Dying to Have Her

  There were gates up around the set, but she knew where there was a loose section that she could slip beneath. She swore, dusting off dirt and sand as she crawled under the wire. Her heels were unsteady on the dry, rocky ground as she traveled down the drive to the setup. As she approached the stage tomb, she could hear Jeff talking.

  Jay replied.

  There were some safety lights on around the set, but it seemed that darkness had fallen, that shadows had followed her right through the fence.

  The set appeared very real at night. The sand seemed to be a towering dune, rather than a thin layer thrown over the shell of an old office building about to be completely razed.

  “Hey!” she called out.

  Coming around the path, through the trailers and the set itself, she came to a sudden, startled halt.

  Jay and Jeff were both there.

  They both had rifles.

  Pointed at her.

  Chapter 25

  YOU KNOW, LIAM, YOU’RE driving this thing into the ground,” Olsen said. He sighed. “I wanted you on the case, because you’re good. But you know, Kyle Amesbury taped everything. There was a camera at the door the night you ‘talked’ to him. You threatening to kill him is on tape. You could wind up in jail yourself. It’s a damned good thing his death was definitely drowning.”

  “Did you call me down to arrest me? If so, do it quick. I’ll get a lawyer and get out of here. I still don’t think Serena should be alone.”

  “Jinx is dead and buried.”

  “She wasn’t working alone.”

  “You suspected Amesbury yourself. He’s dead now, too. Some things, we’re getting from the tapes. Some things, we’ll never know.” He sighed. ‘Too bad we didn’t get some of these earlier. You know, Jinx starred in several of them.”

  “Can I see a few? That is, if you’re not arresting me right now,” Liam asked.

  Olsen shrugged, and pointed toward a conference room. “Just hit the buttons.”

  Liam glanced at his watch. He had time. He went into the conference room and started running tape. And there was Jinx.

  First, alone, standing in a room. She’d been listening to a voice give her instructions. Amesbury’s voice. He was talking like a director. She listened, she obeyed. She objected once, saying she didn’t want to be a porn star. “Hey, kid, all the big shots have to do love scenes. If you’re going to go this route …”

  So she had postured and postulated, and then the tape ended, and another began. Jinx, with a dark-haired man. The man’s back remained to the camera. His hairless back.

  He heard a door open and close.

  “Jay Braden, you think?” Olsen asked.

  “I don’t know. Sure, I’ve suspected him. His denials, though, have been fierce. He was protective as hell of her, though.”

  The door opened again. Liam didn’t glance up. “Hey, Bill. I thought you were taking a few days,” Olsen said, concern in his gruff voice.

  Bill Hutchens was in the room. “Yeah, I’m taking time. You watching this trash again? We should just fast forward the stuff.”

  “That girl had something going with a man,” Olsen said firmly. “I’d like to know who. And who knows if the love was all in her head or real, someone really jerking her chain.”

  “Your answer is on that tape. Look at her listen to every disgusting word Amesbury says!”

  “Could be,” Liam murmured.

  That tape flickered to an end, another began.

  Jinx again. She had really been Amesbury’s starring innocent.

  Again, the man’s back was to them. The room was darker. It was impossible to see his hair color or even make out much about his build.

  Or even if his head was completely clean of hair.

  “I haven’t even had the stomach to sit through all these yet,” Olsen said. “There’s the last one. … I think that’s it. It’s amazing she didn’t kill Amesbury,” Olsen murmured.

  “Maybe she did,” Liam said. “Look what’s coming up.”

  There was a scene by a pool. Amesbury jeering at the girl, all dressed up in party clothes. Jinx hitting Amesbury.

  Amesbury falling in the pool. Begging for his life …

  Jinx, frozen, watching.

  There was a tap on the door. An officer poked his head in. “Sorry, sir,” he told Olsen. “I thought Lieutenant Mur—sorry, again—Mr. Murphy might be in here.”

  “Right here,” Liam said.

  “I thought you had gone. There’s a guy on the phone for you. Says his name is Oz and that he has something for you.”

