by Paula Lester
Jordan smiled warmly at Sophie. “Thanks so much. Come by Beachside Books and we’ll have some coffee and a chat.”
Good going, Paige thought. Schmoozing the locals and drumming up business at the same time.
Sophie’s gaze followed them longingly as Jordan and Paige walked toward the elevator across the lobby. But when they were halfway there, Paige stopped in her tracks as a new thought hit her. “Wait a minute. Thursday? Didi checked in on Thursday afternoon? Cash was killed after midnight that night, and when Didi came into the shop, she said she didn’t arrive in town until after the news about Cash’s murder was out, didn’t she?”
Jordan’s eyes darted to the right as he thought about it for a moment, and then he nodded slowly. “Yep, that’s exactly what she said. That she arrived sometime on Friday.”
“What’s the name of Didi’s agency?”
“Top-Notch Talent Agency,” Jordan answered. “Why?”
Paige rubbed her nose again as various thoughts came crashing together. As Jordan stared at her curiously, the pieces of the puzzle all seemed to flip around and come together to form a complete picture in her mind. Could it be true? She needed to test her theory.
She turned slowly toward Jordan and spoke. “Do you think Didi might’ve killed Cash because she knew her reputation could be ruined if he let it leak out that she had stolen money from him?”
Jordan’s face slowly transformed as he mulled over what Paige was suggesting.
She continued. “She could’ve even planted the story about Vanessa cheating on Cash to make Vanessa look guilty of the murder. Or . . . at least to ruin her reputation in case Cash told her why he fired Didi. Then if Vanessa went public with it, no one would believe her.”
Jordan nodded. “It does make sense.”
“She had to know you wouldn’t sign with her if you knew Cash had fired her. But she ran into a problem when she found out that you and Vanessa were together the night Cash died. She needed to clear your name because it wouldn’t do her any good if you went to jail for murder and couldn’t make money for her. Is this making any sense at all?”
Jordan pursed his lips for a moment and then said, “It all makes sense except one thing. I just wonder if Didi would be strong enough to drown Cash and then drag him back onto the beach.”
Paige smiled. She had tested her theory and now she was almost certain she was right. “I need to call Scott.” She pulled out her phone and dialed his direct number.
Two handsome men stepped out of the elevator and rushed past Paige toward the door. When they noticed Jordan, they slowed down. One of them said, “Why are you just standing there, man? Aren’t you going to the auction? Everybody is going to be there. It’s gonna be a wild party.”
As Jordan’s actor friends continued outside, Jordan turned to Paige, interrupting her call. “Didi is probably at the auction,” he said urgently. “She said she was going to bid on that contract for me. We need to stop her from bidding.”
Paige turned her attention back to the call. “Scott, we’ll meet you at the auction.” She clicked off the phone and turned to Jordan. “Text Vanessa and ask her to find Didi at the auction and keep her in sight. It will be easier for us to spot a tall supermodel than to locate Didi. Plus, Scott doesn’t know what Didi looks like.”
Jordan pulled out his phone and his fingers flew across the screen as he and Paige headed back out of the lobby toward the Jeep.
As Paige climbed into the car, her thoughts swirled and her pulse raced. Would they be able to get to the auction, find Didi and Vanessa, and get an arrest without anyone else getting hurt?
She looked at the phone in her hand, thinking about the coming confrontation.
Chapter 21
The beach bar, which didn’t really have another name that Paige knew of—though she figured it must for IRS purposes—had been in operation as long as she could remember. It had tiki bar décor and the three sides facing the beach could be completely opened up to create an open-air atmosphere. The bar sat along the remaining back wall, which blocked out the parking lot.
When Paige and Jordan arrived, the area was packed. There were people in swimsuits who had obviously strolled up off the beach and those dressed like Vanessa had been, wearing nicer clothes but still looking summer casual. A few people even wore business suits. The press was everywhere. Paige couldn’t move two feet without needing to maneuver around a tripod and expensive camera.
