Mascara and Murder (Murder In Style Book 3)

by Gina LaManna

  I’d pushed him away more than once, and if I were being honest, there was a tiny part of myself that was relieved the date was rescheduled from this evening. Dating was hard. Putting yourself out there was hard. It was much easier to curl up with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and the latest edition of Cosmo.

  “You’re welcome,” Cassidy said, startling me.

  I turned around, my heart racing. “You’re welcome for what?”

  She winked. “I heard you sighing a huge sigh of relief. You’re welcome for giving you an excuse to get out of your date tonight.”

  “I didn’t want—”

  “Liar,” she said. “You were nervous.”

  “Sure, but—”

  “He’s cute, you know.” Cassidy brushed by me, crooking her finger for me to follow her. “Come on, let me show you something.”

  I followed Cassidy as she led the way to another trailer. She knocked, and when there was no answer, she opened the door and let herself inside. I took one glance at the name taped outside the trailer: Kiernan Brooks.

  “This is the writer’s trailer?” I asked.

  Cassidy closed the door behind me, all quiet-like. “Shh. This is where they keep the good coffee. We can’t spoil it, or there won’t be any left.”

  She led the way over to a coffeepot in the corner. Next to it was a bag of fancy-looking beans. There was even a small refrigerator underneath the coffeepot, and from the inside of it, Cassidy pulled out real, fresh creamer.

  “Sugar’s over there,” she said. “Now, dish.”

  I glanced around the trailer and found it to be quite sparse. A table and a few chairs, a small makeshift kitchenette, and most importantly, a real coffee machine. A laptop sat closed on top of the table. Kiernan was nowhere to be seen.

  “Dish?” I asked.

  “This guy,” she said. “Are you relieved you don’t have to date him because, you know, you don’t like him? Was it a pity date?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “You really do like him, then.”

  “I mean—”

  “It’s one or the other,” Cassidy said, clinking her spoon around her cup. “Either you were relieved because you wanted out of it, or you were relieved because you didn’t have to go through with something that made you nervous.”

  “That’s a little—”

  “Perceptive?”

  I shrugged, stirred my own coffee a little too vigorously. “I suppose. You might have a point that I’m not willing to admit.”

  “I know I do,” she said. “Based on how much you’re dodging my questions, it must be the latter.”

  “It is the latter,” I admitted miserably. “I like him. Cooper’s a great guy.”

  A smile peeked out over Cassidy’s coffee mug. “I knew it! But what about Ryan?”

  “What about him?”

  Cassidy waved her hands around. “It’s obvious he wants you back. He could’ve picked any small town in the world, yet here we are in the middle of Michigan.”

  “Totally,” I said, not bothering to correct her this time. “But Ryan and I are done. We didn’t work out.”

  “Why not?”

  “He dumped me when he got famous,” I said. “He can’t reconsider now.”

  “He can,” Cassidy said. “Doesn’t mean you have to accept it. I think he realizes he made a mistake letting you go.”

  “Well, it’s a little too late,” I said, though a touch of guilt pinched at my stomach. “I’m over it.”

  “Which is why you refuse to date someone else?” Cassidy nodded with a roll of her eyes. “That’s exactly what women who are over a previous relationship say.”

  “I just...” I hesitated. “Okay, maybe I wasn’t over it for a long time. It hurt, what he did to me. It rocked my world, and my entire life changed. I was just getting settled here when Ryan came back. It threw me for a loop.”

  “A good loop or a bad loop?”

  “Both?”

  Cassidy sipped her coffee and muttered something I couldn’t hear.

  “Can’t it be both?” I asked. “I mean, it was good to see Ryan. Not at first—at first, I was pissed. But he’s a human, and he’s allowed to make mistakes.”

  “Did you consider getting back with him?”

  “I mean, I’d lie if I said I didn’t consider what it would be like. But no, not seriously. I couldn’t do that.”

  “To you? To him?” Cassidy added another hunk of sugar to her coffee. “Or to Cooper?”

