gearing up to refuse his request. “But I was watching you earlier when you were dealing with,” Adam glanced over at the blonde bimbo of a secretary, “Caroline, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m Caroline.” The woman barely looked up from her computer screen where she was obviously shopping online.
Adam tried not to be too openly disapproving. He did realize how difficult it was to find good help these days. Not just in Branson, but pretty much everywhere. The younger people in their twenties didn’t want to work. They just wanted to sit there and do their own thing all day—like online shop—and then they wanted to collect a paycheck. It was frustrating.
“I saw the way you handled Caroline,” Adam told Ellie. “That is what I need for this case. I know it’s probably not going to be that hard to figure out what kind of person is sending these letters and whether or not they’re a real threat. That’s not really my worry. My honest worry is that Kari Jo is so egotistical and shallow that she will somehow see this as an opportunity to cash in.”
Ellie looked stunned. “Cash in? On what? Her own murder?”
“Trust me. You haven’t met Kari Jo Mounds,” Adam muttered. Then he cleared his throat. “For all I know, my number one suspect would be her mother. That’s how convoluted this whole thing is, but there is no doubt that it is my priority to find out who is sending these and why.”
Ellie gave a sigh. “I notice you said it’s your priority. Does that mean Kari Jo will not be participating in her own security detail?”
“I can’t say for sure either way,” Adam admitted. He hated having to say that. It made him feel like an idiot. “But I can tell you that she will be paying your fees. As her business manager, I can promise that much.”
“Well then,” Ellie said on a sigh, “I suppose we can’t turn down that sort of deal, now can we? And you said you went and talked to the police?”
“Yes, a sergeant of some kind.” Adam had not been impressed with the Branson PD. He was sad to say that really. He’d always thought pretty highly of them in the past. “He had a strange name. I can’t believe I’ve forgotten it.”
From Adam’s right, he heard Duke Dunbar grunt. “That would be Sergeant Mathias Caprico.”
Adam pictured the young, attractive police sergeant with the big dark eyes and the arrogant
grin. “That sounds about right. Yes. Do you know of him?”
“Caprico and I are quite familiar with one another, yes,” Dunbar said with yet another grunt. The man was a mountain with blond hair and muscles bulging pretty much everywhere. He was well over six feet tall too. In Adam’s opinion, Caprico hadn’t stood a chance.
Ms. Pierce cut a look at Dunbar. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like Duke to work your case, Mr. Cathcart? He’s very familiar with the police department on these matters. And he’s a really good investigator. The ladies tend to love him. Although, I believe he’s taken for now.”
“For good,” Dunbar muttered.
Adam was already shaking his head. “No offense, Mr. Dunbar, but if you were hideous to look at I might consider it. If you were about seventy-years old, full of wrinkles, and sagging skin, then we might talk. But I can’t let you anywhere near Kari Jo Mounds.”
Dunbar’s brow furrowed and he looked as deeply offended. “Are you suggesting I can’t keep my hands to myself? What is this chick? Nineteen?”
“Twenty-two,” Adam corrected. “And no, it’s more that I don’t think I could keep you safe from Kari Jo. She would be torturing you day and night claiming that you had to follow her everywhere, even to her home I would bet. The girl is… well, let’s just say her hormones are going like a fire alarm and I wish there was some way to turn them off.”
Ellie Pierce snorted and pointed to the letters. “Well, if she doesn’t help us get to the bottom of this problem, you may have your perfect off switch waiting in the wings.”
“As awful as it sounds,” Adam said slowly, “I feel like that might actually be better. It’s getting to the point where Kari Jo is behaving like the worst sort of diva possible. I’m warning you that Kari Jo makes your Caroline look like a polite, well-mannered, and very helpful, modest young woman.”
“Holy cow,” Ms. Pierce said with a shake of her head. Then she gave Adam a look of pity. “How do you deal with that every day? Doesn’t it get kind of old?”
“Very, very old,” Adam admitted. “But it’s part of my job. If things keep up and I can keep her alive and healthy, then I’ll be passing her off to another manager in someplace like Nashville and she will become someone else’s problem.”
“So, you agents just sell your clients to other agents?” Mrs. Pierce appeared fascinated by this idea. She leaned forward in her chair and braced her elbows on the edge of her desk. “That seems like you doing all of the hard work and someone else reaping the eventual pay off.”
“Perhaps,” Adam allowed. “But I don’t like to travel anymore. I’m happy here. I have no interest in booking tours and riding around in a bus while trying to play nursemaid to some spoiled music starlet. That sounds like hell on earth to me. No sleep. Eating on the run all the time. Trying to deal with the constant drama and negotiations. No thanks.”
“When you put it that way,” Ms. Pierce said with amusement. “I think I can see why you would rather let someone else pay you a finder’s fee and just be done with it.”
“Exactly, which is why I just need to get Kari Jo Mounds through the next month and a half. Her contract at the Ozark Star is up then. We were only on a six-month contract with Lightman anyway because Kari Jo has been getting a larger following and it starts to get a bit crowded in the theater when there is an opening act that’s becoming bigger than the starring attraction.”
Duke Dunbar bobbed his head. “Those showbiz types are a mess. My fiancée’s uncle was Riley Saunders. Riley was of the mind that if you headlined a show in Branson it pretty much meant you could do what you wanted to. All the time.”
Adam frowned at Dunbar. “You’re engaged to Olivia Houghton?”
“Yes, I am. Do you know Olivia?”
