Simply To Die For

Chapter 4

“S o, you can do all those things you said you could, right?” Clar asked as Jacki weaved her way into the Los Angeles traffic, Clar riding shotgun, Jimmy in the back where they could both keep an eye on him.

“Piece of cake,” Jacki said, undeterred by Clar’s snort. “I called in a few favors. Simon Lee is coming out of retirement to do the forensics, and you’ve got the best in the business examining Cameron’s every move.”

“Like I can afford that,” Clar said with a long, low sigh, the stress catching up with her.

“What stuff?” Jimmy asked from the back seat.

It was kind of a novel experience that there was something she knew the newshound didn’t. She and Jacki shared a look before she turned to him. “Thanks for trying to warn me about the evidence against me.”

“Ah, so he hit you with the candy box, the wrappers.”

“Pretty much,” she said, her stomach roiling when she remembered the blood.

“Deep breaths in and out,” Jimmy coached, leaning forward to touch her shoulder. “It was in his hand when I showed up at CAS. Already tagged and bagged. Given my history with him, it was probably planted.”

“Why don’t I like the doubtful way you say probably,” she asked seeing the worry in his eyes.

“Because you can read me way too well for my liking and you’re smart.”

She watched him bite his lip knowing he hated revealing that much about what made him tick. The truth behind the sleazy newshound.

“And also, because one of them showed up at my studio, sans blood, of course.”

She saw the sincerity, heard the grit in his voice. Of course, it was why he’d sounded grumpy when he outed her on national TV. “Whoever did this sent you a box of chocolates?”

He nodded. “And when that didn’t work, they sent one to my boss.”

So at least that mystery of how I was located is solved . “Thank you.”

“For what, outing you?”

“No, for trying to protect me.”

“Yeah, I’m some hero.” He shook his head. “At least I can give you some information. Levi’s at St. Vincent’s over on West Third, in ICU in an induced coma. They’ve got a guard on him. At least that’s what my source says.”

She watched Jimmy check his seatbelt, making sure it was good and tight. The way Jacki was driving, she’d hoped they’d get there in one piece.

“Hey, you know how to get to the hospital, cowboy?”

“Where do you think we’re heading, newshound,” Jacki snorted.

Clar chuckled before turning her head. “Jacki’s got sources you never even dreamed of.”

“Great, so you don’t need me for this either,” he said under his breath.

She was surprised that he looked so unhappy. “Stick around, O’Brien, I just might need you yet.” She smiled when that got a startled response. “Relax, she used to be a private detective plus she knows these streets better than most and it’s not ‘cowboy’. James O’Brien, meet Jackson Wolfe, and find a way to get along with her. Jacki and I go way back.”

“Jackson Wolfe, as in the late and great singing—”

Jacki glared at him in the rearview mirror. Guess he hit a nerve. Either there was no love lost in the family or she didn’t want to discuss her crooning relative. Most likely both if the old time Hollywood movie cowboy were true to form. The Jackson Wolfe he’d heard about was notorious around Tinseltown, and at one time had a big ranch somewhere in Texas. Or was it Oklahoma?

“Yes, as in. What can you tell us, O’Brien? I won’t have her caught off guard again. Not on my watch.”

Jimmy drew in a breath, gazing out the window. How in the hell was he going to tell her about Levi. Far as he figured, they were still like brother and sister. Then there was the thug trying to frame her or rattle her cage or both. Clar wouldn’t want it all prettified for her sake; she’d want the truth and nothing more. He’d try to spare her as much as possible, even if there were no guarantees to the pain it may cause.

“Shit, Clar, are you really sure you want to hear this? It’s not very pretty and the facts are murky at best.” He studied her looking for any indication he should hold back. “The cops are keeping a tight lid on things for some reason. Wouldn’t even let me in the crime scene. Cameron greeted me at the gate, candy box in his hand already tagged, bagged, and bloody. Seemed like he didn’t know about our connection.”

