What a Nunderful World Page 9

  “My insanely gorgeous friend again. She got a bit of your conversation on video at Mitzy’s event. It was by accident. She was videoing the event on her phone.”

  “I guess that doesn’t look very good for me, does it? But I didn’t tell her or even plan to tell her. I swear.”

  Digging for more tissues in my purse, I handed them to her. “So did Luca call it quits or did you?”

  “I tell everyone I ended it, and that we’re still friends, blah-blah-blah. I made a whole video about it, if you’re interested. You know, I said all the nice things you say when you’re in the public eye, but the truth is, he really did leave me for Mitzy, and he was very honest about the fact that he’d cheated on me with her. It’s the only thing he’s ever been honest about. But he told me the truth when I caught him coming out of her hotel room at another event we did together.”

  Well, she definitely didn’t look terribly upset about it. “I’m sorry, Susie. I didn’t mean to bring up something so painful.”

  But she shook her head and scoffed. “I’m better off. Luca’s a fame whore. He loves the limelight, and when mine began to dim and some of my deals and sponsors went to Mitzy, he latched on to the next big hit—Mitzy and her million-dollar deal with Pink Leaf Cosmetics.”

  My metaphoric red flag whipped upward in my mind’s eye. “The deal she allegedly stole from Ames Snarles.”

  Now Susie’s eyes went even wider. “How did you know about that?”

  Wow. So it was true.

  “I heard a little here and a little there. Alma was talking to Octavia about it at the event.”

  Susie’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “That hag can’t keep her mouth shut about anything. She thinks because she featured her on her channel and gave Mitzy her start, she’s owed something. When the truth is, Mitzy worked just as hard at social climbing and backstabbing as Alma did. She just happened to do it when YT was really exploding and companies were discovering the influence us gurus had over our audiences. Alma’s an OG. She didn’t get the kind of exposure we have so she’s bitter. Anyway, yeah. Mitzy made a move and beat Ames at his own game.”

  Wincing, I paused, thoughtful for a moment. “Did she really actually steal the deal from Ames? Can you even do that?”

  Throwing away the soaked tissues in a big wood barrel, she grabbed her purse and drove it under her slender arm. “You bet your life, she did. Right out from under his nose. He was all set to have a whole line of makeup with his name on it—the whole shebang. And Mitzy came along with her three-point-two million more followers on YT alone and knocked him right off the train. Pink Leaf Cosmetics is a big deal in our industry. Probably the biggest.”

  “But how could they do that if a deal was already in the works? Doesn’t he have people who handle things like that?”

  “All’s fair in money and makeup, especially when nothing was signed. She started using their palettes, featuring them hard on her channel, really pouring it on thick. Their sales really spiked because her audience is so gargantuan, and they took the bait like sharks to chum.”

  Boy, Mitzy was one crafty cookie. “So, essentially a covert coup?”

  She rolled her tanned shoulders. “I guess you could call it that. It was definitely her intention. Pink Leaf doesn’t endorse many people. Maybe one or two gurus a year, if that. They don’t need to—so a coup with them is a real coup. Plus, Mitzi was willing to take less money than Ames, less of the final cut. So a successful YT guru and less money invested…” Susie shrugged again. “You do the math.”

  Holy bank account, if Mitzy’s deal was a million dollars, what had Ames’s been?

  But was that enough to kill for? It wasn’t as though he was poor. “But if Ames is so rich, does it really matter in the end? He appears to be just fine without fancy endorsements.”

  “Listen, every makeup guru wants their own line of makeup. It’s a dream come true to see their name on a lipstick, but first and foremost, Ames is Hell on Earth to work with. What you saw at the table is Ames in a nutshell, and that was only a small taste. He has a really bad reputation as a total diva. He never fails to remind everyone he’s the first male to have ever landed a national commercial for a big makeup line at the ripe old age of eighteen—and he earned it. He’s good at what he does. But the real scoop is, Ames isn’t rich.”

  “Well, he does a really good imitation of someone who’s used to getting what they want,” I remarked dryly.

