Dead by Midnight Part 9

The full-face joker mask-constructed of papier-mache, glue, floated whitening and acrylic colors-lay on the motel room bed staring up at him, mocking him, reminding him of her degradation. Charlie Hung had worn this mask in every scene in which he had ravaged the female actors. It was only fitting that it would be his death mask.

He carefully slipped the mask into the black plastic bag and then turned his attention to the Beretta, an Italian import, 9mm with a ten-shot magazine. When he had purchased the pistol, he had made sure it could never be traced back to him. For the right price, a guy could buy just about anything and remain anonymous.

Money talked.

h.e.l.l, money screamed.

He placed the gun in the bottom of the small tote, then wrapped the mask in tissue paper and laid it over the pistol before zipping up the 14" x 16" black vinyl bag. After checking the time on the digital bedside clock-6:08 P.M P.M.-he carried the tote to the closet and set it on the floor.

He went back to the bed, pulled two pillows from beneath the comforter, and stacked one on top of the other. Then he lay down, stretched out, and closed his eyes. Step by step, he went over his plan. Parking the rental car a couple of blocks away and walking to Charles Wong's home. Ringing the doorbell. Introducing himself. The disguise he'd be wearing would prevent anyone who might see him entering or leaving the Wong house from giving the police an accurate ID. Tonight, he would wear a black wig and mustache, a gold earring and a wash-off neck tattoo, along with fake leather pants and jacket. A costume that could be easily disposed of in the motel's Dumpster.

In less than six hours, he would kill Charlie Hung and leave Mrs. Charles Wong a grieving widow.

Payback could be deadly!

Lorie carried her gla.s.s of wine from the kitchen into the adjoining family room, which boasted a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and two sets of French doors that led outside onto the old-fashioned screened porch. She loved everything that Cathy had done when she decorated this house, although she would have preferred dark wood in the kitchen. Cathy preferred white cabinets and appliances, and had accented the clean, bright white with touches of a dark-stained wood in the flooring, the island top, and an overlay on the ma.s.sive range hood. Both the kitchen and family room combined elements of the old with the new, retaining the integrity of the Victorian with the convenience of the modern.

While Lorie chose one of the two gold chenille armchairs separated by a walnut Sheraton table, Derek sat across from her on the moss green, camelback sofa. He smiled at her before taking another sip of his wine. During dinner, she had found herself liking Derek Lawrence more and more and was puzzled as to why Maleah seemed to dislike him so intensely. He had been charming and funny, and had put her at ease. Although she didn't really know him, she sensed that he was the type of man who didn't judge others harshly or by standards few people could live up to. Not the way Mike did.

d.a.m.n it, she had to stop comparing every man she met to Michael Birkett.

"So, how long have your worked for Powell's?" Lorie asked.

"Hmm...almost five years. I was sort of at loose ends when I left the Bureau, and as luck would have it, Griff called and offered me a consulting job and put me on a retainer I could hardly refuse."

Maleah snorted as she joined them. They glanced up at her. She shrugged. "Nothing. Don't mind me."

"Something tells me that Perdue doesn't approve of independently wealthy men actually working for a living," Derek said.

"Oh, are you independently wealthy, Mr. Lawrence?" Maleah asked mockingly. "Then the rumors about the men in your family having squandered most of their fortunes on wine, women, and song must have been vastly exaggerated."

A quick flash of annoyance pa.s.sed over Derek's handsome face before he grinned and then laughed. "That was. .h.i.tting below the belt. Keep that up and Lorie will think you don't like me."

"I don't like you," Maleah told him and returned his insincere smile.

Lorie cleared her throat. "I thought that after dinner, we were going to discuss the cast members of Midnight Masquerade Midnight Masquerade."

"We were," Maleah said. "We are. I've got the file folder with the computer printouts on the kitchen counter." She set her gla.s.s on a decorative coaster on the table between the armchairs and hurried back into the kitchen.

"Let me clear up the matter of my economic status, not that it's anyone's business," Derek said, his voice loud enough for Maleah to hear him in the adjoining room. "Although there's a great deal of truth to the rumors about the men in my family, they didn't actually squander the entire fortune. And my very wise and very frugal paternal grandmother set up sizable trust funds for each of her three grandchildren."

