Firework Fiasco Page 8

  Nona was right. There was no way Calvin could have counted on the variable of Nona leaving the scene, Darn. It seemed we were back to a real murder and a real killer to find.

  “I think we need to operate under the assumption that Calvin really was murdered,” Zak said. “While there’s a possibility Calvin had a reason to want to fake his death, things become much too complicated once you start to think through the entire situation.”

  “So if he’s dead where’s his body?” Nona asked. “And what’s up with the animal blood on the blue sequined jacket? I can’t remember whether Elvis was wearing it when I found him dead on the bed, but I do know he was wearing a blue sequined jacket that evening.”

  I looked at Zak. “What should we do?”

  “Talk to the other Elvises,” Zak answered.

  “That’ll only get you tossed in jail,” Nona warned.

  “I’m not going to get drunk and pick a fistfight with someone who’s equally drunk. Zoe and I will go over to the competition and work the crowd. Hopefully, someone will know something that will help us make sense of things.”

  “Talk to a woman named Vera,” Nona suggested.

  “Who’s Vera?” I asked.

  “She’s a sometime girlfriend of Elvis #3. I met her last night. She’s young. Pretty. Seems like she could do better than a worn-out Elvis impersonator, but I think she’s genuinely concerned that Elvis left the competition. She mentioned to the others that she’d been trying to contact him, but he wasn’t answering his texts or calls. She also mentioned a friend she planned to contact: Gavin. I don’t have a last name or any other information, but if you can find Vera, she might be willing to give you what you need.”

  “Okay,” Zak said. “Anything else?”

  “Elvis #2, Jason, seemed to be the most vocal about the fact that Calvin had gotten in too deep, like he tended to do, and had taken off as a result. He didn’t specify what it was he was too deep in to, but the others seemed to agree. Like I told Zoe earlier, the consensus was that Calvin was alive and well and I’m just some crazy old woman who’s making the whole thing up.”

  “Jason is the one Elvis #4, Trent Pinedale the podiatrist, felt was most likely to win the competition. I suppose if Calvin was a strong contender, which it seems he was, having him out of the way will only help the guy.”

  “Okay,” Zak said. “We’ll make a point to speak to Jason and Vera. Anyone else come to mind?”

  “Yolanda. She’s some sort of Elvis groupie. She didn’t seem to be attached to any one Elvis, but she shows up at a lot of events where the Elvises appear. I didn’t much care for her attitude and might have said some rude things to her about her overall appearance, so you might not want to mention the connection between us.”

  “Does Yolanda have a last name?” I asked.

  “I’m sure she does, but I don’t know it. Ask around. She’s tall and thin with big red hair. She has a Brooklyn accent that fades in and out depending on the amount of alcohol she’s consumed. She speaks loudly and has a lot to say about everything. She was with the Elvises at the bar the night I met Elvis #3. I think she could know something, but the two of us took a dislike to each other right away, so she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to share when I started asking questions. You know,” Nona tapped her chin, “on that first night I met Elvis #3, after we all went to the beach, not only was Yolanda there but she had a friend with her too. I can’t remember her name—I’m not sure I ever knew it—but someone might be able to tell you.”

  “Okay. That gives us a starting point,” Zak said.

  “I’ll call my mom to see if she can watch Catherine for a couple of hours,” I said. “I don’t want to ask Alex to give up her Saturday babysitting.”

  “I can watch her,” Nona offered.

  I looked at Zak with a plea on my face. I didn’t want to make Nona mad by indicating that I didn’t trust her with my baby, but I didn’t want to leave Catherine with her given her current state of mind.

  “Actually, Ellie called earlier to say she was planning to pick Catherine up. There’s some sort of event being sponsored by the mother’s group she belongs to and she wanted to take both babies,” Zak said.

  I let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll call her to let her know we’re going out. We can just drop Catherine off on our way to the beach.”

