A Maxx Starr Mystery
The ripple in the pool could have been caused by the breeze. It wasn’t.
It was caused by Sophia Andrews falling backward into the pool with a bullet in her head. Sophia Andrews was a silent partner in the hotel, among many other things—none of them good. If justice were indeed served, the cops would even let it go. But cops are cops, and someone had to pay for murder.
~~
The cops showed up the next day.
The detective glanced around my apartment and then looked me in the eye. “Private Investigator Maxx Starr.” He paused for effect. “I understand you were at the hotel yesterday.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Did you know Sophia Andrews?”
“Yes, I knew her. Everyone knew her.” I wanted to add that no one liked her, but I kept that to myself.
“Did you see her yesterday?”
“Yes.”
When?”
“Around noon. Not sure of the exact time.”
“Why?”
“She tried to hire me to dig up some dirt on someone. I refused the job.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t ask. Just told her no. Didn’t want anything to do with her.”
He frowned, annoyed, but he let that go—for now. I continued. “She was insulted and put out when I left but very much alive.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“By the pool. She likes having private meetings outside, away from prying eyes and ears.”
“Where did you go after you left?”
“I stopped at a burger joint and got some food, then came home.”
The detective seemed satisfied with my answers and told me he might be back. I knew he would be back.
After they left, I picked up the phone and put it back down. No, calling him to warn him wouldn’t go well. He could not lie conveniently; the cops would see it immediately, especially this detective. He had to find out the hard way, from the newspaper. That way he could honestly say he saw it in the evening paper, if ever questioned. If I could help it, he wouldn’t get dragged into this.
I made coffee, put on a stack of jazz records, and settled in to think. I grabbed my notebook and started listing names of people I suspected she was blackmailing. Aside from running a line of girls for hire from the hotel, she also had a sideline of blackmail. Anyone she thought could be useful for her in some way was ripe for her attention. If she couldn’t find any dirt on you, she invented it. Sometimes, even just the threat of a scandal or other professional impropriety would be enough to bring them in line.
I’m no saint. As a PI, I sometimes do questionable or even illegal things. But I do have my scruples, few that they may be. Sophia had been instrumental in my getting my PI license a few years back. To that end, she thought she owned me. I had long since paid her back and reminded her of it regularly. Yesterday was another time I refused to do her bidding even for twice my usual pay. This didn’t sit well with her, but I quit caring long ago. There are still a few things left I won’t do. What she’d ask me to do was one of them.
The list of names was long, and I was trying to decide who the culprit might be when the phone rang in the early evening.
“Maxx, you want to come and play?”
The female voice on the other end was very inviting. Usually, I’d be over at her place in no time. “No, not tonight. You heard about Sophia?”
“Yes, Thank God. It was in the evening papers. Said she’d been found floating in the pool with her head half blown off.”
“Did it say what time?” I hadn’t gone out to pick up a paper and didn’t feel like going anywhere.
I heard the rustle of paper while she found the article. “Yeah, it says here about twelve-thirty yesterday afternoon. Her body was found floating in the pool by a hotel guest.”
“Shit. That puts me in the time frame. I was there and left just before twelve-thirty.”
“No one heard the shot.” She continued to read the article to me. It was suspected at the scene to be a small-bore bullet, probably twenty-two.” That explained it. They used a suppressor on a semi-automatic. That would probably quiet it enough not to be heard very far away.
I thanked her for calling, and next time, I’d take her up on her offer. I needed to figure out who killed her just to keep my ass out of jail. I was my own client this time.
~~~
I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat despite the hot sun streaming through the window. My stomach churned, and it wouldn’t take much for me to throw up. I lay on the bed for a long time, not moving, staring up at the ceiling fan as it turned endlessly, squeaking every few turns.
Eventually, nature stopped calling and started yelling, forcing me to move. Wobbly, I made it to the bathroom. I leaned against the sink, staring at the latest incarnation of Maxx Starr. Thoughts began to swirl in my mind. The cop had asked me when and where the meeting was, but he failed to ask me another question. When was the meeting set up?
An hour later, I barely managed to get myself presentable enough for public viewing. Time to go to work and head to the hotel.
Leaning against the door frame leading to Sophia’s private office, I watched Sophia’s Girl Friday and the all-around personal assistant thumbing through the hotel filing cabinet.
“It’s not here, Madge,”
Madge jumped and turned quickly to face me. Her ample chest heaved as she caught her breath. Her face turned red and back to normal in a few seconds as she recognized me.
“Maxx.” She leaned against the cabinet door, shutting it. We both knew what she was looking for. Sophia had at least one book she used to blackmail people. I’d seen it once a long time ago. Sophia was as smart as she was mean and ornery. She wouldn’t keep the books here.
“Oh, that?” She all but admitted it was what she was looking for.
I relaxed a little, crossing my arms and leaning against the door frame.
“So, Madge, how long have you been her Girl Friday?”
“A few years”
“Worked your way up to management. Not bad.” I referred to her early days as a common hooker, but she ignored my comment.
