A Merry Christmas Wedding Mystery, Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #4 (Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series)

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “I don’t mean to make a big deal out of it. I’ve had to deal with professional jealousy before. A lot of young, temperamental actresses seem to have it in for us old witches, as Brigit called me. Once she gets a few more miles on her and more experience under her belt she won’t be so easily intimidated.”

  “By that point, she’ll be an old witch herself,” Mara said in a sarcastic tone. “It’s good you weren’t the one throwing things at her or the police detective might be asking you more questions.”

  “Ask away! I don’t have anything to hide. Brigit’s young, she’s got an attitude, but loads of talent. Despite her nastiness, it’s a boost to my career to be in a movie with the brat. The part I have is a juicy one, in a beloved Marvelous Marley World classic tale. The script is well-written and the production top-notch. Why would I want to harm her or do anything to keep this project from moving along?”

  “I will want to get a statement from you, Gloria, about that incident. If you’ve had other trouble like that with her, you should fill me in. Is there anything personal going on that might be antagonizing her?”

  “You mean like Tristan preferring the Black Swan Queen to the lovely Christiana.” That was Mara once again. I was beginning to wonder what made Mara tick. Was she trying just a bit too hard to make something of the trouble between Brigit and Gloria?

  “That subject also came up, Mara. I asked Brigit if she has a personal interest in Brad and she told me no, Jack,” I said.

  “It’s no secret that Gloria and I are together. In fact, as ‘GloBrad’ we’re Hollywood’s hottest couple right now. We’re part of the ‘buzz’ out there about the movie. A love affair going on backstage means free publicity for all of us.”

  How romantic, I thought as my suspicions roamed in his direction. Kidnapping the star would create quite a stir, too.

  “Be still my beating heart! Brad makes this sound more contrived than it is. We were a couple before the filming started. The gossip machine may have put Brad and Brigit together, at one point, but that never happened.”

  “If everyone plays nice, I don’t care who’s romantically entangled with whom. Not my business,” Max asserted. “I’m not of the opinion that any publicity is good publicity, but a love story on the set during the making of a film about a love story—that’s not bad.”

  “Too bad you can’t switch out the princess and queen parts and play off the chemistry between Gloria and Brad...” Mara stopped speaking mid-sentence. I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t glare, but I did stare at her. I wasn’t the only one. “What? I’m just sayin’.”

  “Well, that’s not going to happen. Good chemistry can help on screen, but it’s not essential. Bad chemistry, on the other hand, can complicate matters when it comes to taking direction. Still, if it’s between film rivals, Princess Christiana and the Black Swan Queen, a little bad blood might not be all that bad,” Nelson sniffed. “Now that all of this is out in the open, I can deal with it.”

  “While we’re discussing Brigit’s love life, she did say her ‘dance card is full.’ I take that to mean she’s seeing someone. Does anyone have any idea who that could be?” Eyes darted around the room in response to my question. Finally, Imogene spoke.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s that pop singer with all the tattoos and an attitude worse than hers. You know, the one with that ‘If I could make you mine,’ song that you hear everywhere?”

  “Are you kidding? You mean Todd Templeton? No way! He’s with Cara Orwell—winner of last season’s America’s Hottest Model competition. No wait. They broke up. Oh baby, if he was cheating on her with Brigit, you’d better send someone to check the trunk of her car and her walk-in closet. She’s got a huge one in her house up in the Hollywood Hills. Maybe she snatched Brigit!” Mara seemed prepared to go on and on about it. Then she stopped speaking and her eyes widened.

  “The people at Backstage Buzz would pay big bucks if you’ve got a picture of Brigit and Todd together, Imogene. Do you have one?” Simultaneously, several of us responded and in louder voices than necessary.

  “No, Mara!” My brain hadn’t had time yet to process what this meant for the film or Marvelous Marley World. Brigit's disappearance had come as such a shock. My gut told me, however, that creating “buzz” right now might not be good for Brigit.

