Fashion Faux Paw (31 page)

Rudy stretched his neck and scanned the stage. Ellie imagined chaos, but that was only a guess. There was so much noise, such loud music, so much applause and cheering.

She let him down slowly, and nestled him against her. “Seen enough?”

“There’s more crazy goin’ on out there than a Super Bowl win. I say we sit back and let things settle. I could use a biscuit, and I bet the other guys could, too.”

“That’s a great idea. Let me see if I can find Julie.” The backstage crowd thinned as people seeped onto the stage. She guessed the press had given the high sign. They would let things stall for a couple of minutes, then take more formal pictures of Nola and Morgan with the winner and each of the other designers.

She set Rudy in the pen. “Hang tight while I look for her.”

Ellie spotted a cluster of orange curls and made a beeline for her assistant. “I suggest you collect the dogs before they get hurt. With all those stilettos stomping around someone is bound to get stepped on, and there’s a good chance a delicate bone might break.”

“You got it, boss.”

Julie left to do her thing and Ellie returned to her usual spot on the chairs next to the snack table, which had been expanded to hold a bevy of goodies. Upon arrival, she tried to hold back her surprise as she took a seat next to Jeffery King. She hadn’t noticed earlier, but he wore the clothes of an ordinary gofer: plain khaki slacks, a worn dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and sneakers.

“You’re not going to join in your sister’s celebration?”

He raised a shoulder. “It’s Kitty’s time to shine, and I don’t want to tarnish it for her. It won’t look good in the papers if she’s standing next to an accused murderer.”

The words, said so strongly, hit Ellie in the heart. “I don’t think she’d mind.”

“She wouldn’t, but the press would have a field day, and I don’t want to take anything away from her big moment.” He folded his arms and leaned back in the chair. “I love her too much to let suspicion cloud her dream.”

“So you weren’t there when Nola and Morgan were discussing the winner?”

“Nope. In fact, I was against a far wall at the rear of the auditorium listening to Patti’s sister sing. The press saw me, and Detective Vaughn did, too.”

“Detective Vaughn is here?”

“He has been for a while.”

“But I never saw him backstage.”

“Maybe he just wanted to keep an eye on me. Who knows?”

“Want me to find out?” It was time she spoke to Vaughn about what she’d learned, and quizzing him about his watching Jeffery would be a good lead in. “I have to talk to him anyway.”

“So you’re going to tell him what you discovered last night?”

“There are a few things he should know, and I can drop the question about you into the conversation, just to see what he says.”

Movement from the crowd caught her attention and she raised her gaze to see Julie struggling with a group of canines. “Oops, I’d better help my assistant first, or there’s going to be trouble.”

“Can I do anything?”

Ellie counted the dogs and saw that four were missing, and one of them was Cheech. “You’d have to go onstage.”

“Don’t worry. I can play invisible when I have to.”

“Okay, then. Collect Patti’s Chihuahua and any other dogs you see. I doubt the models will need them for a while.”

Standing, Jeffery edged through the thinning crowd. The noise level had lowered, and things were calming down. She walked to the pen and helped Julie with her charges. Spike had again stuck a foot through the obnoxious fifth leg of his coat, and she bent to straighten it. Daisy had no tam, and Ellie could only imagine where it was. Lucy appeared calm and collected as if used to crowds, and so did Jojo.

“How are things out there?” she asked her assistant.

“Almost under control. The security guards are leading people offstage. I hear they’re checking tickets. It appears about a hundred were marked with a purple X on the back.”

“Ahh, who got those?”

“The ones given to the models and the bigwigs. I guess they figured the models would only give their extras to the ‘in’ crowd or family, and those folks are okay.”

Ellie groaned internally. Great. She’d given Viv, Stanley, and Georgette Patti’s tickets, so they had the ones with the X. Her mother would be at this party with bells on.

They turned at the rattle of bottles. The caterers were back, and they were pushing a cart stacked with cases of champagne. A three-tiered cart followed behind, that one filled with appetizers, and another followed with napkins, glasses, and all manner of serving supplies.

“This place is fast becoming a zoo. Where do you suggest we take the dogs?”

Julie scoped out the area, then smiled. “How about if we just move things back about twenty feet and set ourselves up a couple of chairs, sort of like a line of sitting guards? Think that will work?”

Jeffery came up behind them and joined in. “Sure. You two pull the pen out while I collect the chairs. We’ll take our seats and stay in place, spell each other if we need the restroom or something to eat. No one gets close to these little guys without going through us.”

Impressed, the girls followed his suggestion. In ten minutes the dogs were protected and munching on Sara Studebaker’s gourmet biscuits, while Julie poured bottled water into their bowls. Some had even settled into their dog beds and were already asleep.

Now that she had a break, it was time for Ellie to do one of her favorite things: people-watch. First, she’d found the comment Marcus made about Morgan Prince fascinating. With all the gossip going around, why hadn’t she heard this story before? She spotted him standing, hovering really, over Nola as if he were a papa bird. Was Marcus correct? Was the big man a phony? Did he really have secret affairs while pretending to be madly in love with his business partner?

She found Beatriz standing alone and noted there was no action between her and her employer. With her blank expression, was it possible she was one of those people who were good actors? Many folks had learned how to cover their tracks, even though they were involved in illicit activity. A few even thought cheating was a game, and enjoyed seeing how much they could get away with.

“Who are you staring at?” asked Julie.

“Morgan Prince,” Ellie answered. Her assistant seemed to know everything about everyone. Now that they were relaxed, the mere mention of his name could be enough to trigger a reaction.

“Oh.” Julie sipped her champagne. “Any particular reason why?”

“He’s a nice-looking man, and he’s been good to me. I understand he hired Beatriz, the new girl, with little to no references, and I wondered if he treated all women that way.”