“He does now,” she said, matter of factly.

“Like I said, so far, I’ve officially got squat. Nothing is written in stone yet; you know how an investigation runs. Reporters are always the last totem on the pole to get the straight facts.”

“Yeah, like I’m going to believe that. You’ve always had your finger on the pulse of this city and from what I see nothing’s changed. Just tell me. I don’t want any surprises when I walk into that hospital room.”

Now there’s the Clar I know and love! Strong, loyal as hell to her friends, and this was going to tear her up.

“Fine, here are the facts as I know them. Everyone on the set was killed, every soul except Levi. Although I think he was left for dead given the amount of blood at the scene. He’s in pretty rough shape.” Jimmy flipped through his notes, wasting as much time as possible. She’d want to know about the candy box. He didn’t want to tell her that it had been propped on Levi’s body, deliberately soaked in his blood. Her wrappers strewn around the crime scene like obscene confetti. “Levi’s hurt bad, honey. Bruised ribs are the least of his problems, facial fractures, possible brain damage, like I said the doctors are keeping him in an induced coma. There may be permanent damage. It’s too soon to tell.

“There’s more.” He took a deep breath and flipped his notebook closed. “You saw the candy box and wrappers that were scattered throughout the set. It’s clear that someone is setting you up”

“I got news for you, Jimmy. I kind of figured that out when Cameron cornered me,” Clar said. “If they want a war, they’ll get one.”

“It’s either a message or someone’s trying to set you up, Clar.” Jacki pulled into the hospital lot and parked the truck. “This could be far more involved than we thought. Especially if O’Brien is telling the truth about them also sending the candy to his studio.”

“I am,” he said, looking her straight in the eye.

“How’d it come, Snail Mail, Fed Ex, UPS?” Jacki asked.

“I’m not sure. The mail delivery service dropped it in my slush pile one day. When I opened it, I thought she was...” Jimmy’s voice trailed off.

“Sending you sweets,” Jacki said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think...?” Clar said.

“I’d wanna get ’em,” he finished. “Anyhow, when I saw the note that came with ’em I tossed them in the trash.”

“Shit, so I can’t get prints off it,” Jacki said sourly.

“My boss still has his. He’s been hoarding the damned things; greedy bastard won’t share. The jerk even special ordered two more boxes.”

“Oh, so that’s the special order that came to my online shop,” Clar said. “I wondered when it came in seeing that my online business hasn’t officially launched yet.”

“I think someone is out to hurt you.”

***

“G IVEN THE EVIDENCE I’d be a fool not to agree, but that isn’t important now. I need to get to Levi.” Clar jumped out of the car and started walking, blinking away the tears of rage and fear threatening to spill. Levi may or may not be Levi any more. Who would beat a guy as harmless as Levi just to send her a message?

“Easy,” Jimmy said coming up beside her, taking her arm when she almost smacked into a parked car.

“Geez, Jimmy!” Clar exclaimed, trying to pry his fingers from her arm. “Thanks, but can you release your iron clad grip?”

Jacki trotted up beside her, flicking on the recorder she used for notes. Clar remembered it well from her old PI days. So, Jacki was on the job. Go team. Not that they stood much of a chance against Cameron.

“You haven’t officially sold your candies on-line yet?” Jimmy asked.

“That’s right, I sent out samples to a few friends.”

“Like me,” Jacki said with a smile.

“Right. Other than that, my buyers have been local. People showing up at my door, a few at the local gift shop that stocks some of my things.”

“What about the boxes, the wrappers?” Jimmy asked. “Where do you get them?”

Clar shrugged. “I buy my wrappers online, the boxes too. I’m sure many others do the same thing as it’s a popular outlet in the industry. Kandi Kisses wrappers are pink with black stripes on them when they arrive. I can spend hours at night watching TV hand stamping each one of the with the store name on them.”