“I think we all know Olivia to some extent,” Adam admitted. “But I will say that I’ve met Olivia several times at the quarterly meetings Lightman used to have for his theater managers. Lightman is an ass, but he does know how to run a theater and a show.”
“Olivia would probably say the same,” Dunbar mused.
Adam couldn’t quite see the delicate former dancer Olivia with this enormous muscle bound bouncer type. But then, looks could certainly be deceiving. “Tell your fiancée that Adam Cathcart sends his regards and his condolences.” Adam pressed his lips into a tight line. “We all heard what Riley tried to do, via the grapevine of course, but it’s still an atrocious situation.”
“Right.” Dunbar kept tight-lipped on the topic. Adam admired the man for being willing to respect his fiancée’s privacy. No doubt poor Olivia had gone through enough already.
“When did you want us to start on your case?” Ms. Pierce asked suddenly. She was already reaching for the letters. “We have a contact at the state crime lab who can run these and do the regular analysis for us. Obviously, if you get any more of them we would like to be informed so we can add them to the analysis.”
“Of course,” Adam murmured. He gazed at Ellie Pierce for a moment and wondered if she would think he was stupid if he just begged her outright to come with him to “guard” Kari Jo. “I was thinking you should come with me right now. We can meet Kari Jo, see her apartment and her dressing room, talk to the theater manager about getting the credit card lists and other ticket lists…” Adam let that sentence dangle like a piece of forbidden fruit. “Don’t you want to just dive into this case?”
“Why do I get the feeling you want me to put the smackdown on Kari Jo Mounds?” Ms. Pierce asked Adam with no small amount of suspiciousness in her voice and her expression. “I’m not going to yell at her or something. If you really think that would help, then you should think about doing it yourself.”
It was all Adam could do not to laugh out loud. He cleared his throat instead. “I do. On a regular basis, actually. I have tried shouting at her. I have shamed her. I have even tried reasoning with her, although it is my personal experience that young men and women in today’s society don’t actually get their reason until at least their late twenties.”
Ms. Pierce laughed. Then she shook her head and sighed. “All right. I’ll come on down to the theater with you and have a look around. We can chat about the case and try to make a plan to see what we have to do next.”
“Thank you.” Adam was already feeling as though this case was in the bag. This was going to work. He was sure of it. “I would really appreciate that.”
Just about the time they were ready to turn and walk out the door, the front entrance of the office slammed open and an enormous woman with platinum blonde hair in a bright pink sundress came barreling into the office. She had sparkling silver sandals that laced half way up her calves and her dimpled knees were showing beneath the hem of her floaty dress. Her arms and neck drooped with jewelry and her face was layered in so much sparkling makeup that she looked almost garish in the morning light.
“Mister Cathcart!” Rhiannon Mounds shouted with all of the dramatic flair of a lifetime stage actress. “What on earth do you think you are doing hiring a private investigator without my consent?”
Ellie Pierce drew back in surprise. Duke Dunbar’s eyebrows shot nearly to his hairline and even Caroline peeked out from behind her computer monitor to see the newcomer.
Adam sighed. He made a conciliatory gesture to Ellie. “This is Mrs. Mounds. I believe I mentioned her in our conversation?”
Ellie looked momentarily confused and then it was as though Adam’s words from earlier clicked. “Right, Mrs. Mounds. I remember you mentioning Kari Jo’s mother.” Ellie Pierce looked right at Rhiannon Mounds. “I’m assuming you’re Kari Jo’s mother, as she looks just like you.”
It was the right thing to say. Rhiannon shoved the office door closed behind her and strutted the rest of the way into the office. “It’s true,” she said in a melodramatic voice. “My daughter does get her looks from me and her brains from her father. He was a special heart surgeon, you know?”
“Oh really?” Ms. Pierce actually looked interested in that detail. Adam
didn’t have time to warn her though. “Where did he practice?”
“In Hell!” Rhiannon actually put the back of her hand against her forehead and threatened to swoon. “He left us when Kari Jo was just a tiny tot and never came back! I was the celebrated wife of a heart surgeon here in the Branson area and I was dumped by a man who was too cold and calculating to have a healthy heart of his own!”
Adam could see Ellie Pierce weighing all of this in her mind. Then her expression grew rather shrewd and she gave Rhiannon Mounds a very thorough once over. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Ms. Mounds. I’m sure it means you’re very concerned for your daughter’s welfare.”
“I am! Which is why this bastard has no right to make any kind of agreement with a private investigator on my daughter’s behalf. I’m her mother! That is my right. If you want to work for my daughter, you must go through me!”
Ellie Pierce pursed her lips and looked right at Rhiannon Mounds. “Your daughter is what? Twenty-two years old?”
“Well, yes.” Rhiannon pulled a tissue from her tiny silver-spangled clutch purse. “It’s so hard to believe how time just flies!”
“And you realize that any maternal rights you had over your daughter disappeared when she turned eighteen, right?” Ms. Pierce stared at Ms. Mounds and just waited as though she was hoping the woman would get it.
Adam should have told Ellie Pierce it would never work. Ms. Mounds was that thick. The “frantic” mother gazed at Ellie as though she was out of her mind. “She’s my daughter,” Rhiannon Mounds said again.
Ellie gestured to Adam. “Shall we go, Mr. Cathcart? I think we have some investigating to do.”
“Wait. You’re just leaving?” Rhiannon was thunderstruck.
“Yes, we are. Please feel free to leave this office whenever you’d like. I’m sure Mr. Dunbar would be happy to collect the three thousand dollar retainer fee from you for the services that we are going to perform in order to keep your daughter safe and happy.”
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 27
