Hollywood Taken Read online

  Leo and Olivia agreed with me. The server brought over our sandwiches and we ate in silence for the most part, other than Leo making small talk about his granddaughter.

  As we finished lunch, I said, “I guess we need to talk to Laura, but I have no doubt that her husband has already tipped her off about what we talked to him about.”

  “Why don’t you and Olivia go ahead,” Leo said. “Al and I can try and track down Jason Murray. Mrs. Allman might be more receptive to you two, anyway.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Al said, scowling at his partner.

  “It means, that sometimes women find it easier to confide in other women, nothing else.”

  Al tossed his empty drink container in the trash. “Whatever.”

  As we drove to the Allman’s home in Brentwood, Olivia said, “Other than him being an asshole, what are your thoughts about what Al said?”

  I sifted through what we knew, trying to reconcile what Ben Allman had told us with Al’s theory. “I suppose it’s possible that Ben was involved with his Nanny, but...” I took another moment. “Maybe I just don’t want to believe it.”

  “Why is that?”

  I sighed. “I guess I just want to believe there’s still some decent people in the world who do the right thing.” I smiled. “Maybe I’m just a Pollyanna.”

  She laughed. “Me, too. Some defense attorney probably had as term for our problem.” Her eyes brightened as she added, “Maybe we should assume the opposite.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When we question Laura Allman, maybe one of us should pretend she’s Al in a dress.”

  I laughed. “I’m having trouble with the visual, so I’ll let you take the lead.”

  We met with Laura on the patio of their spacious home, overlooking a pool and a sports courts. Bernie took up position in a shady area, while Laura served us lemonade. She then mentioned our discussion with her husband.

  “Ben called and said you came by his work. He also said you said something about Anna using drugs and maybe being sexually abused.”

  I was again struck by Laura Allman’s beauty. She had thick, shoulder-length hair and large dark eyes. Her flawless caramel skin made me wonder if she’d had it bronzed in one of those upscale salons.

  “What can you tell us about that?” Olivia asked, her tone serious and her features hardening, maybe taking on the persona of Al.

  “I can tell you that it’s all news to me. Anna was...she was so innocent and trusting. And, just the thought of her using drugs while taking care of Misty...it’s...it’s horrifying.”

  “How is your daughter handling what happened?” I asked, playing good cop.

  “She’s too young to be told what really happened, but she misses Anna terribly.”

  “There’s also the issue of sex,” Olivia said flatly, going back to their nanny. “Was Anna promiscuous?”

  “No, I never even thought about her...her being involved with someone.”

  “But she did have a friend who was a boy—Jason Murray.”

  She scoffed. “I don’t think it was anything serious. I never met him, but I think he was just someone she could talk to.”

  “There’s evidence Anna was physically abused, probably as the result of a sexual encounter.”

  Laura shook her head. “It’s just so difficult to believe.”

  Olivia glanced at me, before throwing a verbal punch that would have made Al proud. “Was your husband attracted to Anna?”

  “What? I can’t believe you’re asking me that.”

  “We have to ask,” I said, trying to take the edge off what she’d said. “This is a murder investigation and we have to cover any possibility.”

  Laura’s dark eyes moved between Olivia and me, and her voice rose. “No. Ben is completely loyal to me.”

  “But Anna was very attractive,” Olivia said. “You mean to tell me, Ben never noticed her.”

  There was a long pause as Laura shook her head and sighed. “Of course he noticed her. He wasn’t blind.”

  “And?”

  “And, nothing.” Her dark eyes narrowed on Olivia. “Like I said my husband is faithful to me.”

  I saw that she was closing down, so I spent the next few minutes again going over Anna’s friends and associates, but not getting much that was useful. The interview ended on good terms, with Olivia giving up on the Al Corbin impersonation and making nice.