I changed the subject. “If you were to find her Book of Dirt, you would...?”
“I’d turn it over to the cops.” She finished for me.
“Oh really? Whoever has that book has the city by the short hairs.”
***
I sat behind Sophia’s desk after Madge, in a huff, stormed out of the office. Looking over the room from her perspective, it was a nice office. This was her public front and what she tried to present to the world. Sophie Andrews, hotel magistrate and general all-round friend of the city, but I knew much more was going on than just running a hotel.
It had been at least six months since I’d been in this office. The last time I’d talked to her was when she offered me the job of digging up dirt on an old friend. Chase Carter and I had been friends since the early days of my arrival in the city. He’d helped me get an apartment and find a job. He noticed my aptitude for finding things and people and suggested that I get a PI license. Right about then, I met Sophia, who was starting to branch out from the girls she ran to loan sharking and blackmail.
My background in the military and being a former MP during the war made me ideal for security work. At first, it was just the occasional protection detail for big-shot businessmen coming into town. Over time, it morphed into a full-time job as head of security at the hotel Sophia was involved in. It didn’t take long for her to spot my talents for ferreting out facts and secrets no one wanted to know.
Soon, I was on her private payroll, and with her pulling strings in city hall, I was a legal snoop for hire. It was clear from the beginning that she expected me to follow orders and do whatever was necessary to find dirt on anyone who got in her way. At first, I went along out of a sense of duty because I felt I owed it to her. However, as she got deeper into the blackmail scheme and got more dangerous people involved, the heat from the local cops got hotter, and I decided I’d paid my debt to her. When she asked me to find out more about Chase and his background and if there was anything she could use against him to get him to vote her way onto the city council, I balked and told her I was done with her.
That was the last time I’d seen her, until yesterday. I had heard rumors she had expanded her loansharking and gambling, none of which I wanted any part. All of which leads me no closer to finding out who killed her. Or why, but the why was obvious. She had crossed the wrong person, and they took expectation to it.
I pulled open the drawers on her desk, not expecting to find anything more than I did. The usual pens, pencils, paper, and odd notes here and there were all hotel-related. It was down in a lower drawer where I found a second desk calendar. Identical to the one atop her desk. But this one had a completely different set of notes, initials, and dates marked as opposed to the public one on her desk. Flipping through it, I saw a note—MS at eleven am., pool. That was my meeting with her. I grabbed a sheet of paper and started going through the calendar, making notes of dates and initials of past meetings and the few future ones she had already booked.
This was how she was running the side business from her hotel office. There were random notes here and there, but nothing that could be tied to anything directly. I replaced the second calendar where I’d found it and wondered why the cops hadn’t taken it. I guessed because they weren’t looking that hard but likely glanced at the files and the desk and let it go. But they had to know what else she was doing. Unless. The thought running through my mind made me shiver slightly. I closed the desk and locked the door behind me.
My stomach still didn’t feel better, but now it was for a different reason. I thought about seeing Chase and letting him in on what was going on but decided against it. If someone was following me, I didn’t want to lead them there.
I pulled out of the parking lot onto the main drag, turned right, and went around the block to the back of the hotel, where employee parking was located. Finding a nice spot across the street from the entrance and exit, I settled in to wait.
I didn’t wait long. My target, Madge, exited the employee door and headed for her car. When she exited the parking lot, I had my car running, and I quickly pulled in behind her and kept her about half a block ahead of me. While I followed her across town, I let my mind play out several scenarios. Then it occurred to me, what if what we thought happened didn’t happen? At least not exactly as It appeared.
While I followed Madge around town, I put myself in Sophia’s place and figured out what was needed to make it work. I ditched Madge downtown while she shopped and headed for the theater district. I started knocking on doors and showing a picture to everyone I found, but no one recognized her. I expected that but kept trying. By late afternoon, it was a dead end, and I gave up and headed back to my place.
~~~
The next morning, the idea kept nagging in my mind.
While I had breakfast of toast and bad coffee, it occurred to me that I might be approaching this from the wrong angle. After I cleaned up from breakfast, I headed back to the hotel. I hadn’t been here in at least six months, so the chances of the front desk knowing me were slim.
I found the clerk who looked the most bored and flashed my license, explaining that I was looking for a woman who had checked in within the last few days. I told her the woman may have used one of several names and that I’d like to look at the sign-in book to see if I recognized any names. Without question, she turned the book around.
I scanned through the last several days, unsure what I was looking for. Then I found it—Samatha Arnold. She’d checked in two days ago in the middle of the afternoon. It was her.
I wrote down the room number and other details from the book and told her I didn’t see any of the names I was looking for. While she continued to look bored, I thanked her and exited the main entrance. I didn’t go far. I walked around the building to the employee entrance and easily slipped inside. It didn’t take long to find the housekeeping station. From there, I grabbed a master passkey and headed for the second floor.
