Free You Don't Know Jack by Adrianne Lee

it to stop." He looked perplexed as I hurried him to Old Yeller. He finally said, "What do you mean a suspect list of our own? Don't you believe Lars was the third victim of the BBK?"
    "I haven't worked that out, but in case he wasn't, we should cover all the bases." I started the engine. "I don't know if I ever told you, but when plotting murder mysteries, I work from the theory that the dead body is the most important character. I ask myself who wanted him or her dead and why and that gives me the story, the other characters involved, as well as the method to solve the crime. So, we start with Lars. Who wanted him dead and why?"
    "A longer list than the Oscar nominees."
    True. He probably had as many enemies as fans, but that was too large a pool to draw from. "We can't get too far afield. We need to hone in on his inner circle."
    He thought a moment. "No one's more inner than Bruce. As to motive, well, Lars hired you to get something or other on Bruce. Perhaps he caught Lars snooping around and they fought and Bruce..."
    He drew his hand across his throat, apparently buying the Madam Zee dagger scenario.
    I made a face. "Stone and I can alibi Bruce."
    "Damn. The spouse is always the most likely suspect. How did you end up being his alibi?"
    We hadn't had time to really talk since the night of the murder, what with Stone keeping us apart, hauling us to the station and continuing to keep us apart, not to mention absconding with our cell phones which literally squelched phoning and texting between us.
    As I drove I explained how I'd been eavesdropping on Bruce and Stone when I heard the scuffle — that I now realized was Lars being murdered — in another room.
    "Since Stone hasn't returned my Nikon or high-tech recording device, we'll need some back up gear." We stopped at Walmart, bought a couple of throwaway cameras, and hit a Starbucks afterwards, where I clued him into my plan over a couple of triple-shot, double mocha Grandes. I figured if we took photos of as many of the memorial attendees as possible, and mingled in the crowd, listening, we might glean something that could lead to proving who'd killed Lars.
    Back in my car, we headed to the celebration of life party, being held at Maplewood Greens Golf Club on Maple Valley Highway. Apollo was fiddling with his new cell phone, a SmartPhone he'd upgraded to after Stone took his old one. He said, "This phone is better than sex."
    "Really?" I watched his finger stroke the screen and could see what he meant. There was something sensuous about it. Maybe I needed one. "Would it replace my vibrator?"
    "Absolutely."
    Oh, yeah, I definitely needed one. Though... on second thought, how much tension would a cyber orgasm relieve? And even though my bank account bulged thanks to Lars' check, I was back to watching my pennies in case I needed to bail Apollo out of jail, or hire him a lawyer.
    He began typing, checking e-mail, I supposed, or texting or tweeting. Or maybe climaxing.
    I hoped someone was. Climaxing, that is.
    He said, "What about other family members?"
    "Deceased. Lars was an only child, change of life baby. His parents were in their sixties when he was in middle school."
    "I'm eliminating the Crain Sisters and the Golden Oldies," Apollo said. "Besides the obvious, the consensus at the C & F is that the world without Lars will be much less interesting."
    "We need to move to the next ring of his circle. Business associates. Starting with his agent, Carter Hawks. I can't figure out his motive though. Lars was Hawks' cash cow. His bread and butter. Worth more to Hawks alive."
    "Maybe not." Apollo tapped on his phone, read something, and then said, "Gossip Central, aka, Twitter has it that Lars was about to sign on with a new agent."
    "No... no... that can't be true. Carter Hawks pulled Lars from the slush pile and made him a superstar. You don't drop an agent or manager who does that for you. Besides, Lars would have told me. Part of our deal was that he was going to