  Susie winked, her false eyelash grazing her cheek. “You bet he does, and he would be rich if he didn’t spend it all on toys and big events and stupid yacht parties in an effort to impress people and show off how much money he has being just past his teens. He doesn’t know the first thing about saving for his future because he’s really just a kid with some talent who came into a lot of cash. He’s a case of too much, too soon. He’s pushing bankruptcy, and he needed that deal with Pink Leaf to happen. And that,” she said with a grimace, “is the real tea.”

  Okay, so maybe that was enough motive to kill someone, but what about Susie? Mitzy did steal her boyfriend, and while she brushed it off, it had to have stung. Surely, finding out she was pregnant could have set her off.

  So I decided to see what her reaction would be if I prodded just a little more. “And you? I know you said Luca was a jerk, but were you mad at Mitzy for stealing him away?”

  “Can a man really be stolen if he doesn’t want to be? I mean, yes, I was angry they humiliated me. You bet I was. It was all over the YT. I was also mad because Mitzy and I were once friends…or as friendly as you can be with someone like her. Still, what kind of friend does that to you? But if I’m honest, he wasn’t the love of my life or anything, and I had one foot out the door anyway because he was such a lazy mooch. She did me a favor.”

  “And the baby? What will you do?”

  Her face fell and her defensive stance, fueled by anger, collapsed. Now, she just looked haunted. “I don’t know. I do know I don’t want Luca to ever know this baby is his. He’d be a terrible father, and I already had one of those, thank you very much. I promised myself I wouldn’t let that happen. Heck, I didn’t even want children…but now…”

  “So you’re sure you won’t tell him?”

  “I suppose you think I should, right?”

  I held up my hands as a symbol of surrender. “I think you should do whatever you want to do, Susie. I’m not judging your choices. You know Luca better than I do, and he doesn’t exactly sound like a fine, upstanding gentleman. ”

  “He sure isn’t. He couldn’t put someone else first if he was paid to do it. He’s young, and with that comes self-centered and entitled—at least in his case.”

  “You keep saying Ames and Luca are young, and I don’t want to offend you, but you’re pretty young, too, Susie. You make it sound like we should break out your walker and schedule you a colonoscopy.”

  Now she smiled, a little Cheshire if I wasn’t mistaken. “Not a lot of people know this, but I’m thirty. A bit older than the mess of them out there with the exception of Alma, who’s twenty-nine and still acts like she’s twelve.”

  Thirty? Dang. I needed to start using makeup or whatever it is she was doing because she looked terrific.

  “I’d have never guessed.”

  “And I’d prefer it doesn’t get out either—or any of what I’ve told you, for that matter. I don’t actively hide my age. If someone asked, I’d tell them, but in my circle I’d be considered ancient and instead of doing reviews for the hottest new makeup releases, they’d say I should be doing reviews for wrinkle cream on my channel.”

  I chuckled. “Ageism is real, right?” Pausing, I studied her as she dabbed at her eyes and began reapplying her makeup. “Can I ask you one more thing?”

  “Well, I’ve only just cried all over your cute sweater and told you my life story, including a huge secret I haven’t told anyone else—what’s left?” she said on a small laugh.

  I smiled and patted her hand reassuringly to let her know it w
as all right. “What do you think happened to Mitzy? Did you talk to her the night of the event, and if you did, did she seem upset?”

  “I didn’t get there until just before she—” Susie swallowed hard. “Before she died. I hadn’t really talked to her at all since…well, you know. So I can’t say.”

  “Do you think someone tried to hurt her?”

  Her hands stilled then before she shook her head. “I don’t know. Mitzy had plenty of enemies in our world, probably me included, but kill her? That’s extreme. Is that what they think happened?”

  I feigned innocence, turning my face from hers and staring at the bathroom stalls so as not to be caught in a lie. “Oh, I don’t know. I just found the circumstances…um, odd, you know? I mean, everyone knew she had a peanut allergy, and it sure looks like that’s what killed her. She had tons of EpiPens around, yet no one could get their hands on one when it counted. It’s just downright strange.”

  Susie didn’t clam up or look suspicious at all when she said, “You’re right. It does look suspicious, but if you’re asking me whether some of those numbskulls are capable of murder, I’d have to say I don’t think so.”

