"Unfortunately it's very likely. And there's something else you should see. Follow me." He led me to a spot in the middle of the empty cellar. "Look up."
I did. After gazing into the shadows for a moment, I finally made out the bottom of the trapdoor fifteen feet above me. It looked like a square in the ceiling with hinges on one side. Two dead bolts held the door in place and they'd both been opened. The ceiling was so high, the only way to reach it was the folding ladder set up right under the door.
"The wannabe killer must have set up this ladder," I said.
"The truth is, I set this ladder up myself, just yesterday, to change a burned-out lightbulb." Bud pointed to the ceiling. "But it's obvious to me that whoever unlocked the trapdoor did know their way around this theater."
I mulled Bud's words while he climbed the ladder and relocked the dead bolts.
"Any way to get more light around here?" I asked him from the floor.
"Try the work light," Bud replied. "It's right over the bench."
I found the fluorescent light and turned it on. Powerful beams penetrated the shadows, making this section of the large cellar twice as bright as before. That's when I noticed a small dark object on the whitewashed concrete. I dropped to all fours and picked it up.
Bud watched me from the top of the ladder. "What have you found?"
"An earring. Looks like black onyx in a silver setting. It looks new, too. There's no tarnish or dust on it. Want to see?"
Bud climbed down from the ladder and crossed to the bench. He studied the earring pinched in my fingers while he used a rag to wipe soot off his hands.
"That's not from my crew," he said. "My guys have been down here plenty, but there are no women on my work crew- and no pierced ears, noses, or lips either."
Suddenly a memory flashed into my mind-a young woman in a white dress, accented by a choker made of black gem-stones, stones that may well have been onyx. Harmony Middleton.
"Sorry, Pen, but it's getting late," said Bud, tapping his wristwatch. "And I promised Sadie I'd meet her at the block party."
"Oh, yeah, the block party." "Aren't you going, too?" Bud asked. "I wasn't planning on it."
Well, change your plans, Jack immediately growled in my head. That earring is missing off some broad's earlobe. And if you find it missing off Harmony's, then you'll know you've got your man.
"Or woman."
Figure of speech, baby. 'Cause trouble is my business, and in my business, dames are the most trouble of all.
CHAPTER 16. Chippy off the Old Block
MIKE: Mind if I sit here?
KAY: Not if you can't behave yourself.
MIKE: Well, you never liked me when I did.
– Mike Shayne hitting on Kay Bentley in Sleepers West, a Mike Shayne Detective Mystery, 1941
New York City May 10, 1948
"JACK, WHERE AM I?" "In my apartment."
"Your apartment! How did I get here?"
"I gave you a ride, baby. Don't you remember when we took that trip to Queens, and those lousy two-legged rats shot at us in the alley? Then I stashed you in that dark doorway?"
"Oh, yeah… I do remember."
"You were shaking like a wet kitten, and I took you in my arms-"
"And kissed me. That's right."
"Well, it led to a few more kisses, and one thing led to another, and I drove you back here."
I opened my eyes. I was nestled against Jack's solid form on a big, lumpy sofa. The PI's apartment was small but neat with an easy chair and a coffee table. A bar stood against the wall, holding bottles of liquor. A large radio sat between two tall windows covered in drawn Venetian blinds, and a bookshelf in the corner held paperbacks and a stack of magazines. I saw a small kitchen through one door, a bedroom through another.
Jack's deep-blue double-breasted jacket was thrown over the arm of a chair. His leather shoulder holster was hanging over its back. The PI's shoes were off, too, and his sock-covered feet were crossed on the coffee table in front of us. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, revealing muscular forearms. One strong arm was now draped around my shoulders. The other held a tumbler with wheat-colored alcohol. He was sipping the drink with one hand, caressing my shoulder with the other.
I looked down, a little worried about how many pieces of clothing I'd find missing. I was still wearing the skirt of the smart tweed suit that Jack had selected for me, but the jacket was gone and my blouse's top buttons were undone, revealing quite a bit of lace bra. I pulled away from Jack's embrace and did up the buttons.
