by Leonie Gant
“Do you have a name for me?” I asked, wanting desperately to know how she could be so stupid as to have Eric investigated and not do anything about it. Within the first few minutes of meeting the guy, every instinct in me had started blaring that there was something suspicious about him. It was too late to do anything about it now, we just had to deal with the fallout. Or rather, I was having to deal with the fallout. So far in my life I had never had to organize a funeral for a person. I had to organize a funeral for a pet pig for one of my clients once, I was hoping that some of the same concepts would apply.
“He’s the one that BillieJo Freeman used before she got divorced, do you know him?”
I shook my head. No I didn’t, but Monique would. That was just the kind of information she would have. BillieJo Freeman had been the glamorous wife of famous NFL quarterback Wayne Freeman. Everyone knew she was on the way out, and they also knew that she had a punishing prenup that was going to leave her with absolutely nothing. BillieJo hired some private detective and in no time she got her divorce with a very healthy payout and a groveling apology online from Wayne about how he did her wrong. Nobody knew what the investigator had found on Wayne, and BillieJo wasn’t saying, but it must have been bad. That investigator then became the go to man in LA for anyone wanting to get the goods on a cheating spouse.
“I’ll take care of it” I said confidently.
“Thank you Trudie, you’re such a treasure” Adele said as she lowered herself back on the bed and closed her eyes.
Recognizing a dismissal when I saw it, I murmured a quick goodbye and walked out. Outside the room I found Elliot and Miranda Powell waiting.
“Is she alright?” asked Miranda worriedly.
“I think she wants to sleep.” I said.
The two of them looked at me expectantly as if they wanted me to tell them what she had talked about.
“Adele’s asked me to organize the funeral for Eric” I said turning to Elliot. “Do you have any information regarding what sort of service he would want or Adele would want? She hasn’t really given me anything to work with.”
“We didn’t know Eric very well. Adele married him suddenly and she kept him away from us as much as possible” Elliot said.
I nodded understandingly. When you make a mistake, the last thing you want to do is flaunt that mistake in front of the people closest to you, and Adele’s mistake had been huge.
Chapter Nine
Walking into Monique’s office I realized that maybe I should have called ahead and given her a heads up about what had happened to my latest client. I was surprised to find my friend Edwin sitting at the reception desk of Monique’s office. He was talking on the phone and actually put a finger up to stop me from saying anything.
“I know you really need someone but unfortunately we don’t have anyone available at this moment. I will put you on the list but I can’t promise anything.” Edwin winced.
“They hung up on you didn’t they?” I said as he put down the phone.
“They did” he said, his very proper English accent sounding out of place.
“What are you doing working here?” I asked him.
“Need the money” he said, “and Monique loves the way I sound on the phone.” He grimaced.
Monique was right, Edwin had a divine voice for the phone. A proper English accent but a deep voice that women found intoxicating. He was an aspiring actor and had moved to LA looking for his big break. He had everything, the movie star good looks, the beautiful voice and the soulful eyes that just screamed out that he needed to be in one of those romantic movies. The only problem was, the man could not act to save his life. I had seen him in a play in some very out of the way theater. It was almost painful to watch. Modeling he could do, and had done to support himself, but it just wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to be something more than a model and had decided acting was for him. In the meantime Edwin took on jobs to supplement his income. He had met Monique when she was at my place once and she sometimes offered him work when it was available.
“How do you deal with these people all the time Trudie?” he asked. “They are rude and demanding and I just couldn’t do your job.”
“You’re too pretty to do my job” I said. “You’d have women climbing all over you in no time.”
Edwin blushed. That right there was why he was wrong for the movie and modeling business. The man still blushed when somebody complimented him.
“Is she in?” I asked.
“Yes she is and she looks free at the moment, I’ll buzz you in.”