The padded rug on the floor muted my steps as I looked for the room. For a second, I considered just knocking to see what would happen but decided against it. The small storage closet near the room offered a perfect place to watch the room. At this time of day, the chance of anyone getting into it was slim.
While I waited in the dark with the door barely cracked open so I could see the hall, I considered the ramifications if I was right. It was mid-morning when I settled into the storage closet to watch the door. I figured I’d know if I was right before the end of the day.
It was late afternoon before I was rewarded for my patience. The sound of the elevator door opening and closing and the muted footsteps down the hall woke me from my almost dreamlike state.
Sure enough, she showed up. The door opened, and she went inside. I knew she couldn’t keep away.
I waited a few minutes to make sure no one was leaving. They seemed to be settled in and not going anywhere for a while. It was time to find out if I was right or not.
Slipping the passkey into the lock, I waited for a second, no noise of surprise. Turning it slowly, I heard the tumbles work, and the door unlocked. I held my breath as I waited for a cry of alarm. With one more big breath, I pushed the door open and stepped in.
There on the bed sat Sophia and Madge, deep in a kiss with their arms wrapped around each other. The blond wig Sophia wore as a disguise was tossed on the foot of the bed. They didn’t notice me at first but must have sensed my presence in the room. They turned together and stared at me, stunned.
“What the hell?” Sophia was the first to recover.
“Hi Sophia, Looking pretty good for a dead woman.”
They separated to opposite ends of the bed while turning red simultaneously.
“How?” was all Madge could get out.
“It wasn’t hard. Once I considered the idea that you weren’t dead. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Madge, you were the first to identify the body. Once you said it was her,” I nodded toward Sophia, “everyone automatically agreed. To be fair, it did look a lot like her, with the same hair, clothes, body shape, and size. Not to mention, most of her face was blown off, which made it hard to tell what she looked like, so no one questioned you.”
By now, they had composed themselves somewhat and were sitting and holding hands.
“Tell me about it, Sophia. Why have you gone through all this trouble? And killing an innocent girl to take your place?” I leaned against the wall, folded my arms, and waited. I had my ideas, but I needed to hear her say it.
She glanced at Madge and back to me, trying to find words.
Over the next hour or so, they explained that Sophia had run into some people who didn’t play nice, and she owed them serious money. And one of her blackmail victims refused to pay and found out who she was, and sent someone to kill her. They almost succeeded, but by then, she and Madge had become attracted to each other, and they knew if it got out about them, there would be even more problems. So, they decided the best thing to do was for Sophia to die. They would take what money they could get from her accounts and her cash stash and disappear.
“So, you two decided to kill an innocent kid and frame me?”
“Framing you wasn’t part of the plan, but it just worked that way.”
“Tell me about the gal lying in the morgue in your place.”
Sophia blew out a deep breath. “Yeah, that. It took some planning and time. We had to find a girl that looked enough like me. Then, we would dress her in my clothes, style her hair the same way, and coach her on how to act. We hired her for a party, where he was supposed to impersonate me and pass herself off as me from a distance so people would think they saw me. We held the party two nights ago, and it worked.”
“So, you had me come that day to see if I could tell?”
Madge nodded yes. “Felt like crap about it too. We both liked her, but by then, we had no choice. It had all been set up. Sophia was hiding in the pool shed. After you met with her at the pool, I told her to stay there for a few minutes.”
Sophia took over. “There was no one at the pool, so I slipped out of the shed and shot her and then disappeared. It was not long before the guest found her, and you know the rest.”
“But you had to time it right after I left?”
Madge shrugged. “It was then or probably never. The pool was empty, and things were getting bad for Sophia. She was getting threatening phone calls and saw several men hanging around the hotel who weren’t guests.”
“We were scared. We had to do it then.” Sophia dropped her shoulders, deflated.
I let the story sink in. I had suspected something like this. I didn’t blame them, but did they have to drag me into it?
“Okay. say I believe you. Who was the girl? And where’s the gun?”
Sophia got up and opened a suitcase at the end of the bed. Reaching down through the clothes in it, she pulled out a small pistol with a suppressor screwed to the end of the barrel.
“Here. I don’t want it.”
I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket and took it carefully. “I’m not getting my prints on it.”
The girl’s name is Carly Roberts. We found her here.” She handed me a card. I read it and recognized the name. It was one of the places I’d stopped at looking for her. Sophia also gave me an eight-by-ten glossy of Roberts without makeup and a hair redo. She had been pretty, and to be honest, she looked a lot like Sophia, so I could see how it would work.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I will check out this guy and see what’s going on there. You two need to get out of here. Madge, get one kiss and grope and get out of here, and don’t go near her again. Everyone knows you two are tight, just not how tight. If they even suspect what happened, which is possible, especially if they don’t make an arrest soon, people will likely start questioning things. You need to stay away from her for the time being. Sophia, you need to get out of here. Check out and disappear. If I can find you this fast, they will.”
They nodded yes, and Madge did as I asked. After Madge left, I sat down across from Sophia and waited.