  “The situation with Cooper is complicated. I sort of became good friends with him at the same time I became good friends with my neighbor.”

  Cassidy dropped her spoon into her mug, and she looked down, startled. “Your neighbor?”

  “Yeah, his name’s Matt,” I said. “He’s a firefighter. You might’ve seen him around. He’s helping with security.”

  “Oh, yeah. I think I know who you’re talking about,” she said. “He’s pretty cute, too. Were you guys a thing, then?”

  “No, not at all,” I said, giving a shake of my head. “We’re just close friends. More brother and sister.”

  “Really? So you never...”

  I shook my head. “Oh, no. Not even close.”

  Which was a bit of an exaggeration, seeing as I didn’t really look at Matt like he was my brother. He was much too handsome for that, but that fact was neither here nor there, all things considered.

  “You’re telling me that you moved back and got your pick from the two cutest men in town?”

  “I wouldn’t say—”

  “Dang, girl. We’d better hire Kiernan to get this script about your life written and sent off to Hallmark.”

  I gave a hoarse laugh. “It’s not like that.”

  “Well, it was something like that,” she said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so worried about what Matt thinks of you going out with Cooper.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “Close enough.”

  “Huh,” I said. “You’re scarily perceptive.”

  “You’re just easy to read,” she said. “Who’s your heart with?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You just said that Matt felt more like a sibling,” she said. “Siblings are awesome. I love mine more than anything. But I’m not gonna marry them—obviously. Who’s your heart with, Matt or Cooper?”

  “I-I didn’t know. I don’t know.”

  “But your gut is pulling you in one direction.”

  “I suppose,” I said. “But it shouldn’t be, really. Cooper’s more of a wild card. Matt is great. He’s kind; he’s considerate; he’s lovely. He’s a firefighter, and he’s easy on the eyes, and...”

  “And you love Cooper.”

  I looked up at Cassidy. “No. I couldn’t.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Are you so sure about that?”

  “It’s too soon for love. Definitely too soon.”

  “But you’re thinking about it,” she said. “Do you want to go on your date tonight?”

  I shook my head. “I made a commitment to work. We’ll reschedule.”

  “Well, I’m sorry about that,” Cassidy said. “I would tell you not to cancel, but we do have a night shoot...”

  “I’ll be here. I promise.”

  She winked. “You’re a doll. But I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Cooper has waited this long. He’ll wait a little longer. Did you tell Matt about your date?”

  “Sort of,” I said. “I felt like I had to. Word travels here. I didn’t want him finding out from someone else.”

  “Smart,” she said, then she added a big shrug. “I wouldn’t worry so much about Matt.”

  “Why not?”

  “Have you seen the arms on that man?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “I don’t think he’ll have trouble finding someone who’s interested.”

  I expected the statement to make me feel uncomfortable, in the way that it had before. But I realized that Cassidy had a good point—Matt was a wonder
ful man. He would make someone a great catch someday. That person just wasn’t me—probably—and I was okay with it.

  “You’re right,” I said, giving a firm nod. “I’m sure he will. As he should because he deserves it.”

  Cassidy gave a few more eyebrow wiggles, then leaned forward to pour herself another cup of coffee. As she did, the door to the trailer opened. She dropped the coffeepot so loud it nearly cracked.

  “What are you doing here?” A red-headed man appeared in the door, scowling. “What’d I tell you about coming in here without asking permission? Buy your own freaking coffeepot.”

  “Sorry,” she said, skedaddling. “Just showing the new girl the ropes. My fault. Come on, Jenna.”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” I said, standing and giving a smile at Kiernan. “Go ahead.”

  Cassidy didn’t ask twice. She ran off while Kiernan surveyed the mess she’d left behind.

  “Did she steal my mug?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. “I swear, that woman...”

  “I’m Jenna McGovern,” I said, extending a hand for a shake. “I hear you’re the writer? It’s really lovely to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you. Kiernan.”

