In Cold Blonde

by James L. Conway

  “I was in the Havoc parking lot killing that pig, Colin Wood.”

  Ryan and Syd exchanged astonished look.

  Then Kathy Tuttle laughed. “Just kidding,” she said. “I was home, asleep like almost everyone else in L.A.” They were standing in the Tony Roma’s manager’s office. Kathy Tuttle was beautiful; jet black hair, blue eyes, sex appeal that sizzled through her low cut, tuxedo-style waitress uniform and an effusive personality.

  Ryan asked, “Can anyone confirm that?”

  “Sure, the guy who sits in this office, Cameron, the manager. We’ve been dating about six months.”

  Syd made a note to confirm the alibi. “We understand you got a check from Colin’s father for half a million dollars three years ago,” Syd said. “With all that money, why are you working as a waitress?”

  Kathy laughed. “Because the money’s gone. I spent every last penny and then some.”

  Kathy took a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket, tapped one out. “You mind if I smoke?” She lit up without waiting for an answer, opened a desk drawer and pulled out an ashtray. “I was poor all my life and had this list of things I would buy myself if I ever hit the Lotto, which was stupid because I never even played the Lotto. Then Colin rapes me, and deep down I wanted to send that prick to jail, but then his father offered me all that money, and well, I sold out. Half a million dollars, I mean,” she looked at Syd. “What would you have done?” Then, without waiting for an answer, she went on. “Exactly, it was a no brainer, right. I mean all that money!”

  “Irresistible, absolutely,” Syd said and shot Ryan a look. Ryan had explained his ex-wife’s idea for keeping the money to Syd on the drive over. Syd hated the idea but had kept her feeling to herself, for the time being.

  “So I bought shoes, clothes, a new car — a red Mini if you must know, went to Hawaii, Vegas — Vegas was a huge mistake; I lost thousands playing blackjack.” Kathy breathed in a lung full of smoke, shook her head. “I was, in a word, incredibly idiotic. Wait, that’s two words, isn’t it?”

  “Money is the ultimate temptation,” Ryan said, the resonance not lost on him. “Could you tell us more about what Colin Wood did to you, about the rape itself?”

  Kathy eyed him suspiciously. “Why? I told you I didn’t kill him.”

  “His father suggested the murder might have been self defense,” Syd said. “Maybe he picked up a girl in the bar, tried to force himself on her and she killed him protecting herself.”

  Kathy sucked in another lung full of smoke. “I wouldn’t know about that,” she said. “He raped me in my apartment and it was a slow motion sort of rape, not groping me in a car.”

  “I don’t understand,” Syd said.

  “We met at a wrap party for this movie a friend of mine worked on and Colin was there. We talked, he was charming and all, but I drank too much, and he offered to drive me home. When we got there, I invited him in for a drink, to be polite you know; I never sleep with a guy on the first night. We had some wine, made out for a little while, and then I asked him to leave because I had to get up early. He said he’d come to bed with me, and I said no; I’d just met him. Please leave. He didn’t budge, just kissed me again. So I kiss him back then said, now I’m going to bed, goodnight. But he doesn’t move, just pulls me to him and kisses me again. He’s trying to wear me down, you know,” she said to Syd. “Just keep making out until I fuck him to get rid of him. But I’m not that drunk and now I’m starting to get mad. I tell him to leave. Instead, he tried to kiss me again, but I’m not playing anymore and I turn away from him. That pisses him off; he calls me a prick teaser and tears at my clothes, forcing my legs open and that’s when the son of a bitch raped me. When he’s done, he pulls his clothes back on and actually asked for my phone number. Can you believe it?”

  “Did you go to the police?” Syd asked.

  “Almost. I mean, I was going to but Jenny, that’s the friend I called after he left, suggested going to a lawyer first. She’d been through a similar situation and the cops made it all sound like her fault. She said date rape was almost impossible to prove, especially since I invited him into my apartment, and I needed a lawyer to protect myself. So we call her uncle, he’s a lawyer down in Orange County, tell him the story, give him Colin’s name and he says he wants to check a few things out and he’ll get back to me. He calls back the next day, says we could go to the police if I want, but he thought if we threatened a lawsuit, we’d collect a lot money.”

  “Just because Colin was an actor?” Syd asked.