“Maxx, I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’re an evil bitch who gets what you want regardless of who gets hurt. Well, this time, the shoe’s on the other foot. Finely. I don’t give a shit about you and Madge or your bad judgment with the blackmail and other shit you’ve been pulling the last few years. I just want out from under a murder I didn’t do. After that, you can live or die for all I care. The only reason I’m helping you is to clear myself.”
I got up and headed for the door. Turning back to her as I opened it.” I should drop this off at the police station.” I held up the pistol.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. If I can’t get out without it, I will.” I shut the door behind me.
Shoving the gun into my jacket pocket, I headed back to where I came from, leaving the passkey on a housekeeping cart as I passed it.
~~~
A half-hour later, I was back in the theatre district trying to find the address on the card. Finding the small hole that passed as a studio for the name on the card took me a little while. I remembered talking to him as I got closer. I didn’t like him at the time. I sat down the street for a bit, watching girls go in and out. None seemed to be much older than maybe twenty or so, which is what I expected. After a while, I saw a couple of girls come out crying and visibly upset. Something had happened up there.
I debated what to do—deciding in the end to see him. Hiding Sophia’s pistol in the glove box, I pulled mine from its holster and checked it.
When I got there, the two girls sat on a bench near the door. Pretending to read the sign on the door, I listened to them. While I didn’t get everything that happened, I had the gist.
I knocked on the old panel door at the top of the landing. Larry opened the door with a grin, quickly changing to a question mark when he realized it wasn’t pretty young.
“Larry, have I got a girl for you.!” I shoved my way past the door, holding up the glossy of the dead girl. He looked confused. “Oh, by the way, I’m Maxx of Starr Talent Agency.”
I forced him to shake my hand and pushed him deeper into the room. “I saw this girl. Her name is Carly. She’s perfect for a project I have coming up, but they said she’s signed to you.”
He nodded yes. I looked around the room. Most of the walls were covered with fake posters for movies never made and a lot of glam shouts of girls and a few boys. The desk was covered with files and more pictures.
“My backer, Sophia, says she wants her.”
“Well, I’m sure we can work something out,” he managed to say.
When I mentioned Sophia's name, I noticed the color drain from his face. He knew her. The question was how.
I gave him a speech about how Carly would be right for a part I had and how I could contact her. He gave me her address and number.
I told him I’d get back to him and got out of there.
Hungry, I grabbed a burger before heading back to the hotel. I didn’t stop at the front desk. I went straight to Sopia’s room. She opened the door, her suitcases nearly packed.
I held up the card she’d given me earlier. “Tell me about him.”
She shut the door behind me.
“Well, there’s not much to tell, he tried to get me to take some underage girls a few months back, but I said no, and he was pissed. I refused to do business with him. He was known to abuse the girls he had working for him. Some who came to work for me later told me he’d raped them. But no one ever pressed any charges. I didn’t want to use Carly, but was the only one who looked enough like me to pass as me. So I had no choice. He changed me double the usual rate.”
“So he has a beef with you?”
She nodded. “He doesn’t like me. I don’t like him either.”
I calmed down a little. While I was there, I saw two girls I think he abused right before I showed up.”
“Look, I’m no angel. I’ve done a lot of crappy stuff. And you’re right. Most of the time, I don’t care who gets hurt. But I never hurt one of my girls or let one get hurt.”
I knew that was true. She treated her working girls petty well, and they usually stayed with her for a long time.
“I thought you’d be gone by now.”
“Just leaving now.” She tugged on the blond wig and sunglasses, picked up her suitcase, and followed me out the door, locking it behind us.
The elevator door closed behind Sophia as Samatha Arnold checked out and took a cab away from her old life.
I headed out the back way, down the service elevators, and out the employee’s entrance.
~~~
I started digging into Larry’s life and talking to the girls and his friends, the few I could find. He was not well-liked in his neighborhood and was considered a predator, especially when it came to girls. I made up my mind he needed to go.
Eventually, I found out he’d been out cruising looking for girls the morning Sophia had been shot. In other words, he had no alibi. Perfect.
I staked out his place for a few days to get a sense of his routine. It didn’t take much to slip in and spike his usual evening drink with a Mickey. When he was out cold, I put my plan in place. Having already wiped the gun clean of prints, I took apart the suppressor, magazine, and even the bullets and made sure his prints were on everything. Once that was done, I hid it in his bedroom, but not too well.
The next morning, I made a phone to the cops about seeing him with a gun and being afraid he’d use it on me. I didn’t give a name, which irritated the operator. Having stationed myself down the block from his place, I waited. It wasn’t long until several black and whites showed up, then the detective. They hauled him away.
He was charged with Sopia’s murder, along with several sex-related crimes.
I never heard from or saw Sophia or Madge again. I never found her Black Books of Secrets, which is probably just as well.
I framed an innocent man for murder. How innocent was he? He was a predator and was responsible for ruining a lot of lives.
I figured I did pretty well. I stayed out of jail and got two criminals off the street.
The city is better off without Larry or Sophia.