“They were solid pink in the beginning with the store’s name scrolled across them, remember?” Jacki pointed out.

Clar sucked in a breath, holding it for a moment, trying to recall the exact color of the wrappers Cameron had shoved in her face. Oh my God, even bloodstained as they were, she could swear they were pink. “Yes, I changed them after the supply of the current ones ran out. I used to handwrite Kandi Kisses on them.

“This is crazy. No one in California should have access to my old candy wrappers.” She saw Jacki and Jimmy share a troubled look and realized the situation was severe. Levi’s attackers were trying to rattle her, to scare her, and damn, it was working. Think. Why Cameron’s animosity? And what about the pain in his eyes? And what was with him and Jimmy?

She’d only been open on weekends a few months now for the early tourists and special events. Kandi Kisses wasn’t scheduled to open full-time until this weekend. Now even that was on hold, if it ever happened after this. Once she got back, she’d have to check her books, but not once did she remember shipping candy to anyone but Jacki. Oklahoma wasn’t California by any means. Her blood boiled to think someone would go to this extreme just to get her attention. She drew in a deep breath, her body relaxing for a few moments.

“Jimmy, what do you know about Detective Cameron? The one who looks like Jimmy Hoffa.”

“Dirty cop. Formerly from Chicago PD. In the pocket of the DeLuca family.”

“Like hell,” Jacki said. “LAPD has some standards. They wouldn’t have hired him if that were true, and...”

Jimmy snorted. “Yeah well, give it to me chapter and verse. We both know that’s a load of bull or you’d probably still be working there.”

“Chicago,” Clar said thinking for a moment. “Do you think he knew my dad?”

“Yes,” Jimmy said softly. “They were in the same precinct for twenty years.”

She shivered, then held her breath. Her father was known to turn in dirty cops. If Cameron was as dirty as Jimmy said this animosity could go way back. She’d always had a suspicion what happened to her parents was no accident. “Was he on my dad’s list of dirty cops?”

“That I don’t know. But Cameron is connected to the DeLuca family, or at least he was at one time. There may have been a falling out and that’s why he’s here.”

Old sins could cast long shadows. Hell, she’d never believed the convenient story of her parents’ deaths. Now coming on the heels of Levi’s attack it was too much. Her knees were going to buckle and only Jimmy and Jacki’s support was keeping her upright. She needed to rescue Levi, solve the crime, and find out the truth about her parents. But first, she had to know what she was up against. “Is there anything more we need to know about Cameron and his mob connection?”

Jimmy shifted slightly, running his hands through sun-kissed hair. Clar itched to smooth the worried look from his face. Her fingers tingled from want to massage the tension from his neck. There was a history between Jimmy and Cameron, she needed to know what it was. “Tell me why you don’t trust him.”

“A long and old story, but let’s cut to the chase by saying he’s a scumbag detective from Chicago who thought he was the next godfather to be. We had a run in while I was on my beat in Chicago; he ran me out of town and away from investigative journalism. I didn’t like the idea of wearing cement overshoes, so here I am. What he’s doing here, now, I couldn’t tell you. Covering red carpet events as I do now, he and I have never crossed paths.”

“Shit,” Jacki turned, looking at them both.

“Precisely,” Jimmy cut in, “And now here he is fitting us both for a jail cell.”

Clar found out what room Levi was in after proving she was indeed Clarice Turner with every piece of ID she could produce. The nurse, bless her heart, didn’t want to let them all up to ICU but Clar convinced her that Jacki and Jimmy were medical experts specializing in emotional trauma. A few tears and sniffles and they were on their way.

They stepped off the elevator passing room after room until finally, at the end of the hall, was Levi’s unmanned room. A surge of fear slammed through Clar.

“Where the hell are the cops?” Clar questioned loudly as they walked up to Levi’s room in the ICU wing. “He’s supposed to have a guard.”

“Damn Cameron and his uncooperative hide,” Jacki hissed.

