A Damsel for Santa Page 5

  Jack raised his chin and spoke with authority. "Tsuyoshi Helper is a man of great intelligence. A man of some renown on the island. He is married and seeks neither power nor wealth, but success in his life's passion."

  I snorted with laughter. "Oh. He's a frustrated actor."

  Jack glared at me, obviously seething under his stage makeup. Good. I wanted him off his game.

  "He is a successful thespian, not a common, frustrated…actor."

  And I was a real estate magnate, not an apartment manager. "Sorry, my bad, Jack. Did you know Brooke Cobos?"

  "Alas, not well. I have heard she was a flower of verisimilitude and seasonal joy."

  What kind of pompous poppycock was that? Merry Christmas to me. I was face-to-face with another one who'd obviously escaped from a padded cell. By the end of the night, Holly might be the only one of these so-called actors I didn't think belonged in an asylum. I smiled at him. "I've heard the same thing. She was a peach, huh?"

  "To be plebeian, yes."

  "Nicest insult I've had today. At least I'm common." He didn't flinch, so I continued. "What about Kass? Were you two friendly?"

  "We are professional acquaintances, nothing more."

  "That's why you like sharing a joint with her and Nicky every now and then?"

  "I know not of what you speak."

  The long shot hadn't completely failed because I now knew he averted his eyes slightly when he lied. I could now watch for that particular tell. It wasn't a lot, but it was something good to know. Jack Frost suffered from Lying Eyes.

  Behind me, I heard Holly aheming. She held out her notepad, on which she'd written in block letters, "HE'S IN CHARACTER."

  Give the kid an A for effort, but I already had that one figured out. Besides, I was happy he lied. I nodded to her, then glared at Jack. This was exactly the way he delivered his lines. More than once I'd noticed Chance shooting frustrated glances at the ceiling during those excruciating moments. "So, Shakespeare, where were you during all the commotion?"

  Jack let out a long slow breath. He might be irritated because he had far more respect for his talent than I, but so what? He was at the top of my suspect list right now.

  "Now, it is I who have been offended," he scowled.

  "My bad again, Jack. Where were you?"

  "Offstage," he snapped. "Kass was at my side when the incident occurred."

  "So Kass was there before we lost power?"

  "Was that not my previous iteration of the facts?"

  I leaned forward and fingered my beard, still unable to fathom the depths of this clown's pomposity. "I like to confirm things. And was Brooke anywhere in sight?"

  "I know not. I was watching the director for my cue."

  "You're telling me you were standing close to where the victim was found, but you don't know when she arrived on her mark. Is that what you're saying?"

  "You speak well the truth. It is an odd conundrum. One that may remain unresolved. Whence do you derive your power to conduct this investigation? Perhaps you have been deputized by the authorities?"

  It was the question I'd been waiting for. Unless I was mistaken, good old Scrooge had done what I'd hoped. He'd gone back and blabbed about me working with the cops. If this guy believed the rumor, Chance must not have blown my cover and was playing along.

  "I can't talk about it. Police business. So what do you do in real life, Jack?"

  "I am an attorney. Corporate law."

  An attorney? Rats. Time for evasive maneuvers. "Are you friends with anyone in the play? Anybody you like to hang out with?"

  Jack failed to hide his smile as he gazed at the stage floor. The old boards wore their age well despite the nicks and gouges. There was nothing spectacular down there. So why had he chosen this moment to act sheepish? He wasn't an embarrassed teenager; he was a corporate lawyer. He was no stranger to the legal process. What was he hiding?

  He glanced up at me. "Joy and I know each other."

  "She's nice. She was a big help when Holly was upset." I wanted to call it what it was, a meltdown, but the word felt too harsh with the girl only a few feet away. Why had Jack dropped the stage pretense? Now he was being a normal, friendly guy. Was he playing me? Wanting me to think he was about to tell me a personal story—or discuss his girlfriend? Could it be? "How well do you know her?"

  "She works at the coffee shop where I go each morning. We talk a little." He shook his head. "It's not what you think. She's a nice girl and we're just friends. She had a difficult time as a kid and I thought maybe acting would help her lighten up. That's all it is."

