Death steals the spotlig.., p.19
Death Steals the Spotlight, page 19
Was it possible Terrill wouldn’t let him? Was that one of the reasons why Tim had never progressed in his career? Had Tim’s resentment finally festered enough so that he was prompted to take serious action?
Tim had certainly seemed sincere when he spoke about his feelings for Taylor. I greatly doubted that even if he’d killed Terrill in a fit of anger, he’d let Taylor take the blame.
I sighed. I was still going to grill Tim on this, but as far as the murder went, it was back to square one. I was just about to continue searching when the door opened and a gray-haired man in overalls stuck his head in.
“Sorry, folks,” he said. “Management has an IT person coming in for routine maintenance, so we have to close up now.”
The elderly man at the far end grumbled a bit, then picked up his notebook and shuffled out. I slung my bag across my shoulder and followed. I’d just arrived at the lobby when my cell rang. I fished it out of my purse and looked at the screen. Josh. I hit answer. “What’s up?”
“Have you seen Taylor?” he asked, his tone terse.
I felt the knot in my stomach tighten. “No, why?”
A pause, and then Josh said in a flat tone, “Ballistics came back with a match. The shot that killed Terrill was fired from Taylor’s gun. Amy is out looking for her now.”
Nineteen
“Oh, no,” I cried. “Is Amy going to arrest her?”
“I can’t say for certain, but it seems likely,” Josh replied. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a rain check on that dinner invitation, Shell. I’ve got to try and find Taylor.”
“I’m at the Fox Hollow Inn now,” I told him. “I can go inside and see if Taylor’s in her room.”
“Oh, Shell, would you? If she’s there, please give me a call,” Josh said. I could hear the relief in his voice.
“I will. Try not to worry.”
“Easier said than done.”
Josh disconnected and I shoved my phone back in my bag. I started to turn toward the reception desk once again, when the elevator doors at the far end of the lobby opened and who should come striding out but Taylor herself! She seemed in a big hurry too. I whipped my phone out again and shot Josh a quick text: She’s here. Then I changed direction and hurried over to her. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me, and she blurted out, “Shell? What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Taylor. I was here to pay a visit to a friend when I spied you walking across the lobby.” I reached out, took her arm, and steered her over to a small bank of chairs at the far side of the lobby. “Detective Riser is looking for you,” I said in a low tone.
Taylor frowned. “Me? Whatever for?” I had to hand it to her, she was an excellent actress. Nothing showed in her face, and her voice was steady. “I’ve already told her all about that note, just as you instructed me to.”
“It’s not about the note. It’s something else.”
Taylor’s expression hardened. “Yeah? What?”
I paused, uncertain of just how much I should say. At that moment the front door to the inn burst open and Josh strode in. He caught sight of us immediately and hurried over. “Taylor,” he said. “Detective Riser is looking for you.”
“Yeah, I know. Shell just told me. But I already told her about the note.”
Josh looked his cousin straight in the eye. “Did you bring your gun along?”
Something flickered across Taylor’s face—panic? But it was gone in an instant. “My gun?” she said coolly.
“Yes, the gun I gave you for Christmas two years ago. Did you bring it with you?”
“I always take it with me. Why?”
Josh leaned in closer to Taylor. “When was the last time you saw it?”
“I don’t know. I know it was locked in my small suitcase the day I checked in, because I put some magazines on top of it and then shoved the bag in the back of my closet.”
“It’s still there?”
“As far as I know, yes. What is this all about?”
Josh’s expression was grim. “Let’s sit down.”
Josh took Taylor’s arm and led her over to a bank of chairs near the fireplace in a secluded corner of the lobby. I followed. Josh sat Taylor down on the love seat and eased himself onto the cushion next to her. I settled into the wingchair directly across. Josh took both of Taylor’s hands in his and said, “The police found the murder weapon. A .38-caliber pearl-handled revolver with the initials TCT carved into the handle. What’s more, they matched the bullet from the gun with the one that killed Terrill.”