  Liam jumped up, looking at his watch. He had time to run by Oz’s studio before picking Serena up from Conar’s care at seven.

  “Great, thanks.”

  “There are more tapes—” Olsen began.

  “Thanks. I’ll check into them later.”

  Liam departed swiftly, not hearing the sergeant at the desk, who stared at his back, then called his name.

  Bill Hutchens, following behind Liam, told the sergeant that Liam was heading out.

  “I had a couple of messages for him. Officer Perez just told me he was still here. Think you can catch him?”

  “He lit out like a tornado. Maybe I can catch up with him. What have you got for him?”

  The sergeant grinned. “Well, first, his buddy Conar said that if he saw him to tell him he was an asshole for not letting him know he’d picked up his girl. Then Miss McCormack called herself. She said to tell him something about having found the ‘ref’ and the ‘paper’—whatever that means. And also, he’s supposed to pick her up at the Egyptian set, and not the studio.”

  “Shit!” Bill said, running his hands through his hair. “Shit! I hope I can catch him.”

  “Serena! Hey, what’s the matter with you?” Jeff called out.

  What was the matter with her? You’re pointing a rifle at me—what do you think? she thought. She held silent. After seeing them, she had turned and run. Thankfully, there were sandpiles everywhere. There were trucks here now as well, big, military vehicles in khaki and green. They stood just off the “tomb” set and were placed to be taped as the trucks that carried the nationalist fanatics who were holding the Valentines hostage. Near the tomb itself were water troughs made to look like outer sarcophagi and standing pieces that the set designers had created to look like the inner coffins. With the scattered props around, it would be a great place for children to play hide-and-seek.

  Except that she wasn’t a child, and if she were caught, the game would be a deadly one.

  She stared at the two of them for a split second, adrenaline racing into her system along with a sense of raw panic.

  Then she ran.

  She swerved behind a big Styrofoam sarcophagus, zigged, zagged, and kept running. At last, she flew behind one of the big green army trucks.

  “Serena!” Jeff called.

  “Where the hell is she?” Jay said.

  “You go that way. I’ll come around,” Jeff said.

  Crouched down by the truck, Serena heard Jeff’s footsteps coming around toward her. She was shaking, locked into uncertainty. Two of them, one of her. The footsteps were coming closer and closer. Her mind raced. Jeff—had he had something going with Jinx that none of them had suspected? Jay—Liam had been wary of him all along.

  There was another crunch on the ground, closer to her.

  Self-preservation kicked in. She rolled under the truck. She thought that she would leap to her feet on the other side and run again, finding a path behind the prop pieces until …

  Until she could reach the street.

  Dirt filled her eyes and nostrils but she kept rolling, cleared the truck, and flew to her feet.

  She came up right in front of Jay Braden. She couldn’t run; he blocked her path. If she turned, he couldn’t miss—a bullet would hit her back.

  “You!” she accused him, shaking, pointing a finger at him. “You … you … Jinx …”

  “Hold it, Serena. What’s the matter with you
?” Jay demanded, frowning. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and took her by the shoulders. She shook him off, backing away, never taking her eyes from his.

  “If you’re going to shoot me, do it!”

  “Shoot you?” He seemed really incredulous. “Serena, how long have you been doing this? These aren’t real guns—they’re props.”

  She arched a brow, staring at him. Her knees were giving, and at the same time, she felt like a fool.

  “You were sleeping with Jane Dunne,” she said, still unnerved. “Did you get pissed off at her and write a note about killing her and suggest to Jinx that she should die?”

  “Hell, no!”

  “Serena, I’m sorry. You’ve got it all wrong.”

  It was Jeff who spoke, coming around the side of the truck. He looked weary. “This is still crazy, all of us distrusting one another. Serena, I can tell you this because I’ve been around sometimes in the studio when you weren’t. Jay was kind to Jinx. Yes, he slept with Jane Dunne, and God forgive all of us, but yes, we all hated her. You want to know who slept with her, Serena? Andy, Jay, Joe, half of Hollywood—and as you know, me.”

  Serena inhaled, caught between Jay and her brother-in-law. They had obviously talked about this before.

