The next morning, Harri and Detective Tom Bards met at the PAB and took an unmarked vehicle to Sophie Lambert's parents’ house. The Lambert family lived in a sixteen-unit apartment building off of Commonwealth Avenue, also in Los Feliz.
Harri pulled the car in front of the hulking concrete building with little character and parked. As she got out of the car, she noted the raw gravel landscaping and trash scattered in places and thought this family was not doing as well as their neighbors.
It was an old building that wasn't kept up and Harri wondered how four people could live in a small apartment. She knew it happened all the time in Los Angeles due to incredibly high housing costs, but she couldn't imagine living with two kids in a small space like that. They had to get on each other's nerves.
Tom had gone over the case as it stood on their ride over. The parents had made a positive ID of their daughter Sophie Lambert the night before.
“The mother was pretty hysterical last night. We settled on this morning for an early meeting,” he said.
Harri nodded. “Her grief must be unimaginable.”
“It is.”
Harri knew it was going to be a rough interview. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor and walked down the dark hallway to Unit 403.
Tom knocked on the door and it was opened immediately by a woman bearing a very striking resemblance to her daughter.
Elle Lambert had her black hair up in a messy bun. She wore a black maxi dress and her image was totally Hollywood cool. Her look, while current, was more for a twenty-something starlet and not a pushing fifties mom. But from the picture that Harri had studied earlier in the morning, Sophie was her mother's daughter.
“Please come in,” Elle said.
She stepped back and Tom walked into the bright cheery living room, Harri right behind him.
Drew Lambert, a man who looked his age with thinning hair, stood up from the sofa and shook both of their hands.
Tom had told Harri that Elle was Sophie Lambert's full-time manager and the father was a freelance editor on numerous reality TV shows. He traveled a lot and wasn't home often, Tom had explained.
“Would either of you like a glass of water?” Elle asked. The puffiness in her eyes revealed she’d been crying all night.
“No, thank you,” Harri said. “Is it okay if we record this interview?”
“Yes,” Elle said as she glanced at her husband.
Drew nodded and Elle sat down next to him on the sofa.
Harri and Tom sat down in the club chairs across the coffee table from the Lamberts. Harri took out her phone and activated the recording feature.
“Tell us about that Friday,” Tom began.
Elle looked at Drew and he gave her a nearly imperceptible nod. Harri guessed they’d spoken beforehand about who was going to fill in the narrative. Apparently, it had been decided Elle would do that herself.
“I last saw Sophie at breakfast,” Elle began. “She had her usual, three hard-boiled eggs and coffee and then she went off to school.”
“All right,” Tom said. “What was the rest of her day like?”
“Well, she had an audition down on La Brea. It was for an independent feature,” Elle added.
“They don't care what it was for,” Drew said with a ragged voice.
“Well I'm sure they’ll want to speak to the casting director of the film,” Sophie said sharply.
Harri resisted the urge to look over at Tom but noted the apparent disagreement the parents were having.
“She said that audition went fantastic,” Elle sniffed. “She was bubbly and happy. The casting director, Marguerite Wilson, had told her she would definitely be getting a callback.”
“And she came back home after that?” Tom asked.
“She had to have, but I was unable to go with her because my other daughter, Andrea, had gotten into some trouble at school and I had to go have a parent-teacher conference. Otherwise, I always went with her to her auditions. I was at Andrea’s school when she texted me saying she was on her way home. Then we ran errands, Andrea and me.”
“Did you see her at all that day after she left for school?” Tom asked.
Elle dabbed at her eyes and shook her head. “I just got a couple more texts from her saying that she was going to Addison's house to sleep over. They did that all the time, so I didn't think it was a big deal.”
“You said you found Addison James’ cell phone in Sophie's room. When was that?” Tom asked.
“It was the next morning,” Drew said. “I kept hearing a buzzing all night long. It was driving me crazy. I finally went into Sophie's room, even though she told me never to go in when she wasn't there. I found the phone under the bed.”
“That's not like a teenage girl to leave her cell phone behind,” Harri piped in.
“That's the thing,” Elle looked at Harri. “The girls don't go anywhere without those phones. It’s like they’re attached to their hands. That was the first thing that got us worried. I called Addy's mom the moment Drew found the phone and that's when we figured out the girls weren’t there. We called all her friends, but no one knew where they were. Or where they had gone off to.” Elle’s face became pale at the retelling of the story and her no-nonsense demeanor wilted.
“We’re going to need a list of the names you called,” Tom said.
“Also, who was your daughter’s agent?” Harri asked.
“She has one of the best agents in town,” Elle said proudly. “The Cosgrove Lucida Agency, CLA, on Rodeo in Beverly Hills. Derek Cosgrove is her agent. They said she would be the next Megan Fox.”
Tears streamed down her face at what could have been. As Drew Lambert jotted down the names and phone numbers of the people they’d called looking for Sophie, Tom nodded to Harri who took over the questioning.
“Do you know of anyone who might want to harm your daughter?” she asked.