Taylor stared at Josh. “You mean my gun—but that’s impossible. It’s locked in my suitcase, and besides, it wasn’t loaded. I don’t like to carry bullets around with me. I just take the empty gun. It gives me a sense of security.”
“It is your gun, Taylor. I identified it,” said Josh.
Taylor’s eyes narrowed. “Then you made a mistake, cousin. It’s not my gun. It couldn’t be.”
“There’s one way to settle this,” Josh said in a low tone. “Let’s go up to your room right now and have a look in your suitcase.”
Taylor’s chin jutted out, and then she suddenly crumpled. Her lower lip quivered, and her eyes started to fill with tears. “Oh, all right,” she said. “It probably is my gun. I gave it to Ray.”
I stared at her. “You gave Terrill your gun? Why?”
Her lips quirked. “You’re both going to think I’m a real fool. I loaned it to him because he told me he was in danger.”
Josh’s face reddened. “What?”
Taylor’s chin went up. “He pulled me aside before the read-throughs that day and told me that he needed to borrow my gun. He said that he was in danger from someone and he needed to be able to protect himself. I refused at first. I told him that I didn’t want to get involved.”
“That was the day I overheard your conversation,” I cut in. “The day Terrill got mad at me and accused me of snooping.”
Taylor nodded. “Yes. I told him the gun was useless, I hadn’t brought any bullets with me. He said he’d take care of that. So I ducked out of rehearsal, got the gun, and brought it to his dressing room. He wasn’t there, so I tucked it into a drawer and left him a note. That’s the last time I saw it.”
“So you don’t know for certain Terrill had it in his possession,” said Josh. “That was a dumb thing to do, Taylor. Anyone might have seen you with the gun, then gone into Terrill’s dressing room and taken it.”
“I know, I know.” Taylor wrung her hands. “But I wasn’t thinking clearly. He’d threatened me, and I knew that he’d go through with it if I didn’t give him the gun.”
“You need a lawyer,” I said firmly. “I’m guessing that Terrill never got your gun. The murderer found it first and killed Terrill with it, and is setting you up to take the fall.”
“No, no, no,” Taylor said, her words coming out in a whine. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“He? Who do you mean, Taylor? Tim Scott?” I cried. As Taylor averted her gaze, I added, “You think he killed Terrill, don’t you?”
Taylor tossed her head. “I don’t have to answer your questions,” she said in a low voice.
“No, you don’t,” I agreed. “You don’t have to answer any questions. You can plead the Fifth, but it won’t look good for you. You need a lawyer,” I said.
“Shell’s right,” Josh agreed. “I can call Norman Hines. I’ve worked with him on a few cases. He’s an excellent criminal lawyer.”
“And expensive, no doubt,” mumbled Taylor.
“Hey,” said Josh. “This is your life we’re talking about, Taylor. Nothing is too expensive for that.” He whipped out his phone. “I’m calling him now.”
Taylor let out a groan. “Does it have to be right this minute?”
“Yes, it does,” said Josh.
As he moved away, phone to his ear, I thought I knew the reason for the urgency. I leaned closer to Taylor. “Getting back to the conversation I overheard,” I said. “What was the secret that Terrill threatened to reveal?”
Taylor glanced nervously over toward Josh, then back at me. “It goes back to that bracelet incident,” she said. “Ray was in my dressing room afterward, and the bracelet fell out of a box of Kleenex. I told him someone must have planted it there, but he didn’t believe me and he said the police wouldn’t either. He said that he’d cover for me, but I owed him.”
“You let him! Taylor, if you were innocent, why would you do that?”
She hung her head. “Back then I was young and foolish. I believed him when he said he could either get me in real trouble or get me out of it. He-he wanted a relationship with me, and I acquiesced. We were together for nearly a year before his interests went elsewhere, and he dumped me. But he never ceased to remind me that I owed him every chance he got. And I’m sure it was because of him I lost several good acting jobs.” She set her jaw. “He’s still ruining my life, even in death. Uh-oh. More trouble.”
