In a few minutes, either the task or the tea pushed me to the point that sleep sounded like a blessing. There were so many people and motives, I hoped Jack’s team of CSIs and investigators could dig up evidence that could sort out this mess.
Carol and Mara were both still digging. My executive assistant has a good head for numbers. She was going to go back through information about the big names involved in the movie to see if any of them were having financial troubles that might make ransom from kidnapping an appealing motive. Not just the film’s stars, but Brigit’s agent, and Nelson, the film’s director. I would even have added Mara to that list, but she got onto the computer and voluntarily pulled up a copy of her contract and her credit report. She doesn’t make much money as a Production Assistant, but her credit was good, and she even has a few bucks in savings.
Our snooping was no formal forensic accounting effort, but Carol was going to try to get information about funding for the film, too. Maybe an investor was in financial trouble that a ransom could solve. A review of the insurance coverage for the film and its key players might also provide some answers about the financial consequences of accidents and other problems on the set. Like a small herd of cats on the loose, I thought, flashing on that runaway cat catastrophe.
“What happened to that cat?” I muttered, as I remembered Marmalade barreling into Brigit’s dressing room. Two heads popped up when I said the word “cat.”
“I’m not talking about you!” I laughed at the almost identical inquisitive expressions on their little faces. “Haven’t you two heard that adage about curiosity killing cats? I suppose I should take it into consideration more, too, shouldn’t I? Bedtime! Let’s hope all of our questions get answered tomorrow, one way or another.”
I should have paid attention to that other adage: Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.
11 Double Trouble
Watching video clips before they’re edited and assembled is a bit frustrating. Just when you get into it, the director yells “cut,” or the scene ends. No coffee guy, either. Still, I remained as focused as I could as a new version of the same scene started. At this point in the film, the Prince has taken on the identity of a commoner. Dejected and alone, he’s befriended by the lovely shop girl, Christiana, who begs her father to put him to work in his toy shop. Before you know it, she’s besotted by the sad, sweet man! Of course, at that point, she bursts into song. What self-respecting lead in a Marvelous Marley World feature film wouldn’t?
“I hear a waltz…don’t you?” Christiana sings out. Our prince-in-disguise, not quite so sure, says nothing. Christiana portrayed beautifully by our missing actress, Brigit, swings into motion. As she picks up her song and swirls about on the toy shop floor, it’s suddenly transformed into a fantasy ballroom.
“I hear a waltz. I do.”
“A waltz that is meant for two.”
“A tune so enchanting it sets your heart dancing, and your feet follow too.”
“I hear a waltz, don’t you?” The fascinated young man watching her suddenly smiles and replies when she asks that question again.
“I do.”
He sweeps her up in his arms and joins her in song and dance. It seemed perfect until Nelson saw something he didn’t like and hollered, “Cut!”
About thirty seconds before he said cut, I had seen something, too. A reflection in the wall of mirrors. Could that be what the sharp-eyed director had spotted that made him kill that take? I couldn’t ask him because he had left half an hour ago after watching the footage shot the day before.
“Can you stop the video feed for a second, please? Back it up, slowly, and hit pause when I give the word, okay?”
“Sure. Just say STOP!”
“STOP!” I yelled, louder than I needed to do, I’m sure. I was stunned at what I saw. It was Brigit. I blinked a couple of times, involuntarily. That couldn’t possibly be the case, though, since Brigit dolled up as the shop girl, was dancing with Brad, in costume as the fake down-on-his-luck townsman. “Can you see that image reflected in the mirrors on the ballroom wall?” I asked the technician.
“I sure can.”
“Is that a trick of the camera or something?”
“No. That’s Brigit’s stand-in. She should be off-camera, but it looks as though she lost track of where she was supposed to be. We can try to edit it out, but Nelson may have to reshoot it if he hasn’t already done that.”
“Can you mark the video footage there, please?”
“Sure. Got it!”
“Okay, can you pick up and run the film past that point where Nelson hollered cut?”
“Will do!”
I had watched enough of these video clips, by now, to know that the camera crew didn’t immediately shut off the cameras when Nelson hollered cut. It was true in this case. As the cameras kept running for a few seconds longer, I could see Brad and Brigit step off the set. The person I now knew was Brigit’s stand-in stepped into camera range. For a split second, as Brad walked by, something passed between them. Their hands touched briefly. Then the images shifted to a new scene entirely.
“That’s good, Donnie. I need to share this clip, is there an easy way to do that?”
“Do you want me to make a copy of the scene for you and put it on a jump drive or email it to you as an attachment?”
“That would be fantastic if you email the file to me. Run it all the way to the end, please. What’s her name, by the way?” I asked.
“Brigit’s stand-in, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Tamara McCauley or McCarthy—something like that. Ask Nelson when you see him. He knows. Too well, I’m sure. Brigit’s double is almost as much trouble as the real deal.”
“What kind of trouble?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. Prima Donna stuff, I presume, since that’s what Nelson calls Brigit when he complains about her. The lookalikes weren’t fond of each other, but he’s never said anything about hair-pulling or anything like that. Okay, sent it. Do you want to continue?”