“No,” Elle said in surprise. “No, of course not. Everyone loved Sophie. She was a gorgeous girl who was the center of life at her school. She was kind to everyone and fun, and her career was starting to take off. She was always auditioning. Sophie was going to make it this year.” With that, a sob escaped her lips.
Drew Lambert awkwardly patted his wife on the back as sobs overcame her and shook her body. He didn't look to be that affected, which Harri thought was interesting. Was he just numb? No, this was different.
Harri turned to Drew. “Mind if I use your bathroom?” she asked.
Drew nodded and waved toward the hallway.
Harri stood up and left the living room, peeking through the doors at the rooms beyond. She wanted to check out Sophie’s room without any parents hovering around.
Harri first opened the door to what was obviously the master bedroom. She closed the door quietly and went to the next one. Harri opened the next door and saw a room that was painted in a lavender shade and was clearly shared by the two Lambert daughters. There were two single beds and one side looked more juvenile than the other. On what must be Sophie’s side, there were photos of Sophie Lambert at all stages of growing up. She’d been a pageant baby all the way to a few years ago by the looks of the photos and awards.
Harri always found images of four- and five-year-olds in full makeup and big hair disturbing and that’s exactly what she saw as she glanced at the pageant photos displayed on the shelves. Sky high shellacked hair with dark eyes and pink blush. So, her mother really had been grooming her to be part of show business for a long time.
Harri went over to Sophie's desk, but found it completely clean. No diaries or journals or anything. Kids kept all that stuff on their phones now. What they needed to do was get permission to go into her social media.
She left Sophie's bedroom and went to the bathroom and flushed the toilet to make it seem like she’d done her business. She walked back to the room and Elle had finally calmed herself down.
“Do we have your permission to get access to her social media?” Harri asked.
�
�Absolutely,” Drew said immediately. “You can have her laptop if you want.” He disappeared down the hallway where Harri had just been. He came back holding a bag with an Apple MacBook inside. “It should all be there,” he said as he handed the bag to Harri.
“We’re going to find who did this to your daughter,” Harri said.
Tom gave her a sharp look but Harri ignored him. No police officer wanted to promise something that they couldn't deliver. Harri would do whatever was in her power to get Sophie justice.
Elle grabbed her hand and tearfully said, “Thank you.”
Neither Harri nor Tom had anything further, so they stood up to go.
“We'll be in touch if we have any other questions,” Tom said.
Drew nodded as Elle stood and sobbed into his shoulder again.
They left the couple as they were in their living room. As they turned toward the elevator bank, they saw a teenaged black-haired girl walking towards them, skateboard under her arm.
“Five dollars that's little sister,” Harri whispered.
“Are you Andrea Lambert?” Tom asked.
“Who wants to know?” the girl responded warily.
“We’re with the LAPD. Investigating your sister's death,” he said.
The girl nodded.
“I’m Sophie's sister.”
“When was the last time you saw her?” Harri asked.
Technically, they were supposed to get the parents’ permission to speak to a minor, but they were in the hallway right outside the front door and Harri forged on.
“I saw her that Friday,” Andrea said. “She was all excited. Going off to some Hollywood party with her friend. Addy.”
Harri cleared her throat. “You have an address for this Hollywood party?” She asked.
“Sure, ‘cuz I’m a limo driver,” Andrea smirked.
“You got it, or not?” Tom snarled.
Andrea was defensive and Harri could guess why. She’d seen the bedroom she shared with Sophie. All the pictures and awards were of Sophie. None were of Andrea.
“I dunno. Something about the Hollywood Hills,” she said. “That’s all I heard when she was on the phone with Addy.”
Tom raised his eyebrow at her.
“I was listening. So what?” she asked defensively.
“Did you hear anything else about the party?” Tom asked.
“No. That was it.”
“Were you with your mom that day? She mentioned something about a parent-teacher conference?” Harri asked.
“That was earlier on that Friday. She dropped me off in front of the building after and then went to run some errands,” he said.
Interesting, Harri thought.
Elle Lambert had said she’d been with Andrea running errands. It was a small omission, but one that might be useful later.
“Did you hear anything else about this Hollywood Hills party?” Tom prodded.
“No. That was it. I put my headphones on and played video games until she left. I feel bad now. I wish I’d said bye to her at least.”
Tom nodded and let the girl by.
“If we need to ask any more questions, we’ll talk to your parents. Okay?” Harri called after her.
“Sure, yeah whatever,” she said and entered into the apartment.
Tom and Harri didn't speak until they were back in the car.
“Did you catch that lie that Elle Lambert told us?” Harri asked.
“About being with Andrea all afternoon? Yeah, I did. I don't think she was the one who stuffed Sophie Lambert into a wall, though. Looks like she thought Sophie was going to be her meal ticket,” he said.
“Sophie had been a pageant girl from like the age of four. I think that mom really wanted her in show business,” Harri said.
“Yeah, that was the feeling that I got, too. Mom probably was on the pageant circuit for a while back in her day. But a Hollywood Hills party. I bet you somebody at one her auditions knows something about that,” Tom said.
“Then let’s go to the agency next,” Harri suggested.
“You drive. I'll find the address,” Tom said.