The ripple in the pool could have been caused by the breeze. It wasn’t.
It was caused by Sophia Andrews falling backward into the pool with a bullet in her head. Sophia Andrews was a silent partner in the hotel, among many other things—none of them good. If justice were indeed served, the cops would even let it go. But cops are cops, and someone had to pay for murder.
~~
The cops showed up the next day.
The detective glanced around my apartment and then looked me in the eye. “Private Investigator Maxx Starr.” He paused for effect. “I understand you were at the hotel yesterday.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Did you know Sophia Andrews?”
“Yes, I knew her. Everyone knew her.” I wanted to add that no one liked her, but I kept that to myself.
“Did you see her yesterday?”
“Yes.”
When?”
“Around noon. Not sure of the exact time.”
“Why?”
“She tried to hire me to dig up some dirt on someone. I refused the job.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t ask. Just told her no. Didn’t want anything to do with her.”
He frowned, annoyed, but he let that go—for now. I continued. “She was insulted and put out when I left but very much alive.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“By the pool. She likes having private meetings outside, away from prying eyes and ears.”
“Where did you go after you left?”
“I stopped at a burger joint and got some food, then came home.”
The detective seemed satisfied with my answers and told me he might be back. I knew he would be back.
After they left, I picked up the phone and put it back down. No, calling him to warn him wouldn’t go well. He could not lie conveniently; the cops would see it immediately, especially this detective. He had to find out the hard way, from the newspaper. That way he could honestly say he saw it in the evening paper, if ever questioned. If I could help it, he wouldn’t get dragged into this.
I made coffee, put on a stack of jazz records, and settled in to think. I grabbed my notebook and started listing names of people I suspected she was blackmailing. Aside from running a line of girls for hire from the hotel, she also had a sideline of blackmail. Anyone she thought could be useful for her in some way was ripe for her attention. If she couldn’t find any dirt on you, she invented it. Sometimes, even just the threat of a scandal or other professional impropriety would be enough to bring them in line.
I’m no saint. As a PI, I sometimes do questionable or even illegal things. But I do have my scruples, few that they may be. Sophia had been instrumental in my getting my PI license a few years back. To that end, she thought she owned me. I had long since paid her back and reminded her of it regularly. Yesterday was another time I refused to do her bidding even for twice my usual pay. This didn’t sit well with her, but I quit caring long ago. There are still a few things left I won’t do. What she’d ask me to do was one of them.
The list of names was long, and I was trying to decide who the culprit might be when the phone rang in the early evening.
“Maxx, you want to come and play?”
The female voice on the other end was very inviting. Usually, I’d be over at her place in no time. “No, not tonight. You heard about Sophia?”
“Yes, Thank God. It was in the evening papers. Said she’d been found floating in the pool with her head half blown off.”
“Did it say what time?” I hadn’t gone out to pick up a paper and didn’t feel like going anywhere.
I heard the rustle of paper while she found the article. “Yeah, it says here about twelve-thirty yesterday afternoon. Her body was found floating in the pool by a hotel guest.”
“Shit. That puts me in the time frame. I was there and left just before twelve-thirty.”
“No one heard the shot.” She continued to read the article to me. It was suspected at the scene to be a small-bore bullet, probably twenty-two.” That explained it. They used a suppressor on a semi-automatic. That would probably quiet it enough not to be heard very far away.
I thanked her for calling, and next time, I’d take her up on her offer. I needed to figure out who killed her just to keep my ass out of jail. I was my own client this time.
~~~
I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat despite the hot sun streaming through the window. My stomach churned, and it wouldn’t take much for me to throw up. I lay on the bed for a long time, not moving, staring up at the ceiling fan as it turned endlessly, squeaking every few turns.
Eventually, nature stopped calling and started yelling, forcing me to move. Wobbly, I made it to the bathroom. I leaned against the sink, staring at the latest incarnation of Maxx Starr. Thoughts began to swirl in my mind. The cop had asked me when and where the meeting was, but he failed to ask me another question. When was the meeting set up?
An hour later, I barely managed to get myself presentable enough for public viewing. Time to go to work and head to the hotel.
Leaning against the door frame leading to Sophia’s private office, I watched Sophia’s Girl Friday and the all-around personal assistant thumbing through the hotel filing cabinet.
“It’s not here, Madge,”
Madge jumped and turned quickly to face me. Her ample chest heaved as she caught her breath. Her face turned red and back to normal in a few seconds as she recognized me.
“Maxx.” She leaned against the cabinet door, shutting it. We both knew what she was looking for. Sophia had at least one book she used to blackmail people. I’d seen it once a long time ago. Sophia was as smart as she was mean and ornery. She wouldn’t keep the books here.
“Oh, that?” She all but admitted it was what she was looking for.
I relaxed a little, crossing my arms and leaning against the door frame.
“So, Madge, how long have you been her Girl Friday?”
“A few years”
“Worked your way up to management. Not bad.” I referred to her early days as a common hooker, but she ignored my comment.
