"Not all actors are users." He found himself oddly wanting to convince her of that fact.
"I know, but it's difficult to trust someone who's good at portraying different characters. How do you know which one is real?"
Her words hit close to home. "Fair point."
"I'm sorry if I insulted you. I didn't mean to. I tend to talk before I think."
"I've heard a lot worse. So, how are you feeling today? Did you sleep at all?"
"I did—surprisingly enough. It felt good to know you were on the couch. I called the locksmith this morning. He should be here soon. I'd like to get everything locked back up."
"Good idea. What about your grandmother's journals? I think you need to make sure they're safe. Because it seems like they might be more important than you realize."
"I'm still not completely sure that's why someone broke in here. The police said there was a burglary last night, not far away."
"He didn't just run when we interrupted him, Maya. He went after you and your purse."
She stared back at him, new fear running through her eyes. "I spent a lot of time last night talking myself into believing that it was just random."
"It wasn't. I'm sorry, but I don't believe that."
"He didn't take my computer. Wouldn't he have thought I'd have notes on that?"
"That's true," he said slowly. Why hadn't the thief taken the computer? It would make sense that Maya would have written about her grandmother on her computer. Unless, this was a rush job, an order to find anything that looked like a diary or a journal.
"We don't really know what the motive was," she continued. "All we know for sure is that he took sixty dollars."
"You're right. That's the only fact we have, but my gut tells me the journals were the draw."
"They're at the studio, in my office. You can't get into the studio without going through a guard gate. I can't imagine anywhere they'd be safer, especially this weekend. I can't even get in there until Monday without getting special permission."
"Okay. It sounds like they're safe for the moment. But the pages you gave to Wallace were photocopies. Did you take copies of other pages?"
"I did." Awareness slowly entered her eyes. "Damn. I just realized I gave Freddie, Jr. some pages, as well as Kathy Simone. She was one of Natasha's assistants. She's in her sixties now and is a married grandmother, living in Encino. I don't see her sending someone to break into my place."
"Anyone else?"
"Natasha's former driver, George Popovich, and her hair stylist, Elena Medvedev. They were all mentioned in the journal. I gave each one a copy of their pages and my home address and phone number."
"Looks like the suspect list just got longer. Did anyone have a negative reaction to your questions?"
"I never spoke to Freddie, Sr. His son didn't seem to care about anything. He just said he'd pass along my info to his father. Kathy was friendly, happy to talk to me. She only worked for my grandmother for about nine months, so she didn't have a lot of stories, but she said they got along well. Apparently, she left because she got married. She did say my grandmother was very impulsive. She often changed plans at the last minute. Kathy was Natasha's assistant when she was married to Wallace Jagger. I didn't get a chance to ask him if he remembered her." She paused. "George was forthcoming. I told you last night that he mentioned he took her to the Firebird Club a lot."
"She was found dead in her car, but she also had a driver? Was George her driver at the time of her death?"
"No, he had stopped working for her about six months before that. He said she would drive herself some places, but she didn't like the freeways."
"A woman who doesn't like to drive dies alone in her car."
An odd expression came through Maya's gaze. "That is kind of interesting. I didn't really think about it like that. You'd make a good detective, Jax."
"I'm just more objective than you are. And the last woman, her hair stylist? Did she have anything to say?"
"Elena was not interested in talking. She was too busy. She runs three salons in Beverly Hills now. She's married to an attorney who works in the DA's office, Colin Macklemore."
"When did you speak to her?"
"Yesterday. She claimed she barely remembered Natasha. I said I was surprised, because Natasha mentioned that they'd first met at the Russia House