Before Lorie could think of a proper response, Maleah sailed back into the room, the file folder in her hand. She completely ignored both Derek and his confirmation of being a trust-fund baby.

"Here we are." Maleah plopped down on the huge mushroom-shaped ottoman draped in a green and gold silk material. She opened the folder and handed several printouts to Lorie. "This is a list of actors who starred in the movie, along with the names of the producer, writers, director, and so on."

Lorie clutched the papers in her hand and focused on the top sheet, reading over the names slowly, doing her best to remember each person and anything of importance she could recall about them.

"Just take your time," Maleah said. "If it'll help, I'll go over each name with you."

In her peripheral vision, Lorie noticed that Derek had relaxed as he sipped on the wine and had closed his eyes. Was he napping? Or just thinking?

"Let's start with Hilary Finch and Dean Wilson," Maleah suggested. "What do you remember about them?"

"Not much about Hilary. I didn't really know her. She wasn't overly friendly with her female costars. Not hateful to us or condescending. She mostly ignored us. What I do remember is that she looked like a Barbie doll, all plastic perfection. And at the time, rumor had it that she and Travis Dillard were having a hot affair."

"And Travis Dillard was the producer, right?"

"Uh-huh. The producer of Midnight Masquerade Midnight Masquerade and quite a few other p.o.r.no movies. And he was also an agent for numerous wannabe stars, most of whom wound up in his movies. Me included." and quite a few other p.o.r.no movies. And he was also an agent for numerous wannabe stars, most of whom wound up in his movies. Me included."

"Dillard was your agent?"

"That's right."

"How well did you know him?"

"Well enough not to like him or trust him," Lorie said. "But I learned that lesson the hard way."

"I hate to ask this, but did you ever have a s.e.xual relationship with Dillard?"

"No, but not for his lack of trying. He had a reputation for having laid every single one of his female clients. I figure that sooner or later, he would've cut me loose if I hadn't put out, but at the time, I was living with his major star-Dean Wilson-and he didn't want to do anything to antagonize Dean."

"You and Dean Wilson lived together?"

"Yes. For nearly a year. I thought I loved him and I believed he loved me. It was one of the most miserable years of my life. I finally realized that my big dreams of fame and fortune would never come true. I was living in a seedy apartment with a guy who was addicted to drugs and alcohol and who had introduced me to a life I hated. Dean's the one who talked me into doing a bit part in Midnight Masquerade Midnight Masquerade."

"When was the last time you saw Dean Wilson?" Derek's question momentarily startled her.

Lorie's gaze connected with Derek's and she saw only kindness and compa.s.sion in his dark brown eyes. "Nine years ago when I left LA to come back home to Dunmore. He followed me to the bus station and tried to stop me from leaving. He actually threatened me."

"But he didn't follow through with his threats, did he?" Derek asked.

"No, he didn't."

"And you never saw him again?" Maleah asked. "Or heard from him? No phone calls? Letters? E-mails?"

"No. We had no communication whatsoever. Not since the day I left him and that G.o.d-awful life behind me."

"Have you seen or heard from anyone connected to the movie since your return to Dunmore?" Derek set his empty gla.s.s on the sharp-edged 1940s-era coffee table, the top shining with a high-gloss black lacquer finish.

"No," Lorie replied. "But other than Dean, I really didn't know anyone else. We were just acquaintances, not friends."

"Did you have a problem with anyone, other than Travis Dillard?" Derek inquired.

"By problem, do you mean did any of the other men hit on me?"

"That, or did you know if any of the women didn't especially like you or didn't like one another?"

"Grant Leroy, the director, propositioned me, but didn't seem offended when I turned him down. I think he and Terri Owens, aka Candy Ruff, wound up having a short-lived affair. And several of the other guys made pa.s.ses at me, but that's as far as it went.

"Like I said, Hilary Finch pretty much ignored all her female costars. The rest of us got along okay. Outside of work, I seldom saw any of them."

"Why don't you keep the list," Maleah said. "Think about what went on during the filming of that particular movie and if anything, even something you think is insignificant, comes to mind, let me know."

"Let us know," Derek added.

Maleah shot him an are-you-still-here? glare and then turned back to Lorie. "You look beat. Why don't you go on up to bed?"

"I don't want to leave you with the dirty dishes and pots and pans."

"Go on," Derek told her. "I'll help Perdue clean up the kitchen."