The PI smirked. He rubbed his square chin now rough with stubble. "Don't look at me like that, baby. You were the one who unbuttoned them. You said you were hot."
I arched an eyebrow, thinking about his kisses. "Oh, I'm sure I was."
"So." He yawned and stretched, set down his drink on the coffee table, then leaned back again and clasped his hands behind his head. "Now that the fun's over… you want to tell me what happened tonight?"
I squinted. "Am I sleeping right now? Is this a dream?"
His slate-gray eyes held my gaze. "What do you think?"
"I think you've got Hokey-Pokey Pink lipstick on your collar-"
He smiled, with a little too much satisfaction. "And?"
"And I remember something about Bud Napp helping me under the Movie Town Theater stage, finding an onyx-and-silver earring, then running back to my bedroom above the bookshop and changing for the block party."
"Yeah, baby, you changed clothes and handbags, too. Only you forgot about yours truly."
"The nickel!"
"You left without my lucky buffalo in your purse, which left me stuck watching reruns of Jack Shield episodes on the Intrigue Channel all by my lonesome."
"I'm sorry, Jack! I remember now. When I got to the block party, I realized you weren't with me. I was going to go back home and get your old nickel, but then I saw Harmony and didn't want to miss my chance to surveil her earlobes."
Jack sighed. "All right, baby, so you flew solo. Tell me what I missed."
"Well, Harmony wasn't wearing any earrings but that actually seemed suspicious to me because-" I paused, feeling Jack's hand reaching over to sweep hair away from the nape of my neck. "Jack?" I tensed. "What are you-"
His fingers began to message my tight muscles.
"Oh, wow…" I rolled my head around. "That actually feels good… "
"Of course it does, baby. Now tell me why it was so suspicious that Harmony wasn't sporting earrings? I don't know much about the jewelry-wearing habits of dames. Enlighten me."
"Okay, well…" I shifted on the couch to get more comfortable. "Harmony's ears are pierced. And most women with pierced ears wear earrings. So it seemed awfully suspicious that she wasn't wearing any. And I thought maybe she realized that she'd lost one earring and simply taken the second one out before going to the party."
"So what did you do?"
"I noticed Barry Yello at the party-"
"Barry's the big guy?"
"Yes. He was the guy with the blond ponytail and the Hawaiian shirt, the one who introduced Dr. Lilly the first night of the Film Festival. Barry's also the Webmaster of FylmGeek.com, and…Oh, wait. I should explain what dot com means-"
"Don't bother," Jack said. "Between you and your aunt working on that computer every day, I've figured out what the Internet is-"
"An information highway."
"Another set of street corners for pervs and shitbirds to prey on the public."
I sighed. "That too. Anyway, Barry had a digital camera with him, and he was snapping photos all night, presumably to post on his Web site. I figured he would have been paying special attention to the festival's guests. I asked him about Hedda's and Harmony's movements."
Jack's massaging fingers moved from my neck to one shoulder. His other hand joined in, taking care of the other shoulder. "Move back a little, baby," he whispered, "closer to me."
I slid backward on the lumpy couch, making the old springs creak beneath my weight.
"Go on, doll," Jack growled in my ear. "Tell me what Barry said."
I cleared my throat, trying my best to ignore the realness of Jack's hard thigh against my tweed-covered bottom, the faint male smell of undiluted whiskey on his breath when he spoke. I reminded myself that this was all a dream; warned myself not to get carried away. But the truth was, there hadn't been a man in my life for years. Even when I'd been married to Calvin, he hadn't exactly been an attentive, supportive husband. Not that a ghost could be a replacement for a husband, but I had to admit that Jack's spirit was a good companion, and a good friend. And right at this moment, what he was doing to me felt pretty darn good, too.
I knew what some people would say to that. They'd accuse me of wanting to live in a dream world. But then I considered the store I was running-and what I was selling. What were all those books providing to the people who read them?
"Baby? What's wrong? You goin' buggy on me?"
"I was just thinking that I liked being here… with you."
"It's all we've got, sweetheart. Don't overthink it. Dreams are a gift, you know? You should just enjoy them."