Walking into Monique’s office I could see Monique getting off the phone from Edwin and greeting me with that smile of hers. Monique’s office reflected her perfectly, elegant without being overdone. I had met Monique Petit during a particularly trying job as a nanny in London. She had been impressed by the way that I dealt with an unusual and stressful situation, and had recruited me for her agency. When I first met Monique I had been impressed with the way that she held herself when she walked into the room. A tall beautiful dark skinned woman she commanded attention everywhere she went. Monique is who I want to be when I finally get around to growing up. She never lets anything stop her. She is the ultimate slash person. That is model/actress/businesswoman/real estate mogul. Monique has never let anything get in her way and has created her own little empire. The agency I work for is only one part of her kingdom.
“How are things going with Adele and Eric?” she said as I sat down.
I looked startled, sure she would have heard. Usually her information is impeccable.
“Eric was murdered yesterday morning” I said slowly.
“I hadn’t heard” Monique said, “I flew in from France yesterday so I’ve been a bit out of the loop. What happened?”
“I’m not sure” I replied. “I walked into their house yesterday morning when I got to work and found both Adele and Eric in bed. Eric was dead and Adele was passed out. I called the police and spent most of yesterday dealing with that. I should have called you but I kind of got caught up with it all.”
“Do you need Reggie?” Monique asked.
Reggie Goodman is Monique’s husband and one of the best lawyers in LA. I have used Reggie during previous encounters with the LAPD. Reggie is almost the physical opposite to Monique but the two of them are devoted to one another.
“I think I’ve got it under control. I haven’t been threatened with arrest or deportation yet, so I’m doing better than usual” I replied wryly.
Monique nodded smiling.
“One thing though, Adele has asked me to organize the funeral for Eric. It’s a little out of my comfort zone so I’m not really sure who to contact.”
Monique pulled out a card and passed it to me. “This is Tomas, he organizes funeral events, memorials, all those kinds of things. Whatever you need he will be able to do it.”
Holding the card I mulled over the fact that I had never in my life realized that anyone other than a funeral director organized funerals. Sometimes it hit me how far away I was from home and this was one of those moments.
“Also, I need to know the name of the private investigator in the BillieJo Freeman divorce case.”
“Why would you need to know that?” Monique asked curiously.
“Adele used him to get information on Eric when she first started seeing him, but ended up doing the quickie Vegas wedding thing before the investigation was finished. She never ended up getting the file, because she felt that it was a betrayal of her wedding vows to look into his background. Now though she wants to let his family know and invite them to the funeral.”
Monique just looked at me.
“Yes I know” I said, “bad decisions all round in that situation.”
“Well if she used the same investigator as BillieJo, that would be Travis Cooper.” Monique quickly looked at her computer and wrote down some details on a piece of paper. “He’s very good at his job, I’ve never needed to use him but I know Reggie has in some of
his cases. It does take a bit to see him. From what I understand he is very busy and has a waiting list a mile long. It could take you a while to get an appointment.”
“I need to get in pretty much immediately” I said.
“I’ll call Reggie and see what he can do” Monique said, smiling gently.
Chapter Ten
Walking into Travis Cooper’s office I was quite surprised. Brought up on a diet of noir films I expected a PI to have a dingy office in some out of the way office block, in a bad part of town. Travis Cooper’s office shared a building with lawyer’s offices and was light, airy and modern. The receptionist sitting on the front desk was not an up and coming actress who was filling in time until her big break which is what I saw very often. She was an older woman who looked like she was everyone’s favorite grandmother. I walked up to her with a smile on my face and as friendly a look as I can manage. My mother taught me that you always treat the front desk staff the best and that will make your life so much easier.
“Hi, my name is Trudie Eyre, I’ve got an appointment to see Mr Cooper. Thank you so much for getting me in at such short notice.”
The older woman blushed. I recognized that blush. Reggie was absolutely devoted to Monique but when he put on the charm, he could get women to do anything he wanted. It looked like Travis Cooper’s receptionist was just as susceptible as the rest of the women in LA. At that point a tall man barreled out of the office and stopped short just before running into me.
