Shooting on Location (Lisa Chance Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Estelle Richards

“Very helpful.”

  “See you, Ruby,” Toby said as they headed for the door.

  “Bye, Toby.” She looked at Lisa. “Don’t be a stranger. You want to practice, our hours are on the door.”

  “Thanks.” Lisa waved.

  Once outside, Toby took out a pack of cigarettes. Lisa gave him a look.

  “Really? Right after meditating?”

  He laughed and put them away again. “I know, I know. I’m quitting. Really.”

  She shook her head. “Those things will kill you.”

  “So will these,” he said, patting the weapons at his side. “So will life.”

  “Guess we’d better get living.”

  Chapter 11

  The next morning, Lisa went downstairs to start the coffee and open the café, wishing she could sleep in at least until the sun came up. It was a cold, dark winter morning in the mountains. The sun wouldn’t be up until after half the early morning rush was done. She set up the first carafe of coffee to brew, starting with her favorite dark roast. One of the benefits of running a café was first access to the best coffee in town.

  She turned on the lights in the library and sitting room, tidying as she went. Chairs straight, centerpieces at an inviting angle. She opened the curtains. With the yard outside still shrouded in darkness, she felt like a figurine in a lighted display case.

  When she turned on the light in the parlor, Lisa was startled to hear pounding at the front door. She brushed at phantom crumbs on her apron and went to the door. She turned on the porch light before opening the door.

  “At last!” Gavin Jump pushed past her into the warmth of the parlor, followed by most of the crew from the movie.

  Lisa’s mouth hung open as she watched them push tables together, sling coats over the backs of chairs, and make themselves at home. A cold wind swirled around her legs, chilling her. She looked at the porch. It was empty, so she closed the door.

  Rounding on the group that had taken over her largest room, Lisa folded her arms. “What are you doing here?”

  Sam bustled over to her, a stack of papers in his hand. “Emergency production meeting,” he said. “Do you know there’s no conference room at the hotel in this podunk town?”

  Lisa thought of the Lucky Horseshoe. It was hard to imagine a motel less likely to be equipped with a conference room. She nodded.

  “So where’s the coffee?” he said.

  “Uh, still brewing. We’re not open yet.”

  “That’s good. Less riff-raff to get in the way.”

  “Riff-raff? If you’re talking about my customers, then—”

  “And Gavin wants muffins,” Sam said before walking away.

  Lisa went back to the kitchen to start the next carafe of coffee brewing and check the muffin supply. The supply was low. She started to get the ingredients down to work on a batch. The nuts needed to be toasted first, so she stuck those in the oven.

  She poured herself a cup of coffee and was about to take a sip.

  “Is that Gavin’s?” a voice said behind her.

  She turned around and saw Serena standing in the entrance to the kitchen, tapping her foot.

  “Actually, it’s mine.”

  Serena frowned. “Gavin wants coffee.”

  Lisa looked at the surly woman with her dyed hair and decided to take a long drink of coffee before replying.

  “I can wait,” Serena said. She crossed her arms.

  “Why don’t you help me fill a tray and bring it in?”

  “I’m not a waitress.”

  “But you’re getting Gavin’s coffee?”

  “He’s the director. That’s different.”

  “Oh. Ok.” Lisa poured a coffee, trying to remember if she’d seen how Gavin liked his brew. “I’m sorry about Kaden.”

  There was a pause. “What do you mean?”

  “Um, just… you two seemed close.”

  Serena quirked an eyebrow. “Close? I guess you could say that. It looked like you wanted to get ‘close’ to him, too.”

  Lisa blushed at the implication. “What? No! I have a boyfriend.” At least, she hoped she still had a boyfriend after their argument.

  “Sure, honey, a boyfriend.” Serena nodded. “Everybody’s got a boyfriend. Doesn’t stop them from shacking up with a star. And it’s not like Kaden was single, either.”

  “What do you mean?” Lisa said.

  Serena rolled her eyes again and said nothing. She grabbed Gavin’s coffee out of Lisa’s hand and left.

  Lisa wondered if the whole crew had gotten the same wrong impression Serena had. Did everyone think she had tried to shack up with a star? Did Dylan think that, too? Not that she cared what her ex thought about her.