“We’ve got this,” Jimmy said, standing by Clar’s side.

“I’ll take care of it,” Jacki promised, punching in numbers on her cell while heading back down the hall.

“Bless her. She’s got more contacts than the LAPD and FBI combined.”

Jimmy touched her arm. He must have sensed she was stalling, bracing herself. She allowed herself the luxury of leaning against him for a moment, absorbing his strength. So, Cameron was responsible for wrecking his life, changing his path. It gave her a new insight into him.

Clar pushed the door open. There were no words to describe the shell of the person she loved as a brother. At first, she couldn’t even absorb the ghastly impact on her psyche. Levi had tubes coming out of his mouth, an IV in one hand, and his face was bandaged except for his eyes and mouth. She couldn’t imagine what waited under the sterile white blanket and sheet. He looked so small lying there, so helpless, rage thrust through her pain.

Rage ignited through her like a wildfire burning every part of her being. She would make whoever did this very sorry.

“I’m sorry, no one is allowed in this room.” A nurse continued checking fluids and writing something down, not giving them the simple courtesy of a glance.

Clar’s gaze moved over Levi to the starchily dressed nurse standing next to the bed. Clar drew in the anger churning in her stomach. She hated being ignored as if she didn’t exist, but realized it was misdirected. She wasn’t really angry at the nurse. Still, Levi needed an advocate and she’d be his voice. “I understand about hospital rules, nurse. What I don’t understand is why he’s lying there unprotected. Where is his guard? I was told he had a twenty-four-hour guard. So where is he?”

“LAPD, you’ll all have to leave, now!” She sucked in a breath. The command came from behind them with an authority that held a blend of menace and Texas charm. Okay, so he did have a guard, a sneaky one.

She turned, her gaze meeting green eyes that held serious intent to the extreme with a strong jaw line that matched. There was nothing middle-of-the-road about the man, and the sight of him immediately put up her guard. Every inch from his expression to his wide stance and scuffed cowboy boots screamed serious as hell.

Jimmy’s surprised smile lit up his face and Clar remembered why she lusted after him in the first place. He was drop-dead-irresistible when he smiled. His smile sparkled in his brown eyes with a warmth and brightness that welcomed anyone inside. But when had he become friendly with the cops? And why this cop in particular? He’d always avoided them whenever possible like they were public enemy number one.

“Clint?”

“Jimmy, how the hell are you?” Clint’s chiseled features softened for a moment, revealing what Clar’s granny would have labeled as ‘good old cowboy’ material.

“You know each other?” Clar stood between the two, annoyed once again at being ignored.

“Clar, this is an old college buddy of mine, and I’m guessing he’s the guard,” Jimmy said, clamping his hand on the shoulder of his polar opposite in every physical way.

“That’s nice, but what I really want to know is why in the hell you weren’t here protecting Levi!” Clar jabbed Clint in the chest, her shock having worn off, and anger in its place. He might be sneaky but that wouldn’t stop someone from walking in the door and blasting Levi.

Jacki strolled in with determination in her step and a pissed off look on her face. “There’s supposed to be...well, I see Mr. Johnny on the Spot has arrived. He totally fits the description Rusty just gave me. Arrogant. Hot. Well built. It’s the good cop part that I find hard to believe.”

Clar took note of the sarcasm echoing in Jacki’s words. There was something else there as well, some undercurrent Clar couldn’t quite define.

“I had to take a piss, damn it. I was right there.” Clint pointed to the bathroom in the room. “You weren’t exactly quiet as a church mouse when you all came in. What with the lady yelling at the nurse and all.”

Clar felt like crawling into a hole, embarrassed, her body a mass of shriveling bones and skin because indeed she’d been raising her voice.

“What was he supposed to do Clar, pee in the waste basket?” Jimmy shook his head, then wrapped an arm around her. She didn’t need his presence to know she’d blown up for no reason, and she certainly didn’t need his comfort either.

