Ruth Addems is a soap opera star on the rise, but when her house in the affluent neighborhood of Black Hawk is broken into it looks as if she has a stalker and she is reffered to Rey. But Rey quickly finds out that things aren't always as they appear. In the world of Hollywood everyone has secrets and most stories are the stuff that nightmares are made of. Rey learns that once an object is in motion, it remains in motion...
Excerpt
It was spring and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Unfortunately I was stuck in my office repairing the walls and painting. It was long overdue. The A’s game was on the radio and I was wearing a wife beater and jeans. All my office furniture was in the middle of the room and covered with white drop clothes. All the windows were open and but the smell of paint was strong and every fifteen or so minutes I had to stand near the window and drink some beer. The things I do in the name of safety.
I was taking a break when I heard a knock on my door.
A woman with blond hair came in. She was wearing a white summer dress with small flowers and white sandals. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore big sunglasses with white frames.
She was followed by a 6’4” body builder who was dressed from head to toe in black like Darth Vader only nowhere near as scary. Their hair matched perfectly and I wondered if they went to the same hairdresser. I reached over the desk and turned off the radio.
“May I help you?” I asked.
“Are you Raymond?” she asked.
“Rey,” I said and I spelled it for her.
“Rey,” she said making it clear that she didn‘t like to be corrected.
“Yes,” I said.
Vader said nothing. He was too busy standing behind her trying to look menacing. He was failing.
“And you are?” I asked her.
“Ruth,” she said lifting her sunglasses so I could get a look at her face that I think I was supposed to recognize. “Ruth Addems.”
She had green eyes and long eyelashes.
“Okay,” I said.
Vader laughed.
“Shut up Will,” Ruth said without looking at him. Then to me she said, “I need to hire a Private Investigator.”
“Okay,” I said. “Tell me what’s going on and I’ll decide if I want to take your case.”
“Excuse me?” she said. “I just said I wanted to hire you.”
“I’m aware,” I said. “But whether or not I take a case is my decision.”
She didn’t look happy but I really didn’t care if she was happy or not. She irritated me.
“Would you like a water or beer?” I asked.
“Is there someplace else we can go to talk?” she asked looking around the office and ignoring my offer.
I took in a deep breath and let it out through my nose.
“Let’s take a walk,” I said.
I reached for my white T-shirt that was on my chair and under a drop cloth. Ruth watched me as if I were a strange animal she’d stumbled across.
I put on my shirt and clipped my .45 to the small of my back and finished my beer, closed the windows, then we left the office.
2
Ruth, Will and I walked up Broadway. Traffic was light and the sun was strong but it was better than being in the office with the paint. Ruth and I walked in front and Will walked behind us and looked at himself in the reflections of every store window we passed. I wondered if he would flex at himself.
“So what can I do for you?” I asked Ruth.
“I think I’m being stalked,” she said.
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Do you really not know who I am?” she asked.
I looked at her as we walked but still didn’t recognize her.
“Give me a hint,” I said with a smile.
“I’m on the daytime long running series ‘The Wind Blows This Way’,” she said it as if it were a question.
I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Oh,” I said, “that Ruth Addems.”
“You’re making fun of me,” she said.
“If it helps I only watch ballgames and the occasional movie,” I said.
We went up Broadway and made a right on Grand Ave toward Lake Merritt. There were people running the lake and a guy was walking his dog. The dog stopped and growled at Will as we passed. I liked the dog.
“Tell me about the stalker,” I said to Ruth.
“I started getting phone calls about three months ago,” Ruth said. “I didn’t think anything of it but then my house got broken into a few nights ago.”
“How did you come across my name?” I asked.
Will was looking at women who went past and seemed to pay little attention to Ruth and I.
“I was given your name by a cop named Sam Spade,” she said.
I made a mental note to talk to Sam about that.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, “what does Ol’ Will do?”
“Will?” she asked glancing back at him.
He was looking at his tanned arms in the sun.
“Will is my personal trainer,” she said as if I were the only one who didn’t know that.
“Of course,” I said. “How silly of me.”
We stopped and crossed the street and walked down Webster. There was a deli on the corner where I wanted to get a sandwich.
“What did the police say about the stalker?” I asked.
“They said that there wasn’t a whole lot they could do,” she said.
“Even with the break in?”