I turned around to meet Jack's eyes. "You enjoy them, too, don't you?"
Jack stopped massaging my neck. His hard face smiled. "What do you think?"
I smiled, too. Then I turned around again. "I think you missed a spot."
Jack's hands returned to my shoulders. "So? Back to Barry and your little block party… "
"Right. According to Barry Yello, Hedda had been holding court at a picnic table all evening. Apparently, she never returned to the Finch Inn after the showing of Tight Spot. Just went straight to the party on the Commons. And her granddaughter, Harmony, had been hanging close with her all evening."
"Uh-huh. And what did that tell you?"
I detected contained amusement in Jack's voice, and sure enough when I turned my head, I found the PI smirking. He was obviously entertained by my gumshoeing tale.
"What it told me, Jack, was that if Harmony dropped that earring under the Movie Town stage, and she never went back to her hotel room to drop off its match, then I was likely to find that earring on Harmony herself."
"And did you?"
"No. I did manage to search her handbag though."
Jack's fingers stilled. "You're kidding?"
"Nope. Seymour Tarnish helped. He distracted her and I grabbed her bag, riffled through it, and returned it without her knowing. No earring. And she didn't have any pockets on her skintight dress, but I did find something very interesting inside that purse."
Jack sat up straighter. "Spill."
"A pack of condoms and three bottles of prescription medications from three different doctors."
"Well, well, well." Jack's eyebrows arched. "Keeping party favors and candy in her handbag tells me that she's the type who wants to be ready for anything-if not any man. Just like her grandmother. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tart."
"I think the girl's got major problems," I said. "And she's clearly having sex with a boyfriend."
"Or boyfriends, plural-one or more of whom might be willing to help her get rid of her granny, so she can inherit a fortune."
"Or part of one."
"Nice work, baby."
I could see that Jack meant it. The smirk was gone. He seemed genuinely impressed. Without taking his long, strong legs off the coffee table, he leaned forward to reach for his tumbler of whiskey.
"And what about Pierce Armstrong?" he asked.
I frowned. "What about him?"
"Didn't you brace him at the party, too?"
"Unfortunately, he didn't go to the party. I cornered Wendell Pepper, though. He told me Pierce was so exhausted that he asked for a ride back to his house. Pepper took him before returning to the block party."
"I see." Jack took a sip of alcohol then held the glass out for me. "Go on, it won't kill you."
I took the glass, sipped a little. I wasn't a drinker of straight hard liquor, but I was curious what Jack's dream-whiskey would taste like. "Ack!" I coughed. The liquid burned all the way down my throat.
Jack laughed. "It's a cinch, baby. You're even a Square Jane in your sleep."
"But you have to admit," I rasped, finishing my coughing fit. "I'm getting to be a good detective awake."
"Jury's still out on that one, doll. So what about that question I had for Dean Pepper-did you remember to ask it?"
I nodded, handing Jack back his tumbler of firewater. "Hedda's silver evening gown from Wrong Turn. I asked him about it, all right. Lucky for us, Pepper's practically an encyclopedia of trivia about every piece of memorabilia he collects. And do you know what he said about Hedda's old costume?"
"Not unless you tell me."
"He said that he bought it at an auction from a relative of the actress Willow Brody, also known as Wilma Brody. Wilma changed her name when she moved from Queens to Hollywood. It didn't help her career much. She could only ever get bit parts in big pictures, and then she died in 1966."
"Why does that year ring a bell? It's not like I was alive to remember it."
"It's the same year Hedda Geist said some journalist started digging around, trying to piece together the real story about Irving Vreen's death."
"And Willow Brody died that same year? That's awfully coincidental, baby, don't you think?"
"I'll tell you what's even more coincidental."
"What's that?"
"According to Dr. Pepper, Wilma Brody died from a fall while horse back riding in the Hollywood hills."
"Horseback riding?" said Jack. "And didn't Hedda Geist tell you that she rides horses, too?"
I nodded. "She owns a horse farm in Newport. Said she still rides two hours a day."
"But she used to live in Los Angles with her husband, the TV executive. Think she was riding horses in California back in '66?"