  “Jane was almost … evil. She started by seducing people, Serena, and then ridiculing them,” Jay said ruefully. “I wish I’d been a better man. Or even a smarter man. But I never wrote anything to her, and I sure as hell never plotted to kill anyone.”

  “I don’t think she even wanted me,” Jeff said, stuck back on his humiliation and ego. “She wanted to prove to herself that she could have any man—happily married or not.”

  She stared at Jay. They were both close, and despite their words, she still felt uneasy. Yet she had come this far. “You’re still talking about Jane Dunne. I was meant to die. Because someone had seduced Jinx! And someone had talked her into murder. Jay …”

  “Serena, dammit, I was her friend. I tried to be with her around Amesbury because—because I knew he was doing really bad things. I knew that Jinx was … I don’t know, I thought she was delicate, nervous. She told me that there had been someone, but that he had betrayed her. I think that whoever it was also slept with Jane. But whoever it was she had been seeing hurt her badly. I swear, it had never occurred to me that Jinx could … Anyway, this man had needed her, and he used her. She wouldn’t tell me who it was, only that she still loved him. She told me that I didn’t really know him and certainly not the way that she did. She talked me into taking her to Kyle Amesbury’s several times, so I thought that it might have been Kyle Amesbury. Because she said that he was going to be there, and it was getting harder for her to see him because he had suddenly turned against her and never wanted to see her at all. I knew that she was hurt, and suffering. I never knew that she was … lethal.”

  Serena believed him. She turned to Jeff.

  He lined his hands. “Hey, don’t look at me. I got caught up in Jane Dunne’s web. I never had anything at all going with Jinx.”

  “Did you write Jane Dunne some kind of threatening note that might have made her really mad?” Serena demanded.

  “I didn’t write her any kind of note at all!” Jeff said indignantly.

  Headlights suddenly hit them, a car bursting straight through the gate.

  “What the hell … ?” Jeff said.

  “Jesus, someone is coming after us” Jay cried.

  “It’s Liam, just Liam,” Serena murmured, but the way that the car was coining through …

  “Bullshit! Liam or not, the driver is trying to hit us!” Jay stated.

  “Get behind the truck, or you’ll get run over!” Jeff warned, dragging her toward it. Jay lit out for the tomb. The car came to a halt.

  It wasn’t Liam who stepped from it.

  Oz was a magician. He had finally managed to freeze a single frame of the film, and in it, he could see the angle of a man’s face.

  Liam stared at it for a long moment.

  “Recognize anyone?” Oz asked. “I can make it just a shade bigger. …”

  “Jesus!” Liam breathed.

  “You know the guy?” Oz asked.

  Liam couldn’t answer. He was already on the phone. Sergeant Clooney was on the desk at headquarters. “I need Olsen quickly.”

  “He’s gone, Liam. Sorry. So is Hutchens. He picked up your messages from Conar Markham, and then the one from Serena McCormack, saying you should get her at the Egyptian set. She had found the ‘paper’ and the ‘ref’ and something about Conar leaving and being with Jay and Jeff. It’s all written down here. Hutchens was going to try to catch up with you, but you were gone so fast—”

  Liam had already dropped the phone. “Hey, Liam!” Oz called.

  “Call the station. Try again for Olsen,” Liam told Oz. “Or Rigger.” He was moving as he spoke, thinking quickly. “Have one of them tracked down, insist on one of them, and send them out to the Valentine Valley set. Fast.”

  “But, Liam—”Oz began.

  Too late.

  But by then, Liam was out the door.

  The car came to a screeching halt.

  The man who emerged from it was Bill Hutchens. He sounded upset, worried. His gun was already out of his holster, at the ready.

  “Serena!” he called, sounding frantic.

  “Bill! It’s all right!” she called, letting out a sigh of relief and starting to emerge from the barrier of the truck. Jay was already walking out from the tomb, probably heedless of the fact that he was carrying the fake rifle. Bill aimed his gun at Jay.