Harri pulled out of the parking spot and headed south on Commonwealth toward Beverly Hills.
10
Day 2
Debi Mills paced up and down the corridor, running through her lines. She had nearly killed herself getting to this car commercial audition on time even though she knew they’d be running late. She was right, of course, as it was three hours later, and she still hadn’t been called in.
The casting office was in a nice location on paper, but her experience getting there threw her off her game completely. Finding a place to park was nearly impossible. When she finally found a spot on one of the side streets, she ended up across a major homeless tent city right off of Santa Monica Boulevard on Van Ness. She didn’t scare easily, but she’d stepped on someone’s belongings and two men had chased her down the road.
Frightened as all hell, she’d sprinted and completely messed up her carefully applied makeup. Not to mention she ended up being twenty minutes late.
She’d had to work the late shift at the diner the night before and hadn't learned her lines as well as she would have liked. After the first hour of sitting in the waiting room with all the other girls, she finally had to leave the room. She told the assistant she was right outside in the corridor running her lines.
That had been about an hour ago. She kept peeking her head in to see where they were at, but the assistant kept saying she was still a couple of people away. She focused back on the part she was preparing for.
Debi tried on the fake smile for her part as the kid in the back of the car. An actor playing her dad is speeding. Her line was ‘Dad, you’re driving too fast.’
The problem she had was the tone. She had said the line in a hundred different ways and she couldn't exactly get the point of the commercial. What was the message behind it? She didn't see the angle. She prided herself in always getting the angle of any commercial so she could get the right tone. This one was just not coming to her.
She bit her lip.
This was her fourth commercial with Nancy Grayson, the casting director that was in charge today. Nancy must like her because she kept calling Debi back in. August said that was a really good thing.
Her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t want to mess up her good streak. She paced to the end of the corridor and came back again.
Why would a girl be in the back seat when her dad was driving his fast new Beemer? Why not the passenger seat? And why would a dad want to have his kid with him as he raced his new car? She sighed and tried the line again.
“Fancy seeing you here,” a voice said from behind her.
Debi turned around and saw the woman named Georgie she’d met at her last audition. Debi gave her a big smile.
“This is a coincidence. Are you an actor?” Debi asked.
“Sometimes. My dad is Glenn Shipwell. You know that big western star from the seventies.”
Of course, Debi had heard of him. Who hadn’t? He was as popular as Clint Eastwood. He was a legend.
“Wow, you're his daughter?” she asked.
Georgie nodded. “Unfortunately. But I try not to think about that. So, I come and go into acting. I mean, I suppose it's what all kids of famous actors do. I actually do enjoy it, but I also don't love the way the industry kind of uses us up and throws us out. You know what I mean?” she asked.
Debi nodded.
She could only hope to be used at this point. She really needed to get her first job so she could get her SAG card. She hadn’t been able to do that yet.
“How come you're out in the hallway?” Georgie asked.
“I’m running my lines. I know the line, but not my approach,” Debi explained.
“Is Nancy running late again?” Georgie asked.
“You know Nancy Grayson, too?” Debi asked and then felt foolish. Of course, she would know all the casting directors in town. “That was a stupid question,
never mind.”
“I grew up here. You know how it is,” Georgie said. “Speaking of acting, I have a fantastic coach I go to for lessons. He has a conservatory theater in Culver City. Have you heard of Desmond Ryan?” Georgie asked.
Debi's heart started beating faster. Everyone in town knew who Desmond Ryan was. He’d been in all the papers about how he was coaching the troubled star of the most recent Stars and Space flick. He was her acting coach, too?
“That's kind of amazing,” Debi admitted.
Georgie cocked her head. “You want to come with me tomorrow?” she asked.
“Seriously, me?” Debi asked.
“Why not.? He loves having people audit his class. It's twenty-five dollars for four hours of magic. You will get so much out of it,” Georgie said.
Twenty-five dollars was an amount she couldn’t spare.
“I have to keep the afternoon open in case work calls. I’m on call,” Georgie lied.
“I get it. Twenty-five bucks can be a lot for a beginning actor. Let me pick that up. I really want you to go. I can see how hard you work on your craft and you deserve to have the kind of education that Desmond provides.”
Debi worked hard to keep her tears in. “Seriously, are you sure?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” Georgie said. “My pleasure.”
The door opened and the assistant poked her head out. “Debi Mills, it's your turn,” she said.
Debi turned back to Georgie. “How do I contact you?”
Georgie pulled out her phone. “What’s your number?”
Debi recited her number and Georgie texted back her contact info. Debi’s phone pinged.
“Text me tomorrow morning. I'll send you the address,” Georgie said.
Debi wanted to hug the woman, but she was a little shy. Instead, she waved good-bye and followed the assistant back into the room.
Desmond Ryan, Debi thought. How did I get so lucky? And Georgie, daughter of a famous actor, taking her to a famous acting coach’s class. Debi felt like she was floating on clouds.
Her smile was a hundred watts when she walked into the audition and faced Nancy, the casting director, the producers, and two ad execs. Debi didn't bat an eyelash.
The Broken Trail: A Chilling Serial Killer Thriller (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 3) Page 6
