Foolproof (Iris Thorne Mysteries Book 4) Page 12

  “That’s the first you heard about anything concerning a slingshot?”

  “Hardly. The police came down here and were asking questions, all casual like, about slingshots, like that’s something you talk about every day. Mick and Today and I are looking at each other like, what’s up with this? We tell them, yeah, we have slingshots. We have them all over the place. Mick wanted one to use as a model, and Bridget ordered a box of them. Everyone in the company has one. I could hardly go anywhere without getting hit on the butt by somebody shooting me with something. Bridget drew the line at anything hard being used as a projectile. Today found these little rubber balls and bought a bunch of them. Here’s one right here.” She fished a red ball that was about an inch in diameter from between the jungle of cables in the center of the table and handed it to Iris. It was made of pliable rubber.

  Toni continued searching among the clutter of computer equipment and components as she talked. “So Today goes, ‘There’s a slingshot in the new game.’ Like, duh. So he shows them the tenth level with Cherry Divine and all that.” She crawled beneath the table and returned with a slingshot. It had a sturdy wood base and a thick rubber pull. She handed it to Iris, who used it to propel the red rubber ball across the room. Iris smiled.

  “See? It’s fun!” Toni exclaimed. “We need to have fun here. We work long hours and we’re together all the time and we’d really kill each other otherwise. Anyway, the cops are still being all coy about why they’re so interested in slingshots. They took a couple of ours with them. After they left, Today and Mick and me figured out that the murderer must have left a slingshot at the scene, like a signature or something. We got all weirded out because it’s like Slade’s fight with Cherry Divine.”

  “This Cherry Divine is one of Slade’s enemies?” Iris asked.

  “She’s more than that. She’s the boss monster. I’ll show you.” Toni started tapping on the keyboard with fingernails polished in hot pink.

  “I’m sorry I’m so uneducated about high tech stuff. I tried to get people in the chat rooms to explain some of the terminology to me, but they weren’t very pleasant.”

  “I know how arrogant techies can be sometimes. Bridget used to explain things to me because no one else would. Kip and Today are the absolute worst. Don’t worry. I’ll explain anything you want to know.”

  “To start with, what’s the boss monster?”

  “At the highest level of a game, there’s one really bad, very powerful, totally awesome monster that the player has to kill to win the game. It’s very hard to do, and ninety-nine percent of players can’t do it because it’s designed to be almost impossible. So they E-mail us, begging for hints or the cheat codes.”

  “Cheat codes?”

  “They’re special commands that the programmers develop so they can test the game without having to actually play it. That way, they don’t waste time getting killed and starting over, over and over again. The cheat codes let you go through walls without having to find the secret buttons or let you get shot but the bullets go straight through you. Stuff like that. See, I’m using cheat codes now to go straight to the tenth level. There she is.”

  “What are you afraid of?” Cherry Divine asked in Bridget’s voice.

  A chill tickled Iris’s spine. “Can you play that again?”

  “Sure.” Toni turned up the volume on the speakers and restarted the game from the same point. She answered Iris’s unasked question. “It’s Bridget’s voice. We got tapes from all these actresses, but Kip and me liked her voice the best.”

  Iris mulled over the casual way Toni had tossed off “Kip and me.”

  “And Cherry’s face looks a little like Bridget’s,” Toni added.

  Iris looked more closely at the screen. “It does. Whose idea was that?”

  “Kip’s. Watch this.” Toni let the game proceed and Cherry Divine started ascending a long stone staircase.

  “Those are like the steps next to Kip and Bridget’s house.”

  “That was Mick’s idea. He always thought those stairs were too spooky, and Kip agreed. He took Mick home with him one day so Mick could do some sketches.”

  “Bridget thought all this was okay?”

