“As fascinating as that was,” said Kim, “I don’t feel like I learned much. Other than that men are disgusting, which I already knew.”
“Thanks.” Alex and Jacob spoke in unison. Jacob sounded sarcastic and somewhat irritated. Alex actually appeared to be expressing genuine gratitude at the insult.
“Though to be fair, Detective Daniels, we can glean some insight from the foregoing information.” The other three grew curious as to what Jacob could have possibly gotten from the post. “The flippant reference to Ms. Winters as ‘Virgin’ rather than her given name of Virginia implies that the author of the post did not, as implied, have sex with her. And whether or not the poster did in fact know her in grade school is irrelevant; given the date of the post, he was probably turned down more recently.”
Kim nodded. “Why would he bring up her sister?”
Jacob’s eyes darted as if he were scanning his own brain for ideas.
“Maybe our Ms. Winters wasn’t the first one who turned him down.”
Jacob started a bit in his seat. He hadn’t expected Alex of all people to have such an insight. He turned and looked over his chair.
“How do you suppose?”
“Honestly?” Alex chuckled, amused at his own veracity. “Because if a girl turned me down, and she had a younger sister…I’d do the same thing.”
Jacob bobbed his head, accepting what Alex said without judgment. The same couldn’t be said of Kim, who bit her tongue as she tightly gripped the steering wheel.
“We can easily find out,” said Phillips. “I’ve got a search hit on the sister. Mary-Jane Winters. Lives in Chelsea. Profile pictures from a couple of social networks look close enough to our victim, so I’m thinking she’s our girl.”
“Gin and Mary-Jane,” grinned Alex. “Intoxicating.”
“Good work, Phillips,” said Kim. “Looks like we have our next stop after we leave the studio. Just one problem I hadn’t really thought of before. How much do we really expect people to talk with a well-known actor in the room?”
“Who, me?” Alex asked playfully. “People love talking to me.”
“That’s cute, Kane. But the whole reason we’re going here in the first place is because the victim was turned down for a spot on your show just two weeks before her death. I’ll submit you might have some sway on your own set, but the sister of a woman your show turned away? Call me crazy, but she might be somewhat bitter.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Alex. “She wasn’t turned down maliciously or anything like that. She was just going to play an unnamed character in one scene. See, there was going to be a story arc where my character, Gareth Evans, is found making love to some random girl at a benefit for his wife’s museum. Of course, it isn’t really Gareth, it’s my evil twin—Jareth. But the scene was written out before she could even audition. No one told her, so she showed up anyway. That’s the only reason I remembered seeing her. If they’d told her the audition was cancelled, she wouldn’t have shown up, and I probably never would have made the connection.”
“Still,” said Kim. “Your star status might be a problem later on.”
“I’ve got some ideas on that,” said Alex. “We can talk more about it once we get into the studio.”
He looked out the window as The Slab—the massive Art Deco skyscraper which housed the shooting sets for Time After Time as well as several other shows—towered above them.
“Pull over, Detective. We’re here.”
Kim didn’t see any available parking, and she wasn’t about to circle the block for an hour; she pulled over onto the sidewalk. Shifting into park, she started to remove her seatbelt before turning around.
“Kane, you said you had a suspect. If Winters wasn’t turned down out of malice, than who from the show could have possibly had anything against her?”
“To be fair, I didn’t say there was no malice toward her at all. There was one person who didn’t want her on the set to begin with,” said Alex. “One person who didn’t trust her. Even better, someone who fits all that stuff that Jake here was saying earlier about our killer’s compulsive personality. All of it except for the part where you thought it would be a man.”
“Interesting,” said Jacob. “Who’s this female you have in mind?”
“The most controlling person I know,” said Alex. “My ex-wife.”
Chapter Eight
“I swear to God, Kane. I swear to God.”
Kim huffed and puffed her way down the hallway to the elevator. Alex had no trouble getting them in, managing to avoid any explanation regarding their purpose there. He pressed the elevator button for the 14th floor once the others had filed in.
“If we’re even going to entertain this idea, I want to know you aren’t wasting our time. So just answer me one question.” Kim grabbed Alex by the shoulder. “Are we just here so you can screw with your ex-wife?”
“Oh, most definitely.” Alex smiled as the doors slid closed with a ding.
Once they reached their destination, the doors opened to a sea of surprised faces. They hadn’t expected to see Alex again, especially not with his classic grin still intact. Alex led the team out of the elevator and toward a desk, where one of the studio assistants stood at her computer. She seemed distracted by something on the screen, and she quickly minimized several windows when she saw Alex approach.
“Welcome back, Mr. Kane,” she said with a smile. “What brings you back so soon?”
“We do,” said Kim as she and Jacob flashed their badges. “We need to have a chat with Charlene Stryker-Kane.”
The assistant gave Kim an overly sympathetic look. It was clearly disingenuous.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I hate to be a pooper, but Ms. Stryker is shooting right now. Can it wait?”
Kim scoffed. “Are you serious? Do we look like it can wait?”
Alex put his elbow on the desk, edging Kim away.
“Look, Gwen, we’re really sorry to intrude on a shooting day, but my friends here are in a bit of a pickle. Big case, jobs on the line. You know how it goes.”
“Actually, sir, I don’t,” said Gwen. She flipped her auburn hair back, revealing her neck. She knew from experience it was a weak point for Alex.
Unfortunately for her, Alex was steelier than usual. There was something about Kim that made him feel a need to prove himself, and he was determined to get the team onto the set.
“Oh, you will, Gwen,” said Alex.
He leaned over the desk and pulled a jump drive from the computer.
“I’m not sure Mr. Hindenburg would appreciate you pirating his own studio’s shows from his own studio’s computer. That is what you were doing when we walked up, wasn’t it?”
Gwen looked panicked, and a little pissed off.
“One second,” she said. She picked up her phone and dialed an extension to another assistant. “Hey, Jerome? When is Time After Time supposed to take a break from shooting? We need Ms. Stryker to the front, if you don’t mind.”