“I couldn’t prove there was a break in.”
We were in the deli and standing in line. No one else seemed to recognize Ruth Addems so I didn’t feel so bad.
“Why couldn’t you prove the break in?” I asked.
“Nothing was stolen and there was no sign of forced entry,” she said.
“So what made you think there was a break in?”
“I felt as if someone had been in the house,” she said.
My turn came and I went up to the counter and ordered a turkey on a Kaiser roll with mustard and American cheese and coke.
“You want anything?” I asked Ruth.
“Not from here,” she said not hiding her disgust at the offer.
I paid and we stepped to the side to wait for my food. Will was still outside on Webster staring at women who walked by. Ruth saw him and took a deep breath while shaking her head.
“So what do you want me to do?” I asked.
“Find out who is stalking me,” she said.
It was the most sincere she sounded since I met her.
My sandwich was ready and I took it to a table along the window facing Webster, and Will. I sat.
“What are you doing?” Ruth asked.
“Have a seat and tell me about the stalker,” I said as I unwrapped my sandwich.
“What about Will?” she asked.
“He’ll figure out sooner or later that we’re not coming out,” I said.
Ruth almost smiled.
She sat down and straightened her dress so her legs were covered and took off her glasses. I took a bite of the sandwich. It was good.
“I have no idea who it could be,” she said.
“Have you received any odd fan mail?” I asked taking a drink of my Coke. “Anything that stands out in your mind?”
She thought about the question for a few seconds then shook her head slowly.
“No,” she said. “Nothing.”
“Any one person that sent an excessive amount of mail?”
“It’s mostly email now, and to answer your question, no, not that I know of,” she said. “My agent gets all my email and reads through it and answers. You know, sends out autograph photos, things like that.”
I was glad I’d never sent a fan letter.
I finished half my sandwich and wiped my mouth.
“So let’s get back to the break in,” I said. “What made you feel as if someone had been in your house?”
“Things were a little out of place,” she said. “Makeup, jewelry, things of that nature.”
“Is it possible that you moved those things and forgot you had?”
“No,” she said adamantly with a shake of her head. “Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
I nodded and picked up the second half of my sandwich.
“I keep everything in its place,” she said. “I’m funny that way.”
I nodded. I saw nothing strange about that. I kept things in their place as well and could probably tell if things had been moved.
“If the police found no sign of forced entry how did he get in your house?” I asked.
“There was a broken window,” she said. “In the garage.”
“And the police didn’t find that?”
“Will repaired it before they got there.”
“Why?”
“He felt it was best,” she said.
I left that alone for the time being.
“Have you noticed anyone following you or showing up in the same places as you?” I asked.
“Honestly I haven’t paid attention,” she said.
I was almost finished with my sandwich.
“You may not have a stalker,” I said. “But breaking and entering is pretty serious so if you want I’ll check into it and we’ll make sure.”
“I’d like that,” she said.
I told her my rates and she wrote a retainer check.
Will was still outside and didn’t seem to notice that Ruth and I had never come back out so I doubted if he would be any help if I asked had he noticed anyone following him and Ruth.
“Where do you live?” I asked her.
“I have a few homes,” she said with pride.
“I’m assuming you have a home in the Bay Area if you came to Oakland to hire me,” I said.
She lightly bit her lower lip as if she were trying to keep from saying something to me.
“I have a home in Black Hawk,” she said.
I knew the area.
“Write down the address and I’ll be up there in the morning to do a security check of the grounds and we’ll go from there,” I said.
She reached into her purse and brought out a small notepad and pen and wrote her information then handed it to me. I gave her a business card with my cell number on it.
“In case you need to contact me before tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll be at your house at seven in the morning.”
“Seven?”
“Seven.”
“Why so early?” she asked putting my card in her purse without looking at it.
“Safety doesn’t keep time,” I said with a smile.
She didn’t smile. I thought it was a catchy slogan.
“I’ll leave your name with the guard at the gate,” she said as she got up from her seat.
I stood and we shook hands then she walked out of the deli and Will fell in step with her. Neither one of them looked in my direction.
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Book eight in my Belinda Lawrence Classic Mysteries. Mysteries confront amateur sleuths, Belinda Lawrence and Hazel Whitby in the Somerset village of Milford.
Among the eccentrics is the shadowy Madam Malefic.
