The Dead and the Beautiful (18 page)

The right reply, of course, would have been:
Of course, not, honey. I would never let my sister's murder charge get between us, even if you were trying to defend her when I think she's guilty
. But when did people ever say what they ought to say?

“Maybe we can get together for dinner this week?” she asked, knowing she probably sounded totally pathetic. “Or just a glass of wine?”

“Maybe. I've got a crazy week. And we're leaving right after school on Friday. Nik, I have to go. They seated my next patient.”

“Sure. I've got to get going, anyway. Busy day.”

“Talk to you later.”

She didn't know if he noticed he didn't say “love you” before hanging up, but she noticed.

Chapter 18

T
he Internet was a wonderful thing. Nikki didn't discount the importance of meeting people face-to-face; that was sometimes where she got her best information when she'd investigated the other murders. Whatever it was about her personality that made people think she was easy to talk to was an advantage. But the Internet was a good place to start her questioning. And it was a heck of a lot faster than driving all over L.A.

Not surprisingly, there was a ton of information on the Disney Fab Four: articles, blogs, photos. There were websites devoted to their TV show,
School Dayz
, which she read was now being watched by a new generation of kids. Once the show ended, it went into syndication, not only in the U.S. but in other countries as well. There was a huge fan club in Australia; six months ago, Angel and his band had played to a sold-out audience three nights in a row in Sydney.

There were also websites devoted to the individual stars of the runaway teen hit, which really appealed more to pre-teens, from what Nikki gathered. The first hits on the Internet, surprisingly, were devoted to the now-deceased Ryan Melton, who wasn't even a cast member. No one had anything bad to say about him before his death; now, he was approaching sainthood. There were sites for fans to leave comments, tributes, or even contribute money to some sort of foundation.

After taking a break, drinking a cup of green tea and eating a bag of cashews, and returning a few phone calls, Nikki began to research each of the cast members individually, starting with Diara. She learned what Diara's favorite perfume was, what she ordered at Starbucks, and who her favorite designers were: Prabal Gurung and Al-tuzarra. There was chatter about her role on
Casa Capri
and significant positive reviews. Nikki found postings of Diara's best hairstyles, information about her childhood, and tons about her marriage, but nothing about her cheating on Ryan; not a hint of impropriety.

Nikki moved on to examining Kameryn Lowe next. She found information on her fashion sense, her exercise regimen, and photos of the last vacation she and Gil spent with her cousins in Greece. Like Diara, there was nothing negative about her. Anywhere. The cattiest thing Nikki found was a fashion critic who thought the lipstick Kameryn was wearing at a movie screening was too bright.

Research on Angel and Julian produced similar results. Lots of girls talking about how hot the men were, how great Angel's voice was, and about how excited they were for the release of the new Calvin Klein ad featuring Julian. It appeared that Angel's solo singing career was about to take off. Critics didn't think he had range, and someone else said he was
weak in melody
, but his pre-teen and teen fans didn't seem to care. Julian had two movies coming out in the next year in which he played supporting roles, but was getting good reviews.

Nikki couldn't find any dirt. On any of them.

She went back to looking up info on
School Dayz
. With her initial research done, she was hoping to find someone who had worked with the Fab Four who she could talk to. She found an assistant producer, now working on
The Tonight Show
, filming in Universal City. She also found someone named Maurice Pillion who was a cast member for two seasons. Then his character was written off the show. She found an interview that mentioned tension between him and Angel and Julian on the set. After Maurice's character left the show, the actor had guest-starred in various TV comedies and dramas, with no parts that were memorable. He had starred in a family drama that lasted only half a season. In the last two years, he'd only appeared once, and that was on a celebrity game show. Apparently, his career had fizzled out.

Maurice Pillion owned a comic book store in West Hollywood. Bingo! Captain Kinney's Comics. Kinney had been the name of Maurice's character on
School Dayz
. She went to the store's website, read up on what was new in the comic book world, and decided to go pick up a couple of comic books for Jeremy's son, Jerry. She was always buying things for the girls because she knew what they liked, but Jerry was harder. He'd be tickled if she showed up at the house with something other than a T-shirt or a cupcake for him.

