the main room." The hint of resentment in her voice again made me wonder if she hadn't harbored a bit of jealousy over Gia's rise to private dressing room status over her.
"And you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary?" Ava asked. "Maybe see anyone approach Gia's dressing room?"
But Jada shook her head. "The police asked me the same thing. But I didn't really pay attention. Just too many bodies all packed into the same place, you know?"
I nodded. I knew. I'd felt much the same way.
"Plus," she went on, "Hughie wanted me to get to the reception as quickly as possible so I could mingle with potential clients. Wineries book a lot of print ads. He practically shoved me out the door as soon as I was dressed."
"Wait—shoved you out the door?" I shot Ava a look. "Hughie Smart was at the fashion show?" His receptionist had failed to mention that Hughie was "out of the office" in Sonoma.
Jada nodded again. "Yeah. He likes to be at the shows of his bigger clients like Costello. Why?"
Because according to Costello, Gia had fired him just before she'd been found dead.
"I was actually hoping to talk to him," I said instead.
"Emmy is thinking of doing some social media ads for her winery," Ava said quickly, going with her previous cover story.
"Oh?" Jada asked, perking up at the idea of a potential job.
I nodded, feeling like a heel for deceiving her. Especially while she was mourning the loss of her friend. "You don't happen to know if Hughie is still in town, do you?"
She nodded. "Like I said, the police told us we all had to stay another day."
"He has a room here?" I asked, glancing up at the hotel building in the background.
But Jada shook her head. "No, he's staying at some bed and breakfast. The View something."
"The Valley View?" Ava asked.
Jada smiled. "Yeah, that's it. You know it?"
"My mom is friends with the owner," Ava confirmed.
"Guess Sonoma is a smaller town than San Francisco," Jada said with a shrug.
I wasn't sure if that was said as a statement of fact or a subtle put-down, but either way it seemed to be Jada's final word, as she pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes again and leaned her head back down on the lounger. "Tell Hughie I said hi," she added.
"Sure," I promised halfheartedly as we left the model to her sunbathing-slash-grieving.
Ava waited until we were through the lobby and back outside the hotel again before pulling her phone out and dialing another number.
"Calling the Valley View?" I asked, leading the way back to my Jeep.
She nodded. "Janet Kim runs the place. She plays tennis with my mom on Tuesdays." She put the phone to her ear, and I could vaguely hear the sound of it ringing as we slipped inside my car and I cranked on the air conditioning.
I'd just gotten the vents pointed correctly at us for maximum cooling as someone on the other end of the call picked up.
"Hi, Janet, it's Celia's daughter, Ava." She paused a moment, and I heard the sound of a voice responding, though it was too faint to make out the words. "Oh, thank you. Yes, the fashion show was lovely." More pausing. "It is tragic how it ended."
She glanced at me across the car interior, shaking her head in a way that I could tell she was mentally cursing Bradley Wu and his well-read column for spreading the news like a California wildfire.
"I appreciate that, Janet," Ava said. "Listen, I was calling to see if I could speak to one of the guests you have there this weekend. Hughie Smart?"
I didn't have to hear the answer to know the response was not positive. Ava's smile dropped, and her shoulders sagged. "Oh, he's not in." Janet said something. Then Ava added, "Sure, that would be great. Can you ask him to call me when he does? It's kind of urgent. You have my number?"
Janet must have, as Ava nodded. "Perfect. Thank you, Janet."
She hung up and put the phone back in her purse. "Well, hopefully he calls back," she said as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to Silver Girl.
"I wonder if Hughie knew about Gia's stalker?" I mused as I navigated the light traffic through downtown.
"You think she told her agent?"
I shrugged. "I guess it depends on how close they were. Or if she thought Stalker Guy was a threat."
"If Gia even knew," Ava added, looking out the