"That sounds great," I said, despite the insincerity in my words.
"Yeah, there's just one problem," said Joe.
"What's that?"
"Can you please make sure Lauren isn't the murderer?"
"Will that hurt the deals?" I asked, thinking, yes, it would.
"Hell, no," he laughed. "We can probably up the price of everything. But I don't want that, I want Lauren to be okay. She's a nice kid. Probably the nicest of them all, and I mean no disrespect to my wife in saying that."
"I can't make any promises, but she's under twenty-four hour surveillance. If we can get the proof she didn't do it, we will," I assured him.
Joe breathed out. "I appreciate that."
"He won't appreciate the bill," Lily muttered.
Joe glanced at her. "I don't care what it takes, or how much it costs, if you prove Lauren didn't kill Katya. Since you're my alibi," he said, pointing his forefinger to me, "I don't mind saying Katya was a huge bitch and everyone hated her, but she didn't deserve to die; and if Lauren didn't do it, I don't want her going down for it."
"Like I said, I'll do what I can."
"Thanks." Someone yelled Joe's name from over near the video set and he looked up, raising a hand in recognition. "I have to go, but one more thing..."
"Yeah?"
"Did you find out who Michael is?"
I shook my head. "Not yet."
"I tried asking Lauren, but she clammed up and said she didn't want to talk about it. Maybe he's from her past, but if not, maybe this Michael guy can give her an alibi."
"He's right. Michael could be the key to Lauren's innocence," Lily said as we watched Joe walk away. I scanned the area designated for wardrobe as I looked for Lauren, my heart thumping briefly in the moments I couldn't see her. Then, it began beating with relief again as she reappeared in full costume. She, Amelia and Shelley all walked over to the set, and the crew broke out into applause. For the first time in the brief days since I'd known her, Shelley gave a shy smile and waved, taking a small bow.
"Let's get to work, people," she yelled. "Let's make beautiful music."
Lauren and Amelia cheered and high-fived her.
"I don't know who Michael is," I confessed. "I can't find any record of her ever knowing a Michael. He's not on her birth certificate, and she's not registered as being married. She doesn't have any brothers or cousins with that name. I even scoured her relationship history. No Michael."
"The guy has to exist somewhere."
"When Fletcher takes over the surveillance shift, I'm going to search deeper into her background. If he's there, I'll find him."
"What if he's here?"
I paused. The idea had already crossed my mind, but I only made a cursory effort at looking for him. "There are no Michaels in the crew. I already checked."
"What if he isn't with the crew?" Lily suggested. "What if he came to Montgomery too, but he's Lauren's big secret, right? They wouldn't announce it if it was a secret, romantic thing like Amelia and Joe. Maybe he'd stay at the hotel in a different room and have secret trysts with her?"
"I'll check the hotel registers."
Lily gasped. "What if he's married? That hussy! Maybe that's why it's such a big secret. She's a home wrecker!"
"Don't start anymore rumors!" I warned.
"You know who you should ask," Lily said, turning to the set and pointing. Beyond the cameras that were getting into position, and the dancers, now hurrying to their marked spots, were three stunning women who were taking their places on the podiums. "You should ask Amelia. She knows everyone's secrets."
~
Fletcher arrived midway through filming. "Your six hours are up," he said, sidling, unnoticed, next to me and making me jump.
"Don't do that!" I hissed as a guy in a black shirt marked "crew" held a finger to his lips. He pointed to the neon Quiet! Filming! sign.
"Sorry. What's going on?"
"They've just started filming."
"I can see that. Bring me up to speed," said Fletcher.
While Lily watched the set, looking totally captivated, I whispered my surveillance report to my colleague. It was brief, since Lauren's day consisted of nothing more than leaving the hotel, collecting two dancers from their hotel, eating at Alessandro's while Lily and I waited with a pair of Butterfingers outside, and then straight back to the set. After several hours of full-costume rehearsals, the band finally began to film their first sequence. "According to the schedule Solomon emailed to my phone, they'll be here for another few hours before heading back to the hotel," I summarized. "There's no way you can lose Lauren."
Fletcher snorted. "Famous last words."
"Whose?" asked Lily.
Fletcher shrugged. "No one knows. Dude died before they got his name."
"Oh, that's sad," sighed Lily.
"Okay, we're going," I told him as he shook his head at Lily. "Is Lucas in the office? I might need help with some background research."
"Does the guy go anywhere else?"
"There are unconfirmed reports he has been spotted out in the open."
Lily added, "He's got a great tan for an agoraphobic."
"Do you think Lucas is agoraphobic?" I asked, stepping away and strongly urging Lily to follow me before Fletcher could listen to anymore.
"Nope. He came into the bar last week with a really pretty woman. He had his arm around her."
"That must be his fiancée. I think they've been together for years."
"Aww, that's nice. You know what else is nice? Your sister and Delgado came into the bar a couple of weeks ago. They had cocktails and Serena was really nice to the bar staff. None of them cried. Not once!"
"She's pretty nice to everyone since she and Delgado got together."
"Do you think they'll get married?"
