“You heard me, get out,” he hissed. “And make sure I never see your face again.”
CHAPTER 10
Marie had asked Kat to stay with her, but of course that was no longer possible. It was too late to fly back home, and she was beyond exhausted, so she decided to check into a local hotel that allowed dogs.
The relief Rudy felt when she walked him after she checked into the hotel, and they returned to their room, was matched by hers as she slumped down on the bed. She was physically and emotionally drained.
Kat was too disturbed by everything that had happened to enjoy her hotel stay, despite it being one of the most luxurious hotels in Beverly Hills. She managed to get off the bed and open a packet of dog food she’d brought for Rudy, and then collapsed right back on it.
She looked out the window at the creamy blue sky with perfect cotton candy clouds floating by and felt nothing but miserable. She didn’t even have the strength to look for her cell phone in her purse so she could call Blaine. Without intending to, she drifted off to sleep.
The next thing she knew, she was waking up with Rudy’s paw on her face, tapping her over and over. The sun was going down, and the room was bathed in a golden-purple twilight.
“Rudy, no,” she said as she grabbed his paw and moved it off her face. She realized her phone was vibrating in her purse, and the noise was vibrating off of the wooden floor. “Okay. I see what you’re doing,” she said to him.
By the time she’d gotten over to her purse, her phone had stopped ringing. She’d missed fifteen calls from Blaine according to the record of recent calls displayed on the phone.
Oh no. He must be worried sick, she thought, and quickly called him back.
“Kat, I’m so concerned about you,” he said in a breathless tone of voice. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “Just about. I fell asleep. I’m in a hotel here in Beverly Hills with Rudy. Why are you so worried? Normally, you’d call me once or twice and wait for me to call you back, but I can see from my phone record that you’ve called me fifteen times.”
“I saw the news,” he said. “It came through on my phone as a notification.”
“What news?”
“That Marie died under suspicious circumstances.”
“Huh?” Kat wasn’t quite awake yet, and her head felt fuzzy. “No, that can’t be right. She’s in the hospital, alive. She’s in intensive care. I went to see her.”
“The report said she was rushed to hospital, where she died this afternoon.”
“Oh dear.” Kat let out a deep sigh. “She must have passed away while I was asleep.”
“Did you have a chance to talk to her before she died?” Blaine asked in a concerned tone of voice.
“No,” Kat said. “For one thing, they wouldn’t let me in because I’m not family. For another, apparently she was in a coma.”
“Ah,” Blaine said. “They didn’t say how she died on the news, only that her death was suspicious. If she was in a coma, and her death was a result of suspicious circumstances, then it very well could be that she was poisoned. Death by poison is often preceded by a coma before death occurs.”
Kat paused. “I think you might just be right. Someone who is poisoned often slips into a coma, just as Marie did. So you think she might have been poisoned?”
“It’s entirely possible, but it also could have been a head injury that caused a swelling or bleeding on the brain, which led to the coma.”
“That could be. By the way, I met her son, Auberon, when I was at the hospital.”
“The one she was estranged from?”
“That’s her only one,” Kat said. “He told the police that she’d called him saying she was choking and couldn’t breathe. He called the police, and when they got to Marie’s house, they found her in a coma. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital.”
“Did he have a chance to see her?”
“Yes, you know, they say people in comas can still hear what’s going on around them, and I really hope that was the case for Marie. I hope at some level she knew that her son really did care about her because he’d come to see her. He was there for her in the end.”
“I do too,” Blaine said. “He’s probably racked with guilt for all the years they didn’t speak. Right now he’s probably regretting it.”
“He seemed very protective of her in the hospital,” Kat said. “He got extremely angry with me and told me to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks the book has something to do with her death, and I was the ghostwriter for the book. I suppose he has a point. A lot of people are going to be upset by this book. I’m actually wondering if Auberon isn’t right. I could have discouraged Marie, but I took on the job because I wanted to help her.
“I made sure the slant was more about her divulging her own secret stories, telling her side of things, but there were plenty of things about others in there. Just things she’d seen and discovered. Perhaps I should have steered her away from all that, you know, made her play it safe.”
“I’ll bet she didn’t want to play it safe,” Blaine said. “She was a grown woman, and she knew what she wanted.”
Kat sighed. “I suppose you’re right, but if I hadn’t written the book, maybe she wouldn’t be dead right now. Doesn’t that make it my fault, in some way?”
“You don’t know that her death has anything to do with the book,” Blaine said. “And even if it did, it still wouldn’t be your fault. Marie is the one telling the story. You were simply arranging the words for her. What she decided to put out into the world through her book was her responsibility. And, of course, the fault lies with, and might I add, solely with, the person who killed her, if she was, in fact, murdered.”
Kat wished Blaine was there with her. No, actually she wished she was back home with him, and she could rest her head against his chest and feel his strong arms wrap around her. She usually felt strong, independent and capable, but right now she was running on empty.
Blaine noticed her silence. “Listen, you can’t be feeling all that good right now. Why don’t you make yourself a hot, sweet drink? Tea, maybe? And get a good, solid meal from room service? That should help you get through the night.”