  “Well, a date rape charge can certainly be a career killer, and Colin’s father was rich, so he’d probably be willing to step up to save his son. But my lawyer also said Colin had been in trouble before for the same thing.”

  “Date rape?” Ryan asked.

  “I guess; I never heard the specifics. It happened a long time ago, in high school, I think. My lawyer had heard some rumors, thought we could pressure Colin and his dad. And he was right.” She stubbed out her cigarette. “The case was settled after just a couple of phone calls.”

  “Sounds like he had something to hide,” Ryan said, cutting his eyes to Syd. “Did you talk to the lawyer when you got Kathy’s phone number?”

  “No, he was out of town. His assistant gave me Kathy’s number.”

  Ryan checked his notes. “I’m going to call Nick Wood and ask him.” Ryan found the number, pulled out his cell phone and dialed. After a moment he frowned, “Voice mail,” he said to Syd. Then he spoke into his phone, “Mr. Wood this is Detective Ryan Magee; something has come up and I need to talk to you immediately.” Ryan left his number and hung up.

  “You know it’s kind of funny,” Kathy Tuttle said. “If I had pressed charges and Colin Wood was sent to jail three years ago, he’d still be alive. Ironic, huh?”

  TWENTY-ONE

  “Damn it, Adam, you’ve ruined everything.”

  “What? I don’t understand.” He held out the Platinum card. “How did you get this? Did you kill Colin?”

  She nodded.

  “And you’re going to kill me?”

  Any thoughts of sparing Adam were dashed now. How could she build a life with him once he knew she was a murderer? There will be no happy ending tonight.

  His eyes went from the gun to her face. “Are you?”

  Another nod.

  “Why?”

  And then she realized her previous mistakes. Colin Wood and Zachary Stone died without knowing why. Stone was happily walking to a restaurant to meet a hot blonde. Wood was getting a blowjob from the same hot blonde. What good was revenge if the victim doesn’t know retribution is at hand? Well, Adam would know.

  “Look at me Adam, really look at me.”

  He did. This was Adam’s first brush with death and, while some people report an almost supernatural clarity giving them time to react, Adam’s usually nimble brain ramped to slow motion. Panic swept through him: his vision narrowed, his heart pounded, he could barely catch his breath. “Don’t kill me, please. Take my wallet, my watch, anything you want. Just, please, don’t kill me.”

  How pathetic, Alice thought. How could I have been in love with such a pussy? “Don’t beg, Adam. Concentrate. Look at me. I need you to remember.”

  “Remember what?”

  “Me. Alice. Alice Waterman.”

  Adam’s mind was glue. Alice Waterman? Who the fuck was Alice Waterman? And then he remembered. It was Blake’s eighteenth birthday and they wanted to have a little fun. They’d gotten a bottle of Rohypnol, the date rape drug, from Blake’s older brother. Colin had noticed how that loser Alice Waterman was always following Adam around like a puppy dog. She wasn’t very pretty but she did have decent tits and word was, she put out. So they came up with this stupid plan to get her drugged up, and play around with her a little bit. But it had gotten out of hand. Way out of hand.

  The woman in front of him was a beautiful blonde. Alice was a mousey brunette. He looked at her trying to remember Alice’s face. Nothing.


  “Do you remember the bus trip we took together senior year? The field trip to the Getty center?”

  It’s amazing how an incident can mean so much to one person and nothing to the other. Alice fell in love with Adam on that two-hour trip. He had absolutely no memory of it. But he was staring at a woman with a gun leveled at his head so he said, “Yes, of course.”

  She smiled, sadly. “No, you don’t.”

  He deflated. “No, I don’t.”

  “We sat next to each other. We talked. You were very nice to me. You told me you were an only child, that you always wanted a brother.”

  He remembered their conversation in the bar earlier. “And that’s why you said you always wanted a sister.”

  She nodded.

  Adam was starting to get his bearings now, his brain finally kicking into gear. He had to talk his way out of this or she was going to shoot him. And a successful agent is nothing if not a great salesman. “Look, Alice, I am so sorry for what happened in high school. I never meant to hurt you. But you can’t deny that something happened between us tonight, something wonderful.”

  “It did,” she said. “I felt it, too.”

  A ray of hope lit a corner of Colin’s brain. “So that’s all that matters. Us. You and me. Fuck Colin Wood. I’m glad he’s dead. I won’t tell anyone you killed him, I swear. Put down the gun, let’s talk and try to figure this out.”

