“Sorry for your loss,” I say to him.
He looks up. “Thank you.”
“Can you tell me anything about tonight?”
“Just as I had already told the sergeant, I came home and found her right there.” He points towards the stairway. “I had asked her to quit drinking, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“What time did you get home?”
“I was over to a friend of mine 'til about two this morning, then came directly here after leaving.”
“Were you over to Mark Jacobson’s home?” I ask, assuming he would be the friend that was mentioned.
He looks up in surprise. “Yes, I was.”
“You came back here along?” I watch how he answers.
“Ya, ya, yes, yes, of course, I came back along, why do you ask?”
“Just asking,” I try to read his face. “Did you call her earlier tonight?”
“Yes. When she answered, I could tell that she was drinking already.”
“What time was that?”
“Must have been around ten or so, just as I was just leaving the studio. I thought I would let her know about the new part I was just offered, but she didn’t care if I got a part or not.”
“What were you doing so late over to Mr. Jacobson's?”
“I went there to work on the scripts. I figured if I came home to her, and in her condition, I wouldn’t get any work done.”
“Did you get any work done?” I ask, again to get his reaction.
“Yes, I got a lot done. Julius Sharp had wanted me to go over and possibly rewrite some of the scripts.” He looks up at me, hoping his name dropped would impress me.
“What is the story line?” I ask.
“We haven’t shot the first episode yet, so I don’t know if I should tell you or not.”
“I’ll stop by Julius’s on the way home and ask him. I’m sure he will tell me.”
With a surprised look on Stephen’s face, like I had pulled a rabbit out of a hat, he says, “Oh, all right, it’s about the killings of the starlets who have been murdered lately. I’m sure you have heard of them.”
“What part do you have?”
Now he's starting to turn pale. “I’ve been asked to play the murder.”
“Good choice by Julius. I will have to tell him so the next time I see him.” I turn around and walk over to Susan to find out what she has found. I almost know what he's thinking now: “What the hell does he mean by that?”
“What have you got so far?” I ask.
“Well, so far it looks like an accident, but I will know more when I get her back to my lab.” She turns around and looks up at me, as she is swabbing the blood off of the marble stairway. “I’m going to be here awhile, but if you want to help, you’re welcome,” she says with a smile on her face. “Sharon is outside looking around to see if any doors or windows were broken in, and just anything that might be out of the normal.”
“What pictures do you still need?” as I pick up her camera.
“Take all of the numbered swab areas, and of the landing again, both upper and lower.”
I take the photos and pull out my notebook again and jot down some more notes and draw some pictures of the area, where the body was found, where the blood spots are on the stair steps. I walk into the front room and go over to the bar. I look around to see what she was drinking. I find her high heels on top of the bar, already knowing she was barefoot during the fall. I look around while I'm waiting for Susan and Sharon to finish. I notice there were few pictures in the house, thinking this is the first of this group's homes who didn’t have the same or similar. All I find is a few small ten-by-twelve of her and Stephen. I can tell they were not taken by Jacobs, as by now I have a feel for what pictures he took and didn’t. I must admit, he was very talented.
It takes 'til nine in the morning before we're done at the site. Susan checked for everything imaginable at the questionable accident, with the current history of these families’ recent catastrophes. All three of us have the feeling this possibly wasn’t an accident, mainly because of all the players in the field.
Chapter 40
In the parking area, Julius Sharp walks up to him, “Man, Stephen, you have had a run of bad breaks lately. I’m surprised to see you here; you didn’t have to come in.”
“I just had to get away from the house. I need to get my mind off of all I have been through.”
“Okay, I was going to shoot the scenes you were not going to be in today and tomorrow, but since you’re here, let’s get you started,” he says, as he places his hand on Stephen’s shoulder and walks back towards the film studio.
