Library
Dee’s Mansion
“I told you that you weren’t going to find anything.” Parks turned off the last video. “Just Dee being Dee. Kidding all the staff. Cracking jokes. Rushing from one appointment to another. None of those videos caught any strangers or anything that wasn’t normal to the household.” He made a face. “If your household comprised a bunch of teenagers and twenty-something fans whom Dee treated like family instead of employees. Between the blaring music and the arguing about what was best for Dee, it always surprised me that they managed to get any work done.”
Jessie knew what he meant. Dee had a large staff: housekeepers, gardeners, drivers, hair and makeup artists, chef, maintenance workers. Probably more than that since Jessie had been here. She shrugged. “You know how estranged she was from her own family. Was it any wonder she wanted to gather a new family around her to push away the loneliness? Besides, they all loved Dee. Most of them were smart and savvy, and if anyone stepped out of line, the other members of the staff found a way to discipline them for it.” Her gaze was suddenly narrowed on his face. “At least, that’s the way I always found it. Did you run across any employees who caused Dee any problems?”
He shook his head. “It was just a weird conglomeration of people, and Dee was the least temperamental of any of them. I don’t know how she even kept track of them.”
She grinned. “That was the housekeeper’s job. Actually Laura Blair was an accountant before she decided she’d rather work for Dee.”
“I didn’t know that. I’m surprised you’d remember.” His lips twisted sardonically. “You fit right into this menagerie, didn’t you? Much better than I did. It’s no wonder you blamed me when I lost Dee. I’ve been thinking maybe I deserved it.”
“I was upset. You did a good job taking care of her, Parks. These people who snatched her have funds and people and they’ve spent some time planning it. I haven’t done such a good job myself of getting her back.” She grimaced. “And I’m the one who picked you for this job, so I’ve no right to blame you.”
“That’s very generous of you. How much of it do you believe?”
She smiled. “Maybe forty percent.”
He chuckled. “I can always trust you to be bluntly honest with me. But it’s one of the things that made me run like hell whenever I was tempted to try to get you in bed.”
“Nah, it wasn’t. You could have taken the honesty, but I think I intimidated you. I affect some people that way. You should have bitten the bullet and just gone for it. I adore sex. We could have had a hell of a time.”
He tilted his head. “Is it too late?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to see.” She got to her feet. “Will you make me a copy of these tapes and leave it on the desk? I’m getting edgy about not hearing from Kendra about the drop yet. I should get back to FBI headquarters, but I want to say hello to some of the staff before I go.”
He nodded ruefully. “I’ll do anything to prove you don’t intimidate me.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Colin.”
She left the library and started up the grand staircase in search of Laura, the housekeeper. Her gaze raked the beautiful beige- and cream-colored tiles and wonderful stained-glass windows that constituted the foyer. Everything about this mansion was gleaming and rich and as sunny as Dee had wanted it to be. But none of it was really Dee. This was all window dressing for her career and the parties that were part of her image.
“What are you doing here?” Laura was hurrying down the staircase toward her. “Did you hear something about Dee?”
“No.” Jessie gave her a quick hug. “Maybe later today. I just wanted to say hello and ask if there was anything you think I should know about what was going on here during those last days.”
Laura shook her head. “It was the usual chaos. Well, maybe not quite. Dee was composing more than she usually did. Some really good stuff, Jessie. It was like John Williams meets Andrew Lloyd Webber.”
“That’s quite a combination. And definitely not at all her usual style.”
“But maybe it was heading in that direction?” She shook her head. “I don’t know. It was just touching and beautiful and…different. She was different.”
“I noticed that, too,” she said gently. “I was blaming it on growing pains. But I was really asking about staff or any of her friends who might have dropped in to see her lately.”
“Like I said, she was doing a lot of composing. She was mostly in the garden or at the beach. I can’t remember her inviting anyone here to the house.”
“I know the detectives must have questioned you all after the kidnapping. You didn’t notice anyone strange on the grounds?”
“We’re all pretty strange ourselves, Jessie. They’d blend right in,” she said dryly. “But you know how careful I am about accepting new hires or contractors on the property. I didn’t do it this time, either. And none of our guys saw anyone suspicious on the grounds during that period.”
Jessie nodded. “I had to check.” She gave Laura’s hand a squeeze and started past her up the staircase. “I’m going to go and look around Dee’s bedroom. I won’t be long.”
“Those detectives and FBI guys were in there for hours,” she said sourly. “And I stayed right there with them to make sure they didn’t bother any of her stuff. Cops or not, she was such a big celebrity they might have wanted trophies.” Her eyes suddenly misted. “I said ‘was,’ past tense. You make sure that doesn’t come true. There’s nothing past tense about Dee.”
“No there isn’t,” Jessie said. “And Kendra was just saying before I came here that this was going to be a good day.”
“Right.” She continued down the stairs. “Let me know before you leave if there’s anything else you need. Everything’s just the way she left it.”
And when Jessie opened the bedroom door a minute later, she could see that Laura had been telling the truth. Just the way she left it. It wasn’t like any of the other rich, sunny, spectacular rooms in the house. There was only a double bed with a simple, colorful patchwork bedspread and several pillows tossed against the oak headboard. Across the room, there was a carved desk that Jessie remembered picking up for Dee on the first tour after she’d come to work for her. Set against the wall, near the bed, was the guitar that she treasured. That Gibson Firebird instrument was the only expensive item in the room. Other than that it could have still been the room of that teenage girl in the cramped apartment who had sung her songs only for herself before the world had discovered the great Delilah Winter and turned her into a commodity.
She went to the nightstand and picked up a framed picture of Dee and her on a day when Jessie had taken her to the set of one of Jessie’s stunt movies. There was a second photo that had a shot of the two of them in Paris. Still another of them sitting cross-legged together on the corner of the stage while they listened to a John Williams rehearsal at the Hollywood Bowl. No photos at all of Dee’s mother. Jessie could feel the tears sting her eyes as she put the photo she’d picked up back down on the nightstand.