We both looked up as Amy Riser pushed through the inn’s double doors and made a beeline straight for us. She came to a halt, nodded at me, then stared at Taylor.
“Hello, Taylor,” Amy said. “I’d like you to come down to the station for questioning, if you don’t mind.”
“She doesn’t,” said Josh, who’d come up behind Amy. “Her lawyer will be meeting her at the station.”
“Fine,” said Amy. I could see her jaw clenching and unclenching. I leaned over and whispered in Taylor’s ear, “You don’t have to say a word until your lawyer is present. Understand?”
Taylor nodded, and then she and Amy walked out to her squad car. Josh laid his hand on my arm. “I’m going to go down to the station as well. I can’t sit in, but I can be there to offer moral support.”
“I understand. Go on, be with Taylor.”
Josh gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then was gone. I pulled out my phone and texted Gary: Only 2 of us for dinner. Taylor taken to station. Josh went with her. Be home soon.
A few minutes later I got a reply from Gary: OK. Got delayed myself. Dinner at seven.
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and was just about to leave when Kristi Marchall came bustling in the front door of the inn. She saw me and hurried over. “Did I just see Taylor Tyson getting into a police car?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “They’re taking her in for more questioning.”
Kristi shook her head. “They surely can’t think Taylor would have killed Ray,” she said. “Taylor hasn’t a murderous bone in her body. If anyone killed him, my money’s on Noelle Boyd.”
I raised a brow. “Noelle? I thought she was going to be your client?”
Kristi offered me a thin smile. “I was hoping that might be the case, but she canceled our meeting.” Her lips parted in a sigh. “I can’t help but think that she’s still suffering from what Ray did to her.”
“You mean their breakup? Noelle seemed fine with it.”
“No, not that. It was early on in Ray’s career. He had a reputation for pushing his actors to the breaking point. And if they still didn’t perform up to his specifications, he’d get them hooked on drugs.”
I almost fell over. “You’re kidding. Terrill was a drug dealer?”
“Not a dealer. He just shared what he had. Ray was pretty heavily into them himself back then. A case of too much success and not being equipped to handle it, I suppose. He tried to hide it from the general public.”
“So that’s the secret you alluded to—that Terrill used drugs?”
She nodded. “That, and he’d gotten Noelle pretty well addicted during her tenure on his play. She was about eighteen then. Ray and I had a date one night and he was late. I figured he got hung up at the theater, so I went looking for him. I found them both naked and strung out in his dressing room. That ended it for me,” she said with a catch in her throat.
I reached out and impulsively covered Kristi’s hand with my own. “I can certainly understand that.”
“Ray came to me the next day, all apologetic. I told him it was over, but for his own good he should get his act together. I told him I had no use for anyone who’d ruin a young girl’s life like that. He tried to tell me that it wasn’t all him, that Noelle was a willing participant. I told him to go to Hell. A month later I got word Noelle had enrolled in a clinic.”
“So she kicked her addiction?”
“As far as I know, yes. But her career suffered for a long time after that. I was glad to learn she finally picked herself up and took charge of her life. When she contacted me about being her agent, I felt I owed her at least a look-see.” She glanced at her watch. “Goodness, I have to get going. I booked myself on a red-eye back to LA. It’s been nice meeting you, Shell.”
“You too.”
Kristi took off toward the elevators and I walked out the front door and stood on the sidewalk for a moment, my thoughts in a whirl. Talk about secrets, Noelle had a whopper of one herself. Kristi said that Noelle’s career had suffered as a result. Was it possible that deep down she wanted Terrill to pay for what he’d done to her?
I looked at my watch. It was six thirty. I had just enough time to make it back to the house for dinner. As I passed Rory’s Tea Shop I glanced in the window and saw Noelle, sitting alone at a table in the back. Impulsively, I pushed through the doors and headed straight for her table. She glanced up and started slightly at my approach.
“Hello, Noelle,” I said. “Mind a little company?”
She shrugged, then inclined her head toward the empty chair opposite her. “Suit yourself.”