  And there it was, his Lying Eyes. So, why did he want me to believe this line of BS way so much? "How come you dropped the Shakespeare bit all of a sudden?"

  "Meh." He shrugged and smiled. "I could tell it was annoying you. It was kind of fun for a few minutes, but I am an officer of the court and don't want people thinking I interfere with the pursuit of justice. Anything you need, just let me know."

  If it hadn't been for his practiced smile and the tell that gave him away, I might have even believed him. Something about Jack Frost wasn't right. I didn't know what he was lying about, but he'd gone from obstinate roadblock to star witness in an instant. He was an actor—albeit a bad one. He was also an attorney and knew how to work a jury. Right now, everything told me he was working me.

  10

  KASS

  I asked Jack to return to the group and have Kass come down. While Holly and I waited, we paced. She shadowed me every step of the way. We walked down the hallway, past the dressing room, and by a pile of clothing against the wall. These people were so sloppy it was pathetic. There was a giant bag of "toys" on the floor, but it was nothing other than wrapped pieces of styrofoam. The wooden facade of Holly's "house" was too heavy to lift. And the prop table along the back wall was covered with only small, lightweight items. None of this stuff could have been used as a weapon.

  "Holly?"

  "Yes, Santa?"

  "You seem to know a lot. Have you seen Scrooge's real staff?"

  "No, Santa. Why?"

  "Because someone who was planning to commit murder could have used it as a weapon."

  "Why don't you ask Miller? He's the one who messed up with Scrooge."

  I eyed her for a moment. "Why do you say that?"

  "Cause Miller's the one who brought out the stupid pool cue at the last minute."

  "Was Scrooge pretty upset?"

  She nodded. "Totally. But it was too late for him to go back and get the real one."

  "You're a pretty good little detective. You know that?"

  We turned around and went back toward the stage. At one point, my boot brushed against the pile of clothing. A shoe skittered across the floor and came to rest on its side. It had steel plates on the toe and heel.

  The girl started to reach down, but I stopped her. "Whose shoe is that?"

  It took Holly only a second to respond. "It's a tap shoe. It must be one of Brooke's."

  Why was this pile here anyway? Unless…I looked closer. Sure enough, there were crimson stains on the floor. Holly was still eyeing the shoe and hadn't noticed the stains, so I put one arm around her shoulder and guided her along the hallway. I said, "Look, I don't want anyone to know about this yet. Let's just keep this between you and Santa. Okay?"

  "Got it," she squealed and did a quick fist pump. "Me and Santa are gonna trap the killer."

  Thank goodness she didn't realize what we'd just found. She might not be so enthusiastic if she did. I had to admit Holly's exuberance was contagious. I just hoped whatever was happening under this bag of wool they called a Santa suit wasn't. Even my thighs itched now, and the wait for Kass was making me want to forget every cultural taboo on scratching in public I'd ever learned.

  When I walked to the front of the stage, Kass was wending her way toward us. She seemed fascinated by one of the seats in Row 14. There was nothing unusual in Row 14—at least, not to someone who was straight. She had to be really stoned,
which right about now sounded like a good solution to my growing...problem.

  I did a quick headcount of the people at the back of the room. Nicky was missing. Where had he gone? Had Kass been outside with him again?

  I returned to where Holly was doodling on the notepad. "So you think Jack Frost is a liar?"

  "I know he is, Santa."

  "Why's that?"

  "Because people weren't where he said they were." She shrugged. "It wasn't a huge lie. It might not be enough to get him on the Naughty List, but he wasn't telling the truth."

  Enough with the Naughty List already. Her little "Me, Holly; you, Santa" routine was wearing thin. This girl had been a screaming mess just because of a little darkness and had gotten every ounce of my attention. As a result, I couldn't say where anyone else had been. "What did he change?"

  "Kass wasn't onstage. She's always outside with Nicky during that scene. Mom says they're smoking a joint."

  "And where was your mom?"

  "She was next to Brooke, but Jack Frost was totally there, too."

  "And you saw him? How?"