"I don't know. I think Delgado wants to, but Serena's ex-husband has pretty much put her off marriage."
"Maybe they'll shack up together in unwedded bliss."
"I think she's still got those traditional values of placing marriage above living together."
"They'll make cute babies."
"Probably," I said in semi-agreement. My sister and co-worker getting married wasn't something I thought much about. But now that it was on my mind, I liked the idea of having Delgado as a brother-in-law. Given his predecessor, a cheating rat-bastard — which I confirmed when Serena asked me to tail him — the bar he had to hurdle over was not set very high.
"You and Solomon could make cute babies?"
"I try not to think about it," I told her as we got into her car.
"You must. You must imagine what it would be like sometimes."
"Okay, sometimes." Truthfully, I awoke that morning thinking about exactly what it would be like to marry Solomon and start a family with him. We skirted around the issue of a shared future occasionally, but neither of us ever said anything stronger than "I love you." Neither of us ever suggested that marriage was on the horizon, or a family. I wasn't sure if I were waiting for him to broach the subject, if he were waiting for me to, or if neither of us even thought that far ahead.
Lily and I discussed my future a few times and I was still trying to process my thoughts. As I considered it now, on our way out of the warehouse, I wondered if kids would be in my future. I believed I could be a good mother. I thought I would like to be a mom one day too, but right now, could I handle pushing a stroller and keeping up with my life of surveillance and solving crimes? Although my job was flexible, it would certainly be hard to combine the two. Before babies entered the picture, there was something else... could I see Solomon and me taking wedding vows? Would I sell my beloved buttercup yellow bungalow and move into his smart townhouse in Chilton? Or would Solomon move into my smaller, cuter pad? Could I see Solomon fathering our children? And the two of us taking turns at getting up in the night and pushing a stroller around the park?
Somewhere, deep inside me, my ovaries pinged.
"What's the sudden interest in every
one making babies?" I asked, thinking back to Solomon's mention of insisting his daughter keep her room tidy. Clearly, he saw himself as a dad one day.
"Just making small talk... Is that the time? I'll drop you off at the agency on my way downtown. I have an appointment."
"What for?" I asked, barely having enough time to buckle my seatbelt before Lily sped out of the lot.
"Dentist. Ouch!" She raised a hand to her jaw and winced unconvincingly.
"What happened?"
"I bit a... really big... um... nut?"
"You bit a really big nut?" I repeated.
"Super hard nut. Think I cracked a tooth."
"Shouldn't you be in a lot of pain?" I asked, my suspicion growing.
"I am! That's why I'm going to the dentist!"
"Your dentist is in West Montgomery. We're going..."
"Downtown, where your agency is. No need to thank me for being a brilliant friend. In fact, here's your agency now. Let me know when you find out who Michael is. Later!"
I was on the curb before I could ask Lily another thing. "My best friend is weird," I said to the empty sidewalk. Lily's Mini sped into the distance before turning a corner and disappearing. "Also, I don't have a ride home." My shoulders dropped as I turned and walked up the steps into the building that housed the agency. I greeted Jim, the doorman, and hopped into the waiting elevator, stepping onto our floor seconds later.
The agency was empty but for Solomon who sat in the small office in the corner, reading what looked like a magazine. The blinds were up and his door was open so I dropped my purse on the desk and walked over.
"How did surveillance go?" he asked, looking up and smiling as I entered.
"Fine. Lauren didn't do anything weird. She just followed her schedule. They started filming the video for their new song as Fletcher and I swapped places."
"She meet anyone out of the ordinary?"
"No. She hung out with two of the dance crew for lunch, then it was all crew on set."
"Hmm."
"I spoke with Joe. He wants us to clear Lauren rather than pinning Katya’s murder on her."
"Reasonable request."
"But clearing her? What if she did it? So far, she's the prime suspect."
"Find the truth," Solomon said simply. "Even if our client is wrong."
"Ok. Hey, I think I saw someone else observing her too," I told him, recalling the two men with badges.
"Yeah? Who would that be?"
"Could be MPD or FBI. I didn't recognize them, but they had that law enforcement look."
"I'll reach out and see who else has an interest in watching Lauren. Why are you in the office?"
"I want to try and trace Michael."
Solomon frowned. "Michael?"
"Lauren's big secret, remember? Hey, are you reading a mom and baby magazine?"
Solomon dropped the magazine. "No. It's a parenting magazine."
"How's that different?"
"It has a mom and dad on the cover and there's a column written by a dad on page seventeen."
"Okaaay."
"It's interesting stuff."
I paused, feeling confused. I'd seen Solomon reading a bunch of things from Time to the national newspapers, and a few books too, but the parenting magazine was a novelty. "Did Lily call you?" I asked, suspicion tingeing my voice.
"No. Why?"
"No reason."
"I think I'd make a good dad," said Solomon.
I froze, rooted to the spot. My day was getting weirder. "Okay."
"I mean, I'd get up in the night and change diapers. I don't even mind picking out strollers; and if a nursery has to be pink, so be it."
"Okay," I said again.
"I'd probably wear one of those sling things that you put the baby in so it's strapped to your chest."