“Doing the job you were hired to do would have been a great place to start,” Jacki commented, taking a protective position near Levi. “How quick can you pull it out, piss, shake it off, and put it back in before someone would have had you trapped in the bathroom and finished what they’d started at the studio? You have a partner to step in when you need to relieve yourself, where is he?”

“My partner left the room when I came out,” Clint snapped back, sizing Jacki up.

“Ah, the nurse. Now it all makes sense. You always were one hell of a poker player.” Jimmy chuckled then slapped Clint on the back. “Clint Mason meet Jackson Wolfe, Clar’s friend and partner in crime solving.”

“Clint Mason. I recall a Texas Ranger by that name whose partner was killed during a cattle rustling bust.” Jacki raised an eyebrow and took a step forward, flexing her hands as she stood toe-to-toe with Clint. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Mason, do you?”

“Some wannabe PI named after a washed-up movie star pretending to be a cowboy, I presume Ms. Wolfe?” Clint tucked his thumbs into his pants pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Didn’t a Jackson Wolfe lose his ranch and prize stud in a poker game?”

“Yes, he did. My father lost it to me.” Jacki stood firmly planted, her hands balled up into fists. “I bet I could beat you too.”

“Do you really need to do this here? We’ve got to figure out what happened, cuz I’m sure Cameron knows more than he’s saying.” Jimmy suggested with a bit of urgency in his words.

Clar hoped a fight wouldn’t break out when Jimmy stood between the two, fists clinched tight, praying one of them didn’t try to hog tie the other one yet. It was only too clear Jimmy’s old college buddy was territorial; she didn’t expect it from Jacki. If they played their cards right Clint could be a fount of information, if Jacki didn’t rub him the wrong way. Things were more tenuous than either of them knew. Clint wasn’t your average cop.

“I got this,” Jimmy said softly. “Why don’t you go grab a coffee and maybe a sandwich while Clint and I have a chat?”

She didn’t want to go, didn’t want to trust him with this, but she nodded.

“Come on, Jacki, let’s take a walk before there’s more horse shit flung around. Jimmy, please take care of this by the time we get back.” Clar guided Jacki into the hall.

***

J IMMY WAITED FOR THE sound of stomping boots to fade away. The implications were clear—if he didn’t deal with this, she and Jacki would.

He partially closed the door, shutting out the possibility of being overheard. When it came to keeping things confidential, he knew that anyone could be lurking in the hallway waiting for a juicy tidbit of information...including Clar and Jacki. “Okay, level with me, Clint, what do you know about this anyway? Why would a former undercover agent Texas Ranger be in the room of a beaten-up porn star?”

“Jimmy, you know the deal. My ass would be hung out to dry by the people who hired me if I told you. I never know who it is that needs my services. I get called, do the job, and get paid. Done deal.”

“Bullshit, this is personal.” Jimmy knew rules got broken every day.

“Yeah, I could see that,” Clint said, looking at the door.

Jimmy stood firm knowing he was showing more of his cards than he should. “So.”

“Maybe you should back away from her. Okay, but don’t shoot the messenger.” Clint widened his stance going into full cop mode. “This goes deep, way deep. There’s information that can’t get into the hands of the press, and that includes you. There’s an investigation going on and we won’t know anything until Andres comes out of the coma.”

“Fair enough, for now.” Jimmy paced, tapping the notebook with a pen. “When did Cameron show up? What’s his connection with LAPD?” Clint knew more and Jimmy wanted that information. Starting with Cameron could be a good move.

“I know what you’re doing, Jimmy. Let’s cut to the chase. Cameron has been investigating the death of that young porn star who was strung up and murdered during a BDSM filming. He’s been here for about six months. Just showed up, took up residence, and has been throwing his weight around.” Clint stepped over to the door, pulled it open the rest of the way, and looked down the hall. “Just so you know, someone in Jackson Wolfe’s camp hired me.”

“Holy shit.”