"I glanced over my shoulder. "To quote Jack Shepard…'I'd bet the ranch, if I had a ranch.' "
Jack sat fully up, sweeping his legs off the coffee table. "One more question, sweetheart. Did ol' Dean Pepper happen to mention what age Wilma Brody was when her ticket got punched?"
"Actually, yes. He said she was young when she died, only thirty-three."
"Thirty-three in sixty-six. You know what that makes her in forty-eight?"
"Fifteen?"
"Jailbait. That's what that makes her."
Jack stood up from the sofa, began to pace the small living room. "That means District Attorney Nathan Burwell could have been blackmailed because he was committing statutory rape with the girl. The pieces are coming together now. At fifteen, Wilma Brody was a young Gotham Features actress. Dollars to donuts, she was just a poor little nobody like Hedda once was. Young Wilma probably worshipped Hedda Geist, the studio's biggest star. She would have done whatever Hedda asked."
"So you believe Hedda persuaded fifteen-year-old Wilma to seduce New York 's district attorney?"
"Yeah, baby." Jack nodded. "Somewhere down the line Hedda must have discovered that Burwell had a weakness for jailbait, so she set out to trap him using Wilma Brody. I doubt very much a girl like Wilma, working at a low-rent studio at the age of fifteen, would have had much in the way of prospects or wardrobe. Hedda probably gave the girl promises of bigger parts in her movies, gave her pretty dresses to wear on her dates with Burwell, more payoff for doing her bidding-"
"Including that slinky silver gown Wilma wore to the Porter-house the night Vreen was murdered!"
"Exactly."
"What about the car?" I asked. "The gull-gray Lincoln Continental cabriolet? How does that fit in?"
"Easy. When I saw that car parked outside the Hotel Chester the first night I tailed Burwell and his chippy, I saw silhouettes of a man and woman inside. It must have been Hedda and Pierce Armstrong, waiting for Wilma, watching to see if she could get the DA up to her room. Using the studio's car was smart. Since it wasn't registered with either of them, someone would really have to dig to connect Hedda or Pier
ce with the license plate."
"And what about the morning after Vreen's murder?" I asked. You said the Chester 's valet remembered Wilma being picked up by the same type of car."
"It had to be Hedda alone who picked up Wilma that morning after Vreen was stabbed. Once again, she was taking care of her young pawn, making sure the girl was spirited away so Burwell couldn't get to her anymore-and a detective like me couldn't get close to question her, either."
"But Benny showed us Pierce Armstrong's name in the log book for that morning," I reminded him.
Jack nodded. "Since Pierce was already in custody, I'm sure it was Hedda who signed his name, just to make sure she wasn't listed on any written record. Don't you remember what those two signatures looked like? The first one was done in big, bold block letters, but the second one-"
"-was in small fluid script, just like Hedda's signature at my bookstore signing," I finished for him. Then I took a breath, trying to add it all up. "So if Hedda was in league with Wilma, then she would have known when Nathan Burwell was taking her to the Porterhouse."
Jack nodded. "And she could have arranged to have the crime happen right in front of the DA."
I met Jack's stare. "So Pierce Armstrong was in on it all, too? Even Vreen's murder?"
"He must have been, doll. The whole scene that night played out like a B-movie script, with Pierce loudly announcing he had no beef with Irving. The guy was obviously trying to set up the accidental defense. Pierce was playing a part for Hedda. And the DA was his audience."
"If all that's true, Jack, then Hedda's actions that night at the Porterhouse were premeditated. She killed Irving Vreen in cold blood."
"Yeah, baby."
"But why?" I threw up my hands. "What could Hedda and Pierce, and Wilma, for that matter, have possibly gained? What was the conspiracy all about? When they killed Vreen, all they ended up doing was destroying the studio that employed them!"
"I can't answer that question for you, doll. Not without more pieces to this puzzle. I think, for the moment, we've reached a dead end."
I fell back against the lumpy sofa and sighed.
Jack sat down next to me again, draped a muscular arm across the sofa back. "Tired?"
The Ghost and the Femme Fatale Page 18