He has never worked with Jim Barlow before but knows of him. He is playing Mike Kane as the lead detective. It’s funny, though; he didn’t even look Hawaiian. Now the shooting has begun, they will have to film an episode every five days. This leaves not much time off as the hours are long and sometimes the actors are on the set for up to twelve hours some days. Although these first five episodes are just pilots, Julius had mentioned he is sure it will become a long-running series.
“Stephen, again I want to thank you. Jason likes the way you have added a particular flavor to the script, a tone he and his writing team hadn’t picked up on, but certainly like,” Julius says as the first day of shooting comes to an end. “You have a gift. Stephen, not everyone could make it seem so real. Whatever you want to add, just mention it and more than likely, it will be incorporated into the story line. Glad to have you on board. At first, I must admit, I had my doubts on my initial pick of you, but based on what I’ve seen today, if that keeps up, we won’t have any trouble.” He starts to head another way. “I guess Joel was right; your past is the past.”
This rings in Stephens's ears. “The past is the past,” he muses, thinking how he must have been perceived as an actor. When he was a nobody, he thought of himself and acted the part of a star. Acted truly obnoxious, arrogant and self-absorbed.
His agent had told him this might just be his last gig if he didn’t straighten up. Joel had told him to be humble. Stephen again thought, This is going to be hard for me, but now that I don’t have any baggage, I know I can make it. He drives to his home only to find Mark right behind him. They both pull in and exit their cars.
“Long day?” Mark asks as if he didn’t know. “Do you think it was smart to go to work the day after you killed your wife? Don’t you think you should be in some sort of bereavement?”
“I thought it would be all right, as I explained it would be best to keep my mind off of what had happened. They bought it, and it did help.”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry she is dead?” They both are walking through the front door. “I know that isn’t the case. I’m just surprised you did it on your own, as it is in the script we initially planned. This might have been a better one, as everyone knows how much of a lush she was.”
“Seemed right at the time. You know, if I hadn’t dropped her, she might have just fallen by herself, but I always felt she needed a little help.” He says this with a smile.
“What did the detective ask you last night? Anything unusual?”
Stephen goes through what was asked and what they looked for, and what they all processed at the scene.
Chapter 41
I let Susan and Sharon both off for the rest of the day. I go to my office to take what I call a speed nap, laying my head down on my desk and telling myself to wake up again in fifteen minutes. Doing this makes me feel like I had a four-hour sleep, I meet Paul to spend the rest of the day going over every bit of information we have. We both leave work early, around 6:30 in the afternoon. I have a patrol car drop me off at my home.
Sharon picks me up at the usual time the next morning. We both head down to see what Susan has.
“Mike, I don’t have too much, as I just got here a little while ago myself. I think though it may have been murder. Look here.” Sharon points to the body's left arm. “See these bruises? These are a person’s right thumb
and finger impressions. I believe someone was holding her very hard, maybe helping her up the steps, and somehow she fell.”
“How do you know it wasn’t from the fall?”
“There was nothing on the steps to indicate this particular style of bruising. And look here.” She points to just above the elbow. “This, I am sure, is a thumb being pressed hard into the meat of the muscle. And here, where it looks like three fingers are in a grip.”
“How can you tell if they are new bruises and not just old ones?”
“They weren’t there yesterday morning. Even after one dies, bruising will show up even several hours later. Here.” She shows me the photos taken at the crime scene. “Look, no bruise. Even these here.” She pointing at her legs, hips, and neck. “They're not showing up in the photos from yesterday, but now look at her. One body full of bruising, mostly from the fall.”
“The maid was off and away for the evening. That leaves only Stephen at home with his wife to cause those bruises,” I say with a glint in my eye. “I think we can use this to catch him in a lie.”
Sharon and I take the stairs and go back to the office. “Paul, did you follow up with what I asked you?”
“Yes, I did. Let me show you what I found.” He pulls up the video from the mansion's security tapes. “Look here. I had to watch this several times to spot this, and then only in real slow motion, almost frame by frame. Did you see that?” He points to the screen.