  “I was hoping to actually ask a favor of you,” I said. “Do you have an extra copy of the script?”

  “Uh, sure. I’m sure we’ve got one around here.”

  Kiernan eased into the trailer, casting me suspicious glances. He was over six feet tall and had to duck to be comfortable. He went straight to the table with the computer on it and grabbed a folder next to it.

  “Here you go,” he said. “This one is the latest draft. A few rewrites have been added since, but... did you say why you needed one?”

  “I’m the stylist,” I said. “I’ve got a bit of a break before meeting with Emma Lou, and I was hoping to take a peek at the script. You might have heard, Emily left, so they hired me as her replacement.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m not familiar with the script,” I said, since Kiernan didn’t seem to be really getting it. “It’ll be helpful to know what’s coming up so I can pick out clothes, search out what I need, etcetera.”

  “Fine. That should do it, then.”

  “Great.” I tapped the paper against my hand and stood there awkwardly.

  Kiernan opened his computer. When I still hadn’t left by the time it booted up, he glanced over the top at me. “Can I help you with something else?”

  Every instinct in my body told me to get out of there. It was obvious the man didn’t want to talk, and under most circumstances, I would have respected that. I wasn’t made of confidence. But the desire to better understand his relationship with Tennison and Ryan planted me to the spot.

  “I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am to hear about Tennison,” I said, sliding into a chair opposite him. “I heard you were friends with him.”

  “From who?”

  I cast my glance toward the coffeepot.

  “Right, of course,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Figures she’d gab. No secrets are safe with her.”

  “It’s got to be awful losing a friend like that.”

  “It is.”

  “Are you friends with Ryan, too? I heard the three of you got along.”

  “Ryan...” He shook his head. “I’m just here to work. It’s not a friendly thing.”

  “Oh, I see. Emma Lou must be really broken up,” I said sadly, keeping an eye on Kiernan for his reaction. “I can’t imagine what she’s feeling.”

  To my surprise, he gave a snort of disbelief. “I’m pretty sure she’s not over there crying in her trailer. She’s probably just biding her time, hoping she gets away with it.”

  “I thought her and Tennison were a thing?”

  “Were,” he said. “They had a huge fight the night before she shot him. Frankly, I’m pretty sure she fired the gun on purpose.”

  I waited quietly, hoping Kiernan would keep talking and forget that I was sitting there. He stared out the window, shaking his head slowly, a forlorn expression on his face. It certainly looked like he’d lost a friend.

  “That’d be just the thing she’d do,” he said. “I didn’t think she was so calculating. Honestly, I thought she was sort of a ditz. You know, Hollywood blonde actress and all of that.”

  “But she’s not?”

  “She plays dudes like a fiddle,” he said. “She hooked up with Ryan the second Sierra dumped him. She preyed on him when he was all down and upset. Sank her claws into him.”

  “You were friends with him back then?”

  “Sure,” he said. “That was when we were working to get this movie into production. I was writing the script; Ryan was producing.” Kiernan expelled a huge breath. “Then he dumped Emma Lou out of the blue.”

  “He didn’t say why?”

  “Something about how he’d made a mistake before,” he said. “I don’t know. I didn’t really care; they’d dated for two weeks. I thought it was just a fling that didn’t progress. You know how that goes.”

  “But then she turned to Tennison?”

  He gave another derisive snort. “She played the heartbroken card, all right. Went crawling right into his arms. But after everything that’s happened, I think she was just trying to get back at Ryan.”

  “How?”

  “Me, Tennison, and Ryan were all buds,” Kiernan said. “We were working on the movie, and she pulled a Yoko Ono. Went from Ryan to Tennison and broke up the group.”

  “I thought Ryan broke up with her. Doesn’t that mean he shouldn’t care?”

  “I don’t know that he cared all that much. Which is what really pissed Tennison off.”

  “Wait, I’m not following.”

  “Emma Lou and Tennison were pretending to date, all secret-like, but doing an awful job of it. We all knew,” Kiernan said. “We just didn’t say anything about it. Easier that way. Ryan could pretend nothing was happening. I didn’t have to get involved. They could live in their little love bubble.”

