run. But did you want an autograph or a picture or something before we go?”
Jessie gave Trembley her best “don’t you dare” stare and he seemed to get it.
“No thanks,” he said, a little sheepishly. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. But I look forward to checking out the show in the spring.”
“Make sure to tell ten of your closest friends too,” Callie pleaded as they walked off.
“Will do,” Trembley called out after her.
When the actors were out of earshot, Jessie turned to him.
“Two things,” she said. “First, we should confirm that the Teddy guy was at that panel. He sounded like he had a real axe to grind.”
“Okay, I’ll ask Jamil to look into it. What’s the other thing?”
She tried to keep her voice level as she told him.
“The other thing is, if you ever pull anything like that fan boy crap again, not only will I get you kicked off the case, I will personally ram your own gun up your ass.”
Trembley, now removed from the glow of television stardom, seemed to have returned to his senses.
“You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. That was unprofessional. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not.” She left it at that.
When they arrived at Stage 32, the place was full. Detective Bray guided them to a corner, where she filled them in on the situation. Apparently a paparazzo had snuck onto the lot earlier and managed to get within shouting distance of the soundstage before he was tackled. That was why the area was now taped off and the extra guards were loitering about.
“We also made a discovery that somehow got missed earlier,” she said.
“What’s that?” Trembley asked.
“It seems that the killer spread ash throughout the building.”
“What?” Jessie said, confused.
“While interviewing the cleaning staff, we learned that they found it late last night. They assumed it was just some production material that had been inadvertently spilled.”
“How do you know it wasn’t?” Jessie asked.
“Because they found small clumps of ash at various spots, including directly outside a few offices. It didn’t mean anything to them at the time. Why would it? So they cleaned it up. But after they told us, we tried to walk them through where they found the stuff. No one could remember much, but one woman was certain that a pile was outside the office of Anton Zyskowski, the director.”
“So what does that mean?” Trembley asked. “Is it some kind of warning that he’s next?”
Jessie was at a loss.
“It could be that,” she said. “Or it could be someone trying to lay the blame for the killing at his doorstep, literally. Or it could just be a way to distract us. We don’t have enough to go on.”
Bray did have some good news to share. She and officers from the Hollywood station had already done preliminary interviews with dozens of cast and crew and followed that up with security footage verification.
“Of the eighty-seven people who were on the call sheet for the day, thirty-nine were still on-set when they started shooting the last setup around eight p.m.,” she told them. “Of those, thirty-one were confirmed to have left the lot by the time the killer was seen on camera at ten forty-nine p.m. dragging Corinne’s body into the prop department. Excluding the victim, that left seven people without firm alibis for the time of the murder.
“We’re still checking phone GPS data. That might eliminate a few more folks. And three of them claim they were all hanging out together, smoking some weed by the wood mill. Assuming we can verify that, you’d only have four folks to speak to.”
“That’s also assuming the killer was even working on this movie,” Jessie said. Seeing Detective Bray’s shoulders slump, she quickly added, “Still, that’s amazing work you’ve done on short notice. We really appreciate it.”
Bray nodded, only mildly bucked up. Trembley didn’t notice any of it.
“If we only need to talk to four people, why is the stage packed with so many folks?” he asked.
“They’re all waiting for the go-ahead. The director told everyone to stick around so that they can start shooting the second you give the all clear. I think he’s trying to put pressure on you guys to move things along.”
Trembley rolled his eyes.
“If he knew anything about Jessie Hunt, he’d realize that is just about the most counterproductive move he could make.”
“There might be another reason he wants to rush you,” Bray added.
“What’s that?” Trembley asked.
“He’s one of the four people we can’t account for during the time