I opened my mouth to say, "okay" again, but this time, nothing came out but air.
"Just saying," said Solomon, as he picked up the magazine again.
I remained standing, unsure of what to say. First, Lily asked if Solomon and I would have babies... now Solomon was telling me he'd be a great dad. All of a sudden, the rush of the future infiltrated my airspace and all I could do was allow my thoughts to spiral in every direction through my mind, as if my future life were flashing before my eyes. None of it was clear, but it was... possible. Wedding, marriage, baby, home, family... they were all there, waiting for me and all I had to do was grab them.
"There's something I need to tell you," I said without thinking first.
Chapter Fourteen
"Lexi!"
"I know! I know! I'm sorry!" Color flooded my face as the weight of Solomon's disapproval bore down on me, but I just couldn't keep it in any longer. Not when he was talking about babies and painting a nursery pink. I couldn't keep my secret to myself. I had to tell him about my rookie error, as well as my part in leaking the story to the media. "I didn't mean to speak in front of a journalist."
"It's too late for 'sorry.' You should never have opened your mouth."
"It won't happen again. I promise."
"I hope not. You're lucky this time, Graves. After the band and their management's initial reaction died down, they began to see the positive side of Shelley's story breaking."
I dropped into the chair. "Joe implied they stood to make a ton of cash if the various deals went through."
"Let's hope so." Solomon fixed me with a hard look. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" he asked.
"No."
"Let me rephrase that; is there anything you need to tell me?"
I thought about the awful impromptu stage performance at the strip club that I managed to quash. Spinning a story in B4U's favor was one thing; but that video would be hard to explain. Thankfully, I was certain I had the only copy. I vowed I would destroy it as soon as I could. "Nope."
"You sure?"
"One hundred percent."
"Okay. You said you had work to do?"
"Deeper background checks on Lauren, especially in relation to her secret man, Michael," I told him, again.
"Do you have a lead on this Michael?"
"No," I said, relieved that the conversation switched to more stable ground, "but I can't help thinking Michael is the key to Lauren's missing hours. She doesn't want us to know anything about him, and she is sticking to her story. She says that she was taking a nap when Katya was murdered. Lily thinks she might be secretly meeting him."
"She could be right. Did you ask Amelia what she knows?"
"No, she was surrounded by people all day, and I couldn't risk losing Lauren. I'm going to find her later when the video shooting wraps up."
"Get as much information as you can use to prompt her. Amelia might not be as forthcoming, since she's been outed as a blackmailer, and Shelley and Lauren seem to have forgiven her. She might want to put it all behind her."
"I think they understood why she wanted out, but..."
Solomon picked up the desk phone. "But what?"
"Amelia hated the band so much that she wanted out, so why is she being so compliant now?"
"Does it matter? She narrowly escaped a blackmail charge and could have been implicated in a murder. She's probably relieved."
"Are we working on probables now?" I asked, knowing Solomon liked hunches, but he liked facts more.
"No, but the blackmail case is closed. We're not working on any other aspect of the case except surveillance on Lauren and finding the murderer. I only hope the two things aren't one and the same."
"I'm on it." Leaving Solomon's room, confused but relieved, I took my position at my desk, fired up my laptop, and started my search. It was great to finally have the time, and get away from all the craziness of the past few days. I wanted to conduct an in-depth research on one single band member.
While I had a stack of digital paperwork that combed through their most obvious records, including their drivers' licenses and dating histories — I suspected Shelley's was largely faked by management, given the
volume of young actors and boy band members – as well as her limited financial records. Lucas slammed up against a virtual brick wall when it came to their bank accounts; but according to the report I now read, he located several properties registered in their names. Katya had a condo in LA, Shelley had an apartment in Santa Monica, and Amelia owned apartments in LA and New York. As I examined the records again, I expected to find similar properties for Lauren. She had an apartment near Katya, but also a house in the suburbs.
The house was an anomaly, so I entered the address in the search engine and called up a street image for it. It was a neat, single story with an unenclosed lawn and had a minivan parked in the driveway. The house looked tidy and well maintained, apart from the child's bike on the lawn. I looked through the paperwork Lucas handed me, searching for information. Finding it, I read quickly. The utilities were registered to a Josephine Young, whom I figured had to be Lauren's mother or sister. It made sense she would buy a house for a family member to live in.
"Lexi," Solomon called. I looked up, finding him in the doorway.
"Yeah?"
"I checked with MPD and FBI; our girl is being followed by both parties."
I wasn't surprised. "Did they say why?"
"No. Time for you to charm your relatives and get some answers."
"Great, my favorite activity." I reached for my phone.
"I know what your favorite activity is, and it's not that." Solomon smiled.
"Sexual harassment in the workplace isn't okay," I told him primly.
"Just for that, I'll let you make all the moves later. I might need a lot of persuading."
I held back a laugh. "Doubt it." Dialing Garrett first, I ran through a few questions in my head. Was the police interest in Lauren the same as ours? What did they know that I didn't? Was Lauren their number one suspect in Katya's murder? Did they know who her mystery man was?
"Sis, this is not a surprise," said Garrett on answering. "I know why you're calling."
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