  She started filling more coffee cups, preparing a tray to bring in. She carefully balanced the tray and carried it to the parlor. In the hall outside the parlor she paused, listening.

  “...need everyone to work for scale, or this production is going to fold.” That was Gavin’s voice.

  The others groaned.

  “What about our contracts?”

  “If you want to quit, and stay in this one-horse town on your own dime until that stick-in-the-mud chief clears everyone to leave, that’s your business,” Gavin said.

  Lisa brought the tray of coffee in, and the crew looked at her gratefully. Except Gavin, who took a drink of his coffee and ignored her.

  She started to leave, but Sam pointed at her. “Come with me a minute.”

  He went into the library. She followed him, still holding the tray.

  “Something wrong with the coffee?” she said.

  “No, of course not. I don’t know how to say this. We’re going to need concessions from you.”

  “Concessions?” She pictured movie popcorn and sodas.

  “On price,” he said. “Every day your town keeps us here is eating into the budget. Everyone has to do their part.”

  “But…”

  “Look, I know. But Gavin showed me the numbers. If we don’t pinch pennies, the whole thing goes bust.”

  “But…”

  “Gavin wants to dedicate the movie to Kaden. But that only works if the thing gets finished, see? Think about it.”

  He started to leave, then turned back. “Oh, and we’re going to need to use this room, too.”

  “But…” Lisa said again to an empty room. She was still waiting for the first payment, and now they were asking for concessions? Her budget for providing craft service to the production was already on a razor-thin margin. If she conceded anything, she would find herself working for free, or even losing money. Sounded like another producer who expected people to get paid in Hollywood glamour.

  Lisa thought back to her years in LA, trying to make it as an actress. Most of the on-set work she’d gotten was as an extra, or background actor, one of the faceless masses who were on screen to be seen and not heard. She’d seen plenty of examples of productions trying to nickel and dime the extras with things like missed meal breaks or timecard keeping that counted only the time that production wanted to count and skipped the time the extras spent waiting. Her temper started to boil at the idea of being taken advantage of by another producer.

  She went into the hall, ready to go back to the parlor and give Gavin a piece of her mind. She was stopped by a smell.

  She sniffed again. Oh, no! Something was burning. She ran into the kitchen. The oven had a curly mustache of smoke coming out each side.

  Lisa ran and turned off the oven. She turned on the fan in the range hood and opened the oven door. A cloud of acrid smoke puffed out. The tray of nuts was a blackened mess. She put her face in her hands. That was a whole pound of pecans, ruined. And maybe the pan, too.

  Frustrated with the whole situation, she let out a word she normally didn’t use.

  “And good morning to you, too,” said a voice behind her.

  Lisa whirled around. Dylan had come in, his footsteps covered by the noise of the fan. She lost her grip on the edge of the pan and scra
mbled to get hold of it, burning her finger. The whole thing dropped on the floor with a clatter.

  “Are you ok?”

  Lisa put her burned finger in her mouth and tried not to cry. She shook her head.

  Dylan tiptoed over the burned nuts scattered across the floor. When he reached her, he opened his arms.

  Old habits took over and she fell into his warm hug. She could smell his cologne over the bitter smell of the burnt nuts. Their years together flashed through her mind. His arms wrapped around her, squeezing her to him. Their final day together, and his betrayal, the bitter memory was seared in her mind. She pushed him away.

  “What are you doing here, Dylan?”

  “Do you need some help?” he said, ignoring her question.

  “No, I’ve got it.” She ran her finger under cold water in the sink.

  “Can I get you a bandage? Or sweep up the mess?”

  “I said I’ve got it. Now, tell me why you’re in my kitchen or get out.” She glared at him for a second, then went to the fridge. She took out the mustard and squirted a dot onto the burn. It felt hot and cold and itchy all at once. She would wait for the mustard to start to dry, then put a bandage over it. That made minor kitchen burns heal faster. It was an old restaurant trick she’d learned at the Coffee Spot.

  “I’m in trouble.” His voice was almost too soft to hear.

  She looked up from her finger. Had she heard him right? “What did you say?”