A makeshift stage had been set up on the deck. Live bands played there Thursday through Sunday. But at the moment, the Hawkes stood on the stage, beaming out at the crowd. Next to them, an auctioneer spoke into a microphone. He seemed to be finishing up an explanation of how the bidding was going to work, but Paige’s attention was only partially on him as he began the excessively fast chanting of an auctioneer and called for the first bid.
Paige and Jordan had to push their way through the crowd, making apologies as they went, to get to the right side of the stage where Scott had told Paige he’d meet them.
Her brother’s eyes darted all over the place as he said, “Each of you can go in a different direction. If you find Flowers and Lambert, put your hand high and wave. I’ve got a few other plainclothes officers here, so they’ll move in when they see that signal.”
Jordan and Paige followed Scott’s instructions and split up as the auctioneer shouted out that he had a bid for five thousand dollars.
Paige was on the short side at just five foot three, and she found herself at an unfortunate level for pushing through a throng of excited, sweaty people. She had to fight off a touch of panic as the cloying air around her began to feel claustrophobic. It shouldn’t be hard to find Vanessa, who was much taller than her and many of the other people in the crowd.
An elbow caught her in the ear, and she gasped and bit down on the curse that wanted to erupt from her mouth. She needed to get her mission over with and escape from the throng of bodies. Taking a deep breath, she stood on tiptoes and looked around again, breathing a huge sigh of relief when she saw Vanessa, who was also searching the crowd. Paige moved in closer and when they made eye contact, Vanessa pointed to her left. Paige followed the gesture and saw Didi a few feet away from Vanessa, the space between the two women filled with people. Paige nodded and circled her way through the crowd to come up beside Vanessa from the opposite direction so Didi wouldn’t catch sight of her.
When she reached the statuesque woman, Paige winked at her and reached up to give her a hug. Vanessa looked mildly surprised but smiled at the last second and returned the embrace. Paige breathed in deeply and then, around the actress’s shoulder, caught sight of Scott.
She raised her hand high in the air and waved at him.
Onstage, the auctioneer pointed his gavel at Paige and yelled, “We have a bid for ninety-five hundred! Who’ll bid ten?”
The crowd cheered loudly as they had with each successive bid.
Paige gasped so hard she choked and began coughing. Had she just bid on Oz Wilder’s movie part? For ninety-five hundred dollars? There was no way she could come up with that kind of money, and she had no desire to be in a Hollywood movie anyway. As if she wasn’t already hot enough, sweat began to pour out of her forehead and she felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Then, about ten feet in front and to the right of her, Didi raised her hand and bid. Paige felt a wave of relief.
As she was regaining her equilibrium, Scott and another man, who wore khaki shorts and a short-sleeved dark-blue polo shirt, arrived next to Paige. “Is it her?” Scott asked.
“Yep. I’d bet my last dollar on it,” Paige answered.
“So where is she?”
Paige looked around. Someone outbid Didi and the crowd jumped with excitement. Paige craned her neck and made a circle. She was gone. Vanessa was gone! “She was just here!” Paige cried out.
Scott said, “Spread out, boys. We need to find Flowers before she gets away.”
Paige felt sick to her stomach. She thought she
might faint. The heat was getting to her. How had she let Vanessa get away? After she had smelled the gardenias on her blouse—the same scent she had smelled in the Jeep after Vanessa had hugged Jordan—she was certain the model was the killer.
The crowd had grown even larger. Surely Scott and his men would catch her. Paige pushed her way through the throng of people and headed for the bookstore. She needed water and a cool place to sit down.
When she got to the shop, the door was locked. She looked down and realized she’d left her purse in the Jeep. Maybe the back door was unlocked. She made her way around and was relieved when the door opened as she twisted the knob. Casper greeted her with a yowl.
She heard a stirring noise and then a sharp pain coursed through her head. She fell to the ground. As she lay on the cold linoleum, she blinked her eyes several times to gain focus. Casper appeared in front of her, crying pitifully and nosing at her face. When she turned her head painfully the other direction to get away from his rough tongue, she saw a set of too-high heels and their associated tanned legs. They could only belong to one person.
