If Hooks Could Kill

by Betty Hechtman

  Stone shook his legs and arms, trying to knock off the partying big black bugs.

  “How about we make a deal,” Barry said. “I let you get up and you make it easy on all of us and tell me what happened.”

  Stone said nothing. “He told me everything,” I said.

  Barry let out a sigh. “I’m afraid it’s not the same.” He tried to make me feel better by putting his arm around me in a supportive gesture. I told him that the Rolex and coins were in my tote bag and he said he’d make sure they got it as evidence.

  It didn’t take long for a bunch of cruisers to arrive, along with Detective Heather in her black Crown Vic. I’m not sure what was more upsetting for her—seeing Barry with his arm around me or having to admit I was right about the storage locker. I told her about the flaw in Stone’s alibi. She was not happy realizing she’d missed it. Then I was old news as she and Barry went off to the side and began to talk. Barry looked animated and she kept fiddling with her hair, fluttering her eyelashes and touching Barry’s arm in a possessive manner.

  Oh, ick. Wasn’t there some rule about cops flirting with each other while on duty?

  Detective Heather finally took my statement before waving me on my way. She and Barry were deep in conversation when I finally headed to the greenmobile.

  * * *

  They booked Stone on a whole lot of charges. For attempted murder of me, for the murder of his sister and for the murder of Barry’s two cold case victims. But there were all kinds of problems with the case. They knew by the casings that the same gun had been used in one of Barry’s cold cases and Kelly’s murder, but they didn’t have the gun. I told them what Stone had said about throwing it in the ocean, but it had no effect.

  Barry was able to identify the leaded glass lamp they found in the storage locker as the authentic Tiffany that had been taken in cold case number one, but there was no way to prove that Stone had taken it. It was the same with the Rolex. They couldn’t even verify that the lamp, watch or the coins had been in the storage locker when it had been in Stone’s name.

  Barry and Heather knew that Stone was involved in all three murders, but they didn’t have the evidence to prove it.

  Even the charge that Stone had tried to kill me was in question. He claimed he was only trying to protect his family’s property from being stolen by me.

  Barry and Heather both tried to get him to confess, but Stone asked for an attorney before saying a word. And the attorney pointed out that although the plane had stopped in Burbank for two hours, there was nothing to say that Stone had left the airport. No cab company had any record of the trip. There was nothing to say that he was at his sister’s when she was shot. If anything, the attorney tried to point the finger at Kelly for having the stolen coins, lamp and watch.

  Detective Heather was still trying to come up with more evidence before the district attorney reviewed the case and decided if there was enough for a trial. In the meantime, Stone was let out on bail. He couldn’t leave town and was staying with one of his surfer buddies until the situation was resolved.

  Now I understood the frustration the cops felt when they knew someone was guilty, but there was nothing they could do about it.

  * * *

  Dan was relieved to be off the hook and I profusely apologized to him. North and the prop guys never realized they’d been on the hook, though they were all glad it was settled. Still, they were sorry to hear it was Stone. Some of them were his fans.

  I felt bad for Stone’s father. There was no way he wasn’t going to blame himself. Even if Stone never went to trial, everybody was always going to believe that he’d killed his sister.

  CHAPTER 35

  “Okay, everybody,” CeeCee Collins said as the Jungle Days Fair got ready to open. “Let’s sell, sell, sell. Remember it will help all the dogs and cats.” The proceeds of our booth were going to help her favorite charity, Hearts and Barks, and Meows, Too.

  To say it was hot, was an understatement. Yes, it was dry heat, but with the temperature close to one hundred, the lack of humidity didn’t make a difference. It was like being in an oven.

  The cowls were spread across the table like a rainbow along with Dinah’s washclothes wrapped around bars of soap and Eduardo’s bracelets and some other items we’d made. The whole bottom row featured Adele’s version of Kelly’s flower pins. The bullion stitch petals perfectly done.

  “Those are lovely,” CeeCee said. “Maybe you can show me how you made them. I’ve never mastered that stitch.”

