Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Ellie tilted her head toward the other people in the lobby. “I think they want to buy tickets.”

  “Then they should use that online kiosk right there in the middle of the freaking lobby!” Margo said loudly and with enough anger and irritation to make Ellie flinch. “There is a freaking sign right there on the desk. Can’t they read? What is wrong with people these days?”

  Ellie pursed her lips. “Customer service gig not going well for you today?”

  “You know what? I’ve had it up to here with you and with Adam Cathcart and with that… that… that bitch Kari Jo Mounds for one day. Do you understand me?”

  Instead of drawing back or retreating, Ellie tilted her head and eyed Margo with interest. “You didn’t quite know how to refer to Kari Jo there, did you? A little tangled perhaps? I thought you pretty much thought she got what she deserved. Wasn’t that it?”

  “Maybe.” Margo glared at Ellie with red-rimmed eyes that had obviously been crying. “What do you want?”

  “I need to know where I can find Harvey Lightman right now. That’s all.”

  “He’s in his office down the hall and to the left. You go right on down there and bug him. You got me?” Margo pointed to a narrow hallway right off the lobby back by the bathrooms. There was a little gold embossed sign on the wall that said ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES. “Go on,” Margo urged. “I’m sure Harvey is dying to hear your next ridiculous theory of what’s going on in this theater instead of just getting rid of Kari Jo, which is what he should really be doing.”

  Ellie frowned. She left Margo at the desk, but she could not help but think Margo had an awful lot of hostility going on towards Kari Jo Mounds. It was probably exhausting to have to deal with Kari Jo’s fans, her erratic behavior, and any press releases that happened because she decided to do something stupid like go clubbing for the night.

  No doubt Kari Jo was a difficult person to like anyway. But Ellie could not help but feel like Margo’s emotions were a lot more complicated than just a bad case of the one woman calling the other one a dirty ho and then pulling her hair. A whole lot more.

  Chapter Twenty

  Adam left Kari Jo prepping for her show that night after having extracted a promise that she would not go out afterwards. It was kind of sad that it took the murder of a sporadic boyfriend for her to feel like she needed to stay in.

  His next task was to find Ellie. She’d stepped out of the dressing room and Adam suspected she’d gone to find Harvey Lightman. But where that would take her, Adam wasn’t quite sure. Once he was safely in the corridor, he stopped to send her a text in hopes of getting an answer. He felt like they had things to discuss about this case. Things like the fact that Westin Bainbridge was looking less and less like their stalker by the minute.

  “Adam Cathcart, how lovely to see you.” Hilary Allenwood seemed to pop out of nowhere and stuck a tape recorder in his face. “Can I get a comment for the media about all of the recent drama surrounding your young star? Maybe she’s cursed. What do you think of that theory? Cursed in love. Cursed for all of the bad things that happened around her. Just cursed.”

  Adam gazed at Hilary and wondered how she had gotten back there in the first place. “There’s a keycode pad on the locked door at the end of this hallway,” Adam said very thoughtfully. “Am I correct in suggesting our friend up front Margo has given you the code?”

  Hilary’s lips twisted into a very strange kind of smile. She looked smug and sure of herself, in spite of her pale, freckled appearance and the way her blue eyes seemed so utterly washed of color. It was odd though. Her face was red instead of pale, as though she’d been out in the sun too much that morning.

  “Covering a story outside today then?” Adam asked with an intentionally casual manner.

  She looked briefly uncomfortable. “What are you talking about?”

  “You look like you got too much sun. You gingers are supposed to be careful about that sort of thing. You know?”

  She touched her cheeks and looked momentarily upset, as though he’d caught her at something, which was weird. What harm could there be in her going outside? Unless she’d been covering something or poking her nose into something she ought not to have been.

  “What’s your interest in all of this, Hilary?” Adam gazed at her for a long moment, keeping his eyes trained on her until he saw her squirm first. She’d never been so off balance before. Not that he had observed. “You’re always the first to know all of the gossip in town. But what do you think about this murder? Who do you think did it?”