  But was Susie pulling the wool over my eyes—was she pretending she didn’t hate Mitzy as much as she should for stealing Luca? Or was she really glad to be rid of him?

  And where was Luca in all this anyway? Did he travel with Mitzy?

  “About Luca…” I abstractly mentioned as though he were an afterthought. “Was he here at the meet and greet? I hope you didn’t have to see him.”

  Susie rolled her tongue in her cheek. “No. He was back in LA, lounging in the lap of luxury until today, when he showed up and made an ungodly scene at the police station, crying and carrying on,” she said sarcastically. “He didn’t get here until late this afternoon.”

  Also interesting. “And I suppose you don’t think his grief is genuine?”

  “Oh, I think he’s upset all right, but not because she died. He’s upset because he’ll have to vacate her mini-mansion with the hot tub and sauna, the inground pool the size of a football field, and give back her Viper. I mean, the night of the meet and greet, he was posting selfies of himself at some expensive nightclub on Insta. He didn’t look too broken up.”

  “But maybe he didn’t know that Mitzy was dead yet,” I defended, though I’m not sure why. Maybe I just wanted to see how she’d react.

  Susie made a face while she fluffed her hair. “Maybe. I don’t know. What I do know is, Mitzy’s parents showed up today, and I’m pretty sure they’re going to boot Luca right out on his hot butt.”

  I didn’t say anything, but I realized we’d been chatting for quite some time and my food was now probably stone cold. I didn’t think I could garner any more information from Susie anyway, so I probably should have excused myself, but she saved me the trouble.

  “I’d better go. Mitzy’s memorial is in twenty minutes. The hotel was nice enough to allow us to gather in one of their conference rooms. I’d invite your friend, because I like how she handled Ames, but it’s just for industry people.”

  I pulled a card from my purse and handed it to Susie. “Listen, Susie, if you find you need someone to talk to, please call me. I don’t know how long you’ll be in town, but I own a tattoo shop here in Cobbler Cove called Inkerbelle’s, and I’d be happy to grab some decaf with you if you ever just need to vent. I know a great little place near my shop.”

  At first she appeared hesitant, but then she seemed to think twice. She grabbed the card from me, her rhinestone-studded nails in black and gold flashing under the lights of the bathroom.

  “Actually, I’m local. I only came to this fiasco because all my viewers know I’m from Portland, and they’d talk if I didn’t practice what I preach and prove to them I was still Mitzy’s friend.”

  I smiled and nodded. “Then I hope you’ll call. You take care now.” I was about to turn and leave, but she reached out and grabbed my arm.

  “Trixie, is it?” she asked, her voice soft and hesitant. “Thank you. I don’t really…I don’t have anyone. My mom is gone, and my father has been MIA forever. It was nice to talk to another adult for a change.”

  “So what you’re telling me is, I don’t look twenty-one?” I asked with a chuckle.

  She laughed and shook her head, her freshly fluffed hair falling around her shoulders in caramel and blonde highlights. “No. That’s not it at all. You’re just very wise and easy to talk to and a refreshing change from all the fake glam of my world. You’re normal, and you don’t use words like ‘queen’ and ‘iconic’ to describe everything. Anyway, thank you.”

  Susie let go of my arm and made her way out of the bathroom, her heels clacking against the cool tiles.

  My stomach growled its discontent. Man, cold or not, I needed that cheeseburger soon.

  Just as Susie breezed out, Coop breezed in, her eyes wide and in such a rush, she didn’t even notice Susie.

  “Trixie,” she called out, reaching for me as she crossed the tiled floor.

  “Coop, what’s going on?” It wasn’t so much her tone this time, but her body language. It was rigid with worry, as was her grip on my arm, her slender fingers all but digging into the flesh of my wrist.

  “It’s Ames. There’s been an accident. A horrible accident.”

  My eyebrows rose and my brow furrowed. “An accident? What happened?”

  “He was hit by a car,” she said with almost no emotion. “I saw it. It was a hit-and-run.”

  Welp, there went that bacon cheeseburger.