  Adele’s mouth fell open in shock. All her worry had been for nothing. She picked up one of the pins and showed it off to the rest of us. “Maybe I should do a crochet clinic and teach all of you. There’s a little secret that changes everything.”

  I noticed that Adele didn’t say it was her secret, she just implied it. Actually it was Kelly’s secret. When I’d really studied the yellow sheets I’d been carrying around, I’d found it. I wondered if Adele would remember that I was the one who had shown her how to overcome her Achilles’ heel of stitches. Probably not. It had been hard enough to get her to admit that she’d put the coins and watch in my bag. But when she understood that Stone had almost killed me because of overhearing her conversation with Eric, she had thrown her arms around me and begged for my forgiveness.

  Despite the heat, there was a crowd of people and they all stopped at our booth. The cowls got a lot of oohs and aahs at their colors, but when Adele demonstrated how to wear them, people seemed to start fanning themselves and dropped them back on the table. They were a lot more interested in buying the bottles of Crystal Gazer water Rhoda had brought in from Dan’s store.

  “Oh, dear,” CeeCee said as midday approached and we hadn’t sold one cowl. “I knew these were going to be a dud.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Adele hanging her head.

  “You people give up too easily,” Rhoda Klein said. “No one wants something hot around their neck in this weather. But they would like something cool.” Rhoda picked up a sunshine yellow cowl and poured some water on it. She squeezed out the excess and slipped it over her head. “Ah, my own personal air-conditioning,” she said loudly. “This cool cowl is really great.”

  A few people turned at her voice, which wasn’t a surprise because the nasally New York accent tended to carry. A woman brought a little girl over who was flushed with the heat. CeeCee picked up on Rhoda’s cue and dowsed a bubblegum pink cowl with the rest of the water and asked the little girl if she’d like to try it.

  “It feels nice,” she said and her mother gladly bought it. Rhoda called out to them that they could recharge the cowl’s cooling powers by dipping it in water.

  Adele recovered and started swishing the cowls in the melted ice in the cooler to make colder cowls.

  “I’ll take one of those.” When I looked up, Mason was grinning at me. He turned to the young woman next to him. “Which one do you want?” She pointed toward a cream-colored one. As I handed it to her, he said, “I’d like you to meet my daughter Thursday.” He gave me a knowing nod. “Thursday, this is Molly, my special friend. She crocheted that beautiful hankie for you.”

  I was surprised when she leaned over the table and thanked me with a hug.

  “This is great,” she said putting on the drenched neck piece. She showed it off to Mason and then reminded him that they had to get to a dress fitting. “The wedding is in a week,” she said.

  “And Molly is going to be there,” he said.

  “See you then,” she said with a smile. She moved on to another booth, but Mason hung back.

  “Let’s see, I invited you to the wedding, and introduced you to my daughter as my special friend. I think that counts as including you in my family. That’s everything you wanted, right?” His eyes grew warm. “So, is the trip to Carmel on?” The best I could do was tell him the truth. I was still digesting what had just happened and I needed to think about it.

  Detective Heather stopped at our booth. She was wearing a white sundress and
it was the first time I remembered seeing her out of work clothes. She looked much less intimidating, almost girlish. She noticed me looking around and figured out I was looking for Barry. She pointed toward a bean bag game. Jeffrey and Barry were both trying their luck.

  “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but it looks like Stone is going to walk. Unless I can come up with something pronto, the DA is going to drop all the charges except threatening you. But Thomasville’s attorney will probably twist things around, and the worst he’ll get is probation.” She looked at me intently. “I never thought I would say this, but I sure wish you could come up with something.”

  She bought a shell pink cowl and I chilled it for her. As I handed to her, I told her I wished I could, too.

  As the day went on, the cowls kept selling. But so far Elise had kept the vampire ones she’d made out of the water. Finally somebody picked up one and asked for it wet. “I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do for that one,” she said trying to take it back.

  “Anthony wouldn’t mind,” Eduardo said with a reassuring nod and Elise let it get the cold treatment.