“Okay,” Kat said. “I don’t really have an appetite, but I think you’re right.”
“The Irish say anything can be cured with a good night’s sleep and a good meal.”
“I think they’re right in a lot of instances, but maybe not this one. However, it may make everything feel more manageable. At least I’ve had the good sleep part. I must have been out for four hours. I think I’ll order a meal from room service. I really don’t have the energy to go to a restaurant.”
“Good,” Blaine said. He always got a little bossy when Kat wasn’t feeling good, but she didn’t mind. She knew he had her best interests at heart. To be honest, she knew she had the same tendency when he wasn’t feeling all that great. “Are you coming home tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll look for flights now. Does Lacie know about Marie’s death?”
“She does,” he said. “She found out from an online news app, too. She’s fine, though, just concerned about you. When you hang up, you’ll probably see some texts from her. She mentioned she’d tried to contact you.”
“I’m sorry. I really should have let you all know what was going on before I fell asleep, but my mind just wasn’t there.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Blaine said. “We’re just glad you’re okay.”
“Yes, but unfortunately, Marie isn’t okay. I think I’m still in shock. I can imagine her phoning me now in that cheery tone of voice of hers, and calling me ‘dahhling’, as she loves… loved to do. None of this feels right to me, Blaine.”
“I know,” he said. “Try not to think about it too much for now. Just look after yourself. Eat well. Watch a movie.”
“I will, honey.”
When Kat ended the call, she found the messages from Lacie. She g
ave her a quick call, to let her know everything was okay and to check up on Lacie and the unborn baby. She tried to minimize what she was feeling, since she didn’t want to burden Lacie.
When she’d finished the call, Kat decided that instead of getting room service, she felt well enough to go to one of the restaurants located in the hotel for a meal. She opened the door to the balcony to let Rudy get some fresh air and be free to roam there while she was dining downstairs. She took a quick shower and changed into some comfortable stone-colored slacks and a linen shirt in a rich shade of rose pink.
Fortunately, there was a casual restaurant in the hotel as well as a formal one. Kat was in no mood for dressing up and eating a rich gourmet dinner while being fussed over by over-attentive waiters. All she wanted was something simple and familiar, and to be left alone.
Thankfully she got what she wished for.
She had a gin and tonic, and a pizza, the ultimate comfort food for her. She would have happily settled for a regular pizza, but this was an upscale Beverly Hills hotel, so of course it had to be an artisan pizza, on a base with a grain made of teff (imported Free Trade from Ethiopia, according to the menu) with toppings of olives, artichokes and parma ham. Even though it was far more gourmet than she was used to, it went down well.
While she was eating, her phone rang with a number she didn’t recognize. She wanted to ignore it, but thought better of it. Perhaps it was the police or the hospital, who would say that somehow, miraculously, Marie had survived and was asking for her. She’d left her phone number with both of them. But it wasn’t Marie.
“Is this Kat Denham? It’s Auberon Lennon-Shroeder.”
“Hello,” she said wearily, waiting for the verbal assault to begin.
“I take it you’ve heard the news.”
“Yes. It seems trite to offer you my condolences, but I’m not sure what else to do.”
“I’ll tell you what else you can do,” he said. “I looked you up. I found an article from a paper in Kansas, Lindsay, I think the town was called.”
“Yes, that’s where I live.”
“It said you helped solve the murder of a co-ed at the university there.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Kat, I’d like you to stay here and investigate what happened to my mother.”
Kat paused. “My husband, he’s a district attorney back in Kansas, and I were talking about it and we both think it’s likely that poison was involved, since she went into a coma. I don’t like to ask you this, but when you saw her, did she have any head injuries?”
“None. I agree with you. I think it’s poisoning, too. But the police called me to say that her death might not have happened under suspicious circumstances at all, contrary to what they originally thought. I think there’s something fishy going on. Like someone doesn’t want something to come out.”
“I see. Well, the coroner’s report will probably give you some answers.”
“If I ever see the coroner’s report,” Auberon said. “And if the coroner they use is even trustworthy. You wrote her book,” he said, his voice tightening, “so you know that Hollywood is full of lies and coverups. I think someone’s paying them to keep it all quiet, and to say her death was from natural causes. She was eight-four years old, so they could probably get away with it.”
“If there was a coverup, they probably would,” Kat said. “So you want my help finding out what’s really going on?”
“Yes. I’d like you to come and stay in my mother’s house. I’m staying there until this is all sorted out. I have two weeks paid leave from my work, but I’m not going to bring my family to stay with me. I don’t want to alarm them. I’m going to do whatever I can to protect my girls from all this.”
“I understand. Well, I can help you for a little while, but my own daughter is due to give birth soon, so that will have to take precedence over everything else.”
“Of course. So, will you come and stay here?”
“Yes.” Kat knew she couldn’t stay in the hotel she was in for any length of time, since they charged multimillionaire rates. She was by no means poor, what with her writing success as well as Blaine being quite wealthy in his own right, even though he’d given most of his inheritance to charities. “I’ll be there tomorrow. I have my dog, Rudy, with me.”