  The first time Hilary had come to Adam with her story about the murder of Aston Ryan, a.k.a. Mark Bob Smith, she had been smug and seemed as though she thought pretty clearly that somehow either Adam or his client was involved. Today was a much different story.

  Hilary gave a deliberate shrug. “The police are stumped. I know that much. They know your girl had an alibi. She’s gotten those security people to back her up even though we all know the word of Titus Holbrook is about as solid as the stick on a cotton swab. But still. You’ve said Kari Jo was in all night long. So, I guess it’s safe to say that DJ kid had other enemies. Lots of them from what I understand.”

  “But in all of your poking around, you haven’t had any luck finding the murderer?” Adam made a tutting noise. “That’s a bit unusual. You generally have the culprit tried in the court of public opinion long before the police are on the job.”

  “You know, you make it sound like I’m out there looking for reasons to hang people.” Hilary actually looked hurt. It was a surprise for so many reasons.

  Adam pursed his lips and then gestured to the door a few yards behind her. “And I have no reason to believe you might be less than trustworthy. Right?”

  “Oh, your privacy. Right? Is that what you’re so upset about? Because I manage to get into every space and into every mind and I know ways to make sure that everyone tells me their secrets first. Is that what you’re bitching about?”

  “Sure. That’s what I’m bitching about,” Adam told her with a snort. She could be so hot and cold. It was like she was vulnerable and defensive at the same time. “Shall I just mention to Mr. Lightman that his bookkeeper seems awfully friendly with the press? I feel like he wouldn’t appreciate that fact.”

  “No, he would not,” Hilary agreed. She pursed her lips and for a second Adam thought she was going to give him hell. And then all of a sudden, she shrugged. “But you know what? Go ahead. What do I care if Margo loses her job? She’s an ungrateful wretch anyway. Why does it matter if she gets herself fired for doing horrible things like giving everyone and their mother the code to get into the back of the theater? Hell, over at the Ozark Maiden, they have drug dealers popping in and out of the back so they can deliver straight to the dressing rooms. I think Margo knows a lot about that, too.”

  Adam felt his mouth pop open. He edged his way around Hilary and opened the door. “Why don’t you come out into the foyer with me and we can have a chat about that crazy accusation you just made,” Adam suggested. He held the door open for her. “Come on, Hilary. Maybe I’ll even buy you supper. A cup of coffee. Something. We can chat a little and I’ll give you a comment.”

  “A comment?” She looked totally suspicious. “Why do I need to leave the theater for you to give me a comment?”

  “Because you don’t belong back here and you know it.” Adam wondered what was wrong with Hilary. She had that look of someone who had just lost a loved one. “Are you all right?”

  “No. No, I’m not.”

  Hilary grabbed hold of his arm and held on tight as she exited the theater on his arm. Nobody said anything. Even Margo just stared at them as though she might want to say something but couldn’t.

  “Let’s go to the coffee shop on the other side of the restaurant,” Adam suggested. He felt like he was dealing with one of his more fragile clients. He’d had them like this before. The ones who were usually crazy talented but truly could not handle the rigors of a life in show
business.

  Adam led Hilary down the sidewalk in front of the restaurant to the Ozark Hills Coffee Company. It was late afternoon. There weren’t that many people in there besides some tourists, who wanted coffee at all hours of the day and night, which was why the shop was always open.

  “Here. Have a seat.” Adam ushered Hilary into a padded chair and then looked toward the counter. “Can I get you something?”

  “Skinny mocha decaf with non-fat whipped cream,” Hilary said without missing a beat.

  Her quick answer made Adam wonder if he was falling into one of her traps. But he could not deny there was something to her behavior that really seemed genuine, as if there was a very real reason she was acting so strangely.

  Adam ordered two coffees and sat down with Hilary at the table. She immediately reached for her mug and wrapped her hands around it as though she was cold even though it was at least a million degrees outside and so humid it felt as though you were slogging your way through a lake with each step you took. Hilary sipped her skinny decaf mocha and seemed to stare into space for a moment or two.