  She rolled her eyes. "Because, I'm facing stage left. I can see it all. You were all creeped out and looking downstage. All you saw was me and Joy and Wendy the Elf."

  "Downstage? You mean the audience?"

  She heaved a heavy sigh. "Newbie question. Hello—that's downstage. And the stage is called the boards." Holly glanced to her right. "Hey, Kass."

  If the stagehand hadn't been standing just a few feet away, I might have warned Holly. Sarcasm wasn't a trait for "nice girls," especially when it was used on Santa. But, we had company, and Kass was clutching her arms to her chest as though she were freezing. She gave me a blank stare. Man, was she ever "out there." It was too bad. Dead eyes always took away from someone's appearance, and Kass was no exception. Her dark hair was cut like a boy's and her green eyes would have held a certain mystery if they hadn't been so glassy. Right now, they were just vacant.

  "Holly is bringing me up-to-speed on the lingo," I said.

  Her head bobbed up and down. Her voice was listless. "She's a good kid. You have questions?"

  "I do. Let's begin with where you were at the time we lost power."

  "I wasn't on stage, if that's what you've been told. That's, like, a major lie. So not true. I was with Nicky. We were outside."

  "Smoking pakalolo?"

  "It's medicinal. I have phobias to deal with." She shivered and gripped her sides tighter. "This whole murder thing is creeping me out."

  "Do you have a prescription for the marijuana?"

  "I'm self medicating. And learning to overcome my fear of heights." She held my gaze for a moment, then turned away and shivered again.

  "If you were outside with Nicky, how'd you know we lost power?"

  She blinked, seemed to think for a few seconds, then her lips formed an oh. "The whole block went dark. This thing is, like, huge."

  "Why'd you come back inside?"

  "Nicky's been saying this place needed more work. He complained to the owners. Told them the emergency power would fail, but they ignored him. That's why he always carries a flashlight."

  "If you're afraid of heights, why are you on the second floor? Outside? Doesn't that trigger some sort of reaction? And wasn't the storm pretty fierce?"

  She gazed off to my left for a few seconds, then peered at me. "What?"

  I might be hitting her with too many questions all at once, but now was not the time for mercy. I asked again about being outside on the second floor.

  "Oh. Nicky has me go out there because he says it will help me get past the fear."

  "Does it?"

  She giggled. "I dunno, but it sure is fun."

  Unlike this interview. "Why is Nicky helping you?"

  "We have to work together. There was this one time he needed me to go up on the catwalk. I couldn't do it, so he covered for me. That's when we started hanging out."

  "Who supplies the marijuana?"

  "Does it matter?"

  "Just answer the question." I wasn't sure how far I could push the "cop" role, but it was worth making the most of it while I could. "It's either here or downtown. It's just a lot easier to handle things in a less official manner."

  She nibbled on the remains of a fingernail. From the looks of it, the nail had seen lots of action. She watched the floor as she chewed away.

  "Really," I said, "it could help."

  "I supply it. I have a friend who gives me a deal."

  Oh, so Nicky had found a way to get his drugs for free. Not that it was any of my concern, unless the drug connection was related to the murder. "This has been going on for how long?"

  "It was the second week of rehearsals when Nicky asked me to do the catwalk thing. I guess that was about three weeks ago."

  The urge to scratch had spread to my chest and arms and was making it hard to concentrate. At this rate, Kass and I would have the same ability to process information in no time. Maybe this suit was infested with some vile insect. They could be biting me...everywhere. Was that how the previous Santa came down with malaria? Which meant he really had been sick. I forced back the thought. "You said Jack Frost was not with you when the lights went out. Was he there at all?"

  "Only earlier tonight. Before the show. He likes to take the edge off, but doesn't want to interfere with his 'performance.'" She made quotation marks in the air and shook her head. "The guy's second-rate at best. If only his talent was as big as his ego."

  "How long was he out there?"

  Kass's eyelids drooped and she looked like she was slipping toward a place where phobias didn't stand a chance. "He ducked inside with Miller when they saw you two drive up."

  Which would explain why they hadn't been outside when Chance made those first introductions. "Where's Nicky now?"

  She shook her head. "Dunno. He's kind of a loner."