“Thanks, Donnie, but I need to get going,” I said.
There might have been more in the film clips I hadn’t yet seen. I felt the need to get this snippet of film to Jack right away. There had been something intimate and conspiratorial about that moment shared by Brad and Tamara. Another backstage love affair, perhaps. Had animosity between Tamara and the missing film star become a motive for kidnapping?
“Double trouble,” I said before stopping abruptly in the hallway outside the viewing room. In an “aha” moment, I recalled the glimpse I caught the day before of a young woman I had mistaken for Brigit. That must have been Tamara. Where was she when Brigit disappeared a short time later?
Jack and I planned to meet at my office for lunch. Lunch together had become a regular event, if we could swing it with our work schedules. Our dinners, too. Despite my uneasiness about Brigit’s disappearance, I smiled at the prospect of seeing Jack. Would it always feel as wonderful as it did now? I wondered.
The urge to call Jack suddenly overtook me. I stepped into a lounge area on the first floor of the Animation Building for privacy. Maybe it was my desire to hear his voice, but I also felt the need to tell him about Brigit’s double and her apparent connection to Brad. Jack’s team of investigators were taking formal statements from all the key players who were on the set yesterday. Brigit’s double must already be in that group to be interviewed. It couldn’t hurt to have another bit of information when it was her turn.
“Hey, Sweetheart,” Jack said in his best imitation of Bogart’s private eye voice.
“Hey, Bogie,” I responded. “How’s it going?”
“Everyone we can spare is working on this at top speed. I was in early to get an update from the CSIs. That scene wasn’t staged. They found half a dozen sets of prints, including yours, by the way, in Brigit’s dressing room.”
“That’s terrific. My prints are on file. Am I back on your list of suspects?”
&nb
sp; “Nah, Doll, for the moment you’re in the clear.” He was using that hokey voice again, but he sounded tired. Worried, too. “Your prints are on file because of your security clearance with Marvelous Marley World. Max gave us access to those files, so we didn’t have to reprint him or you. Todd and the cast members have given us their prints to help us rule them out. That still leaves a few unidentified fingerprints.”
“You sound exhausted, Jack. A late night and an early morning, huh?”
“You bet. The CSIs have been all over the delivery truck. They found prints and blood on the steering wheel that match evidence found in Brigit’s room and the elevator on Soundstage 4. We’re running the prints against those in police and other public databases, but there’s no match so far. We haven’t finished printing all the members of the cast and crew yet. It’s a lot of people including all the extras, wardrobe, hair, and makeup artists and assistants. Not to mention grips, best boys, riggers, and other oddly-named workers. Even assistants have assistants around here.”
“I hear you. Not that many were around when Brigit went missing, though, right?”
“No, but it's taken time to figure out who was where when. We were hoping someone might have spotted that guy with the coffee cart, especially if he was hanging around on other days, so we’re doing our best to check with anyone who’s been on Soundstage 4 this entire week. We found one other person who saw him. She worked with a sketch artist, so we now have a picture to show around. I’d like you to check it out and see how well the image fits your memory of the man.”
“I’ll do that when I join you for lunch. Did they find any new information about Brigit or her condition when they examined that coffee cart? Could you tell if she had been in it?”
“No. There was a cart in that truck, but not the one you saw him pushing. It was a small one and didn’t have any of the dents or scratches we expected to find from that collision he must have had with the elevator.”
“Where’s the one I saw?”
“He may have dropped her off somewhere before ditching that truck. Maybe he delivered her in that cart or dumped that somewhere else.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yes. We’re at that point where we’re flooded with evidence and none of it is much help. Frustrating, to say the least.”
“I have an update for you. Maybe you’ve already interviewed Brigit’s stand-in, a Tamara somebody—McCauley, maybe. She’s a real look-alike if the camera’s not directly on her face.”
“Yes, I see her on the list—McCauley is right. Is stand-in the same as an understudy? Does she get to take over the role if Brigit can’t finish the movie?”
“That’s a perfect question to ask her. Nelson can give you the official job description, but it would be interesting to hear what she believes it is. Donnie, the guy who set up our videos for review this morning, claims Tamara’s had trouble on the set. He wasn’t specific, but maybe another version of the professional rivalry between Brigit and Gloria. From what Donnie said, Tamara may fancy herself to be a diva, even if others consider her a bit player.”
“Okay, we’ll check out that angle.”
“There’s one more angle to consider, too, Jack. That’s the reason I didn’t wait until lunch to fill you in. There’s an interesting interaction between Tamara and Brad caught on film. It struck me as odd for a guy that’s part of the hottest couple in Hollywood to be as chummy as he seems to be with Brigit’s double.”
“Uh oh. Brad and Tamara are fooling around and got caught on camera?”
“It’s nothing too obvious, and I doubt they knew they were on camera. Still, I picked up on it right away. More to the point, Tamara must be the woman I saw yesterday and mistook for Brigit. If I made that error, Gloria could have done that too. What if she thought Brad and Brigit were carrying on? That might give her a reason to want to get Brigit out of the way—maybe for good.”