  “Absolutely not!” Imogene responded speaking louder than the rest of us amid that chorus of “no’s.” “I don’t go around taking pictures of people with whom I work. I happened to bump into them one evening when I went to Brigit’s condo to leave fabric samples. That was weeks ago, but I heard her speaking to him on the phone recently.”

  “Hang on, hang on. I’m sure Mara’s not going to do anything to jeopardize our efforts to find out what’s happened to Brigit. If something has, indeed, happened to her. Given her behavior earlier today it’s still possible she took off in a fit of anger and is walking it off somewhere like Inspiration Garden.”

  “She was expecting someone, Jack. While I was in her dressing room, Brigit was on the phone a couple of times. I didn’t hear a name, but during that first phone call she chewed out the person on the other end for being late. Not in a mean way but the way you might scold a boyfriend for keeping you waiting. Lunch was supposedly on the way too so that she could have had more than one visitor.”

  “Okay, so maybe she pitched a fit, cut herself or the boyfriend on the broken glass in there, and then took off with him. Just in case, though, no one speaks to anyone about this unless it goes through proper channels first, right? That means you contact Georgie or me before you share information about this with anyone. Mara’s point that someone could have taken Brigit isn’t completely off the mark.”

  “Why? How?” Then I flashed on the image of the guy with the coffee cart I had run into as I left Brigit’s room. “You all talked to the coffee cart guy, right? Maybe he saw what happened after I left.”

  “Who?” This time Jack and Ralph spoke in tandem. I began to explain what I meant when there was shouting in the corridor.

  “Stop now, or we’ll stop you!” Shouts were followed by a thud as if a body had hit the floor.

  6 Pop Phenom

  Bodies, to be more precise. From my previous experience with Jack when there was trouble afoot, I knew I should stay put. Run away from danger, not toward it. None of us did that, of course. Even Imogene rushed with us into the hall where a scuffle was going on. Two Marvelous Marley World Security Associates were wrestling with a guy in a hoodie and sunglasses squirming around on the floor. The county CSIs Jack had called in to collect evidence from Brigit’s dressing room stood in the doorway wearing gloves and booties, gawking at the scene in the corridor.

  “How did he get in here?” Ralph asked. “I told the front gate not to let anyone into the studio grounds and that we’re on lockdown in this building.”

  “That’s true, Sir,” one of the guards said as he picked himself up off the floor. He dusted off his khaki pants and straightened his tie.

  “You got him?” he asked the guard still practically sitting on the young man.

  “Yep. He’s not going anywhere,” the guard responded.

  “He used the elevator. We had just come up the back stairs when we spotted him stepping out of it. Doug and I had finished our search of the area down there. No blood, but we did find a couple of crystals that might be like the one found in the corridor up here.” He held them in the palm of his hand.

  “Betty, can you come bag these, please?” As soon as Jack made that request, one of the CSIs hustled on over and held out a small envelope. “You want to tell us who you are and where you came from?” Jack asked the guy, face down on the ground in a hoodie.

  “I’m Todd Templeton,” he said pulling that hoodie back to expose his face. Mara gasped. “I was at the Animation Building, and they said this would be the fastest way over here—go through the tunnels and take the elevator upstairs. Call them. They’ll tell you. I’m in talks about doing a voice for a character in an upcom
ing Marvelous Marley World Catmmando Tom movie. I love that cat and thought it would be a blast to play a part. Brigit set it up for me. It took way longer than they said it would to show me around, read the parts, and decide which character I’m going to play.” He squirmed again. “Brigit, where are you? I know you’re mad at me because I’m late. Tell this Marvelous Marley Marvelette to get off my back. Did you sic them on me?” When no one responded, it must have dawned on him that something was wrong.

  “What’s up, you guys? Where’s my wife? I want to see my wife!”

  “Whoa, his wife? Is the Pop Phenom talking about Brigit?” Mara whispered. “They’re married?” She had pulled out her cell phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the Pop Phenom, with that large security guard still pinning him to the ground. “Wait ‘til my friends get a load of this!”

  Jack reached out and took that phone from her hands. “No, you’re not going to show or tell your friends anything, remember?”