  “Ever wish you had a time machine, Adam?”

  “What?”

  “A time machine, like in the movies. I do. And I always go back to the same moment in time. I’m sitting on the quad that day in high school when you came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to a party. I saw Colin and Blake behind you, these evil grins on their faces. Deep down I knew it was too good to be true. But I was such a sap, and so in love with you I ignored all the warning bells and said yes. That’s my destination, Adam, that moment my lips formed the word yes. If I’d only said no, you wouldn’t have drugged me. You wouldn’t have raped me. I wouldn’t have spent all those years locked up in that hell hole.”

  “I want to take that time travel trip with you,” Adam said. “Because if I could, I never would have let Blake talk me into asking you in the first place.”

  “It was all Blake’s idea?”

  “Yes, absolutely.” Then something occurred to Adam. “Is he, I mean, have you killed him, too?”

  “No, not yet. He’s on my To Do list for tomorrow.”

  My To Do list for tomorrow. She said it as matter of fact as saying she needed to pick up a gallon of milk. This woman is absolutely nuts, Adam realized. And if he didn’t get that gun away from her, he was dead. “Tell you what, this is all Blake’s fault anyway, right? I mean he talked me into asking you over that night. So, let me help you kill Blake. Let me prove to you how much I care about you.”

  Interesting idea, Alice thought. She cocked her head, weighing Adam’s commitment. “You would do that for me? Help me kill Blake?”

  “Yes, absolutely.”

  “Commit murder?”

  He was willing to say whatever he had to. “Yes.”

  Alice was starting to enjoy this. He was like a puppet on a string. Ask a question that he thinks only has one answer and watch him perform. “Do you love me, Adam?”

  Just the slightest hesitation before he said, “Yes.”

  “Are you willing to spend eternity with me?”

  “Yes. Eternity.”

  “Good. But you go first.” She pulled the trigger.

  The Colt Vest Pocket .25 made a delicate POP and sent a 6.4mm bullet at 815 feet per second into Adam’s left eye. The POP of the gun was not much louder than a champagne cork being popped, a sound that would certainly go unnoticed in the plush hallways of the Bel Air Regent Hotel. But because the 45 grain bullet had a soft tissue route into Adam’s brain, it inflicted maximum damage as it shredded the septum pellucidum, corpus callosum and a good part of the cerebrum.

  Alice watched Adam’s lifeless body crumble to the ground. Poor Adam, she couldn’t blame him for lying to save his life, but she did wish he’d gone out with a little more dignity.

  Tears fell as she looked at the lips that had kissed her, the arms that had held her and the hands that had caressed her. Tonight was a night she would cherish for the rest of her life. Right up until the moment she’d had to kill the only man she ever loved.

  TWENTY-TWO

  “Tell me about your marriage.”

  “I’ve told you. We were just kids, still in college; it was a bad idea and when we both realized it, we split up. End of story.”

  Ryan and Syd were eating dinner at Tony Roma’s. They’d both ordered the baby back ribs and were sharing sides of coleslaw and the corn fritter casserole. Ryan nursed a Michelob, iced tea for Syd. She didn’t drink. She’d told Ryan it was because she just never had a taste for it; he knew nothing about her drug-addicted days and she wasn’t ready to tell him yet, if ever.

  And even though Syd had a suitcase full of secrets she kept from Ryan, she felt entitled to know everything about him. “Were you in love with her?”

  “I guess. Or thought I was.” He’d been crazy in love with Anne, corny-greeting-card kind of love. And the memory of her dumping him still hurt. But Ryan wasn’t about to tell Syd that. Not because he was necessarily hiding something from her, he’d just never verbalized it to anyone. The closest he came was a drunken night with his ex-stepmom, Liz. Liz never liked Anne, told Ryan she was a mercenary, gold-digging bitch, and he was better off without her. Ryan tried to embrace that anger and it kept him going for a little while, but deep down there was still an open sore on his heart.

  “And how did you feel when you broke up?”

  Ryan put down his rib, looked at Syd. “What’s with all the questions about Anne, sweetie? Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

  “Isn’t every girlfriend jealous of the ex-wife?”