At four forty-five, Nikki was on Melrose Avenue looking for a place to park. She'd grabbed a ride from someone in the office to the car dealership and picked up her Prius. She found a spot on North Fuller and walked to the store, which featured comic books and collectibles, according to the website. Nikki walked into Captain Kinney's Comics; a bell rang somewhere in the store.

“Welcome to Kinney's Comics,” a young man called from a register at the counter in the middle of the store. He was tall and slender, and wore a Spider-Man T-shirt and khaki shorts. College-age, he was cute and far too hip-looking to be working in a comic-book store. At least he was too hip-looking for Nikki's idea of who worked at/went into a comic-book store. Of course, her opinion had been formed solely from episodes of
The Big Bang Theory,
which was about a bunch of science geeks living in Pasadena.

She glanced at the display table closest to her. Comic books were laid out faceup with a sign advertising N
EW
R
ELEASES
! A
MERICA'S
G
OT
P
OWER
, W
INTER
S
OLDIER
, T
HE
P
UNISHER
. She didn't recognize any of these comics or the characters they featured. She moved to another table, these filed vertically, and picked up one.
Wonder Woman
. Aha! Wonder Woman, she knew. She flipped through a couple of pages and glanced around. There were two customers browsing, in addition to the teenager the clerk was helping at the counter. Nikki was the only female in the store, and the oldest by fifteen years. She replaced
Wonder Woman
and grabbed another.
Aquaman.
Aquaman, she also knew. Jerry liked Aquaman.

She moved to a display shelf of Marvel Comics collectibles: action figures, jewelry, coffee mugs. She picked up a box with a
Nick Fury S.H.I.E.L.D. Pistol
in it. She had no idea what a Nick Fury S.H.I.E.L.D. pistol was, or who Nick Fury was, for that matter. She glanced around the store, trying not to look like she was casing the joint. She watched the teenager from the counter go out the door. She flipped the box in her hand over to read it. She held in her hand a replica of a needle gun prop. She still didn't know what it was. She placed it back on the shelf.

“Can I help you, ma'am?” the guy in the Spider-Man T-shirt called from the register.

She met his gaze. Smiled
the smile
. “I'm just looking around.”

He nodded, started to turn away, then turned back. “Aren't you . . . ?” He pointed at her, as if having an
aha
moment. “Nikki Harper, Victoria Bordeaux's daughter?”

“That's me.” Again,
the smile.

“Wow.” He leaned on the counter. “I grew up watching Victoria Bordeaux movies:
The Widow's Daughter
,
Fifteen Green Street
,
Tell Me No Lie
.”

“Really?” Nikki was genuinely surprised. This young man was not in the age group that still watched Victoria's early movies. She walked over to the counter.

“
Fortune's Wheel
is my all-time favorite,” he told her. “It should have won best picture over
Marty
.”

She lowered her voice and leaned closer. “My mother thinks so, too.” She stood up. “You're young to be a Victoria Bordeaux fan.”

He grinned and offered his hand to shake hers. “Sean McFee. I was raised by my grandmother. She said that when she was younger, people used to say she looked like Victoria Bordeaux. And my grandmother's from Idaho.” His cheeks brightened. “So she always loved your mother.”

“I love hearing stories like that. What's your grandmother's name?”

“Elsie. Elsie McFee. She lives in a nursing home in Glendale now. Alzheimer's. But I see her a couple of times a week. We still watch your mother's movies together. Nana can't remember what she had for breakfast, but she remembers all the plots to all the Victoria Bordeaux movies.”

A door in the back opened. “Maury, guess who's here?” Sean called. “Nikki Harper, Victoria Bordeaux's daughter.” He turned back to Nikki. “Maury's in show business, too. Was. He starred in
School Dayz
when he was younger.”

From his photos on the Internet, Nikki recognized the man who walked out of the back of the store. He wasn't aging as well as his costars were. He looked older than his twenty-nine years. His brown hair was already receding and his skin looked splotchy. He had a bad spray-on tan that made him look glow-in-the-dark orange. His orange polo didn't help.

