Chapter Twenty-Two
Lieutenant Caceras’s vehicle was parked at Howard and Victoria’s place when we returned carrying a wide selection of leftovers in take-out containers.
“Uh-oh,” Mort said. “Away from Tinseltown and back to reality.”
But we found him in the sitting room relaxed and all smiles, chatting with Danielle Gray. He rose to greet us.
“I hope this doesn’t mean we’re in for hours of interrogation,” Mort said.
“No, we’re good,” he said. “One might think that a conspiracy involving so many different people makes a case more difficult to unravel, to fill in all the details, but not when one of the charges is murder. You’d be surprised at how quickly that loosens tongues.
Well, you might not be surprised.” He laughed.
“My supervisors are, and now they’re so impressed they’re talking about trying to make me captain again.
I threatened to retire if they do. I actually just came by to properly thank you for all you’ve contributed to this investigation, and while I was waiting, I just happened to have a lovely conversation with Ms. Gray. ”
“Gabriel has promised to come back and help us figure out our ghost problem,” Danielle said, “since it seems to have been a bit too much for you to conquer in a week. I’ve invited him to stay with us for a few nights.” She turned to Victoria. “If that’s all right.”
Victoria managed a smile. “Of course, any friends of Jessica are always welcome.”
“I, for one,” I said, “would like to know how those conversations with the suspects went.”
There was a murmur of agreement all around.
Caceras sat back down. Howard and Victoria piled up all the take-out containers and took them to the kitchen while the rest of us found spots on the sofas.
“First off,” Caceras said, “the illegal gaming investigation has been turned over to the FBI. They’re much better suited to handle it, and it’s their jurisdiction anyway. But we did learn a few more details before that happened.”
“Were those awful Gaelan and Jake manipulating the game show for JHN?” Mort said.
“That’s where it gets a little tricky,” Caceras said.
“They were both analysts at JHN, and as best we can piece together, their team was assigned to determine whether there might be a profit in adding your little game show to their online gaming portfolio. They came to LA, investigated, and reported back to JHN that Pub Trivia Live was unhackable and a good fit for JHN’s online betting.
They put in their resignations a couple of weeks later and ended up getting jobs on the show, at Jenny Yager’s recommendation. ”
“That must have been when Gaelan and Jenny hooked up,” Mort said. “So was it Gaelan pulling the strings?”
Caceras shook his head and looked at me.
“It was Jenny,” I said. “She has been part of Marty’s productions for some time. She knew which crew members were disgruntled, and who was having financial issues and might be bent to their scheme.”
“So she recruited Sandi Flores and Evelyn Grider?” Seth asked.
“Flores stuck to her story about not knowing who was paying her for supplying the answers,” Caceras said, “but Evelyn sang like a lovely nightingale. Jenny was also in a position to manipulate the winner because as the contestant coordinator, she was the one who ultimately picked the competing teams.” He winced. “You all were chosen as a long shot.”
“That’s a bit insulting,” Maureen said.
“Not really,” I said. “So many of these teams have competed together for years. A newly formed team, one that didn’t even have a name, well, our odds of winning must have been…”
“Highly profitable,” Mort said, rubbing his fingers together.
“Exactly,” Caceras said. “Gaelan and Jake’s job was to place the bets using dummy accounts they set up.
Jenny would tabulate the scores after she collected the answer sheets, and they’d use the window when the cell-phone blocker was down to manage their wagers and parlays.
They weren’t working with JHN anymore, but they sure were willing to profit from them. ”
“If they were the ones responsible for the online betting,” I asked, “then what was Evelyn trying to do on her cell phone?”
Caceras leaned his head back and laughed.
“You, my dear friend, don’t miss a thing.
We didn’t know about that until we got a warrant to take a look at her cell phone, which was still logged in to the Pub Trivia Live app under the name of a distant cousin of hers.
I guess she figured why take just her piece of the pie when she could add a little cream on the top by winning the audience prize, too. ”
“That’s a bitter woman,” Mort said. “Wardell could have saved himself a big headache if he’d just given her the job in the first place.”
“I can understand why Evelyn turned on Wardell,” I said, “but Jenny had worked for him for years too. I wonder if it was pure greed and opportunity, or if she had her own reasons for turning on the producer.”
Caceras smirked at me.
“She did it again,” Mort said, “didn’t she?”