“A romantic triangle’s one of the oldest stories in the book when it comes to murder and mayhem. If Gloria ID’d the wrong woman as the ‘other woman,’ that would be a twist. Why not? After all, Brigit's disappearance is a Marvelous Marley World problem. Where else would a missing woman have a double?”
“You’re not in Kansas anymore. That’s for sure.”
“Okay, thanks for the heads up, Georgie. I’ll have someone locate Tamara right away, and ask her what’s up. I’m going to have another chat with Gloria and Brad, too.”
“I have a copy of the film clip if you need it. I’m on my way to Soundstage 4 to meet with Imogene. Can you take a break for lunch in an hour or so?”
“Why not? I need a break to clear my head. You do set my head to spinning, Georgie Shaw.”
“I knew you’d be thrilled to have another suspect and motive to consider, but making your head spin, wow! Shall I add that to my legendary skills, Detective?”
“By all means! It’s more than suspects and motives. Your sweet voice and quick wit set my mind down all sorts of paths that should be off limits during a police investigation.”
“Surely you’re not suggesting I practice using a cranky voice and dim wit when I’m around you?”
“Now you’re toying with me. You couldn’t do either if you practiced day and night. But I digress. Lunch needs to be quick. Is there a place nearby that’s up to your culinary standards?”
“Let’s find out, why don’t we? Mara figured out where Brigit ordered her lunch. Let’s give the place a try.”
“You didn’t trust my guys to do that?”
“Sure, we were just being nosy. It wasn’t too hard, either. Vegan’s not a big draw, so there were only a couple of possibilities.”
“We had an advantage over you. The receipt was lying on the floor in all that mess the CSIs sorted out. We already interviewed the young woman who dropped off the food. She’s the one who helped us with that sketch of the coffee cart guy. Almost the same description you gave us except she said big and creepy, not big and burly.”
“Not the food?”
“What?” Jack asked.
“The receipt was there but no food? That’s odd, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s in the fridge or Brigit dumped it in the trash in a fit of anger.”
“I don’t remember smelling food. What do you make of that?”
“I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“There’s something ‘off’ about this abduction. That cat’s missing, too, by the way. Mara checked with the cat wrangler this morning. Marmalade’s gone. He was in Brigit’s room when I left.”
“Why wouldn’t there be something ‘off?’ Crimes rarely go as planned. That’s how we get the bad guys. If you’re implying that the ruthless delivery guy impersonator bludgeoned Ben Davies, abducted Brigit Margolis, and then stole her lunch and a big yellow cat, that’s a stretch.”
“You have a point. Even Max wouldn’t come up with a plot line that ridiculous, would he?”
12 The Dress
As I rode the elevator down to the tunnels, I tried to figure out what was bothering me about Imogene. My second phone conversation had been very different from the first one. Imogene admitted that it had been her idea and not Max’s for me to wear that dress. She had not reacted well to Brigit’s complaints about the dress being heavy even without the hoops. With one lovely dress already hanging in Wardrobe, she had become furious at the prospect Brigit might not wear the new one either.
How that fury became a reason to try to make me wear the original dress wasn’t clear. I had accepted her statement that she was perfectly content for that first dress to be part of her legacy, even if it turned out that it would never end up in the film. Only minutes later, though, she had contradicted herself. No way was that original dress going to become a museum piece now that someone had trashed the one in Brigit’s dressing room. Max had made it clear she needed to do whatever it took to get a new dress ready ASAP so they could resume shooting once Brigit returned.
I hadn’t been able to ex
plain it well to Jack, but there was something “off” about Imogene, too. Her demeanor was strange. She was not only illogical, but furtive, as though she were hiding something. Could she be involved in Brigit’s disappearance? Mara had called Imogene’s scream “dramatic.” What if Imogene had acquired acting skills after all the years she hung about on film sets?
When I arrived at Wardrobe about fifteen minutes later, I walked into a large open room. Several workstations were set up in various locations. Some had large flat surfaces for cutting and bins containing the notions for mending or sewing. Dress forms, fabric steamers, and a couple of sewing machines were also in that workspace.
Fitting rooms were off to one side. On the other side were shelves lined with shoes, hats, belts, and other accessories. That included a few unusual items given that this was a fantasy film. Sparkles, rhinestones, and feathers could be seen here and there, in addition to spools of ribbon, lace, and twine. I spotted a sword and a shield, and what looked like a bird’s beak. In another area where the film crew handled props and makeup, there would be scads of them.
Even though there were cutting surfaces and sewing machines in the room, this wasn’t a place where costumes were designed and sewn. Wardrobe’s primary function was to store them. Costumes could also be fitted, cleaned, mended or altered as needed. At the back, I imagined I'd find more storage and a small laundry. The fragrance of laundry soap hung in the air.
What I could see from where I stood was an automated rack like they use to hang clothes in a dry-cleaning store. The layout was familiar to me since similar areas were set up for associates who worked in Arcadia Park or the resort hotels. For years, before I moved into management, I had picked up and dropped off my work clothes there.
Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Box Set Page 34