  “No, she was pissed. Cherry Divine was her concept, but she pitched it as a love interest for Slade. Today and Kip blew that out of the water, but liked the idea of some sort of supervixen adversary for Slade. I’ll show you how Cherry turns Slade’s weapon into a slingshot. Here.” Toni tapped keys on the keyboard. Slade’s shotgun began to glow, then transformed into a slingshot. “She robs him of his big gun. Sort of like cutting off his dick, isn’t it?” She emitted a tinkling laugh and pressed keys that changed the view of the game to now show Slade Slayer’s shocked face as he discovered his weapon had suddenly become impotent.

  “How do you kill the boss monster?”

  “Only Kip knows how to win the final level.”

  “And Cherry turns into Slade Slayer?”

  Toni widened her eyes. “That blew us all away. Everyone knew Bridget and Kip had been fighting and knew how the boss monster looked and acted like Bridget, and we were all like, ‘Whoa, Kip! What are you saying here?’”

  “You think Kip murdered Bridget?”

  “It makes me sick, but what other explanation is there?” Her eyes welled with tears and grew red, which made the bright blue color of her irises stand out all the more. She wiped a tear from her cheek with her hand. “You must know about Kip and me.” She unwrapped her legs and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. “You probably think I’m a stupid bimbo who can’t keep her knees closed. I wouldn’t blame you.”

  Iris sighed. She felt sorry for Toni but couldn’t bring herself to comfort this woman who had brought pain to her friend’s life. She couldn’t imagine Kip having any real feelings for Toni. Iris believed absolutely that his heart was and always would be with Bridget. It must have been just physical for him. But she knew it wasn’t as simple as that for Toni. It never is.

  “Why did you do it?” Iris asked.

  Toni abruptly tossed her head back, her eyes shiny with tears. “He came onto me.”

  Iris looked at her coolly.

  “I know. I hate that ‘I’m just a helpless victim, just floating with the flotsam and jetsam of life’ thing. It makes me want to puke. But Kip started it and I jumped right in. I so admired Bridget. She saw potential and had confidence in me that I didn’t have in myself. And that’s the thanks I gave her.”

  Toni wiped her face with her hand and leaned toward Iris on her elbows. “When I started with Kip, I’d just broken up with a guy I’d been dating and I was really vulnerable. I know this is going to sound sick but, in some twisted way, I thought that by being with Kip, I could have a piece of B’s life. Now I feel like her murder was partially my fault. I was part of the reason they were fighting.” She held up a cautionary finger. “I wasn’t the only reason, mind you. He was banging the nanny too.”

  “How did you feel when you heard that?”

  “I was mad and hurt. But I told myself, ‘Toni, you’re sleeping with a guy who’s cheating on his wife. You think he’s going to be loyal to you?’”

  “Do you know that Bridget told Kip to fire you?”

  Toni widened her already round eyes. “No!” Her face dropped. “Well, could you blame her?”

  “So Kip didn’t fire you?”

  “Of course not. If he had, why would I still be here?”

  Iris indifferently observed her.

  “I didn’t kill B, if that’s what you’re thinking. I even have an alibi. I was at the movies. They were running a special showing of the director’s cut of Retrograde in Havana at the Nu-Art.”

  Iris continued to watch Toni.

  “I’d been thinking about Alexa Platt all day. She was the art director of that movie and her husband gave her a bit part in it. You knew she was married to Jim Platt, the director?”

  Iris nodded.

  “Anyway, I�
�d seen the movie before, but I wanted to see Alexa. Kind of sick, isn’t it?” Toni didn’t wait for Iris to respond. “I was sorry I went. The movie’s really ultraviolent and it didn’t sit well with me.”

  “That’s why I never went to see it.” Iris raked her fingers across her head, stopping with hair clutched in both hands. The slight pain sharpened her thoughts. She released her hair, frowned at nothing on the floor, then looked up at Toni. “Could I see some of those threatening letters and faxes sent to Pandora?”

  “The police have them.”

  “Do you remember who sent them?”

  “Not really. Some were from lunatics, raving. Some were from these antiviolence, pro-family groups.”

  “How long have you been receiving them? Just since Bridget’s murder?”