Do it one more time.” I asked for him to rewind it.
There it is. One frame, one split second. One big mistake. This tape has been altered, and when you run it at normal speed, you would never notice it. This was well done, but not quite good enough.”
“So, the time Stephen said he first was there at the house isn’t correct?” I asked.
“That’s right.”
“Can you tell what time it was changed from?”
“Yes, even with just one frame, it recorded the time as 8:07 PM.”
“Good, we have enough to arrest him. Did you get any prints off the recorder?”
“Yes, Mark’s.”
“Finally, we have enough to arrest him too,” I say with a smile on my face.
Chapter 42
I make a call to my police commander and request backup as we go to pick up Mark and Stephen for questioning and possibly to arrest them. We first head towards Mark’s mansion. As we approach, several police cruisers surround the complex, all around the curve, making sure no one could escape if they intended to.
At the front gate, we are buzzed in as Martha answers the intercom. The gates open, Sharon and I, along with four police cars, drive up to the front of the house. I didn’t expect Mark to come out and greet us as he had on past occasions, and he didn’t. We walk up to the front door and Martha answers. We walk in with guns drawn, just in case he didn’t want to go down easy.
“Oh, my God.” Martha places her hands on her face. “Put those away. Guns scare me.”
“Where is Mark?” I ask as Sharon and several officers follow her up the steps.
“He’s not here.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“He left. He left, about twenty minutes ago.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“To his friends’ plane. He said he needed a vacation and some time off.”
“I bet he did. Do you know which airport?”
“I don’t know anything about that,” she says.
Sharon comes rushing down the steps. “Mike, he’s not upstairs.”
Sarge comes through the veranda’s back sliding door. “He’s not in the pool house.”
“Let’s head over to Santa Monica Airport. It’s the closest one,” I say, pointing to the front door.
With lights flashing, the five vehicles head down toward Heathcliff Road, onto CA-1 S, Pacific Coast Highway. We swing onto I-10 E, taking several avenues and streets, we arrive at the airport. We go through the gate and call into the air traffic controller to find out which plane is about to take off. They tell us it's the one on the tarmac right now. Since it's only a single airstrip airport, we drive toward the plane just turning around to get ready to take off. As we approach, we can tell it is coming towards us and was picking up speed. I tell all to block the strip. We pull into a V shape to block the oncoming jet. Just as the plane is right upon us, it pulls up, and its wheels slip right through the opening in the vehicles. It takes off, missing us by only a foot or two.
I call back up to the air traffic control tower and ask where the plane’s flight plan was filed to. “It’s logged for Mexico City.”
“I want to know when they are going to land there. Keep me informed all along the way.”
“Yes, sir,” comes the reply. “Will do. Just to let you know they should land in approximately five hours.” The controller passes on.
“You contact the Mexican controllers to keep you abreast of the situation,” Mike instructs the tower. “And I’ll get a hold of the authorities down there.”
“All right, let’s get back to the office.” Sharon and the other police vehicles turn around and drive off the runway, back through the gate from which they came.
Chapter 43
“I didn’t think we would make it off the ground,” Mark remarks. “Thought we were going to die.”
“I hire only the best pilots.” Mr. Franklin Tan walks back to his seat from the cockpit.
“I thought your plane was the Boeing Business Jet 2, the BBJ2?”
“I have that one also. I used it last week, but where we're going, the runway won’t accommodate that one. And besides, I’m leaving it here in L.A. just in case.”
“So this one is a Learjet?”
“Yes, the first prototype composite 85. Isn’t this one beautiful plane, why they didn’t go into full production I don’t know. This has a maximum speed of .82 and a normal capacity of traveling 3,000 nautical miles. But I had an extra auxiliary tank added to boost the flying time.” He speaks with pride on being the first and only one to own one. “You can stretch out and take a nap on this one if you wish; we can have one of the ladies wake you up before we land.”
“Nice, really nice.”