Vanessa knelt down next to Paige and shouted, “Give me your car keys. Now!”
Paige wanted to cover her ears, but her arms didn’t seem to be doing her bidding that well. She managed to twist her neck enough to see that Vanessa was holding a book in one hand and a box cutter in the other. Her eyes were wild and dark.
“I can’t,” Paige managed to squeak out.
Vanessa raised the book, ready to strike again.
Paige rolled onto her back and raised an arm to protect her face. “I left them in Jordan’s Jeep. Honestly.”
Vanessa spat out angrily, “Stupid girl! Stupid town. I knew you were up to something when you gave me that hug and then waved at the auctioneer. Was that a sign or something?”
“I waved to my brother, Scott. The detective. I’m sure he’s looking for me. And you. He’ll probably be here any second.”
“Shut up,” Vanessa ordered and threw the book savagely. It went skidding across the floor.
Paige felt a flash of anger at such blatant mistreatment of a book, but she pushed it away. That should be the last thing on her mind.
Vanessa shifted the box cutter to her right hand. “I’ve got to get out of here. I need a plan.”
“I hope it’s a better plan than the one you came up with to kill Cash.”
“Right, like I planned that.” She sneered, and her face looked more like a demon’s than a model’s. “The only plan I made with him was marriage.”
“So, you really loved him?”
Mist formed in Vanessa’s eyes. “Of course I did. I was so ready to quit modeling. I had gained eight pounds!” She brushed a tear from her cheek.
Paige slowly moved her leg to try and get it under her hip so she could push herself up without Vanessa noticing. “Eight pounds is nothing. I gained twenty when I was in Italy.”
“Yeah, but you’re not a model. Although you could have been if you weren’t so short.”
“Ah, that’s sweet of you. But I’m nowhere near as pretty as you. All those men who came in the store the last few days kept asking if I’d seen you. They just wanted a glimpse of the famous Vanessa Flowers.” Paige needed to keep the murderess talking until help came. But the sweat on her body was gone and a cold chill enveloped her. She was getting dehydrated and her vision was blurring.
“Really?” Vanessa pushed her long tresses back out of her face. It was as though the model had forgotten all about her circumstances. Then, her whole face changed. “Cash said I was getting fat. He said that’s why he cheated on me with that cow, Didi. How was I supposed to marry him after that? So, I decided to give Jordan one of my sleeping pills and sneak out of that wretched motel. I found Cash right where I thought he’d be. Passed out by his car on the beach. It was easy to drag him into the water and hold his head down. He barely even woke up except to say something about water. I drug him back out and smashed his head against a rock to make it look like the fool had fallen down drunk and killed himself. They would have believed it too if it hadn’t been for the stupid axe.”
Paige had managed to sit up and leaned back against the wall. Her head pounded from the blow. She looked at Casper, who had been pacing back and forth. Was he reading her mind? Would he figure out she wanted him to help?
Paige needed Vanessa to talk a little longer so that she could clear her head and her vision. “Where did the axe come from?”
“You don’t think I’d head out to a dark beach at night unarmed, do you? I took it from Jordan’s room. It was a prop from his play, I suppose. I must have dropped it in the parking lot when I found Cash. I still don’t know how it got next to him on the beach. At first, I thought it might be that crazy girl, Audrey, because she saw me when I got back to the motel. I bribed her with one of Jordan’s T-shirts not to say she’d seen me. But then she was outside my room this morning at the hotel. She said the police had questioned her, but she didn’t say anything about me. She seemed to think we were on the same team. She told me the police had cleared us.”
Paige’s eyes darted between Vanessa and Casper. The cat had stopped pacing and was staring at her. She tried to send him a telepathic message to leap on Vanessa and bite her, scratch her—anything to give Paige a minute to get up so she could fight.