  Chapter 10

  Tall and thin with big red hair. As it turned out, big red hair was an understatement. Yolanda Green sported a bright red beehive that would have made her grandmother proud. Not only was Yolanda dressed as some sort of tribute to the sixties, but she seemed to have embraced the free-love lifestyle I personally witnessed as she engaged in a lip-lock with one Elvis after another.

  “Yolanda?” Zak had finally been able to catch her between men and stepped up to introduce himself.

  “Well. hello there, handsome.” Yolanda licked her bright red lips. “Are you alone?”

  “He’s with me,” I said as I hurried forward to stand next to my husband before this very aggressive woman got her claws into him.

  Yolanda raised a brow. “I see.” She turned her attention back to Zak. I couldn’t help noticing the way she leaned forward to expose her ample bosom. “What can I do for you?”

  Zak smiled in a manner I found much too flirty, but I was sure it was just a tool to help loosen Yolanda up so she would tell us whatever she knew. From the way she was throwing herself at Zak, and the way I’d seen her throwing herself at every other man within a ten-mile radius, I was pretty sure she was in on the intimate details relating to the personal lives of quite a few of the Elvises.

  “I understand you’re a regular at this sort of competition,” Zak began, “and know many of the Elvis contestants personally?”

  Yolanda ran a long red nail up Zak’s arm, paused, then ran it down again. I wanted to slap her but refrained from doing so.

  “I do have a bit of an Elvis fetish,” Yolanda replied. “I don’t suppose you’d want to borrow a costume and go for a test drive?”

  Hello. I’m standing right here!

  “Actually,” Zak answered, after sending me a warning glance, “I was hoping you knew something about Calvin Jobs—Elvis #3—and his disappearance from the contest.”

  Yolanda raised a brow. “You a friend of his?”

  Zak lifted a shoulder. “A friend of a friend. Do you know anything?”

  Licking her lips, Yolanda replied, “I might. Buy me a drink?”

  Zak glanced at me. I nodded. Yolanda grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the tent that had been set up to sell alcohol and other cold beverages. I figured Zak would be at least fifteen minutes, so I decided to look around to see if I could find Elvis #2. The Elvises all seemed to be loitering in the area, mingling with judges and spectators. Elvis #2, Jason Michaels, supposedly was the most convincing of them all when in full costume. Based on what I’d heard, it appeared the contest would most likely have come down to Calvin Jobs and Jason Michaels. With Calvin out of the way, Jason was at a huge advantage.

  “Excuse me,” I said to a woman who wore an ID tag indicating she worked with the competition. “Can you tell me which contestant is Elvis #2? I believe his name is Jason Michaels.”

  She pointed to a man holding court near the bandstand. “That’s Jason. He has rehearsal in fifteen minutes, so if you want to speak to him, you’d best hurry.”

  “Okay. Thank you.” I turned and walked quickly to where Jason was speaking to a group of people, both men and women. I honestly was shocked at the amount of attention this competition was getting. There was live television coverage from a crew out of Bryton Lake of the actual competitions and a film crew was on hand to shoot material for a future television feature.

  “Mr. Michaels,” I interrupted the conversation he’d been having. I hated to be rude, but getting the guy alone wasn’t going to happen if I played by the rules of etiquette. “My name is Zoe. I wonder if I could speak to you for a moment about a private matter.”


  “A private matter?”

  “Involving Calvin Jobs.”

  Elvis #2 turned back to the group and said, “Sorry for the interruption. If you’ll excuse me I’ll find out what’s on this young lady’s mind, then come back in this direction.”

  The group seemed fine with the arrangement, so I walked a few steps away from them and I jumped right in with my first question. “I know you’re on a tight schedule, so I’ll be quick. I’m related to Nona. I assume you know who I’m referring to?”

  “The crazy dame with the pink hog.”

  “Yes. I imagine you’ve also heard she believes she witnessed Calvin Jobs’s murder. Well, she slept through the actual murder, but she witnessed the result.”