“That’s fine. Frankly, I don’t care. I just want to get justice for my mother.”
Kat wanted to ask him why the change of heart. He’d had no contact with Marie since he was eighteen years old, despite all of her attempts to get in touch, so why did he care so much now? But she supposed it didn’t take a genius to figure out that her death had changed things for him.
“You know Auberon, Marie loved you very much,” Kat said, hoping it would be of some comfort to him. “She often spoke to me about you.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then she heard a racking sob, and a gasp as Auberon tried to stop himself from crying. “Don’t talk about it, please” he said. “We’re not going to focus on the past. Just on going forward and getting justice.”
CHAPTER 11
When Kat stepped into Marie Moorhead’s home with Rudy at her heels, the place took her breath away.
The walls and carpeting were white with a white marble floor and a huge vaulted ceiling topped with an ornate skylight dome. The stairs swept from the right of the hallway around in a curve towards the back of the house. There was a stunning mezzanine above the entryway with a seating area furnished with a huge couch and several large comfortable looking easy chairs.
It was far from the sleek modern look one would expect in such a home. Rather, it was packed to the brim with Art Deco furniture and features, and looked like something right out of Old Hollywood. The couches were deep blue velvet, and there was a muted gold chaise longue.
The windows were formed in Art Deco patterns with some panes in black, others in white, and some in gold. In fact, there was a lot of gold everywhere, muted in some places and bright in others. The drapes on the windows were a mix of deep blue and a lighter blue, with intricate gold edging. All of the standing floor lamps were adorned with gold tassels.
“Wow,” Kat said.
Auberon had answered the door when she’d rung the doorbell. “This is the first time I’ve seen this place, too, apart from some pictures I saw in a magazine once. I don’t know whether to think it’s glorious or too gaudy for words.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” Kat said. “I prefer a much lighter, less intricate look, but for Marie, it would have been perfect.”
“No doubt some would have seen it as her trying to live in the past,” he said. “They’d say she was trying to deny she’d aged, the world had moved on, and these were no longer her glory days.”
“Well, I’d say they were being uncharitable,” Kat said. “If it made her happy, that’s all that matters.”
Auberon paused. “Do you think she was happy?”
“On balance, yes,” Kat said. “She told me she’d felt more stable in the past few years than she ever had. I know her life was very chaotic when she was younger, when she had you.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s true.”
“She still loved the limelight, there’s no denying that. But she told me she had become softer, more settled.”
Auberon nodded, and a pained look crossed his face. “Well, that’s good, I suppose.” He looked down at Rudy, who was being very quiet and hovering by Kat’s feet. He awkwardly bent down to pat him on the head, reaching out tentatively, as if he was afraid Rudy was going to bite him
“This is Rudy,” Kat said. “Don’t worry, he’s not at all aggressive.”
“Oh, good,” he said. “I don’t know the first thing about dogs. I don’t have anything against them, it’s just that I’ve never had one. My wife is allergic to them.”
Kat smiled. “Well, luckily this dog’s behavior is quite normal and routine. He’s very friendly. As long as he gets a good walk and a good meal, he’s a happy campe
r.”
Auberon smiled for the first time since she’d arrived. “And if he doesn’t?”
Kat grinned. “Well, you’d better watch out. No, I’m only kidding. Potentially, he’d probably whine you to death.”
“In that case, I’ll get my life insurance policy in order,” he said, but instantly his grin disappeared. “Oh no. I wasn’t thinking.” He went pale and gulped. “Talking of such things, my mother’s lawyer is due here soon to give me the details about her estate. I expect she cut me out of her will, given I cut her out of my life.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Kat said. “She still loved you very much.”
“Or perhaps she has an enormous tax bill and the state will take most of everything,” he said. “She was always hopeless with money, even when she had it. I remember how even my boarding school bills created drama for her.”
Kat didn’t quite know what to say. “I expect you’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t know anything about it. Marie and I talked a lot, but not about her will or her estate plan.”
Auberon nodded. “I’m rather busy for the rest of the day, what with the lawyer and taking care of funeral arrangements, but sometime I’d love to sit down with you and talk about her. What she shared with you, what you know about her. I wish I could sit with her and talk, but, well, you know, it’s too late for that.”
“I know,” Kat said.
“And obviously we need to talk about who could have murdered her, if it turns out she was murdered,” he said. “I have some ideas of my own, but not now. We can do it later. When we talk, I don’t want us to be interrupted. Why don’t you pick out the room you’d like to stay in?
“There are eleven or more bedrooms, not including the staff quarters. I’ve closed the door to my room and my mother’s, but all the others are open, so go ahead and pick the one you want.”
“Okay,” Kat said. “Thanks. Is it all right if Rudy stays in the room with me?”
“Yes, I know my mother would have liked that,” he said. “She always loved animals, but didn’t have them because she didn’t think she could look after them properly.” He raised his eyebrows. “Trust me, looking after things wasn’t her forte. I’m sure she’d be happy if your dog stayed with you in the bedroom you select.”
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