  Dinah had a marker in her bag and flipped the sign and wrote in “Chill with a Cool Cowl.”

  Needless to say, we sold out.

  * * *

  With everything that had gone on, I hadn’t gotten a chance to get the rest of my stuff from the storage locker. It felt eerie to be back there, but I made sure I went in the middle of the day and I was relieved to see some other cars there. Regretting again that I hadn’t sprung for a locker that you could park in front of, I was making trips back and forth to the car when I heard someone call my name. I turned and was surprised to see Barry. He was in jeans and a tee shirt and had the sweaty look of someone who had been moving things.

  “What are you doing here?’ I said.

  He pointed toward a large locker. “You aren’t the only one who had to store stuff. I had to empty the condo when it sold. Well, some of my friends did it for me.”

  I glanced down the driveway and saw a rental truck was parked in front of an open locker.

  Barry wiped his forehead with his shirtsleeve and I saw that he had a bottle of soda in his hand.

  He held out the bottle. “Want some?”

  We really hadn’t seen each other since the last time at the storage place. I accepted his offer and took a big sip of the icy drink. When I handed the bottle back, he put it to his lips and drank some. I don’t know why, but it seemed very personal.

  “Then you got a place?” I said. “Where?”

  Barry’s mouth curved into a friendly grin. “In Tarzana, over by Lindley. I took Jeffrey with me and we found a place that works for both of us.”

  “Good,” I said. We stood there for a moment not saying anything. “Well, take care,” I said picking up a box and starting to walk toward the greenmobile.

  “Let me get that for you,” he said taking it out of my arms. “I’m one hundred percent okay.” To demonstrate he picked his leg up and jiggled it around. “I’m still getting physical therapy, but I don’t really need it. Even without the resolution I wanted, the two cold cases I was working on are settled. At least the maid isn’t under suspicion anymore.” He let out a satisfied sigh. “And I’m back at my regular job. Thank heavens I’m done with that nine to five stuff. It is definitely not me.” He sounded happy but there was this feeling that he wanted to say more.

  He set the box in the trunk of my car and insisted on walking back to my locker and helping me with the rest. At first we walked in silence. Then he stopped, which made me stop, too.

  “I want to tell you that I was wrong. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was ridiculous trying to push you into getting married. And the whole thing with the condo in Simi—putting down a deposit and putting my place up for sale without telling you or Jeffrey.” He took a few breaths and then looked me in the eye. “It was great staying at your house. Not the broken foot and leg part,” he said with a chuckle. “But you were wonderful to Jeffrey and me. We’d broken up and you let us stay with you anyway. We both felt welcome, too.” He halted again. “And I’ve missed you since we left.”

  We walked the rest of the way to my locker and he grabbed a box. I took some shopping bags. As we started back toward my car, he spoke again. “Remember how you asked if we couldn’t just leave things the way they were when I gave you the ultimatum?”

  I remembered it well. I couldn’t understand why we had to get married or be broken up—why we couldn’t find a common ground. I nodded.

  “Is that offer still on the table?”

  The truth was I missed him, too. The time we’d spent together while he was recuperating was different. Maybe because there weren’t the pressures of being a couple. I had gotten to know him better. I had seen him when he felt vulnerable and then when he got his confidence back.

  “Yes, the offer is still on the table—to be friends,” I said finally.

  He looked a little disappointed at the last part, but recovered. “I can deal with that.” The words were barely out of his mouth when his cell phone rang. I heard him answer and by his voice I knew it was work. A body somewhere, a suspect to question or maybe a lead to follow. It was back to business as usual.

  * * *

  I drove home and unloaded the boxes before going to meet Dinah. I told her about Barry as we headed down the street and she smiled knowingly. “I never believed you two were done. Do you think he’ll really stop pushing you to get married?”

  “Wouldn’t he be surprised if someday I went and said yes.” Then I laughed. “I just agreed to be friends, anyway.”