  “So she says. Personally, I don’t buy it. Calvin had some problems. Quite a few, from what I’ve heard. He was fired from his job in Vegas, and instead of doing what any normal guy would do and get a job in another casino there, he upped and went to Europe. I don’t have all the details, but it seems Calvin got hooked up with some guy who was in to some illegal activities that can not only get you arrested but can get you dead. Last I heard, he had some guy on his tail and was getting nervous. Chances are the heat was getting worse, so he took off.”

  “Do you know who Calvin was in business with or who might have been after him?”

  “Talk to Leroy Jenner: Elvis #1. He was good friends with Calvin at one time. If anyone knows what was really going on it most likely was him.”

  “Do you think there’s any possibility whoever was after Calvin caught up with him and killed him?”

  Michaels shrugged. “Sure. But if whoever was after Calvin killed him, the dame with the pink bike would be dead too. Guys like that don’t leave witnesses. Even unconscious ones.”

  He was probably right. If Calvin had been killed by a professional thug there was no way Nona would be alive to witness what she was sure she had.

  By the time I’d finished speaking with Elvis #2, Zak was making his way back to the spot where he’d left me.

  “Sorry about that.” He kissed me on the forehead. “The last thing I wanted was to have a drink with her, but I did want to find out what she knew.”

  “And did she know anything?” I asked.

  “Yes, she did. Let’s find a place to sit away from the crowd and I’ll catch you up.”

  I followed Zak to the little trail that led from the sand bordering the lake to the parking area that served the entire beach. About halfway up the trail we found a bench in the shade and sat down.

  “According to Yolanda, Calvin got hooked up with a man named Darwin Monceaux, who deals in precious gems. Illegally obtained gems, to be more precise. Yolanda wasn’t sure exactly how Calvin fit into the whole business, but basically, Monceaux and his team steal jewelry in one country, remove the gems from the settings, and smuggle them into another country, where they’re sold on the black market. While Monceaux has never been caught or prosecuted, it’s widely known among Interpol agents and other jewel thieves that the man behind the theft and smuggling ring is very well protected.”

  “So maybe Calvin was a courier.” Suddenly it hit me. “The costumes. Calvin didn’t smuggle anything into or out of the country in the pockets or lining; he smuggled the gems by replacing the rhinestones on his jackets with the real thing.”

  “Makes sense. I’m assuming Calvin was messed up or simply wanted out and Monceaux either killed him or had him killed.”

  “The problem with that is,” I pointed out, “if a professional criminal like Monceaux killed Calvin, he would never have left Nona alive.”

  Zak frowned. “That’s a good point. Even though she was passed out cold, a professional wouldn’t have taken the risk.”

  I sat back and stared off toward the crowd that was beginning to gather. “Elvis #2 said Calvin had been in some sort of danger before his death. What if Monceaux or his employees were leaning on Calvin? Maybe he’d messed up, or, as you suggested, he simply wanted out of the game. When I spoke to Dirk the other day he said he overheard Calvin on the phone. He didn’t hear everything, but Calvin said the stress was too much for him and couldn’t follow through with his commitment. Dirk took that to mean his commitment to the competition, but he might very well have been referring to the smuggling operation.”

  “I imagine that wouldn’t have gone over well.”

  I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my thighs. “The kind of activity Calvin seemed to have been involved in isn’t the sort you can just walk away from because it no longer suits you. I can understand why he might have wanted to disappear. Earlier, we discussed the idea that Calvin faked his death. I’m beginning to think that’s a better theory then I imagined initially. The only hiccup is the part Nona brought up, about the unpredictability of her leaving the scene, giving Calvin the time he needed to clean up and run. Most people wouldn’t have taken off the way she did. Most people, me included, would have called 911 and waited until help arrived, which would mean Calvin wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make his getaway.”

  “Unless he accounted for the possibility that Nona would stay and had a plan B in place,” Zak pointed out.

  “What sort of a plan B?”

