Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
“I’d still like everyone to sign an NDA,” Amber said as we stepped through the door. No one paid her any attention. “No, seriously, I’d like you all to sign. Ten thousand dollars. Each. How about that? I can write the checks this afternoon…”
But by then we didn’t care about money. Or more likely, didn’t believe her. All we wanted was to be out in the open air. Standing right outside the soundstage the sun was already up, but it was still cool. Even though June gloom hung heavily overhead, it felt like we were basking in the light.
“You need to call the police,” Louis was telling the guard.
“But, does he?” Donald asked.
“Yes, he does” Wendy said. “This is over, whether you like it or not.”
“I bet you’re happy about that.”
“No, I’m not happy. Someone died, Donald.”
“My dreams died.”
“Oh my God!”
Amber interrupted, “If you’re not going to sign an NDA, I’d like to talk to you about what you are going to say.”
“Amber, we’re going to tell the truth,” Marc said.
“Oh, please don’t do that!”
And then the police where there. First one black-and-white, then another. An ambulance showed up, followed by police detectives and eventually the coroner. Ed and Amber were taken into custody fairly quickly. Amber was crying that it wasn’t her fault, that it was an accident. My bet was the prescription for the adrenaline was in her name. I was pretty sure giving someone your prescription drugs was a crime in itself. For Amber, this was only going to get worse. She definitely needed a lawyer. She could even end up in more trouble than Ed. All he had to deal with was attempted murder.
Once again adorned with her scarf and sunglasses, Kathleen threw a fit when she wasn’t immediately taken to the hospital—though she’d stopped vomiting a couple of hours ago. An EMT checked her out and said she should just call her doctor and have him check her out.
“I was poisoned! On purpose! A hate crime. A hate crime against all Christians!”
Honestly, I was glad I’d never be seeing her again. Well, except for the news reports. I’d be seeing her in those a lot during the next few weeks. The police were almost immediately followed by photographers, paparazzi who would have been devastated if they missed an event like Finn Henderson’s death. I wondered if Amber had tipped them off, though I hadn’t seen her use her mobile. But then I wondered which of the photographers probably had police scanners? A careful purchase at Circuit City could get you all the information you needed.
When the coroner brought Finn’s body out on a stretcher with a sheet over it, dozens of flash bulbs went off as the photographers grabbed shots of the gurney being put into the back of the waiting ambulance. Even after the ambulance doors were closed, the flash bulbs continued. It was only after the ambulance drove off that they stopped.
There were journalists among the photographers, and they descended on us, asking questions. They recognized Kathleen, of course, so she got the brunt. She raised a hand in the air toward God, and in a loud, strong voice asked everyone to pray with her for Finn’s eternal soul. No one seemed to join her, but the cameras went into overdrive, which had probably been the entire point.
It took a little more than two hours before the four of us had each given a statement and were allowed to go home. Before we got into the car to finally leave, Marc said goodbye to Grace and Meg and Keely. There were lots of hugs and promises to keep in touch that likely would not be followed up on.
By the time we were able to go home around ten that morning, I had a stomachache from so much coffee. Louis had made another giant pot of it once it became clear we’d all have to stay and talk to the police. He was right that they didn’t want us to take anything away. In fact, it was a little surprising they allowed him to make more coffee.
The upside of all that was we didn’t have to pack the car. At least not that morning. We drove to my store, which was already open by that time. Carl and Denny had come in early since I’d known I’d need to get some sleep. Of course, I’d thought I’d be at least two hours into my day’s sleep by then, but that hadn’t happened.
I got out of the car with Eldridge after he said goodbye to Marc and Louis. I needed a moment with him.
“Look, I doubt we’re ever going to get paid for that event, so I’m just going to add what you were promised into your check.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know but… well, I did get you involved so I feel at least a little?—”
And then he leaned over and kissed me. He stayed there for a long moment with his lips pressed to mine. I tried to resist, I really did. But I had to kiss him back… had to. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. I was pressed up against him with my hand around his neck. I knew I should be remembering to breathe, but it didn’t seem to be important at the time. Nothing seemed important except kissing him… And then he stopped.
“We’ll consider that my payment.”
We would not. I still planned to pay him.