But then Vanessa seemed to snap out of her trance. “Speaking of police, you said your brother is a detective. Maybe you put the axe there to frame me. You’re the reason I’m in this mess in the first place.” She waved the box cutter toward Paige. “Get up! I’m taking you with me, and we’re getting out of here.” She stood and jerked Paige up by the arm.
Paige looked pleadingly at Casper, who had hunched his back at the sudden movement. Maybe he was getting ready to leap at Vanessa. Paige sent up a quick prayer to Aunt Nora for help.
Instead of leaping, the cat did something she’d never expected. He purred and moved toward Vanessa, rubbing on her.
Traitor.
The model looked down at the cat, bewildered. “What do you want? Get away from me.” Vanessa tried to shove him away, but Casper just dove headfirst at her legs even harder, disrupting her balance and pushing her over onto her rear end.
Paige surged forward, straight toward the hand that held the box cutter. A wave of dizziness overwhelmed her, and she lurched to the side, landing heavily on the model. Vanessa squirmed and squealed, and Paige knew she would be on the losing end of a wrestling match with the huge woman. She was simply too weak. She locked both hands on Vanessa’s wrist to try and keep her from slashing with the box cutter.
Just then, the back door flew open. “Paige?” the sweet Italian voice called out. It took Marco less than a second to evaluate the situation and dive toward Vanessa’s hand, pushing Paige off the other side of the model. The box cutter flew away, and before Paige could even sit upright again, Marco had the woman face-down on the floor with her hands caught behind her back.
“Are you okay, bella?” His dark, smoldering eyes scanned her face.
“I’m fine.” She pushed her hands back against the wall to get leverage to stand, but her legs gave way, and she slipped back down to the hard floor.
The loud sound of crashing glass came from the front of the shop, and in a flash, Scott stood in the opening of the storeroom with his gun drawn. “Paige! Are you okay?”
“She needs help,” Marco said.
Scott called for backup and an ambulance on his radio and then jumped into action, securing Vanessa with handcuffs and leading her away.
Marco knelt beside Paige, and she burst into tears. He held her as other police officers came in. “It’s okay, mi amor. It’s okay.”
Chapter 22
After she calmed down, Paige was embarrassed by all the fuss everyone was making over her. The paramedics insisted she go to the hospital for IV fluid and to have an evaluation for concussion.
She sipped on a bottle of cold water and promised them she would go but not in an am
bulance. She asked Marco to take her. As soon as the paramedics were gone, she grabbed Marco’s hand and pulled him out the back door to the beach. “C’mon. I need to find Jordan and tell him what happened.”
“But what about the hospital?”
Paige didn’t answer but leaned on Marco’s arm as they walked back toward the crowd. She could hear the auctioneer’s voice in the distance. Did he just call for a bid of thirty-three thousand dollars?
A car horn blared, causing Marco and Paige to stop in their tracks. All heads in the crowd turned as a huge black, shiny limo pulled into the parking lot. Paparazzi descended on the car like moths to a flame, all wanting to be the first to get a shot of whoever stepped out of the fancy car.
The rear driver’s side door and front passenger’s side door of the limo opened and almost identical huge, black-clad men wearing sunglasses and earpieces got out. Paige had the fleeting thought that maybe the president had come to bid on Oz Wilder’s movie part.
But the man who got out of the rear passenger door of the limo when one of the bodyguards opened it was most definitely not the president. Paige had rarely seen a more outlandishly dressed person. He wore a floor-length red jacket with no sleeves and sequins lining every edge. His head was adorned with a lime-green cowboy hat, and he wore rhinestone-studded, electric-blue cat-eye sunglasses.
A murmur bearing the name Oz Wilder flowed through the crowd like water. The bodyguards cleared a way through the crowd for Wilder to get to the stage, and Paige and Marco slipped in behind and followed them. Scott and two officers in plain clothes stood on the stage with the Hawkes, who were no longer beaming. In fact, Paige thought their complexions were decidedly green-tinged and hoped one of them didn’t lose their lunch into the crowd. She looked around but didn’t see Jordan or Didi.