“Ms. Harper, nice to meet you.” Maurice Pillion offered his hand and shook hers. He wore a gold necklace, bracelet, and ring. The ring was on his right hand, not the left; according to Wikipedia, he'd never been married.

“Nice to meet you.”
The smile.

“Hey, man. Can I help you?” Sean spoke to one of the other customers.

The twentysomething guy nodded. “I'm looking for a comic called
Mickey Finn
. For my dad.”

“Not sure if we have any. But if we do, they'd be over here in the case.” Sean turned back to Nikki. “Really nice to meet you, Ms. Harper. My nana will be thrilled when I tell her you came in today.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Sean.” She returned her attention to Maurice. “Sean was telling me that you starred in
School Dayz.
I recognize you.”

“That was a long time ago. Seems like another life.” When he looked at her, his pale blue eyes seemed sad. “Thanks for stopping by. What can I help you with? We just got more copies of the latest
Kotaku
in.”

She must have had a weird look on her face because he chuckled. “You're not looking for yourself, are you?”

She laughed with him, repositioning her Prada on her shoulder. “No, I have no idea what
Kotaku
is. I was looking for something for a friend's son. He's in middle school. I wanted to help him start collecting comic books.”

“Great age to start. You know what he likes?”

“Hm. Aquaman. I know he reads other comics, but I've heard him talk about Aquaman.”

“If you want to help him get started collecting, I'd suggest getting him something vintage, but not too expensive. Until you know he's serious about collecting.”

“And that he's going to take care of them.”

“Exactly,” Maurice agreed, leading her to the back left corner of the store. “Let's see,
Aquaman
.” He began to flip through a row of comic books displayed upright, all in plastic sleeves.

“So you were on
School Dayz
. A teen star.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Crazy life, I guess. My boyfriend was . . .
is
Jeremy Fitzgerald. Dr. Fitzgerald now.”

“Really? I know Jeremy. He's my dentist. Wow.” He continued flipping through the comic books. “Now,
he
was a star.”

“So . . . I guess you knew the Disney Fab Four pretty well?” she asked, hoping it didn't sound as awkward to him as it did to her.

He frowned. “I was pretty good friends with Julian and Angel, but I was never one of them. They were tight with Kameryn and Diara from day one on the set. It was like everyone, including them, knew they were special.” He pulled out a comic book and showed it to her. “I've got a couple of these. 1962, first series. This is number thirty-two.”

She took the comic book from him and glanced at the front cover. It had a giant hand clutching Aquaman. “Thundering from the deep . . .” she read. “Tryton the Terrible.”

“That's really awful, Diara's husband being murdered in their home,” Maurice said.

“Dreadful. I'd met him just a few nights before he died. I met all of them. The Fab Four and their spouses. My mother is working with Diara and Kameryn on
Casa Capri
.” She began to flip through the pages of the comic book. “I don't know if you've been reading the paper, but the police made an arrest early on.”

“I heard that. Some woman.” He was flipping through the comics again.

“Actually, it's Jeremy's sister, Alison.”

He frowned as he looked at her. “Jeremy's sister? You're kidding? I don't really keep up with that kind of stuff. Did she really do it?”

“No.”

“I've got a
Justice League of America
, 1960. See, Aquaman appeared in other comics before he got his own.”

“Maurice, do you mind if I ask you about the Fab Four?”

“What about them?”

“I . . . I guess I want to know something about what they were like, before they became famous.”

“You mean before they were the Fab Four? That term wasn't even coined until after I left the show.”

“Why
did
you leave the show?” she asked.

“Wasn't my idea. I was making good money and having a blast. I got written off. The show started out with my character, Kinney, being good friends with Angel's and Julian's characters. I had equal billing, in the beginning.”

“I didn't know that,” she said.

“We started out with the same pay and then, for whatever reason, more stories were written around their characters and less around mine. At the time, my parents and I were told that their characters were more popular, but I always wondered if the fact that more stories were written for them made them more popular.” His last words were spoken with an emotional catch in his voice. “I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem harsh. Or jealous, or anything. I have a good life. It didn't turn out like I thought it was going to, but I . . . I'm happy. My girlfriend and I, we just got engaged.” He smiled. “She's got a little boy from a previous marriage. Cute as can be.”