“I tried to smooth things over with my ex, too, but we just had a few minutes at the funeral. She lives on the East Coast now.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jaimee standing near us with her arms crossed. She was actually tapping her foot with impatience. She snagged Mason away from checking his BlackBerry and ordered him to do something because they were real customers. Mason suggested she keep looking around on her own.
Rexford seemed unaware of what was going on around him. I gathered all this had been playing on his mind and he wanted to vent his feelings.
“It’s not as though I didn’t try. When Kelly got in touch with me and said she wanted to be in the business, I got her a production assistant job on a show I was working on. I helped Stone get a job, too.” He shook his head with regret. “I thought Kelly would know on her own that it was a no-no to get involved with the talent. She didn’t get that she was expendable, and as soon as North Adams was finished with their fling, she was gone.”
“North Adams?” I repeated. “She had a relationship with him?” Rexford seemed surprised by my reaction and before I had a chance to explain, Jaimee took the situation in her own hands and simply interrupted by walking in front of me. She pointed toward several items and wanted him to tell her about them. “The story is everything,” she said to him as she physically took his hand and led him away from me.
I barely noticed; all I could think about was that North Adams had known Kelly and never said a word.
CHAPTER 24
“I’ve got another suspect. You have to tell Heather to check him out,” I said as I rushed into the room. I was intent on grabbing my jacket since Mason was waiting for me outside in the car, but when I saw Barry I couldn’t resist blurting out my new finding. Barry was sitting in the den watching some sports game and it took a moment for what I’d said to register. He turned down the volume and asked me to repeat myself.
“Heather has to talk to North Adams.” I told him how all along Adams had known Kelly. “Isn’t it suspicious that Adams never admitted to knowing her?”
Barry put his hand up. “Do you think Heather is really going to go after some A-list actor on your say-so? Molly, she’s got her person of interest.”
“Fine, I’ll just have to take care of it myself.” I started to leave the room and saw that Barry was right behind me.
“Where were you?” he said. “I stopped by the bookstore—Jeffrey needed something,” he added a little too quickly. “No one seemed to know where you were.”
I hesitated. We were just ships passing in the kitchen or in this case the den and I didn’t need to explain to Barry, but then I didn’t need to keep it from him, either. “I was in Santa Barbara with Mason.” I moved down the hall toward my closet with Barry on my tail. I noticed there was just the slightest hint of a limp. Was it real or for sympathy? “I just stopped home to get a jacket. Mason’s waiting for me outside. We’re going to grab a bite.”
“Then you don’t have time for tea now? Maybe later,” he said expectantly.
“No. And you better not wait for me. I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” I said. I couldn’t believe it, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth Barry’s blank cop face crumbled.
“I hate working regular hours,” he grumbled as he went back to the TV.
Once I got back outside, Mason leaned over and opened the passenger door. The hot day had turned into a cool evening and I was glad to have the cotton shawl to wrap around my shoulders. After the day with Jaimee, both of us needed some peace. A noisy restaurant didn’t sound appealing. As usual, Mason had come up with a perfect solution. Le Grande Fromage had been closing up for the night and we’d gotten the last croissants, some slices of cheese, fruit salad and their trademark chopped lettuce salad. Mason had picked out some bottled drinks from their cooler and we’d gotten utensils and plenty of napkins.
“Who said you can only have picnics during the day?” Mason said. He turned onto Reseda toward the mountains. A short