I changed the subject. “If you were to find her Book of Dirt, you would...?”
“I’d turn it over to the cops.” She finished for me.
“Oh really? Whoever has that book has the city by the short hairs.”
***
I sat behind Sophia’s desk after Madge, in a huff, stormed out of the office. Looking over the room from her perspective, it was a nice office. This was her public front and what she tried to present to the world. Sophie Andrews, hotel magistrate and general all-round friend of the city, but I knew much more was going on than just running a hotel.
It had been at least six months since I’d been in this office. The last time I’d talked to her was when she offered me the job of digging up dirt on an old friend. Chase Carter and I had been friends since the early days of my arrival in the city. He’d helped me get an apartment and find a job. He noticed my aptitude for finding things and people and suggested that I get a PI license. Right about then, I met Sophia, who was starting to branch out from the girls she ran to loan sharking and blackmail.
My background in the military and being a former MP during the war made me ideal for security work. At first, it was just the occasional protection detail for big-shot businessmen coming into town. Over time, it morphed into a full-time job as head of security at the hotel Sophia was involved in. It didn’t take long for her to spot my talents for ferreting out facts and secrets no one wanted to know.
Soon, I was on her private payroll, and with her pulling strings in city hall, I was a legal snoop for hire. It was clear from the beginning that she expected me to follow orders and do whatever was necessary to find dirt on anyone who got in her way. At first, I went along out of a sense of duty because I felt I owed it to her. However, as she got deeper into the blackmail scheme and got more dangerous people involved, the heat from the local cops got hotter, and I decided I’d paid my debt to her. When she asked me to find out more about Chase and his background and if there was anything she could use against him to get him to vote her way onto the city council, I balked and told her I was done with her.
That was the last time I’d seen her, until yesterday. I had heard rumors she had expanded her loansharking and gambling, none of which I wanted any part. All of which leads me no closer to finding out who killed her. Or why, but the why was obvious. She had crossed the wrong person, and they took expectation to it.
I pulled open the drawers on her desk, not expecting to find anything more than I did. The usual pens, pencils, paper, and odd notes here and there were all hotel-related. It was down in a lower drawer where I found a second desk calendar. Identical to the one atop her desk. But this one had a completely different set of notes, initials, and dates marked as opposed to the public one on her desk. Flipping through it, I saw a note—MS at eleven am., pool. That was my meeting with her. I grabbed a sheet of paper and started going through the calendar, making notes of dates and initials of past meetings and the few future ones she had already booked.
This was how she was running the side business from her hotel office. There were random notes here and there, but nothing that could be tied to anything directly. I replaced the second calendar where I’d found it and wondered why the cops hadn’t taken it. I guessed because they weren’t looking that hard but likely glanced at the files and the desk and let it go. But they had to know what else she was doing. Unless. The thought running through my mind made me shiver slightly. I closed the desk and locked the door behind me.
My stomach still didn’t feel better, but now it was for a different reason. I thought about seeing Chase and letting him in on what was going on but decided against it. If someone was following me, I didn’t want to lead them there.
I pulled out of the parking lot onto the main drag, turned right, and went around the block to the back of the hotel, where employee parking was located. Finding a nice spot across the street from the entrance and exit, I settled in to wait.
I didn’t wait long. My target, Madge, exited the employee door and headed for her car. When she exited the parking lot, I had my car running, and I quickly pulled in behind her and kept her about half a block ahead of me. While I followed her across town, I let my mind play out several scenarios. Then it occurred to me, what if what we thought happened didn’t happen? At least not exactly as It appeared.
While I followed Madge around town, I put myself in Sophia’s place and figured out what was needed to make it work. I ditched Madge downtown while she shopped and headed for the theater district. I started knocking on doors and showing a picture to everyone I found, but no one recognized her. I expected that but kept trying. By late afternoon, it was a dead end, and I gave up and headed back to my place.
~~~
The next morning, the idea kept nagging in my mind.
While I had breakfast of toast and bad coffee, it occurred to me that I might be approaching this from the wrong angle. After I cleaned up from breakfast, I headed back to the hotel. I hadn’t been here in at least six months, so the chances of the front desk knowing me were slim.
I found the clerk who looked the most bored and flashed my license, explaining that I was looking for a woman who had checked in within the last few days. I told her the woman may have used one of several names and that I’d like to look at the sign-in book to see if I recognized any names. Without question, she turned the book around.
I scanned through the last several days, unsure what I was looking for. Then I found it—Samatha Arnold. She’d checked in two days ago in the middle of the afternoon. It was her.
I wrote down the room number and other details from the book and told her I didn’t see any of the names I was looking for. While she continued to look bored, I thanked her and exited the main entrance. I didn’t go far. I walked around the building to the employee entrance and easily slipped inside. It didn’t take long to find the housekeeping station. From there, I grabbed a master passkey and headed for the second floor.