  “You can’t do that!”

  “You’ll get it back as soon as we figure out what’s going on with Brigit. Get him up off the floor, please. Todd, we’ve got investigators working in Brigit’s dressing room right now, so we’re all staying out of there. When did you last speak to the Mrs.?”

  “If you let me get to my phone I can show you. I called and texted Brigit.” He pulled the phone out of a satchel he was carrying. “See? These are my text messages. Here's the last message I got from her. You can tell she wasn’t too happy. She had already called and left a text and voice mail message, but I was in the middle of a meeting.” I peeked over Jack’s shoulder at the message on Todd’s phone.

  Food’s here. I’m hungry so take your chances on what’s left whenever you finally show up.

  “Here’s the message I sent her when she didn’t take my calls a few minutes later.”

  Hey Baby, left you a couple of voice mail messages. Pick up, will you? I’ve got good news. Sorry, it took so long. I’m on my way over to make it up to you.

  “Do you know who brought her the food?” I asked.

  “She ordered from some vegan place near here. Earth Bowls-R-Us or something. I don’t know. Why does that matter?”

  “Brigit’s gone,” Mara said. “Her dressing room was trashed.”

  “Mara, I think we’ve heard enough from you. Consider this a warning.” That was Max speaking. Mara looked like she might be on the verge of saying something more. Max held her in his gaze. “Another word and it’ll be a formal reprimand.”

  “Don’t try to shut her up. I want to know what’s going on. Is it true? Brigit’s missing? Did someone trash her room?”

  “Yes, she’s gone. I’m Detective Jack Wheeler with the County’s Homicide Detail.”

  “Homicide, as in Rizzoli & Isles? That’s where Brigit and I met. We were filming an episode together. Please tell me she’s alive.” Todd sucked in air and looked like he was going to be sick.

  “Take a deep breath. We handle missing person reports, too. I happened to be here on another matter when someone heard a disturbance a little while ago. Her dressing room is a mess, and there’s no sign of Brigit. We’re not sure what’s going on since this all happened in the past hour. Until you showed up, we thought she might have had a fight with a boyfriend before taking off with him.”

  “Well, as you now know, that didn’t happen. You have to find Brigit, please?”

  “Todd, this is Georgie Shaw. She spoke to Brigit shortly after noon. Georgie said Brigit was on the phone with someone during that time. I presume that was you. She also told Georgie that she was expecting food. From the text message Brigit sent you, it sounds like that happened as planned. That last message Brigit sent wasn’t long after Georgie left Brigit alone in her dressing room and only minutes before Imogene Delacroix says she heard noises.” Jack gestured toward Imogene.

  “Imogene and I have already met. What kind of noises?” Imogene took a step forward and answered his question.

  “Brigit had been having a bad day, Todd. Gloria said she had a fit and left the set. I saw her throw a phone at Gloria, and then she slammed her door in Gloria’s face. When I heard those noises, I assumed she was having another tantrum.”

  “At some point, Imogene became concerned about all the noise and went to check on her, right?”

  “That’s not exactly how it happened, Detective. Thinking about it now, what got me moving wasn’t the noise, but how quiet everything became. After all the banging and more door slamming, I thought I heard muffled voices. Then there was this horrible scraping sound. When that stopped, it seemed almost too quiet. I’m not sure why I opened her door when she didn’t answer since the simplest explanation was that she had left. That’s when I found all the mess your CSIs are examining.”

  “CSIs? Why?”

  “I called in the CSIs because we found blood in Brigit’s room.”

  “Blood? This situation keeps getting worse and worse. Can I get a drink, please?” Todd was shaking. The clothes he had on, including his cross-trainers, were dirty and scuffed from all that wrestling with the guards. He was sweating, too. Was it because of the wrestling match with security staff or the stress of being questioned by a police officer? His expressions of concern about his wife seemed genuine, and his story made sense. It would be easy enough to corroborate where he had been and when he had left that meeting.

  “I’ll go get him a bottle of water if that won’t get me a reprimand.” Max glared at Mara. He was behaving remarkably well.