  “Well, you can say it,” Hilary told him quietly. “I can see you want to say it. So just say it.”

  Adam took a sip of his coffee and wondered how many circles of hell he’d just passed through that he was having coffee with the most hated reporter in Branson. “I’m not sure what you mean, Hilary. What is it you think I want to say?”

  “You want to say I told you so.”

  “I never told you anything to begin with,” Adam reminded her, “so I told you so would be entirely inappropriate. Why don’t you just start from the beginning and tell me what happened.”

  “I don’t suppose it matters now.” Hilary took a deep drink of her very hot coffee and made her lips into a thin line as though she was actually savoring the burn. “She doesn’t love me anymore.”

  Adam was pretty sure he’d just heard wrong. “Excuse me?”

  “Margo. She doesn’t love me anymore. She’s—oh, I can’t even tell you what she’s done! She’s betrayed me, Adam.” Hilary sounded utterly heartbroken.

  For a moment, Adam was silent. He was just trying to process what he’d learned. Hilary and Margo? As in the two of them were some kind of couple? That seemed rather unbelievable yet that was what Hilary was intimating sitting here in the nearly empty coffee shop with a five dollar cup of java in front of her.

  “I’m so sorry,” Adam said, because what else did you say? “I didn’t realize the two of you were a couple.”

  “I don’t know that we ever were.” Hilary sighed and removed her hands from her coffee mug so she could press her fingers beneath her eyes. Presumably she was going to cry.

  Adam handed her a napkin. “Sometimes being in a relationship is very one-sided, but that doesn’t mean the person who actually feels the emotions isn’t going through the real thing when the other person is just faking it.”

  “Faking it!” Hilary said frantically, her voice rising. “Yes! That’s it! She was faking it. I was so… I’m heartbroken,” Hilary told Adam. “Margo was just getting over someone else before we started… well it started. You know. But she was over it. She really was. And we were doing great. But now…”

  Adam didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t as if there was a law against same sex relationships. Missouri—and especially the southern counties—were pretty conservative, but they didn’t make it somehow impossible for same sex couples to be openly together. That sort of suggested that Margo had other issues.

  It was necessary to be very careful with this ticking time bomb however. Adam cleared his throat. “So, what you’re saying is you were really into this relationship with Margo. You thought the two of you were honestly a couple. You wanted to be open and out in public and make sure the whole world knew you were with Margo. Right?”

  “Yes,” Hilary moaned. She was swiping at her eyes again as though she were about to cry them out. “I thought it was real. And it turned out that Margo was just playing me. That’s it.”

  “Playing you for what?” Adam could not help but think that this was a very important point. “Why would Margo do that? What point could there be in leading you along, Hilary? Surely, you’re an astute sort of person. Honestly, I would think any lover would be insane to try to cross you. You know every bit of dirt on every single citizen in this town and you probably have a database of that stuff at home just waiting to be put into a story.”

  Hilary abruptly started to cry. Adam was lost. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. He kept handing her napkins and she kept balling them up into a recycled brown wad that she pushed up against her eyes in order to stem the flow.

  “Hey now, that wasn’t meant as an insult,” Adam assured her. He glanced around. The clerks at the front counter of the coffee shop were staring at them as though Adam and Hilary had two heads each. He turned back to Hilary. “Don’t be upset. I honestly wasn’t trying to be insulting. I was just thinking that Margo apparently has some baggage or something of her own and you’re just not aware of it and that’s probably why this happened.”

  Hilary sucked in a quick breath and abruptly stopped wailing. What was it with women and tears lately? Yesterday it had been Rhiannon Mounds, now Hilary was crying all over the place, and Kari Jo had been at it before that. At least Adam never had to worry about Ellie blubbering like this. If Ellie ever cried, Adam had a feeling the reason would be perfectly suited to the reaction.

  “You’re right,” Hilary whispered to Adam. “There must be some reason Margo decided to break up with me. There has to be something that she’s hiding. People are always hiding things. That’s why it takes a good reporter to dig out the truth and write it down so that people don’t have to be subject to the lies!”