  “Love bubble. Okay.”

  “Again, this is all in retrospect. But I don’t think Emma Lou was trying to keep anything secret after all. She was letting things slip left and right, trying to play it off like she was a ditz.”

  “But you think it was on purpose, and she was trying to egg on Ryan into getting angry with her?”

  “Bingo.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Because she wanted Ryan back. She was just using Tennison.”

  “When did everything go wrong?”

  “Emma Lou went to Tennison and told him that Ryan had come on to her, that he was trying to get her to come over late at night to rekindle things.” Kiernan cracked his knuckles as he thought back, recalling the story. “Of course, she told Tennison when we were all out at a bar. He was a few beers in, and he went over and laid into Ryan.”

  “What’d Ryan do?”

  Kiernan expelled a huge breath. “I don’t want to get into it. They had it out, and that’s all I’ll say on the matter.”

  “At the time, you believed Emma Lou? That Ryan was trying to win her back?”

  He shrugged. “I guess. Ryan isn’t known for making great choices when it comes to women. I thought he was trying to steal Emma out from under Tennison, and that wasn’t cool. But now, I’m starting to think he hadn’t done any of that at all. That Emma had lied, just to stir up trouble.”

  “I just don’t understand why she’d do all that.”

  “She was bitter! Ryan had dumped her, so she was turning his friends against him.”

  “If that’s true, it’s pretty Machiavellian.”

  “The story only gets stranger,” he said. “The day after their huge fight, Emma Lou comes to set and shoots her boyfriend? Or ex? I don’t know if they were still together. Only Emma Lou knows what was said between them that night, and I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her.”

  “I thought Emma Lou was pretty upset. At least, that’s what I heard.�
�

  “She’s a freaking actress. She’s supposed to look upset, so she looks upset. It’s not magic; it’s her job.”

  I stood, thinking it was probably time to go before I wore out my welcome. Already, Kiernan was starting to do double takes at me as if he was wondering why he’d said any of that in the first place.

  “Well, it was great meeting you,” I said. “And thanks for the script.”

  He nodded, still looking mystified as he stood and followed me toward the door. “You know, you look familiar, yourself.”

  “Oh, really?” I shrugged. “I might’ve seen you around. I’ll, uh, talk to you soon.”

  I scurried away from Kiernan before he could put the pieces together and recognize me from the magazines—as the girl who used to date Ryan. That would really, really throw a wrench in things. I didn’t need any more wrenches after the curveballs I’d been getting lately.

  It’d been a big day, and it wasn’t even dinnertime yet. As I made my way back to set, I rolled through the developments unraveling before me. The Ryan and Tennison and Kiernan triangle of friendship. Kiernan’s fallout with Ryan. His suspicion that Emma Lou was a woman not to be trusted. Even the wonder that she’d purposefully shot the gun and was now trying to cover it up as a tragic accident.

  The only thing clear at this point was that there were layers and layers piled onto this murder. Because at the end of the day, it was murder. Someone had pulled the plug on him. Who had wanted him dead badly enough to sneak into the hospital for a second attempt at finishing him off?

  Chapter 15

  Hours later, I wiped my brow and expelled a huge breath. Then I looked in the mirror and was a bit gobsmacked at what I saw. Who on earth would trust a stylist who looked like they’d been gobbled up by a tornado and spit out?

  I touched up my mascara and redid my hair into a messy bun. A streak of lip gloss, and that was the best I could manage. The rest of my makeup had melted off. I’d changed into jean shorts with a long-sleeved white sweater on top. It’d gotten hot in the trailer, and I’d borrowed some clothes from the costume closet, thinking it was the equivalent of my health benefits.

  Grabbing a bottle of water, I heaved a breath of relief and made my way outside. I was finally free of actors looking to have their bodies beautified in clothing, and I was going to finally head toward set to see how it was all shaping up.