  “Hey!” Serena called. “Bill, no—Jay! Get the rifle down! He’ll think—”

  A shot rang out. Serena shrieked, certain Jay had been hit. But Jay had fallen to the ground and rolled, shouting out a protest. “Bill! It’s a prop—it’s gone! See, I’ve dropped it!”

  The prop rifle was lying in the sand.

  Bill didn’t seem to hear.

  “Hey, Bill, no!” Serena cried.

  A second shot was fired. Jay rose, scurrying behind a sand dune next to the main set.

  “Serena!” Jeff hissed. He grabbed her, dragging her back behind the truck. She couldn’t see what was going on anymore.

  “Stop! Stop! It’s a prop!” she heard Jay shouting.

  But another bullet rang out and another.

  Jeff had Serena’s arm in a death grip. “Jeff!” she protested. “We’ve got to stop him! He doesn’t understand that Jay was just carrying a prop—”

  “He’s firing, Serena. Shit! Maybe the Jinx thing unnerved him completely. Maybe he’s gone nuts! We’ve got to get out of here.”

  “And let him shoot Jay down?” she demanded.

  Before he could answer, another set of headlights illuminated the eerie set. They heard the opening and slamming of a car door and then trampling over the sandy terrain. Scurrying. The sound seemed to come from everywhere.

  People … running.

  Jay?

  Bill?

  The headlights created huge, ominous shadows around the trucks and the set pieces. Some shadows tall and lean, some squat, like the trucks.

  Footsteps, scurrying, seemed to echo from shadow to shadow.

  There was a sudden burst of gunfire. It was returned. The sound seemed deafening.

  “Serena!”

  This time, it was Liam calling her. Desperately. She started to answer. Jeff clamped his hand over her mouth, shaking his head with panic. “We can’t have anyone know where we are!” he whispered. “They’re just firing and firing!”

  Another shot rang out. Footsteps crunched the ground, coming their way. They froze together.

  “Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!” Jeff breathed, holding Serena close.

  Suddenly, a figure loomed out of the shadows. Serena opened her mouth to scream; the sound died in her throat.

  Liam appeared at the end of the truck.

  He had a gun, and it was soundly in his grip, ready to fire.

  “Liam!” was all sh
e managed to whisper.

  His hand shook for a moment. He came closer. She saw the relief in his eyes, though they seemed almost black in the darkness.

  “Stay down!” he commanded softly.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “It’s Hutchens.”

  “What?” Serena whispered, incredulous.

  “Hutchens, Serena. Hutchens is trying to kill you … all of us now.”

  “Bill Hutchens?” she repeated incredulously.

  “I told you he was firing on purpose!” Jeff hissed. “Liam, he … he might have gotten Jay.”

  Liam nodded. “Just stay down, both of you!”

  They heard another gunshot. Liam sidled around the end of the truck, disappearing from Serena’s view. She was sure he hadn’t gone far. Time seemed to stretch endlessly. .

  Only seconds were passing in the sudden dead silence.

  “Hey!” Jay called out from the tomb. “Hey, what the hell is this? I didn’t do anything! You can’t just shoot me.”

  Liam called out then, distracting Bill, who must have found Jay.

  “Bill!” Liam shouted. “What the hell is the matter with you? You can’t just shoot him down in cold blood! You have witnesses.”

  “I’m not leaving any witnesses!” Bill Hutchens cried back.

  There was an exchange of gunfire. Then …

  Silence. Again, silence, stretching and stretching …

  From somewhere out in the shadows and light, the sound of footsteps falling on the sand and gravel came to them again.

  Eerie laughter echoed in the night.

  “Did I get you, old buddy?”

  Jeff stared at Serena with horror and started to move. Terrified that Liam had been hit, Serena clutched Jeff’s arm to keep him still and brought a finger to her lips. Taking care to be as silent as possible, she tried rolling under the truck again. She wasn’t going to be caught unaware again. She remained under the truck, just inching out, trying to look around as she did so.

  A hand fell roughly upon her hair and nape. Her face hit the dirt, then she was dragged to her feet.

  She knew before she saw his face that Bill Hutchens had her in his grip.

  He pulled her up; then wrenched her back hard against his chest, keeping his fingers vised into her hair.