  Laura was showing Olivia and me to the door when we saw her daughter Brook in the family room. She was laughing at something on TV, so we stopped there for a moment. Bernie was next to me, panting as he looked at the large screen TV, maybe recognizing someone.

  “What’s going on?” Laura asked her daughter.

  “It’s that Rod the Bod show,” she said. “There’s some woman who’s about to kill her boyfriend, and there’s...I guess she’s some kind of robot, but she looks real.”

  My mouth fell open as I saw Natalie was on TV. She was pushing Tex up against a wall and threatening him as the muscular host, apparently Rod the Bod, tried to intervene. The audience was going wild, chanting, “Cheater...cheater...cheater...”

  Olivia whispered. “Isn’t that...”

  I nodded. “I can’t believe this.”

  Laura looked at me. “Is she someone you know?”

  I shook my head and lied. “No, I think she just looks familiar.” I turned away from the TV, afraid to see what Natalie might do to Tex. “Thank-you for meeting with us.”

  As we left the house and walked to our car, Olivia said, “That was Natalie, wasn’t it?”

  I nodded as we stopped for a moment and Bernie sniffed along a flowerbed.

  “What’s going on? Why was she on the show and acting like that?”

  I looked at her. “All I can tell you is never have sex with a robot.”

  TWELVE

  Olivia and I got back to the office at mid-afternoon. Leo and Al were already there and told us they’d been unable to locate Jason Murray.

  After we updated them on our meeting with Laura Allman, Al said, “It stands to reason she wouldn’t want to believe her husband and our victim were involved. Did you guys talk to the daughter?”

  Olivia shook her head. “I don’t think it would have made any difference, since her mother was home.” She looked at me. “Maybe we need to go by her school tomorrow and have a chat with her.”

  “It’s worth a try, since we’re stalling out on everything.”

  I pushed paperwork around for the next hour while one of the desk officers took Bernie for a walk. I was finally seeing the bottom of my in-basket when Molly stopped by. “I got something back from CCU on Anna Levkin’s phone if you want to gather the others in a conference room.”

  The lieutenant was already gone for the day when I rounded up Oliva, Leo, and Al. I got Bernie from the desk officer and we all settled in a small conference room to hear what Molly had to say.

  “George Franken, the tech officer with CCU, was able to use software to take a closer look at Anna’s phone.” Molly handed over a stack of papers. “These are deleted text messages from the past couple of months. He said some software was installed on the phone that was intended to make the messages unrecoverable. Despite that, they were able to access what’s in front of you.”

  “They’re all in Russian,” I said after glancing at the messages. “Did Franken think these were messages between Anna and her mother?”

  Molly shook her head. “None of the numbers match what we have for her mother. There’s three different phone numbers associated with the texts, most of which were sent late at night. Franken said they go to burner phones and are untraceable. He said there may have been other text messages on the phone, but he couldn’t recover anything else.”

  I looked at Leo. “Did the interpreter ever make the death notification to Anna’s mother?”

  “There’s a ten hour time difference, so she’s supposed to call her sometime tonight.”

  Olivia said to Molly,
“Can you forward the texts to Leo, so he can have the interpreter take a look at them?”

  After Molly said that wasn’t a problem, Al spoke up. “It looks like my theory’s coming into play.”

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  He shrugged. “Secret, deleted text messages, special software, burner phones, and drug use. You tell me.”

  Olivia answered for me. “It just tells us we’ve got a mystery, until we know something more.”

  He smiled and looked at Leo. “I’m willing to bet there were texts to her pimp, arranging hook-ups.”

  Leo gathered up the text messages. “We’ll see.”

  An hour later, as Olivia and I were walking to our cars with Bernie, I asked for her thoughts on the deleted texts found on Anna’s phone.

  Olivia stopped and looked at me. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that Anna Levkin had a secret life. We also know there were indications of physical abuse, probably during sex. It just might be that Al is right, after all.”

  “I don’t want to admit it, but that could be the case.”