Caceras nodded. “Jenny Yager was very motivated to fill in that little detail. She was working for Wardell on his previous game show when the fires hit. All the other studios closed down to let their employees deal with the emergency, but Wardell, he was focused on trying to save his tanking show. Yager missed the early evacuation notices, and by the time she left for the day, she couldn’t get back to the Palisades—not to collect any memories or important documents, and… not to get her dogs out.”
“Oh, jeepers,” Maureen said. “She must have hated him.”
“Her house was a total loss,” Caceras said, “and it turns out that she was one of those who were dropped by their insurance companies just before the fires broke out, so…Fortunately, the dogs were rescued by a group of Canadian firefighters a week later. Horrible burns, but they survived. Was in the papers.”
“She probably felt justified in trying to get it all back by manipulating the show,” I said. “She’d take subtle revenge against Wardell while rebuilding her finances.”
“But poor Ray—” Seth started.
“Was a big threat to stop her plans before they even began,” I said.
“She panicked,” Caceras said. “Jessica, you were right to question Sandi’s account of what she’d told Ray.
Our lip-reader watched that video clip, the one Sandi claimed was her telling Ray that their old house was soon to be a Del Taco, and it probably wouldn’t surprise you to learn it had nothing to do with tacos. ”
“I always suspected there was more to that story.”
“Sandi admits she was a bundle of nerves, and Ray must have noticed and watched her.
He saw her pocket the answer sheet and return without her sweater.
He confronted Sandi about it first, but when he overheard the comment about blocking, he figured out that Jenny was the one manipulating his ex.
He apparently still cared enough about Sandi to try to put a stop to it.
“Jenny had the polish remover in her pocket when Ray threatened to expose her. That’s means and motive.
“As for opportunity, her job kept her moving around the set. All dressed in black, it wasn’t hard for her to put the acetonitrile in a cup of coffee and seize an opportunity—when the bright lights were on, the crew was focused on their tasks, and all eyes were on the stage—to set her cup down next to the one Ray always kept next to him and walk away with his instead.
It will help her case that it wasn’t premeditated, but she’s going away for a long time. ”
“Is there enough corroborating evidence for a conviction, you think?” I said.
“Yup,” Caceras said, “we found a partial of her fingerprint on the stopper of the bottle of acetonitrile. It’s a match, but so small that in itself, it’s not considered definitive proof. Apparently, she had the foresight to wipe down the rest before she returned it, but the makeup woman…”
“Lee Ann Carroll,” I supplied.
“Yes,” Caceras continued. “When we pressed her, she admitted that it was Jenny who had borrowed her nail polish remover on Monday.”
“False nail remover,” I said. When he raised an eyebrow, I added, “There is a difference.”
“Noted,” he said.
“Will that be enough to convince a jury?” Maureen asked.
“That’s where all the collaborating testimony will come in,” Caceras said.
“Wardell’s headaches aren’t over either, I’m afraid.
The drugs that he and his girlfriend Lorraine—who has ADHD, by the way—were slipping into the coffee fall under the FBI’s definition of doping.
I have a feeling that you all are the first, foremost, and only champions of Pub Trivia Live. ”
“You know,” I said, “Jenny Yager drank an awful lot of that coffee herself.”
“What are you getting at?” Caceras asked.
“Just wondering if a stimulant that was making everyone who consumed it a little edgy could have pushed her panic to the breaking point,” I said.
“Ayuh,” Seth said, “I’d say it’s quite possible.”
Caceras pinched the bridge of his nose as if in pain, then sighed. “We’ll have to disclose it to her lawyers, I guess. Thanks, Jess,” he added with more than a hint of sarcasm.
“It’s still some fine police work, Lieutenant,” Mort said.
Caceras turned to me. “I like your friends, Jessica. You sure know how to pick ’em. They’re the best.”
“They certainly are, my friend,” I said.
* * *
I was so exhausted by the time I’d climbed the stairs and crawled into bed that nothing short of a fire alarm, or maybe a small explosion or troop of bagpipers, could have awakened me, yet at some point in the night—I didn’t bother to check the time—a loud commotion somewhere in the house pulled me back to consciousness.
Adrenaline causing my heart to thump in my ears, I flipped on the light, pulled on my robe and slippers, and rushed out of my room, heading toward the sound of screams and shouts, just in case the house was on fire.