“So you’ve heard the rumors.”

“Just one, from someone who doesn’t gossip. It was a surprise, since he and Nola seem like such a loving couple.”

Julie grinned “Do you remember the television show from a couple of years back?
Ugly Betty?”

“I loved that show, hated when it went off the air. It was great fun.” She raised a brow. “Are you saying what happened in that series was true? It was a good portrayal of the fashion industry?”

“In an exaggerated way, yes. You’ve been with us a week now, so you know there’s plenty of talk about a woman’s size, and the backbiting isn’t quite so outrageous. But the sleeping around part? That was true.”

“So you’re saying our Mr. Prince isn’t as well-behaved as he appears.”

“He has a penis and he wields power, doesn’t he?”

“And that means he takes advantage of his position? Then why hasn’t anyone talked about it?”

Julie shrugged. “This is just a guess on my part, but up till now he’s been running the show. It’s not smart to gossip about someone who can have you dropped in a single sentence.”

“Ah, I see. And now that his reign of power is over?”

“People will talk again, until the next time.” She took another gulp of her drink. “So, who said what about him?”

“It doesn’t matter. It was just a comment involving him with Beatriz, the new girl.” Ellie waited a beat. “Do you know much about her?”

“No one seems to have any info, and that’s odd, but if she comes from LA, well, they do things differently out there.” She leaned back in her chair. “As for her and Morgan, who knows?”

“Then you don’t think it’s true?”

“Anything is possible, but . . .”

“If not her, who was he seeing?”

“The gossips threw a lot of names around, but no one in particular. Once this contest got under way, his personal life was put on hold. All folks talked about was which designers would be chosen, and who would win the big prize.”

“And Nola?”

“Is pretty much the way she appears. Far as I can tell, she’s straight with Morgan and the people she deals with.” She finished her drink and held out her glass. “I’m starving. I’d like to get a refill and some food. I can bring back one for you, too, if you want.”

“That would be great,” said Ellie, happy to get a little thinking time. She had a lot to mull over.

“More humans to add to the list,
” came a voice from behind her once Julie set out. “
Got any ideas?”

She scanned the crowd before answering. She was tired of people asking why she spoke to the dogs. Clark Fettel grazed at the canapé table; Marcus was flirting with Kate and Claire, and no one seemed to be paying her or the canines any attention. She slid her bottom to the side and gazed at her boy. “How many more did you come up with?”

“Three, of course.”

“Three? But Marcus is already on the list, so Morgan is my next choice. It’s odd the way Klingon takes to him so easily—something’s fishy there. And Prince is a cheater, which automatically makes him untrustworthy. Who else is there?”

“Use yer brain, Triple E. If that Prince guy is dishonest, who’d be after him?”

“About a dozen angry boyfriends?”

He snorted.
“Try that Nola lady. She’d be upset with anyone her guy was doing the human hula with. If he was friendly with Lilah Perry—”

“Lilah Perry? Who said anything about him messing around with the dead designer?”

“I’m just asking because of Klingon. There has to be some reason why he trusts the prince-man, and it could be because the guy was seein’ Lilah.”

The idea had filtered through her brain, but it seemed too outlandish to be true. “So if he was?”

“It could’a made Nola so mad, she decided to do somethin’ about it. Somethin’ bad.”

Chapter 17

“Sitting all alone, Ms. Engleman? I’m surprised.” Detective Vaughn stared down at her, his mouth drawn in a frown, his gray suit wrinkled. “I hear you’ve been doing a bit of sleuthing. I’m sure you realize you could be held for interfering in an ongoing investigation if you continue to snoop.”

Ellie heaved out a breath. She’d allowed Julie to peruse the food table and told Jeffery to spend some time with Patti. She had hoped to speak to Detective Vaughn, but not when he put her on the hot seat at the start of their conversation. And who had told him about what she’d been doing? Surely not the same people who had begged her to prove Jeffery King innocent.

“I’ve looked into a few things, but I did so only because Nola and Morgan believe Jeffery’s been wrongly accused, and they asked for my help.”

Leaving a chair between them, he took a seat and crossed his legs. “Just because a couple of people want your so-called expertise doesn’t mean you won’t be arrested.”

Ellie twisted toward him in her seat. “Has someone complained about me stepping on their toes? Because I don’t believe I’ve gotten in anyone’s way. And I do have things to report that I think you’ll find interesting.”

He pulled the usual notebook from his inside jacket pocket. “Were these ‘things’ legal or did you find them out while breaking and entering?”

“I—what—what do you mean by that?”

“You must be aware of what breaking and entering means. I heard you and that dog of yours have done it plenty of times before.”

Ellie inhaled a gasp. “Instead of digging to find out how I spend my time, you should pay better attention to this case. You might find out the same things I have, and that could send you in another direction in this investigation.”

As if on traffic duty, he held up a hand. “Take it down a notch, Nancy Drew. Just because I arrested Jeffery King doesn’t mean I’ve stopped looking into things.”

Ignoring his Nancy Drew remark, she gazed across the room and spotted Jeffery still talking with Patti, Dominique speaking with Claire and Clark Fettel, and her mother and Viv deep in conversation with Marcus.

“Then you know there are a slew of people who had a beef with Lilah Perry, and they also had the opportunity to carry out the identical plan you’ve accused Mr. King of running.”

He continued to frown as he skimmed through his notebook. “Let’s compare information, shall we? There’s Clark Fettel, for one. He and Ms. Perry battled frequently, he was up for the same job as Jeffery King, which he lost, and he was close enough to those gift bags to doctor them, correct?”

“Yes, and he’s got a mean streak. I wouldn’t put it past him to try such a thing.”