  We moved on through the parking lot as Olivia said, “Have you heard anything from Natalie since she was on that TV show?”

  “Not a thing.” I stopped at my car. “I’d better get home and find out if she murdered her boyfriend.”

  ***

  When Bernie and I got home, I found my friends in the kitchen with Otto, preparing a variety of cocktails.

  “You’re just in time,” Natalie said, putting some glasses on a tray. “We’re gonna set things up in the atrium.”

  “Set things up for what?”

  Mo looked at Natalie and shook her head. “She obviously forgot all about Freddie coming by for drinks.” She looked at me. “You might wanna change, try and do something with your hair.”

  I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was have drinks with their goofy actor friend. I thought about making an excuse and going to my room, but I knew it would never work.

  “I’ll change. What time...”

  “Freddie’s due at seven,” Natalie said, not letting me finish. “I’m gonna do my best to keep him away from Tex.”

  “Why is that? By the way, I saw you on that TV show today. What happened between you two?”

  “Rod the Bod did a little counseling and set everything straight between us. Doris had her battery pack removed, so Tex and me are good as ever.”

  For some odd reason, I felt sorry for Doris. “Why are you trying to keep Tex away from Freddie?”

  “He’s a computer guru. Tex wants to pick his brain ‘bout some kinda...” She scratched her head. “Egorhythm.”

  “I think baby sis means algorithm,” Mo said. “And, just so you know, Freddie’s a genius, worth a small fortune.”

  “An evening with Tex and his dorky soulmate,” I said, heading for the stairs. What could be better?”

  After trying on three different outfits and settling on a pair of skinny jeans and a silk blouse, I ran a brush through my frizzy hair. I then went back downstairs just as Natalie and Mo’s friend was arriving.

  “This here is Freddie,” Natalie said, winking and walking their friend over to me.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you,” Freddie said, smiling and taking my hand.

  I was rendered speechless as I took stock of their actor friend. Freddie was probably in his mid-thirties, about six feet tall, with luminous eyes the color of tropical water. His features were strong, his brown hair tussled in a way that gave him a slightly unkempt look, something that I’d always found attractive in a man. His well-worn jeans and a suit jacket that had probably been popular about twenty years earlier, seemed to fit his slightly rumpled persona.

  Images of helping dress and groom him skittered through my mind as I heard Mo’s voice. “Earth to Kate.”

  I surfaced from my reverie, blushing. “Sorry. It’s nice to meet you,” I told him, realizing I was still holding his hand and releasing it.

  “Same here,” he said. His beautiful blue eyes were fixed on me before they shifted, taking in Bernie. He kneeled and ran a hand through my dog’s fur. “And, I’ve heard a lot about you, as well.” He looked up at me. “Bernie, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  Bernie enjoyed the attention, doing a tail wag and ear perk as Freddie dotted over him. While Freddie was occupied with him, I looked over at my friends. They were beaming smiles, their brows lifting as if to ask, “What do you think?”

  I smiled and nodded my approval, before Natalie said, “Let’s move into the atrium. Otto and me whipped up a batch of Here’s Johnny’s.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about but followed her, along with Mo and Freddie. On the way, our guest saw that Otto was in the kitchen and went over, helping him carry a couple trays of drinks into the atrium.

  “I’ll bring over a delicious repast of appetizers shortly,” Otto announced as he and Freddie set the trays on a table before he scurried off.

  “He’s a keeper,” Freddie said, referencing Otto after we all settled in. “Where did you find him?”

  “In our attic,” Natalie said. “Kate almost blew his nuts off with her copper gun.”

  “I did not,” I protested. “It’s a long story, Freddie. I’ll explain another time.”

  He smiled. “Let’s get something straight, right away. My real name is Grant. I used the name Freddie only because I lost a bet with a friend and agreed to be in the crowd scene for that TV show...” He looked at my friends, “Sorry, I forget the name.”