The padded rug on the floor muted my steps as I looked for the room. For a second, I considered just knocking to see what would happen but decided against it. The small storage closet near the room offered a perfect place to watch the room. At this time of day, the chance of anyone getting into it was slim.
While I waited in the dark with the door barely cracked open so I could see the hall, I considered the ramifications if I was right. It was mid-morning when I settled into the storage closet to watch the door. I figured I’d know if I was right before the end of the day.
It was late afternoon before I was rewarded for my patience. The sound of the elevator door opening and closing and the muted footsteps down the hall woke me from my almost dreamlike state.
Sure enough, she showed up. The door opened, and she went inside. I knew she couldn’t keep away.
I waited a few minutes to make sure no one was leaving. They seemed to be settled in and not going anywhere for a while. It was time to find out if I was right or not.
Slipping the passkey into the lock, I waited for a second, no noise of surprise. Turning it slowly, I heard the tumbles work, and the door unlocked. I held my breath as I waited for a cry of alarm. With one more big breath, I pushed the door open and stepped in.
There on the bed sat Sophia and Madge, deep in a kiss with their arms wrapped around each other. The blond wig Sophia wore as a disguise was tossed on the foot of the bed. They didn’t notice me at first but must have sensed my presence in the room. They turned together and stared at me, stunned.
“What the hell?” Sophia was the first to recover.
“Hi Sophia, Looking pretty good for a dead woman.”
They separated to opposite ends of the bed while turning red simultaneously.
“How?” was all Madge could get out.
“It wasn’t hard. Once I considered the idea that you weren’t dead. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Madge, you were the first to identify the body. Once you said it was her,” I nodded toward Sophia, “everyone automatically agreed. To be fair, it did look a lot like her, with the same hair, clothes, body shape, and size. Not to mention, most of her face was blown off, which made it hard to tell what she looked like, so no one questioned you.”
By now, they had composed themselves somewhat and were sitting and holding hands.
“Tell me about it, Sophia. Why have you gone through all this trouble? And killing an innocent girl to take your place?” I leaned against the wall, folded my arms, and waited. I had my ideas, but I needed to hear her say it.
She glanced at Madge and back to me, trying to find words.
Over the next hour or so, they explained that Sophia had run into some people who didn’t play nice, and she owed them serious money. And one of her blackmail victims refused to pay and found out who she was, and sent someone to kill her. They almost succeeded, but by then, she and Madge had become attracted to each other, and they knew if it got out about them, there would be even more problems. So, they decided the best thing to do was for Sophia to die. They would take what money they could get from her accounts and her cash stash and disappear.
“So, you two decided to kill an innocent kid and frame me?”
“Framing you wasn’t part of the plan, but it just worked that way.”
“Tell me about the gal lying in the morgue in your place.”
Sophia blew out a deep breath. “Yeah, that. It took some planning and time. We had to find a girl that looked enough like me. Then, we would dress her in my clothes, style her hair the same way, and coach her on how to act. We hired her for a party, where he was supposed to impersonate me and pass herself off as me from a distance so people would think they saw me. We held the party two nights ago, and it worked.”
“So, you had me come that day to see if I could tell?”
Madge nodded yes. “Felt like crap about it too. We both liked her, but by then, we had no choice. It had all been set up. Sophia was hiding in the pool shed. After you met with her at the pool, I told her to stay there for a few minutes.”
Sophia took over. “There was no one at the pool, so I slipped out of the shed and shot her and then disappeared. It was not long before the guest found her, and you know the rest.”
“But you had to time it right after I left?”
Madge shrugged. “It was then or probably never. The pool was empty, and things were getting bad for Sophia. She was getting threatening phone calls and saw several men hanging around the hotel who weren’t guests.”
“We were scared. We had to do it then.” Sophia dropped her shoulders, deflated.
I let the story sink in. I had suspected something like this. I didn’t blame them, but did they have to drag me into it?
“Okay. say I believe you. Who was the girl? And where’s the gun?”
Sophia got up and opened a suitcase at the end of the bed. Reaching down through the clothes in it, she pulled out a small pistol with a suppressor screwed to the end of the barrel.
“Here. I don’t want it.”
I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket and took it carefully. “I’m not getting my prints on it.”
The girl’s name is Carly Roberts. We found her here.” She handed me a card. I read it and recognized the name. It was one of the places I’d stopped at looking for her. Sophia also gave me an eight-by-ten glossy of Roberts without makeup and a hair redo. She had been pretty, and to be honest, she looked a lot like Sophia, so I could see how it would work.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I will check out this guy and see what’s going on there. You two need to get out of here. Madge, get one kiss and grope and get out of here, and don’t go near her again. Everyone knows you two are tight, just not how tight. If they even suspect what happened, which is possible, especially if they don’t make an arrest soon, people will likely start questioning things. You need to stay away from her for the time being. Sophia, you need to get out of here. Check out and disappear. If I can find you this fast, they will.”
They nodded yes, and Madge did as I asked. After Madge left, I sat down across from Sophia and waited.