“I should go,” he said.
“Right. You’re right. You should go. Good-bye.”
I climbed back into the car as quickly as I could. As we pulled away from the curb, Louis looked over from the front seat and said, “Solved a murder and got kissed. I’d said you’ve earned a nap.”
And it was my intention to take a nap. But when I lay down, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ed. I felt bad for him. The people he’d tried to punish did actually deserve it. Well, not death, obviously. But that hadn’t been his plan. As I thought about it, making the person who’d gotten you sent to prison for fifteen years violently ill wasn’t really justice. It didn’t balance the scales. Not that I could see a way to do that.
And Heston. Ed had taken the blame for the video Heston had used to expose his mother and Finn. That was kind. Though I imagine Heston must have thought his mother would eventually find out he was behind it. He must have been ready for her ire, but then Ed had let him off the hook. I would have probably let him off the hook myself. Or I hope I would have. The kid had enough problems.
After lying in bed for nearly an hour, I got up and called my mother.
“Oh my God!” she said when she answered. “Finn Henderson is dead!”
“Yes, I know. I was there.”
“Did you get me an autograph?”
“You said you didn’t want one.”
“Well, I didn’t know he was going to die.”
“And neither did I.”
“That poor boy.”
“Yes, it is sad,” I said. “And sad that we didn’t take it seriously. We thought he was back on drugs.”
“Well, it makes sense. He was acting like he was high.”
“Okay, who did you talk to?”
“Marc. Louis. And Leon.”
“Leon wasn’t there.”
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t know everything that happened.”
I had to admit that could be true. In fact, he probably knew more than I did.
“So you already know everything that happened. What are we going to talk about?”
“You can tell me about your boyfriend.”
“Eldridge is not my boyfriend.”
“And yet you knew who I was talking about.”
I was very tempted to say ‘Angie, back off,’ just the way Heston True spoke to his mother. Instead I said, “Mom, could you maybe, I don’t know, mind your own business?”
“Whether you’re happy or not is my business.”
“Oh God.”
“I’m going to meet Eldridge eventually.”
“Because he works for me.”
“You kissed him.”
“He kissed me.” A very technical point, I know. And not entirely true. “I’m going to kill Marc and Louis. So there, you’re responsible for a double murder. And you’ll only ever see me on visiting day.”
She sighed heavily. “All right. We’ve gone too far. I’m sorry. But it’s only because we love you.”
“I know. Maybe you could love me a little less.”
“No. I absolutely will not. I will try to give you a little more space, and I’ll ask Marc and Louis to do the same.”
“And Leon.”
“Oh sweetheart, you can’t expect miracles.”
And then I yawned. She must have heard because she asked, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I tried to, but I couldn’t. Maybe I can now.”
“Maybe you can. Get some rest, dear.”
* * *
“Well…” Leon said. “I’m sorry someone died, but being right is one of the most delicious things in life. I’m so glad I wasn’t there.”
“It was a lot to happen in one night,” I said.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve fallen in love three times in one night. All you had to contend with was one tiny celebrity death.”
It was around seven that Sunday night. Louis had thrown together what he considered a ‘simple’ little dinner: spinach salad, angel hair pasta in a pesto cream sauce and pistachio ice cream. It didn’t take long to figure out the theme of the evening was green.
“You’re not planning to poison us, are you?” I asked with a bit more snark than usual. But then I was operating on four hours of sleep. I was hopeful the chardonnay would knock me out for at least ten.
“I have to say I feel a bit bad for Ed—I mean, Wes,” Louis said. “No, I guess I mean, Ed.”
“Only because you always like a bear,” Marc said.
“Not just that… He wasn’t trying to kill anyone.”
“That works out better if you don’t poison people,” Leon said.
“Maybe they’ll go easy on him,” I said.
“Even if they do, I think he was on parole, which means he’ll have to finish that sentence before the new sentence can even begin. The best he can hope for is involuntary manslaughter. But they’ll probably try to prove attempted murder.”
“If he’d only been able to let go of the past,” Marc said.
“It’s hard for people to let go of the past,” I said, a prime example myself. There was a lot I hadn’t let go of.
“I let go of the past every single day,” Leon said.