  “Hollywood Girlz,” Mo said, taking a drink off the tray. She looked at Natalie. “What do you call these things?”

  “Here’s Johnny,” Natalie said. “One sip and you make a face like Jack Nicholson when he was bustin’ down that door in The Shinning.”

  We all picked up drinks, clinked glasses, then made faces like the actor after tasting the drinks.

  “I hope this doesn’t turn me into a serial killer like Jack,” I told my friends. “It’s a little strong.”

  “After the first one, they go down real easy,” Natalie said. She looked at Freddie, or rather, Grant. “Did you know Kate’s job is chasing down psycho killers?”

  Grant smiled. “So, I’ve heard.” He looked at me. “Your work must be very rewarding.”

  “Sometimes, it all depends on the case I’m working.” I set my drink down. “I understand you work with computers.”

  “Stop right there,” Tex said. “You can’t go in there.”

  We looked over, seeing Tex enter the sun room, chasing after his robotic creation.

  “I thought you pulled the plug on her,” Natalie said, her tone accusatory.

  “I was just doing some adjustments when...”

  Tex’s words were cut off by Doris’s wavering electronic voice. “He wants to have oral sex with me.”

  “What?” Natalie said.

  “I’m afraid she’s having some software issues,” Tex said, looking at Grant. “Perhaps you could help me do some adjustments to her algorithm and programming.”

  Before Grant could answer, Natalie was on her feet, moving toward her boyfriend and his animatronic companion. “I’ll help you both do some adjustments.”

  Tex ran from the room, pulling his invention with him as Natalie chased after them. Bernie came up to his feet, looking at me, before I gave him the settle command.

  “Sorry,” Mo told Grant. “It’s just your typical day ‘round here.” She looked at me. “Maybe you and Grant want to take Bernie for a stroll while I try to settle things back down.” She winked.

  I stood. “I think that’s a great idea.” I looked at Grant. “Care to join us?”

  “Of course.”

  After I got Bernie on his leash, we heard voices being raised and some screaming as we left the house and moved down the sidewalk.

  I told Grant, “Natalie and her boyfriend have been having some issues.”

  He chuckled. “So, I saw. Maybe I could take a look at his invention, try to wo
rk out some kinks.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “Just a couple words of advice: stay away.”

  He smiled. “That’s probably good advice.”

  We chatted as we walked, Grant telling me about his work with computers. “I specialize in software, helping companies from being hacked. As you probably can imagine, it makes for job security.”

  I glanced at him, again struck by his handsome features and iridescent eyes. “It sounds like it’s interesting work.”

  “It is, if you’re a nerd.”

  I smiled. “You hardly seem like a nerd to me.”

  “You’d be surprised. I was one of those college kids that entered science fairs and blew things up for fun.” He looked at me, maybe seeing my concern. “It was nothing dangerous or criminal. Just college kids having fun.”

  “I understand.”

  “Tell me about your work, how you and Bernie got together.”

  I spent a few minutes, going over my duties and telling him how Bernie and I had worked patrol, before my promotion. “He’s the first canine to ever work homicide. He’s like my right arm after all these years. I don’t know how I would ever get along without him.”

  “I’ve been thinking about getting a dog one of these days. The single life can be a bit lonely at times.” He went on for a couple minutes, telling me he’d married right after college but had been divorced for several years.

  After circling the block and we were back in front of our house, we heard more screaming and a crashing sounds, like someone had thrown a lamp.

  “I’d better see if I can prevent a homicide,” I said.

  “I understand. Maybe I should go.”

  “There’s no rea...”

  There was more screaming, more sounds of things being thrown.

  I looked back at him. “I’m sorry, but it might not be safe in there.”

  He smiled. “Maybe we could get together for....”

  Natalie was screaming at Tex, cutting off what Grant had said.

  “A drink,” Grant repeated when things had quieted down a bit. “I know a great little place over in Santa Monica. Would Saturday night work for you?”