“Maxx, I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’re an evil bitch who gets what you want regardless of who gets hurt. Well, this time, the shoe’s on the other foot. Finely. I don’t give a shit about you and Madge or your bad judgment with the blackmail and other shit you’ve been pulling the last few years. I just want out from under a murder I didn’t do. After that, you can live or die for all I care. The only reason I’m helping you is to clear myself.”
I got up and headed for the door. Turning back to her as I opened it.” I should drop this off at the police station.” I held up the pistol.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. If I can’t get out without it, I will.” I shut the door behind me.
Shoving the gun into my jacket pocket, I headed back to where I came from, leaving the passkey on a housekeeping cart as I passed it.
~~~
A half-hour later, I was back in the theatre district trying to find the address on the card. Finding the small hole that passed as a studio for the name on the card took me a little while. I remembered talking to him as I got closer. I didn’t like him at the time. I sat down the street for a bit, watching girls go in and out. None seemed to be much older than maybe twenty or so, which is what I expected. After a while, I saw a couple of girls come out crying and visibly upset. Something had happened up there.
I debated what to do—deciding in the end to see him. Hiding Sophia’s pistol in the glove box, I pulled mine from its holster and checked it.
When I got there, the two girls sat on a bench near the door. Pretending to read the sign on the door, I listened to them. While I didn’t get everything that happened, I had the gist.
I knocked on the old panel door at the top of the landing. Larry opened the door with a grin, quickly changing to a question mark when he realized it wasn’t pretty young.
“Larry, have I got a girl for you.!” I shoved my way past the door, holding up the glossy of the dead girl. He looked confused. “Oh, by the way, I’m Maxx of Starr Talent Agency.”
I forced him to shake my hand and pushed him deeper into the room. “I saw this girl. Her name is Carly. She’s perfect for a project I have coming up, but they said she’s signed to you.”
He nodded yes. I looked around the room. Most of the walls were covered with fake posters for movies never made and a lot of glam shouts of girls and a few boys. The desk was covered with files and more pictures.
“My backer, Sophia, says she wants her.”
“Well, I’m sure we can work something out,” he managed to say.
When I mentioned Sophia's name, I noticed the color drain from his face. He knew her. The question was how.
I gave him a speech about how Carly would be right for a part I had and how I could contact her. He gave me her address and number.
I told him I’d get back to him and got out of there.
Hungry, I grabbed a burger before heading back to the hotel. I didn’t stop at the front desk. I went straight to Sopia’s room. She opened the door, her suitcases nearly packed.
I held up the card she’d given me earlier. “Tell me about him.”
She shut the door behind me.
“Well, there’s not much to tell, he tried to get me to take some underage girls a few months back, but I said no, and he was pissed. I refused to do business with him. He was known to abuse the girls he had working for him. Some who came to work for me later told me he’d raped them. But no one ever pressed any charges. I didn’t want to use Carly, but was the only one who looked enough like me to pass as me. So I had no choice. He changed me double the usual rate.”
“So he has a beef with you?”
She nodded. “He doesn’t like me. I don’t like him either.”
I calmed down a little. While I was there, I saw two girls I think he abused right before I showed up.”
“Look, I’m no angel. I’ve done a lot of crappy stuff. And you’re right. Most of the time, I don’t care who gets hurt. But I never hurt one of my girls or let one get hurt.”
I knew that was true. She treated her working girls petty well, and they usually stayed with her for a long time.
“I thought you’d be gone by now.”
“Just leaving now.” She tugged on the blond wig and sunglasses, picked up her suitcase, and followed me out the door, locking it behind us.
The elevator door closed behind Sophia as Samatha Arnold checked out and took a cab away from her old life.
I headed out the back way, down the service elevators, and out the employee’s entrance.
~~~
I started digging into Larry’s life and talking to the girls and his friends, the few I could find. He was not well-liked in his neighborhood and was considered a predator, especially when it came to girls. I made up my mind he needed to go.
Eventually, I found out he’d been out cruising looking for girls the morning Sophia had been shot. In other words, he had no alibi. Perfect.
I staked out his place for a few days to get a sense of his routine. It didn’t take much to slip in and spike his usual evening drink with a Mickey. When he was out cold, I put my plan in place. Having already wiped the gun clean of prints, I took apart the suppressor, magazine, and even the bullets and made sure his prints were on everything. Once that was done, I hid it in his bedroom, but not too well.
The next morning, I made a phone to the cops about seeing him with a gun and being afraid he’d use it on me. I didn’t give a name, which irritated the operator. Having stationed myself down the block from his place, I waited. It wasn’t long until several black and whites showed up, then the detective. They hauled him away.
He was charged with Sopia’s murder, along with several sex-related crimes.
I never heard from or saw Sophia or Madge again. I never found her Black Books of Secrets, which is probably just as well.
I framed an innocent man for murder. How innocent was he? He was a predator and was responsible for ruining a lot of lives.
I figured I did pretty well. I stayed out of jail and got two criminals off the street.
The city is better off without Larry or Sophia.