Page 23

22

The cops turned out to be the same detectives from the other day. They were waiting in the living room, one silently looking out at the glittering lights of the city, the other staring at her fingernails. Mason wondered if their day had been as long as hers. At least she’d gotten a nap. Julia swept into the room, making an entrance as she always did. Mason felt like a flower girl, or maybe a page of some sort. If Julia had been wearing a cloak, Mason would have had her hands full.

The first detective turned away from the window and regarded Julia, Mason and Archie as impassively as he had the view. “Good evening, Mrs. Mann. I’m Detective Wilson and this is Detective Brooks.” Brooks was the one with the nails. “We met the other day.”

“When you inaccurately arrested me, yes.”

“That’s right. And you are?” Brooks looked at Mason.

Claudia walked in carrying a tray. Mason realized she couldn’t help herself. The Grim Reaper himself could show up and Claudia would bring cookies and offer to hang up his scythe.

“I’m Natasha Mason. You can call me Mason.”

“My assistant,” clarified Julia.

“Legal or investigative?”

Julia answered, “Neither, personal assistant. You know, errands, light dusting, drug purchases.”

Detective Brooks seemed to be having a hard time processing this information and kept looking from Mason to Julia Mann and frowning. “ You work for her ?”

Mason shrugged. “I serve at the pleasure of the queen.” She inclined her head. “And she’s the queen.”

“Been with her long?” Detective Wilson was making notes.

Mason grinned. “Five days. So far it’s been pretty humdrum, but things are looking up.” She assumed an eager-to-please expression that was totally misleading.

Julia was getting irritable. “Can you get to the point?”

Detective Brooks shook her head. “We’re just asking questions, Mrs. Mann. It’s how we find answers.”

“A concise elucidation of your process, Detective, but it doesn’t explain why you’re being so slow about it. I don’t have as much life left to waste as you do.” She shifted a little in her chair. “Out with it.”

Detective Brooks was not to be rushed. She looked at Archie. “You were at the station the other night. You’re her lawyer.”

Wilson raised an eyebrow as he looked at Mason and Mann. “What was so pressing that you needed to call your lawyer over in the evening?”

Archie said, “I was consulting with another client.”

“You have two clients in the same house?”

“Yes.”

“You were consulting with both at once?”

Archie shrugged. “I’m very popular and highly efficient. What can I say?”

Brooks picked up the ball. “Miss Mason, Mrs. Mann. Leaving to one side the issue of your lawyer and his multiple clients, we were hoping to ask you some questions about your visit to the Repercussion studio yesterday. You both met with Cody Malone, Tony’s ex-assistant and now a partial owner of the studio.”

Julia shook her head elegantly. “Yes, we talked to Cody yesterday. It was entirely friendly.”

“You understand you’re still very much a suspect in the death of Tony Eckenridge. While you’re free on bail, you might want to steer clear of the studio and anyone else connected to the case. I’d hate to think you were tampering with witnesses.”

“Then don’t think it,” replied Julia, calmly, “because I wasn’t. I am keen to prove my innocence and plan to do so by finding the person actually responsible.”

Wilson said, “You’re not a licensed private investigator, Mrs. Mann. You’re skating on pretty thin ice here.”

Julia just shrugged.

“What did you ask him?”

“Probably very similar questions to the ones you asked him,” she replied. “I wanted to know about Tony’s activities in the time leading up to his taking a final swim in my pool. Uninvited.”

“So you say.”

Julia shrugged again. “So I say indeed. Tony Eckenridge hasn’t been welcome at my house in many years. I realize he was dying…Perhaps he thought that gave him dispensation. It didn’t.”

“Maybe it made you mad.”

“It might. But not enough to kill him. If irritation was sufficient motive for murder, then I’d never have gotten out of prison.”

There was a pause.

Detective Wilson looked at Mason. “What were you doing last night?”

“I was at Galliano’s.”

“The strip club?”

Julia corrected him. “It’s a burlesque show.” She turned up a palm. “Entirely different.”

“Do they take their clothes off for money?” asked the detective.

“Not necessarily.” Julia was calm.

“But potentially?”

“Potential always exists, Detective, especially in burlesque.”

Wilson turned to Mason. “Did they take their clothes off last night?”

Mason shook her head. “Not all of them.”

“Not all their clothes?”

“Not all the performers.”

“In fact,” said Julia, “at midnight specifically we were at the police station making a statement about being attacked outside the club, which you should already know.”

“Ah yes, the Codex Curse strikes again.” Brooks looked at Archie. “You were there, too, correct?”

“I was,” said Archie. “You should have all of our statements in the system. If you don’t have any more specific questions for my clients, maybe we could conclude this interview? Both of them left Cody Malone yesterday intact and under entirely friendly terms. Further, both of them have a cast-iron alibi with multiple witnesses for last night.”

“Wait,” said Mason, “is Cody going to be OK?” She thought of what he’d said, about inheriting his dream. He’d taken quite the journey in the last week, from assistant to studio head to beating victim.

Detective Brooks folded up her notebook and put it away. “He was apparently working late in the studio office when someone entered. He may have known them; there was no sign of forced entry. They attacked him, then ransacked the office and destroyed thousands of dollars’ worth of valuable fish tanks and associated fish.”

Mason thought that Associated Fish was another good band name, but she didn’t mention it. She was proud of her self-restraint.

Brooks was still talking. “He suffered a very severe head trauma and is in the ICU. The next twenty-four hours will be critical.” She sounded deeply disappointed, and maybe she was. “While I appreciate your stated desire to clear your name, neither of you are licensed investigators. We advise you in the strongest terms to butt out and let us do our job.”

“You don’t appear to be doing it very hard,” replied Julia.

“Appearances are deceptive,” said Brooks. “As an actress, you should know that better than anyone.” She regarded the older woman narrowly. “We’ll show ourselves out.”

And they did.