  “No, all along. From when Pandora released its first game. Bridget always responded to them, sending a one-size-fits-all letter, except to the lunatics. Them she ignored.” Toni eyed Iris quizzically. “What’s up?”

  “I don’t know yet. An idea popped into my head.”

  Toni narrowed her eyes. “I know what you’re thinking. Alexa Platt and Bridget Cross were both involved in creating violent entertainment. But Iris, you don’t really think one of those fringe groups would go that far, do you? And why kill the wives? The men are just as involved, if not more so.”

  “I don’t know what to think, but I know one thing for sure—the police aren’t doing any thinking. As far as they’re concerned, they’ve got their man. Talk about a rush to judgment.”

  Toni pouted. “I hope it’s not Kip. I really do. But he’s the most likely one to have murdered Bridget.”

  “True, but the evidence is circumstantial, and there’s not much of it. I think the police should do more looking, for Brianna’s sake. She needs to know definitively whether her father killed her mother. I can’t imagine how horrible it would be to have a question like that haunt you your whole life. And we need to learn the truth for Pandora’s future.” Iris stood. “I’d better get home. I moved into a new house yesterday and I’ve hardly unpacked.”

  Toni stood also and walked to the computer lab door. She stopped and looked at Iris. “When you asked me to show you Cherry Divine and the final level, that wasn’t the only thing you wanted to see, was it?”

  “No,” Iris conceded.

  Toni nodded. “That’s cool. I don’t blame you for wanting to check me out. If I were you, I would hate my guts. I wouldn’t be as nice as you are. My hair would be on the ground in clumps by now, know what I’m saying?”

  Iris had to smile at the image.

  “So we understand each other, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Peace?” Toni extended her hand.

  Iris took it. “Peace.”

  “‘Kay.” Toni bounded out the door, down the stairs, and across the hangar.

  Iris struggled to keep up.

  Toni unlatched the front door and held it open.

  “Aren’t you leaving too?” Iris asked.

  “Nah. Too much work to do. I’m the only one who had a handle on what B used to do. I’m doing my best, but I can’t dictate what the next project’s going to be, even though I have some great ideas. We need someone to be in charge. How can Kip run Pandora from jail?”

  “Kip didn’t like how Bridget was running the firm, now he can run it himself, into the ground if he wants.”

  “Let’s do lunch.”

  “Sounds good,” Iris said, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do.

  Iris heard Toni lock the glass door behind her and turned to wave good-bye. Through the glass she saw Toni waltzing by herself across the open floor.

  Iris pulled the Triumph into her driveway and cut the engine. Her garage was still too full of boxes for her to park there. She was deep in thought and didn’t notice the packages on the front porch until she was almost on top of them. Standing like a sentry among them was a black Weber kettle barbecue with a big red bow tied around it. She was searching for a card or a note when she heard her neighbor.

  “You-hoo!” Marge called. “Hel-looo!”

  Iris walked to the edge of the porch and saw Marge mincing across the lawn with Garland Hughes. Iris’s heart soared.

  Garland was grinning boyishly, his arm supporting Marge’s bony, well-dressed hand. His cheeks were pink and his hair was askew.

  Marge was patting his arm with her free hand. She was again dressed in a suit and heels. “I rescued this charming gentleman from your front porch where he was sitting all by himself, looking so forlorn waiting for his lady love.”

  “I didn’t know you were going to be in town.” Iris tried not to gush.

  “I had that dinner in Denver on Saturday. I have to be in Seattle tomorrow, so I thought I’d pop by and surprise you and fly out of L.A.”

  Iris now felt foolish as she remembered that Garland had told her about his business dinner Saturday night in Denver. She quickly sifted through her actions this morning, trying to remember whether her jealous, wretched thoughts had manifested themselves in any public and embarrassing behavior. There was the phone call… She silently rejoiced when she remembered hanging up without leaving a message. She was clean. She’d narrowly escaped appearing like a clinging, desperate woman. “I’m so glad you did.”

  “I like this man,” Marge enthused. “I just might steal him from you.”

  “She makes a very dry martini,” Garland commented.

