Free Reel Stuff by Don Bruns Page A

thinking was he here to facilitate the murder? Did he want to make sure of the outcome?”
    â€œAmigo,” James said, “they were best of friends. You’re my best friend, right? Would I kill you? And if I was responsible for your death, would I come down a day early just to watch you die? I don’t think so.”
    â€œSkip, really,” Em was pleading her case, “this guy gets a pass. He’s feeling very sorry and guilty about Londell’s death. He realizes that if he hadn’t asked him to do a guest shot, well, you know—”
    â€œAre you sure he gets the pass from you because he feels bad? It’s not because he’s handsome and charming as well? Was there possibly a little flirting going on?”
    She just glared at me, not responding.
    â€œWhat if you were involved with Em, James?”
    â€œWhat?” He acted like I’d just accused him of murder or grand theft auto. “That’s pretty far-fetched, partner.”
    Em smirked. “You know, I could teach you some things, James. You might be surprised.”
    My partner swung his attention to me.
    â€œPard, Clint Anders is the executive producer of
DM
. One of his best friends flew in to guest star and do him a favor.”
    â€œYeah. Anders has a legitimate reason for being here.” I was raising my voice to fight the crowd noise, but also to emphasize my point. “And so does everyone else, am I right? Let me make my point. If you want to show he was murdered, you’ve got to have suspects, and there doesn’t seem to be a ton of them waiting in the wings. Consider this. What if Anders was interested in Ashley?”
    â€œYou’re pushing it, pal.”
    â€œAnd he finds that Ashley is making a play for his good friendJason Londell. So he sees an easy way to take care of Londell and get Ashley Amber on the rebound.”
    â€œYou’re grasping at straws. This was a good friend.”
    â€œYeah? Well, I saw Anders and Amber this evening, and they looked pretty cozy. His arm around her, hushed conversation—”
    Em reached out and touched my hand.
    â€œIt’s been a tough time for the two of them.”
    â€œYou’re right. But like I said, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of potential killers out there.”
    â€œExcept a cinematographer who took off with evidence in his camera.” James frowned.
    â€œAnd a young lady who probably lives twenty-three hundred miles away as the crow flies.”
    â€œBoys,” Em sipped the last of her white wine and standing up, she said, “we’ve got our work cut out for us. If Jason Londell was killed, we need to find out how, why, and by whom. I’m with Skip. Everyone is considered a suspect until they aren’t.”
    â€œChad Rich, the grip?” James was establishing parameters.
    â€œEveryone, James. That guy especially. He was up there.”
    â€œHis partner. Jeez, we don’t even know who the other grip was, do we, James?” I gave him a frown. “We don’t know jack. We at least should know the two grips. It hit me earlier that you never talked to the other one.”
    â€œI’ll track down Chad,” James said. “He’ll give me the name, and we’ll do an interview. It was a slipup.”
    It’s hard to remember James ever admitting he could slip up until now.
    â€œIn the meantime, to answer our client’s main concern—”
    â€œWhere is Juliana Londell?” Em asked. “Ashley Amber wants to know if her sister killed Jason Londell. She wants to know if Juliana was sending threatening e-mails to Jason. We have yet to address her questions regarding Juliana. And we’re already spendingthe check. Can we start thinking smart?” Em was obviously upset that we hadn’t been doing enough.
    â€œWhat if we call her agency?” I asked.
    â€œProbably the first place we should have started. Boys, sometimes I wonder why