  Hilary was suddenly done with her weepiness. There was no doubt that Adam probably wasn’t going to be her favorite person for much longer. She frowned at him. He pursed his lips and stared right back at her. “I’m very sorry that this had to happen, Hilary, but maybe it’s all for the best.”

  “Oh, it is,” Hilary suddenly assured him. “Margo thinks she’s hiding something from me. But what she doesn’t know is you can’t hide anything from me. I have my ways of finding things out and I always manage to do it.”

  “Which is why I’m sure you’ll know that whatever happened between you and Margo probably isn’t personal,” Adam said lamely. What was he doing? He should probably be trying to get out of the shop while he still had his head and his nuts.

  Hilary stared at him for a long moment. “You’re way too nice. You know that?”

  Adam was taken aback. Was that a compliment? Sort of, yet no. He felt like it was more of an insult.

  “You need to steer clear of that Ellie woman.”

  “Excuse me?” Now Adam was feeling very off balance and sure he wanted this conversation to end. “What are you talking about? Ellie Pierce and I are working on a case together.”

  “Yes, the case of the stalker letters,” Hilary agreed. Then she pursed her lips and shrugged. “You’d be better off just forgetting about them and leaving that horrible bitch Kari Jo Mounds to rot in her own festering cesspool of behavior.”

  “Wow. Tell me what you really think,” Adam said dryly.

  “No really,” Hilary said again. “Ellie Pierce is working for a very bad man. You don’t’ know what Titus Holbrook is really like. But the whole world is going to very soon and they’re not going to like what they see.”

  Adam frowned. It wasn’t really a warning about Ellie. But at the same time, Adam felt like he needed to ask Ellie if she was sure about the guy she was working with. So many warnings, so little time. And this was supposed to be the downhome closeness of a small town? Sheesh!

  It was time to make an exit, but about the time Adam thought he might have a way to get out of the coffee shop without playing therapist for one minute longer, the door opened and in walked Margo.

  Damn.

  The hostility level inside the coffee sho
p went from zero to a hundred in three seconds. That was how long it took Margo to see Adam and then Hilary Allenwood sitting just beside him at the little bistro table. It was like a curtain of ice descended between them.

  “Well, I thought I would step out for a quick cup of coffee, but I think I’m better off getting something out of the vending machine,” Margo said as she spun around to head for the door.

  If Hilary had been crying her eyes out a second ago, now she appeared to be mad as hell. Her sunburned face got even redder, which was odd because her eyes were like shards of ice. “Oh, what’s the matter? You can’t even look me in the face because you know what a horrible person you are? I see how it is. Fine. You be that way. After all, I’m not the one who did wrong. That’s all on you, babe.”

  Adam exhaled a little sigh. “Hilary, I’m going to head on back to the theater to finish my meeting with Ellie. Are you going to be all right?”

  “Fine!” Hilary snapped. She sent Adam an evil look. “I guess I know whose side you’re on.”

  Adam had that feeling, the one all men had when faced with a lose-lose situation with a woman. There was really nothing to do but cut his losses and go. Perhaps at some point Hilary would remember that Adam had been the one to buy her a coffee and at least sit and listen to her for a minute or two. Not that it would probably buy him a stay of execution, but it was still worth mentioning.

  “You’re on my side, huh?” Margo snorted and made a face. “I don’t see that happening, Adam Cathcart. And I don’t care what that woman told you. It’s all a lie. Just remember who she is and what she’s like. Hilary Allenwood will say anything to get a story. And that’s the only truth about it.

  Sure. No problem. Adam would just keep that in mind and hopefully at some point these women would stop trying to stick him in the middle of their “issues.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’m not sure exactly what you’re trying to insinuate here, young lady,” Harvey Lightman said in a tone that reeked of something that struck Ellie as patently false. The guy was blustering because he was hiding something. That much was obvious, however, there was something odd about the man’s behavior in general.