Free Deadly Production (Mapleton Mystery Book 4) by Terry Odell Page A

prove where they’d come from even if one held a clue. And what the hell constituted a clue at this point, anyway?
    As he approached Marianna’s RV, he fumbled through the ring of keys seeking the one labeled 23, the one the guard said was hers. He’d singled it out when he noticed the jimmied door. What the—?
    You wanted a clue, Hepler. I’d say you found one .
     

Chapter 8

     
     
    Gordon darted through the Village to the wardrobe RV. Solomon and Xander were standing at the base of the stairs.
    “Good timing, Chief,” Solomon said. “We’re finishing up.”
    “Grab your gear and come with me. Now.” He turned and jogged back the way he’d come, Solomon at his heels. The techs, who did this all the time, followed at a more sedate pace.
    Gordon paused about five feet from Marianna Spellman’s RV. “It wasn’t like this when you and Dawson came by for Marianna’s schedule, was it?” Stupid question, but Gordon’s brain was spinning in neutral. “Don’t answer that.”
    Xander started snapping pictures. Long shots of the trailer, then moving in closer until they were photographing close-ups of the jimmied door. “No finesse,” he said. “I’m guessing a pry bar.”
    “On a positive note, we now have something to look for,” Gordon said.
    Solomon was crouched down, peering under the RV. “And we’ve found it.” He put on a fresh pair of gloves and waited—drumming his fingers against his thighs—for Xander to finish taking pictures of the object in situ .
    “Go for it,” the tech said, and Solomon pulled out the pry bar.
    “What do you bet it’s wiped clean? Or the guy wore gloves,” Solomon said. “I mean, nobody’s stupid enough to leave that kind of evidence lying around. At least nobody who owns a television.”
    “Wait a minute,” Gordon said. “Marianna had this huge black purse when I met with her. Did you find it in the wardrobe RV?”
    “Nope,” Xander said.
    “I saw it. Looked like it weighed a ton,” Solomon said. “Maybe she didn’t like schlepping it while she was wandering around the set.”
    Gordon agreed, although he had a little trouble imagining Marianna not being able to put her hands on anything she might possibly need. Then again, maybe she spent most of her day in her office, venturing out only when personal contact was required. She might have had an errand that took her to wardrobe and didn’t bother with her purse.
    Solomon snapped his fingers. “Wait. No keys with the body.”
    Gordon couldn’t imagine the always-in-control woman not locking her RV when she left. Wardrobe was nearer the other end of the lot, so it wasn’t like popping next door, even for a short time.
    He tried to process the scenario. “The RV was locked when you and Dawson got here to find her schedule, right?”
    Another stupid question. He had to stop engaging his mouth before his brain kicked in. If it had been unlocked, then why jimmy the door? “Don’t answer that, either.”
    Xander’s partner was examining the lock. “This has to be locked from the outside,” he said. “No way to lock yourself out, so if she locked the door, her keys should have been with her.”
    “So we have a missing purse, which may or may not have had her keys in it,” Gordon said.
    “And a cell phone,” Solomon said. “We didn’t find one in the wardrobe RV, either.”
    Gordon shook his head. “Mai said no cell phones on the set, so Marianna might have left it in her office.”
    Solomon rubbed his chin. “If that was the case, then she’d have been planning to go over to the shoot. If she was working on this side of things, she’d have had it with her.”
    “Excuse me,” the second tech said. “Shouldn’t we be inside the RV rather than standing out here speculating? The purse might be inside, along with her keys and cell phone.”
    Heat rose along the back of Gordon’s neck. “Yeah. Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”
    The tech opened the door. Standing in the doorway,