Chapter 13
Luke
Right, what do we have?” Luke asked his romantic partner and his work partner as the three of them were in the back of a cab headed to Sol’s place after their lunch and the talk with Penny Carr.
“I don’t think Penny is hiding anything,” Sol said.
He was well aware that his lover had talked to enough publicists to know when they were being cagey or hiding something. Then again, Penny could be an excellent actor who’d learned a lot from her clients.
“Really? I was hoping for a different answer.” Divya’s disappointment was obvious.
She and Luke were on the same page. But his detective nose—and years of experience interviewing people of interest—also told him the publicist was telling them the truth.
“Was it Moon who told you about Leonardo pulling a stunt?” Sol asked. Both Luke and Divya nodded in affirmation. “Let’s talk to them then. I’m curious to know exactly what they meant.”
“I’m afraid they’re going to be all secretive again.
I don’t like it when they don’t tell me everything and the work gets in the middle,” Divya said.
She was seated between Luke and Sol. She turned to him, then her, and pointed in both their directions.
“I don’t know how you two manage to work together. It’s so bloody stressful!”
“We don’t work together!” Sol protested.
Luke simply arched his eyebrows in her direction. “Really, cara? Then what is it that you’re doing here right now?”
“I’m just here helping you navigate the city, and being civil. I was going to offer to make some tea when we get home. I just want to know if I can be of any help.”
“Of any help,” he repeated with a chuckle.
“You see!” Divya said. “You two can’t even agree whether you’re working together or not. All because you are working together.”
“Even if she’s playing coy,” Luke said, and smiled in his lover’s direction, “I agree with Sol. We need to talk to Moon.”
“Right, let me text them,” Divya finally conceded. She took her mobile from her back pocket and started typing.
“You do realize this taxi ride is actually quite similar to the one Leonardo should have taken the other day coming from the beach and going to the theater, right?” Sol signaled the busy street out of the window next to her.
Luke allowed himself a glimpse outside his window.
He would not be caught saying that out loud, but Barcelona was a far bigger city than he sometimes realized.
There were so many places where Leonardo Pascual could have simply jumped out of the cab and disappeared—or be taken by someone.
Sometimes he feared that whole case was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
He opened the notebook he was carrying in his jacket pocket.
A notebook he’d only packed because after the incidents of his previous trip, he’d learned never to travel unprepared again.
Needless to say he wasn’t expecting to use that piece of equipment during this particular trip.
But before Luke could check what other loose threads they should be focusing on, Divya beat him to it.
“We’re still waiting on Palau to return our calls,” the Mancunian said, her eyes on her mobile.
“Oh, Sandro is famous now,” Sol quipped. “It may be a while until he calls you guys. Someone definitely seems to be taking advantage of Leonardo’s disappearance.”
“Precisely why we need to talk to the chap. Sol, Luke told me you had contacts and could get us his address in the city.” Divya lifted her gaze as she asked the one thing Luke was most definitely avoiding.
He sent a killing glare in Divya’s direction. If she noticed it, she pretended not to.
“He did?” Sol blinked, smiling demurely toward him.
He cleared his throat. Oh, how much he’d like to be in London right this moment. “Any chance any of your family members or friends has a contact at the police so that we get that information? It’s time we pay Sandro Palau a visit.”
“Of course, why didn’t you tell me!” After a few whirls inside her ginormous bag, Sol found her mobile phone and started browsing. “I’m sure Miquel can help you guys.”
The one person Luke had been hoping not to have to call. The one person Luke knew had a network that practically comprised the whole city.
“Miquel?” Divya asked, her detective nose always extra sharp when it had to do with Luke—and Luke’s annoyance.
“Ex-husband number one,” Sol deadpanned.
“Ah,” Divya seemed to understand.
“Ah, indeed. Detective Grumpy here was hoping he’d avoid meeting him again.”
“I wasn’t hoping to avoid him. I just don’t see the need to see him every time we come.” He heard the defensiveness in his words. Both women looked at him with contempt.
“I just introduced the two of you, Luca. It’s not like you’ve had to suffer him multiple times.” Sol was practically suppressing a chuckle.
Even if she was teasing him, Luke still loved making her laugh.
“I sent you his contact information,” Sol told Divya and she threw the mobile phone back inside the too-big handbag. “I think it would also help if we talked to The Single Dad Situation’s showrunner, Jasper Fairbanks,” she added, pride in her features.
Luke quirked his eyebrows: “We?”
Sol rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean…”
“I do.” He preferred to drop the subject of their working or not working together and continued with the impromptu meeting. “Are we missing anything?”
Sol
“Leonardo is seeing someone,” Sol paraphrased Penny’s words.
“Aside from the obvious, a partner is always a potential suspect, tell me why that’s so significant?” Luke asked.
“Well, I had no idea about it.”
He cast his eyes upward in silent doubt.
“I just wrote a profile on the man, yet I had no clue he was dating someone. I asked him about his love life—”
“You did?” It was Divya giving Sol judgy eyes this time.
“I had to. My editor made me.”
“Don’t you write for a film and television magazine and website?” Divya asked, more trying to understand than to confront her.
“You’d be surprised at the level of personal stuff that passes as professional in this business.
But anyway, what I was trying to tell you is that Leonardo has successfully managed to keep a partner away from the media—even with all the scrutiny he’s under.
It’s not that I didn’t know about him dating someone—or that he blatantly told me he was alone and happy about it.
The internet didn’t know about him dating someone either.
Nobody did.” Sol showed the two detectives the search results on her cell phone after she typed Who is Leonardo Pascual dating?
Based on Luke and Divya’s blank expressions, they didn’t believe that was particularly relevant.
She breathed deeply, tried explaining herself as if she was talking to aliens who’d just landed on planet Earth and needed to understand how Hollywood worked.
“Leonardo Pascual can’t go for a jog or grab brunch without paparazzi or regular people taking and posting pictures about it.
Yet he managed to hide a boyfriend or girlfriend from them?
And notice I said boyfriend or girlfriend because I literally have no clue whether he likes men or women or everyone. He is that secretive.”
“I think it’s everyone, no?” Divya quipped.
“Yeah, probably. Still, the man is a complete mystery when it comes to matters of the heart.”
“Has the media attention on him mellowed since he’s been in Spain?” Luke asked her.
She considered his words. Had she seen fewer pictures of the actor grabbing coffee or going to parties since he’d been in Spain? “You mean could he have met someone here and fly under the radar? Maybe…”
“We need to find out who it was that he was seeing,” Divya said, as she added stuff to her ever-growing to-do list. “Does the family raise any red flags?”
“Because Penny described them as private?” Sol asked. Both Luke and Divya nodded. “Not necessarily. They’re probably really devastated. And they are private. I requested to talk to them when I was prepping my profile on Leonardo for Red Carpet and the answer was no. They don’t like the limelight.”
“Let’s hope the answer is different now that we’re the ones asking to talk to them,” Luke said. Then he smiled, sheepishly. The taxi’d arrived at their place. “So, what about that tea you were talking about, cara? I can make it.”