  “Don’t forget, he likes his with a twist,” Marge added.

  “A twist?” Iris said as she twisted a lock of her hair.

  “Instead of an olive, love,” Marge said.

  “I don’t know how to make a martini,” Iris confessed.

  “A skill every good hostess should have.” Marge languidly waved her hand toward Iris. “I’d be delighted to show you. The secret’s in the vermouth—just a whisper. And they’re always shaken.” She swooped her index finger in an arc toward her own head. “Just thought of the perfect housewarming gift for you.” She disengaged herself from Garland. “I must take my leave. I’ve a million things to do.” She turned and unsteadily walked across Iris’s lawn in her heels without looking back. “Ta-taa!”

  When they were alone, Iris looked shyly at Garland. “You brought me all these things?”

  He smiled crookedly at her. “All the boxes are barbecue accessories. What’s a Southern California beach house without a barbecue?”

  “I don’t know how to barbecue either!” Iris wailed. “Is that what you expect from me? Barbecues and martinis and home-cooked meals?”

  He joined her on the front porch and put his arms around her. “One of those bags has some swordfish steaks and other groceries. I thought I’d set up your barbecue and cook you dinner. All you have to do is keep me company.”

  “That’s all?”

  “That’s more than you realize.”

  They kissed. She opened her eyes. It thrilled her to see him this close to her. He opened his eyes and they stopped kissing.

  “Something wrong?” He looked concerned.

  She breathed hard twice, then three times as she tried to voice the words, but they wouldn’t come. “I love you.” She winced almost in fear and backed away from him, but his hands held her tight. “I just wanted to tell you before you got on another plane or I got on the freeway or someone had a gun and something happened and we never saw each other again. I just wanted to tell you.” She scrunched up her face, as if dreading his response.

  “I love you, too, sweetheart.” He drew her close. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

  After a few seconds, she straightened and exhaled. “Yes, you are. You’re going inside to make me dinner and I’m going to keep you company.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Where are you, you little SOB?” Iris muttered to herself, slamming on the Triumph’s brakes as she hit the banked ramp that spiraled down to the next parking level. She accelerated on the straightaway, swerving to avoid
a car that was backing out, all the while scanning the nooks and crannies of the garage and peering behind the supporting pillars.

  She could see her reserved parking space, one more turn and one more straightaway ahead, when he stepped from behind a pillar directly into the Triumph’s path and began sweeping something invisible into his long-handled dustpan. She slammed on the brakes as he guilelessly looked up at her as if the last thing he expected to see was a car.

  “You’re a madman!” she yelled as she barely squeezed between him and a row of cars. “A suicidal madman.” In her rearview mirror, she saw that he hadn’t budged and stood watching her, holding the handle of his dustpan in one hand and his broom in the other.

  Iris quickly forgot her encounter with the garage janitor when she hit the doors of McKinney Alitzer’s suite, smiling and with a spring in her step. Today, she wasn’t faking her high spirits. “Hello! Good morning!” she called to everyone she passed.

  Each morning, Iris’s staff greeted her with a hint of trepidation as they assessed her mood. Simply because she was smiling and walking energetically didn’t mean anything. The telltale signs of a bad mood could be detected by a stiffness in her lips and in deepened lines around her eyes. Careful attention to these critical barometers could save a hapless sales associate or junior broker the pain of limping from Iris’s office carrying his bitten-off head under his arm. But when Iris’s good mood was genuine, she tended to be magnanimous. It was a good time to confess a screw-up or ask for the moon.

  Iris waved at Kyle Tucker and Amber Ambrose, who were in their offices on the other side of the suite. Liz Martini’s office was still dark and the door was closed. Iris walked past the bull pen and the junior brokers and sales associates. Most of them were talking into their telephone headsets and smiling as they did so. Could this mean they were making money? There were bargains galore after the market drop the previous week.

  Ha, Iris silently said to all the doomsayers who had predicted that last week signaled the growling of a coming bear market. Ha, ha, ha.