  “I guess so. But trust me, you have nothing to worry about.” Ryan went back to work on his ribs, a not so subtle signal that she should change the subject. Because the truth was, Syd had a lot to worry about. The time Ryan spent with Anne at Musso and Frank had left him wanting more. The idea of starting a foundation with her, or spending time with her every day excited him. Deep down he felt their earlier relationship was unfinished. He’d invested a lot of hopes and dreams in that marriage and when she ended it so abruptly, he was left at sea. He not only lost his wife, but his life’s plan. He wasn’t supposed to be a cop forever; he was going to be a lawyer. And as much as he loved being a cop, he often wondered what would have happened if he’d found a way to go to law school. And now with the lottery money, he might be able to find out.

  “I guess you’re right, I’m being silly, sorry,” Syd said, knowing she should just shut the fuck up but unable to stop herself. “Besides, she’s happily married.”

  “Exactly,” Ryan said, not thrilled to be reminded of that. “So now let’s talk about something important, murder and our Lady in Red. The way I see it we’ve got two possibilities. One, Colin Wood was the only victim and the 2 carved into his chest was misdirection.”

  “Since we’ve found no evidence of a victim number one, a definite possibility.”

  “Or, two, there was a victim one, still unaccounted for, and there is going to be a victim three or there has already been a victim three and our phones will ring any second with the location of a new crime scene.”

  “Be still my heart,” Syd said. “A new crime scene is exactly what we need. A new body means new clues. But if this crime was revenge for a rape of some sort, what’s with multiple victims?”

  “A gang rape?”

  “Maybe, but does Colin Wood seem the type to be involved in a gang rape? I don’t know; I’m still leaning toward a nutjob going after all her old boyfriends. But that raises the question, why now?”

  Ryan finished his last rib, dropped the bone on the table. “God, that was good.” Syd was done too, even though she only ate half her ra
ck. Ryan asked for a check and a takeout carton. “Well,” Ryan said. “Until Colin Wood’s father or Kathy Tuttle’s attorney call us back, there’s nothing more we can do tonight.”

  Actually there was, Syd thought. They could talk about the lottery and Anne’s idea to set up a foundation. Syd hated the idea. The Lotto ticket wasn’t Ryan’s and he had no right to take the money. But she could see Ryan was a bit fragile tonight, so Syd decided to wait and stay in safer waters.

  “Then you won’t mind if I ask you a favor?” Syd said, her green eyes flashing.

  “No, sweetie, what?”

  “Take me home and fuck my brains out.”

  Ryan laughed. There was something so sexy about this innocent girl next door talking dirty. And in bed there wasn’t an innocent bone in her body. “I have a better idea,” he said. “Let’s leave your brain intact and I’ll fuck everything else.”

  Ryan thought making love to Syd was like starring in porno. She was so enthusiastic it was almost like she was being paid for it. And she would do anything, wanted to do everything. Take tonight, for example. As soon as they walked in the door of Ryan’s apartment, Syd kicked off her shoes, pulled off her blouse, stepped out of her dress and yanked off her panties. Then she stood before him, stark naked, threw her arms out by her side, turned a slow circle and said, “Where would you like to start?”

  He chose her belly button. It was an innie; he kissed it, flicked his tongue into it a couple of times, then blew a raspberry. She laughed, pulled Ryan to his feet and kissed him. It was a hungry kiss that seemed to inhale him, not just into her mouth but into her body.

  Her hands expertly undid his belt buckle and his pants fell to the floor. She pulled his shirt off as he stepped out of his pants, then she dropped to her knees, yanked off his boxer shorts and took him into her mouth.

  When Syd gave him head, she seemed to enjoy it more than Ryan. She groaned with pleasure as her hands caressed his balls.

  Suddenly the thought of another woman giving him head invaded Ryan’s brain. Anne. The first time they made love was in her crappy studio apartment shared by three broke co-eds. All four of them were in the apartment that night, Ryan and Anne, plus Anne’s two roommates. Ryan and Anne had finished off a bottle of Merlot and been making out while her roommates watched American Idol and pretended to ignore the horny lovers. Ryan and Anne had their hands all over each other and Ryan ached for them to be alone. Anne got the message and led them into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed she dropped to her knees, freed Ryan’s hard- on from his pants and wrapped her mouth around it. Ryan was so turned on that he immediately felt himself ready to blow. Oh, God he’d said then, gripping the back of Anne’s head.