  The kitchen door swung open and Serena came in. She looked at Lisa and Dylan and the mess with a sneer. “Are we ever going to get muffins?” she said.

  Lisa gritted her teeth in an approximation of a smile. “When they’re ready,” she said. “Unless you want some fruitcake muffins, which we have.”

  “Too busy making out with your boyfriend in the kitchen to make the good muffins?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend. And the fruitcake muffins are good muffins, too.”

  “Oh, really? Another non-boyfriend make-out? You really get around, don’t you? Hurry it up with the muffins.”

  Serena left before Lisa could spit a retort at her.

  “Don’t worry about her. She’s just jealous,” Dylan said.

  “I’m not worried. I’m just mad. Who does she think she is?”

  “She probably thinks she was the prettiest girl on set until you got here.”

  He smiled at her and slipped out of the kitchen. She didn’t know which of them was more infuriating.

  Lisa bandaged her finger and started sweeping up the mess. She still needed to brew more coffee and get that batch of muffins going. And the early morning rush was about to begin. She looked at the clock and realized it should be beginning already. Had she relocked the door after the crew had barged in? She dropped the broom and ran out to the front door.

  Three of her early morning regulars were standing on the porch, stamping their feet and blowing out foggy breaths. She unlocked the door.

  “I’m sorry. Please come in.”

  They filed in and stopped. The parlor was completely full.

  “How about the sitting room this morning?” Lisa said, waving them in that direction.

  “I like to sit by the front window,” groused one regular.

  “I’m sorry,” Lisa apologized again.

  She busied herself getting the regulars their usual orders. Coffee, mocha, vanilla latte. Eggs, bagel, muffin. She served them and then went back to the parlor. She glared around the room at the movie crew. They had to have seen her customers waiting on the porch, but none of them had bothered to let them in or to tell her they were out there. She was tired of dealing with these self-serving Hollywood types. Part of her wanted to chuck them all out and cut her losses. But first, she wanted to know what Dylan had meant when he’d said he was in trouble.

  Chapter 12

  Lisa wiped down the tables in the parlor, which the movie crew had only vacated a few minutes before the café was scheduled to close for the day. She glanced down at the electrical outlets. Good thing Gideon had upgraded the electrical system on the house before she opened. Having the crew there all day had tested each outlet, as every crew member had plugged in at least one charging cord.

  Satisfied at the appearance of the parlor, she moved to the sitting room. To her surprise, it wasn’t empty.

  “Toby, how long have you been sitting there?”

  Her cousin turned from where he’d been gazing out the window at the falling snow. “Since about a hair past a freckle.”

  “Can I get you some coffee? A muffin? Soup?” She started wiping down the other tables.

  “Yes. Thanks, cuz.”

  She stopped wiping the table. “All three?”

  He grinned. “You’re the one who offered.”

  “Fine. Sit tight.” She went to the kitchen and dished up his order. Her cousin, all six-foot-whatever of him, loved to eat. It was a good thing the police department had strict requirements for PT, so he could burn it all off. In this case, he would even get something healthy, as the soup was a hearty vegetable. Aunt Olivia would be glad to see her son eating some vegetables. Lisa sighed at the thought of Olivia and the whole uncomfortable situation she and Lou had created for the family.

  She brought the tray with Toby’s muffin, soup, and coffee into the sitting room. Toby was watching the snow again. Lisa put the steaming bowl of soup in front of him.

  “Soup’s on.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Thanks, cuz.” He picked up the spoon and tasted the soup.

  “You seem miles away,” Lisa said. “What’s going on?”

  He rolled his shoulders as though to release tension. “Just thinking about Mom. Weather like this… remember how she used to take us outside to paint in the snow?”

  Lisa smiled at the memory. Olivia hadn’t had much money when Toby and Lisa were kids, but she’d had a million ways to create fun. She’d called newly fallen snow a free canvas. A few drops of food coloring in a spray bottle had made the paint, and the three of them would go outside and have a snow graffiti party.

  “I hope she’s ok. I hate when she goes dark like this, especially when she leaves the country.” He sighed and took a drink of his coffee.