  "Sure you do. You know I'll have to confirm your story with him. Maybe he'll tell me a whole different fairytale about what you were doing." I glared at her and she winced. She raised her hand to her face, but I grabbed her fingers before she could start the nail-biting routine again. "C'mon Kass, I need to find the truth. Since you and Nicky are all over the place, I figure you two can shed light on this whole perverted scenario."

  Her eyelids fluttered closed, then jerked open. "All I know is Brooke threatened to divorce Miller because she found out about his past."

  "Kass! What do you think you're doing?"

  I whirled around. Nicky Simenon slid out from behind the cover of the stage curtains. His amber eyes flared with an underlying anger. He tugged on his wool cap while he fixed us both with an angry stare.

  11

  NICKY

  I crossed to where Nicky Simenon stood. "Well, well, well. We meet again. I'm McKenna. But you can call me Santa if it's easier."

  "Ain't got no qualms about using your real name, dude. But, you need to lay off Kass. She's kinda delicate. I been trying to help her and you're making me out like some sort of blackmailer. Ain't that way at all."

  Nicky had the hard look of a man who'd spent his life doing manual labor. He was muscular and appeared strong enough to easily bash in someone's head. A sheen of sweat covered his pale skin, but if he was feeling overheated, I had no sympathy for him. He could ditch the wool cap and cool off. I was stuck in this fluffy flea factory. "How long were you there?" I snapped.

  "Long enough. Kass, she's too much of a follower to disobey."

  Had he heard my confession to Holly about the cops? "So you're quite the loner, aren't you? If you've been lurking around, you know this is a crime scene and you shouldn't be here."

  "We both know you ain't got no jurisdiction." A sly smile formed on his lips as his eyes cut to where Kass stood.

  Uh oh. Was he going to say something? "About that…"

  His head moved from side-to-side. "Ain't no matter to me how you do this. Somebody gotta figure this thing out—and it ain't gonna be no Five-0."

 
; I acknowledged his willingness to go along with the deception with a bow of my head. "Care to tell me why you snuck away from the others?"

  "I'm dependable man. I do my job. They hired me to work this stage. Something like this storm comes along, and I gotta be super-vigilant, know what I mean? Most of these jokers got no sense at all when there's an emergency. Me, I'm always ready. Couldn't do nothing sitting out there."

  Suddenly, his eyes widened and he charged forward. He pushed me out of the way and grabbed Kass by the arm just as she collapsed. He pointed to a grouping of four wooden chairs against the wall. "She needs to sit down. Bring one of those over here, kid."

  Holly gave him a quick nod and grabbed a chair. She took Kass's other arm, and they lowered her onto the seat.

  "She's totally wasted," Nicky groaned. "You done it this time, Hoover."

  "Hoover?"

  "Yeah, man, like the vacuum. Been calling her that since I saw how she could inhale." He eyed Kass, then winked at me. "Girl's got some lungs, man."

  I was pretty sure he meant her ability to smoke a joint, but the way he eyed Kass, he could also be referring to her bust size. She was well-endowed, and the floppy tops she wore to give herself a more formless figure didn’t really work. I glanced at Holly.

  "Would you sit with her?"

  She nodded, dragged a chair over, and positioned it adjacent to Kass's. The young woman slumped toward Holly and in no time, her head rested on the girl's shoulder. I returned my attention to Mr. Preparedness.

  "You said you always want to be ready. For what?"

  "For anything, man. My parents were professional protestors. They took me on all their gigs. I learned to stand up to the bully cops and the jerks on the other side of the issue. The way you do that is by being prepared."

  "So you're a regular Boy Scout."

  "Yeah, man, gimme a merit badge for vigilance."

  "If you were here, you must have heard what Kass told me," I said. "What's your version of where Jack Frost was?"

  "He was backstage. He'd been talking to Brooke. After their discussion he might have gone to the head. Guy's had a lot of issues lately. He was complaining about some sort of bladder control deal when he got here. Just because he wanted to talk, didn't mean I wanted to hear it. Guess he didn't get that, so I told him it was TMI. Got enough issues of my own. I don't need his, too."