I shifted in my seat, tempted to ask if he really thought that was true but terrified of the answer. I turned to Louis, and said, “I have to ask. Why did you do that to me? Why did you push me forward and make me solve everything?”
“I realized you were the only one who could. I’d been too busy making smoothies and omelets to really know what was happening. And Marc had spent most of the night gossiping with his old friends. Meanwhile, you’d been serving coffee, running errands. Watching everyone. It suddenly seemed to me the only person who would have enough information was you. And I was right, wasn’t I?”
I had the feeling there was more to it than that. Still, I said, “When I started talking, I had no idea what I was going to say.”
“I knew you’d find your way.”
“Well, Marc” Leon said. “You haven’t said whether it was nice seeing all your old friends?”
“Old, yes. Friends, I’m not so sure. A couple of them tried to pin the whole thing on Louis.”
“To be fair, I was the one passing out poison smoothies.”
Marc gave him a stern look. “You had no idea.”
“Of course not. That’s why I’m not in jail right now. Speaking of jail did you see O.J.’s mug shot?”
And then we talked about O.J. for quite a while. There’d been several articles on the front page of the Los Angeles Times , though it didn’t give much new information. Which didn’t prevent us from examining each and every detail.
Eventually, Leon began humming “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, before he said to me, “How is the romance going?”
Louis cleared his throat and tried to subtly shake his head. Apparently, my mother’s word was her bond and she’d already had a chat with him.
Leon looked confused for a moment, then said, “It was just a question.”
“Louis,” Marc said. “We’re going to see The Lion King this week. Wednesday night.”
“We are? Isn’t that for kids?”
“Kids and gays. I got advance tickets at the El Capitan for the ten o’clock show. It’s going to be all gay men, trust me. Plus, there’s a stage show.”
“A stage show with lions. How could I resist?”
“You’re going to love it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then they talked about Disney musicals for quite some time.
It seemed awful that Ed was going back to prison. I mean, he shouldn’t have done the things he did, but then the things that were done to him shouldn’t have happened either. He wasn’t a bad person, which in some ways made it better and in other ways made it worse.
After the ice cream, Marc said, “My mother called this afternoon.”
“That was fast,” I said.
“It was.”
“What did you say to her?”
“I told her I’d never give them another dime. She got very insulted, told me what a horrible son I’ve been, and hung up. I don’t expect I’ll hear from them again.”
“What would have been the right response?” I asked, actually curious.
He thought about it a moment before he said, “She could have said she understood why I might be suspicious and then promise to never ask me for another cent.”
“You’re very kind,” Leon said. “I think the only correct response would have been to offer you cash. Immediately.”
“That’s not going to happen. But at least it’s over.”
I bit later I said good night. As I walked to the stairs leading up to my apartment, Louis called out, “Sweet dreams.”
“Yeah. I’m going to give that a try.”
* * *
The next afternoon, I went into the store. Mikey had already created a display of all the Finn Henderson videos we had to rent. Most of them had already been rented, so the display looked pathetic. We discussed ordering more, but there was a question about whether they’d arrive in time. People would be moving on to something else soon enough. For instance, O.J. Simpson looked like he’d be occupying the front page for some time.
Eldridge arrived around five. He and I would be working the evening shift alone after Mikey left. There was generally a rush from five to about seven-thirty. People stopping in after work to grab something to watch that night. It was a small rush, given that it was a Monday, but it was a rush all the same.
Around eight, after Mikey had been gone for a while and the rush was over, the store was basically empty. Eldridge and I had just finished reshelving videos, when I decided to ask, “So what are we going to do on this date?”
He tried to hide how happy he was that I’d given in, but didn’t do a good job of it. “Well, I think we should have dinner. Somewhere nice but not too nice. And then we should go to a movie. And afterward we can talk about the movie for a very long time while we walk around the city.”
“It’s going to need to be a very interesting movie.”
“It will be when we get done talking about it.”
“What do you want to see?” I braced myself, expecting something in Italian or Japanese.
“ Four Weddings and a Funeral .”
“Isn’t that a little on-the-nose for a first date?”
“It’s about a guy who doesn’t want to commit. See? There’ll be lots to talk about.”
“Uh, yeah… there will be.”