“I’ll be out for a bit Maria” he said as he adjusted the backpack on his shoulder, “just got word on the Johnson case.”
“Don’t you dare” Maria said with a bit of bite. “I just told you that you have an appointment. You are not running out now. Reggie Goodman sent her.”
“I’m sorry miss.” Travis Cooper turned to me and I felt the full force of those brown chocolate eyes and I steadied my legs as I could feel myself about to melt into a puddle. I live in LA and a lot of the time I am surrounded by very attractive men. I have attended parties and premieres with men who are regularly voted some of the hottest on the planet, but Travis Cooper was gorgeous.
“Adele Wesson sent me to talk to you about her husband Eric” I said hurriedly.
“Knew that mess was going to end badly” Cooper muttered. “Okay, I’ll talk to you but you need to come with me and we need to move it now.”
I wanted to ask where we were going, but he was already out the door.
I looked at Maria and she smiled encouragingly. “He won’t wait, you need to follow him and don’t let him out of your sight.”
I raced off after him and caught up at the elevators where he was impatiently hitting the button. The trip in the elevator was silent and I could feel his eyes on me as if evaluating me. His car was a generic one which surprised me, a little beaten up it would have faded into the background anywhere, but I guess that is why he used it. Cooper efficiently navigated the streets of LA and in no time we were parked outside of a hotel in an area I had never been before.
As he was getting his camera out Cooper started talking. “So you’re one of Monique’s people.” He looked me over. “You definitely look the type.” I raised an eyebrow and he chuckled. “So you’ve been working for Adele Wesson. That must have been fun.”
“Adele is a lovely person to work for” I said defensively.
“The woman is an idiot” Cooper said. I sucked in my breath to tell him off and he raised his hand. “I’m not saying that to be mean. She’s a rich woman, newly widowed and she has this young guy sniffing around her. Does she stop to think what his angle is? No, she jumps in his bed and then takes him to Vegas and marries him.”
“They could have been in love” I said quietly “not everyone has to have an angle.”
“Honey, everyone’s got an angle, everyone’s out for themselves. Do you have any idea the number of fairy tale weddings that end up with me, sitting in this clunker of a car, aiming a telephoto lens at someone who is sleeping with someone other than the person they vowed before God or state that they would love forever?”
I tried to interrupt but he was obviously on a roll.
“People get so caught up in finding ‘the one’, and then they decide ‘the one’ irritates them and instead of working it out they start looking for a new ‘the one’. Marriage isn’t forever anymore. In fact if I didn’t make so much money out of it, I would be saying that the whole institution should be banned.”
“Finished?” I asked as he took a breath. “Because fascinating as your opinion on the state of modern marriage is, I am really trying to get some information for Adele. Eric is dead and I am supposed to be organizing the funeral for him. Adele was hoping that in your investigation that you may have found if he had any family who should be attending the funeral.”
“Eric is dead?” asked Cooper.
“Yes, he was killed yesterday morning”.
“How?”
“From what I could see it looked like something hit his head and made a mess. I don’t know if it was a bullet or something big and heavy but there was a lot of blood on the pillow.”
Cooper aimed the large camera in his hand at the hotel lobby doors and started adjusting the lens.
“So” he said in what he obviously believed was an offhand manner. “Were you sleeping with him?”
“Why does everyone ask that question? No I wasn’t sleeping with him, I had never slept with him and I didn’t want to sleep with him.”
“You gay?” Cooper asked. “Nothing wrong with that, some of my best fantasies involve gay women.”
I looked at him in disgust. “You are truly unpleasant to talk to, has anyone told you that?”
“Often” he said smiling showing his straight white teeth.
“I am not gay. I did not sleep with him. Why don’t we just put it down to me being one of those idiots who believes in the whole marriage vows being sacred thing?”