  “No. That’s what a Production Assistant is supposed to do. Fetch, Mara!” She screwed up her face and rolled her eyes.

  “Woof, woof,” she replied, panting in imitation of a dog as she hustled into Gloria’s room to retrieve water for Todd.

  “This isn’t good, is it?” Max asked. “Ralph, how is it that people seem to be able to come and go as they please around here?”

  “I’m sorry, Max, you know we’re still in the process of implementing all of the security upgrades. Anyone who came in through the front gates would have had to sign in. If someone delivered food to Brigit, or coffee as Georgie mentioned previously, there would be a record of their visit. Use of the tunnels is way more complicated than entry and exit via the front gate. Once someone's in the corporate buildings, Arcadia Park, or the nearby resort hotels, there are numerous entry and exit points. Unlike the park where all the entry points require key card access, the elevators in the buildings here in the studio complex don’t.”

  “Ralph, something must be done to make the entire corporate campus more secure. Hire more help if you need to do it. Outsource more of the work like we’re doing for security at the New Arcadia Visitor Center in Palm Springs with that big fellow, Peter March.”

  Max was struggling for control. Ralph stared at the floor. My compulsive need to do something about awkward silences and a sense of urgency about Brigit pushed me to speak.

  “Max, those are great ideas. Ralph’s been at this, nonstop, since he arrived. That hasn't been long at all, but I bet he can use all the resources you’re willing to give him. Especially now. You want him to focus on finding out what’s happened to Brigit, right?”

  “Absolutely!” With that, the tension fled, and Ralph picked up the conversation.

  “I want to know where you found those crystals, Gary.”

  “Crystals? Like the ones on that dress?” Todd asked.

  “Yes, she ripped that dress to shreds,” Imogene murmured.

  “Brigit wouldn’t have done that, Imogene. She loved that dress—said it made her feel like a real princess.” Todd suddenly paused. “Now that you mention it, I might have seen one of those in the elevator when I rode up in it. Right before I stepped out and got tackled. It’s near that big slash in the wall.”

  Big slash—as in the kind of slash that might have made the scraping sound Imogene heard? My eyes met Jack’s. I was on the move, down the hallway, with Jack on my heels. I punched the button, and the door slid open. Next to a large gouge
in the wood paneling was a long, ugly scrape on one side of the elevator.

  “What do you think, Jack?” He nodded and hollered.

  “Betty!” The CSI who had gone back into Brigit’s dressing room popped back out again.

  “Yes, Detective Wheeler, what is it?”

  “Are you and Devon about done in there?”

  “Yes.”

  “I need you two to examine the elevator before you leave, okay? Todd claims there’s another crystal in there. There’s also a large scrape on the right side as you enter. See if you can find anything that might give us a hint of what caused the damage.”

  “Well if it’s recent there might be a trace left by whatever caused the scrape.” Betty hustled on over to join us at the elevator door.

  “It’s recent. Around here, scrapes—especially big ugly ones like that—get fixed right away,” I said pointing at the marks.

  “There’s that crystal,” Betty said.

  “Look at that,” I added. A wispy fragment of fabric lay on the ground just inside the elevator, dirty as if it had been dragged along by a wheel of that cart. “I bet that’s tulle from the dress in Brigit’s room.”

  “Bag it and check it against the other scraps you’ve collected, will you?”

  “Sure. Uh, from here, Detective, that looks like a blood smear. If it’s a match to the blood in her room, it’s a pretty good bet the missing woman or her abductor left this way.”

  “I can’t believe that was Brigit’s idea. The plan we discussed involved a practice session on the set,” I said. “Maybe she headed out there already, and this is about a bungled break-in, although I doubt it. Ask Todd if she had any valuables with her in the dressing room. You should go speak to the crowd of extras dressed as Swanderland townspeople in the sound-proofed room where Karl headed with his Swanderling. For a moment, I could have sworn I saw Brigit near there. I’m not sure how that was possible since she would have had to walk right past our lunch table to get to that area.”