“I’m surprised you don’t have one?”
“What, a plane? I’m rich, but not that rich, not like you. In fact, not too many people are quite like you,” Mark says, looking straight at Franklin.
“I am still very upset with you, as you should have told me she had a sex change before the marriage,” Franklin says sternly. “But at least you told me. I never touched her again after that. It still makes me sick and makes my hair stand on end just thinking about it.”
“I would have told you, but I had no idea you were even thinking about marrying her, or even knew you were seeing her. She never told me, and you and I hadn’t spoken to each other before for several years.”
“I’ve never thanked you for what you’ve done for me, saved me a ton of money. I should have had a premarital agreement, but even I get weak-kneed every once in a while. With her living in California, well, you just can’t be too sure.” He accepts his usual drink from the hostess. “Better to be safe than sorry, I always say, or as the saying goes. Besides, I was due for a new one nevertheless. I do think that was my shortest marriage of them all.”
“You’re more than welcome.” Mark gets a drink delivered to him without even asking for one. “We followed your plan, and it would have worked flawlessly if John hadn’t screwed up.”
“You brought John into this, Mark, so you didn’t follow the plan exactly as drawn out.”
“Who would have guessed he would have been so stupid to use his real name in reverse? In fact, who is that stupid?” Mark takes another sip of his drink.
Franklin looks directly at Mark. “If you were not my godchild, I know what I would do with a screw-up like that.” Mark feels his wrath. “And you did not follow the plan I drew up. You were supposed to have at least two more starlets killed to throw off the police. Y
ou, you, you led that Detective right to you.” He shakes his finger at Mark in an upset matter.
“One starlet was to have been killed before Gracie. Like you told us, John and David said when they were about to strike, someone walked in on her at the spa. They must have gotten into a fight, as he chased after her when she left the gym. I think it was a setup, as the paparazzi was around to take pictures,” Mark says, trying to weasel out of his predicament. Franklin always has had an overpowering effect on Mark. Mark has never felt entirely comfortable around him.
“You did bring your passport, right?”
“That’s what you told me; you said that is all I needed. By the way, where are we headed?”
“The flight plan is set for Mexico City, but that is not where we are going.”
Chapter 44
Sharon heads to where Julius Sharp had told me Stephen was shooting. I haven't mentioned to Julius what the reasoning was for, nor did he ask, but once he finds out, he may just not be my friend after this. She gets on 28th Street, then onto Ocean Park Boulevard with a couple of short streets, and we’re there. The shoot is on the Santa Monica Pier, only three and a half miles from the airport. I’m thinking why on Earth on the pier, as nothing has happened on any pier with any murder that would tie to the storyline of the Hollywood Starlets Murders.
We have to park our cars in the parking lot. It's quite a ways away from the end of the pier where their shooting because all of the trucks, vans, and equipment are at the beginning of the pier. I talk with one of the hands on the set, right next to the Santa Monica Pier Visitor Information Kiosk, and ask him what this shot is supposed to be all about. The shoot is Stephen and a starlet are in their car, and they end up driving off the end of the pier, and she ends up dying, and he comes to the top and gets saved. Stephen is to drive slowly past the camera as they pan his and hers profile in the car. After that, the stunt man and woman would finish the scene with them going over the end of the pier at high speed, with a dramatic shot of the car flying through the air. Sharon, a couple of police officers, and I walk towards the end of the pier, around lights, over the cable wires, until we get to where the car is to drive by. I look back towards where the car is parked and see Stephen is getting in. He is wired for sound. The cameraman tells the director he is ready, but the director tells him to hold off just a while. A tug boat is pulling a barge close to the front of the pier, and he wants it in the shot as the car flies over the pier. The studio has gone to great lengths to make it possible for a car to do this stunt, like removing a side of a building along with changing the concrete barriers to that of wooden fencing.
The Hollywood Serial Killers: A Mike Kane Mystery Series Page 10