  We walked down the block and turned on Kelly’s street—and did a double take when we saw what was going on. Though it was dark out, the street was bright as day thanks to the light atop a crane. The pavement was in the process of being wet down by several production assistants. Even without Adele’s commentary, I knew that was to give it more contrast. Eric was in his uniform and stationed at the curb, prepared to stop any traffic that might want to go down the street. A group of neighbors were gathered near the Donahue house and their front yard was filled with equipment and more lights that were focused on their driveway. When I got closer, I saw that the whole backyard was illuminated as well.

  Nanci Silvers stood on the edge of her front lawn, watching. Autumn was in the front yard, too. I did a double take when I saw who Autumn was talking to. The gangly kid in the baggy pants with a baseball cap at a stupid angle was none other than one of the juvenile shoplifters.

  We stopped next to Nanci and I was going to say something about her daughter’s choice of boyfriends, but Nanci spoke first. “I hope you ladies aren’t here to complain. I’ve rethought the whole situation and I see that the production is great for our local businesses.” She paused as though considering what she was going to say next. “I was afraid people might get the wrong idea, so I was keeping it a secret, but I’m Dan’s partner. I want to do more with my life than be the PTA president. The dollar-of-the-hour special is all me.” she said. “I have connections through my husband’s business to get fabulous deals on merchandise. At first I didn’t even tell my husband that I’d bought a share of the business with my nest egg.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said, looking at Autumn and her new boyfriend. “But is that who you want your daughter to spend time with instead of Jeffrey?”

  “Who’s Jeffrey?” Nanci said and I pointed to the boy on the bike at the end of the block. I pulled Nanci aside and told her what I knew about her daughter’s new friend. Nanci’s expression made it clear she’d gotten the message.

  Because of the investigation, the L.A. 911 team had never filmed the scene using Kelly’s yard and driveway—until now. I felt a twinge of sadness. Kelly should have been out here enjoying the moment with the rest of us.

  Dan came out of his house and crossed the driveway. “Well, this is it,” Dan said as he joined the group standing on Nanci’s front lawn. We had a perfect view of the backyard
and the driveway.

  The tall jean-clad director walked out to the sidewalk and waved toward Jeffrey and the production assistant near him. Jeffrey had tried to sneak into the shot so many times, the director had finally given in and said Jeffrey could ride his bike through this, the last scene they were shooting.

  There was some more preparation and then the director yelled for everyone to settle and that they were ready to shoot. After a moment, he called for action. An actor dressed in creepy looking clothes came over the fence into the Donahue yard. He paused for a beat and ran through the yard and up the driveway. A moment later North appeared over the top of the same portion of fence. Though after it was edited, it would appear that he vaulted over the fence and landed on his feet, in reality, they put a ladder next to the fence and he climbed down. I think he was embarrassed at having us all watch the fakery, so to jazz it up a little, he jumped off the ladder before he reached the last rung. His move backfired and the tall ladder fell toward the house, hitting the row of poplar trees that had been brought into block the view. As it did something popped out of one of the trees and hit the ground.

  “Cut,” the director yelled, walking through the yard. We all inched closer to see what had fallen.

  “Can’t you people use the trash cans,” he yelled.

  Curious what was causing his irritation, I crept all the way into the yard. When I saw what they were looking at I yelled, “Step back. Don’t touch that, it’s evidence.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Detective Heather walked across the backyard while the film crew and actors watched. “I don’t understand,” the director said. “It’s a piece of garbage. A broken plastic bottle.”

  “Do you want to explain or should I?” I said to Detective Heather.

  “I’ll handle this,” she said stepping in front of me. “This piece of garbage proves that Stone Thomasville shot his sister. She pointed out the label, which though damaged still clearly showed that it was the coconut water energy drink, Stone was touting. “It wasn’t available for sale anywhere, so the only way the bottle could have gotten there was if he’d brought it.” She pointed to the missing bottom and explained he’d used the juice bottle to make a homemade silencer, which was why nobody heard the shot. It must have flown off the gun and gone out through the open sliding glass door and lodged in the row of poplar trees.