  “I’m sure she’s ok.”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  Lisa picked up the tray. “Well, I have some more cleanup to do. Sadly, the dishes won’t wash themselves. Or the floors.”

  “I’d pay good money to see dishes that washed the floors,” Toby said with a smirk.

  “Yeah, I bet.”

  “Hey, what are you doing after you close? You probably have a hot date.”

  Lisa thought of her fight with Mo and frowned a little, shaking her head. “I thought I’d head over to the hospital.”

  “The hospital? Why?”

  “Our prop master, Tyrone, went in three days ago. I was going to visit him the day Kaden died after we finished shooting, but... And then it just slipped my mind.”

  “What happened to Tyrone? Is he sick?”

  Lisa shook her head. “No. There was an accident on set. I wasn’t there.”

  “Another accident? That movie is some kind of jinx. What happened exactly?”

  “A chair broke under him, apparently. He hit his head when he fell. They said he has a concussion.”

  “Shouldn’t he be out by now?”

  Lisa shrugged. “Maybe, but he wasn’t here with the rest of the crew today, so I just assumed.”

  “I thought you just met these people.”

  “He was really nice. And he’s in the hospital in a town away from home.” She shrugged again. “If it were me, I’d want someone to care.”

  “Want to grab a burger at Lola’s after? I can tag along.”

  “Toby, you just ate. How can you still be hungry?”

  He grinned. “Maintaining a body like this requires fuel.”

  *

  Flagstaff Medical Center, like most hospitals, felt like a maze to the uninitiated. Lisa was glad to have Toby with her. In his li
ne of work, the hospital was familiar ground. He led the way to the admissions desk.

  “Hey, Rochelle. You’re looking good tonight. New hairdo?” he said.

  The fifty-something woman behind the desk grinned. Her scrubs had ice cream cones on them, and her hair was a red fountain.

  “Officer Baldwin, you flatter me. How you doin’?”

  “Hanging in there, you know. We’re here to see a friend, Tyrone…” He looked at Lisa.

  “Woods. Tyrone Woods.”

  “Ok, hold on a second.” Rochelle typed the name in the computer and clicked a few times. “Here he is. Room 210.”

  “Thanks, Rochelle.” Toby winked at her and headed for the elevator.

  Rochelle blew him a kiss and winked back.

  Waiting for the elevator, Lisa leaned in to her cousin and whispered, “Where did you learn to flirt like that?”

  He laughed. “At the academy, of course.”

  They got on the elevator and went up to the second floor. Toby took her straight to the room.

  Lisa poked her head inside and tapped lightly on the open door. “Hello? Tyrone?”

  Tyrone turned to them with an expression of surprise. “Well, hey.”

  “Ok if we come in?” she said.

  “Of course, come on in. Have a seat.”

  Lisa went in. Toby gave her a little wave from the door and disappeared down the hall.

  Lisa sat in the visitor’s chair. It was a hard orange plastic chair with a seat that had been shined to a high gloss from years of use.

  “How are they treating you? Going to be up and around again soon?” she said.

  “I hope so,” he said. “Hospital food is the same all over the world. Barely edible. I can’t wait to have one of your Good Morning muffins again.”

  “Aw, I would have brought one if I thought it was allowed.”

  “Next time just smuggle it in.” He smiled at her.

  “I hope there’s not a next visit. They have to let you out soon, don’t they? We all miss you.”

  “And yet you’re the only one to visit.” Tyrone steepled his fingers. “Speaking of visitors, seen any more of Big Ugly?”

  “Big Ugly?” Lisa said. “Who’s that?”

  “You don’t know? Girl, let me tell you.” Tyrone smiled, clearly happy to be the bearer of juicy gossip. “Our first night at the hotel, or what this little town of yours calls a hotel… I’ve been in studio apartments bigger than the Lucky Horseshoe. But our first night, this big, ugly dude comes around, knocking on everyone’s door. Pound, pound, pound, then I open my door, wearing a darling little silk robe. I said, ‘Sugar, who are you looking for?’ He barely looked at me or my silk robe, just peered over my head into the room. Moved on to the next door when he saw I was alone. Then pound, pound, pound on Kari’s door.”