  Chapter 10

  “C’mon. We have to help, Trixie. It looked really bad,” Coop urged, taking my hand and pulling me out to the lobby, where we headed out the doors. She pushed her way past the crowd of people gathered at the front entrance with me in tow.

  “Coop, did you really see it happen?” I asked as I watched the paramedics lift a gurney into the ambulance, a glittery pair of socks poking out from beneath the sheet.

  And that’s when I saw shoes in the street—Ames’s shoes. He’d been hit so hard his shoes had come off. Dear Heaven…

  She nodded her head, pulling me under the cream-and-black striped awning. “Just the last bit of it. I heard someone yell for Ames to get out of the way just before a car raced toward him and ran him right over, Trixie. They just plowed into him.”

  I could tell she was anxious, because now her words were becoming rapider, shooting from her lips like bullets.

  “Okay, okay. So did you see the car? What kind of car was it, Coop?”

  She bit her lip and paused in thought before she gripped my fingers. “It was black with really shiny hubcaps, and small. It was small. Not a big car, but maybe more like a Prius or a Honda Fit.”

  Great. Only half of Portland drove those models, but there was hope. Coop was great with details. Maybe she’d seen something distinctive or heard something. “License plate? Driver?”

  “No. I was so shocked. He…he flew up in the air, Trixie. It was…” She swallowed, the long column of her neck stretching and expanding. “It was awful.”

  I pulled her into a quick hug, and then I gripped her shoulders firmly, setting her from me. “Did you see anything else? Anything at all? Anything memorable, anything that could help identify the driver?”

  She shook her head again, her hair wet and sticking to her face, her eyes like saucers. “No. I did the only thing I could think of. I called 9-1-1.”

  “Good girl, Coop. You’re always Johnny-on-the-spot. You did good.”

  “He was drunk as a skunk,” I heard a man’s gruff voice ring out from the area of the tall electric heaters where people gathered to warm themselves while they waited for their Ubers. “Wandering all over the place, crying and demanding somebody named Mitzy give him his money. Kept sayin’ she had it comin’. Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, it all happened so fast. I think I lost ten years off my life watchin’ that kid with all the fancy makeup fly up in the air like a rag doll. Hellfire, I sure hope he’s okay
.”

  I needed to talk to this man. I don’t know that what happened to Ames was related to Mitzy’s death. In fact, if it was, that would be rather odd, unless there was a hit out on spoiled makeup gurus I was unaware of, but it couldn’t hurt to poke around.

  “Wait here, okay, Coop? I’ll text Higgs and let him know you’re out here. I want to go see what this guy is talking about. Maybe he can help us with some information.”

  Suddenly, Goose and Knuckles were there, pushing their way through the crowd to get to us with concerned faces.

  “Trixie girl, what’s goin’ on?” Knuckles asked with a worried glance at Coop.

  He wrapped an arm around her and tucked her close as I explained what was going on. Goose flanked the other side of Coop, cupping his chin and running his fingers over his beard while he listened, giving her a warm hug when I finished.

  Knuckles ruffled her hair with the palm of his hand and chucked her under the chin. “Poor kiddo. But we’re here now. We gotcha.”

  “You go do what you do, Trix,” Goose said reassuringly. “We got our girl.”

  I scurried off toward the man who’d claimed Ames was drunk and crying in the middle of the road.

  I approached with caution, though I got the feeling he needed to vent to someone about what had happened just by the way he wandered around talking to anyone who’d listen. I hoped he’d feel comfortable enough that he’d share with me while we waited for the police to arrive.

  “Excuse me, sir. Hi, my name is Trixie Lavender. I sometimes work with the Portland Police Department. Are you all right? Do you need—”

  He whistled, long and loud, cutting off my offer of help. “You shoulda seen it,” he said with a shake of his dark head, his chubby face wrinkled in worry. “It was terrible. Just terrible.”

  Refocusing him, I asked, “And your name is?”

  He cleared his throat and held out his hand to shake. “Gene. Gene Lapowski. From the great state of Idaho. Here for a pharmaceutical convention. Was out here grabbin’ a smoke when it happened.”