Maleah groaned, making her displeasure known to anyone within earshot.

Charles Wong roused slowly, at first uncertain what had awakened him. And then the doorbell rang again and again, loud enough to be heard over the racket coming from the television. Someone was at his front door. But who the h.e.l.l could it be? He glanced around the room and realized that he had fallen asleep in the living room, on the sofa, while watching the late-night newscast. With Lily and the girls gone on the overnight Brownies camping trip, he had snacked for supper, then fixed himself a bowl of popcorn and settled in to watch TV. He missed his wife and stepdaughters. Being with them reminded him of how lucky he was and that working at being a better human every day had its rewards.

The doorbell kept ringing.

"All right, I'm coming," he called loudly. "Be right there."

Barefoot and wearing a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants and a T-shirt, he got up, glanced at the time on the DVD player-11:52-and padded across the room. When he reached the front door, he paused before opening it.

"Yeah, who's there?" he asked.

"Hey, man, it's me. Let me in. I got a six-pack and some of the good stuff."

Charlie didn't recognize the man's voice. He probably had the wrong house. Charlie unlocked the door and, leaving the chain latch on, eased the door open a couple of inches.

"Come on, man, let me in. I need to pee real bad."

The guy didn't look familiar. Black hair, black mustache, dressed in cheap leather and sporting a sizable tattoo on his neck, he looked like some of the guys Charlie had known in his past.

"Look, buddy, I think you've got the wrong house."

"You're Charles Wong, right? You're married to my cousin Lily, right? Didn't she tell you I was in town and she offered to put me up a couple of nights?"

Lily's cousin? "No, she didn't mention you."

"Hey, sorry about that. I guess she forgot. Probably too busy with plans for that overnight camping trip with the girls' Brownie troop."

Charlie breathed a bit easier. Apparently his midnight visitor really was Lily's cousin. Otherwise, how would he know about the Brownie troop's camping trip?

Charlie removed the safety latch and opened the front door. "Come on in. I'm afraid you'll have to bunk on the sofa. We don't have a guest bedroom."

"No problem. I'm grateful you'll put me up a couple of nights while I'm in town." He entered the living room and closed the door behind him.

Charlie noticed the small tote bag in his hand. "You're traveling light, aren't you?"

"Just a change of underwear and my shaving kit." He set the bag on the floor.

Charlie turned around and walked back toward the sofa. When he heard an odd noise behind him, he glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the weird mask the man now wore. Charlie's mind whirled with questions, but suddenly he recognized the mask at the same time he noticed the gun in his night visitor's hand.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Charlie got out before the guy aimed and fired.

The bullet hit Charlie's left leg, just below the knee.

He stared at his shooter with total disbelief as he went down to the floor, his hands gripping his bleeding leg.

"Who are you? What's going on?"

The man fired the pistol a second time, the bullet piercing Charlie's shoulder. This man was going to kill him. He had opened the door and let some crazy person into his home. Thank G.o.d Lily and the girls weren't here.

"Don't do this," Charlie said when the man hovered over him.

He aimed the gun directly at Charlie's head and said, "Dead by midnight."

Then he fired the fatal shot.

Chapter 8.

Maleah and Derek had agreed to split the day guarding Lorie, even though Derek wasn't officially a Powell agent. At this point, neither of them believed Lorie was in imminent danger since both of the other known victims had been killed at night, probably sometime around midnight. Derek had driven to Treasures with Lorie that morning and promised to stay in the background as much as possible so as not to arouse her customers' curiosity.

"Gossip is one of the favorite pastimes in small towns," Lorie had told them. "And since the first day I returned to Dunmore, I've headed the list of favorite gossip topics. I don't want to give the busybodies, especially the WCM ladies, anything to speculate about. And tongues are bound to wag when they see you hanging around the shop all morning."

Even though it wasn't quite one o'clock and she wasn't due to relieve Derek until two, Maleah scooped up her shoulder holster, wallet, Powell ID badge, and car keys from the top of the dresser in her bedroom. Plans had changed.

After racing down the back staircase, she set the alarm, exited through the back door, and locked it behind her. Once settled into her GMC Yukon Denali and headed downtown to Main Street, she slipped on the Bluetooth earpiece and hit Mike Birkett's number. He answered on the fourth ring.

"Maleah?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"What's up? Is Lorie all right?"