  Zak leaned back and crossed one long, darkly tanned leg over the other. I could see his mind was working through a scenario. “The Elvises are professional impersonators. Many of them impersonate a number of different people. They’re good at what they do and, more importantly, they’re believable. What if someone was helping Calvin? Maybe someone was hiding and watching from a connecting room. If Nona hadn’t left, if she had stopped to call 911, maybe there was a plan for Calvin’s accomplice to intervene.”

  “Maybe the accomplice was dressed like a cop or an EMT?” I was beginning to catch on. “If Nona made the call, or tried to, this other person would have shown up and sent her on her way.”

  “It’s a theory. Maybe not a completely developed theory, but a theory.”

  I stood up and began to pace in front of the bench. “How do we prove this? How do we prove any of it?”

  “We find the accomplice.”

  I paused and snapped my fingers. “Leroy Jenner. Michaels said Elvis #1, Leroy Jenner, was friends with Calvin. If our theory is correct maybe he’s the accomplice we’re looking for.”

  Zak looked at his watch. “The next round of rehearsals are about to start. Let’s grab a beer and a seat and watch. We can track down Leroy after they’re finished. If we time it right we can grab Leroy just as the contestants are leaving the stage.”

  “Okay, but let’s be sure not to miss him. It might be hard to find him after everyone goes their separate ways.” I took Zak’s hand and we headed toward the beer tent. “Did you think to ask Yolanda about the friend Nona referred to?”

  “I did. Her name is Priscilla. Or at least that’s what she goes by. According to Yolanda, if she’s around you can’t miss her. She has dark hair and dresses to look like a young Priscilla Presley.”

  “How would a young Priscilla have dressed?”

  “Pretty much like anyone else from that era, but if she’s intentionally trying to impersonate her it should be obvious.” Zak looked around the tent. “Pretty much like that woman sitting at that table over there.”

  “Good catch. What do you say we wait on the beer and sit down next to Priscilla before someone else does?”

  As it turned out, Priscilla was a very nice woman who seemed to be in to the whole role-playing thing but otherwise was fairly normal.

  “Sure, I know Calvin. He’s been part of the business for a long time. Nice guy. I was sorry to hear he’d dropped out of the competition.”

  “Do you have any idea why he did?” Zak asked.

  Priscilla shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. I do know things changed for Calvin after he was fired from his gig in Vegas. He moved around a lot and stopped showing up at the various events and competitions. Most people felt he was embarrassed about being fired, but I think there might have b
een more to it. If you ask me, there was a woman involved in at least part of what went down, although I don’t know exactly how it all comes together.”

  “Do you have any idea who the woman might have been?”

  “Not for sure. He never mentioned a name or anything. I did see him outside a convention center once a couple of years ago talking to a woman. I thought he was pleading with her about something, but she ignored him, got into a cab, and left. I swear, it looked like he was crying. I didn’t want to intrude on such a personal moment, so I slipped back inside without saying anything. Two weeks later he was fired from his job for showing up to work drunk. I can’t say for certain the two things were related, but the timing suggests as much.”

  “Do you know anything about Calvin’s life outside his role as Elvis?” I asked.

  “Not really. I’ve never heard him mention a significant other or children. He did talk about a sister once in passing. I’m not sure they had much of a relationship. Calvin was a nice-enough guy, but he seemed sort of reckless to me. I heard he fell in with some bad people. I wasn’t surprised.”

  “Do you know what he was up to after he was fired from his job in Vegas?” I asked.

  Priscilla shrugged. “Like I said, I heard he fell in with some bad people. I know he was out of the country for a while. I’m not even sure when he came back. Before this week I hadn’t seen him in more than two years. In fact, the scene with the woman was the last time I saw him until he showed up here.”

  “Did you notice anything unusual or significant about him or his behavior when you saw him earlier this week?”

  “It looked as if he’d lost weight, but he really needed to. He seemed to be having fun with the others. I guess he seemed somewhat distracted but not unusually so. It was weird that he hooked up with that old broad. She had to have been a good thirty years older than him. Calvin was a popular guy. He could have gotten someone a lot younger to keep his bed warm.”