I pulled out the chair and sat down. A waitress bustled over, and I ordered a cup of Earl Gray. Noelle asked for a refill of the same. As she hurried off, Noelle wrapped her fingers around her mug. “I like this place,” she said, glancing around the room. “It’s nice and quiet.”
“Fox Hollow is a quaint town,” I responded. “Certainly nothing like LA.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I like the hustle and bustle of the big city, but there are times when quiet is good.” She eyed me. “You lived and worked in LA for years. You can’t tell me you don’t miss it.”
“I do, sometimes,” I admitted. “But I’m happy here.”
The waitress brought our teas, and we sipped in silence for a few moments. I set down my cup. “Did you always want to be an actress?”
“Since I could walk. You?”
“I never really thought about it. My mother is a classically trained actress, so it was always just assumed I’d follow in her footsteps. I was onstage before I could walk.”
Noelle ran her finger around the rim of her cup. “You had a very successful career. To be honest, I’m surprised you gave it up.”
“Not if you listen to my mother. It was always a disappointment to her that I didn’t take after her and stick to Shakespeare. In her words, I was a sellout.”
Noelle let out a snort. “I wish I could have been half the sellout you were. And for what it’s worth, I was sorry to see that series end. I liked it.”
“Thanks, but honestly, I was ready for a change,” I answered.
“Yes, change is good. I think I’m ready for that too, finally.”
I leaned in a bit closer to her and said, “I’m glad to hear that. Frankly, I was surprised that you wanted to work with Terrill again, all things considered.”
Noelle’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
I leaned forward, unsure of just how to broach the subject. “I’ve heard that you had some difficulties with Terrill early on in your career.”
Noelle’s lips stretched into a thin line. “Good news travels fast. Who told you? It had to be either your mother or Kristi.” She slapped her napkin down on the table. “Not that it’s a secret, or anything—nothing’s a secret in Hollywood, as you well know—but it’s not something I like to advertise.”
“Of course,” I murmured. “But you got yourself together and got your career back on track. You can be proud of that.”
“I’m sure Kristi made it sound like Ray forced me into doing drugs,” Noelle said. “He did make the suggestion, but ultimately it was my choice—everything was my choice. I was young, and I couldn’t handle the pressure that Ray put me under. I wasn’t kidding when I said he was demanding. An excellent director, but he wanted to squeeze the last drop of blood out of you.”
“Still, I’m sure you had some feelings of resentment toward him.”
Noelle looked at me, then barked out a laugh. “Oh, so this is what this chat’s all about? Well, Shell, if you think that I killed Ray over festering resentment, I’m afraid I have to disappoint you,” she said. “I did not kill him.”
“I don’t think you did. But neither did Taylor,” I said.
To my surprise, Noelle nodded. “I agree with you,” she said. “Poor Taylor doesn’t have the guts to kill someone.”
We were both silent a few moments, and then I said, “You said that you saw a black SUV driving by the gazebo the night Terrill died.”
“Yes. The driver was nuts, that vehicle almost hit me.”
“I heard that you thought the driver was Taylor.”
Noelle scrunched up her lips. “I did think that at first, but I’ve since changed my mind. That’s why I didn’t go to the police.”
“Can I ask what made you change your mind?”
Noelle leaned back a bit in her chair. She averted her gaze as she answered, “Nothing in particular. I just had time to think it over, is all.”
The waitress returned. “Will that be all, ladies?” We both nodded, and she set down the check. I reached for the leather holder and pushed it in front of me. “My treat,” I said. “I insist.”
Noelle smiled. “I won’t refuse,” she said. “Maybe if I had landed that movie role . . . but no sense crying over spilled milk, right?”
I opened my bag to grab my wallet and two young girls happened by at that moment, heading for the table opposite ours. One of them jostled my arm and my bag slid to the floor, spilling out its contents. “Oh, gee, miss,” the girl cried. “I’m really sorry.”
“No harm done,” I assured her. I bent to retrieve the fallen articles.