“An idealist” Cooper said. “That’s great.” He fished into his pocket and took out a card and pushed it into a side pocket of my purse. “You keep this in your wallet and when you find ‘the one’ and get that feeling that he isn’t so keen on his vows, you give me a call. I’ll give you a discount rate.”
I went against every part of my upbringing and refused to thank him.
“So, what can you tell me about Eric?”
“Eric Wesson” he drawled. “You know he took her name, told her he was doing it to honor her first marriage, to prove how much he loved her. Grew up in LA with his mother. No idea who the father was. The kid was smart but didn’t get much of a chance at school. That’s about as far as I got before Adele went and married the guy and pulled the plug on the investigation.”
“You didn’t go any further with it?” I asked curiously.
“Honey, I don’t run a charity and I sure as hell don’t run a counseling service. People are responsible for their own stupid decisions. It wasn’t my job to tell her that she’d married the wrong guy.”
I was about to say something when his attention was caught on the front door of the hotel.
“Well, well, well. Looks like Mr Johnson has not been taking his marriage vows seriously either.”
“He could be having a meeting in there” I said indignantly, “you don’t know for sure.”
“Honey” Cooper said patiently as he was clicking away with his camera. “Could you give me one good reason that Mr Johnson would leave his office in the middle of the day, with his secretary and go to an out of the way hotel for a meeting. By the way, I know for a fact this place does not have conference facilities.”
I was silent. I couldn’t think of a reason and frankly if he was running around cheating on his wife, it wasn’t my business to defend him.
“So” Cooper said, still snapping away at the hapless couple while I was trying very hard not to notice that Mr Johnson’s trouser zipper was still undone. Cooper winked at me, he knew I’d seen the same thing he had. “You found the body.”
/> I nodded, not game to answer.
“Get pulled in by the cops for questioning?” he asked.
“Yes” I said.
“Know the name of the cops who pulled you in.”
“Jake Griffin and Liza Ramos” I said. I was looking at him so I noticed the stormy look in his eyes at the mention of Griffin’s name.
“You know Griffin” I ventured.
“Yes” said Cooper, “he was my partner when I first made it to detective, before I left the force.”
“Doesn’t sound like there are fond memories” I said watching him carefully.
“Let’s just say that I learned that it was better to rely on myself than to depend on someone else.” Cooper said.
“Someone else being Griffin?” I persisted.
“Kind of nosy aren’t you?” Cooper said as he tucked the camera back in the bag and started up the car.
“Just a little curious” I said trying to be casual but I could see that Cooper was able to see right through me.
“Oh honey” he said. “Let me give you a piece of advice. Jake Griffin lives and breathes the LAPD. Nothing and no one comes before it. If you have set your sights on him then you are going to be sadly disappointed. There will come a day when you will ask him to put you first, to believe in you and back you up. On that day he will leave you and you will realize that you are better off without him.”
“What did he do?” I asked, any pretense at being disinterested a vague memory.
“None of your business sweetheart, let’s just say I learned too late that just because he was my partner didn’t mean he had my back. On that day I had a choice whether to stay in the LAPD and put up with that kind of thing, or strike out on my own, where I know that I only have myself to depend on.”
Getting to his office Cooper turned to me. “I have everything I got for Adele Wesson upstairs” he said.
I followed him quietly still digesting his words over Griffin. To be perfectly honest he wasn’t saying anything that I wasn’t already aware of. Since I’d met him, Griffin had repeatedly proved to me that his job came first. Maybe I was reading too much into the kiss that happened in the hospital. The fact the guy hadn’t contacted me in the last two months seemed to be a good indication of where I was on his level of priorities. After my broken engagement I had realized that I wasn’t going to be happy with just getting out there again. If I was going to risk my heart again I was going to go for awesome. I didn’t intend to settle for anything less. Smiling at Maria as we passed her desk I was quiet as I followed Cooper. Reaching into his filing cabinet he pulled out a pretty thin file and passed it to me.
